28 January 2018

Study Material

Chess Informant 134 contains an article by Ivan Ivanisevic on "The Art of Unequal Exchange" that has material suitable for chess players across a range of skill levels. An unplayed variaton in his first game fragment offers some positions highlighting fork threats.

Black to move

The game is Gurieli,N. -- Matveeva,S., Moscow 1986. In the game, White played 15.Kxh2 and Black won back the sacrificed queen. Ivanisevic suggests 15.Re1 Rxg2+ 16.Kf1, which leads to the position in the diagram above.

White's battery on the e-file appears menacing. But after 16...e5 17.Qxe5, Black draws with a perpetual that forces repetition. Alternatives give Black White's queen for a rook via a knight fork. Black's material advantage should prove decisive.

Ivanisevic begins his article with this position.

Black to move

Black played 10...Qxd4! Simple tactics allowed White to win the Black queen, but in the resulting position, White's queen and king proved vulnerable. To this game fragment, the author adds material from historic games and several played more recently.

There is a 1962 game where Rashid Nezhmetdinov's three minor pieces were superior to a queen and rook due to the enemy king's vulnerability. There is a 1994 blitz game between Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik. Among the other games are a nice queen sacrifice by Hou Yifan and another by Fabiano Caruana.

Ivanisevic also includes one of his own games, a game where engines have shown in the decades since the game was played that his opponent missed several chances for clear advantage. Such positions offer good training material for sitting at a board and struggling through the imbalances and plans without silicon assistance.

White to move

From Drasko,M. -- Ivanisevic,I, Pale 1997.


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