SPOT ON CHESS PUZZLES: Iron Hardens Iron.

To be a wolf you must run with the Wolves.

Once you reach the top of the Chess World everyone around you is gunning for that number one spot or a claim to some chess fame. But you didn’t get to the top without putting your time in. Even as King you still have lessons to learn about chess, how you handle the stress of competitive tournament play and how to keep one step ahead of everybody else in the chess World. A lost game has consequences but the biggest of these is a chance to learn from your mistake or mistakes and to become an even better chess player.

We will look at the game during the next posting. But for now enjoy the four tactics taken from out of this game. Some of the positions are of the lines of play avoided by the players. So we get to learn vicariously through their great OTB (Over The Board) chess struggle. PGN score given down below.

The Game:

[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2023"][Site "Doha QAT"]
[Date "2023.10.18"][EventDate "2022.10.11"]
[Round "7.1"][Result "0-1"]
[White “GM Magnus Carlsen"]
[Black “GM Murali Karthikeyan"]
[ECO "C77”][Opening: “Spanish or Ruy Lopez”]
[WhiteElo "2839"][BlackElo "2611"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Nc3 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. Nd5 d6 8.
c3 Be6 9. d4 exd4 10. cxd4 Bxd5 11. exd5 Bb4+ 12. Kf1 Ne7 13. Qd3 Qd7 14.
h4 h6 15. h5 Nexd5 16. Rh4 O-O-O 17. a3 Ba5 18. a4 Bb6 19. Nd2 Rhe8 20.
axb5 axb5 21. Ne4 Kb7 22. Qf3 Qc6 23. Bxh6 Rxe4 24. Rxe4 gxh6 25. Ree1 Kb8
26. Re2 Qb7 27. Bxd5 Nxd5 28. Qxf7 c6 29. Qxb7+ Kxb7 30. Rd1 Kc7 31. Re6
Rf8 32. Rd2 Rf6 33. Re4 Kd7 34. g3 Rf5 35. g4 Rf7 36. Rd3 Nc7 37. Ree3 Ne6
38. d5 cxd5 39. Rf3 Rg7 40. Rxd5 Rxg4 41. Rf6 Bd4 42. Rxh6 Rf4 43. Rxb5
Rxf2+ 44. Ke1 Nc5 45. Kd1 Be3 0-1

Thanks for watching, be safe out there! ~ S.