Some Simple Tactics

Since I don't have anything else to post at the moment, I am going to post some of the fairly recent tactics from some of my correspondence games.


Tactic 1: Difficulty: 4/10. Black to move.



Tactic 2: Difficulty: 5/10. Black to move.



Tactic 3: Difficulty: 3/10. White to move.





Solutions:

In a few more lines the solutions will be displayed.

Make sure you are ready for them.

Although, if you cheat, I won't know.

It will not help you much if you don't work at them though.

Enough stalling, here they are:

Tactic 1:

The key to this is to note the weakness of the white king. The black queen looks a little overworked, but since the king has infinite value, this doesn't matter.

1. ...Rxc3+!!
a. 2. bxc3 Qxc3+ 3. Kb1 Bd3#
b. 2. Kb1 Bd3+! 3. Ka1 Qxe1+ 4. Nb1 Qxb1#


Tactic 2:

Looks simple but has some trickery in it.

1. ...Ne3? 2. Rxf7! and white is just fine.

1. ...Rxf1 should be easy to find.
a. 2. Rxf1 Rxf1 3. Nxf1 Nf4+ with an extra pawn and probably winning endgame.
b. 2. Nxf1 and here is the hard part:
2. ...Rf3+!
a. 3. Ng3 Nf4+ 4. Kh2 Rf2+ with a likely winning bind
b. 3. Kh2 Nf4 and either d3 or b2 will fall.
c. 3. Kg2 was played in the game, but fails to Rxd3! 4. Rxd3 Nf4+ with a winning ending.

Tactic 3:

This one is much simpler, but the variation is longer.

1. Qxg7+! Kxg7 2. Rxh7+ Rxh7 3. Rxh7+ Kf8 4. Rh8+ Ke7 5. Re8#