Today’s winning 5-second tactics
“I believe in intuitions and inspirations…I sometimes FEEL that I am right. I do not KNOW that I am.” ― Albert Einstein
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The Initiative
gm Kovacevic, Aleksandar
Zajic, Milan (2450)
TCh-SRB Premier Palic 2014.9.1 Position after 26 moves. A typical race for the initiative when both sides castle on opposite wings in a Sicilian and then throw their pawns forward. Who gets there first usually (though not always) comes out on top! The critical point of the game has arrived and it is White’s move (very important!). How to proceed? White has the open h-file, but any Dragon-player will tell you that the dark square Bishop neurtralizes any immediate danger. Besides, the Black monarch can always slide over to e7 via f8 should things get hairy…For example: 27.Nf5!? PxN 28.Bxf5 Kf8! and the defence holds. Worse still is 27.Nd5?! NxN 28.PxN b3! with advantage!
27.Rh7!
The solution for White is to create threats: 28.Be6, for example. The Rook move also vacates the h3-square and prepares for the White Queen to swing into action. For example, 27…Bg7 28.Nf5! PxN 29.Qh3 and there is no defence to all of White’s threats. (Note: 29.Bxf5! Kf8 30.RxB! KxR 31.Qg3+! is even faster)
27…Qc5
It is difficult to suggest better. Infact, there is no good defence…
28.Be6!
Even stronger than the planned 28.Nf5 (which would have been good enough also). Black’s King position collapses immediately.
28…PxB (what else?) 29.Ng4!
1-0!
Neither choice, 29…Rf8 30.NxB+ and mate in two moves and 29…Bg7 30.Qf3! Rf8 31.Rh8+! followed by mate inspired Black.
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Time Trouble
im Lodhi, Mahmood
gm Dzhumaev, Marat
ECO Cup Tehran 2014.9.9 Position after 36 moves of play. Ofcourse Black is lost, but when one is in time-trouble one also has insufficient time to reflect on resigning…
WHITE TO PLAY AND CRUSH!
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Pins and Needles
fm Tologontegin, S (2382)
Bayramgeldiyev,Y (2200)
ECO Cup Tehran 2014.9.5 Position after 27 moves of play. Black has been suffering for a while, but he is now hoping that White overlooked the last move (27…f6) so that he can get a breather. Unfortunately, White did not overlook anything!
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!
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