3 April 2017 - Central League Cup

Stirling v Cumbernauld
Jim Shemilt   Graham Anderson   Steve Smith   Bill Cook   Dave Hewitt   Gordon Allcock   Tony Pitson	1756   1692   1676   1657   1474   1454   1553	½ - ½   ½ - ½   ½ - ½   1 - 0   1 - 0   0 - 1   1 - 0	1729   1624   1556   1330   1284	Ralph Stirrat   Mark Monaghan   George Thomson   Derek McAteer   Steven Monaghan   Daniel McAteer   Steven Gentleman
		4½ - 2½

The position below is from my game on board 2, where I was Black. Can you find the correct defense to the mate threat on g7?

I played 37 ... Ng4+ 38 hxg4 Qf6. This should just lose for Black - White swaps Queens, takes the pawn on c7, gets the Knight to a2, and plays the pawn majority down the king-side. In the time-scramble at the end, I managed to capture all of White's pawns to steal the draw.

The correct defense is 37 ... Qd6+ 38 g3 Nh5. Not exactly intuitive. If White captures the Knight on h5, his own Knight on e6 is en prise. Moving the King to break the pin on the g3 pawn leads to checks until the King has to return to h2, and Black just plays Qd6. Easy when you know how...