[Event "Hawaii State Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.06"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Chen, Mark"]
[Black "Alvarez, Marvin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "1701"]
[BlackElo "1649"]
[Annotator "Chen"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6 6. Ng3 ({Better was} 6.
Bd3 {to support the e4-knight.}) 6... Nd7 7. Be2 Ngf6 8. O-O Bd6 9. Bg5 h6 10.
Be3 O-O 11. c4 Bxf3 12. Bxf3 c6 13. Rc1 {This move wasn't good, as the rook
really isn't useful on the c-file.} ({It would've been smarter to do something
like} 13. Re1 {followed by Qd1-d2 and Ra1-d1.}) 13... a5 14. Qb3 Qc7 15. Rfd1
Rfe8 16. d5 {Imprecise, as my center was pretty strong, and I shouldn't have
rushed a breakthrough. The problem with my position is that there's no easy
way to improve it.} Nc5 ({He missed his chance to open up and get some
counterplay with} 16... a4 {and ... Nd7-e5.}) 17. Qc2 Rad8 18. dxc6 bxc6 19.
Rd2 {I was struggling to find a plan, so I just decided to double my rooks on
the d-file.} Be7 20. Rcd1 Rxd2 21. Rxd2 Nfd7 22. Ne4 f5 23. Nxc5 Nxc5 24. Bxc5
{I calculated that I win a pawn at the end of this line, but in hindsight, it
really wasn't worth getting into an opposite colored bishop endgame.} Bxc5 25.
Qd3 Bb6 26. Qd7 ({Here, I could have kept the rooks on the board with} 26. Qd6
{, but for some reason I thought I would be better if I traded them off.})
26... Re7 27. Qxc7 Rxc7 28. Rd6 Kf7 29. Rxc6 Rxc6 30. Bxc6 Kf6 31. a3 Bc5 32.
Kf1 e5 33. Ke2 Bd4 34. b4 axb4 35. axb4 Bc3 36. b5 Bd4 37. f3 g5 ({Stopping my
pawns with} 37... Kg5 {would be better.}) 38. h3 Ke6 39. Kd3 Kd6 40. g4 Ke6 41.
Bb7 fxg4 42. fxg4 Bc5 43. Ke4 Bf8 44. Bc8+ Kd6 45. Kf5 Kc5 46. Kxe5 Kxc4 47. b6
Kc5 48. b7 Bd6+ 49. Kf5 Kc6 50. Kg6 Kc7 51. Kxh6 Be7 52. Kg6 Kb8 53. Kf7 Bd8
54. Ke8 Bf6 55. Kd7 Be5 {[#]} 56. Kc6 $2 ({When I made this move, I thought it
was already a drawn position. I miscalculated, and didn't realize that} 56. h4
$1 {actually won!}) 56... Bf6 $2 ({Very lucky he didn't see} 56... Bg3 {
followed by 57... Bh4, just locking the position up.}) 57. Bf5 Bd8 58. Be4 Bf6
59. h4 gxh4 60. Kd6 h3 61. Ke6 Bh4 62. Kf5 Bg3 63. g5 Kc7 64. Kf6 Kd7 65. Kf7
h2 66. g6 Be5 67. g7 Bxg7 68. Kxg7 {, Black resigns.} 1-0

[Event "KasparovChess GP g/60 aborted"]
[Site "Internet"]
[Date "2000.02.19"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Black "Piket, Jeroen"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C95"]
[WhiteElo "2851"]
[BlackElo "2633"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2000.02.09"]
[EventType "k.o."]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "NET"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 c5 15.
d5 c4 16. Bg5 Qc7 17. Qd2 Reb8 18. Nf5 {game aborted} *

[Event "World-ch28 Karpov-Kortschnoj +6-5=21"]
[Site "Baguio City"]
[Date "1978.07.27"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Kortschnoj, Viktor Lvovich"]
[Black "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E42"]
[WhiteElo "2665"]
[BlackElo "2725"]
[PlyCount "247"]
[EventDate "1978.07.18"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "32"]
[EventCountry "PHI"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 c5 5. Nge2 d5 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. Nxc3 cxd4 8.
exd4 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nc6 10. Be3 O-O 11. O-O b6 12. Qd3 Bb7 13. Rad1 h6 14. f3 Ne7
15. Bf2 Nfd5 16. Ba2 Nf4 17. Qd2 Nfg6 18. Bb1 Qd7 19. h4 Rfd8 20. h5 Nf8 21.
Bh4 f6 22. Ne4 Nd5 23. g4 Rac8 24. Bg3 Ba6 25. Rfe1 Rc6 26. Rc1 Ne7 27. Rxc6
Qxc6 28. Ba2 Qd7 29. Nd6 Bb7 30. Nxb7 Qxb7 31. Qe3 Kh8 32. Rc1 Nd5 33. Qe4 Qd7
34. Bb1 Qb5 35. b4 Qd7 36. Qd3 Qe7 37. Kf2 f5 38. gxf5 exf5 39. Re1 Qf6 40. Be5
Qh4+ 41. Bg3 Qf6 42. Rh1 Nh7 43. Be5 Qg5 44. Qxf5 Qd2+ 45. Kg3 Nhf6 46. Rg1 Re8
47. Be4 Ne7 48. Qh3 Rc8 49. Kh4 Rc1 50. Qg3 Rxg1 51. Qxg1 Kg8 52. Qg3 Kf7 53.
Bg6+ Ke6 54. Qh3+ Kd5 55. Be4+ Nxe4 56. fxe4+ Kxe4 57. Qg4+ Kd3 58. Qf3+ Qe3
59. Kg4 Qxf3+ 60. Kxf3 g6 61. Bd6 Nf5 62. Kf4 Nh4 63. Kg4 gxh5+ 64. Kxh4 Kxd4
65. Bb8 a5 66. Bd6 Kc4 67. Kxh5 a4 68. Kxh6 Kb3 69. b5 Kc4 70. Kg5 Kxb5 71. Kf5
Ka6 72. Ke6 Ka7 73. Kd7 Kb7 74. Be7 Ka7 75. Kc7 Ka8 76. Bd6 Ka7 77. Kc8 Ka6 78.
Kb8 b5 79. Bb4 Kb6 80. Kc8 Kc6 81. Kd8 Kd5 82. Ke7 Ke5 83. Kf7 Kd5 84. Kf6 Kd4
85. Ke6 Ke4 86. Bf8 Kd4 87. Kd6 Ke4 88. Bg7 Kf4 89. Ke6 Kf3 90. Ke5 Kg4 91. Bf6
Kh5 92. Kf5 Kh6 93. Bd4 Kh7 94. Kf6 Kh6 95. Be3+ Kh5 96. Kf5 Kh4 97. Bd2 Kg3
98. Bg5 Kf3 99. Bf4 Kg2 100. Bd6 Kf3 101. Bh2 Kg2 102. Bc7 Kf3 103. Bd6 Ke3
104. Ke5 Kf3 105. Kd5 Kg4 106. Kc5 Kf5 107. Kxb5 Ke6 108. Kc6 Kf6 109. Kd7 Kg7
110. Be7 Kg8 111. Ke6 Kg7 112. Bc5 Kg8 113. Kf6 Kh7 114. Kf7 Kh8 115. Bd4+ Kh7
116. Bb2 Kh6 117. Kg8 Kg6 118. Bg7 Kf5 119. Kf7 Kg5 120. Bb2 Kh6 121. Bc1+ Kh7
122. Bd2 Kh8 123. Bc3+ Kh7 124. Bg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates f Fischer-Petrosian +5-1=3"]
[Site "Buenos Aires"]
[Date "1971.09.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Fischer, Robert James"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran V"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B44"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "1971.09.30"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ARG"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. Bf4 e5 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Bg5
Be6 9. N1c3 a6 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Na3 d5 12. exd5 Bxa3 13. bxa3 Qa5 14. Qd2
O-O-O 15. Bc4 Rhg8 16. Rd1 Bf5 17. Bd3 Bxd3 18. Qxd3 Nd4 19. O-O Kb8 20. Kh1
Qxa3 21. f4 Rc8 22. Ne4 Qxd3 23. cxd3 Rc2 24. Rd2 Rxd2 25. Nxd2 f5 26. fxe5 Re8
27. Re1 Nc2 28. Re2 Nd4 29. Re3 Nc2 30. Rh3 Rxe5 31. Nf3 Rxd5 32. Rxh7 Rxd3 33.
h4 Ne3 34. Rxf7 Rd1+ 35. Kh2 Ra1 36. h5 f4 37. Rxf4 Rxa2 38. Re4 Nxg2 39. Kg3
Ra5 40. Ne5 1-0

[Event "Candidates Tournament playoff blitz"]
[Site "Kazan"]
[Date "2011.05.09"]
[Round "1.10"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A14"]
[WhiteElo "2790"]
[BlackElo "2744"]
[PlyCount "159"]
[EventDate "2011.05.09"]
[EventType "k.o. (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[TimeControl "300+3"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. b3 Nf6 4. Bb2 Be7 5. g3 O-O 6. Bg2 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. e3 c5
9. Nc3 Nc6 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 12. d4 Qd8 13. Ne5 Nxe5 14. Bxb7 Rb8 15.
Bg2 cxd4 16. exd4 Nd7 17. d5 exd5 18. Qxd5 Bf6 19. Rad1 Bxb2 20. Qxd7 a5 21.
Rfe1 Qxd7 22. Rxd7 Ba3 23. Bd5 Bc5 24. Re4 Rfd8 25. Bxf7+ Kf8 26. Be6 Rxd7 27.
Bxd7 Rd8 28. Bb5 Rd2 29. Rf4+ Ke7 30. a4 Rd4 31. Rf3 Rd6 32. Rf4 Rf6 33. Re4+
Re6 34. Rg4 g6 35. Kg2 h5 36. Rc4 Kf6 37. Rf4+ Kg7 38. Rc4 Kf6 39. h4 Re5 40.
Rc3 Rd5 41. Rc2 Re5 42. Rd2 Kg7 43. Bc4 Kf6 44. Rd8 Kg7 45. Bd3 Re6 46. Bc4 Rd6
47. Rg8+ Kh7 48. Re8 Rd2 49. Be2 Kg7 50. Re6 Rb2 51. f4 Rxb3 52. Bb5 Re3 53.
Rc6 Kh7 54. Rc7+ Re7 55. Rc8 Kg7 56. Bd3 Rd7 57. Be4 Rd2+ 58. Kh3 Rd7 59. Rc6
Rd6 60. Rc7+ Kf6 61. Bc2 Rd4 62. Bb3 Be7 63. Bc4 Rd6 64. Kg2 Rd2+ 65. Kf3 Rd6
66. Ke4 Rd8 67. Bd5 Rd6 68. Rb7 Rd8 69. Rxb6+ Rd6 70. Rb5 Bd8 71. Rb7 Be7 72.
Ra7 Rb6 73. Rxa5 Rb4+ 74. Kf3 Rd4 75. Ra6+ Kg7 76. Be4 Rd6 77. Rxd6 Bxd6 78. a5
Bc5 79. a6 Kf6 80. Ke2 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem I"]
[Black "Kashdan-Kotov"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6k1/6pp/3bp3/5p2/8/8/1PP1QqPP/2N4K b - - 0 37"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 37... Qf4 {[%csl Gc1,Gh2]} 38. Qxe6+ Kf8 (38... Kf8 39. Qc8+ Kf7 40. Qd7+
Kg6 41. Qe8+ Kh6 42. Qe6+ g6) *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem II"]
[Black "Smyslov-Reshevsky"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6k1/6p1/p2R4/4B2p/1p2BP2/2p5/Pq3rP1/4R2K w - - 0 41"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 41. Bg6 $1 (41. Bg6 {[%cal Gd6d8]} Rd2 42. Bd4 $1 Re2 43. Rd8+) *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem III"]
[Black "Denker-Botvinnik"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2kr3r/pb1n1p2/3qpP2/2b3B1/PpB2Q2/3p1PN1/1P4PP/R4R1K b - - 0 22"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 22... Rxh2+ $1 23. Kxh2 Rh8+ 24. Qh4 (24. Bh6 Qxf4) 24... Rxh4+ 25. Bxh4
Qf4 $1 *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem IV"]
[Black "Kupchik-Makogonov"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5rk1/pp4p1/2p3b1/3p1qP1/P2P3p/1P2BPb1/3NR1Q1/6K1 b - - 0 39"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 39... Qd3 $1 {[%csl Ge2][%cal Gg6f5,Gf5h3]} (39... Qc2 $1 {[%cal Gg6d3]})
40. Nf1 h3 *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem V"]
[Black "Horowitz-Flohr"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3kb2/1p3p2/2p1qn1p/p4N1P/P3p1r1/2P1BQ2/1P1R1PP1/3R2K1 w q - 0 26"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 26. Bb6 $1 {[%cal Gd2d8]} Rxg2+ 27. Qxg2 Qxf5 28. Rd8+ Rxd8 29. Rxd8+ Ke7
30. Qg3 $18 Nd7 31. Bc7 Qd5 32. c4 Qg5 33. Qxg5+ hxg5 34. Ra8 Ke6 35. Bxa5 f5
36. Bc3 f4 37. a5 g4 38. b4 f3 39. Bd2 Kf7 40. Ra7 g3 41. Rxb7 *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem VI"]
[Black "Bondarevsky-Steiner"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Soltis"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r3k1/p5p1/4p3/P1NpPP1p/2b4P/2K1Q1P1/1R6/5q2 b - - 0 46"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 46... Qa1 $1 {[%cal Ga1a5]} 47. Kc2 Bd3+ (47... Qxa5) 48. Qxd3 Rxc5+ 49.
Kb3 Rxa5 (49... Qxa5 {[%cal Gc5c4]}) 50. Kc2 Rc5+ 51. Kb3 a5 *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.08.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Back to Basics"]
[Black "November 2020"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Alburt / Lawrence"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "q3r2k/6pp/8/3Q2N1/8/8/6PP/7K w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 1. Nf7+ {[#]} (1. Qd1 Qd8 (1... Qd5 2. Qc1 Qc5 (2... h6) 3. Qxc5 Re1+ 4.
Qg1) (1... Qc6 2. Qb1 Rf8) 2. Nf7+) (1. Qxa8 Rxa8 2. h3) 1... Kg8 2. Nh6+ Kh8 (
2... Kf8 3. Qf7#) 3. Qg8+ Rxg8 4. Nf7# *

