Today’s 5-second tactics!
“Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” ― William Shakespeare
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Continuing with examples taken from grandmaster Efim Bogoljubov’s games…
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Rellstab,Ludwig
gm Bogoljubov,E
Krakow 1940 Position after 15 moves of a Sicilian. Black has misplayed the opening slightly, but that is often all that is necessary to land into a lot of trouble. In particular, it is worrisome that Black has not yet castled…but how to exploit this? Not convincing enough is 16.Nxd6+ QxN 17.Bb5+ because of the simple 17…Ke7 and Black is fine. There must be better…
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
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gm O’Kelly De Galway, Alberic
gm Bogoljubov,E
Stuttgart 1939 . Right before the war. An interesting position. Both sides are solid, but Black intends to try his hand on the Kingside. No doubt …c5 (trying to undermine the White Knight on e5) is coming…
HOW DOES WHITE GET A BIG EDGE?
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gm Bogoljubov,E
gm Euwe,Max
Bad Nauheim 1937 Position after 25 moves. The game is roughly balanced: the White Bishop on d6 is strong, while the Black pressure on d4 is annoying. The world champion should make luft with g3 or h3, quietly awaiting events to unroll. INSTEAD, Euwe let’s slip his sense of danger for a brief moment and defends the d4-pawn one more time first…
26.Ne2??
The losing move!
BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN!
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gm Bogoljubov,E
Opocensky, Karel
Sliac 1932 Position before Black’s 22nd move. White had just played his Knight to d6, thinking that he was getting the advantage. Instead, this is the decisive mistake, spoiling a quite acceptable game! Bogoljubov finds a clever way to exploit the open position of the White monarch…
BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN!
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Winter William
gm Bogoljubov,E
London 1927. Position before Black’s 16th move. White has not played the opening sufficiently well and Black now has attacking chances on the Kingside. In the game continuation Winter played the imprecise 16…h5!?, which– while still maintaining some chances–allowed Bogoljubov to regroup. (The game eventually ended in a victory for White, though after mistakes by both sides.)
INSTEAD, in the position above, Black has a clever possibility that escaped both players…
WHAT IS BLACK’S BEST LINE?
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SOLUTIONS
Krakow 1940 Bogoljubow Efim –Rellstab Ludwig : 16.Bg6!! A startling move If now 16…Nxc4?? 17.Rxe6+ Kf8 18.Qxd8#; also bad is 16…Bxf3? 17.Nxd6+ Kf8 18.Qxf3. Relatively best is 16…Ke7 17.Nxd6 Qxd6 18.Qxd6+ Kxd6 19.Bxf7 , though there is no doubt that White must win. The game continuation was 16…hxg6?! 17.Nxd6+ Ke7 18.Nxb7 Qc7 19.Qd5 Rh5 20.Qe4 Nc6 21.g4 Rh6 22.Nc5 1-0
Stuttgart 1939 Bogoljubow E–O’Kelly De Galway Alberic : 18.Rxc7! Bxc7?! Relatively best is …Rc8, but White would simply remain a pawn up with an excellent game. 19.Qxc7 Bc8 20.Ba3! Very strong. 20… Be6 21.Bxf8 Rxf8 22.Qxa7 h5 23.Qxb6 Qg5 24.f4 Qh6 25.a4 Rc8 26.a5 1-0
Bad Nauheim 1937 Euwe Max–Bogoljubow Efim : 26… Nxd4! Winning atleast a piece. Euwe prefers to end the game immediately: 27.Rxd4 Bxd4 28.Rxd4 Qe1# 0-1
Sliac 1932 Opocensky Karel –Bogoljubow Efim : 22… Qd4! 23.Nxe8 Qf2+ 24.Kh1 c5!!25.Nd6 Bc6+ 26.Re4 Rd8 27.Be1 Bxe4+ 28.Nxe4 Rxd1 0-1
London 1927 Bogoljubow E–Winter William: Black can get a big edge with 16…Nxd3 17.Qxd3 Nxf2!! After 18.Kxf2 f4! 19.Nf1! Rad8 20.Qc3 fxe3+ 21.Kg1 Rxf1+!! 22.Rxf1 Rd2 23.Qxd2 forced 23… exd2 with promising chances.