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Last Game of the Year - Draw?
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The last game to finish in the tournament year.
Black is Reserve Section Grand Prix Champion George Hayward.
With a few minutes on his clock, he was offered a draw. Let's take a look:
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Black can win the queen with
1...Qxa4, but after 2.Rb7+ Kd8 3.Rb8+ Kd7
4.Rxh8, he would find himself in a queen versus two rooks endgame:
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At first glance, Black's prospects look good, because he can play
4...Qxa3 and try to queen his a-pawn. But after 5.Rg1 White will get a lot of counterplay.
Another approach would be to try to harass the h1 rook, which is separated from its mate.
Thus 4...Qc4+ 5.Kd2 Qa2+ 6.Kd3 Qf2 7.Rd1 (7.Rb1? Qf5+ winning the rook) 7..a5
(advancing his own pawn further before going after the a pawn) 8.a4
(stopping the advance) and now if Black tries to open another front
with 8...f6 9.exf6 gxf6, White gets counterplay with 10.h6.
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Black can now try to create another passed pawn with 10...e5, but after 11.Rd2 e4+
12.Kc2 e3 13.Rxf2 exf2 14.h7 f1Q 15.Rb8
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Black must take a perpetual check starting with 15... Qe2+ 16.Kb3 Qd1+
While these variations do not exhaust all the possibilities in the position,
they do give a good sense of the chances for both sides.
This brings us back to the original position. With less than 3 minutes left on his clock,
George had to evaluate the draw offer by relying on his instincts and intuition.
They told him to accept the draw rather than play a dangerous position
that he might not be able to win even given a lot of time. And so he did!
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Designed by Softhands