Five Technical Positions (Know your classics !)

Often we ask ourselves how to make progress in chess, gain rating points,etc.
I suggest you play the following positions against the strongest engine you have (Shredder, Rybka, Fritz, Toga, Crafty, Junior,etc). Or against a sparring partner by alternating colors.

All positions with White to play and win

Position I




















Position II



















Position III




















Position IV



















Position V






































If you wonder what is the perfect play in each position, you can consult the answer here:

http://www.shredderchess.com/online-chess/online-databases/endgame-database.html

Chess motifs / Candidate Moves

Two simple puzzles to solve today, where Black had a winning continuation -against your author.

Tactics comes down to identifying the motif and review all possible moves (aka candidate moves). The rest is simple, at least in today's puzzles !



I-Black to play and win




II-Black to play and win

Sicilian Najdorf theory debate

The following Sicilian Najdorf position has been reached several times in the recent GM tournaments.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4
7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Bg7 10. h3 Nf6



Note that 10..Ne5 is a solid alternative
(see Bacrot-Adly Bundesliga '08 for instance 10..Ne5 11 Nf5 http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1525472;
10 ..Ne5 11 f3!? was played by Akopian against Grishuk)

10..Nf6 has been played by GM Karjakin with mixed results at the highest level.

A) Akopian-Karjakin 2009 followed 11 Qf3 !? and White won after a long struggle.

B) Lenier-Dominguez and Bacrot chose 11 Qe2 !? with the following moves :

11. Qe2 Nc6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. e5 dxe5 14. Bxe5 O-O



Here Lenier-Dominguez chose 15 g4!? a5 16 h4 and reached a promising position but lost eventually. Lenier-Dominguez Karjakin 0-1 Corus 2009

Bacrot chose 15. h4 g4 16. g3 Bf5? 17. Bg2 Qd7
18. O-O Rfd8 19. Rfe1 e6 20. Na4 Qb7 21. c4
and eventually won the game ( Bacrot-Karjakin Fide GP 4th Nalchik, 2009 )
Full game here
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1544154

In that variation 16..Bf5 ? is not as strong as 16..a5 with a possible continuation as 17 Bg2 Ba6 18 Qe3 and Black prevents White king-side castle.

finishing off your opponent (Technique)

Black to play and win

How would you continue to conclude in this winning position (but not won yet) with Black ? Technique is what converts a 80% won position into a victory.

U.S Grandmasters (Tactical Quiz)

Special Tactical Quiz from U.S grandmasters participating in the upcoming 2009 U.S Championship ( http://www.uschess.org )

GM Hikaru Nakamura

I-Nemeth-Nakamura 2009
Black to play and win


II-Nakamura-Mikhalevsky 2007
White to play and win

GM Gata Kamsky

III-Kamsky-Bacrot 2007
White to play and win


IV-Kamsky-Krai 2007
White to play and win

GM Alexander Shabalov

V-Shabalov-Arenas 2008
White to play and win



VI-Izoria-Shabalov 2007
Black to play and win

White to play and win

From Bacrot-Alekseev 2009


Can you guess what Bacrot, with White, played here ?

Full Game and Answer replayable here
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1544167

Complicated Morozevitch position ( Amber 2008 tournament)

White to play

Evaluate and analyze this complicated position. This occured during a rapid game last year at the Chess Amber 2008 in Nice, France between two top GMs.

Who would you favor in the starting position above ?