Missed tactics, part 3
Also new to this installment is the inclusion of positions whose solutions don't result in a clear material advantage for the winning side. A crucial component in growing as a chess player is to evaluate not only the material imbalances of a position, the potential to deliver checkmate, or the opportunity to create a passed pawn but also those aspects of a position that are more abstract. Puzzles 3, 6 and 9a are examples of this new approach.
1. 2024-04-06
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| Black to move (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.a3) |
Explanation: Black has two attackers on White's d4-pawn, and it looks like White has two defenders in the form of a queen and a rook. The rook, however, is not a defender. Why not? Because of Black's threat of back rank mate from the rook on e8. After 20...Qxd4 and 21.Qxd4 Bxd4, 22.Rxd4 is met with 22...Re1#.
Solution: 20...Qxd4
2. 2024-04-07
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| Black to move (French Defense: Winawer Variation) |
Explanation: White is targeting Black's rook with a threat of 30.Qxf8, and it looks as though Black's top priority is moving the rook to safety. White, however, is under a more dangerous threat. How so? After 29...Qxg4, Black is threatening checkmate on the next move with 30...Qxg2#.
Solution: 29...Qxg4
3. 2024-04-13
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| Black to move (French Defense: Exchange Variation) |
Explanation: White's pieces are more active than Black's, and 20.Rh5 is probably White's intended next move, with the threat of 21.Qxh7+. Black, however, has an opportunity to win material and obtain a favorable position going into the endgame. How so? The queen on d3 is White's only defender of the f5-rook. Black can double-attack the rook with the move 19...Nxd4, which also forks White's rook on e2. If White captures the knight with 20.Qxd4, the rook on f5 falls to 20...Qxf5. White has to continue 20.Rxe8, prompting 20...Rxe8 from Black, and then move the f5-rook. White still has the threat of 21.Rh5, but 21...Qe7 from Black would be a greater threat to White.
Solution: 19...Nxe4
4. 2024-04-20, game 1
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| Black to move (French Defense) |
Explanation: Material is equal, but Black is the side that can create a passed pawn and advance it to the promotion square. How so? By forcing an exchange of pawns on the b-file with 33...cxb3. If White does not recapture with 34.axb3, Black can queen on move 35. White must capture on b3 -- but Black replies 34...a5 and, no matter how White continues, Black creates a passer on the a-file. Since White's king is on the f-file, it is too slow to intercept Black's a-pawn.
Solution: 33...cxb3
5. 2024-04-20, game 2
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| Black to move (French Defense: Guimard Tarrasch) |
Explanation: Material is equal, but Black can force White's king away from defending c5. How so? It first must be recognized that 39...Kxh3, as played in the game, is a blunder: Black promotes first, but White promotes with check. Therefore, the c-file pawns are the key. After 39...Kf4, White's king must move. If 40.Kd3, Black replies 40...Ke5; and after 41.Kc4 Ke4, White's king is forced away from the c5-pawn and Black's arrives with 42...Kd5, capturing on c5 the next move. If 40.Kc3, Black replies 40...Ke4; and after 41.Kc4 Ke5, White's king is forced away from the c5-pawn and Black's arrives with 42...Kd5.
Solution: 39...Kf4
6. 2024-04-23
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| White to move (1.d4 e6 2.c4 Qe7) |
Explanation: Based on Black's sloppy opening but resilient middlegame performance, opponent was either trolling or training his defensive prowess in losing positions. After move 26, Black is threatening to win the pinned knight with 27...Bxe5, but it is White who has multiple winning continuations -- none of which I found. The top engine recommendation (+4.9) calls for White to sacrifice the knight, and the second (+4.3) calls for White to sacrifice the rook.
- In the knight-sac line, White is winning after 27.d6 Qxe5. How so? After 28.dxc7+ Ke7, to avoid 28...Ke8 29.Qd8#, White checks with 29.Qb4+. If 29...Ke8, White continues 30.Qb8, prompting 30...Rxb8 31.cxb8=Q Qxb8 32.Rxb8. If 29...Kd7, White continues 30.Rc5 with an attack on Black's queen and a host of follow-up tactics.
- In the rook-sac line, White is winning after 27.Re6 fxe6. How so? After 28.dxe6+ Ke8, White checks with 29.Qa4+; and whichever square the king moves to, White royal-forks with the knight.
Solution: 27.d6 or 27.Re6
7. 2024-04-28
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| White to move (Queen's Gambit Accepted) |
Explanation: Black is triple-attacking White's d4-knight, which is pinned to the queen, and threatening 32...Bxd4. It looks as though White has to add a defender to the knight with either 32.Nfe2, as played in the game, or 32.Rc4 -- but White can turn his attacked piece into an attacker. How so? The queen on b6 is Black's only defender of the c5-bish, and the c5-square is in a knight-fork relationship with Black's king on g7. After White forks with 32.Ndxe6+ and Black recaptures with 32...fxe6, White has to find another tactic involving his other knight on f4. It looks as though White's queen can't capture Black's c5-bish because an exchange of rooks on d1 would hang the queen -- but White's f4-knight comes to the rescue with a royal fork. To wit, 33.Qxc5 Rxd1+ 34.Rxd1 Qxc5, and 35.Nxe6+ wins back the queen.
Solution: 32.Ndxe6+
8. 2024-05-02
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| White to move (Semislav Defense) |
Explanation: The circumstances are similar to the previous puzzle. How so? The attacked piece becomes the attacker. In the previous puzzle, the attacked piece captured with a tempo-attack on opponent's king; in this puzzle, the attacked piece captures with a tempo-attack on opponent's queen. Namely, 10.Nxd5. Whichever way Black recaptures, White wins material.
Solution: 10.Nxd5
9. 2024-05-03
The next three positions are from the same anonymous Lichess Rapid game:
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| White to move (Queen's Gambit) |
Explanation: Black's lag in development is White's chief advantage, and the correct move gives White not a material advantage but a long-term positional edge. How so? After an exchange of active pieces with 17.Nxe5 Bxe5, White has five developed pieces on the board to Black's two. After 18.Bc5 and, say, 18...Re8, White exchanges for another of Black's active pieces with 19.Nxf6. If Black recaptures with 19...Qxf6, 20.Bd4 is a strong reply; and if 19...Bxf6, White can prompt an exchange of rooks with 20.Bb6 Rxe8 21.Rxe8, after which all four of White's pieces are active while three of Black's pieces are still on the back rank and Black's king is exceedingly vulnerable.
Solution: 17.Nxe5
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| White to move |
Explanation: White would like to force Black's queen off the a2-g8 diag and capture the rook on g8; and it looks like 33.Bf5+ and 34.Be6 are the way to achieve that. After 33...Qb5+, however, Black uses the tempo to move the rook out of harm's way and White's advantage is lost. White's plan should instead be to exploit his dominance of the seventh rank. How so? By dominating it further. After 33.Re7, attacking Black's bish on c7, Black has to move the bish and White continues 34.Rxb7 with the devastating follow-up threat of 35.Bf5+.
Solution: 33.Re7
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| White to move |
Explanation: If White didn't have a bish on the e-file, 37.Qxe8+ would be possible on account of White's rook on e2. White's problem is that his bish on e6 is the only piece standing in Black's way of capturing White's rook on e2. White has only one move that both double attacks Black's e8 rook and double-defends White's e2-rook. What is that move? 37.Bc4. However Black replies, the result is a crushing loss of material.
Solution: 37.Bc4
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