- About Us
- Chess Improvement
- Chess Puzzles
- Chess Research
- College Chess
- General News
- Home
- Major Tournaments
- News
- Polgar Events
- Privacy Policy
- Scholastic Chess
- SPICE / Webster
- Susan’s Personal Blog
- Track your order
- USA Chess
- Videos
- Women’s Chess
- Contact Us
- Daily News
- My Account
- Terms & Conditions
- Privacy Policy
Good tactic in real play.
Looks like
1. Nb5! wins a piece.
1. … Nxb5 What else?
2. Rxd5 Rxd5 What else?
3. Bxd5+ Kf8/h8
4. a4 ant he knight has no retreat. So
4. … Nxc3
5. bxc3 Bxc3 And White has a bishop against two pawns and should win.
1.Nb5 surely wins and has the virtue of being simpler, but I wonder if it really is strongest- any knight move opens the line the c7- for example:
1. Nc8
I like this move better because it threatens a later fork from e7 once the exchanges occur at d5- this means that black cannot defend with either 1. …b5 or 1. ….Be5:
1. ………..b5
2. Bd5
Or even an immediate 2.Bc7 works. Continuing:
2. …………Nd5
3. Rd5 Rd5
4. Ne7
And, if 1. ….Be5, then
2. Be5
Or 2.Bd5 immediately. Continuing:
2. …………Re5
3. Bd5 Nd5
4. Rd5 Rd5
5. Ne7 again wins a full piece.
My doubt about this line for white is where black moves the king, but this still looks better for white to me than 1.Nb5:
1. Nc8 Kf8
2. Bc7! Nc7
3. Rd8 Ne8
4. Bb5 Re5 (what better?)
5. Nd6 Ke7 (any better move?)
6. Rd7 Kf8 (no better move now)
7. Ne8 a6 (or 7. …. Re8 8.Rg7 wins a full piece)
And, I think white does best to just play 8.Bc6 here rather than an immediate 8.Nxg7- that line bothers me because I can’t quite figure out if white’s advantage is worth as much since there isn’t a an easy way to extract the piece, though the ending is surely won for white anyway (play it out to see what I mean. Continuing from above:
8. Bc6 Re8
9. Rg7 Re1 (is Re2 any better?)
10. Kf2 Rb1
11. Rh7 Rb2
12. Kg3 and white wins a piece for a single pawn minimum since blacks own queen side pawns are too weak to really save.
Finally, I think even 1.Nf5 works:
1. Nf5 b5 (if 1. …Rf5, then 2.Bc7 wins)
2. Ne7 Kf8
3. Nd5 Nd5 (what better?)
4. Bd5 Bd4 (again, what better?)
5. cd4 Rd5
6. Kf2 cd4
7. Ke2 and black still won’t be able to hold the pawn compensation for the piece.
I considered two alternatives 1.Nc8 and 1.Nf5 when I made my first comment.First one I rejected for the second as it does two things cutting support from R and also attacking N at c7. I particularly was lazy to analyze 1.Nc8 Kf8.
I like 1. Nf5 R:f5 2. B:c7 and Black will win the Nd5. If Black plays 1…Kh8 then simply 2. B:d5 and white also wins a piece.