Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Tactical Quiz (Easy Level)

Here are 3 new positions for you to solve, starting from easy to medium level of difficulty. All are about attacking the king. The first exercize features GM Botvinnik, the second GM Piket and the last is from the analysis of a game from GM Nakamura ( Nakamura-Smirin to be precise) . That's a prestigious roster if you ask me!

Calculate well !

1.White to play and win

2.White to play and win

3.White to play and win


Feel free to post in the Comments section if you need a hint or the solution to any of the positions above!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

For #1 1.Bd6 (threat R8a7+ and Bc5#)
If 1...Nd7 2.R8a+ Kb6 3.R1a6#.

Not sure on 1...c5 so the Rook covers that square (c5) and an escape square for the Black King.

#2 1.Ne8 but not sure.

#3 Qxh6 to threaten a quick mate Qxg7. But I think I like to do Bxh6 instead to get the Bishop involved.

How close? Any clues?

chess_planet said...

Very close !
Here's a summary:
#1 Botvinnik played 1 R1a7+ Kb6 2 Bxb8 winning the knight. Tal resigned a few moves afterwards.

#2. Good job! 2.Nf7+ and 3.Ng6+ decides. On 1..Re8 2 Rg7+. The full game Piket-Smirin 1993 can be replayed here.
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1108797
Piket sacrificed the queen to get the rooks on the seventh.

#3. A more direct approach with similar aim is
1 Rg7+! Kg7 2 Qh6+ King moves and then 3 0-0-0 to bring the rook to the attack.

Anonymous said...

On #1 I saw the deflection of the King to win the Knight but I was thinking of maybe a mate. Since Botvinnik didn't find one either, I'm happy.

#2 thanks for the link to the game. I'll play through that one.

#3 Not sure about your move selection. 3.0-0-0 would be impossible because you still have a Bishop on c1. Maybe 2.Bxh6+ would accommodate the Q-side castle with a strong attack with Q, B, and R.

Anonymous said...

Of course on #3 I missed the fact that I left my Rook en prise if I did play Qxh6 first.

chess_planet said...

Yes you're right.
on #3,
1 Rg7! Kg7
2 Bh6+! Kg8
3 o-o-o Be6
4 Bc4 and white has a winning position.

The first game on #1 was Botvinnik-Tal 1961 (7) in the world championship...