Bad Trade? Not Exactly! A Rare Variation of a Standard Idea!
What do you think about trade of the Ns in the following positions?
STOP: The Article begins below.
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I'd like to show a very unusual variation of the very important tactical theme - Intermediate Move (also called In-between Move, Zwischenzug). A typical Intermediate Move occurs when a Player A either captures a piece or a pawn, or creates a threat, but a player B, rather then addressing the issue, creates a counter-threat of at least an equal strength (often a check). Only when the Player A addresses the threat, the player B deals with the original issue (either recaptures or defends).
See example on the right >>
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Once you've learned this standard theme and solved enough problems, you will enjoy being able to execute it in your games! In the two examples above, I wanted to present you with a very unusual variation of an Intermediate Move.
Indeed, rather then re-capturing the N, which in both examples would result in far less than optimal position, a different move was played with the attack on the N that was already available to be captured! This is what was so unusual and perhaps stumped many who tried to evaluate the check with the N. The basic reasoning - you still want to capture the N, but with another piece.
Below, you can replay the positions. Click on the "Move list" to see add'l variations (especially on the second one, where White resigned not wating for Black to setup a zugzwang)
Summary:
I wanted to show this rare variation of one of the key tactical theme Intermediate Move - attacking the piece you could have captured for free just so you can do this with a different piece. Hopefully, this was enjoyable and educational and you will add this tactical pattern to your knowledge base.
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