Kasparov's Masterclass Is Insane

Garry Kasparov is regarded as one of the best grandmasters in the world. He was the 13th world chess champion until he was surpassed by grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik. As a grandmaster, you would want to make a site to share your ways to become better, right? Kasparov has his own masterclass with many aspects such as puzzles, studies and more. I started using it and it has some amazing studies! I will share two positions that I found on his masterclass.

Second/Seventh Rank Attacks

We might know that rooks are very powerful on the second/seventh rank. In this position below, 

the white queen is threatening back rank mate. Now, there might be no way that you can win rather than protecting the rook, right? There is ONE move that black can play to turn this into a winning position.

Have you found it? The answer is Bxf2+!

The bishop sacrifice opens up the rook to join the attack! When Kxf2 happens, the rook comes to the second rank and delivers a check! The king is boxed out with no escape, the queen gradually checks the king, therefore leading to a checkmate. Be on the lookout for sacrifices that could work out for you!

Elusive Endgame Play

No, neither of those names for the studies I found are their true names but I found them to be insane! In the position below,

black has way more pawns than white does, 3 to 1. White has minor pieces on g7 and g1. Now, find a move for white that can save the game from disaster. Think about the previous study. 

Still haven't found yet? The answer is Nxh3+!

White takes the pawn on g3 to take black's pawns away and soon gets a passed h-pawn! With proper endgame and opposition play, you should be able to win with that position as white!

These weren't the exact positions nor were the names but hope you learned something. I believe some things weren't quite accurate so if you do notice something off, please DM me. If you want to have a look at his masterclass, check it out here! To leave it off, here's a position below. Solve the puzzle! Once you've solved it, DM me the move order. First one gets 10 cheers!

Have a good day. Signing off, 

Ryan