The Chess Mind

A couple of days ago, I presented this position:



It's White to move and win, though not immediately, and there are some beautiful points. Unfortunately, part of the game's continuation was flawed, but it led to an incredibly elegant finish, which you can replay here. Very deep, very enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I came across a clever tactical idea IM Willy Hendriks discovered (entry 382) with Fritz's help, an idea he almost got to play in a 2006 game against Timothy Spanton. Since then, I discovered a more recent Hendriks game (thank you, Chess Today), and this time things were different: the spectacular idea was his, not his software's, and he was able to demonstrate it on the board. There was one other difference: at one point he chose a beautiful but mistaken continuation that could have allowed his opponent to escape.

Here's the starting position, with White to move. (Hendriks' choice here was completely correct and gave him a winning position.)



I'll present the full game, with my analysis, either tomorrow night or the day after.