5-second tactics at World Junior
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The World Júnior is taking place right now and continues until the 27th of the current month. There are two sections–Open and Female. The Open section has 40 players rated more than 2400, including 10 gms and two rated more than 2600. Canada is represented by Alberta’s IM Richard Wang, who has had a bit of a slow start, scoring only 2 points from the first 5 games. However, as it is a 13-round event, Richard will have plenty of time to catch up.
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Nuri,M (2206)
Bai,Jinshi (2412)
Position after 26 moves of play. White has sacrificed a piece to gain a Kingside attack. Black suffers in coordinating his defence. However, it is not so easy to simply win: if now 27.Bd1 then Black has 27…Be8, still very much in the game. White must demonstrate more style than this if he is to pocket the point!
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
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im Wang,Richard
fm Igonin, Temur
From today’s round. Position after 19 moves of play. Richard had a good game several moves ago but over-estimated his chances and temporarily sacrificed a pawn on e5 without checking all of White’s defensive resources. At first sight Black seems to be doing ok, as 20.Be2 or 20.Bc2 (both hitting the Black d-pawn) allows 20…d4! with favourable play for Black. OR IF 20.h3 then Black simply recaptures on e5. The same thing goes for 20.Qb3 (20…QxQ! and 21…Nxe5)
WHAT HAD RICHARD OVERLOOKED?
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fm Igonin,Temur
im Narayanan,SL
Position after 34 moves of play. At first sight the position seems very unclear and too messy to evaluate accurately. HOWEVER, in chess there is a concept that cuts thru the chase and always ends the game…it is called MATE!
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
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Laurusas,T (2398)
im Kovalev,Vl
I like this one! Position after 26 moves of play. Black has played a bit too loosely, counting on the tactics working to his advantage: for exemple, if 27.Qe1 RxR+ 28.KxR Qxh5+ 29.Kc1? QxB!! winning for Black. HOWEVER, this is not a Blitz game and Black should have treated the CaroKan with a bit more finesse…
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
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gm Cori,J
Kathmale,S (2338)
Position after White’s 27th move (27.b3?!–instead taking the d-pawn was better) The problem with White’s position is lack of coordination of his pieces. Especially, only his Knight has moved beyond the first rank! Sometimes that is all one’s opponent needs…
BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN!
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SOLUTIONS
Bai,Jinshi–Nuri,M: 27.Qxh5+!! forced mate! 27… Kxh5 28.Bd1+Kh6 29.Rf4 1-0 Black has a few spite checks but no defence to White’s mating attack.
Igonin, Temur–Wang, Richard: 20.Bc4! with a winning advantage in all lines. The game ended quickly after 20…dxc4 21.Qxd7 Ncxe5?! 22.Bxe5 Nxe5 23.Nxe5 Rd8 (23…BxN 24.Qd5+!) 24.Qa4 1-0
Narayanan,SL–Igonin,Temur: 35.Rxd7! 1-0 After 35…BxR 36.Be5+ is the end
Kovalev,Vl–Laurusas,T: 27.Bxb6!! Surprising strong. 27… Rxd2 28.Rxd2 1-0 If 28…Qg5 29.Rbd3 and 30.Kb1. The Black King can not escape the constant mate threat on d8, leaving it to White to decide the moment to play Rd8+ (if there is nothing better) forcing a winning King and Pawn ending.
Kathmale,S–Cori,J: 27…Bxh2! Ofcourse. After 28.BxB Rxe3 is strategically winning for Black. Instead, White jumped into the fire: 28.Kxh2? Qh6+ 29.Kg3 g5! 0-1 It is forced mate