Monday’s winning 5-second tactics

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fm  Rakesh, Kumar Jena (2164)

 Gandhi, Anish (2086)

World Junior  Pune 2014.10.11  Position before Black’s 31st move. This is a good definition of ‘cut and thrust’ play! White attacks–simultaneously–the Queen, the Rook on e8 and the Knight on e3: it seems as though White is just going to win!

 

BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN!

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im  Nakar, Eylon (2424)

fm  Klein, Felix (2286)

PokerStars IoM Masters ; Douglas  2014.10.11  Position before Black’s 40th move.  He has two pawns for the Knight…usually not enough.

 

HOW CAN BLACK GET A BIG EDGE?

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gm  Matamoros Franco, Carlos

gm  Naroditsky, Daniel

Millionaire Chess Open Las Vegas 2014.10.11  Position after 37 moves. White has an obvious edge but Black seems to have everything covered.  But with pawns like Black’s…you can never be too confident!

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

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Mannion, Stephen R

gm  Greenfeld, Alon

PokerStars IoM Masters ; Douglas  2014.10.11  Position after 33 moves. White is a pawn up for nothing, but Black does not intend to roll over and die without a fight!  He has everything protecting everything else, plus a passed pawn.  Your job, if you choose to accept it, is to find the weak link in Black’s game and destroy it!

 

WHITE TO PLAY AND CRUSH!

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gm  Le, Quang Liem  (2706)

im  Wan, Yunguo  (2489)

Millionaire Chess Open Las Vegas 2014.10.9  Position before Black’s 31st move.  Black has an obvious positional advantage and the a-pawn is not long for the world.  Indicated here is the natural 31…Rd2!  INSTEAD, Black played a real LEMON:

31…Bd4?

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

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 Raja, Harshit (2000)

 Iniyan, P (2151)

World Junior  Pune 2014.10.11  Position before White’s 20th move. White must be better here, all of his pieces actively posted and well coordinated.  White can now win back his pawn by capturing on f5 with his Bishop, not worrying about 20…g6?! as he has 21.Rd7! RxB 22.Nf6+! with a winning attack , as the reader can easily verify. But White did not like the idea of opening up the f-file for Black’s Rook just for the sake of winning back his pawn…he looked for better.  And he found it!

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

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World Junior  Pune 2014.10.11 Gandhi, Anish–Rakesh, Kumar Jena: 31…Rxg2! Ouch.  32.Qxe3 Rg1# 0-1

PokerStars IoM Masters ; Douglas  2014.10.11 Klein, Felix–Nakar, Eylon: 40…Qb3+!  This forces an ending where Black will have powerful passed pawns.  41.Ka1 Rxc2 42.Qxb3 axb3 43.Kb1 Re2 44.Nc3 Rxe5 and Black eventually won.

Millionaire Chess Open Las Vegas 2014.10.11 Naroditsky, Daniel–Matamoros Franco, Carlos S.:38.Rd1+ Kc7 39.Rxd7+! Kxd7 40.Bb5+ Ke7 41.Bxe8 Kxe8 (41…PxP+ 42.KxP KxB 43.Kf5 Ke7 44.f5 changes nothing) 42.fxe5 fxe5 43.Kd3 1-0  Black must watch out for g5, getting a passed h-pawn, and so as no time to save his c-pawn, after which White wins with b4.

PokerStars IoM Masters ; Douglas  2014.10.11 Greenfeld, Alon–Mannion, Stephen R: 34.Bb4! Bxb4 35.Rxc7+ Kf8 ( 35…Ke8 36.b6 ) 36.b6!! Rd8 ( 36…Rxb6 37.Qa8+ ) 37.b7 Ba5 38.Qxd8+ Qxd8 39.Rc8 1-0  Powerful performance!

Millionaire Chess Open Las Vegas 2014.10.9  Wan, Yunguo–Le, Quang Liem:  31…Bd4?? 32.Rxd4 Rxd4 33.c3 won easily

World Junior  Pune 2014.10.11 Iniyan, P–Raja, Harshit:  20.Nxg7!! Kxg7 21.Qg3+! Kf6 ( 21…Kh8 22.Rxe5 ) And now the cleanest win is 22.Bxf5!! Kxf5 ( 22…Rg8 23.Qf3 is immediately decisive) 23.Rd7! And the Black Monarch is entrapped.  If now 23… Ne6 ( 23…Ke6 24.Rxc7 Qd6 25.Rxc6 etc ) 24.Qh3+ Kg5 25.Bc1+ etc.