[Event "Online Olym Top DivD 2020"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.21"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Pavlidis, Ant"]
[Black "Shankland, S...."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2543"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[Annotator "Shankland"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2020.08.21"]
[EventType "team"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Greece"]
[BlackTeam "United States of America"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GRE"]

{[%evp 0,30,24,16,52,56,52,29,37,29,52,32,80,81,120,66,85,78,103,90,87,78,73,
14,15,36,27,32,31,25,29,17,15]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 {
With all of the commotion going on downstairs as well as an unexpected pairing,
I did realize that I was playing the Taimanov against a guy who just wrote a
book on it! Thankfully, I managed to survive the opening in one piece.} 5. Nc3
Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Nxc6 Qxc6 8. Be2 b5 9. Bf3 Bb7 10. O-O Qc7 11. Re1 Bd6 12. g3
Nf6 13. Bd4 e5 14. Be3 h6 ({Another idea is} 14... O-O {as there was no need
to prevent Be3-g5. After} 15. Bg5 b4 $1 {White is still unable to get his
knight to the d5 square.}) 15. a4 b4 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. exd5 O-O {[#] This is
exactly the kind of fascinating position that rapid chess simply cannot do
justice to. White has a powerful continuation that secures a clear advantage,
but it is difficult to find. Difficult, but certainly doable for a strong
player in a slow game. But with no time, forget about it.} 18. Qd2 ({White
could have secured a nice advantage by immediately pushing} 18. a5 $1 {without
bothering to playing Qd1-d2 first. I was not at all worried about this move
during the game, but my intended best response -} Rac8 {- had a flaw. At this
point, we can see why White wanted his queen on d2- it makes it easier to
defend his c2 pawn with Rec1. Now, 19. Rac1 would drop the a5-pawn, and 19.
Re2 leaves the rook on a very awkward square after the natural ... f7-f5, when
White's bishops look very shaky. But White has a very powerful idea.} 19. c3 $1
bxc3 20. bxc3 $16 {And White is clearly better with an invasion on the b-file
coming. After the natural} Qxc3 21. Qb1 $1 {Black must lose a tempo on his
bishop, and after} Ba8 22. Qf5 $1 {It's all over but the crying as mating
threats loom large.}) 18... f5 $1 {Now Black has a lot of counterplay.} 19. a5
Rac8 20. Rec1 e4 21. Bb6 Qb8 22. Bg2 Rce8 23. Re1 Re5 $1 24. Rad1 Rxd5 {
[#]Black has won a key central pawn, and should easily win the game if he
could consolidate. In a classical game I would expect to still have a fair
amount of time on move 25, and to win routinely. But in rapid, not so much!}
25. Qe2 Rxd1 26. Rxd1 Rf6 27. Bd4 Rf7 28. Qc4 Bf8 29. Be5 {[#]} d6 $2 ({
I should have played} 29... Qd8 $1 {when White cannot prevent ... d7-d5. Black
should win.}) 30. Bf1 $1 {A powerful resource. Of course the bishop is immune
to capture thanks to the d1-rook's ability to come to d7.} Qc7 31. Bf4 {
I had calculated up to this point when I had played d6, and thought that I
should routinely win with g5 followed by d5. But, I missed a nasty resource.}
g5 32. Bxd6 $1 Bxd6 33. Qe6 $1 {And all of a sudden Black is facing massive
threats, and the g5-pawn no longer being on g7 will prove to be his undoing.}
Bc8 $1 {I found the only move.} (33... Bf8 {falls to} 34. Bc4 $1 {when the
threat of Rd1-d7 compels} Bc8 {. But now, since Black's pawn is on g5 instead
of g7, White has a better move than resigning.} 35. Qg6+ $1 Bg7 36. Bxf7+ Qxf7
37. Rd8+ {and White wins.}) 34. Qxd6 Kh7 $2 {Now I am definitely lost, but
with the clocks so low, I was able to make some counterplay.} ({Black should
survive after} 34... Qxd6 $1 35. Rxd6 Rc7) 35. Bxa6 Bxa6 36. Qxa6 e3 $1 {
The best try. If your position is bad, confuse your opponent!} 37. fxe3 $2 {
With the clocks ticking down, my opponent missed the win.} (37. Rd6 $1 exf2+
38. Kf1 $1 {Would have won for White.}) 37... Qxc2 38. Rd6 Qc1+ 39. Kf2 Qxb2+
40. Kg1 Qc1+ 41. Kf2 Qc2+ 42. Kg1 Qb1+ 43. Kf2 f4 44. exf4 gxf4 45. Qd3+ Qxd3
46. Rxd3 fxg3+ 47. Kxg3 Ra7 48. Rb3 Rxa5 49. Rxb4 1/2-1/2

[Event "Online Olym Top DivD 2020"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.22"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Yip, Carissa"]
[Black "Ordaz Valdes, L...."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C53"]
[WhiteElo "2421"]
[BlackElo "2369"]
[Annotator "Shankland"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2020.08.21"]
[EventType "team"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "United States of America"]
[BlackTeam "Cuba"]
[BlackTeamCountry "CUB"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. c3 Nf6 6. e5 {Through a somewhat
unusual move order. Carissa has taken the game into one of the modern
mainlines of the Italian. She really put on a clinic for how to handle the
resulting pawn structures.} d5 7. Bb5 Ne4 8. cxd4 Bb6 9. O-O O-O 10. Nc3 Bg4
11. Be3 f6 12. exf6 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Qxf6 14. Be2 Rae8 {At first glance, the
position looks pretty dry, and it seems that Black should be totally fine due
to her active pieces and general lack of weaknesses. But White is not without
ideas, and Carissa showed them very nicely.} 15. h3 Bxf3 $2 {Black makes her
first mistake. She should not have ceded the bishop pair so easily.} ({There
was nothing wrong with ducking the bishop back with} 15... Bh5 {. Black looks
okay to me.}) 16. Bxf3 Ne7 17. Qd2 c6 {[#]Black's plan is clear enough. She
will play ... Ne7-f5 next, challenging the e3 bishop, who will struggle to
avoid being exchanged. Once this happens and White's bishop pair advantage is
gone, Black will certainly be fine. Carissa found the best path forward.} 18.
Bh5 $1 {An excellent decision. White provokes the g7-pawn forwards.} Ng6 $2 {
The knight will be misplaced here.} ({Black should have tried} 18... g6 {
but after} 19. Bg4 Nf5 20. Bg5 $1 {we see the point. White's bishop is much
more secure on g5 now that Black's pawn has been pushed up to g6 - there will
never be any ... h7-h6 advances to worry about.}) 19. Rab1 $1 {Another strong
move. White prevents Black from rerouting the blunted b6-bishop to the more
active c7-square.} Qd6 20. Rfe1 ({I would not have minded playing
prophylactically with} 20. g3 {, once again preventing ...Bb6-c7 from coming.
Carissa's move is fine too of course.}) 20... Bc7 21. g3 b5 {[#]} 22. Bg5 $1 {
Another good decision. Once all of the rooks come off, White's light squared
bishop will become very dangerous.} Re4 ({According to the machine,} 22... Qd7
{was a better option, but after something like} 23. Rxe8 Rxe8 24. Re1 {I would
be very worried about Bh5-g4 coming next.}) 23. Rxe4 dxe4 24. Bd1 $1 {A clever
regrouping. The bishop did its job on h5, provoking Black's knight to the
dreadful g6 square, and now that the knight is no longer pinned, the bishop
can transfer to the c2 square.} h6 25. Be3 Kh7 26. Bc2 Qe6 {[#]I started
watching the game at this moment, and I was worried. White's position looks
very difficult - Black is ready for some combination of ... Rf8-f3, ... Ng6-h4,
and a mating attack is on the way. Carissa found the best way once more.} 27.
Kg2 $1 Rf3 28. Rh1 $1 {White overprotects the h3-pawn, preventing ... Ng6-h4+
from coming. The position looks passive, but it is only temporary. White is
ready for Qd2-e2 next, threatening Bc2xe4 and expelling the active rook. Black
can hardly do anything about it.} Rf8 29. Qd1 $1 {The queen is on the way to
g4.} Kh8 30. Qg4 Qxg4 31. hxg4 Ne7 ({Saving the e4-pawn would not have changed
the result. After} 31... Re8 32. g5 {White easily wins after crashing through
on the kingside.}) 32. Bxe4 {The rest was all too easy.} Kg8 33. Rb1 a6 34. g5
Nd5 35. Bxd5+ cxd5 36. gxh6 gxh6 37. Bxh6 Rc8 38. Bd2 Ba5 39. Re1 Rc6 40. g4
Bc7 41. g5 Kf7 42. Rh1 Kg7 43. Rh6 Rg6 44. Kf3 Bd8 45. Rxg6+ Kxg6 46. Kg4 a5
47. f4 Be7 48. f5+ Kf7 49. f6 Bf8 50. Kf5 1-0

