Chess Tactic of the Day Answers #1-#7

Hopefully you were able to figure some of these out, but if not these are the answers!

Tactic #1:

1. Na5+ Kd6 2. Rd5#, or 1. Na5+ Ke8 2. Rc8#

Tactic #2:
1. Qg2 Kf4 2. Rxg3# or 1. Qg2 Kd3 Rxg3#

Tactic #3:
1. Ng6+ Kf5 2. Qe5# or 1. Ng6+ Kg5 Qa5#/Qe5#

Tactic #4:



This position is taken from Game 2 of the 2006 World Championship Match between Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov. Topalov is playing as White, and has played very well. He has a crushing attack in this position, that leads to Mate or great material losses.

Respect should be paid to Kramnik's play in this game, though. He has defended/counterattacked very well generally through this game, and has put a lot of pressure on Topalov by taking Topalov's a pawn. Kramnik's a and b pawns look very potentially dangerous.

For whatever reason, both players missed the relatively simple 32. Rxg4+ Bg7 33. Qc7. Black either gets mated or gives up a lot of material to prevent the mate.

Instead of playing this, Topalov plays Qg6+, and Kramnik is able to barely escape the attack. Kramnik was able to win this game, and after a lot of other drama, was able to eventually win the match.

Interestingly, Topalov had a advantageous but drawn position in Game 1 of the match and ended up losing because of a late game blunder. Without these two "gifts" to Kramnik, Topalov may well have won the match in convincing fashion.

Tactic #5:



This game is between Mikhail Tal and Vasliy Smyslov. Hey, one of those is my name! Unfortunately, my namesake loses this game. Mikhail Tal is probably my favorite player though, so its not too big a deal.

This game was played in the 1959 Candidates Tournament. Vasily Smyslov had already been World Champion, but had lost a rematch to Mikhail Botvinnik. Mikhail Tal would go on to win the Candidates Tournament, and beat Mikhail Botvinnik in a 1960 World Championship Match.

In the tactic, Tal is playing White and finds a nice move 19. Qxf7!. The Queen cannot be taken right away because of Rxd8+ with mate to follow. Black needs to block the d file, so he plays Qa1+ forcing Kd2. Now he can take White's Queen, but he loses his Rook with check. White can take Black's Queen on a1, Black can take White's Knight on f7, and the end result is that Black is down a pawn and the exchange and has a bad position.

Tactic #6:
1. Kf2 Kh2 2. Qxg1# or 1. Kf2 h2 2. Qxg1#

Tactic #7:
1. Qxf7+ Rxf7 2. Re8+ Rf8 3. Rxf8+ Kxf8 4. Re8#. If 1. Qxf7 Kh8 then 2. Qxf8#.

Now you Know.