Monday, May 12, 2008

Another example from GM Vasily Ivanchuk.

Ivanchuk is currently leading the M-Tel 2008 tournament with 5/5, which is pretty incredible at the highest level. As mentioned in the previous post, he is one of the most creative 2700+ players.

Let's take a look at another tactical position from the game Ivanchuk-Kasparov 2002 (rapid). The aim is to train your tactical sense, albeit in a less spectacular way than the previous post. Let's mention that this game was a Sicilian Najdorf where Ivanchuk played 6 Rg1 !?, with the idea g4-g5. Kasparov has been the leading expert of the Najdorf for many years, but I am sure he spent more time on 6 Be3, 6 f4, 6 Bc4, 6 g3, 6 h3 than 6 Rg1, which was a clever attempt to take him off the beaten track as soon as possible. Finally let's mention that Nigel Short has played 6 a3 !? a few times, which is quite unusual too.

Try to find the best move in the following position. Good luck !

White to play and win



Ivanchuk-Kasparov 2002 ( rapid )
Solution posted in comments

5 comments:

chess_planet said...

Solution is :

1 Bd2!! Ra4
2 fg6! Bd2
3 Rf7+ Ke6
4 Rf6+ Ke7
5 ba4 Ne4
6 Rf5 wins ( g-pawn cannot be stopped)

Anonymous said...

Why 1. ... Rxa4?
What about 1. ... Bxd2 2. Nxc5 Rb6 3. Nd3 gxf5 with litte advantage of White? Do I miss something here? :)

chess_planet said...

you're right, that was a key alternative.
First I only considered 2..Rc6 after which 3Nd3 Bf4 4Nb4! with Nd5wins easily. Your 2..Rb6! is key.
However, I don't think Black is out of trouble, even though Fritz gives a roughly equal evaluation.

I posted the main lines on http://games.top10chess.com/ivanchuk2002.htm

Basically,
3..gf5 4 Ne5!? fe4 and 5 Nc4 or 5 Rf7+ gives White practical chances. 5 g6 is not as good because of 5..Rf6!

The other line of interest is 4 ef5 Bg5 5 Ne5 Rf6 and 6 Nf3 will win a net pawn. May Black can draw the rook ending but it's not straightforward.

In the end, I agree that 1..Bd2 was muhc stronger than Kasparov's move.
Thanks for the suggestion !

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the detailed feedback and the pointer to the additional lines. Maybe after 1. Bd2 Bxd2 3. Nxc5 Rc6 4. f6+ would be even better (or more consequent) 3. ...Kd8 4. Nd3 Re6 (4...Rc7? 5. Nxe5) Rxf7. Great site, BTW! :)

Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work.