A Chess Book you Dollop.
Now pick a diagram...Any Diagram.
Here are the first four diagrams in the book and you have to find
the easy move that picks up material left hanging.
I always look at these things to see if there any sneaky come-backs or other ideas.
The first three are clear enough. White to play in all four.
(1) 1.Rxg5
(2) 1.Bxh8
(3) 1.Bxa8
But the fourth position 1.Qxb7. Can it be improved with 1.Nd5
Black has to move the Queen and still cannot save the b-pawn.
1.Nd5 Qd7 2.Qxb7
And White keeps initiative (often lost for a few moves after winning material)
due to the threat of 3.Qxc6 Qxc6 4.Ne7+ winning a piece.
Moot point?
Of course it is but regular visitors will recall the fun we had when I found
an interesting diagram in a Chess magazine and we eventually tracked down
the full score and unearthed a mini-masterpiece.
Not to mention learning about so called drawn Knights endings.
(A good post that one. Heroes + Morphing Morphy + Fried Liver + Knight Mates).
So the theme this week is a Pseudo Queen sacs leading to a Knight Fork.
Again RHP furnishes all the examples.
fckallie - ShallowBlue RHP 2004
White played 17.Qxc6 Qxc6 18 Ne7+ coming out a piece up and 1-0 four moves later.
Introducing….
SAADGEORGE - peacedog RHP 2008
Black only saw the threat to the c7 pawn and played 14….Rc8
15.Qxc6 was enough. Black saw the coming Ne7+ and resigned.
RiverThames - daisydidata RHP 2007
And we witness Black building his own gallows.
Black played 18…b6? 19.Qxc6! 1-0 a few moves later.
From Black’s point of view.
machinethis - ZugZwang4 RHP2007
White played 13.Rb1 Qxc3! Black won easily.
So the pattern is easy to store.
You need a Knight fork-check in the position, a Queen defending a piece
(always fertile tactical hunting ground, Queens make lousy defenders.) and a Queen
(or anything really, I’m using a Queen for effect) attacking the defended piece.
Here it is in action.
bbarr - romaxt RHP 2002
They do get missed!
atlantean - Apee RHP 2009
Black missed 13…Qxc3 with 14…Ne2+ to follow, instead he took the c2 pawn.
and sadly here is a slightly different setting.
krugerand - kenan RHP 2008
Black missed 19….Qxc1+ 20.Qxc1 Ne2+ winning a Rook.
Staying with Knights forking Queens and a switch of attack squares. (f6/f3)
This is a common winning fork v a castled position.
If the Knight gets a free check on f6 then all these squares are taboo for a Black Queen.
RHP tosses up 100’s of examples.
rlchapman - yavexel RHP 2007 sets the scene. White to play.
The danger sign is the Queen being the sole protector of the d7 Bishop.
Combination seeds are planted and ideas are grown.
You should avoid (if you can) such situations. Not only do they limit your defensive
possibilities but they give your opponent something to work with.
So they start calculating and plotting for ways to take advantage of your condition.
Pretty soon they spot the combo (these Knight forks are relatively easy to spot).
We can look at the full game that led to the above position and see the end.
krugerand - kenan RHP 2008
Finally a Queen sac/Knight Fork and a cocked up brilliancy.
ZadokThePriest - Feicko RHP 2009
White to play.
White sacced two Bishops to get here and 19.Nh5 looks like the move.
The threat is Qg7 mate or Nxf6+ and Qh7 mate. and I’d guess that 19.Nh5 was
the quickest move he played after the opening. It pays to triple-check your
'winning move', it is often the cause for throwing a won game.
After 19.Nh5 White (Yes White) resigned two moves later.
The correct Knight move was 19. Nge4
The threat of Nxf6+ is fatal, the difference being the White Queen holds h2.
Yes "holds h2." Black can pull out a defensive resource well worth remembering.
I’ll give the full game, always instructive to see the build up to a catastrophe.
What a pity White messed it up.
I like to keep them simple as I'm writing for the weakest reader and at the same time trying to keep the stronger players interested. (hard).
The theme here, which can happen anywhere on the boar, is to lure a piece onto a square where it can be knight-forked.
I'm always on the look out for a good positional game from the 1400DB but just when I think I have one. BANG! one lad drops a piece.
It's tactics all the way on here. The two move tirck is winning 99%
of the games so I am drumming that into them.
Once they have that mastered then they can move onto someone else.
Bet on horses that have chess sounding names.
King's Pawn, Proud Knight, Happy Queen etc etc.
If you see a horse called Green Pawn then put your mortgage on it.
Hi Kyplor
I leave a mistake in every week just for you.
I am beginning to think it is the sole reason for your existence. 😉
Corrected and Thanks.
(3) 1.Bxa1
should be:
(3) 1.Bxa8
Thank you. :-)
Thanks again GP
I've played over every game on RHP and memorised the lot.
(with all these bad moves rolling around inside my skull
you should see the nightmares I'm having.) 😉