[Event "Online Olym KO Stage 2020"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.28"]
[Round "2.41"]
[White "Korobov, A...."]
[Black "Shankland, S...."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2688"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[Annotator "Shankland"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2020.08.27"]
[EventType "team"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "Ukraine"]
[BlackTeam "United States of America"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "UKR"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 c6 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 dxc4 8.
Bxc4 O-O 9. O-O b5 10. Be2 Bb7 11. e4 e5 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. Nh4 g6 14. f4 Neg4
15. g3 Bc5+ 16. Kh1 b4 17. Nd1 Bd4 18. Bf3 c5 19. e5 $6 {I think this is a
little inaccurate and gives Black some extra options.} ({More challenging is} 
19. Qg2 {but after} Qd7 20. h3 {Black has the same idea as in the game: 20. ...
h5!, which would transpose after 21. e5 Nd5.}) 19... Nd5 20. Qg2 Qd7 21. h3 {
[#]} h5 $1 {This is a novelty. Surprising as it is to give up a piece here,
White will not be able to keep the long diagonal closed.} 22. hxg4 hxg4 23. Be4
{If White's bishop were forced off the e4-square, he would face a disaster
along the long diagonal. Black has an energetic way to make this happen.} f5 $1
24. exf6 Rae8 $1 {The threat of 25. ... Rxe4 is absurdly powerful.} 25. Kh2
Rxf6 {I knew that Black was winning here from my preparation, and the computer,
which is almost never wrong in direct positions such as these, confirmed my
assessment. Now I navigated my advantage to a point, but could not find the
final touch under such short time constraints.} 26. Nf2 g5 $1 {Black plays
with maximal energy.} 27. fxg5 $1 {Certainly the best practical try.} (27. Nxg4
{briefly concerned me before I saw the strong reply} Rxe4 $1 {when White is
busted. For example, after} 28. Qxe4 Qxg4 {the h4-knight is all but trapped, ..
. Re6-e2 is on the way, and White will never be able to use his a1-rook or
c1-bishop. Time to resign.}) 27... Rxf2 28. Rxf2 Bxf2 29. Qxf2 ({Trying to
save the e4-bishop before taking on f2 with} 29. Bf5 $2 {might be tempting,
but after} Qb5 $1 {White cannot stop a rook from landing on e2, and he can
comfortably resign.}) 29... Rxe4 30. Bd2 {I had already burned a fair amount
of time on the previous few moves, and was down to 8 minutes or so for the
rest of the game. The winning move here is difficult, but far from impossible
to find in a classical game; in rapid, however, it proved a bridge too far.
White is ready to play Ra1-e1 next against almost anything Black can try,
reaching a defensible position. So what is the breakthrough?} Qe6 $2 {I missed
my chance.} ({Finding} 30... Nf4 $3 {would have put the cherry on top of a
great game. The point is that Black is threatening ... Re4-e2. White cannot
respond with Ra1-e1 on pain of ... Nf4-d3, and as things stand the knight
cannot be captured by either the bishop or the pawn. If} 31. Bxf4 (31. gxf4 Qd3
$1 {and White will be crushed on the h3 square.}) 31... Qe8 $3 {is the final
touch. Now that the bishop has left d2, White cannot play Ra1-e1, and as such,
cannot prevent ... Re4-e2 finishing the game.} ({Note that} 31... Qe6 $2 {
looks very tempting, but fails to achieve the desired goal. The point is that
if the queen does not stay on e8 to cover the back rank, White gets enough
counterplay to hang on:} 32. Rd1 $1 Re2 33. Rd8+ Kg7 34. Be5+ $3 Qxe5 35. Rd7+
{and Black cannot escape the checks on the seventh and eighth ranks.})) 31. Re1
Rxe1 32. Qxe1 Qxe1 33. Bxe1 c4 {Black is a little better in this endgame, but
White should hold without a ton of trouble.} 34. Nf5 c3 35. bxc3 bxc3 36. Nh6+
Kh7 37. Nxg4 Kg6 38. Nf2 Ba6 39. Nh3 c2 40. Bd2 Nb4 41. Nf4+ Kf5 42. g4+ Ke4
43. a3 Na2 44. g6 Bc4 45. g7 c1=Q 46. Bxc1 Nxc1 47. Ng6 Nd3 48. Kg3 Ne5 49. Ne7
a5 50. g8=Q Bxg8 51. Nxg8 Nc4 52. a4 Nb6 53. Ne7 Nxa4 54. Nc6 Nc5 55. Nxa5 Nd7
56. g5 Kf5 57. g6 Kxg6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Online Olym KO Stage 2020"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.29"]
[Round "3.21"]
[White "Shankland, S...."]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2691"]
[BlackElo "2699"]
[Annotator "Shankland"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/2R5/4k1p1/3p2K1/3Bb1PP/2P5/7r/8 w - - 0 40"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2020.08.27"]
[EventType "team"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "United States of America"]
[BlackTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]

{[#] I had cleanly outplayed my opponent up to this point, and White should be
routinely winning in this endgame. A good start is finding an immediate
checkmate.} 40. Bc5 $1 {White secures the d6-square and is ready for Rc7-e7
next, giving mate. Black desperately tried pitching a pawn to give his king
some breathing room.} d4 41. Re7+ $6 {One of the 'benefits' of essentially
playing on the increment. This is not a huge mistake as White is still
routinely winning - he takes a second pawn and cuts Black's king off from the
kingside. But the first mistake is the one that makes the win harder.} ({
White takes over the d5 square once again with} 41. c4 {and there is nothing
to be done about mate next move.}) 41... Kd5 42. Bxd4 Bd3 43. Re5+ Kc4 44. Re3
Rg2 45. Kf4 Rh2 46. Kg5 Rg2 47. Rf3 Be2 48. Rf4 Kd5 49. Bf2 Kc6 50. c4 Bd3 51.
c5 Be2 52. Bd4 Kd5 53. Be3 Kc6 54. Kxg6 Bxg4 55. Rf6+ Kd5 56. Rd6+ Ke4 57. Bg5
Bf5+ 58. Kf6 Rf2 59. Kg7 Ke5 60. Rf6 Rc2 61. c6 Be4 {Despite missing the mate
in two, I did a fine job closing out the game while playing on a 5 second
increment, but with just a few seconds, disaster struck.} 62. c7 $4 ({Of
course checking first with} 62. Bf4+ {wins routinely. White gets c6-c7 next
and Black can resign.}) 62... Rxc7+ {Check! And there's no time for the skewer
with the bishop. Now the game is drawn.} 63. Rf7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Online Olym KO Stage 2020"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.29"]
[Round "3.22"]
[White "Xiong, Jeffery"]
[Black "Esipenko, Andrey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E32"]
[WhiteElo "2709"]
[BlackElo "2682"]
[Annotator "Shankland"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2020.08.27"]
[EventType "team"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "United States of America"]
[BlackTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. e4 d5 6. e5 Ne4 7. Bd3 c5 8. Nf3
cxd4 9. Nxd4 Nd7 10. Bf4 Qh4 11. g3 Qh5 12. h4 Nxe5 13. Be2 Ng4 14. Bxg4 Qxg4
15. f3 Qh5 16. g4 Qg6 17. fxe4 e5 18. O-O-O Bxc3 19. Nf5 Bxf5 20. gxf5 Qa6 21.
Qxc3 d4 22. Qb3 exf4 23. Rxd4 Rad8 24. Qd3 Rxd4 25. Qxd4 Rc8 {[#] Something
went badly wrong in the opening for Jeffery and his position looks really bad.
The White king is super weak, Black's f4-pawn can become quite dangerous at
any moment, and the White position is full of weaknesses. I can't imagine even
Jeffery saving this in a classical game, but in rapid, he got the job done. In
the end, he won in fine style, showing exactly how to handle such situations.}
26. b3 $1 {Saving the right pawn. Black would have a much easier task if White
has saved the a2-pawn instead.} ({After} 26. Kb1 Qxc4 {White's odds of saving
this rook endgame are approximately zero.}) 26... Qxa2 27. Rd1 g6 28. f6 $1 {
The computer really does not care for this move, but in practice, I think it
is definitely the best decision. Black is technically winning, and the only
way White will save the game is if Black messes it up. Giving him things to
worry about, like back rank mates, is a good way to entice a mistake.} h5 29.
Rd3 $1 {Another good move, defending the b3-pawn and preventing the ...f4-f3
advance. The computer hates it, but it makes Black's winning task much more
difficult. I would expect Esipenko to easily win this position in a classical
game, but rapid is a different story.} Qg2 $2 {A very understandable move.
Black wants f4-f3-f2-f1. What could be more natural? But now Jeffery sets his
plan in motion.} ({The machine confidently points out that} 29... Re8 $1 {
wins routinely. The point is that White is not able to force the rook into
passivity with Qd4-d7, as it will be able to take on e4 instead of relocating
to a bad square on the back rank.}) 30. Qd7 $1 Rf8 31. Qe7 $1 {All of a sudden,
thanks to White playing 28. f6, the weak back rank is a real cause of concern
for Black. Now Qe7xf8+ is a huge threat.} Qg1+ 32. Kc2 Qb6 33. Rd6 $1 {White
hits the queen with a gain of tempo. She must stay in touch with the d8-square
to prevent Qe7xf8+ ending the game.} Qa5 34. Rd5 $1 Qb6 35. Rd6 Qa5 36. Rd5 Qb6
37. Rg5 $1 {Declining the draw. White is ready for 38. Rxg6+ next, and Black
is in a bad way. Esipenko could have saved the game with a long sequence of
computer moves, but he is only human.} Qf2+ (37... Rc8 $3 {According to the
machines, this is the only holding move. I won't pretend to understand the
reason why, or any of the resulting variations.}) 38. Kb1 Qe1+ 39. Ka2 Qd2+ 40.
Ka3 $1 {White's king moves up the board, and soon the checks run out.} Qc1+ 41.
Ka4 Qa1+ 42. Kb4 Qe1+ 43. Kb5 $1 a6+ 44. Kb6 Qe3+ 45. Kc7 {No more checks,
game over. A great practical effort from Jeffery.} Qc3 46. Rxg6+ Kh7 47. Rg7+
Kh6 48. Qxf8 Qe5+ 49. Qd6 1-0

[Event "Online Olym KO Stage 2020"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.08.29"]
[Round "3.22"]
[White "So, W...."]
[Black "Grischuk, A...."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C53"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[Annotator "Shankland"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2020.08.27"]
[EventType "team"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "United States of America"]
[BlackTeam "Russia"]
[BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 a5 8. h3
Ba7 9. Bb3 h6 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. Bc2 Re8 12. Nf1 d5 13. exd5 Bxd5 14. Ng3 Qd6 15.
Nf5 Qd7 16. N3h4 Ne7 17. Rxe5 Nxf5 18. Rxf5 Qe6 19. d4 Qe1+ 20. Kh2 c5 {
[#]White is a pawn up, but Black's activity is through the roof. Black's last
move not only pressures White's center, but also creates the subtle threat of .
.. Ba7-b8+ at any moment, putting White's king in serious peril. Despite the
enormous pressure on White's position, Wesley flawlessly navigated his way
through the complications and found the best move.} 21. Bxh6 $1 {Let the
tactics fly.} Bb8+ ({If} 21... Qxd1 22. Rxd1 gxh6 {it turns out that taking
the bishop doesn't help black, as his knight is hanging.}) 22. Bf4 $1 {Another
good move. White's pieces all seem very loose, but Black cannot take them.} (
22. g3 $5 {is also plausible.}) 22... Qxd1 23. Rxd1 Be6 24. Rxf6 $1 {The rook
was done for anyway, so White should at least cripple the kingside structure.}
gxf6 25. Bxb8 Raxb8 26. d5 $1 Bd7 27. Rd2 $1 {White has two pawns for the
exchange, amd two very good ones at that, but the main reason his position is
so good is the f5-square. Once White exchanges off the bishops, plants his
knight on f5, secures it with g4, and advances d5-d6, will the knight be any
worse than one of Black's rooks? I don't think so!} b5 28. Bf5 Rbd8 29. Bxd7
Rxd7 30. Nf5 Kh7 31. g4 {White is strategically winning. The Black rooks look
pretty but can't do anything effective, whle the f5-knight is the boss of the
board.} Re4 32. Kg3 b4 33. d6 bxc3 34. bxc3 Rc4 35. Rd3 Ra4 36. Re3 $1 {
The rook comes to e7 for the decisive final invasion.} Rd8 37. Re7 Rc4 38.
Rxf7+ Kg8 39. Rxf6 Rxc3+ 40. Kh4 c4 41. g5 Rd3 42. g6 Rf8 43. Kg5 c3 44. Ne7+
Kg7 45. Nf5+ Kg8 46. Rxf8+ Kxf8 47. Kf6 Rxd6+ 48. Nxd6 c2 49. g7+ Kg8 50. Nf5
c1=Q 51. Ne7+ {A truly brilliant game, start to finish.} 1-0

