I found this position on the website ChessMastery.co.uk.
It is a mind boggling position. The white threat is quite obvious:
1. Qxh6 Kxh6 2. Ng4#
It all looks forced. Is black fighting for a lost cause or does he have one last trick up his sleeve? (If one asks a question like this, the answer must be a resounding ‘yes’). Solution…
In the foreword of his excellent book ‘Recognizing your opponent’s resources’ the author, Mark Dvoretsky’ writes:
‘Your opponent also has a right to exist – Savielly Tartakower remarked with his characteristic irony. Absorbed in our own thoughts, we sometimes forget this, for which we have to pay dearly.
As Viktor Korchnoi wrote, Well, if you do not check what your opponent is doing, you will end up complaining about bad luck after every game.’
Korchnoi’s statement is the reason why I stopped ‘wishing my opponent luck’. It implies that I wish myself to blunder. I hate making big mistakes! Nowadays I wish them a nice game and think ‘I hope my game will just be a bit more nice then yours!’
It’s great advice to take your opponent’s resources into account. It will net you a lot of extra points. We allways have to take care and ask ourselves:
‘Are there any threats’ and ‘What if I do…. how might my opponent react?’
Even the simplest positions sometimes hide unexpected tactical tricks. See the diagram*. At first glance it seems that white is completely winning. He simply queens his pawn (c7xb8Q) and will be a queen and a rook up. Also taking with the rook on b8 gives white more then enough material to win the game.
Or is this a bit too cheerful? Well see for yourself. White to play and win (yes, he has a win)! But it is no so easy as it looks. Solution…
*Source: Chessbites.com
Former world champion Boris Spassky was completely outmaneuvered in his game against Anatoly Karpov in Montreal (1979). See the diagram.
Black just played 38 … b5? This is a mistake after white can finish the game with a bang. What is the winning move in this position?
After you clicked on the link you will find the complete game. It is a fine positional achievement and a model game on the subject ‘how to play against the isolated queen pawn’. Spassky was nick named ‘the comeback kid’. But here there was no coming back. Spassky was rendered completely helpless against white’s clever play.
The Benkö (Volga) Gambit is a rare guest at grandmaster level. But on club level it is a populair opening. Black gets a lot of pressure for his pawn and his position almost plays itself whereas white has to be constant on his guard.
The problem for white is that it is difficult to develop his pieces in a harmonious way. These are the reasons why this gambit is so popular among club players.
On grandmaster level this opening is a less frequent guest because it’s not considered to be completely sound. Grandmasters mainly use the Benkö as a surprise weapon. Grandmaster Vladimir Baklan won games with this gambit against Artur Yusupov, Sergey Volkov and Viktor Korchnoi!
Although Viktor Korchnoi was clearly past his prime in 2000, he still was a very strong player. But even he had trouble to fight the Benkö. After 17 moves the combatants reached the diagram position. Viktor has just played 17. Nf4-g2. What on earth could be wrong with this move?Read More »
Last weekend I played in the Malmö Open. I was pleased with my result. The strange thing is that I scored most of my points out of very difficult situations. In three games I was objectively lost. But tenacious defence saved the day for me.
The diagram position is not one of these games. Although I had to defend myself again. White attacked fiercely and finally invested a piece in order to keep the attack going. But to no avail. I gained the upper hand.
See the diagram position after 22. Bb6. White came with one more problematic move. Black is winning, but he has to find the (only) correct move. Do you see it? I did and went on to win the game! Solution…
When I looked for the first time at this position the strange fianchettoed position of the white queen struck me. But there is more.
The coordination between the white pieces is poor. But how can black make use of this?
It took me a while (6:43) to figure this out. Can you do better than me? Of course you can …!!
One of the most important endgame rules is ‘do not rush’! See the diagram.
I found this position with Chess Club Live. It says ‘white to move’. I don’t know why, but I had a funny feeling and checked the position in Megabase.
This position was reached in a game from Anand against Comp Genius in de PCA/Intel GP London Rapid 1994. And my hunch was correct. There is something strange with this puzzle. It was not white to move in this position, but black! Does it make a difference?Read More »
It is difficult to say how strong these players were. You can’t compare them with modern grandmasters. The modern grandmaster stands on the shoulders of these giants of the past. In the old times a lot of stuff needed to be invented. Steinitz himself was one of the first grandmasters who formulated basic chess principles.
These principles, which favored a more cautious and positional style, were not to every-bodies liking. Most of the (top) players in that era were still stuck in the Romantic way of playing chess. This meant:
Go for the attack and try to beat you opponent with great combinations.
Defense seemed not very important. Only a coward plays defensive moves! Here you have an example.Read More »
The World Cup final between Svidler and Karjakin was a comedy of errors. We can have lots of fun when the big boys blunder. It’s also very easy to criticize them for their bad moves.
Of course it’s very convenient when we are sitting behind our computer and get some help from Fritz, Houdini or Komodo (of course 9.2!).
But what happens when we are sitting behind the board and smell the sweat from our opponents? Very likely we fare far more worse.Read More »
In de last round of Norway chess the leader, Veselin Topalov only needed a draw against runner up Vishy Anand to secure the first place.
Well that was exactly what he got. He played a very solid line in a Queens Gambit and went at some moment for a well known repetition. It was a great result for him.
But it was a bummer for all the chess fans. I was watching this game live through Playchess and was hoping, like all the other chess fans, for a fantastic last round fight for the first place. But as I can remember the whole thing was over within an hour. After this let down I had a brief discussion through the chat with grandmaster Daniel King. He was very clear and said something to the extend of:Read More »
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