Two tactical positions (Rating level ~ 2000)

1- Black to play and win

2- White to play and win !

Tactics,Tactics, chess middle game is 99% tactics ...

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 ?

Tactical Motif VI : Attacking the King

Roughly 50% of all combinations are centered around attacking the king. Besides topical checkmates( Smothered,Boden,etc), there are numerous themes involving the king hunt.
Here we present examples where the bishop pair is instrumental in the attack.

King attack: Illustration

15.? White to play and win ( Lasker-Bauer 1889)
















This famous combination by Lasker , with a now thematic double bishop sacrifices,started with:

15.Bxh7+! Kxh7 16.Qxh5+ Kg8 17.Bxg7! ( Second bishop sacrifice, opening the king) Kxg7 18.Qg4+! Kh7 19.Rf3 e5 (only defense against Rh3) 20.Rh3+ Qh6 21.Rxh6+ Kxh6 22.Qd7! 1-0

Exercises (difficult level):
I Black to play and win (Rotlewi-Rubinstein 1907)

II: Black to play and win (Spassky-Tal, 1973)

September 2007, puzzle 8

Position 8, September 2007

Black to play and win

Parma-Gligoric 1961