Chess Tactics and Combinations. Features Grandmaster opening and middlegame. Hints, Solutions and Analysis provided. Carlsen, Anand, Kasparov,Firouzja,Caruana games. Keep your game sharp ! --------------- (all material copyrighted)
Friday, June 18, 2021
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Monday, June 14, 2021
Saturday, June 12, 2021
Prep
LINE 1
line1 KAN 2021 - c4 lines [B42]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6
6.Nc3
[6.Bd3 Nc6!? 7.Nxc6 dxc6 8.0–0 e5 9.Kh1 Bc5
Black hasn’t played Qc7 so Ng4 and Qh4 is a quick attack against the king.
10.Nc3 Ng4 11.f3 Nxh2! 0–1 (11) Lederman,L (2346)-Smirin,I (2702) Israel 2002]
6...Qc7 7.Bd3
[7.a3; 7.Be2; 7.Be3;7f3]
7...Nc6!? 8.Nxc6 [8.Be3; 8.Nf3]
8...dxc6! 9.0–0 e5
10.f4
Now Black can develop Bc5 and Ng4 and h7-h5 with attack
[10.h3 Bc5!;
10.Be3 Ng4! 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bh4
g5! Black is launching an attack with g5 and h5 followed by Bc5 and Qe7 and O-O-O 13.Bg3 h5 14.Be2 Bc5 15.h4? (15Na4 better) Qe7 16.hxg5 Qxg5 17.Qc1 Qf6 18.Nd1 h4 19.Ne3 hxg3 0–1 (19) Schirmer,W (2087)-Meier,G (2648) Dresden 2010; 10.Qe2 Bc5 11.Be3 Bg4!? (11...Bxe3 12.Qxe3 Be6) ]
10...Bc5+ 11.Kh1 0–0 [11...Ng4!? 12 Qf3 Qe7 13 f5 Qh4 14 h3 h5 15 Nd1 b6 unclear , 11..h5 12 f5 Bd7 and 0-0-0 ]
12.Qf3 [Hansen-Bocharov]
12...b5 [12..ef4!?]
13.fxe5 [13.f5 Rd8 14.Bg5 Be7 was better , equal position ]
13...Ng4 14.Bf4 Nxe5 15.Qg3 f6 =+
Line 2 Vitiugov-Kasparov
(1165) Kan2–5Nc3 b5!? - Vitiugov-Kasparov [B43]
line Seeman 12..Qb6+!, 02.05.2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 b5 6.Bd3 Qb6
7.Nb3 [7.Nf3!? Nc6 8.0–0 Qb8!? Svidler 9.Re1 Bd6 10.e5 Bc7 11.Bf4 Nge7 ] Qc7 8.0–0 Bb7 9.f4
b4! 10.Ne2 [10 Nb1 Black plays Nf6 Nc6 ,a6-a5 and h7-h5 aggressively, Polgar and Gofshtein wins] Nf6 11.Ng3 [11e5 Nd5] h5!
12.e5 Qb6+ the most precise [12...h4 13.Nh1 (13.Nf5! Nd5 14.Nd6+ Bxd6 15.exd6 Qxd6 16.h3) 13...h3! 14.Ng3 hxg2 15.Rf2 Nd5
Leve-Vitiugov Black plays Nc6 next or a7-a5-a4 with Ne3 a big threat 13.Kh1 h4!
[the knight can be attacked by h5–h4 and followed by h4–h3! attack on the h-file and diagonal a8–h1 with bishop Bb7]
14.Rf3 [14 ef6 hg3 leads to Checkmate !14 Ne2 h3!;
14 Nf5 h3! 15 Ne3 Nd5 Black has strong pressure due to a8-h1 diagonal.a6-a5 Nc6 and f7-f5 are key ideas for Black ]
14..hxg3 15.Be3 Rxh2+ 16.Kg1
Rxg2+! 17.Kxg2 Qxe3 18.Kxg3 Nh5+ 19.Kg4 f5+ 20.Kxh5 Bxf3+ ) Koskela,N (2237)-Seeman,T (2403) Myyrmanni 1999]
LINE3 ALTERNATIVE to 9f4 in VITIUGOV LINE
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 b5 6.Bd3 Qb6 7.Nb3 Qc7 8.0–0
Variation a) 9.a3 this move is too slow. 9...Nf6
Here White can try 10 f4 or 10 Qe2.
