In the meantime, I've been playing the occasional online blitz games. Here's a collection of puzzles (no solutions! - I decided to put the solutions after all) that you might find interesting. These are snapshots of games that either my opponent or I missed and played a really lousy move that changed the course of the game! See if you can find out the response.
Diagram 1 - 1. Nd2?? ... The retribution was swift.
Diagram 2 - 1. Re1?? No more draws for White
Diagram 3 - 1. Ba3?? Asking for trouble
(this one is not that big an advantage for Black but
it ended up with White having to defend for long periods
before finally succumbing to relentless pressure)
it ended up with White having to defend for long periods
before finally succumbing to relentless pressure)
Diagram 4 - 1.... Rxc3?? Black becomes a pawn grabber and
instantly regrets the decision
Update -Solutions added:
Hi LinuxGuy.
No problems. Maybe I'll give out the answer in a different colour (you can see the answer by highlighting)
Diagram 1: White suffers from tactics failure and instantly loses a piece due to 1....Nxd4 and the Knight is untouchable else White loses the Rook due to the pin on c2.
Diagram 2: White should have played the counter-intuitive 1. Kb2! and can salvage a draw because the Black king cannot approach the a-pawn without the Rook giving checks from behind. Now Black wins after 1. Rf1 due to 1... Re2+ 2. Kd3 (forced) Rg2 and starts gobbling the g-pawns. Black will win the pawns and the game later.
Diagram 3: The White king only has 1 defender. The Knight on f3 so that means the typical sacrifice 1... Rxf3! And White is in a heap of trouble after this move. In this game, my opponent tried. 2. Bxd6 Qxd6 3. gxf3 Nxh2 and if the White rook moves (else White is a pawn down for nothing) followed by 4... Nxf3+ with Qh2 and Black starts rolling his pieces out. For a rook, Black has 2 pawns and a Knight and an open White king under fire. More than sufficient compensation. White didn't survive long in this game.
Diagram 4: Again the typical sacrifice occurs with 1... Rxf6!! If 2. gxf6 Black is in deep trouble after Nxh6+ followed by Qh5.
In the true spirit of not giving the answer, I think I got them all right, plus it saves time to only type this. :-) Thanks for sharing the puzzles, Tanc!
ReplyDeleteNo problems, LinuxGuy. Hope you had fun with them. I decided maybe I should have provided the solutions...so I've updated the blog. :)
ReplyDelete