By
Jeremy Silman
1) Black is a
pawn up, but White's lead in development
makes it clear that Black's living on
borrowed time. How should White handle
this position?
WHITE TO MOVE
Karaklajic-Nikolic, Pristina 1973: White snuffs
his opponent by 1.Qa5! (White
is making use of the fact that Black's
King is stalemated. Thus, any lasting
check is mate and, as a result, no price
is too high to achieve this. Also good
is 1.Na7!+ Nxa7 2.Qa5). In the
game, Black resigned rather than face
1.Qd7 (Even worse are 1.Nxa5
2.Na7 mate and 1...Ne8 2.Qd8+ Nxd8 3.Na7
mate) 1...Qd7 2.Na7+ Nxa7 3.Rxd7
Kxd7 when both 4.Qb6 and 4.Qc7+
would lead to suffering far beyond human
endurance.
2) Material is even,
but Black's King is not only open, but
most of his army is situated on the
kingside and thus unable to defend their
monarch. How can White break through?
WHITE TO MOVE
Korolev-Koskinen, correspondence 1993: White
cracks open Black's edifice with 1.Rc5+!
(Tempting and good, but not nearly as
strong as 1.Rc5+, is 1.Nxa7+ Rxa7 2.Qxb6
Rc7 when Black is miserable but still
alive.). In the game, Black resigned
after 1.Rc5+, not wishing to experience
1...Kb7
(1...Kd8 2.Nxa7 bxc5 3.Qb8+ Ke7
4.Nc6 is mate, while 1...bxc5 2.Nxa7+
Rxa7 [2...Kd8 3.Qb8+ Ke7 4.Nc6 leads
to a mate we've just seen.] 3.Qb8+
Kd7 4.Qxa7+ is mate next move.) 2.Nxa7
Rd6 3.Nb5 Rc6 and now both 4.Nc3
(opening the b-file and stopping any
checks on e4) 4.Rb8 5.Rb5 Kc7 6.c5 and
4.Rxc6 Qe4+ 5.f3 Qxc6 6.c5 are completely
winning.
3) Here we have a Sicilian, Smith-Mora Gambit
gone bad for Black. Since Black's King
is still in the center, White wants
to find a way to reach the hapless target
on e8. How can he achieve this?
WHITE
TO MOVE
This position was reached in the game Conroy-Paredes,
correspondence 1993 after 1.e4 c5
2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3
d6 6.Bc4 e6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Qe2 a6 9.Rd1
Qc7 10.Bf4 Nd7 11.Rac1 Qb8 12.b4 Nce5
13.Bxe5 dxe5 14.Ng5 Nf6. I
gave these moves so that fans of the
Smith-Mora can try and achieve the same
position in their games. White now overpowers
his opponent by 15.Nb5! axb5 (Also
inadequate is 15...Bd7 16.Bxe6 Bxb5
17.Bxf7+ Ke7 18.Qe3! b6 [18.Nd7 runs
into the same response.] 19.Qh3 and
Black is toast.) 16.Bxb5+ Bd7 17.Rxd7
(This is very strong, but far more
entertaining is 17.Qh5! when 17.Nxh5
18.Rxd7 is game over. After 17.Qh5 Black
should play 17.g6 18.Rxd7! Nxd7 19.Qf3
f5 20.exf5 Ke7 21.Qb3 with a transposition
back to the game.) 17...Nxd7 18.Qh5
g6 19.Qf3 f5 20.exf5 Ke7 21.Qb3 Qd6
(21...Kf6 22.Ne4+ Kg7 23.Qxe6 is
not something Black would want to be
seen playing in public.) 22.Rd1 Ra3
23.f6+ Nxf6 (An amusing sideline
is 23...Ke8 24.Rxd6 Rxb3 25.Rxd7 Rb1+
26.Rd1 mate.) 24.Rxd6 Rxb3 25.Rxe6+
Kd8 26.axb3, 1-0. If you saw 15.Nb5
and deemed your attack to be winning
after 17.Rxd7 or 17.Qh5, give yourself
a big pat on the back.
4) Strategically Black is doing fine. But the
dynamics of the situation are quite
another matter - Black's vulnerable
King will prove too great a burden to
bear.
WHITE
TO MOVE
Smyslov-Grigorian,
Moscow 1976: 1.Rxf6+!
(Crashing through Black's defenses!) 1.Kxf6
(1...Bxf6 2.Qe6 mate exudes an air
of finality.) 2.Qg4! (2.Rf1+
is also winning, but Smyslov's move
is completely devastating.) 2...Qc5+
3.Kh1 Ke7 4.Bg5+ (Black resigned
here.) 4.Bf6 5.Re1+ Kd8 (Black
gets mated after 5...Kf8 6.Bh6+ Bg7
7.Qd7 Bxh6 8.Rf1+ when a couple pathetic
blocking moves are all he has left before
Qf7 mate ends the game.) 6.Bxf6+
Kc7 7.Bxh8 Rxh8 8.Re7+ Kb8 9.Qd7 and
mate will follow.
