Today’s 5-second tactics
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gm Bondarevsky,Igor
gm Kotov,A
Leningrad,1936. Position after White’s 23rd move (23.Ke3) Black has sacrificed an entire Rook to try to attack the White monarch, who–with his last move–seems to be slipping away. But it is a cardinal principle in chess that a wandering King should stay away from the centre…
BLACK TO PLAY: MATE IN 5 MOVES!
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gm Bronstein,David
gm Bondarevsky,Igor
Leningrad 1963. Ussr Championship. Position after White’s 29th move. Black has a clearly dominating position and his Knight on d3 ties down the White pieces. The problem facing Black is how to support his Knight and break into the White camp. Bronstein came up with a clever solution…
HOW CAN BLACK WIN?
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gm Bondarevsky,I
gm Trifunovic, P
Saltsjobaden Interzonal , 1948 Position after 18 moves of play. Black had just played 18…h6, politely asking the Knight to go away. White has a clear plus: more development, active pieces and harmoniously placed, too. Meanwhile, Black still has not got all of his pieces out of the box on the Queenside. Surely White need not be so polite here…
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
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gm Mikenas,V
gm Bondarevsky,I
Moscow 1950. Ussr Ch. Position after 21 moves of play. The game has not gone well for the Black pieces, despite being an exchange to the good. The strong White Bishops pose great danger to the exposed Black King. The question is how to exploit this.
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
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SOLUTIONS
Leningrad 1936; Ussr Ch. Kotov Alex–Bondarevsky Igor: 23…f4+! 24.Nxf4 Qf2+ 25.Kd3 Qxd4+!! 26.Kxd4 Bc5+ 0-1
Leningrad 1963. Ussr Ch. Bondarevsky Igor –Bronstein David: 29…c4!! 30.Nxc4 ( If instead 30.bxc4 Qb6! The point is that after 31.c5 Qxc5 32.Rxd3 exd3 33.Qxd3 Re8 34.Qd5+ Qxd5 35.Nxd5 Re2 Black has an easy technical win and if instead 31.Re2 f4! 32.fxe4 Rd8 White loses a piece for insufficient compensation ) 30…Qc5+! 31.Kh2 ( Slightly better is 31.Kh1 Bxd2 32.Qxd2 though after 32… Qf2 33.Qxf2 Nxf2+ 34.Kg1 Nd1 Black against wins easily the ending) 31…Bf4+ 32.g3?! ( 32.Kh1 Bxd2 transposes into the previous note ) 32…Ne1! 0-1 White loses the house.
Saltsjobaden Izt. 1948. Trifunovic Petar –Bondarevsky Igor: 19.Nf6+! gxf6 ( 19…Kh8 20.Qc2 wins immediately ) 20.exf6 Rxf6 ( or if instead 20…Qe8 21.Rxd8! Qxd8 ( 21…Qxa4 22.f7# ) 22.Qc2 etc ) 21.Bxf6 Qxf6 22.Qe8+ Bf8 23.Ne4 and White’s attack is unstoppable. Black could resign here with confidence. 23…Qe7 24.Qxd8 Qxd8 25.Rxd8 Kf7 26.a4 Bg7 27.f4 Ke7 28.Rfd1 c5 29.R1d6 Bd4+ 30.Kf1 Be3 31.g3 Bd4 32.Rc8 1-0
Moscow 1950. Ussr Ch.Bondarevsky,Igor Mikenas, V: 22.Bxb6! axb6 23.Qa8+ with a winning attack 23…Kc7 24.Qa7+ Kd6 25.Rd1+ Ke5 26.Rxd7 Nxd7 27.Qc7+ Ke6 28.Nd4+ Kf7 29.Nf5 Re1+ 30.Kh2 Rd1 31.Qc2 1-0