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 📚 Chess Tactics Video Course ChessWorld.net's Tactics technical paper suite!
Assessing the tactical elements / combinational motifs Tactical combinations do not just magically appear. They are usually a logical consequence of the position. [However players like Tal have a remarkable habit of pulling combinations out of the air!!] .The tactical elements and questions which can provide useful clues that there may be an advantageous combination at one's disposal include the following:-
These tactical elements are often interwined with each other. Therefore the following examples generally reflect the exploitation of a number of the above at the same time. King safety examples Introduction The King is generally the weakest piece on the chessboard in the middlegame (but may prove to be a very valuable resource in the endgame!). If you lose a pawn, it is not the end of the game. Even if you have your whole queenside demolished, it is still not the end of the game. If your king gets mated however, that is terminal. Grandmasters are generally very very good at ripping open king positions- whether they look weak or not!. The three Grandmasters Kasparov, Tal and Fischer in particular have completely destroyed their opponents kings from positions where there does not seem to be a danger superficially. Lets look at King safety from the perspectives of the castled king, the king that has moved, and the king in the centre. Castled king examples Castling does not automatically guarantee king safety!. Nor does not having any "obvious" weaknesses! This is where the penetrating glance of tactics can reveal beautiful hidden resources in the position.
Blacks king does not superficially look very weak. However weaknesses are weaknesses when they can be exploited!. Kasparov ripped open the lines against the opponents King from this position with the following continuation:- 19.Ndxe6!! fxe6 20.Nxe6 Qa7 21.e5 dxe5 22.Nxf8 Bxf8 23.Bxf6 gxf6 24.Rd8 Nd7 25.Qg4 1-0
Kasparov vs Kengis, Riga 1995 Here blacks King does not visibly look that weak, but Kasparov
finished it off with
Fischer-Addison Palma de Mallorca 1970 Addison's position does not look very well here, espcially considering there is no safe haven for his king. Fischer finished off the game with Rxd5! The game continuation was:- cxd5 22.Nxd5 Qxb2 23.Rb1 Qxa2 24.Rxb7 1-0
Tal-Koblents 1965 Tal did not bother moving his queens knight in this position. Instead he played Rd3!! for a full scale tactical assault against the castled king. Black did not last much longer after this move :- bxc3 17.Bxc3 Qxa2 18.Rh3 Bxe4 19.g6 Bxg6 20.Qxh7+ Bxh7 21.Rxg7+ Kh8 22.Rhxh7# 1-0 The King that has been forced to move The King that has been forced to move is very unfortunate. The nice luxury of castling has been taken away. The king will be struggling manually to get into a safe position, and one is praying that the opponent is going to give us just one or two extra moves to run your slow running king into a safe position. [It is even more unfortunate when you also happen to be playing against someone over 2700 FIDE! or one of those damn computers!]
Anand vs Kasparov PCA World Championship match, 1995 Here White's king is visibly weak. Kasparov unleashes a move that fully exploits its precarious position:- Ne4!! 0-1 because of the variation fxe4 Rf6+ Ke1 Rxe4+ Kd1 Rxc4 which leaves Whites king defenceless against threats such as Rd6 winning White's queen. The uncastled King The uncastled king provide a time window for exploitation sometimes. One has to move fast to catch an uncastled king!
Fischer vs Rubinetti, Parma de Mallorca 1970 The black king is still unfortunately in the centre, and fischer
exploits this fact to the maximum not giving the opponent much time to do
anything with Bd5!! The game continued:-
Tal-Onj Jok Hava 1966 This is really impressive considering it still looks like a
standard opening position!
Ljubojevic vs Kasparov, Treppner 1990 The Bishop on g2 is unprotected. Kasparov exploits this weakness
with Bxa2+ The game continued:-
Uhlmann vs Fischer, Palma de Mallorca 1970 Here Fischer exploits the slight looseness of the two white bishops to snatch a pawn with Nxe4! The game continuation was:- Rxe4 14.Bg5 Qe8 15.Bd3 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Rb4 and Fischer went on to win comfortably.
Here Fischer exploits the slight looseness of the Bishop on e1 with Bxa4! 0-1 If Qxa4 then Qxe4 double attacks the bishop on e1 and the g2 square. Pinned pieces
Bareev vs Kasparov, Paris 1991 The pawn on f2 is pinned against the King. Kasparov used this fact, and finished the game off abruptly with Rg3! Combinations based on the particular peculiarites of the position
Timman vs Kasparov, Tilburg 1991 Here Kasparov simultaneously exploits a number of "little factors" in this position:-
He played the following continuation:- Nxf2!! 20.Qxf2 Ng4 21.Qf3 Nxe3 22.Re1 Bxd4 23.Nd5 Ng4+ 24.Bxd4 Qxe1+ 25.Rxe1 Rxe1+ and blacks material proved decisive.
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