Monday’s 5-second tactics!
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KNIGHT MOVES (I)
Sreeves, Clement
im Panjwani,R
London Open. Yesterday. Position after 17 moves. The Canadian IM is closing in fast on his second GM-norm! Unfortunately, in this tournament this narrowly escaped Raja because the elo of his opponents was too low, but Raja never the less managed to play some excellent chess. This is one such example.
HERE Raja can play safely and keep a solid positional plus with the simple 18.Nxd7 and after 18…Bxc3 19.Rxc3!? (19.Qxc3 is also strong) 19…Qxd7 20.Qa5! when it is difficult to coordinate Black’s pieces. HOWEVER, Raja sensed that he could get more…
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN IN STYLE!
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KNIGHT MOVES (II)
gm Bartel, Mat
im Hawkins, Jonathan
London. Position after White’s 26th move. Things have not been going very well for White for most of the game, despite appearances in the above position. The Polish star is a brilliant tactician who often sees much deeper than his opponent…
BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN!
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SOLUTIONS
London ;Panjwani, Raja–Sreeves, Clement: 18.Nxf7! A very unpleasant surprise for Black! 18… Rxf7 19.Bxg7 Rxg7 20.Bxd5+ e6 ( 20…Kh8 21.Bxb7 Nc7 22.Qa5! ) 21.Bxe6+ Kh8 22.Qa5! Qe8 23.Nd4 Re7 24.Qxb5 And the rest is easy: 24…Rxe6 25.Nxe6 Qxe6 26.Qxb7 Nab8 27.Rc8+ Kg7 28.Rxb8 Qxe2 29.Qxd7+ Kf6 30.Qd4+ Kg5 31.Qf4+ Kh5 32.Qh4 # 1-0
London; Hawkins, Jonathan–Bartel, Mateusz: 26… Nxb2!! 27.Kxb2 Rc4! 28.Bf2 Qb5+ ( Perhaps even more precise is 28…Rxf4 29.Bg1 Qb5+ 30.Ka1 Rc1+ ) White resigns. He loses his Queen after 29.Qb3 ( 29.Ka1 Rc1+ ) Rb4