Middlegame tactics - the ambition for moreMonday, October 2. 2006
Author: Servant
I have dived into my collections of chess games and found some gems and even gold!. I'm rich. Well not in a monetary sense, just rich at chess. There were many brilliant games to choose from and very instructing were most of them. Games from the world's best including Kasparov, Kramnik, Karpov, Svidler, Topalov and Anand. Not to mention great Australian players that no one has heard of. I did learn much from these and are worth revising. There is nothing so as important in chess than going into favourable tactics once a winnable strategic position has been reached. Tactics will turn up in the chess game about 99% of the time. There will be opportunities in chess where you may need to sacrifice pieces to end up with a winnable position or winnable endgame. This requires a bit of bravery and daring, especially when there are clouds hiding things in the poition. Since the middlegame is before the endgame there should be alot of thought into making a capture, checking or getting passed pawns. You should also create space for your pieces and not have them cramped. There is also opportunities to have a bishop vs knight ending where the bishop is the better piece because it can travel to more squares. Also the pawn structure has to be taken into account because doubled pawns are easy food in the ending. I like to have my knights and bishops in the middle squares d5, d4, e5, e4 and my rooks on open files. King safety is a priority too. In fact there are lots of things to look out for in the middlegame. No shortage of thinking. Here are some games that one can learn from. They are also rather enjoyable.  Diagram 1 Black to move White's rook controls the d-file. It looks like White is on top with queen + rook controlling the h-file and with Black's bishop on e6 under threat and Black's rook doing nothing. 1...Qxa2!! the only defence to White's attack 2.f6 (2.ef Qxc4+ is just as winning for Black) White's move threatens checkmate 2...Qc4+ this was Black's idea to get extra checks against the White king 3.Kd2 (3.N2c3?? Bxf6 3.Nxf6 bc wins) 3...Red8+ a handy check 4.Ke3 Qb3+ 5.Kf2 escaping but only temporarily 5...Bxf6 6.Nxf6 (6.Rxd8+ Bxd8 covers the backrow and strengthens Black) 6...Rxd1 7.Qh8+ Ke7 8.Qxa8 White wins a rook but it will have no effect 8...Kxf6 9.Rh7 Qd5 0-1 Black's centralized queen is threatening to trade and Black will win with his 3 extra pawns  Diagram 2 White to move Black's 2 heavy pieces are almost overbearing and 1.Bxg4 loses to ...ed+ 2.Kxd3 Rxg4 and Black is a piece up 1.Rh8+! an imaginative more for sure 1...Kf7 (1...Kxh8?? 2.Qc3+ and 3.Bxg4 taking the queen wins) 2.Qe3! imaginative again 2..Qf5 (2...ef+? 3.gf Black's queen and rook are under attack and White controls the e-file) 3.Rch1! a logical follow up move bringing the rest of the army out 3...ef+ 4.gf now White looks as if he is definitely winning 4...Qe5 (4...Qc2+ 5.Kf1 Qxc4+ 6.Kg2 White's king is safe and he will still win 5.R1h7+ Kf6 6.Rf8+ Kg5 7.Rxf4 Qxf4 8.Qe7+ Qf6 9.f4+ Kf5 10.Rf7 1-0 its suprising how quickly the game ends when you find that "special move"  Diagram 3 Black to move An intriguing placement of pieces, no side can say they have the better chances until 1...Bxg2 (better than 1...Bd4?? 2.e6! when White wins) 2.Kxg2 dc! (White cannot recapture on c4 due to 3.Qxc4?? b5) 3.e6 threatening mate which is easily dealt with 3...Nxe6 4.Qf3 Ng5 all of Black's pieces are on splendid squares 5.Qd1 Qc6+ a check to gain mobility for the queen 6.f3 cb two pawns up Black just has to be patient for the win 7.Nc3 Qe6 8.g4 Qc4 a strong move 9.Re1 Rxe1 10.Qxe1 Bd4 a nice pin to win 11.h4 Ne6 12.Qe4 Qc5 13.Qe1 Qc4 Black is certain to win 14.Qe4 Qc5 15.Qe1 Bxc3 16.Bxc3 Qxa3 17.Qd2 Qd6 18.Qb2 Nf4+ 19.Kf1 Qd1+ is curtains 0-1 perseverence is well rewarded in chess  Diagram 4 White to move 1.Nd5! the knight is dominating here and immune too 