“Competition is a rude yet effective motivation.”

― Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity

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im  Liascovich, Lucas

gm  Felgaer, Ruben

Argentina Championship  2014.7.17  Position after 25 moves. Black is a pawn up but has a strategically lost game: his King is stuck in the centre and his Rooks are posted where the ”sun don’t shine”.  Coordination and harmony between the pieces  is everything in chess.

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

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gm  Slipak, Sergio

im  Manzone, Alessandro

Also the Argentina Championship 2014.7.13  Position before Black’s 39th move. Ofcourse Black has a winning game, a pawn up and his pieces dominating the White counterparts.  However, it is always pleasant for the spectators to watch an artful execution…

 

WHAT IS BLACK’S BEST LINE?

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CLASS!

 

Rudd, Jack

Bullen, Alex

101st  British Chess Championship,  Aberystwyth WLS 2014.7.21 Position before Black’s 21st move. Black has an obvious positional advantage which he can keep with the simple and good 21…Bd3!?. However, a sign of a class player is his ability to use his advantage in creative and surprising ways.

 

 21…Rxd2!  22.QxR  Bf3!!

White is completely helpless!  See how the game quickly ended below…

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Campeonato Argentino 2014.7.17 Felgaer, Ruben–Liascovich, Lucas: 26.Bxe5 dxe5 27.d6+! Qxd6 28.Rb7+ Ke8 29.Qg4 1-0

Campeonato Argentino 2014.7.13 Manzone, Alessandro–Slipak, Sergio: 39…f4! 40.Qxf4 Rf6! 0-1 The Queen is lost after either 41.Qb8+ Rf8  or 41.Qh4  Rh7

101st ch-GBR Aberystwyth WLS 2014.7.21 Bullen, Alex–Rudd, Jack: 23.gxf3 ( 23.g3 Rd8 24.Qc1 Qe6 25.Kh2 h5 ) exf3 24.e4 Qh4 25.Qd7 Qf4 26.Qg4 Qh2+ 27.Kf1 Qh1+ 28.Qg1 Qxh3+ 0-1