Have You Seen This Unique Chess Pattern?
Pattern recognition is one of the most important chess skills.
Some time ago I even suggested an idea that Magnus Carlsen is so great in chess due to his incredible pattern-recognition ability.
Through the years I've written a series of articles called "Tactical Patterns Everyone Should Know." Some of these tactical ideas are so common that you'll see them practically in any tournament!
The pattern we are going to discuss today is truly unique since I've seen it only in a handful of games and all of them were played either by very strong grandmasters or world champions.
As far as I know, the following game played by two leading Soviet GMs features the earliest instance of this pattern.
As you could see, the white knight jumped to e8 and cut the black rook from black king. This unusual maneuver allowed white's pieces to penetrate to the back rank and deliver a checkmate! Almost 70 years later, Magnus Carlsen got a chance to execute a very similar combination!
Magnus Carlsen. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Prove that you are stronger than Magnus Carlsen!
Did you find the combo? If yes, then you did better than the world champion, who found this beautiful finish on his second try.
Here is how the actual game ended:
