Since I decided that my games were not particularly stunning, I am going to post two highlight positions from my games. I am not going to post the answers for a day or two, but feel free to comment on the post with your answers. Also, if you really want to see any of the games, leave a comment and I will post something. Both problems are pretty easy, so don't over think them.
From Round 1:
Black to move and not lose (2 possible answers):
From Round 3:
Black to move and have a large advantage (I still can't believe after seeing this that I messed it up three moves later!):
What really happened:
1. I played 1. ...Bxc3! 2. Bxc7 Bxd2 and the game was shortly drawn. 1. ...Rxd6 is the other alternative that is not losing, but requires more precision on black's part.
2. 1. ...Nxe5! is the correct solution. Unfortunately, it would only be a matter of 3 or 4 moves before I found a way to drop a piece.
Posts
3 comments:
Nice tactics.
Position 1: 1...Qxd6?? loses to 2.Re8+! Bf8 3.Rxd8. So that leaves Rxd6 and Bxc3 as candidates. Plus maybe something silly like Qb6+. Okay, since I'm not particularly good at not losing, I'll just try to find one move that doesn't lose. Let's try 1...Bxc3. Then 2.Bxc7 Bxd2 3.Bxd8 Bxe1 is fine for Black and 2.Qxc3 Qxd6 is okay too. So 2.bxc3 and again not 2...Qxd6?? 3.Re8+ 1-0, but 2...Rxd6 3.Re8+ (what else to try?) Kg7 and Black looks fine.
Position 2: Nxe4! wins a pawn due to the threat of Qg5+ and Qg2#. I guess it's time for White to hope for some cheesy attack: 2.f4 Nc5 3.Bc4 with some compensation (okay, not much).
Position 2:
1. ...Nxe4 2. f4 Nc5 3. f5?! might be more interesting for white than Bc4. You might even be able to go crazy with then: 3. ...Nxb3 4. axb3 and the threat of white playing f6 next move is awkward to answer. You might also try 4. f6?! (or ??) as white and things are also odd. Seems black may have some resources but white's attack is nothing to laugh at in either case. Then again, this is 30 second analysis.
I think f5 is a good idea to play for, but the only problem is that 3.f5?? in that sequence allows Qg5+, forcing mate. I'd actually like to amend my plan for cheesy compensation to use Pete's f5-f6 idea, by proposing the sequence 1...Nxe4! 2.f4 Nc5 3.Qg3!?. Now g5 is covered and you have a mate on g7 to contend with if a pawn gets to f6. 3...Nxd3? looks too greedy on account of 4.f5, giving White a big attack. So 3...Nxb3 looks more natural, when 4.axb3 gives White a position where I'd probably beat a 1400 but lose pretty soundly to Jeremy. Not sure why I thought so much about this, but I just really love playing the sort of bad position that White got into here. Looks like just the sort of trap I'd fall into!
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