Friday’s 5-second tactics
“If you don’t hunt it down and kill it, it will hunt you down and kill you.”
― Flannery O’Connor
————————————————
fm Santos Latasa, Jaime
Meco Benitez, Jose Luis
79th ch-ESP Linares 2014.8.25 Position before Black’s 38th move. Clearly Black has the upper hand and wants to finish the game quickly. He could try 38…Qd3!? and if 39.Rb2 (what else?) 39…Rf5! and White gets pushed back even further. HOWEVER, then a clever idea came to the young Spanish FM…an idea that finishes the game immediately. Do you see it?
BLACK TO PLAY AND CRUSH!
——————————————-
Gavilan Diaz, Mario
gm Vazquez Igarza, Renier
79th ch-ESP Linares 2014.8.26 Position after 36 moves. White is clearly better, Black’s Kingside open and pieces without coordination. Perfect conditions for a Tal-like stroke!
WHITE TO PLAY AND CRUSH!
————————————————
Arroyo Rodriguez, Jesus
gm Lopez Martinez, Josep Manuel
79th ch-ESP Linares 2014.8.25 Position after 19 moves of play. Josep Lopez Martinez does something better than any of the other Spanish grandmasters: he knows how to win won games with style and grace!
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
————————————————
Sanchez Dengra, Jose Maria
Sos Andreu, Eric
79th ch-ESP Linares 2014.8.26 Position before black’s 25th move. Black has sacrificed an entire Rook to open White monarch’s position. White seems to have the key entry points into his position covered, especially his Queen covers h4. If now 25…Nc2 26.Qg3! or 25…NxR 26.BxN. Could it be that Black had misjudged his chances?
BLACK TO PLAY AND CRUSH!
—————————————————
gm Vallejo,P
wim Aranaz Murillo, Amalia
79th ch-ESP Linares 2014.8.26 Position before Black’s 25th move. While White might have the better pawn structure, it is clear that Black’s piece activity gives him the upper hand. In particular, Black’s Queen, Knight and Rook on e8 are a fearsome team.
BUT Black must be careful: the immediate 25…Nxe3 is flashy but not good enough to win: 26.fxe3 Rxe3 27.Rd3 Rae8 28.Rf1 Rxd3 29.Nxd3 Qd4+ 30.Qf2! and White holds.
BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN!
————————————————-
Ruperez Benito, Antonio
Escudero Manzano, Alejandro
79th ch-ESP Linares 2014.8.27 Position before Black’s 22nd move. Black is clearly better, a pawn up and better piece coordination. In particular, White’s first rank is a problem as his Rooks are not connected. Black should now play 22…Qe6! and if 23.f4?! Qg4!. If instead 23.Bc2?! then once more 23…Qg4!. White would have to play 23.h3, and pray! Ofcourse, Black must win.
INSTEAD, probably overconfident, Black made a fundamental miscalculation:
22…Rae8 (?)
The idea is clever: White can not take the Queen because of mate on the backrank, but he overlooked something!
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
———————————————
—————————————-
79th ch-ESP Linares 2014.8.25 Meco Benitez, Jose Luis–Santos Latasa, Jaime: 38…Qd1+ 39.Qf1 Rxg3+!! 40.hxg3 h2+ 0-1
79th ch-ESP Linares 2014.8.26 Vazquez Igarza, Renier–Gavilan Diaz, Mario: 37.Rf4!! The winning idea. This forces open the g-file and quickly ends the game. 37… exf4 38.gxf4 Qe8 39.Rg1+ Kf8 40.Qh8+ Kf7 41.Nd6+ 1-0
79th ch-ESP Linares 2014.8.25 Lopez Martinez, Josep Manuel–Arroyo Rodriguez, Jesus: 20.Nxf7! A well calculated combination. 20… Rxf7 21.Bxf6! gxf6 ( Only slightly better was 21…Qxf6 22.Rd7! and White must win: 22…Ba6 23.Bxf7+ Qxf7 24.Rd8+ Bf8 25.Qxa6etc ) 22.Qg4+! Kh8 23.Bxf7 Qxf7 24.Rd8+ Bf8 and now the simplest is 25.Rd7
79th ch-ESP Linares 2014.8.26 Sos Andreu, Eric–Sanchez Dengra, Jose Maria: 25…Re5!! ( The decisive manoeuvre, facilitating the Queen to enter the Kingside. The threat is 26…Rh5+ and must be taken as 26.Bf3 Nxf1 27.Qxf1 Qh4+ is game over.) The game continued 26.fxe5 Qg5! Immediately decisive 27.Qf2 (27.Rf2 Qh4+!) 27… Nxf1 (Even easier is 27…Qh5+ 28. Kmoves Ng4!) 28.Qxf1?! (28.RxN BxQ 29.RxB allows White to resist) Qh5+ 29.Bh3 Bxh3 0-1
79th ch-ESP Linares 2014.8.26 Aranaz Murillo, Amalia–Vallejo Pons, Francisco: 25…Rxe3! 26.Nd3 ( 26.fxe3 Nxe3 27.Qd2 Qxg3+; relatively best is 26.Re1 Rxe1+ 27.Rxe1 Qd4 though there is no doubt that Black must win ) 26…Re2! 0-1 There is little to stop the coming …Ne3.
79th ch-ESP Linares 2014.8.27 Escudero Manzano, Alejandro–Ruperez Benito, Antonio: 23.Bh7+ Kxh7 24.Bxb6 Rxe1+ 25.Rxe1 Rxe1+ 26.Qxe1 axb6 27.Qe5