White just played 24. Rhg1?? in a game between Oleksiyenko en Shmeliov (Lviv 2003). Why is this such a big mistake? Scroll down for the answer. 

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In his new book “Turbo Charge your tactics 1” Mykhaylo writes about this move:

“The previous moves were also far from perfect, but my last move was a horrible blunder”

The problem is the diagonal c1-h6 and the rather loose bishop on c5. There is also the possibility of some back rank issues. Black can make use of these weaknesses with: 

24. … Rd5!

First of all: side stepping with the king to b1 doesn’t work at all. White will not only lose material but gets mated in the end. It is too nice not to show this variation: 

25. Kb1 Rd1+ 26. Qc1 Rxc1+ 27. Kxc1  Nd3+ 28. Kd1 Qc1+ 29. Ke2 Qxc2+ 30. Ke3 Qf2+! 31. Kxd3 Bf5 32. Kc4 Qc2# 

See the diagram below. 

I admit, this was not a very serious variation. But it shows already the dangers white is facing. More serious is: 

25. Bb6

But that fails too after:

25. … c5!!

The connection between queen and bishop is broken. White can’t take on c5:

26. Bxc5 Rxc5 27. Qxc5 Nd3+ 

Is of course hopeless.

26. Bc4 or 26. b3 

do not work because of Ne2+ and the queen is lost. In the game white played what can be described as his best practical chance:

25. g3

He found himself in a lost position after:

25. … Rxc5 26. gxf4 Qxf4 27. Qxf4 exf4 -+.  

Mykhaylo writes in his book:

“I felt embarrassed and angry at the same time. I did not want to resign, so I decided to take my chances and try to get some counterplay. That is how this game ended up in Tragicomedy in the Endgame by Mark Dvoretsky.”

Here you can replay the whole game and see how it all finished. 

Just take your time and see what happened. It is very nice in the end. And that is (also) not the end of the story. Earlier in the game white missed similar problems on the same diagonal when he played 16. Qc3. Mykhaylo called this his blind spot. This is what the book is also about. Discovering your blind sports. 

You probably already guessed it. When there is a book saying part 1, very likely there is also a part two. See: 

Turbo-Charge your Tactics 2 – Accelerate and Win by Vladimir Grabinsky and Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko