Feb-13-06
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| notyetagm: Wow, what a disaster. Black missed the tactical point that since his f6-knight must defend the h7-mating focal point, it cannot also defend the d5-pawn. White plays 18  xd5! and it is curtains, since 18 ... xd5 is a <deflection from h7> and results in 19  xh7#. |
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Feb-13-06
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| notyetagm: From the GAMBIT book How To Beat Your Dad At Chess by Murray Chandler, pages 74-75: <DEADLY CHECKMATE 31 Removing the f6 defenderMy kingdom for a horse!
A long-range piece can pressure weak points from afar. An example is a White queen developed on c2 or d3, which eyes Black's vulnerable h7-square. Add in just one other supporting piece (such as a White knight on g5 or a bishop on b1) and, potentially, White has sufficient firepower to checkmate with xh7. There remains one problem. In the standard castled position, Black normally has a knight developed on f6, protecting the h7-square. White could offer to exchange this defending knight, but this would alert Black to the danger, giving him time to stop the mate. The trick is to attack the f6 knight whilst simultaneously attacking another piece, as Black will be unable to deal with both threats at once.> Here, after 18 xd5!, White is threatening both 19 x as well as 19 x+ followed by 20 xh7#. Black cannot adequately parry both of these threats. |
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Feb-13-06
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| notyetagm: For yet another example of this theme, check out Adams vs Leko, 1996 and the variation 17 e5! (<clearance of the e4-square>) dxe5 18 e4!, simultaneously attacking the Black f6-knight defender of the h7-mating focal point and the Black f2-queen. |
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Feb-13-06
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| tamar: Savchenko must have been in agony after 15...Bc8, for not only does the text move 16 Nc6! win, but also moving the knight the other way 16 Ng4! does also. The usual law that applies is that realization occurs a milli-second before the piece is released. |
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Feb-14-06
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| notyetagm: <tamar> Only Kasparov gets to take back moves in such a situation. :-)
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Secrets of Opening Surprises
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