Position from the game Zhongyi Tan vs Aleksandra Goryachkina, Semifinals of the World Cup 2023 Women’s Section
Not arguing - I truly want to understand. Black risks the bishop either way, and white can also check the black king either way, n’est-ce pas?
Right now black can’t promote their pawn without losing it, as soon as he tries, white takes it. Blocking it with the bishop sets up the only situation where the new queen is a factor in the game… Which happens to be a checkmate in 2 moves.
Any other move and I’d bet white wins
Right, so moving the bishop allows black to discover check with the rook by promoting the pawn. It’s not quite mate in two because white can delay the inevitable by covering its king with the knight.
My question is, why is it better to move the bishop to b4 than to take the pawn at f4?
Couple reasons I think of.
1 is you lose your bishop to the white pawn next. Then the King has more mobility to get away from your queen/rook
And, you still haven’t broken the stalemate of the white rook keeping your pawn from promotion. White just never moves the rook and black can’t move his rook and that leaves a knight and two pawns against a king and two pawns… With a white rook covering 7, while the black rook just stares on. The bishop sacrifice at that moment gives black a checkmate in 3 (you’re right not 2).
How do you see it playing out if black takes the pawn?
