Bad Trade? Not Exactly! A Rare Variation of a Standard Idea!
What do you think about trade of the Ns in the following positions?
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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.
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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.
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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)
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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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Copyrighted @ 2009 Igor Khmelnitsky
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