Friday’s winning 5-second tactics
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BEWARE OF THE PIN!
Ben-Zeev, Moshe (1963)
Urbanc, Vinko (1849)
World Seniors; Katerini 2014.10.29 Position before Black’s 41st move. Ofcourse, Black has a big advantage with his passed a-pawn. He must win after the logical 41…a2!, ignoring the g5-threat: 42.g5 Qf5! 43.Qb2 Qb1! when White has a few useless checks and Black will have an extra Queen! Little better would be 42.Qb2 Qh1! 43.QxP Nxg4+!; a bit tougher would be 42.Qa1, but after 42…Qc6+! 43.Kf2 Qe4! 44.Qxa2 Qxf4+ it is just simple technique.
INSTEAD, probably short of time, Black thought he had a genius move:
41…Qf2+??
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
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SMALL DETAILS!
im Bruno, Fabio (2436)
fm Madeira, Wagner Martins (2207)
World Seniors; Katerini 2014.10.29 Position before Black’s 28th move. White would not stand so badly had Black not control of the h-file. It is usually the small details that one overlooks…
BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN!
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TO TAKE THE DRAW OR NOT?
fm Perez Gormaz, Matias (2358)
gm Cubas, Jose Fernando
IX American Continental; Praia da Pipa 2014.10.26 Position after White’s 24th move (24,d6+) An exciting game! White had earlier made a speculative, but unwarranted, sacrifice of a Bishop to try to exploit the vulnerable position of the Black monarch in the centre.
Even so, it now seems as though White is not worse: 24…Kd8 would allow 25.Qf6+ snaring the Black Rook; 24…Kd7 allows 25.Qxb7+ Ke6 26.Qc8+ and 27.Rf1+ with a winning game. Finally, 24…Ke6!? 25.Qh3+! Kf7 25.Qd7+ Kg8 26.Qe8! when the reader can easily verify that the game must soon end in a perpetual check after either 26…Qxb2 27.Rf1 Qd4+ or 26…Kg7 27.Qe5+
The question is then…
SHOULD BLACK TAKE THE DRAW?
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MORE SMALL DETAILS!
gm Movsziszian, Karen
im Barle, Janez (2338)
World Seniors Katerini 2014.10.29 Position before Black’s 35th move. A wild game! White is intending 36.Rg1. Black should defend with 35…Kh8! when 36.Rg1?! is not so good because of 36…Qh5! with some advantage, the Black piece can not be captured because of the attack on h3. Correct would have been 36.Nxg7 when Black is a bit better but the draw is virtually unavoidable.
HOWEVER, probably short of time, Karen played what he thought amounted to the same thing…
35…Qh5?
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
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