1...Bd8 (1...Qxc2 2.Rf2 Qc6 3.Rc1 and 4.Nc7 wins material) Black decides to keep the bishop 2.c3 b5 3.b3 attacking the queen 3...Qc5+ 4.Kh1 Rc8 5.Rf3 a common attacking move 5...Kh8 6.f6! White converts his strategic advantage to an attack 6...gf 7.Qh4 moving to a strong square 7...Rg8 8.Nxf6 Rg7 9.Rg3 (with the idea of 10.Qxh7+! and 11.Rg8 mate) 9...Bxf6 10.Qxf6 Rcg8 11.Rd1 calmly bringing a piece into play while Black is tied down defending g7 11...d5 what else? 12.Rxg7 Rxg7 13.Rxd5 the possible moves of 14.Rxc5 and 14.Rd8+ are too powerful 1-0 tactics are easy to find once you have the right position with pieces on right squares and you possess a bit of space  Diagram 5 Black to move Black has rook, minor piece and one pawn only for the queen which is fairly even and the White queen is offside with Black's king safe 1...Nd4! the Black knight is a nuisance here 2.Bxd4 Rxd4 3.Re1 Rfd8 its always great to have the two rooks connected against a fast White queen 4.Qb3 Be4! threatens White's knight indirectly 5.Nf3 Bxf3! removing the only defender against placement on the seventh rank 6.Qxf3 Rxc4 7.g3 Rc2 8.Re2(forced due to Black wanting to play 8...Rdd2) 8...Rb2 9.Qb7 Rd1+ 10.Kg2 Bd4 Black's bishop is powerful here 11.Qxa7 Rd2 White has a passed pawn but Black's rook and bishop combine to make the c-pawn into a queen 12.a4 c4 13.Qc7 c3 14.a5 Rxf2+ 15.Kh3 e5! Black protects each piece because of the roaming queen 16.Qc4 c2 17.a6 Be3 18.a7 Bxa7 0-1 Black wins the pawn race easily, the pieces triumph against the queen!  Diagram 6 White to move Bothe sides have positioned their pieces but White decides to start an attack on the kingside 1.Kg2! moving the rook to h1 is part of White's strategy 1...Qd7 2.Rh1 Qg4+ this queen check is pointless 3.Kf1 Qe6 (the threat was 4.Ne5! followed by Bg4 and 4.Nxd5 as well) 4.Rh2! the rook is immune to danger here 4...b6 5.Kg2! Qg4+ 6.Kh1 Qe6 7.Rg1 bc 8.dc Rad8 9.Nd4! stops Black's ...d4 plans for play in the centre 9...Nxd4 10.Bxd4 f6 11.Qd3 fg 12.Bg4 Qc6 13.Re1! White rightly shifts attention to the e-file 13...Nh4 blocking the h-file and threatening White's queen 14.Rxe7+!! the finishing tactics ignite! 14...Bxd3 15.Rxg7+ Kh8 16.Rxg5+! Rf6 17.Rxh4+ Bh7 18.Bf5 leads to mate 1-0 just shows how to play on the kingside and breakthrough  Diagram 7 Black to move Black controls the b-file and has an active queen while White's 2 rooks aren't doing much 1...Rxb2!! absolutely spectacular 2.Kxb2 Nxe5!! absolute spectacular number 2 3.fe (3.Bd4 was more persistent but Black remains on top after 3...c5 4.Bxe5 Bxe5 5.fe Rb8+ 6.Kc1 Qxa3+ 7.Kd1 Qa1+ 8.Qc1 Qxc3 when Black should win) 3...Bxe5 4.Bd4 Rb8+ a handy check gains a move 5.Ka1 this leads to a quick finish (5.Ka2 Bxd4 6.Qxd4 c5 is decisive for Black while 5.Kc1 Qxa3+ 6.Kd1 Qa1+ 7.Qc1 Qxc1+ 8.Kxc1 Bxd4 leads to an endgame that Black should wins) 5...Qxa3+ 6.Na2 Rb2 wins 0-1 a relatively quick win because of Black's bravery and exciting to watch too  Diagram 8 White to move Black has an extra pawn but his king is exposed, it looks as if Black can win a rook until White sees something 1.Rxe7+!! a well calculated move Rxe7 2.Qc4+! a great follow up move 2...Re6 (Black in this game didn't see that 2...Kf8 allows 3.Qg8+!, something easy to miss) 3.Ne5+ now White claims the Black monarch and it's all downhill for Black 3...fe 4.Qxc8 Black definitely can't win here 4...e4 5.Ke3 the rest is just technique ...Re7 6.Qf5+ Kg8 7.h4 g6 8.Qf6 Re8 9.g4 b5 10.h5 gh 11.gh Rf8 12.Qe6+ Rf7 13.h6 Kf8 14.Qc8+ Ke7 15.Kxe4 1-0 its always worth keeping an eye out for rook sacrifices and so there is lots of merit in a rook controlling a file and lots of square As you have found out tactics in the middlgame are common, in fact so common that they will appear in the next chess game, i'm 97% sure (i hope the article section will continue, there is a whole universe of things to type about) 
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