Category: Tactic

Bad thinking habits will kill our chess ability

Michel HoetmerLeave a comment

If you follow this blog for a while, you know by now that I love to solve tactical puzzles. What you see on this blog is just a fraction of the puzzles I have solved (or screwed up). Messing up is very easy to do. I had my share of big failures.

Maybe it is a good idea to ask myself the question: what goes wrong? Why do I keep making silly mistakes in (sometimes) quite easy positions? Well the position in the diagram is certainly not very easy. In fact it is a bit complicated.

In order to solve this puzzle (and many others) it might be a good idea to look for a while what is exactly going on. What’s being attacked? What are weak spots? Are there any pins? Loose pieces? Endangered kings? A bit more abstract: what are the motifs? Do you see them?Read More »

Chess puzzle #39: tricky stuff

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The tactical puzzles on ChessTempo are more difficult then on some other websites. They are taken from real chess games.

The solution is often a bit messy and not allways straightforward. Many times there is some sort of sting. And you guessed it right: I fall right into the trap. 😦

White just played 1. Kg4-f5. The threat is obvious: if white gets the chance to play Ke6 or Kg6 he threatens mate (Rf7#). This makes the conversion off f3-pawn into a queen a bit complicated. But it is the only way to win the game. Therefore let’s play 1. – f2 White answers 2. Kd3. The question is: how can black not only save the game but win it? See the solution…

Chess puzzle #38: too deep for a patzer

Michel HoetmerLeave a comment

Does it ever happen to you? I mean you look for a position almost endlessly, but still you can’t find the correct moves. It is not the first time this happened to me and I am afraid it won’t be the last time either. See the diagram.

White was already facing a lot of problems. But with 30. f4?? he turned a bad position in a losing one. How can black obtain a winning advantage? Solution…

PS. I failed to find the correct solution 😦

I found this puzzle on ChessTempo

To take or not to take? That’s a hell of a question

Michel HoetmerLeave a comment

The Norwegian International Master Johan Salomon regulary posts chess puzzles on Twitter.

The diagram position is one of those puzzles (Vasiliy Korchmar vs Ruslan Ponomariov after black played 19. – Ng4). 

In fact he posted two puzzles where a knight was en prise. The first puzzle was a bit trivial. I don’t mean this in a condescending way. I love easy puzzles, especially when I see the solution within the blink of an eye. It gives me the feeling that I am not such a bad player after all. The second puzzle was very tricky and certainly not so easy to answer.

Attention grabber

There was another aspect of this position that sparked my interest. It has to do with the structure. For me it was clear that this is an example of the Modern Benoni with Bg2. This position can arise through the first moves of a Catalan setup. I play the Catalan almost exclusively and have difficulties to deal with the black set up.

Recently some more games were added to my bumpy ride with this opening. It started last year in the Malmö GP. There I played against a 2200+ player. Things went from bad to worse and finally to completely hopeless. The time control was 50 minutes per player for the whole game. My only hope was to trick this guy somewhere when time trouble would set in.Read More »

Chess puzzle #36: two tough nuts to crack

Michel HoetmerLeave a comment

The diagram position occurred after black’s twentieth move in the game Schöneberg -Tukmakov (Zinnowitz DSV 4th 1967).

Maybe you recognize the structure. At least there are some remnants of the Keres attack in the Sicilian Scheveningen.

I love the name Scheveningen because hardly any non native Dutch speaker is able to pronounce this name in the correct way. Of course we Dutch have no problems with this. Correct pronouncation…

My mother told me that in the Second World war there was a simple trick to debunk German spies. One would ask the culprit to pronounce the following silly sentence:Read More »

Chess puzzle 34: a big let down

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Yesterday was an important day for my team (Manhem III). With a win in our match against Säffle SK we would be the victor of our group (Allsvenskan div II – 5).

But it was not to be. Personally I feel responsable because I messed up against my opponent and therefore the match ended in a very disappointing 4-4.  

Before the game I told one off my team mates about my game plan: ‘I will play it very safe, just do some moves and hopefully he will make a mistake and I will punish him for it.’ This plan turned out to be very effective. That is: up to some point.

I gradually gained the upper hand after a dull start in the game. We arrived at move 20. White has the better pawn structure, a good versus bad bishop and he pins black down to the defense of c6. Moreover white has a ‘tiny’ threat. Black didn’t see it and played 20. – Qg7?? How can white take advantage of this mistake? Solution…

I did see (and play) the combination. But very soon after this I missed some better moves and finally the game petered out in a draw. The first stage of my plan was a big success. The second stage however was big let down with dire consequences for my team. 😦