Examples from COQ
Below are some excerpts from games played in this year’s Quebec Open. Some amusing, some instructive and some surprising. Enjoy!
KNIGHT-MARES
MICHAEL KLEINMAN
GM ARENCIBIA
Black has an ok position here but his sense of danger fails him. He should try to reduce the orbit (circle) of the White Knight with 23…h5, not fearing 24.Nf5 Qe6 25.Qg5 Rd7 with a solid defence.
INSTEAD, Kleinman tries to take the initiative on the other side of the board….
23…Nd3?! 24.Rd1 Nxb2 25.Rd6!!
Black must have failed to see the stength of this move! White threatens to win with Nf5 and Qg5, and so Kleinman exchanges to reduce the threats, but in doing so he creates a passed pawn.
25…RxR 26.PxR Qd7
Moving the Queen to d8 immediately was stronger, though it would not save the game in the long run. Now White won with a direct attack:
27.Ng4! Qd8 28. Qe5! Nc4 29.Nh6-ch
and it is mate!
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THE BLOW OUT
IM S. BARBEAU
MICHAEL KLEINMAN
Black played a risky opening and soon found himself with his King stranded in the centre. Despite some creative play, Black has not succeeded in solving his principle problem, and now White has the opportunity to exploit it.
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
SOLUTION: 27.Rxc5-ch!! PxR 28.Qxc5-ch Bc7 29.Bf4 etc. Black loses too much material trying to avoid an immediate mate.
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BACK RANK TACTIC
JAKE KLEINMAN
J-P LEROUX
Here Black’s luft (h6) means little with the White Bishop perched on b1. White won quickly starting with
Here Black’s luft (h6) means little with the White Bishop perched on b1. White won quickly starting with
24.Nxe5! : …RxN 25.BxR NxB 26.QxN! etc.
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SHARP EYESIGHT!
MYRIAM ROY
JAKE KLEINMAN
Black seems solid enough, but White has a tactic to win 2-Bishops for Rook and Pawn. Do you see it?
SOLUTION: 16.Nxd7! NxN 17.RxN! QxR 18.Qe5! with a double attack
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A CLASSIC SACRIFICE
CARL BERGERON
GILBERT LEBEAU
Black is prepared to defend after 22.h6 (threatening mate) with 22…Nf5! 23.Nh4 Qd8! with a good game. However, White has another way to attack:
22.Pxg6 P(f)xg6 23.Rxh7!! KxR 24.Qf7-ch and Black resigns. It is mate after moving the King to e2 and bringing in the Rook to the h-file. Very pretty.
JOHN GOLDNER
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A PASSION FOR CHESS
JOHN GOLDNER
MICHEL BARRE
John Goldner and I have been friends for more than 35 years. A true amateur (in every sense of the word), Goldner plays the game because he has a great passion for chess. Caissa, however, has not been very kind to John and he continues to lose game after game because of back luck and silly one-move oversights….inspite of often having the advantage and playing excellently up to a certain point.
Here Black has an extra pawn and a solid position. Black should probably play calmly with 24…Rb8, and then follow up with …h6 (creating luft) and then slowly trying to push White back. INSTEAD, John tries to seize the initiative immediately, overlooking a simple –but elegant–trick on his opponent’s part:
24…Nb6?? 25.QxN!! (ouch) 25…PxQ 26.RxR-ch Ne8 27. d6!
DANIEL VALDEZ
Black is defending against the immediate threat of mate. Now White can win several ways (the simplest being 25.d5) but he chooses the most artistic solution:
The pawn can not be stopped! Black resigned a couple of moves later….
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TWO SACS ON THE SAME SQUARE
DANIEL VALDEZ
EMILE TROTTIER
An instructive game! Both Kings are in open positions but here the initiative decides the game. Not very effective now would be the back rank check (Qh8-ch) because the King simply escapes with a tempo.
White finds the solution: starting with a classic sacrifice
23.Nf5!
23.Nf5!
Threatening mate in one move. If Black takes the Knight (23…Pxf5) then simply 24.Bxc6 wins the house. So Black’s next move creates luft for the King
23…g6!? 24.Nh6 (threatening mate again) 24…Bd8
Black is defending against the immediate threat of mate. Now White can win several ways (the simplest being 25.d5) but he chooses the most artistic solution:
25.Bf5!!
Another sac on f5! Very unusual to see in the same game….the game soon ended
(25…Qc7. 26.Qg8-ch! Ke7 27.Qxf7-ch Kd6 28.Rxe6-ch etc.)
