Round 3 vs NWST: Board 4

The opening was solid and the game equal for the most part. An interesting juncture was reached after move 16. White decided to win a pawn with an uncovered attack, when he took on f7 with check.

after 16. ef+

The question for black to solve is how to take it back. Rxf7 with the intention of doubling rooks or Qf7. The true liability for black is the knight on e5. It has no prospects on e5 and needs to go to a white square, g4 or c4 to create problems for white. However black has no control of white squares on the opponents side of the board. However after Qf7 the knight has c4 and from there it strikes b2, d2 and e3. Had black played

Qf7 followed by Kxg2 Rad8 Qc2 and Nc4 the following rather promising position would have been reached:

Unfortunately all this is not easy to see and Jason missed out on it. The actual game shows nicely how his knight became a liability on e5.