![\"karklins](\"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/karklins-ivanov.jpg\")
<\/a>Black to move.<\/em><\/p>\nFEN: 8\/4ppk1\/5b2\/2RR2pp\/4B2P\/2P2KP1\/1r2r3\/8 b – – 0 1<\/p>\n
Obviously Karklins is in trouble, but how does Ivanov finish him off?<\/p>\n
I’ll give you a hint. The first move is pretty obvious. The second move, however, is the cool one.<\/p>\n
Are you ready? Ivanov started with 1. … g4+<\/strong>, when 2. Kf4<\/strong> is forced. After that, however, further checks don’t lead anywhere. But Ivanov played the elegant little sidestep 2. … Re1!<\/strong>, which lets the second rook get into the attack. After 3. Rxh5 Rf2+ 4. Kxg4<\/strong>, Black wins a piece with 4. … Rxe4+<\/strong>. Karklins played only one more move, 5. Kh3 Rf3<\/strong>, and then resigned. Black is winning the g-pawn too, and the endgame is obviously beyond hopeless for White.<\/p>\n Although there were two more rounds to go after this game, Ivanov was in clear first place and nobody caught up with him as he drew his last two games.<\/p>\n Next, let’s see the finish of Uyanga\u00a0Byambaa versus Anjelina Belakovskaia, the de facto<\/em> women’s championship of the Larry Evans Memorial. They both scored 3\u00bd points, but\u00a0Uyanga won their head-to-head battle.\u00a0(There was no actual prize for the top woman. It’s been eons since I’ve played in a tournament with a women’s prize.)<\/p>\n FEN: r1bk3r\/pppp1Bpp\/5b2\/qN6\/5P2\/1Q6\/P5PP\/4RR1K w – – 0 20<\/p>\n This was a game straight\u00a0out of the nineteenth century. Uyanga played the Evans Gambit, and her Women’s Grandmaster opponent surprisingly played just like all those\u00a0stooge-of-the-day players from the 1800s, gobbling up all the material and not developing any of her queenside pieces. The\u00a0punishment was drastic. Do you see Uyanga’s winning move?<\/p>\n Again\u00a0it’s a quiet move. If you need a hint, try to think about how White can take control over the back rank.<\/p>\n Got it? Uyanga played 20. Bg8!<\/strong>, and after this Black has no defense to the queen coming to f7. Maybe the best try is 20. … d6, but then 21. Qf7 Be5 22. fe Qxb5 23. ed cd 24. Qf8+ winning massive amounts of material. Or if 20. … d5 21. Qxd5+\u00a0Bd7 White wins in the same way as in the game.<\/p>\n Belakovskaia played 20. … Qxb5<\/strong> instead, hoping to tempt Uyanga into taking the queen. Black would then have two bishops and two pawns for the queen — White is still almost surely winning, but at least Black might have a glimmer of hope. But Uyanga wasn’t having any of it. She sacrificed a rook with 21. Re8+!!<\/strong> and Belakovskaia resigned, because 21. … Kxe8 22. Qf7+ Kd8 23. Qf8 is mate.<\/p>\n Next! This is a position from my round four game with Chinguun Bayaraa. I’m playing the Black pieces.<\/p>\n FEN: r2q1rk1\/1p3ppp\/p2b1n2\/5b2\/2Pp4\/5N2\/PP2BPPP\/R1BQ1RK1 b – – 0 15<\/p>\n I was expecting a long battle in this game. The opening went pretty well for me; I have a nice cramping pawn on d4 and I’m temporarily a tempo ahead. On the other hand, White doesn’t have any weaknesses, and it’s unclear whether my\u00a0isolated\u00a0pawn on d4 will be an asset or a liability in the long run.<\/p>\n However, I suddenly realized as I was looking at the position that White’s last move (15. Ne5-f3??) was an outright blunder. Do you see what the nine-year-old prodigy overlooked?<\/p>\n The answer is a really standard type of trap: 15. … d3!<\/strong> White is forced to lose a piece. He played 16. Bxd3 Bxd3<\/strong>, and now if he plays 17. Qxd3 he loses his queen after 17. … Bxh2+. Instead he soldiered on with 18. Re1 Bxc4<\/strong>, but he is a full piece down and he resigned sixteen moves later.<\/p>\n I was kind of surprised by this turn of events,\u00a0because this trick of … Bxh2+ unveiling a discovered attack on the queen is something that usually appears only\u00a0in the notes. Both players see it, and so it doesn’t actually get played on the board. But in this case, the trick was hidden just well enough to catch my opponent off guard.<\/p>\n I’ve shown you the highlights of the tournament… but I also promised you a lowlight. We can call this one the Final-Round Follies. I’ve noticed that the last round of a long tournament is often when the craziest things occur, at least if you’re an amateur. (The grandmasters never even bother playing the last round, they just agree to a draw.)\u00a0You’re tired, your opponent’s tired, and you miss stuff.<\/p>\n So I’m playing Abhishek Handigol, an expert, in the last round, and we get to this position. Once again I’m Black.<\/p>\n<\/a> Position after 19. … Bf6. White to move.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>Position after 15. Nf3. Black to move.<\/em><\/p>\n