Author: S. Trussler
Date: 13:01:24 01/04/03
Finding a winning line for Botvinnik-Ragozin (5th match game, 1940) [D]r1bq2k1/ppp2ppp/2np1n2/8/2PP4/1NP1rB2/P5PP/R1BQ1RK1 b - - 0 1 In the posted position, Botvinnik states that if Black plays 12 .... Rxc3 then: "Naturally, 12 ..., R X P would also be followed by 13 B-Kt5! and then Q-Q2, and Black would be quite helpless." In the actual game Ragozin instead played 12 ... Re8 and must have recognized a danger in taking the pawn. But in using Deep Fritz 7 on a PIII 750 MHz (hash table = 128MB), I haven't found a convincing line which renders Black helpless if Black does play 12 ... Rxc3. Perhaps the position requires more positional finesse and additional moves to realize a winning game for White and this just goes beyond what DF 7 can find in the time that I allowed it to run. Of course the other possibility is that Botvinnik overlooked some of Black's defensive resources. In any case, my analysis actually starts after 12 .... Rxc3 13. Bg5 Rxc4 since I was interested in the consequences of Black's pawn grabs. As others may find, if you start instead from 12 ... Rxc3 DF7 actually rates 13. Bxc3 higher than 13. Bg5 but I'm only interested in Botvinnik's 13. Bg5 at the moment. Here is DF7's analysis of the position after 13 ... Rxc4, when running for just over 9.5 hours: M. Botvinnik,S - V. Ragozin r1bq2k1/ppp2ppp/2np1n2/6B1/2rP4/1N3B2/P5PP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 1 Analysis by Deep Fritz 7: 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Qd3 d5 16.Be4 Nb4 17.Bxh7+ Kg7 ³ (-0.41) Depth: 6/19 00:00:00 89kN 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Be4 f5 16.Bd5 Ra4 17.Bxc6 bxc6 18.Qf3 ³ (-0.47) Depth: 7/20 00:00:00 168kN 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Be4 f5 16.Bd5 Ra4 17.Bxc6 bxc6 18.Qf3 Be6 19.Qxc6 ³ (-0.47) Depth: 8/24 00:00:01 366kN 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Be4 f5 16.Bd5 Ra4 17.Bxc6 bxc6 18.Qf3 Be6 19.Qxc6 ³ (-0.47) Depth: 9/28 00:00:03 985kN 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Bd5 Ra4 16.Qh5 Be6 17.Be4 f5 18.Bxf5 Bxf5 19.Qxf5 Kh8 20.Rab1 ³ (-0.37) Depth: 10/29 00:00:10 3618kN 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Qd3 d5 16.Be4 dxe4 17.Qxc4 Be6 18.Qc3 Bxb3 19.Qxb3 Qxd4+ 20.Kh1 Re8 ³ (-0.50) Depth: 11/30 00:00:25 9440kN 14.Bd5! ³ (-0.47) Depth: 11/30 00:00:34 13105kN 14.Bd5 Rb4 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Qe1 Rb5 17.Qg3+ Kh8 18.Bxc6 bxc6 19.Rac1 Rg5 20.Qf3 Bd7 21.Nd2 ³ (-0.50) Depth: 12/33 00:01:13 28831kN 14.Bd5 Ra4 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Qh5 Be6 17.Be4 f5 18.Bxf5 Bxf5 19.Rxf5 ³ (-0.41) Depth: 13/36 00:04:23 107007kN 14.Bd5 Ra4 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Qh5 Be6 17.Be4 f5 18.Bxf5 Bxf5 19.Rxf5 Qe7 ³ (-0.47) Depth: 14/38 00:09:01 222199kN 14.Bxf6! ³ (-0.44) Depth: 14/43 00:11:28 281703kN 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Qd2 d5 16.Be2 Qd6 17.Rae1 Rb4 18.Bh5 Ne7 19.Qh6 Rb6 ³ (-0.41) Depth: 15/41 00:33:04 816644kN 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Qd2 d5 16.Be2 f5 17.Bd3 Be6 18.Rf4 Ra4 19.Raf1 Qe7 20.Bb5 ³ (-0.28) Depth: 16/45 01:27:08 2159012kN 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Qd2 d5 16.Be2 f5 17.Bd3 Be6 18.Rf4 Rb4 19.Bxf5 Bxf5 = (-0.25) Depth: 17/45 03:46:27 5282647kN 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Qd2 d5 16.Be2 f5 17.Rae1 Be6 18.Rf3 Qf6 19.Bxc4 dxc4 20.d5 = (-0.25) Depth: 18/51 09:46:32 13641581kN Not a winning position for white (according to DF7) at this point, although there has been some improvement for White since the DF7's initial evaluation and perhaps White's eval. will increase further if the analysis is continued from 20. d5. Anyone with more horsepower and/or different software find anything better? Regards, Shaun Trussler
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