Today’s winning 5-second tactics
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im Gilevych,Artem (2400)
im Genocchio,D (2411)
74th ch-ITA Boscotrecase 2014.12.1 Position after 20 moves of play. Black has an extra pawn but little else to brag about! His King is uncastled, his pieces undeveloped/uncoordinated, and –on top of all that–he has a BAD position. No wonder the roof soon collapses on top of him…
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
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fm Studer, Noel (2406)
fm Christiansen, Johan (2319)
Qatar Masters Open 2014.12.3 Earlier today! Position after 23 moves of play. White has the better position and his pieces dominate the board. There should be a number of attractive possibilities for White to increase his advantage (for example: 24.NxB QxN 25.Rf5! and if 25…N5-d7 26.Rxd5!). HOWEVER, simply beating Black from this position is no real achievement: you must CRUSH Black from this position!
WHAT IS WHITE’S CRUSHING WIN?
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PINS, FORKS AND MAGIC KNIGHTS!
The Kosteniuk–Pogonina encounter featured some real fireworks! Bad luck for Pogonina, who was also featured in another tactical example on this blog last week. What to say? Sometimes great players have forgettable tournaments!
wgm Pogonina,N (2500)
wgm Kosteniuk,A (2540)
ch-RUS Superfinal w Kazan 2014.12.1 Position after 23 moves of play. Black seems OK in this position, but there is the nagging problem of his King being a bit exposed. Had Natalia’s King been on g8 then perhaps she would even stand better!
24.Na4!
A beautiful and deep concept, that hits the nail on the head! The former women’s World Champion finds the weak spot in Pogonina’s position.
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The point is that after 24…Nd7 (See diagram below)
White has another shot:
25.Nb6!! Nxb6 26.Rxc6!!
Winning! After 26… Qd8 27.Rxb6! Qxb6 28.Ne5+! and mates or wins the Queen
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Getting back to the game, Pogonina instead played:
24…NxN!?
25.Rxc6! Qd8! 26.QxN
White has won an important pawn while Black lacks coordination. The game continued sharply
26…Bf6!? 27.Rd1 Re7 28.Rc5! Qd7 29.Qb3! Qxf5 30.Rdxd5 Qe6
31.Rc6!
31…Rb8! 32.Ng5+!!
32…Bxg5 33.Qf3+
1-0
A beautiful finish!
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