Tactics in the Spanish

White to play and win !

Difficulty: Medium

The King Hunt (from recent top GM games)

Three positions where White managed to scalp the opponent's king.

1)White to play
Aronian-Volokitin 2008




2)White to play
Caruana-Berg 2008


3)White to play
Adams-Topalov 2006

Inventive attack explained step by step

Sandipan-Tiviakov 2007 , Ottawa

White to play and win

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24 Rbd1!. The idea is to exploit the vis-a-vis against the Queen and bring the rook into the game. This quiet move works because Black is tied up ( Ne6 is stuck to protect against mate on g7). The game continued then 24 Rbd1 Qb7 to reach the next position

White to play

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25 Rd4 is how Sandipan continued. The idea is to follow up with rook giving check and then Qf6+ quickly leads to mate. Tiviakov defended with 25 ..Ne4. Logically, Sandipan increased the pressure by the sacrifice 26 Ree4! de4 27 Qf6! and then reach the following:

Exercise Position after 27 Qf6!

Black played ..Qc7 in the position above.
Why did this move (as any other for that matter) lose immediately ?

Here, Black is to play but all his pieces are uncoordinated and unable to cope with the threats. Black played 27..Qc7 above. Can you find how White finished up this magnificent attack ? The answer is as follows:

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28 Nh6 + Kf8

29 Qh8+ Ke7

30 Nf5#

Final position

Impressive, isn't it ?

Find the best move

Another tactical quiz, another Tal position. Here, Tal played 1 e4 against Ian Rogers in 1991 and ended up in this position, with White to play. Can you spot the forcing line leading to white's victory. In particular, find the first two moves of the combination. Level: Easy.

White to play and win ( Tal,M-Rogers,I 1991)

Another Tal Brilliancy

Ex-World Champion and attacking genius Mikhail Tal had a terrific year in 1976, in particular at the Biel Interzonal. Can you find the right sequence of moves, to finish off your opponent in the following position ?

White to play and win !