Unity Chess Club
Viktor Bologan 2652 Vladimir Akopian 2678 Moscow match rapid 2002 Black to move
Both sides have very exposed kings, but it is Black’s move and he has a queen pointing at the white king. The rook on f3 stops a deadly check on f2, so the solution is easy to find:
Unity Chess Club
Kaido Külaots 2581 Michal Krasenkow 2628 Warsaw Ech rapid 2012 White to move
How can the rook ‘hurdle’ the knight and give a deadly check on d8? One needs to find the square where the knight will be most effective in the attack, even if that square is empty:
The knight is invulnerable (24...exf5 25.Qf6), and by comparison with other squares to which it could have jumped, from here it attacks g7 and e7.
Unity Chess Club
Alexander Alekhine Akiba Rubinstein Karlsbad 1923 White to move
It is clear that White needs to find a way to bring his queen to the h-file, but how can he do this, as his own bishop is in the queen’s way? The most convincing way is to remove the ‘unnecessary’ piece in such a way as to create additional threats:
A) 25...Bb7 26.Qc4 Rd4 27.Nxf7+ Kg8 28.Qxe6+–;
B) On 25...fxg6, there follows 26.Qe4 or 26.Qg2.
B) On 25...fxg6, there follows 26.Qe4 or 26.Qg2.
26.Nxf7+ Rxf7 27.Bxf7 Qf5 28.Rfd1 Rxd1+ 29.Rxd1 Qxf7 30.Qxc8 Kh7 31.Qxa6 Qf3 32.Qd3+