Quiz no.3 – Easy Tactics

  

 By Louis Lima

Below are ten positions for ELO 1000 to Elo 1600 level. You can find the answers at the end. Good luck!

 

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Answers

01.  (Tactical theme: Clearance of a file and diagonal) Ra1+ Nxa1 2.Qa2 mate.

02.  (Discovery Check) 1.Bxh6 wins the bishop. If 1…Kxh6 2.Rxd3+ wins the queen.

03.  (Overloading of Pieces) White drives Black’s king away from the defense of the weak rook on e6 by 1.c4+ bxc4 2.bxc4+Kxc4 3.Rxe6. Notice that I say that the rook on e6 is “weak” because it is defended once with the king, and attacked once by the rook on c3. One should generally be aware of weak pieces to see if it is possible to exploit this opportunity with a tactical shot.

04. (Demolition of Pawn Structure) 1.Bxf7+ Kh8 (1…Kxf7 2.Ng5+ Kg8 3.Ne6 traps the queen.

05. (Passed pawn) Black is a piece down but he got it right back with 1..Rxc4! as after 2.bxc4?? b3 and one of the pawns will promote. Kudos to my schemingmind.com buddy “Dr.Pat” who played this nice tactic against me. 

06. (Clearance of a file) 1.Rh8!+ Kxh8 2.Rh1+ Kg8 3.Rh8+! Kxh8 4.Qh1+ Kg8 5.Qh7+ Kf8 6.Qh8 mate.

07. 1.e5 ripping away at Black’s king defenses. 1…Nxe5 2.Nxe5 Qxe5 3.Rd1 Qc5 4. Qa4+ Kd8 5.Re8 mate (or Qe8 mate)

08. (Overloading of Pieces) 1.Nxd5! cxd5 2.Bxd5 and White will be be two pawns up after winning the knight on f7. Kudos to Jack Edelson who played this on me at one of our Freeport Chess Club tournaments in 2006.

09. (Weak Backrank) White playes 1.Ne6+ anyway and black must give up the exchange with 1…Rxe6. Otherwise if 1…Kh8?? 2.Rf8+ Ng8 3.Rxg8+! Kxg8 4.Rf8 mate.

10. (Queen Fork) Not quite. After 1.Bxd7 Qxd7 2.Qxe5+ Kh8 3.Qxa8 Bb7 4.Qxa7 Qc6! White threatens mate on g2. The only move to defend against the threat of mate is 5.f3, but then 5…Bc5+ forks the King and Queen. It’s good to assess the position once the tactical dust is settled to see if the combination is actually good.