Unity Chess Club
Pal Benko Mikhail Tal Bled/Zagreb/Belgrade 1959 Black to move
The squares around the white king are weak, and without wasting any time on preparation, Black breaks through to them, saving an important tempo on the preparatory move ...g6-g5.
Other replies also offer no chance of salvation:
26.gxf4 Qh4 27.Qxd6 Bh3 28.f5 Rxf5;
26.exf4 e3!;
26.Ne2 fxg3 27.hxg3 Qf6 28.Be1 g5!, with the threat ...Qf6-f3 and ...Bc8-h3.
26.gxf4 Qh4 27.Qxd6 Bh3 28.f5 Rxf5;
26.exf4 e3!;
26.Ne2 fxg3 27.hxg3 Qf6 28.Be1 g5!, with the threat ...Qf6-f3 and ...Bc8-h3.
Unity Chess Club
Lev Polugaevsky 2620 Lubomir Ftacnik 2475 Luzern ol 1982 Black to move
White’s set-up looks rather suspicious – his Ra1 should be on c1 or f1. In addition, White’s other pieces are not pointing at the kingside, so the Bb2 is not very effectively placed. Black lands a couple of mighty blows against the rather scattered white forces:
For the moment, White is a pawn up, but his position collapses, due to the lack of supports.
This attempt to plug the dark squares fails, because the white king is too open.
Unity Chess Club
Alexander Ipatov 2630 Vladimir Kramnik 2793 Antalya Wch 2013 Black to move
White is extremely cramped, with his biggest problem being his knights – one is stuck on the edge of the board and has no moves at all, and the other is restricted to the first two ranks. Even so, the position is very closed, so it is not so easy to realise Black’s advantage. One possible plan is to put a rook on b8, transfer the bishop to c7 and the queen to d8, thus attacking the Na5. In reply, White would probably have to put his queen on a3, and then Black could take on a5, and try to arrange ...b5-b4. But this all takes a long time, and such a plan needs to be implemented very carefully. Instead, Black realised that the white pieces are so uncoordinated that Black can permit himself a positional piece sacrifice: