Saturday’s winning 5-second tactics
“Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, “It might have been.” ― Kurt Vonnegut
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STUBBORNESS
gm Spassky. Boris V
gm Larsen, Bent
Linares 1981 Position after 41 moves. Black’s last move was 41…Qe2+. After an interesting fight it now appears clear that the game is going to end in a perpetual check, a fair result. If Larsen tries to avoid the draw with 42.Qf2 Qg4+ 43.Kh1 then after 43… Qd1+ 44.Qg1 Qxa4 it will be White who will have to find a way to draw! The game continued
42.Kh3 Qe3+
When Spassky was expecting 43.Kg2 Qf2+ repeating the position, and hence a draw. HOWEVER, Larsen played the astonishing
43.Qf3??
BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN!
Grandmaster Bent Larsen (Denmark,1935–2010) was one of the most successful tournament players of all times. Always playing for a win, Larsen would sometimes lose his sense of objectivity and give his opponent undeserved chances. Witness his game against the great Paul Keres from San Antonio 1972:
gm Keres,Paul
gm Larsen,Bent
Position after 46 moves. A pawn up, it is , however, not clear if White has any winning chances as everything is on one side of the board and Black has no weaknesses. In any case, it is hard to believe that Black actually WON this game! Larsen tried too hard and put his King into a dangerous position. You can play over the game HERE.
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Soler Rionegro, Andres (1950)
fm Arias Boo, Guillermo (2339)
Lliga Catalana 2015.1.31 Position after White’s 25th move (25.Qb5). White is threatening 26.RxN when the Black is enprise. Even so, Black is fine in the above position, and need only play 25…c4 (for example) and if anyone is better it is Black! HOWEVER, probably a bit afraid of his higher rated opponent, Black decided to defend the Rook directly
25…Qe5??
Looks like a super-safe move, but is infact the losing move!
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
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AMBUSH!
im Gonzalez Rodriguez, Jorge
