Mate is the best defence

by Oliver Reeh
4/27/2018 – Playing 30...Rxd4! in the diagram position, Black goes all-in for a counter attack against the white king. Can you work out the win for him after both 31.Rxf8 and 31.Qd8 then?
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Calculate with care

There are lots of mate patterns hidden in the position — even one where Black's bishop on f8 goes in for the kill! Let's look at the game in full:

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 d5 5.d3 0-0 6.Nbd2 c5 7.e4 Nc6 8.Re1 e6 9.c3 a5 10.a4 b6 11.Qb3 Ba6 12.exd5 exd5 13.d4 Rc8 14.Nf1 cxd4 15.Nxd4 Nxd4 16.cxd4 Rc4 17.Qd1 Ne4 18.Be3 Rb4 19.b3 Qd7 20.Rc1 Rc8 21.Rxc8+ Qxc8 22.Kh1 Qf5 23.g4 Nxf2+ 24.Bxf2 Qxf2 25.Re8+ Bf8 26.Ne3 Kg7 27.Qc1 Bd3 28.Qc3 Bb1 29.g5 Qh4 30.Qc8 Playing 30...Rxd4! in the diagram position, Black goes all-in for a counter attack against the white king. Can you work out the win for him after both 31.Rxf8 and 31.Qd8 then? Rxd4! 31.Rxf8 31.Qd8
Instead of taking the bishop on f8, White has set his sights on the square f6. What now?
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Black to play and win.
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Weber,U2352Andersen,M26060–12018A08BL 2017-1811

88 times, IM Oliver Reeh leads you step by step through the most brillant game conclusions of the world champions - in interactive Fritztrainer format, enabling you to enter the winning moves yourself.

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 #183

The editor’s top ten: 

  1. Has Magnus Carlsen really given away a piece? World champion trainer and Dragon expert Peter Heine Nielsen explains what lies behind it.
  2. When Anish Giri defeated the clear leader Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in Wijk, the tournament became interesting; the Dutch player himself shows you his crashing victory.
  3. Whether it is more than an opening for a single game is something you must decide for yourself, but Alexey Kuzmin’s setup 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 Bg7 5.h4 is not only venomous, but it can also be learned quickly.
  4. Decision in Wijk aan Zee: Enjoy Daniel King’s video summary of the tiebreak between Carlsen and Giri.
  5. In a Sicilian Stunner from Oliver Reeh White makes the going at first, but you get the opportunity to distinguish yourself in the defence of the black position.
  6. As safe as Fort Knox, that is not true for Jonas Lampert – the German player shows you a convincing path for White against the popular variation of the French!
  7. Move by Move with Simon Williams: attack along with Abhijeet Gupta and hunt down Ivanchuk’s king.
  8. If you are looking for a safe repertoire against 1.b3 Renato Quintiliano can guarantee you the correct one.
  9. Friends of the French pay heed: in his strategy column Mihail Marin investigates the pawn formation which arises when Black has played ...f6 it comes to the exchange of the e5- for the f6-pawn.
  10. In the interactiv endgame our expert Dr Karsten Müller asks you some tricky questions: can you do better than the two players?

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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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