Overmatched Queens

Last week I played two blitz games on the same day that demonstrated the limits of the queen against a rook and a piece. The first game I won in good style and didn't realize until post-game analysis that I should have forced a draw after winning the queen. After playing aggressively and well, I felt like I should be winning, but my opponent defended well and actually has most of the winning chances here.

Black should play d5 to keep the balance, but my Qh5 actually loses. Instead of defending with Rf1, White could play Rg1, with the unstoppable threat of either Ne7 or Nxh6 and Rg8. Black must sacrifice back the queen and reach a lost ending. White defended the f3 pawn and I eventually won the game, after some mistakes by each side.

Here's the full game.

Later the same day I played another strong opponent and again tried a sacrificial attack. I may have been thinking of the previous game when I found the winning queen sacrifice. Again, the queen was helpless against the opposing side's coordinated forces.

If you enjoy playing with pieces against a queen, here's another fun line I've played on occasion.

The final position is roughly even, but I don't envy Black's task of playing against a well developed White army.