Saturday’s 5-second tactics
“I am still alive then. That may come in useful.”
― Samuel Beckett, Molloy
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From good to bad to worse…
gm Hillarp Persson,T
im Sipila,V
From yesterday’s round of the Visma TM tournament, Vaxjo SWE. Position after Black’s 26th move (26…Qc5?!), an unfortunate miscalculation that not just throws away a very pleasant position, but puts Black on the edge of defeat…(26…KxB?)
27.Bxe6+!
An unpleasant surprise! Black should now decline the gift with 27…Kc7! when after 28.Qxc5 Rxf1+ 29.Rxf1 Bxc5 30.hxg5 Be3+ 31.Kb1 Bxg5, despite being a pawn down in an inferior ending, Black would still be able to put up stiff resistance. INSTEAD, Tiger’s sense of danger let him down when he thought he could accept the Greek gift…
28.Qh3+ Kd6 29.Rxf8 Bxf8
Tiger must have thought that Black just a piece up…
30.Qf5!
(Not the only winning move: 30.Qc8! would have also served.) No doubt Black overlooked this fine move. The Rook can not retreat to h8 because of the check on f6. Now White recovers the material investment and has a winning attack to boot!
The game continued:
30….Qe3+ 31.Kb1 Rxh4 and now instead of 32.Qxf8+–which is good enough to win–the fastest win is 32.Rd1+ Kc7 33.Qxe5+ Kb7 34.Nd5! when Black could throw in the towel immediately.
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gm Narciso,Mark
im Ruiz C, Joshua D
Montcada ESP 2014.6.25. A very strong open tournament! Position after 27 moves. White has a clear positional advantage, though Black’s real problems arise because of a lack of coordination of his pieces. This gives motive for a clever tactic…do you see it?
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
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gm Movsziszian, Karen
im Cruz, Filemon
Montcada, 2014.6.26 Position after White’s 45th move (45.Kg5!) Here Black resigned (0-1) without waiting to see White’s winning plan. Though the Armenian grandmaster knew exactly what was going on, it would have nevertheless been interesting for the spectators had the game continued and White demonstrated the win. Some accuracy would still have been required:
Firstly, it is worth noting that 45…RxB would not work as 46.NxR b3 ,trying to escape into a drawn 2-Knights ending , backfires after 47.NxP! with a trivial win.
Finally, the mainline runs:
45…b3!
If now 46.axb3? Rxd4! 47.Nf6+ Kh8 48.Nxd4 axb3 and the ending is a draw, as can easily be verified. Two Knights can not force a mate.
46.Bg7!
Preventing RxB and threatening mate in one (47.Nf6++)
If now the Black King tries to escape 46…Kg8!? then White has 47.Ba1! (threaening mate in two beginning with 48.Nh6+) 47…Kf7 48.Ne5+ picks up the Rook. Note that 47…Rc8 is met by 48.Ne7+
That leaves:
46…Rc6!? 47.Nf6+ RxN 48.BxR PxP
With an easy win, provided you know how to mate with Knight and Bishop!
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Montcada ESP 2014.6.25 Ruiz C, Joshua D–Narciso Dublan, Marc : 28.Nxc6!! If now 28…Nxc6 then 29.Nxd5 Qd8 29.Qxd6+! is all over; while 28…Qxc6 is only a bit more resistant: 29.Bxd5 Qc5 ( 29…Qd7 30.Bxf7 Nxf7 31.Rxe7 ) 30.b4 Qc7 31.Bxf7 Nxf7 32.Qxc7 Rxc7 33.Nd5 etc. In the game continuation White played the slightly less effective 28.Bxd5, which however, is certainly good enough to win.