Tactics matter
What is the value of having a good bishop when the position is completely locked up? Sam Shankland (United States) and Domingos Junior (Angola) were each left with a light-squared bishops and six pawns in an endgame — but, importantly, Junior’s pawns were the ones standing on the same colour as the minor piece.
Can you figure out why the Angolan resigned in this position?
Zugzwang! After 53…Bb7, White has 54.Bh5 winning. Black’s king and bishop are not in time to stop the passer Shankland is about to create on the kingside.
In the game between Abubaker Tagelsir (Sudan) and Matthias Bluebaum (Germany), White counted with a tactical resource to recover the knight he had just given up in the following position. But Bluebaum had seen one move further.
46.Ra1 seems to equalize the position by force, but after 46…Bc6 White has nothing better than to resign the game — 47.Rxa7 fails to 47…Rc1+, and White needs to give up the bishop to prevent mate.
Find out how Shankland and Bluebaum reached the aforementioned winning position and one more instructive endgames in the replayer below.
