Our eyes have a tougher time seeing a tactical weakness on our side of the board than on his.
Beniamin Sozin White
Nekrasov Black
Moscow 1931
Sicilian Defense, Nimzovich Variation B29
1 e4 c5 2 ♘f3 ♘f6 3 e5 ♘d5 4 b3 g6 5 ♗b2 ♗g7 6 c4 ♘c7 7 ♘c3 d6
Truer to the Hypermodern style was 7...♘c6 and 8 ♘e4 ♘e6 so that the e5-pawn is endangered by ...♕c7.
8 exd6 exd6 9 d4 cxd4 10 ♘xd4 0-0 11 ♗e2 d5
Now 12 c5 turns out well for Black after 12...♘8a6 13 ♘a4 ♗d7.
12 cxd5 ♘xd5
And 13 0-0? ♘f4! actually loses because of the ...♗xd4 threat, e.g. 14 ♘f3 ♕xd1 15 ♗xd1 ♘d3.
13 ♘xd5 ♕xd5 14 0-0 ♖d8??
Black saw that White’s tactical weakness was the pinned d4-knight. And he rightly concluded that 15 ♘b5 ♗xb2 favors him (16 ♕xd5 ♖xd5 17 ♘c7 ♗xa1 18 ♖xa1 ♖d2).
15 ♗c4! ♕e4
But he didn’t see his own Achilles Heel, at f7, e.g. 15...♕d7 16 ♕f3!.
Then 16...♗xd4? 17 ♗xd4 ♕xd4 18 ♖ad1 ♕b6 loses to 19 ♕xf7+ ♔h8 20 ♕e7!.
Also bad is 15...♕c5 16 ♕f3! because 16...♗xd4? 17 ♕xf7+ ♔h8 18 ♕f6+! mates.
16 ♖e1 ♕f4 17 ♖e7!
The only way to keep the game going is 17...♖f8 – although it’s hard to find good moves after 18 ♗d5 or 18 ♘e2.
Question 281: What’s best after 18 ♗d5 ♕d6 ?
17...♗xd4 18 ♖xf7! ♗xf2+ 19 ♔h1 ♖xd1+ 20 ♖xd1 resigns.
Jorge Rubinetti White
Santiago Imbert Black
Rosario 2001
1 e4 c5 2 ♘f3 ♘f6 3 e5 ♘d5 4 b3 g6 5 ♗b2 ♗g7 6 ♘c3 ♘c7 7 ♕e2 ♘c6 8 0-0-0 0-0 9 ♘e4 ♘e6 10 ♕e3 b6 11 ♗c4 ♕c7 12 ♘eg5 h6 13 ♘xe6 dxe6 14 h4 ♘b4 15 h5 ♘d5 16 ♕e4 gxh5 17 ♖xh5 ♗b7 18 ♘g5! ♘f6 19 exf6! ♗xe4 20 fxg7 resigns.