[Event "Marshall Championship"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.12.08"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Hardaway, Brewington"]
[Black "Lu, Jason"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B84"]
[WhiteElo "2222"]
[BlackElo "2170"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e6 7. a4 Be7 8. O-O
O-O 9. Be3 Qc7 10. f4 b6 11. Bf3 Bb7 12. Qe1 Nc6 13. Kh1 Nb4 $2 {A small
positional mistake. Black is wanting to play ...d5, but he leaves White too
much freedom in the centre to build an attack.} (13... Nxd4 $1 14. Bxd4 e5 {
was the right reaction. After} 15. Be3 {, I would intuitively go for 15...b5!?,
but looking in the database I found the following forgotten gem.} Bc6 $5 {
[#] A nice flexible move.} 16. g4 $2 {White does not have full development and
thus cannot justify this reaction.} Qb7 17. Bd2 d5 $1 {was the start of a
sweeping annihilation of the greatest Indonesian player of all time.} 18. exd5
Nxd5 19. Qxe5 Rad8 $5 $15 (19... Bf6 $1 20. Qe2 Nxc3 21. bxc3 Rad8 $17) 20.
Nxd5 Rxd5 $1 21. Bxd5 Bxd5+ 22. Kg1 Qd7 23. Qf5 Bc5+ 24. Rf2 Qd6 $5 (24... Qc6
$1 $15) 25. Re1 $2 {White cracks under the pressure.} (25. Qd3 $1 $13) {[#]}
25... Bb7 $1 26. Be3 Re8 $1 27. Qd3 Qxd3 28. cxd3 Rxe3 29. Rd1 Bf3 {0-1
Adianto – Tarjan, Jakarta 1983.}) 14. Qg3 Rfe8 $2 {Jason did not like this
move, as it weakens the defence of the f7-pawn. As we shall soon see, this is
more than hypothetical.} ({Jason did not investigate the outcome of} 14... d5
15. e5 Ne4 {, which I guess was his plan. After} 16. Bxe4 dxe4 17. f5 {it must
have been clear to him during the game that things were not going well. Black
can of course play 15...Nd7, but this was not what he wanted with 13...Nb4, so
we shall just say that White is much better.}) (14... Nd7 $5 $14 {could be a
possible move, anticipating the e4-e5 break. White should be better. As the
knight has abandoned the control of the d5-square, it is logical to play} 15.
f5 $5 {, but also bringing in the rook from d1 seems logical. Here play can
soon become sharp:} e5 16. Nde2 Rfc8 (16... Nxc2 $5 17. Bh6 Bf6 18. Rac1 Kh8
19. Bd2 b5 $1 20. Rxc2 b4 21. Rfc1 bxc3 22. Nxc3) 17. Rac1 Bc6 $1 {and White
does not appear to be better at all.}) 15. Rae1 Rad8 $2 {A very natural move
made probably without thinking for long. This results in letting my opponent
unleash a very deadly attacking combination, which of course I did not see in
the few minutes I spent looking for candidates the move before} ({Stockfish
suggests that} 15... Rf8 $5 {is the best option for Black here. Besides
Polugaevsky, I do not think anyone have ever been brave enough to admit their
mistake in this way.}) {[#]} 16. e5 $1 {White strikes in the centre.} dxe5 {
It is undesirable to open the f-line, but after} (16... Nfd5 17. Nxd5 Nxd5 18.
f5 $1 {a great anarchy is unleashed, with a morbid ending awaiting Black.}) 17.
fxe5 Nfd5 ({Stockfish is interested in} 17... Bxf3 $6 {, but humans know that
the position after} 18. exf6 Qxg3 19. hxg3 Bxf6 20. Nxf3 {may be "objectively"
better, but White has no real option of going wrong and should convert the
extra piece without showing too much muscle. Curiously Leela agrees.}) 18. Bh5
$1 {A nice attacking move. White could also have moved forward a bit less
energetically without ruining anything with:} (18. Bh6 $5 g6 19. Ne4 {and
Black is subject to a strong attack.}) 18... g6 19. Nxe6 $1 {Jason explained
that he had completely missed this move.} (19. Rxf7 Bh4 $1 {he had seen. The
complications are certainly going wrong for White then, although he is not yet
worse.}) {[#] This is our first moment of interest.} 19... Bh4 $1 {"Only move",
declared Jason in his annotations. The computer confirmed that this is indeed
the highest rated move. But was it the most practical choice? At this point
Black admits defeat (of a pawn) and tries to hope for the opponent's mistakes
later. In the game the strategy was successful, but as with all who succeed in
laying a simple trap needs to know: if your opponent fell for this, he might
as well have been defeated with sound moves too. In order to determine if this
was indeed the best practical decision, we would have to analyse the game.
Jason had provided no variations as a justification of the correctness of
White's sacrifice. Not doubting the kid, I decided to check out the variations
and quickly found them to be anything but straight-forward.} (19... fxe6 20.
Bxg6 {Finally, the best winning move, from a human standpoint, is} Nxe3 $1 {
This is the defensive try.} (20... hxg6 21. Qxg6+ {and 22.Rf7 clearly does not
work. Neither does}) (20... Bh4 21. Bf7+ $1 Kh8 22. Qxh4 {. For example:} Nxe3
23. Qf6#) 21. Be4+ $1 {[#] This is the human move. Rather than relying on long
variations where the "hit rate" is unacceptable The key point is that all
counterplay against g2 is eliminated. Black cannot play 21...Kh8 on account of
22.Rf7 with at least mate and thus have to return the piece immediately.} ({
[#] When you look at the position with an engine, you will get overwhelmed
with +- evaluations. This wins. That wins. But when you put the position on
the board and have to find a win on your own, suddenly things are far less
obvious. I asked both the students in the online camp (including Jason) and a
group of students at www.365chessacademy.com (renamed as www.
killerchesstraining.com quite recently), with a lot of strong players,
including IMs to find a win and they went through many blind paths before
coming up with a winning line.} 21. Bxh7+ {looks incredibly tempting. But after
} Kh8 {there is no win.} 22. Rf7 $2 {was everyone's first choice, but after}
Bxg2+ 23. Kg1 {[#]} Nf5 $1 24. Bxf5 Bc5+ 25. Kxg2 Qxf7 {Black wins. This line
may seem elementary, but it took us a long time to come up with it on our own.
And that's the point.}) ({We also tried} 21. Rf7 Bxg2+ 22. Kg1 {, but once
again Black escapes:} Nf5 $1 23. Qxg2 Bc5+ 24. Kh1 Qxf7 25. Bxf7+ Kxf7 {
with an unclear posiiton where White has to play very energetically in order
to keep the balance.}) ({Another venomous idea was discovered in} 21. Rxe3 {
, where Black escapes only through fabulous defence:} Rf8 $1 22. Bxh7+ Kh8 23.
Bf5 $1 Rd4 $3 {The rook transfers to h4, to aid in the defence.} (23... exf5 $2
{is equal with Stockfish at first, but when you put the moves on the board and
expand the horizon of the machine, it turns out that White has a winning
attack:} 24. Qh3+ Kg7 25. Rg3+ Kf7 26. e6+ $1 {A typical attacking move. Lines
are opened.} Kxe6 27. Re1+ Qe5 (27... Kd7 {[#]} 28. Rxe7+ $1 Kxe7 29. Rg7+ Rf7
30. Rxf7+ Kxf7 31. Qh7+ {winning the queen is a nice tactic in its own right.})
(27... Kd6 28. Qh6+ Bf6 {[#]} 29. Nb5+ $3 {is not something you will discover
if you do not investigate the position.} axb5 30. Qf4+ Kc6 31. axb5+ {and
White wins the queen.}) 28. Rxe5+ Kxe5 29. Re3+ Kd6 30. Qh6+ Rf6 31. Qf4+ Kd7)
24. Ne2 Bh4 $1 (24... Rh4 25. Nf4 $1 {would give White a winning attack.}) 25.
Qg6 Rxf5 26. Rxf5 Rd1+ 27. Ng1 {Black still looks lost, but is saved by a
recurring tactic.} Bxg2+ $3 28. Kxg2 (28. Qxg2 exf5 29. Rh3 Qc4 {with unclear 
(read 0.00) play.}) 28... Qxc2+ 29. Kh1 Qxf5 30. Qh6+ Qh7 31. Qf8+ Qg8 32. Qh6+
{with a draw.}) (21. Bxe8+ {This is the "official" win. Stockfish gives it
plus about a million, but finding the moves is anything but easy.} Kh8 22. Rxe3
(22. Rf7 {once again fails to} Bxg2+ 23. Kg1 Nf5 {, when} 24. Rxh7+ Kxh7 25.
Qg6+ {only offers White a perpetual check. However, at this point a draw is
not a bad outcome.}) 22... Rxe8 23. Rf7 {White's position may look promising
here, but things are not simple yet.} Rg8 {[#] The counterplay against g2 is
real. In order to rely on this variation, you will have to have seen that
White is winning after:} 24. Rxh7+ $1 Kxh7 25. Qh3+ Kg7 (25... Kg6 26. Qxe6+ {
and wins.}) 26. Rg3+ Kf8 27. Qh6+ $1 {Another key move that has to have been
anticipated.} Ke8 28. Rxg8+ Kd7 29. Qg6 {White wins. One line is} Bd8 30. Qe8+
Kc8 31. Qxe6+ Qd7 32. Qxd7+ Kxd7 33. e6+ {and White wins another piece, making
the conversion elementary.}) 21... Bg5 {The moment you see that Black has to
play this, you know that 21.Be4+ is strong. But, in order to do this, you have
to think of returning the bishop with a discovered check; and only to e4. This
will seem quite obvious to you now, once it has been explained, but it was
very difficult for my students to find the move and took a long time before
someone suggested it.} 22. Qxg5+ Qg7 23. Qxg7+ (23. Qxe3 $2 Nxc2 $1 {is not an
important point, but best missed.}) 23... Kxg7 24. Rxe3 {White has a winning
endgame. One little point is that} Bxe4 {is met with} 25. Nxe4 $1 {bringing
the remaining piece decisively into the game. Again, analysis could always
continue, but one key aspect of working with engines is to know when to stop
feeding the beast.}) 20. Qxh4 Rxe6 21. Nxd5 (21. Bg5 $5 Rde8 22. Bf3 {with a
devastating attack on the dark squares was also winning, but White's play in
the game is very logical.}) 21... Nxd5 22. Bg4 Nxe3 {[#] White missed his
chance to win the game. And what a chance...} 23. Rxe3 $4 (23. Rxf7 $3 Qxf7 (
23... Kxf7 24. Qxh7+ Ke8 {At this point Jason gave the computer variation} 25.
Qg8+ Ke7 26. Qxe6+ {, which is obviously totally winning. But a human analysis
of the position would simply give 25.Qxc7, which is also completely winning.})
24. Bxe6 Qxe6 25. Qxd8+) 23... Rd4 $1 24. Qg3 Qc4 25. Be2 Qxc2 26. Qf2 {
Jason evaluates the position very maturely: "The engine says the position is
equal, but in practice, Black is better." This is accurate. The white pawns
are divided and weak and the active play White has to display to equalise is
hard to come up with, when he knows he has blown a winning attack, is not easy.
} Qc7 27. Rc3 Qd7 28. Bc4 $2 {Just a blunder.} Rd2 29. Be2 Rxe5 30. Re3 Rf5 31.
Qe1 Rg5 32. Rf2 Rxb2 $2 {This looks obvious, but it is a blunder.} ({Jason
points out that} 32... Qd4 {was better. Black is just winning. We do not need
variations here. There are other winning moves too.}) {[#]} 33. Qc1 $2 ({
But what Jason does not point out is that the saving variation for White is
virtually impossible to find.} 33. Bg4 $1 {The first move is not too hard to
find, but soon it gets trickier.} Rxf2 34. Bxd7 Rgxg2 $1 {Black is not out of
bullets.} 35. Re8+ (35. Qxf2 Rg3+) 35... Kg7 36. Qc3+ $1 {The accurate move
order.} (36. Bc6 $6 {gives Black the extra option of playing} Rxh2+ {before
transposing to our main line.}) 36... Rf6 {[#] White's situation seems
desperate, so desperate defence is needed!} 37. Bc6 $3 Bxc6 (37... Rc2 38.
Qxf6+ {is an immediate draw.}) 38. Rg8+ Kxg8 39. Qxf6 Rc2+ (39... Bb7 40. Qd8+
Kg7 41. Qd4+ Kh6 42. Qh4+ {would lead to an immediate draw.}) 40. Kg1 Rc4 41.
Qd8+ Kg7 42. Qxb6 Bxa4 43. Qb2+ Kh6 44. Qa3 $1 {[#] White has enough
counterplay to make the draw. The key point is that the Black king is now
allowed to hide in piece behind the pawns, but is harassed, making it hard to
coordinate an advance of the a-pawn, for example. If Black was able to put the
bishop on e6, pawn on h5, king on h7 and rook on a2, it would be curtains.})
33... Qd2 {Finally, Black is cruising.} 34. Re8+ Kg7 35. Qf1 Bd5 36. Re7 Rf5
37. Rxf5 gxf5 38. h3 Be4 39. Rxe4 fxe4 40. Qf5 Rb1+ 41. Kh2 Qd6+ 42. g3 Qc5 43.
Qg4+ Kh8 44. Bd1 Qf2+ 45. Kh1 Qf1+ 46. Kh2 Rb2+ 47. Be2 Rxe2+ 48. Qxe2 Qxe2+
49. Kh1 Qd2 50. a5 e3 51. axb6 e2 52. b7 e1=Q# 0-1

