This week's Canadian Tactic comes from the final round of the 2015 Alberta Closed Championships and features IM Richard Wang vs IM Edward Porper.
Black has just played 26...Rd5, what should White play?
[Event "2015 Alberta Closed Championships"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.04.05"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Wang, Richard"]
[Black "Porper, Edward"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E61"]
[WhiteElo "2401"]
[BlackElo "2492"]
[Annotator "Richard Wang"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b1R3/pp3pk1/6p1/2Pr3p/2q5/1N5P/P5P1/1R1Q3K w - - 0 27"]
[PlyCount "17"]
[EventDate "2015.05.02"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1998.11.10"]
{I played Edward in the final and deciding round of the tournament. I had 3/4
going in to the game, only half a point ahead of Alex Yam. I knew that I would
have to play for a win, as Alex had better tiebreaks than me if we ended with
the same score. I thus played riskier than I would have in other circumstances.
Despite the importance of this game, there were many errors on both sides
(discovered thanks to Fritz) I guess risky chess often leads to difficult
chess!} 27. Qe1 {I was greatly enjoying my position at this point, as I
thought White was just much better. Mistaken, as it turns out!} ({editor -} 27.
Qf3 $4 Bg4 28. Qe3 Rxe8 29. Qxe8 Bxh3 30. gxh3 Qd3 $19 {White can save the
Rook only at the cost of getting mated by the Queen and Rook.}) (27. Qc1 $142)
(27. Qf1 $142) 27... Qd3 $2 (27... Bxh3 $1 28. Rxa8 Bxg2+ {and Black is simply
winning! Edward later told me that he analyzed this position but wasn't sure
how to proceed after} 29. Kh2 {but here} Rg5 {wins! I, on the other hand,
was so confident in my position that I didn't even consider this possibility.})
({editor -} 27... Bxh3 $1 28. Re4 $8 Qc2 29. gxh3 (29. Re2 Qf5 $15) 29... Rd3
30. Re2 Rxh3+ 31. Kg1 $8 (31. Kg2 $4 Qf5 $19) 31... Qf5 {Black has the easier
position to play.}) 28. Rc1 {Now there is no more ... Bxh3 trick.} Rd7 $2 (
28... Bxh3 29. Rxa8 Bxg2+ 30. Kxg2 Rg5+ 31. Kh2 {and the rook on c1 is much
better placed, as either major piece can now go to c3. The game move, however,
is equally bad.}) 29. c6 $1 {Diagram [#]} Rd5 (29... bxc6 30. Nc5 Qd4 31. Nxd7
{leaves little hope for Black. Neither, however, does the game continuation.})
30. c7 b6 31. Qe7 Rf5 32. h4 Rf1+ 33. Kh2 Be6 34. Rxa8 Rxc1 35. Qf8+ {35...Kf6
36. Qd8+ forces the exchange of queens, so Black resigned. A very interesting
game with a lot of missed opportunities on both sides!} 1-0
