The missed combination of a lifetime

Liem: “It would have been my best game ever …”

By Akshat Chandra

A month ago, I came across a game which had an extremely exciting and complicated position. It took place during the Asian Continental Chess Championship 2012 held in the city of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. The game was between...

... Chinese GM Ni Hua, currently rated 2677 and ranked number 67 in the world, and...

Vietnamese GM Liem Le Quang, rated 2678, number 63 in the world.

Ni,Hua (2673) - Le Quang,Liem (2703) [B84]
Asian Continental op Ho Chi Minh City (8), 12.05.2012

What is going on here? The board is on fire, everything seems to be hanging, and both kings look relatively unsafe. White has just thrusted forward with 29.g6, and it seems his attack has broken through first, as there seems to be no satisfactory way to deal with the threat of 30.Qxh7. Liem played 29...h5??, after which White won with 30.Qxh5 Ba3+ 31.Kxb3 1-0.

Sadly for Liem he was unable to find an extraordinary, albeit difficult, tactical refutation to White’s g6 move, and missed out on a glorious win. I connected with him a few days ago to get his perspective, and insights. Reminiscing about the game he told me, “It would have been my best game ever if I had not missed that combination.” He was very polite and gracious to answer some of my questions about the game.

Akshat: What was the time situation at that point (move 29) – specifically how much time did you have?

Liem: I think both Ni Hua and I had around ten minutes at that point, with 30 seconds increment per move – but that doesn't help much in this situation.

Akshat: Did you realize you missed the tactic during the game, or did you find out afterwards?

Liem: I did not realize it during the game, neither did my opponent. After I finished, someone told me that I missed a brilliant combination. I checked with a computer and could not believe my eyes!

Akshat: Was your intuition telling you that there was a win for you, or did you feel like the position was already beyond saving? Of course, time control could have been a big factor...

Liem: I felt that I should be winning indeed. But after looking for a while, I saw nothing, panicked and played the horrible h5. To be honest, I also had a win on move 28, which was far easier to calculate than the one on move 29. After I missed that I became upset and collapsed under time pressure.

Indeed, Liem did miss a win on the prior move, as he points out. It wouldn’t have been as spectacular and epic as the combination arising on move 29, but in the end you don’t get style points for how you win. All that matters is that you got the win. The first missed opportunity Liem is referencing:

Going back to the position in our diagram above, instead of 29...h5 your mission is to find the spectacular winning combination for Black. Take your time, because it’s quite difficult; probably an eight on a scale of ten.

Ni,Hua (2673) - Le Quang,Liem (2703) [B84]
Asian Continental op Ho Chi Minh City (8), 12.05.2012

Black to move. Good Luck!

The solution to the above position is just one click away, but we urge you not to succumb and actually spend some time – fifteen minutes, half an hour – trying to work it out yourself. If you don't you will miss the opportunity to experience the wonderful feeling of discovery, the joy of finding a jewel of a combination yourself. And even if you don't succeed, you will definitely understand and appreciate what follows more profoundly. We will even provide a proper 3D Fritz board for you to mull over:

About the author: Akshat Chandra

I'm 15-years-old and in grade eleven. I learnt chess when my family relocated to India, for a few years. I started playing in 2009, and received a FIDE rating of 1548 in January 2010. When I competitively got involved in chess, I realized that at around 9 ½ years of age I’d started very late, compared to peers in US and India. The leading players in and around my age-group had started playing chess at five or six years of age, and were hundreds of Elo points above me. Whoa! I’m on a Quest to the GM title. It's not going to be easy to reach this coveted title, and it requires a lot of support and training. But like others before me who have walked the difficult road, I'll continue putting in the hard work that has got me so far in less than five years, from a 1548 to a 2490 IM. As famous American Football quarterback Joe Namath once said: "If you're not going all the way, then why go at all." More can be learnt about me and my quest to the GM title on my blog QuestToGM.

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• Quest for a first GM norm – part two
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