Knights attacking queens

by Oliver Reeh
3/9/2018 – Playing 10...Nxc5! in the diagram position might send a shiver down your spine in view of the possible replies 11.Nb5 and 11.Nd5 when Black can never allow his own queen to be captured on c7. Can you make the move work in both cases?
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Tata Steel tournament tactic

The diagram shows a variation position from the game. I remember during our German live commentary on the tournament we quickly discarded 10...Nxc5, completely missing Black's reply to 11.Nb5. I bet you can do better!

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 c5 6.dxc5 Qa5 7.Qa4 Qxc5 8.Be3 Qc7 9.c5N Na6 The actual game went 9...Nc6 10.Rd1 b6 11.cxb6 Qb8 12.bxa7 Qxb2 13.Nb5 Bb7 14.Qb3 Qxb3 15.axb3 Nxa7 16.Bxb7 Rab8 17.Nxa7 Rxb7 18.f3 Rxb3 19.Bf2 Ra8 20.Nh3 Rb7 21.0-0 Rbxa7 22.Bxa7 Rxa7 23.Ra1 Rxa1 24.Rxa1 and White won the endgame (1-0, 62.) 10.Rc1 Playing 10... Nxc5! in the diagram position might send a shiver down your spine in view of the possible replies 11.Nb5 and 11.Nd5 when Black can never allow his own queen to be captured on c7. Can you make the move work in both cases? Nxc5! Black liquidates the constraining pawn on the c-file and attacks White's queen. Still looks risky, doesn't it? 11.Nb5 11.Nd5
White has played 11.Nd5 opening the c-file. Both queens are hanging. What now?
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Again both queens are hanging. What do to as Black?
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
So,W2792Jones,G26402018E6180th Tata Steel Masters 201811

Enjoy the best moments of recent top tournaments (London, Grand Prix Palma, European Teams) with analysis of top players. In addition you'll get lots of training material. For example 12 new suggestions for your opening repertoire.

Oliver Reeh in ChessBase Magazine

Do you like these lessons? There are plenty more by tactic expert Oliver Reeh in ChessBase Magazine, where you will also find openings articles and surveys, endgames, and of course annotations by the world's top grandmasters.

ChessBase Magazine #182

The editor’s top ten: 

  1. Sharp attack on move 7: the Russian top-player Ian Nepomniachtchi shows you how he surprised former World Champion Vishy Anand at the London Chess Classic.
  2. An important step to the title: Radjabov explains his strategic win against Movsesian at the European Team Championship on Crete.
  3. Castling queenside to make short shrift: join Simon Williams and follow the attack in Morozevich-Ponomariov move by move!
  4. "A funky line": share the enthusiasm of IM Lawrence Trent for the rare 7.Nbd2 in the Classical Italian!
  5. Important update: Michal Krasenkow presents new ideas and trends in the popular King's Indian with 6.h3.
  6. An exciting game in the Scotch: enjoy Daniel King’s video analysis of the fantastic encounter Nakamura-Carlsen!
  7. "Natural moves": how are they linked to our positional understanding? Strategy expert Mihail Marin offers valuable practical tips!
  8. Petroff Defence without risk: without risk: Dennis Breder shows how 8.Nbd2 is a guarantee to get a comfortable position.
  9. Nobody saw it: trap expert Rainer Knaak presents an impressive collection of "missed chances“ in current tournament practice.
  10. "Troizky line and Henry’s side-check": let Karsten Müller show you what is important when checkmating with two knights vs pawn!

Bonus: Wesley So has annotated his win against Viswanathan Anand at the London Chess Classic!

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Oliver Reeh has been working for ChessBase for many years as a translator and presenter of the internet show TV ChessBase, and he also looks after the tactics column in ChessBase Magazine, for which he has also been responsible as editor-in-chief since 2019. The International Master has contributed to the CB "MasterClass" series and is the author of the DVDs "Strike like the World Champions" and "Master Class Tactics - Train your combination skills!" Volumes 1 & 2. Oliver Reeh lives in Hamburg.

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