Hi friends, lets look at some Tactics from the 41st Chess Olympiad.
Tactics from the 41st Chess Olympiad
This position comes from the game WGM Melanie Ohme of Germany (2301) vs WGM Olga Girya of Russia (2484), Round 4 of the 41st Chess Olympiad, played in Norway.
White to move.
The tactics puzzle is at move 37. White to move.
Black has just played 36. …Rh2. It appears as though Blacks pieces are all swarming over the white monarch and the attack by black might just come through. Right?
Look again. The Black King is also not a sleeping beauty rather looks like a sitting duck. The question is – how can White use that to his advantage?
The first thing to do is to lay the position on a real chess board.
Do not try solving it on the PC as you will be missing on the spatial aspects of chess training.
Moreover if the position is not solvable in the first two minutes then stop staring at the screen.
Sit down and start solving on a chess board.
But don’t feel any necessity to do it that way; just try to “see” as far as you can with the diagram, and if you can’t keep the position or visualize deep enough, then its time to set up a board.
This wayit will improve your vision on a real board also since real chess games are OTB.
If you can mate him, it will be good. If you cannot, try tactical methods to snare some free stuff!
Oops – looks like I just blurted out the answer.
Don’t scroll down any further as the answer will be posted in the following lines.
Let us see what the answer is: Bb6+ followed by RxN. (The Knight is defending the Rook on d2. So you get the picture now?). Black loses a lot of material and resigned.
The world’s fourth-largest chess event, the 41st Chess Olympiad, ended on August 2015 in the former Mack Brewery warehouse in Tromsø. About 1,500 players from over 170 countries played against each other in the Norwegian city of Tromso, to win medals and more importantly, the Hamilton-Russell Cup, which was the top prize since first official Olympiad in London in 1927. This cup has been used since that time. Amazing isn’t it? The young Chinese team won the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway.
They became the only undefeated team among 176 participating countries, winning eight matches and tying three, scoring 19 points.
The Hungarians won the silver medals on a tiebreak over India, both scoring 17 points.
Azerbaijan and the top rated team of Russia also scored 17 points, but their tiebreaks were not good enough.
Russia won the Women’s Olympiad with 20 match points, and China edged Ukraine on a tiebreak after both scored 18 points.
Hungary’s second place was overshadowed by Judit Polgar’s announcement that she is retiring from professional chess.
My first memory on seeing this is Judo. It does an amazing job of using your opponents force and weight (damage from the throw), then adding in your force to damage your opponent. This is what happened in the game.
Judo (Japanese: 柔道, jūdō; “gentle way”) is a martial art and combat sport, which originated in Japan. Judo, now primarily a sport, is a system of unarmed combat. The objective is to throw, pin, or cause the opponent to yield by applying pressure to arm joints or the neck. Judo techniques are intended to turn an opponent’s force to one’s advantage, rather than confronting it directly. Rituals surrounding the practice of judo promote an attitude of calm readiness and confidence – Source
It is all about maximum results with least effort, and simple chess is all about it. The key is to react with quiet consciousness, not blind raging urges.
Please go over the game slowly and see where my moves appear strange to you.
These would be the points you have to understand.
So what exactly happened in this game?
I did not do anything but only used my opponent’s own urge to ‘do something’, against him. I am a fan of Petrosian and Karpov.I always think what they would do in such a position.
The reason I am showing this game is because I feel that beginners and intermediate players usually are never taught to play as per the needs of the position or how to change gears based on the opponent’s moves.
Here when I say ‘opponent’s moves’ and let me clarify that I refer to the beginners urge to try and dominate – usually obvious in the first 10-15 moves.
Coming to the topic of how to train this method of using your opponent’s force against him, I would suggest – always sitting with a stronger player and asking him to block your attacking attempts by playing ferociously, and then see how he can withstand your onslaught. Then go over that game and see where you rushed in. All these moments will be our learning notes.
In this experiment you will see where you are lacking, like lack of patience or lack of proper visualization + calculation in critical positions or both.
One more method would be to slowly go over games by players like Karpov, Capablanca or Petrosian and see how you are able to find their moves. Every time they make a move that appears difficult to understand, you need to pause and meditate.
That is all for now friends! Hope to hear from you soon – if you are in Facebook why not join me there and like my page ?
Golden Chess Centre conducts regular training sessions for dedicated and upcoming chess players in Nanganallur, Madipakkam, Adambakkam, Moovarasampet, Kilkattalai, Kovilambakkam, Puzhuthivakkam, Ullagaram and Pazhavanthangal – Chennai, as well as online sessions for those players who live out of Chennai.