[Event "Yerevan Petrosian Memorial"]
[Site "Yerevan"]
[Date "1988.05.20"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Petrosian, Arshak B"]
[Black "Akopian, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2480"]
[BlackElo "2460"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "1988.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. Nc3 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. h3
c6 9. e4 exd4 10. Nxd4 Re8 11. Be3 Nc5 12. Qc2 Qe7 13. Rfe1 Bd7 14. Nb3 Nxb3
15. axb3 c5 16. Qd2 Bc6 17. Rad1 Red8 18. Bg5 Rd7 19. b4 cxb4 20. Nd5 Bxd5 21.
exd5 Qf8 22. Qxb4 b6 23. h4 h6 24. Bf4 Nh5 25. Bh3 Rdd8 26. Bc1 Be5 27. Kg2 Re8
28. Bd7 Re7 29. Bc6 Rc8 30. Qd2 Kh7 31. Qd3 Rcc7 32. b3 f5 33. Re2 f4 34. g4
f3+ 35. Qxf3 Rf7 36. Qd3 Nf4+ 37. Bxf4 Rxf4 38. f3 Rcf7 39. Rf1 Rxg4+ 40. fxg4
Rxf1 41. h5 Kh8 42. Ra2 Qf4 43. Qxf1 Qh2+ 44. Kf3 Qxa2 45. Qd3 gxh5 46. gxh5
Qh2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Moscow"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1968.??.??"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Luchenko, Dmitri"]
[Black "Harmon, Beth"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E69"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,92,19,31,14,-14,43,39,37,19,35,21,30,19,48,23,34,35,26,14,-4,14,11,12,
11,14,14,-30,-17,30,71,68,86,108,106,74,103,100,116,113,125,120,118,133,129,
129,133,120,119,111,115,75,107,107,122,88,137,102,116,109,114,119,114,104,115,
93,93,87,48,44,3,9,36,-68,-85,-85,-69,-59,59,-4,75,36,27,67,0,0,20,50,39,-565,
-618,-624,-641,-646,-641]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6.
Nc3 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. h3 c6 9. e4 exd4 10. Nxd4 Re8 11. Be3 Nc5 12. Qc2 Qe7 13.
Rfe1 Bd7 14. Nb3 Nxb3 15. axb3 c5 16. Qd2 Bc6 17. Rad1 Red8 18. Bg5 Rd7 19. b4
cxb4 20. Nd5 Bxd5 21. exd5 Qf8 22. Qxb4 b6 23. h4 h6 24. Bf4 Nh5 25. Bh3 Rdd8
26. Bc1 Be5 27. Kg2 Re8 28. Bd7 Re7 29. Bc6 Rc8 30. Qd2 Kh7 31. Qd3 Rcc7 32. b3
f5 33. Re2 f4 34. g4 f3+ 35. Qxf3 Rf7 36. Qd3 Nf4+ 37. Bxf4 Rxf4 38. f3 {
[#] This is the adjourned position in the game. Note that for creative
purposes it was renumbered to move 41.} h5 39. gxh5 Kh8 40. hxg6 Rxh4 41. Rh1
Rch7 42. Rg1 (42. gxh7 Qg7+) 42... R7h5 43. Kf1 Kg7 44. Bd7 Rd4 45. Qe3 Rd1+
46. Re1 Bd4 {[#]} 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2012.10.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "diagram 1"]
[Black "White to move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6k1/p4pp1/4pq1p/7b/n7/P5QP/1P3PP1/5RK1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Question 1 asks "what enemy pieces or pawns are unprotected or not well
protected?" Here, Black's a4-knight and h5-bishop are unprotected. The queen
can attack therm both from a5 or b5. This helps us find} 1. Qb8+ {[%csl Ga4,
Gh5]} Kh7 2. Qb5 {winning a piece} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.05.07"]
[Round "?"]
[White "diagram 2"]
[Black "White to move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r4k/p2rn1bp/1p2q3/1Q1pPp2/3B1P2/6R1/PP4BP/1K1R4 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Black's queen is unprotected and both rooks are not well protected. But the
most important clue in this position is that white's bishop shares a diagonal
with black's king. White wins by removing the pieces between them.} 1. Rxg7 {
[%csl Yd7,Ge6,Yg7][%cal Rd4h8]} ({It's important to get the move order right,
as} 1. Qxd7 $2 Qxd7 2. Rxg7 Qc7 {is totally winning for Black. Don't let them
accept the first sacrifice and decline the second!}) 1... Kxg7 2. Qxd7 Qxd7 3.
e6+ {and White is winning.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "diagram 3"]
[Black "White to move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "7Q/p1p1b1B1/6r1/2p3kp/4Bp1q/7P/PPP2PP1/6K1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Here's a great example of how helpful question 3 can be. It would be
checkmate if white's queen was on e5, so...} 1. Bh6+ {[%csl Re5]} Rxh6 2. Qe5#
*

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "diagram 4"]
[Black "White to move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r2k1/pp3p1p/6p1/1q6/1b6/1Q2RB1P/1P3PP1/6K1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Now let's look at some more complex positions.Here, Black's rook and queen
are unprotected. Black's b4-bishop and f7- and b7-pawns are not well-protected.
Notice the pin on the b-file, and that the black pawns are both on the seventh
rank. This should point you right to...} 1. Re7 {[%csl Yb4,Gb5,Yb7,Gd8,Yf7]
[%cal Yb3b5,Yc7e7,Ge7c7]} Bxe7 (1... Rf8 2. Rxb7) 2. Qxb5 {, which wins the
house.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "diagram 5"]
[Black "Black to move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1r4k1/p3pp2/6pb/7p/7P/PqP2QP1/1P6/1K1N1R2 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[EventDate "2020.09.28"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The rook looks good on b8, but where would it be great?} 1... Rd8 $1 {There
is no stopping ... Rd8-d2, followed by ... Rd2-c2, and Black wins.} 2. g4 Rd2 (
{Cleaner is} 2... hxg4 $1 3. Qxg4 Rd2 {(Nunn-Miles, London, 1980) with the idea
} 4. h5 Rc2) 3. gxh5 (3. g5 $5 {tries to make things messy, but to no avail.
Black is still winning.}) 3... Rc2 {and ... Rc2-c1 is crushing.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "diagram 6"]
[Black "White to move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b2rk1/p1q2pp1/1p1b1n1p/4p3/2P4Q/1P3N2/PBB2PPP/3R1RK1 w - - 0 17"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[EventDate "2020.09.28"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Let's go through our three questions: 1. Black's a8-rook is undefended.
Black's d6-bishop and e5-pawn are not well protected. 2. The two important
lines here are the e4-a8 diagonal, leading to Black's hanging rook, and the
b1-h7 diagonal, which leads to Black's king. Notice that they intersect at e4.
3. Qh7 would be checkmate, except for the presence of Black's f6-knight. This
gives us a lot of clues, and it's just a matter of looking at the forcing
moves all the way to the end:} 17. Rxd6 $1 {[%csl Ga8,Yd6,Ye5,Rh7][%cal Ge4b7,
Ge4h7]} Qxd6 18. Bxe5 Qe6 19. Bxf6 Qxf6 ({After} 19... gxf6 {White wins by} 20.
Be4 Rb8 21. Qg3+ Qg4 22. Qxb8) 20. Qe4 $1 Qg6 21. Qxa8 Qxc2 22. Qxa7 {White is
up two pawns and totally winning. (Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2479)-Samir Davidov 
(2217) Baku 2001)} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.07.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "diagram 7"]
[Black "White to move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b2bk1/1pBn1p1p/2p3p1/p2p4/P2Pr3/2q1P3/2N1BPPP/1R1Q1RK1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Black's a8-rook is unprotected but hard to target. Black's queen is also
unprotected. Nothing special seems to be going on until you ask yourself where
White's c7-bishop would be better placed.} 1. Bg3 $3 {and White will win the
queen after f2-f3 and Bg3-e1!} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "exercise 1"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/3r3k/1p2b1pp/p1p5/7r/1PQ5/P5PP/5R1K w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This position looks simple: the h4-rook and e6-bishop are both unprotected.
It looks like both Qc3-f6 and Qc3-e1 fork them, but only one move works.} 1.
Qe1 $1 (1. Qf6 $2 {allows the defense} Re4) *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.02.16"]
[Round "?"]
[White "exercise 2"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r1r1k1/p3qpp1/2pb3p/8/2P5/1P3Q2/P1B3PP/3R1R1K w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Black's d6-bishop and f7-pawn are not well protected, and a queen drop on h7
would lead to mate.} 1. Qd3 $1 *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.05.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "exercise 3"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/r4pbk/2p1q2p/p2p4/8/2P2NR1/1P1Q1PPP/6K1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Black's a7-rook is unprotected and the g7-bishop is not well protected.} 1.
Rxg7+ $1 Kxg7 2. Qd4+ {wins material.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "exercise 4"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b1r1k1/2p2qpp/1p2p3/pN2Pp2/2B1n3/1P6/PQ3PPP/2R2RK1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Black's a8-rook is unprotected and the c7-pawn is not well protected. Black's
king and queen are on the same diagonal as White's bishop.} 1. Nxc7 $1 {
[%csl Yc7,Ye6][%cal Rc4g8,Rc1c7] with a double attack on the rooks. If Black
takes with} ({You might first look at} 1. Bxe6 Bxe6 2. Nxc7 {but you'd soon
realize it gains only a tiny amount of material (rook and two pawns for bishop
and knight). If you try changing the move order, you'll find the excellent})
1... Qxc7 2. Bxe6+ {wins the queen and two pawns for two pieces.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "exercise 5"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4R3/3r1kpQ/5q2/p5p1/1p6/8/5PPP/3rR1K1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Black's pieces are fairly well defended here; only the d1-rook is not well
defended. But notice that if you could replace the e8-rook with White's queen,
it would be mate.} 1. Rf8+ $1 Kxf8 2. Qh8+ Kf7 3. Qe8# *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "exercise 6"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b2rk1/p4pbp/1pq1p1p1/3pP3/1PnP3N/P2B2Q1/1B3PPP/2R1R1K1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Black's knight is not well defended, and black's queen and a8-rook share a
diagonal.} 1. Rxc4 {[%csl Yc4][%cal Re4a8]} dxc4 2. Be4 {wins material.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.05.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "exercise 7"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3r1k1/1p3ppp/p2q1n2/3pn3/8/2PQ1N1P/PP1N1PP1/R3R1K1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Black's queen is en prise and the e5-knight is not well protected. Black's
d5-pawn is pinned by White's queen. Taken together, we find the idea} 1. Rxe5
$1 {[%csl Gd6,Ye5][%cal Rd3d6]} Rxe5 2. Nc4 $1 *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.05.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "exercise 8"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "7k/1b2rqp1/1p5p/pNn2p2/8/2B3QP/P4PP1/4R1K1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Black's rook is not well protected. White's bishop is pinning the g7-pawn to
the Black king.} 1. Qxg7+ $1 {[%csl Ye7][%cal Rc3g7]} Qxg7 2. Rxe7 $1 *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "exercise 9"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2kr3r/pppq2pp/3n1p2/4p3/4P3/1QP3P1/P4PBP/1R1R2K1 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{Black's b7-pawn is not well-protected, as it is attacked by the queen and
rook, and defended by the king and knight. Black's king and queen are on the
same diagonal line. White's rook pins black's knight to the queen. If white
can take on b7, it's checkmate. My first thought would be to remove the
defender of the checkmate:} 1. Rxd6 {[%csl Yb1,Yb3,Gb7,Rc8,Rd6][%cal Yc8h3,
Yb1b7,Gd1d8] but Black can recapture with the pawn, defending the b7-square
sideways with the queen.} cxd6 {[%cal Gd7b7] Now White uses the fact that the
Black King and Queen share a diagonal to pin the Queen.} 2. Bh3 {[%cal Rh3c8]}
Qxh3 3. Qxb7# *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2012.10.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "exercise 10"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r1qbk1/3b1r2/p3p3/1p2Pp2/1n1N1Pp1/1PN3Pp/P2Q1B1P/2RR2K1 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2002.07.19"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This is a perfect position for question three. If Black could play ... Qe8-g2,
it would be mate. How to get the queen get to this fantastic square? How about
} 1... Rc7 $3 {(preparing ... Qe8-a8)} 2. a3 Qa8 3. Be3 Nd3 4. Rc2 ({If} 4.
Qxd3 $2 Qg2#) 4... b4 5. Na2 (5. Qxd3 $2 {fails to} Rxc3) 5... Nc5 {Black has
a dominating position and went on to win.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.05.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "exercise 11"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r4/4q1k1/r1p2bpp/p2B4/2P5/7P/P2R2P1/1Q3R1K w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{This is a tough one. Let's look at it with our questions in mind. The a6-rook
is undefended. The g6-square is not well protected, and there is some pressure
on the d-file, even if the d8-rook looks safe now.} 1. Bf7 $3 {[%csl Ga6,Yg6]
[%cal Gd2d7]} Kxf7 (1... Qxf7 {loses material after} 2. Rxd8) 2. Rxd8 Qxd8 3.
Qb7+ {and White goes up the Exchange.} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "exercise 12"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b1kb1r/1q1n1p2/2Np4/1p1Np1pp/5P2/7Q/PPP3PP/2KRR3 w kq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[EventDate "2020.09.28"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{What clues do our questions give us? Black's h8-rook is unprotected, and the
e5-pawn is not well protected. If White could pick up the rook or queen and
place it at d8 it would be mate. Nd5-f6 would also be mate without the
d7-knight defending the f6-square. Finally, White's rook is on the same line
as black's king.} 1. Rxe5+ $1 {[%csl Rd8,Ge5,Rf6,Yh8][%cal Re1e7]} Be7 {
Other moves lose instantly:} (1... Nxe5 $2 2. Nf6#) (1... dxe5 $2 2. Nf6+ Nxf6
3. Rd8#) 2. Rxe7+ Kf8 3. Qf5 {Threatening mate on f7.} Ne5 {Defending the
f7-square and uncovering the c8-bishop's attack on the queen.} 4. Qf6 {Hitting
the unprotected h8-rook and maintaining the threat of f4xe5 and Qf6xf7.} Rh7 5.
Re8+ Kxe8 6. Qd8# {(Shibarevic-Bukic, Banja Luka 1976, 1-0)} *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "bonus exercise"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Spiegel"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/Rpr1q1k1/5np1/5p2/3Rp3/1Q6/1P3PPP/6K1 b - - 0 36"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2020.09.28"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{White's queen and both rooks are unprotected. If we could pick up the queen
and put her on e1, it would be checkmate. We can attack three of those four
targets with} 36... Qb4 $3 {(IM Michael Richter-GM Emanuel Berg, Gothenburg
Manhem 2011, 0-1.)} ({The idea is that after} 36... Qb4 {both captures remove
a key defender from the d1-square:} 37. Qxb4 (37. Rxb4 Rc1+ 38. Qd1 Rxd1#)
37... Rc1+ 38. Rd1 Rxd1+ 39. Qe1 Rxe1#) *

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Position 1"]
[Black "Make Your Move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/2pr1pbk/2n2np1/4p2p/1P2P3/1qP1N1P1/1B2QPBP/R5K1 w - - 0 28"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2020.09.24"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 28. Nd5 $1 ({The best, aiming to trap Black's queen. White has many good
moves, for instance,} 28. Ra3 Qe6 29. Ra6 Rd6 30. Nd5 {with an overwhelming
advantage.}) 28... Ne7 ({Black misses White's threat, but} 28... Nxd5 29. exd5
Rxd5 30. Bxd5 Qxd5 31. b5 Ne7 32. c4 {is also hopeless for Black.}) 29. Ra3 $1
{The queen is trapped and Black resigned.} *

[Event "Titled Tuesday 1st Sept"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.01"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Azaladze, S.."]
[Black "Manukyan, SaV"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2439"]
[BlackElo "2253"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2020.09.01"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,57,23,14,20,-10,17,17,7,11,17,-11,2,0,9,-16,-6,-35,-10,-11,-11,-23,
-12,-19,-15,10,17,24,64,16,36,36,50,54,54,54,102,50,82,71,109,109,113,93,96,73,
114,127,186,186,186,190,198,196,238,233,347,215,651,643]} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6
3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. d3 d6 6. e4 e5 7. Nbd2 Nc6 8. c3 Re8 9. b4 a6 10. a3
h6 11. Qc2 d5 12. Bb2 dxe4 13. dxe4 Qe7 14. Nc4 Bg4 15. Ne3 Be6 16. a4 b5 17.
Rfd1 Red8 18. Nd2 Kh7 19. Nb3 Bxb3 20. Qxb3 Rxd1+ 21. Rxd1 Rd8 22. Ra1 Rd3 23.
Qc2 Rd7 24. axb5 axb5 25. Qe2 Qe6 26. Qxb5 Qb3 27. Qe2 h5 {[#]} 28. Nd5 $1 ({
The best, aiming to trap Black's queen. White has many good moves, for
instance,} 28. Ra3 Qe6 29. Ra6 Rd6 30. Nd5 {with an overwhelming advantage.})
28... Ne7 ({Black misses White's threat, but} 28... Nxd5 29. exd5 Rxd5 30. Bxd5
Qxd5 31. b5 Ne7 32. c4 {is also hopeless for Black.}) 29. Ra3 $1 {The queen is
trapped and Black resigned.} 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Position 2"]
[Black "Make Your Move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r2q1rk1/1p2bp2/p5pP/4p3/2B1P3/1QNn1P2/PP3P1R/R3K3 w Q - 0 22"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "2020.09.24"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 22. Bxd3 $1 {White forces Black's queen forward.} Qxd3 23. Nd5 $1 {
The point! Now Black's queen and bishop are hanging and there's no way to save
both of them.} Qxb3 24. Nxe7+ $1 {The intermediary check wins the piece.} Kh7
25. axb3 {Black resigned.} *

[Event "Titled Tuesday 1st Sept"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.01"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Yanchenko, R.."]
[Black "Sawlin, L.."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D02"]
[WhiteElo "2467"]
[BlackElo "2385"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2020.09.01"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,49,30,30,30,27,20,21,28,10,9,13,55,34,35,34,44,40,40,40,46,43,49,22,
41,13,43,17,46,-10,20,-24,55,52,52,16,134,100,81,54,89,57,70,55,353,345,341,
341,376,366,366,378]} 1. d4 e6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 Bd6 4. Bg3 Nf6 5. Nf3 Ne4 6. Bd3
Nxg3 7. hxg3 h6 8. c4 dxc4 9. Bxc4 a6 10. Bd3 c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. Nc3 O-O 13.
g4 Be7 14. Rh5 Nc6 15. g5 e5 16. gxh6 g6 17. Rh2 Nb4 18. Bc4 (18. Be4 Be6 19.
a3 Nc6 20. Qxd8 Rfxd8 21. Rd1 Rxd1+ 22. Kxd1 Rd8+ 23. Ke1 Na5) 18... Bf5 19. e4
Bg4 20. Qb3 Bxf3 21. gxf3 Nd3+ {[#]} 22. Bxd3 $1 {White forces Black's queen
forward.} Qxd3 23. Nd5 $1 {The point! Now Black's queen and bishop are hanging
and there's no way to save both of them.} Qxb3 24. Nxe7+ $1 {The intermediary
check wins the piece.} Kh7 25. axb3 {Black resigned.} 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Position 3"]
[Black "Make Your Move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3r1k1/ppqn1pb1/2ppbnpp/4p3/P1N1P3/2PP1NPP/1PQ2PB1/R1B1R1K1 b - - 0 13"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[EventDate "2020.09.24"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 13... Nxe4 $1 14. Rxe4 ({After} 14. dxe4 Bxc4 {, Black has simply won a
pawn.}) 14... d5 15. Rh4 g5 $1 ({and now Black wins material. In the game,
Black played less accurately with} 15... dxc4 {which should have been met with}
16. Bxh6 Bxh6 17. Rxh6 Nc5 18. d4 {and Black is only slightly better.}) *

[Event "Titled Tuesday 1st Sept"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.01"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Guimaraes, W.."]
[Black "Aizpurua, Patrick"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2218"]
[BlackElo "2310"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "30"]
[EventDate "2020.09.01"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. d3 d6 6. Nbd2 e5 7. e4 c6 8. Re1
h6 9. a4 Be6 10. c3 Nbd7 11. Nc4 Qc7 12. Qc2 Rfe8 13. h3 {[#]} Nxe4 $1 14. Rxe4
({After} 14. dxe4 Bxc4 {, Black has simply won a pawn.}) 14... d5 15. Rh4 g5 $1
({and now Black wins material. In the game, Black played less accurately with} 
15... dxc4 {which should have been met with} 16. Bxh6 Bxh6 17. Rxh6 Nc5 18. d4
{and Black is only slightly better.}) 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Position 4"]
[Black "Make Your Move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3kb1r/ppPq2pp/4bp2/4p3/3P4/1n3NP1/1B2PPBP/1N1Q1RK1 w kq - 0 14"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2020.09.24"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 14. d5 $1 ({Best. In the game, White played another strong continuation:
} 14. Nxe5 Qxc7 15. d5 Bf5 16. e4 Bc8 $4 ({Black collapses; after} 16... fxe5
17. exf5 Nd4 18. Na3 O-O-O {Black can still fight}) 17. Qh5+ g6 18. Nxg6 Qf7
19. Bxf6 Rg8 20. Qe5+ {and Black resigned.}) 14... Qxd5 {The point!} 15. Nd4 $1
e4 ({Or} 15... Qc4 16. Nxe6 Qxe6 17. Bxb7 {and White is winning.}) 16. Qxb3
Qxb3 17. Nxb3 Bxb3 18. Bh3 $1 {The clever point behind White's combination:
the c-pawn cannot be stopped.} *

[Event "TCh-SVK 2019-20"]
[Site "Slovakia SVK"]
[Date "2020.09.05"]
[Round "10.1"]
[White "Zwardon, V.."]
[Black "Csonka, A1.."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2467"]
[BlackElo "2348"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[EventDate "2019.10.19"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "SVK"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
[WhiteTeam "CVC Mladost VIX Zilina"]
[BlackTeam "SK Dunajska Streda"]

