Exeter Juniors 1-2 Sidmouth B

ByDrDave

A tale of three discoveries: a discovered attack proved the winning move in all three games.

Unmasked threats – discovered attacks and discovered checks – are the
most difficult threats to spot. You pay attention to the piece that
moves, but the threat comes from the piece behind.

I’ve attached a discovered attack training page – get your eye in! In 2010, the Devon U14 team lost an awful lot of points (or a lot of awful points) to discovered attacks, and the puzzles are all things that they missed.

{Some over-cautious play by Black gave White some chances early on, but it
fizzled out. White decided to save a pawn … but lost a Knight instead!
White then attacked very well and won the Exchange, leaving the balance Rook
against two minor pieces – about equal. But then Black sprang a deadly
discovery to win.}

{White’s home-made system against the Dragon got into a bit of a muddle, and
once it started going wrong, White jumped from the frying pan to the fire to
the furnace…}

{In a line Black was unsure about, White got an advantage in space and
development, which was used to put pressure on the Queen’s-side. After a big
chance was missed by White, the game fizzled out into a standard French
better-for-Black endgame, and Black took the chances that came by.}

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  • |

    Puzzle corner

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    Mr.B was always very good at producing a puzzle for us each week. Today’s puzzle comes from Mr.Lees — many thanks!

    You’re Black, and you can checkmate White in two moves (you move, White moves, then you play checkmate).

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    [White doesn’t have many moves]

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    [If you can play …Na6xBc7 it’s checkmate]

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    [Can you force White to put their Bishop on c7? (yes!)]

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