In both cases we have a hedgehog formation d6,Nbd7,Be7 are the next moves for Black
10.f4 d6 Black will develop Nbd7-c5 and Be7 followed by castle 11.Kh1 (11.Qf3 Nbd7 12.Be3 Be7 13.Rae1 Nc5 14.Nd4 0–0 15.Qh3 Rac8 16.Bf2 Rfd8 17.Bg3 Qb6 0–1 (35) Nyudleev,D (2412)-Andreikin,D (2635) Moscow 2010) 11...Nbd7 12.Qe2 Be7 13.Nd4 0–0 14.Bd2 Nc5
Note here White has not played Rae1 so Black does not have to play e6-e5 which would be met by Nf5.
Which lead to Barua-Kasparov 20..f5!
On 10.Qe2 we reached the following
10...d6 11.f4 Nbd7 12.Bd2 [12.Be3 Be7 Black scores well here]
12...Be7 13.Rae1 hoping for e4-e5 e5! [a key move. Black takes control of the black squares; 13..0-0 14 Kh1 e5]
14.Kh1
[14.g4!? very sharp Nb6 15.g5 Nfd7 16.Na5 exf4 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.exd5 Ne5 19.Bxb5+;
14.f5 Rc8 followed by ...0–0 and d6–d5!]
14...0–0
Definitely a key position for the entire variation.
-Sailer Chucelov 15 Bc1 to play Nb3-d2 was met with 15..Rfe8! , and Rac8,Nb6 and d6-d5! Opening up
-Todorov-Velikov saw 15 f5 closing the play. Rfe8,Rac8,Nb6 and again d6-d5!
-Barua-Kasimdzhanov saw 15 fxe5 opening the play.
Kazimdzanov played 15… Nxe5 16.Nd4 g6 17.Bg5 Qd8 Black gets the knight on e5 but white forces g6 after 16Nd4.
Black squares are weakened so the position is equal
An alternative on move 15 in this line is 15...dxe5!? 16.Rf3 Rfe8 17.Ref1 Nf8 safer
Variation a) 9.Qe2!?
This move is better move order as it supports e4-e5 directly.
9..Nf6 10.f4 b4 is ok for black but 10e5!? Nd5 11Nxd5 Bd5 12 a4! b4 13Bf4 Nc6 14 Rfd1 is good for White
9..Nc6!? was played by Hillarp Persson but White can play 10f4 and the knight would be better on d7.
9..b4!? my recommendation 10Nd1 10..Nc6 [10..Nf6 11f4 a5!?] 11f4 Be7 12 c3 a5!? with a double-edged position
If white plays e4-e5 before Black has ..Nh6!? and if now 13 Be3 Nf6 the knight can go on d5.
9..d6?! inaccurate here 10.a4!? the most promising for White
10..b4 11Na2 Nf6 [11..d5 12 c3!]
White has 12Nb4! d5 13 Nd5! exd5 14exd5+ with advantage.
Variation c) 9.Be3 9..Nf6
-10 f4 d6 11e5!? Is an interesting line for White.
11..de5 12 fe5 Nd5 13 Nd5 Bd5 14 a4!? White is first to open the lines
14..b4 15 Qe2
-10 a3 too slow 10...Be711.Kh1 d6 12 f4 Nbd7
Hedgehog formation. We see a similar position as in the 9a3 line but bishop is on e3 as opposed to 9a3 and 10Bd2 and Rae1 plan.
Lumiste,R (2055)-Andreikin,D (2737) Tallinn 2016 13.Bg1 [13 Qe2 0-0 14 Rad1 Rac8] h5!
Black does not castle and launches the attack with h7-h5 14.Nd4 Rc8 15.f5 e5 16.Nf3 Qb8 17.Qe2 h4 18.Rad1 h3! 19.g3 Qa8.
Variation d) misc moves
9.a4 … b4 10.Ne2 10...Nf6
11.Bf4 (11.Ng3 h5!?) 11...e5!? 12.Be3 d5 Kengis
If White plays Na2 instead on move 19 (10.Na2 Nf6 11.Qe2 Nc6 12.f4
12.. d6 (12...Be7!? idea e6–e5 and d6–d5!) 13.c3 bxc3 14.bxc3 Be7 15.Nb4 0–0
16.Nxc6 Qxc6 7 0–1 (48) Filipek,J (2383)-Chuchelov,V (2600) Belgium 2002)
9.Re1 Bd6!? The two bishops on b7 and d6 target the black king.
10 h3 Ne7!? 11Qg5?! Nbc6 and Black is already better Diego Flores game.