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
See the diagram. This was the position in the game Smyslow-Tolush (Moscow 1961) after black played 16. – Qd8??
Why is this a blunder? Hint: white’s answer is a neat and a bit unexpected move! It took me a while to find the correct move. Solution…
With thanks to chesstempo.com
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).Â
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 »
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 »
This position occurred after white played 17. Qf4 in the game Levon Aronian – Hikaru Nakamura (Candidates 2016, round 6).
Why is 17. – Nh5 a terrible move? Solution…
PS. Of course Nakamura played a much better move, but in the end he lost the game after 86 moves.
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. Â
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. 😦
Winning an endgame with a rook against a lone pawn should be straightforward. But sometimes things are not so easy. These endgames can get a lot more complicated when the pawn is close to promotion.
Even more problems might arise when the pieces of the stronger side are in the wrong places.
When both problems occur in the same position, the ‘stronger’ side might be dead lost. See the first diagram. This position was posted by international chess master Johan Salomon from Norway on his twitter account. It is white to play and win. Solution…Read More »
White threatens to mate the black king. But there is a problem. The black queen is checking the white king.
Your task is obvious: try to escape the female’s harassment. 🙂
I found this chess puzzle on chesstempo.com (puzzle 55657). To the game…
Today the Zurich Chess Challenge starts. The organizers invited some very strong grandmasters: Anand, Kramnik, Nakamura, Aronian, Giri and Shirov.
This strong lineup is not what makes this tournament special. It is the ‘new’ time control which draws our attention.
The new time control is 40 minutes + increment. The organizers call it innovation. I call it: same old, same old. This time control is nothing new. We even have a name for it (trumpets please):Read More »
Simon Williams is one of the best (if not the best) trainers on PlayChess. His shows are always very entertaining and I learn a lot from them. Simon has a knack for the attack on the king. Â
Tonight he showed some great Nakamura games. The diagram is one of the positions we looked at. This was not from a Nakamura game but Simon showed it to us because it was relevant for what was to follow.
There are some neat tactics involved. The position is quite complicated. As usual in the Kings Indian white attacks on the Queen side and black tries to force matters on the Kings side.
Question: who is better?
Hint: there are several games in the database. It was black who won most of the times, but not always! Solution…
Michel's Chess Blog 