Apr-04-15 A Planinc vs Ulf Andersson, 1975
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| neilmcmurdo: 18. Nb5 seems to keep the pressure on |
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Jan-07-15 J Wiik vs O Lie, 1977
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| neilmcmurdo: 14. ... Nd7 and black looks even. |
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Jul-10-09 Grischuk vs Bareev, 2001 
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| neilmcmurdo: I disagree with posters who've said this is a 'no-brainer'. The main line has to be seen through to 18. Rxe7+ to justify the sacrifice. I need hardly add that players who routinely sacrifice minor pieces for two pawns and a whiff position, without calculating the variations ... |
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Apr-10-09 Nisipeanu vs Oral, 2004
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| neilmcmurdo: The best play lines after 24 ... nxd3 are complex. However, OTB whilst considering white's 24th move, I think it's enough to show that winning the exchange is good enough to secure a decent advantage for white. That there are stronger continuations after move 26 (e.g. knight ... |
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Jan-17-09 Motylev vs A Iljushin, 2000
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| neilmcmurdo: Looks like 31. Ne7+ can lead to a won endgame with very accurate play. e.g.
31. Ne7+ Rxe7 32. Rxf8+ Kxf8 33. Bg6 Qb6+ 34. Kh1 Qe6 35. Qh8+ Qg8 36.
Qh4 Rae8 37. Qf4+ Rf7 38. Qb4+ Ree7 39. Qxb5 Rf6 40. h4 Rxg6 41. Bxe7+ Kxe7 42. Qxb7+ Ke6 43. Qa6+ Kxe5 44. Qxg6 I would have ... |
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Jan-08-09 Anikaev vs A Khasin, 1990
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| neilmcmurdo: This is a very tough puzzle. I'm surprised it didn't get a higher rating. Obviously it's easy to spot that the position comes down to 'does 18. ... d5 work?' But I think three aspects of the puzzle make it very tough: - The simpler defensive moves for black are not obviously ... |
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Jan-02-09 P Dubinin vs Tolush, 1947
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| neilmcmurdo: I thought this was an excellent puzzle, esp. for matchplay practice. Strictly speaking both candidate moves 72 ... Rb4 and 72 ... Nd6 both seem to lead to a draw. But the former is by far the preferable option as it gives white far more opportunities to hang themselves - and ... |
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Dec-23-08 E Cekro vs L Patriarca, 2008
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| neilmcmurdo: Jg27Pyth - The breakthrough isn't fast enough. The white king covers easily and the resultant endgame is a very easy win for white. |
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Nov-23-08 O Maiorov vs I Zakharevich, 1997
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| neilmcmurdo: This is a very hard puzzle!
Nxb2 followed by Bf8 are logical attacking moves.
But it is a significant sacrifice, and 20. ... Nxc3 is straightforward and looks ok for black. This isn't a case where the conservative, second-best alternative to the sacrifice is so bad as to force |
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Nov-13-08 C Lutz vs Kramnik, 1995
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| neilmcmurdo: Like a lot of others I was initially drawn to 35 ... Bg7 which seems to win a piece. However, this is a much worse move than 35 ... Bd2 which win easily. 35 ... Bg7 seems to lead to a black being a piece up but in a drawn endgame because of the two passed pawns. |
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