EXPLORING GRANDMASTERS CREATIVITY !!
This post is about Grandmaster's creativity. What kind of moves can GMs think of which may not be appearing in our thoughts, us mere mortals ?
@MagnusCarlsen
Levon Aronian
There are around 1850 active GMs in the world today. difficult to picture them all. FIDE has awarded the GM title around 2150 times since inception. FIDE made the chess Grandmaster (GM) title official in 1950 (Botvinnik, Euwe were among the first ones to receive the official title).
The number of registered chess.com users is 250 million !!
Back to the chess, I want to present difficult positions. I will show 5 which alltogether would be a real challenge to solve correctly without being a grandmaster, assuming 15-20 minutes per position maximum.
in my opinion, it would take a GM to complete the 5 positions with the right first few moves and the "main line" and key "possible defenses", not just the first move since deep calculation can be needed. But I will offer a detailed explanation how why the test is going to GM level with the solutions provided. and it's not about calculating 20 moves in advance but really top notch imagination and creativity to solve the "puzzles", which have all been checked with stockfish18. Also these positions occured in GM games and the winning side was a GM each time. Good luck !
THE GM TEST
POSITION 1) BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN
POSITION 2 WHITE TO PLAY
POSITION 3 Black to play !
POSITION 4 BLACK TO PLAY !!
POSITION 5 WHITE TO WIN
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Solutions explained
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Position1
the key move 1..Na4+ works because we can play 2..Rb6+ next; and on 1Ka3 Qc1+ 2 Bb2 Nxb2 0-1
but after 2 bxa4 Rb6+ 3 Ka4 we need to spot this
yes the quiet move 3..Bc6!! wins the game as checkmate on a4 is coming !
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Position 2
The quiet move 1 Nd3!! is truly the touch of a GM ! we are down a piece, yet we take our time and our knight on d3 threatens Ne5 with attack on d7 and f7. Black is tied up !
note that sacrificing on e6 on move 1 doesn't work even though it looks tempting !
POS 3
1..Bd5!! how many of us would think of such a move in a blitz or rapid game ?
POS 4
GM Etienne Bacrot played the stunning 1..Nf3!! this is the only move winning , which is a beautiful end to a full fight between two GMs. Congrats if you found it. The other knight moves (like 1..Nd7 or 1..Nd3) don't work !
POS 5
Ljuobjevic immortal game. it works because of the amazing Bb5!! move 3 in the variation shown above.
We are trying to get Bd6 and Qa6 for a "boden" mate. Bb5!! is amazing because it cannot be taken, threatens Ba6+ AND defends against Back rank mate on f1.
3Bb5!! is why the combination works.
Congrats if you found all the key ideas, all first moves and variations on your own for the 5 positions. if you did, the GM title is truly around the corner !
Thanks all !!
