Facing the London System: d5,c5,Bd6,b6 the Nc6-e7 move leading to Ne7-g6 or Ne7-f5-d6

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 d5 5. Nbd2 Nc6 6. c3 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bd3 b6 9. Ne5 Bb7 10.O-O Rc8 leads to the following position. Black will play Nc6-e7 ,Rc7 and Qa8 controlling e4 in the first game

Let's see how the play unfolded in Korobov-Kamsky 2013 (plan for Black-> Ne7,Rc7,Qa8)

in the second game, White tried to play f2-f4 after 9Ne5, followed by Qf3 and g4-g5. Black succeeded in Karjakin-Adams as well as Mitkov-Borgeos Mateo. Note the Nc6-e7-f5-d6 Knight Maneuver followed by Nfe4

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 d5 4. e3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bd3 b6 9. Ne5 Bb7 10. f4 10... Ne7 11. Qf3 11... Nf5 12. Bf2 Be7 13. g4 Nd6 14. g5  with the sharp position below

14..Nfe4 and Black controls e4.

US Chess Championship 2010 : Nakamura-Shulman Tactics (round 9)

Black to play and win !

Nakamura-Shulman , (9) U.S Championship 2010; a brilliant tactical win for Black, issued from a french defense opening where Naka overpressed.

Shulman will play Kamsky tomorrow in the decisive game for the 2010 U.S Championship !

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

Tactics from 2700+ GM games (2008)

I Black to play and win (warm-up level)

1..? Leko found a neat way to end the game immediately with a tactical shot against Kamsky (Tal Memorial 2008).















The chinese player Wang Hue rated 2704, has been on a roll. After finishing first at the Sochi Grand Prix (tied with Carlsen), he won the strong dutch tournament NH in Amsterdam.

II-White to play ( Wang Hue-Adgestein , NH Tournament 2008) Level Difficult


1.? How do you break Black's defense ?