{[%evp 0,39,14,-3,-25,-51,-36,-38,-49,-32,-32,-38,-38,-75,8,-13,-15,-7,-1,-112,
-100,-109,-109,-148,-121,-121,-8,0,37,12,-8,7,43,5,280,283,283,295,324,324,890,
1409]} 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O Nb6 7. b3
Be6 8. Bb2 f6 9. a4 Na5 10. d4 Nxb3 11. a5 Nxa1 12. axb6 Nb3 13. bxc7 Qd7 {[#]}
14. d5 $1 ({Best. In the game, White played another strong continuation:} 14.
Nxe5 Qxc7 15. d5 Bf5 16. e4 Bc8 $4 ({Black collapses; after} 16... fxe5 17.
exf5 Nd4 18. Na3 O-O-O {Black can still fight}) 17. Qh5+ g6 18. Nxg6 Qf7 19.
Bxf6 Rg8 20. Qe5+ {and Black resigned.}) 14... Qxd5 {The point!} 15. Nd4 $1 e4
({Or} 15... Qc4 16. Nxe6 Qxe6 17. Bxb7 {and White is winning.}) 16. Qxb3 Qxb3
17. Nxb3 Bxb3 18. Bh3 $1 {The clever point behind White's combination: the
c-pawn cannot be stopped.} 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Position 5"]
[Black "Make Your Move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5rk1/pR4pp/5p2/3p4/3n4/q2B1P2/P1PQ1K1P/8 w - - 0 19"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[EventDate "2020.09.24"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 19. Qe3 $1 ({After this sneaky move, Black cannot organize his pieces
adequately. In the game, White won quickly after} 19. Bxh7+ $2 Kxh7 20. Qxd4
Qxa2 21. Qd3+ Kg8 $4 (21... f5 $1 {defends}) 22. Qg6 $1 {and Black resigned.})
19... Qc5 ({Or} 19... Qa4 20. Qe7 {and Black is struggling to guard g7.}) 20.
Rb5 $1 {Exploiting the pin of the knight to win a piece.} Qc7 21. Qxd4 Qxh2+
22. Kf1 Qh1+ 23. Qg1 Qxf3+ 24. Ke1 {and White should win.} *

[Event "Titled Tuesday 1st Sept"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.01"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Cerveny, M.."]
[Black "Patrascu, Catalin-Lucian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A83"]
[WhiteElo "2383"]
[BlackElo "2320"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "2020.09.01"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,43,25,21,70,-3,40,-22,-22,-22,6,-11,40,-15,-27,2,2,-53,-57,-69,3,-29,
-26,-74,-66,-66,-70,-70,-69,-87,14,-14,14,12,36,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,-7,-31,29983,
29984]} 1. d4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 c6 5. f3 Qa5 6. Bxf6 exf6 7. fxe4
Ba3 8. bxa3 Qxc3+ 9. Kf2 O-O 10. Nf3 d5 11. exd5 cxd5 12. Rb1 Qxa3 13. Bd3 Nc6
14. Qd2 Bg4 15. Rxb7 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Rab8 {[#]} 17. Rhb1 Rxb7 18. Rxb7 Nxd4 {[#]}
19. Qe3 $1 ({After this sneaky move, Black cannot organize his pieces
adequately. In the game, White won quickly after} 19. Bxh7+ $2 Kxh7 20. Qxd4
Qxa2 21. Qd3+ Kg8 $4 (21... f5 $1 {defends}) 22. Qg6 $1 {and Black resigned.})
19... Qc5 ({Or} 19... Qa4 20. Qe7 {and Black is struggling to guard g7.}) 20.
Rb5 $1 {Exploiting the pin of the knight to win a piece.} Qc7 21. Qxd4 Qxh2+
22. Kf1 Qh1+ 23. Qg1 Qxf3+ 24. Ke1 {and White should win.} 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Position 6"]
[Black "Make Your Move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r1rk1/1b2qpp1/ppn4p/5B2/5PQ1/P3N3/1P4PP/3RR1K1 w - - 0 23"]
[PlyCount "13"]
[EventDate "2020.09.24"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 23. Bd7 $1 {A nasty move that threatens to play Nf5 and if ...Qf6, then
Rd6. With the bishop on d7, Black cannot organize a proper defense.} h5 $1 ({
Black's only chance to stay in the game as} 23... Qf6 {can be met with} 24. Nd5
({or} 24. Nf5 h5 25. Qxh5 Bc8 26. Bxc8 Rxd1 27. Qxd1 Rxc8 28. Qd7 {and White
is winning}) 24... Qxb2 25. Bxc6 Bxc6 26. Ne7+ {, winning a piece.}) 24. Qxg7+
$1 {Winning a pawn, but also opening up for Black's king.} Kxg7 25. Nf5+ Kf6 $4
({Black should have played} 25... Kg6 26. Nxe7+ Nxe7 27. Rxe7 Bc8 28. Ba4 {
with chances of saving the endgame if White cooperates.}) 26. Rxe7 $1 {Ouch!}
Kg6 ({Necessary as} 26... Nxe7 27. Rd6# {would end the game on the spot.}) 27.
Rd6+ Kh7 28. Rh6+ Kg8 29. Re3 {and Black resigned before he would get mated.} *

[Event "85th ch-ESP 2020"]
[Site "Linares ESP"]
[Date "2020.09.07"]
[Round "8.6"]
[White "Espinosa Aranda, A.."]
[Black "Jimenez Ruano, Adrian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E52"]
[WhiteElo "2506"]
[BlackElo "2218"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2020.08.31"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,57,14,14,21,-3,6,6,7,18,26,28,27,14,28,20,38,30,70,51,57,40,49,34,60,
10,10,-10,5,-16,7,-22,-36,-42,-22,-22,44,0,43,0,12,17,16,23,25,51,9,110,125,
132,122,115,379,380,549,688,684,711,703,29990]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4
4. e3 O-O 5. Nf3 b6 6. Bd2 d5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3 a6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Ne5 Bd6 11.
f4 c5 12. Qf3 Nc6 13. Qh3 h6 14. Ng4 Nxg4 15. Qxg4 Nb4 16. Bf5 cxd4 17. a3 dxe3
18. Bxe3 Nc6 19. Nxd5 Bc5 20. Rad1 Bxe3+ 21. Nxe3 Qe7 22. Rfe1 Rad8 {[#]} 23.
Bd7 $1 {A nasty move that threatens to play Nf5 and if ...Qf6, then Rd6. With
the bishop on d7, Black cannot organize a proper defense.} h5 $1 ({Black's
only chance to stay in the game as} 23... Qf6 {can be met with} 24. Nd5 ({or} 
24. Nf5 h5 25. Qxh5 Bc8 26. Bxc8 Rxd1 27. Qxd1 Rxc8 28. Qd7 {and White is
winning}) 24... Qxb2 25. Bxc6 Bxc6 26. Ne7+ {, winning a piece.}) 24. Qxg7+ $1
{Winning a pawn, but also opening up for Black's king.} Kxg7 25. Nf5+ Kf6 $4 ({
Black should have played} 25... Kg6 26. Nxe7+ Nxe7 27. Rxe7 Bc8 28. Ba4 {
with chances of saving the endgame if White cooperates.}) 26. Rxe7 $1 {Ouch!}
Kg6 ({Necessary as} 26... Nxe7 27. Rd6# {would end the game on the spot.}) 27.
Rd6+ Kh7 28. Rh6+ Kg8 29. Re3 {and Black resigned before he would get mated.}
1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Position 7"]
[Black "Make Your Move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rn1q1rk1/p4ppp/1p2p3/2bp4/Q1P1bB2/P3PN2/1P3PPP/3RKB1R w K - 0 12"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2020.09.24"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#] It's hard to believe that Black should be in danger of losing already,
but White's lead in development is causing major headaches.} 12. cxd5 $1 exd5 (
{Or} 12... Bxd5 13. Bc4 ({but not} 13. e4 $2 Bc6 $1 {and Black saves himself})
13... a5 14. Ne5 Qc8 15. Bxd5 exd5 16. Rxd5 Qe6 17. Rd2 {and White has both a
pawn and a major lead in development.}) 13. Ng5 $1 ({The pin on the d-pawn
forces Black's hand. In the game, White won after} 13. Bd3 Qe7 $4 ({Black can
put up a better fight after} 13... Qe8 14. Bb5 Qc8 {although White here too is
clearly better}) 14. Bxe4 dxe4 15. Ng5 $1 Rd8 16. Rxd8+ Qxd8 17. Qxe4 {and
Black resigned.}) 13... Qe7 ({Or} 13... Bg6 14. Bc4 {and the threat of Bxd5
costs Black material.}) 14. b4 $1 ({White also has a decisive advantage after} 
14. Nxe4 Qxe4 15. Qxe4 dxe4 16. Bc4 a5 17. Bd5 Ra7 18. Bxe4 {but the text move
wins a piece.}) 14... h6 15. Nxe4 Qxe4 16. f3 {White chases Black's queen away,
removing the pin the pawn on b4 and therefore winning the bishop on c5.} *

[Event "Titled Tuesday 1st Sept"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.01"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Weetik, V.."]
[Black "Jenni, F.."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E12"]
[WhiteElo "2423"]
[BlackElo "2456"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "2020.09.01"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,33,21,14,21,-4,-4,4,25,17,27,10,11,11,19,-11,-25,12,3,-2,8,-4,-4,13,
105,85,108,115,117,129,158,157,521,468,524,508]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6
4. a3 Ba6 5. Qa4 Bb7 6. Nc3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Bf4 O-O 9. Rd1 Ne4 10. Nxe4 Bxe4
11. e3 d5 {[#] It's hard to believe that Black should be in danger of losing
already, but White's lead in development is causing major headaches.} 12. cxd5
$1 exd5 ({Or} 12... Bxd5 13. Bc4 ({but not} 13. e4 $2 Bc6 $1 {and Black saves
himself}) 13... a5 14. Ne5 Qc8 15. Bxd5 exd5 16. Rxd5 Qe6 17. Rd2 {and White
has both a pawn and a major lead in development.}) 13. Ng5 $1 ({The pin on the
d-pawn forces Black's hand. In the game, White won after} 13. Bd3 Qe7 $4 ({
Black can put up a better fight after} 13... Qe8 14. Bb5 Qc8 {although White
here too is clearly better}) 14. Bxe4 dxe4 15. Ng5 $1 Rd8 16. Rxd8+ Qxd8 17.
Qxe4 {and Black resigned.}) 13... Qe7 ({Or} 13... Bg6 14. Bc4 {and the threat
of Bxd5 costs Black material.}) 14. b4 $1 ({White also has a decisive
advantage after} 14. Nxe4 Qxe4 15. Qxe4 dxe4 16. Bc4 a5 17. Bd5 Ra7 18. Bxe4 {
but the text move wins a piece.}) 14... h6 15. Nxe4 Qxe4 16. f3 {White chases
Black's queen away, removing the pin the pawn on b4 and therefore winning the
bishop on c5.} 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Position 8"]
[Black "Make Your Move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r4rk1/4bppp/1qb1pn2/3pB3/1p1P4/2PB1QN1/1P3PPP/4RRK1 w - - 0 18"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "2020.09.24"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 18. Nh5 $1 ({White removes an important defender while simultaneously
accelerating his attack. Aside from the text move, White has two good
alternatives in} 18. Nf5 $5 exf5 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Qxf5 {, winning a pawn and})
(18. Re3 {with a strong attack.}) 18... Qd8 ({If} 18... Nxh5 {then the
thematic and classic} 19. Bxh7+ $1 ({note that White should also win after} 19.
Qxh5 f5 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. Rxe6 Ra7 22. Rfe1 Bd8 23. Bxf5 {and Black's defense
will not hold for long}) 19... Kxh7 20. Qxh5+ Kg8 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Qg4+ Kh7
23. Re3 {decides the game.}) 19. Nxg7 $1 {Now Black's king shelter gets ripped
to shreds.} Kxg7 20. Qg4+ Kh8 21. Qh4 $1 {and with forced mate in a few moves,
Black resigned. Of course, both Qh5 and Qh3 would have lead to the same result.
} *

