Chess Crackers
September/October 2009

The following represent a variety of positions by talented players of African descent. In the following diagrams, you're challenged to find the winning line. Each position ends with decisive material gain or mate. Solve each of the four problems (as deep as possible) and check your answers by scrolling below. No peeking!!

No. 2

No. 1

GM Amon Simutowe - GM Vladimir Petkov
White to Move (after 26… f5-f4)

IM Watu Kobese - IM Julio Ostos
White to Move (after 31…Qc6xe6 )

No. 3

No. 4

Pontus Carlsson - Linus Olsson
White to Move (after 22…Bd8xc7)

FM Philip Corbin-FM Delisle Warner
White to Move (after 33…Bd7-f5)


Solutions

No. 1 Simutowe - Petkov (2009 Zagreb Open, Zagreb, Croatia)
This is the tournament in which Simutowe broke the 2500 barrier and fulfilled the last requirement for his GM title. During this tournament the Zambian went upto 2503 and was conferred in the summer of 2009. In this game, he is playing a strong Bulgarian master and he was in attacking mood from the outset with moves like 11.h4!? In diagrammed position, white took advantage of the misplaced knight by playing 27.Rh3! The point is that the knight is draw further away from white's pawn majority and after 27…Rh6, white wins after 28.Rxh6 gxh6 29.c5! Na1 and then 30.b5. (See game)

No. 2  Kobese-Ostos (2004 Olympiad, Calvia, Spain)
Kobese plays strongly against his Venezulean opponent in a French defense. After traditional character of the game departed white was able to conjure up an attack on the queenside and sacrificed the exchange to dominate the dark squares. White ended the battle with 32.Qe7-c5! and black was defenseless. On 32…Ra8, white simply played 33.Qxc4+!  Black resigned before seeing 33…dxc4 34.Bb7#. (See game)

No. 3  Carlsson-Olsson (2001 Nordic Championship, Bergen, Norway)
This game ended with a flurry and a nice combination after black miscalculated.  White ended the game swiftly after 23.Nc5+! Ke8 24. Qc6+ Kd8 25.Qxa8. The game ended with black king being chased to his death. After  25…Qg4 29.Rd2+ Ke7 30.Qa7+ Kf6 31.Rf2+ Ke5 32.Nd3+. Black resigned since he would be down a queen for a rook after  32…Kxe4 33.Rf4+. (See game)

No. 4  Corbin-Warner (2005 Heroes Day Masters, Georgetown, Barbados)
This game came out of an interesting gambit line against the French after 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4!? Corbin sacrificed a second pawn to gain time on the black's centralized king. The game turned into a tactical melee and in the diagrammed position, white found 33.c5-c6! sacrificing a whole rook. After 33…Bxg6  34.c7 Qd7 35.c8(Q)+ Rxc8 36.Bxc8  when black has to jettison more material. (See game)



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