5) Black's heavy pieces on the queenside can't
get back and defend their King, nor
can they generate sufficient counter
threats on the queenside to stop White
from lowering the boom. In other words,
Black is dead, but he doesn't quite
know it yet. How are you going to impart
this truth to him?
WHITE
TO MOVE
Hodgson-Paunovic, Belgrade 1976: 1.Rh8+!
(A very nice move that forces Black
to either take with the Bishop - allowing
a crushing check on g6 - or to take
with the King and allow Bxf7, which
traps the enemy ruler on the vulnerable
h-file.) 1.Kxh8 (1...Bxh8 2.Qxg6+
Bg7 3.Qxf7+ Kh8 4.Rh1+ Nh7 5.Rxh7+ Kxh7
6.Qh5+ Bh6+ 7.Be3 leads to a speedy
mate.) 2.Bxf7, 1-0. Black resigned
because he has no defense against the
killing Rh1.
6) Ah, a "normal" looking Sicilian Dragon. Do both sides
have chances, or is something "odd"
lurking behind the scenes?
WHITE
TO MOVE
This position contains an opening trap that
many players have fallen into. White
wins the Exchange by force with 1.Ne6!
(Pins along the d-file lead to Black's
demise.) 1.fxe6 (1...Bxe6 2.Bxc5)
2.Bxc5 dxc5 3.e5 Qb8 4.exf6 Bxf6
5.Qxd7 Bxc3 6.Qxe6+ and Black doesn't
have any compensation at all for the
lost material.
7) The game Yudasin-Novikov, Kuibyshev 1986
was eventually drawn here. Can you find
something that leads to a "kinder" White
result?
WHITE
TO MOVE
Instead of Yudasin's mistaken 1.exf8=Q+??, White
can win on the spot with 1.Nxe6!.
This led to immediate resignation in
Timotic-Verson, Metz 2000 since 1.Qxe7
(1...fxe6 2.Bxe6+ Kh8 3.exf8=Q mate)
2.Bxe7 Re8 3.Nc7 Rxe7 4.Nxa8
leaves White up a full piece for nothing.
8) White has just advanced his pawn to h6 and,
apparently, has a crushing attack. Is
it time for Black to give up?
BLACK
TO MOVE
Watson-Kuczynski, Bundesliga 1995: Believe it
or not, Black actually wins by force
after 1.axb3! 2.hxg7 Qxg1+! (The
point. Black gives up his Queen in order
to reduce White's attacking force, knowing
that a new Queen will soon be born!)
3.Rxg1 bxa2 (Threatening to promote
with mate.) 4.gxf7+ Kxf7 5.Qg2 a1=Q+
6.Kd2 Qxg1! (You don't see this
too often! Black sacrifices a second
Queen on the same square for a second
White Rook.) 7.gxf8=Q+ Nxf8 8.Qxg1
Ra5 and Black has a winning endgame,
which he eventually converted into the
full point.
9) There can't be any doubt about White's superiority,
yet winning such positions often proves
difficult for many players. How would
you go about proving the win?
WHITE
TO MOVE
Bilek-Bachtiar, Beverwijk 1966: Few players
try to keep things simple, somehow refusing
to believe that such moves can prove
devastating. Here we see that a "soft"
move can have far more punch than one
might suppose. 1.Qd7! (Winning
on the spot! Threats like 2.Bxe6+ and
2.Bc5 are more than Black can handle.)
1...Bc8 (Also hopeless is 1...Ng7
2.Bc5! Qxd7 3.Rxd7+ Ke8 4.Rxb7 [4.Bxf8
is another way to force a quick resignation.]
4...Bxc5 5.Rxg7 and White is a piece
up for nothing.) 2.Bxe6+, 1-0.
Black had no wish to suffer through
2.Kg7 3.Qxc6.
10) Splatter time!
WHITE
TO MOVE
De Firmian-Yudasin, Manilla 1990: 1.Nxe6!
(Getting rid of the e6-pawn and thus
giving the other White Knight access
to the d5-square.) 1.Rxe6 (In
the game, Black tried 1...Qb7 and resigned
after 2.Nd5 Nf6 3.Nec7 Bxg4 4.Nxe8 Bxe2
5.Ndxf6+ Bxf6 6.Qxf6.) 2.Nd5 Qa5
(Black must keep an eye on the d8-square
since 2.Qc5 3.Qd8+ leads to a quick
mate.) 3.Qe7! (Also good is 3.Ne7+,
but this wins with far more flair!)
3.Rxe7 4.Nxe7 m
If
you enjoyed these tactical problems,
then you might find a book titled TACTICS
IN THE CHESS OPENING 1: SICILIAN DEFENSE
worth looking into (All the examples
in this quiz came from games in that
book.). Click HERE
if you would like to see Silman's review
of this new book.
