How the Aussies Do It.
I have a reasonable (and growing) chess library, and over the past week or so I have been reorganising the storage of many of the magazines I own. While doing that, I rediscovered a lot of my Australian chess magazines that I hadn't seen for quite a while, years in some cases.
Of course I couldn't resist having a lengthy browse and I decided that I'd select this little collection of puzzles from those magazines.
But before we get into those, let me present a puzzle especially for those who have told me that they had a little difficulty in solving past puzzles. It is white to play and win; I guarantee that you can all solve this one!
You have had your "warm up", now on to the real thing.
In the next position, white has sacrificed a piece for an attack which unfortunately for him has not worked out as expected. Black now efficiently exploits the rather exposed white king.
That was a good example of how not to play against a GM who is known for his tactical ability!
Here is a finish that I think most of us would be proud of. It was played in the under 12 section of the 1993 Australian Junior Championship. Can you do as well? It is white to play.
In the next position, the main variation is fairly long but is quite straightforward. I will give you a clue - all but one move is a check. It is white to play.
Now we have a position where white has seemingly deadly pressure on the f7 square. His build up looks ready to pay off ... except that, sadly for him, it is black to move. How often have you heard that one tempo can make all the difference? Well here is a position where it is true. How does black turn the tables?
Let's have a look now at a position from the Australian Championship of 1995/96, played by the eventual winner and soon to be Australian Champion. From a position earlier not to his liking, white has gradually built up his position and begun to infiltrate black's position. It does look like black has some counterplay on the white squares on the king-side and possibilities of play against the loose rook on f1. However, white had seen more than his opponent. Can you do the same?
I will end this month with a finish from one of my favourite Australian players. White is a piece down but blacks king is vulnerable. I hope you can find the way to take advantage of that.
That's it for this month. I hope you enjoyed the selection of positions from Australian games. Chess as it is played in Australia can be rather dynamic and tactical as I think you will have just seen from this small collection.