[Event "Titled Tuesday 1st Sept"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.01"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Lugovskoy, M.."]
[Black "Reprintsev, A.."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2420"]
[BlackElo "2353"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2020.09.01"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,41,23,35,27,11,8,20,37,22,18,29,52,33,33,27,31,31,28,10,9,19,60,27,50,
50,131,74,119,68,98,77,83,91,98,71,93,47,237,310,29991,29992,29993,29994]} 1.
d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bf4 a6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 c5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O cxd4 8. exd4
Be7 9. Ne2 Bd7 10. c3 b5 11. a3 Qb6 12. Ng3 a5 13. Ne5 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Bc6 15.
Qf3 O-O 16. Rae1 b4 17. axb4 axb4 {[#]} 18. Nh5 $1 ({White removes an
important defender while simultaneously accelerating his attack. Aside from
the text move, White has two good alternatives in} 18. Nf5 $5 exf5 19. Bxf6
Bxf6 20. Qxf5 {, winning a pawn and}) (18. Re3 {with a strong attack.}) 18...
Qd8 ({If} 18... Nxh5 {then the thematic and classic} 19. Bxh7+ $1 ({note that
White should also win after} 19. Qxh5 f5 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. Rxe6 Ra7 22. Rfe1
Bd8 23. Bxf5 {and Black's defense will not hold for long}) 19... Kxh7 20. Qxh5+
Kg8 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Qg4+ Kh7 23. Re3 {decides the game.}) 19. Nxg7 $1 {
Now Black's king shelter gets ripped to shreds.} Kxg7 20. Qg4+ Kh8 21. Qh4 $1 {
and with forced mate in a few moves, Black resigned. Of course, both Qh5 and
Qh3 would have lead to the same result.} 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.09.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Position 9"]
[Black "Make Your Move"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5rk1/5ppp/b1p1p3/q2p4/P7/R1n1P3/2PQ1PPP/4K2R b K - 0 20"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[EventDate "2020.09.24"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#]} 20... d4 $3 ({An important intermediary move.} 20... Rb8 $2 21. Qxc3 $1
Qxc3+ 22. Rxc3 Rb1+ 23. Kd2 Rxh1 24. Rxc6 {, and here Black resigned in
disgust, but he is still very much in the game, for instance} h5 25. Rxa6 Rxh2
26. Ra8+ Kh7 27. Rf8 Rxg2 28. Rxf7 Rg4 {with a sharp rook ending and chances
to both sides.}) 21. exd4 Rb8 $1 {Now the rook move is decisive because after}
22. Qxc3 Rb1+ 23. Kd2 {, the e-pawn is now a d-pawn and therefore Black has}
Qg5+ {, forcing} 24. Qe3 Qxe3+ 25. Kxe3 Rxh1 {and Black is winning.} *

[Event "Titled Tuesday 1st Sept"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2020.09.01"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Tang, Andrew"]
[Black "Willow, Jonah B"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "2538"]
[BlackElo "2386"]
[Annotator "Hansen"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2020.09.01"]
[EventType "swiss (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[%evp 0,47,27,27,19,26,28,21,68,9,21,7,91,71,42,37,35,25,42,42,39,-4,0,0,0,0,
-128,-213,-220,-219,-219,-339,-357,-346,-366,-344,-333,-370,-336,-338,-184,
-127,0,0,0,0,-22,-39,-39,-39]} 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 c5 4. dxc5 Nc6 5. Bb5
Qa5+ 6. Nc3 a6 7. Bxc6+ bxc6 8. Qd4 e6 9. b4 Qa3 10. Bc7 {[#]} a5 11. Bxa5 Rxa5
12. bxa5 Bxc5 13. Qd3 Bb4 14. Nge2 Ne4 15. Rb1 Bxc3+ 16. Nxc3 Nxc3 17. Ra1 Qxa5
18. Qd2 Ba6 19. a4 O-O 20. Ra3 {[#]} d4 $3 ({An important intermediary move.} 
20... Rb8 $2 21. Qxc3 $1 Qxc3+ 22. Rxc3 Rb1+ 23. Kd2 Rxh1 24. Rxc6 {, and here
Black resigned in disgust, but he is still very much in the game, for instance}
h5 25. Rxa6 Rxh2 26. Ra8+ Kh7 27. Rf8 Rxg2 28. Rxf7 Rg4 {with a sharp rook
ending and chances to both sides.}) 21. exd4 Rb8 $1 {Now the rook move is
decisive because after} 22. Qxc3 Rb1+ 23. Kd2 {, the e-pawn is now a d-pawn
and therefore Black has} Qg5+ {, forcing} 24. Qe3 Qxe3+ 25. Kxe3 Rxh1 {and
Black is winning.} 1-0

[Event "2020 FIDE Cup A - First Prize"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.10.03"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Stojnic, M."]
[Black "#2"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Hartmann"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/3B4/3p3p/1ppNPPqP/1N2k1P1/4Pp1p/p6K/B2RQ3 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#] This is a fine example of the deep complexities of modern directmate
composition. Here Stojnic has created a problem based on the Rukhlis theme,
where no less than six initial mate trys now work against different defenses
after the first key move. But you needn't know all that to enjoy this
mate-in-two. The key idea is that Black is in zugzwang after} 1. Qg3 $1 ({
After the key move, all the mates change! Astounding.} 1. Qg3 $1 Qg8 (1... Qf4
2. Qxf4#) (1... Qxg4 2. Qxg4#) (1... Qxe3 2. Nf6#) (1... dxe5 2. Qxe5#) (1...
f2 2. Nc3# (2. Nf6+ $2 Qxf6)) (1... cxb4 2. Rd4#) (1... Qxf5 2. Bxf5#) (1... c4
2. Rd4#) 2. Qf4#) ({Imagine it was Black to move. White will checkmate Black
after any of Black's moves:} 1. Z0 Qg8 (1... Qf4+ 2. exf4#) (1... Qxe3 2. Qxe3#
) (1... dxe5 2. Nc3#) (1... f2 2. Qh1#) (1... cxb4 2. Qxb4#) (1... Qxf5 2.
Bxf5#) 2. Nf6#) *

[Event "2020 FIDE Cup B - First Prize"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.10.03"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Kuzovkov, A."]
[Black "#3"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Hartmann"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2rb3K/1Pn1nP1p/2p3p1/p1BPk1P1/3p1RP1/3RP3/2N1QP2/1B5b w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#] This, as FIDE Judge Miodrag Mladenović notes, is "a beautiful problem
where five Black defenses on the same square (d5) are answered by five White's
second moves to the [d4-square]." And while underpromotion is not a-typical in
compositions, having two of them is not exactly commonplace!} 1. f8=N (1. f8=Q
$2 Kxd5) (1. f8=N {threatening 2. Nd7+ Kxd5 3. Ba2 mate.} cxd5 (1... Ncxd5 2.
exd4+ $1 Kxf4 3. Ne6#) (1... Nexd5 2. Bxd4+ $1 Kd6 3. bxc8=N#) (1... Kxd5 2.
Rdxd4+ Ke5 (2... Kxc5 3. Nd7#) 3. Bd6#) (1... Bxd5 2. Rfxd4 {(threatening 3.
f4 mate)} Bf3 (2... Ne6 3. Nd7#) 3. Bd6#) 2. Nxd4 $1 {followed by 3. Nd7 mate.}
) *

[Event "2020 FIDE Cup C - First Prize"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Darko Hlebec"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Hartmann"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/3rkN2/8/r2P1p2/5R1b/2Q1n3/3K1p2/7R b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "18"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{In most compositions, and for purposes of standardization, White is on move
at the outset. Not here, and with good reason. Hlebec's study is all the more
beautiful for its originality, especially for the way that the f4-rook has to
avoid multiple pitfalls or self-blocks before fulfilling its purpose.} 1...
f1=N+ $1 2. Rhxf1 (2. Rfxf1 $2 Nxf1+ {only draws.}) 2... Nxf1+ 3. Ke2 $1 (3.
Rxf1 $2 Rdxd5+ $11 (3... Raxd5+ $11)) 3... Raxd5 4. Ne5 $1 (4. Rxh4 $2 Ng3+ 5.
Qxg3 Rd2+ $11) 4... Ng3+ 5. Kf3 Bf6 6. Qb4+ (6. Qa3+ $2 R7d6 7. Qa7+ Ke6 $11)
6... R7d6 7. Qb7+ (7. Nc4 $2 Bc3 8. Qa3 Rd3+ 9. Kg2 Be5 $1 $11) 7... Ke6 8.
Qc8+ Kxe5 {[#] Truncating the study here leaves a delightful mate-in-two.} (
8... Ke7 9. Nc6+ $18) 9. Qxf5+ $3 Nxf5 10. Re4# $1 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Darko Hlebec (version)"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Hartmann"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/4k2N/1p2r3/8/r4p2/5R1b/2p2Kn1/3RQ3 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "19"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{[#] Hlebec created an alternative version of his idea for the final award
presentation, in order to counter some criticisms that the study started with
Black to move, and that it depended on some tablebase evaluations to make
clear which tries failed.} 1. Rd7+ $1 Kxd7 2. Qd2+ Rd6 3. Nf6+ $1 (3. Qxc2 Rad4
4. Nf6+ Kd8 $1 $11) 3... Ke6 4. Qxc2 Rad4 5. Ne4 Bf5 6. Qb3+ R6d5 7. Qxb6+ (7.
Nc3 $2 Bc2 $1) 7... Ke5 8. Qb8+ (8. Qc7+ {also works, meaning there is not one
unique try.}) 8... Kxe4 9. Qxf4+ $3 Nxf4 10. Re3# 1-0

[Event "Amsterdam Interzonal"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "1964.05.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Evans, Larry Melvyn"]
[Black "Berger, Bela"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "1964.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Nf3 Nd7 7. h4 h6 8. h5
Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Qc7 11. Bd2 Ngf6 12. O-O-O e6 13. Kb1 c5 14. c4 cxd4
15. Nxd4 a6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Qg6+ Kd8 18. Rhe1 Kc8 19. Rxe6 b6 20. Qf5 Kb7 21.
Bf4 Qc5 22. Rxf6 1-0

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.08.31"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 1"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/6k1/8/5b2/2Q2q2/PP6/1K6/R7 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1... Qd2+ 2. Qc2 Qxc2# 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.08.31"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 2"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r3/6k1/4n3/4q3/8/4PN2/3P4/3QKB1R b K - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1... Qg3+ 2. Ke2 Nf4# 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.08.31"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 3"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/2k5/8/2q5/3r4/1B3QP1/2R2K2 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1... Rd1# 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.08.31"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 4"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4r3/8/2Q5/7q/8/1p2nN2/3R1PkP/4K3 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1... Nc2+ 2. Kd1 Re1# 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.08.31"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 5"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/8/5PP1/6KQ/8/6k1/7q b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1... Qd1+ 2. Kf4 Qd4# 0-1

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.08.31"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Problem 6"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Pandolfini"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6q1/1k6/8/2b5/8/8/4P3/2BKQ3 b - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2020.09.21"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1... Qb3+ 2. Kd2 Be3# (2... Bb4#) 0-1

[Event "North American Girl U20"]
[Site "Baja"]
[Date "2018.11.17"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Liu, Kimberly"]
[Black "Demchenko, Svitlana"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "1850"]
[BlackElo "2100"]
[Annotator "Liu"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Chess Life Nov 2020"]
[Source "US Chess"]
[SourceDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.10.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. g3 d6 5. exd6 Qxd6 6. Bg2 Nc6 7. Ne2 Bf5 8. d4
Rd8 9. O-O e6 10. Na3 a6 11. Nf4 Nf6 12. Nc4 Qc7 13. d5 Be7 14. Ne3 Ne5 15.
Nxf5 exf5 16. Qc2 g6 17. c4 O-O 18. Bd2 Nfd7 19. h4 Bf6 20. Rae1 Qd6 21. Re2 b5
22. cxb5 axb5 23. Rfe1 Rc8 24. Nh3 $2 Qa6 25. Bc3 Nc4 26. Bxf6 Nxf6 27. b3 Nd6
28. Qd2 Kg7 29. Nf4 Nde4 30. Qb2 c4 31. Qd4 c3 32. Bxe4 fxe4 33. Rxe4 $2 (33.
Rc2) 33... c2 34. Rc1 Qxa2 35. Re7 (35. g4) 35... Qa3 36. Ree1 Qxb3 37. h5 Qc3
38. Qa7 Rc7 39. Qb6 g5 {[#]} 40. h6+ Kxh6 41. Ne2 Qe5 42. Nd4 Qxe1+ 43. Rxe1
c1=Q 44. Qxf6+ Kh5 45. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 46. Kg2 Rg8 47. g4+ Kh4 48. Qh6+ Kxg4 49.
Qh3+ Kf4 50. Qe3+ Kg4 51. Qf3+ 1-0

