Category: Tactic

Mutual blindness

Michel HoetmerLeave a comment

Is there something like luck in chess? Some people might say ‘in other sports yes, but of course not in chess!’ In football for instance a ball can change direction due to an uneven football pitch.

Or, what happened years ago in a football match in Utrecht: a sea gull collided with the ball. There is no such thing as an uneven chess board. And sea gulls are not likely to be found indoors. At least: not that I have seen.

But of course in chess there is also something called luck. For instance your opponent blunders in a won position. In my opinion that’s luck.

What do you think about this position? It is from my game against A. Broddevalk played in the Västerås Open 2014. See the first diagram.

With his last move black attacked the pawn on b2. White defended the pawn a bit careless with 12. b3. Better would have been 12. Qb3 or 12. Nbd2.

Let’s look at the position from black’s perspective. I was not at all happy with my position. It is a sort of Tarrasch defense but with one major difference: the dark colored bishops are exchanged. For my feeling I was worse because I am weak on the dark squares.Read More »

The tale of two blunders in one move

Michel HoetmerLeave a comment


Can a chess player set himself up to lose in more than one way in one move? Of course he can! No problem at all.

It was the last round of the Västerås Open 2014. Things hadn’t gone very smoothly up till now. The result off the rapid session on Friday evening was a bit iffy. But losing to the seven times Swedish champion Axel Ornstein was not a shame. I managed to make a decent fight out of it.

The other rapid games were somewhat more questionable. Two out of four. At least the score, but not the quality of my games, kept some hope alive.

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Chess puzzle #15 dead end?

Michel HoetmerLeave a comment

It seems that the black attack came to a dead end. That’s too bad, because he invested a whole rook in the adventure. The rook on a8 and the bishop on c8 are passive bystanders and of no use for the attack.

At first glance nothing works. For instance 1. … Nxe2+ is met by 2. Nxe2 Qxg4 3. Kh2 Bd7 4. Ng3 and white has the upper hand. Other moves seems to go nowhere either. So is it hopeless for black? On the contrary. He has a win. For you to find out how.

See the solution…

Go to the next chess puzzle…

Sweet chess victories (2)

Michel HoetmerLeave a comment

In the first part of my blog about sweet chess victories I showed you two very short games. Today’s game is also very short. But maybe even more sweet. Why?

Firstly because I love short victories. Secondly I love them even more when my opponent doesn’t unnecessary drag things on.

But don’t you get a big smile on your face when your opponent resigns in a position that is actually not lost yet? Sorry, I am a bad person, but I can’t help  it: I get a big grin on my face. Everything was over within 13 moves!

Here you can play the whole game in the viewer. Let’s not bother about the first part of the game and have a closer look at the position in which black decided to call it quits (see the diagram). Black’s bishop is attacked. So he has to move it away. For instance 13. … Bg6 In that case white plays 14. Nxg6 and 15. e5 winning a piece. So that won’t work. How about 13. … Bg4? (now it get’s really funny!)

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Chess puzzle #13: tactics time

Michel HoetmerLeave a comment

Tim Brennan received a lot of praise and some harsh criticism for his book ‘Tactics time’. The book contains 1001 chess tactics from players like you and me.

If you are looking for complicated and difficult tactics this book is not for you. This book is an anthology of the cheap and messy tricks of the everyday chess amateur. 

Almost all the tactics are very (very) simple. I played through the book on my Kindle (see the Kindle edition) and missed only a couple correct solutions.

The warning ‘this book could help you improve your chess game significantly’ seems a bit exaggerated. I think it might be true for lower rated players, say players under 1200. But that doesn’t mean the one can’t derive a lot of pleasure from the book and the tactics. I did and still do.

I subscribed to Tim’s newsletter (see his website) and receive his chess problems on a regular basis. It is always fun to have a look at it. To let you share in the fun I present you one of his problems. See the diagram. Black played 21. … Qb4 and white responded with 22. Bc2. Was this the best move, or was there a better possibility?

See the game and the solution… (with thanks to Tim Brennan’s newsletter).

Go to the next chess puzzle…

Sweet chess victories (1)

Michel HoetmerLeave a comment

What’s you idea about the ideal chess game? I guess a lot of people will say: 

‘The ideal chess game is a long and difficult fight, full of nice moves and great ideas. After a tough and long struggle I managed to outsmart my opponent and won!’ 

I beg to differ. The ideal chess game is short and totally annihilates the opponent. 

Bobby Fischer once said: ‘Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind.’ I completely agree. Problem is that he was slightly more often on the side of the crusher than me. But, believe it or not, once and a while I also experience those glorious moments.Read More »