Sicilian question (Dragon)

[Paul Cooksey]

White misses mate in 1 twice and resigns in a won position. I can't see a plausible input error. Either the worst time trouble ever, or a spurious game.

[Robert Dale]

Intriguing! He couldn't play it at move 26 because he is in check, but he could on move 27. The rest of the moves don't make a lot of sense either. On the face of it he declines to take his opponent's queen, twice, then resigns! The game is in Arias' list of games on chessgames, with the same moves. Maybe he was in desperate time trouble, and his flag fell, or maybe there is a move missing, like 26.... Qc3.

[Roger de Coverly]

Why couldnt Antoniou play 26. Qxg7 and mate, he played Kc1? Have I missed something? This game isnt in his list of games at chessgames.com

I think it is likely that the move before had been 25 .. Nxh7 check, which removes the Rook from h7. The Bishop on d4 was removed with the Rxb2+ idea, so there's only a Queen left attacking g7. The 2000 Olympiad was played using increments, so time pressure would never have been that serious. Also move 30.. Qxf4 makes more sense than 30 .. Qxd5.

[James Coleman]

He could certainly have played it on move 26. I agree ...Nxh7+ was the most likely.

[Nick Thomas]

I know this guy Antoniou as I played in the same team as him in the 2002 Olympiad in Bled. 2246 may be a bit inflated but he's pretty good (maybe 2150 - 2200) and I doubt he could have played the moves as shown and your analysis looks right.

[Robert Dale]

Quite right, he could have played it on move 26 - apologies, mind not working tonight! Roger's analysis looks right. I wonder why he played f4? Do you think he might remember, Nick? Or perhaps he would rather forget!

[Nick Thomas]

I'm not in touch with him now. We had a bit of a falling out regarding his conduct in the 2002 Olympiad. I guess he was in time trouble, probably at the 30 second a move stage.