Zugzwang on second sight

by Oliver Reeh
8/24/2018 – The diagram position is completely hopeless for White - if Black hits the bullseye with his next move! Which of the pawns would you advance?
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One out of three

With this dramatic win in the last round of the British Championship 2018 Luke McShane caught up with Michael Adams and both finished equal first with 7/9. However, McShane lost the following rapid and blitz tiebreak that decided the title. See

https://en.chessbase.com/post/adams-takes-his-sixth-british-title

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.0-0 Bd7 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 Nxd4 8.Bxd7+ Qxd7 9.Qxd4 Nf6 10.Nc3 Be7 11.Bf4 0-0 12.Rad1 Qc6 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.exd5 Qxc2 15.Rc1 Qf5 16.Rxc7 Bf6 17.Qd2 Rfc8 18.Rfc1 Rxc7 19.Rxc7 Re8 20.h3 h5 21.b3 g5 22.Be3 Re5 23.Rxb7 Rxd5 24.Qc1 Be5 25.Rb4 Qd3 26.f4 Qe2 27.Kh2 gxf4 28.Bxf4 Rd2 29.Qc6 Kg7 30.a3 The diagram position is completely hopeless for White - if Black hits the bullseye with his next move! Which of his pawns would you advance?
A) 30...a5 B) 30...d5 or C) 30...h4 - how would you continue as Black?
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Howell,D2687McShane,L26690–12018C72105th ch-GBR 20189.1

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 #185

The editor’s top ten:

  1. CBM 184“I decided to just make a move”: Wesley So annotates his win against the world champion.
  2. The problem: Erwin l'Ami shows in his video how you should meet the French Winawer Variation with 6...b6.
  3. Erosion of the Berlin Wall: Peter Heine Nielsen explains the brilliant strategic performance of his protégé in Carlsen-Aronian.
  4. Theoretical duel in the Grünfeld Defence: Yannick Pelletier analyses Karjakin's innovation 16.Na3 against Vachier-Lagrave (Video)
  5. “Short and sweet”: together with Simon Williams and the 11-year old Praggnanandhaa defeat a seasoned GM!
  6. “With minimal means”: with Oliver Reeh’s help get the pawns in front of your castled king into play and win! (interactive video)
  7. New Trend in the Caro-Kann: let Igor Stohl show you how Black should set about things in the Exchange Variation!
  8. This is how to convert an advantage: Dimitrij Jakovenko annotates his opening victory in the “Karpov tournament”: Jakovenko-Artemiev
  9. A problem knight on a5? Mihail Marin examines typical examples in the King’s Indian and in the Ruy Lopez Chigorin Variation.
  10. “Unbelievably exciting”: Daniel King presents Caruana's thrilling finish against So in Norway Chess (Video)

Links

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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