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THE ‘NOT-SO-BRILLIANT’ QUEEN SACRIFICE
(or how POKER changed my chess)
F.CHEVALIER
R. SARRAZIN-GENDRON
A sharp middlegame position has arisen after 22 moves of play. White should probably play the calm 23.Re1 and though Black is a bit better ,White can fight. HOWEVER, with the Black Queen momentarily dormant on b8 and an obvious weakness (even a double check) on f6, White was tempted to make a ‘brilliant’ Queen sacrifice in search of immortality.
23.QxN ?!? RxQ 24.Nf6-ch Kh8 25.NxR-ch
White has a Rook and a Knight for the Queen (plus one or two checks), normally insufficient compensation all things considered. Forced now for Black is 25…f6! and after 26.Nxf6 the cold blooded 26…Qa8 (taking the Queen out of the circle of the Knight) followed by …b5 and bringing the Queen into play via a7-ch would give Black the upper hand.
INSTEAD, BLACK COMMITS SUICIDE
25…Bg7??? 26.BxB-ch Kg8 27.Nf6-mate!
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ENTRAPMENT…
PAUL WESTON
SERGE LEMIEUX
A roughly equal position has arisen after 28 moves of play. The weak c-pawn (Black) is offset by the counterplay that is an option at any moment by …e5 (activating the Bishop). It is curious how White manages to lose in just 2 moves : Black does not even threaten anything.
29.Qa8!? Rb8!
Now White should just retreat his Queen…
30.Ra7??
Forcing Black’s hand.
30…Qc8!
White resigns!! The Queen is trapped in the corner by her own Rook and the only way to escape is to chuck the Rook.
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THAT OLD BACK RANK PROBLEM…
FELIX DUMONT
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OUCH!!
The tournament was not very kind to Thomas, who withdrew after this game. The Quebec GM found himself with an extra pawn and a good position early on but then started to play indecisively, and finally walked into an ambush.. This position arrived after White’s 40th move.
ERIC SONN
This is the position after 25 moves. Ofcourse, Black –being a piece up –is completely winning. However, either White resigns or continues to fight. 26.R5-d1 seems like the way to continue the fight…HOWEVER, some days it is better to not get up and instead to stay in bed. For Eric, this was one of those days!
Eric played 26.Rb5 ?? and after 26…QxR! he realized that he could not recapture because of a mate on the back rank. White resigned. (Not a moment too soon!)
MORAL OF THE STORY: Don’t forget to create luft in your games!
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THE DEMOLITION MAN…
ZHAO LUO
ALAIN TREMBLAY
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
SOLUTION: 20. Rxg7!! (Ouch! This really destroys Black’s King position.) 20…KxR 21.Qxf6-ch Black resigns. He loses the house.
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THE DOUBLE ATTACK
POSITION AFTER 18 MOVES:
ANDREI GULKO
K. RAMASWAMY
The position is about equal. White should now play it safe with and exchange on c8 followed by bringing back his Knight to c3. INSTEAD, Ramaswamy unwisely tried to build up the tension, overlooking some hidden tactical poison:
19.Rc3? Bxb5! 20.Rxb3?! (better 20.Bxf8, but Black should win after 20…Rxc3 21.bxc3 Qc7! 22.g3 Bxd3 23.QxB KxB when Black has 2 pieces for a Rook.) 20…BxB 21.QxB Qc7!
OUCH!!
Black will emerge a piece up! White resigned.
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19th Century Chess Brilliancy
Martin Leutschaft
Paul Weston
Martin Leutschaft and I go back to the days of the Alekhine Chess Club on Berri Street! It is good to see that he still has a passion for the game…in the position above (after White’s 19th move), Martin found a clever way to break into White’s seemingly solid defence.
BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN!
SOLUTION: 19…Nxh2! 20. NxN RxN-ch!! 21. KxR Qh4-ch and mate next move.
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Heart breaking loss….
Francois Leveille
GM Thomas Roussel-Roozmon
The tournament was not very kind to Thomas, who withdrew after this game. The Quebec GM found himself with an extra pawn and a good position early on but then started to play indecisively, and finally walked into an ambush.. This position arrived after White’s 40th move.
BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN!
SOLUTION: 40…Rd8!! White is defenceless as he can not maintain control of the vital d-file.. He can not take the Rook on d8 because of mate on f1. If 41.Re1 then 41…Bh6! wins atleast a piece because of the …Rd2-ch threat. Finally, 41. Qe2 goes off to 41…Rxd1 and 42…Qf2-ch
Thomas threw in the towel after Black’s 40th move! And then withdrew….
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS