Friday’s 5-second chess tactic
PINS AND NEEDLES
gm MEIER,G
gm SWIERCZ,D
French-Tch. Position after 34 moves. White has Rook , plus some pawns, for the 2-Bishops. Black’s last move was 34…Bf8, hitting the White Queen. If now 35.Qg5, or 35.Qe3, the Black Rook will move, creating targets of the passed c and a pawns.
These kinds of positions with unbalanced material (2-pieces vs R+pawns) are often difficult to correctly evaluate. Even the world champions sometimes get them wrong! Let it be accepted that if the Pawns get blockaded, then the Bishop pair might give Black the upper hand.
But in the position above, White has one thing going for him that is undeniable: his passed c-pawn is already far advanced. This gives White an idea….
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
(You can play over the entire game HERE.)