A very sharp position is the toughest to deal with during the simul, especially when you go around in circles taking 5-10 seconds on each move.  When I came over to the next board (see the position above) and saw my opponent's last move 1. Pc5, I felt dizzy.
 

Please stop – SOLUTION is below.

First, I was angry at myself for placing the K on its ‘natural’ square e7 instead of e8 on the move before.  K on e7 allows PxB with check.  As, I tried to calm myself down, I realized that 1…Bxe2  loses to  2.Pxd6+ Kd7 3.Rxc8 Bxf3 (3….Kxc8 4. Kxe2) 4. Rf8 etc…  A reasonable attempt would have been 1…Rxc5 2.Rxc5 Bxe2 3.Rc3 Ba6 and Black is probably not worse.

Then there were two moves with the B on d6 - 1…Bxc5 and 1…Be5.  The best move was 1…Be5 after 2.Nxe5 Bxe2, Black preserves the extra pawn and winning chances.  So, why did I play 1…Bxc5?  Well, I was planning to respond to 2.Bxa6 with the clever 2…Bb4!??? 3. axb4? Rxc3 winning the R for 2 pieces and staying ahead, since I already had two extra pawns.  I did see that 2…Bxf2+? was not sufficient as after 3.Kd2 the Rc3 is defended and Black is down a piece.  The Nf3 is conveniently stops 3…Be1+.  Only after I played 1…Bxc5, I realized that the B from a6 will be attacking my Rc8  after 2. Bxa6 Bb4?? 3.Bxc8, so I prepared myself to settle for the tough endgame after 2…Bxf2+.

Somehow, my opponent panicked and instead of 2.Bxa6, played 2.Rxc5??  After 2…Rxc5 3.Bxa6 Ra5 the Black R was dominating two minor pieces.

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Indeed, Black is winning thanks to his overwhelming advantage in development.  The combination type is Attraction into Pin.  1….Rxe3 2.Rxe3 Bf4.  The Re3 can't be defended.  Black won a Bishop and kept all of his positional advantages.

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Example #3  Now, onto the next position:

With the K-side temporarily 'frozen', we should shift our focus to the Pin of the Bc5. Once you notice it, you should find two moves candidates 1. Pb4 and 1. Rxd4. When I came up to the board I spent all of 1/2 seconds and played 1.Rxd4. Black has no counterplay and is doomed.

White is already way ahead in material and wining a B for a P is not that important to begin with. Moreover, after after 1.Pb4 Kd5 2. Pxc5 Pxc5 White would all of a sudden have to worry about the 3-pawns avalanche coming down. Of course, upon closer examination, we can see that White can take care of Black with some timely decisions 3.Rb3 etc...

This is a perfect example where some (but not all) computers may disagree with my logic and I really don't care as I like my practical approach.

The bottom line  - go for sure things and save your energy. There is an old joke that you may have  heard a few times - if your choice on the next move is to take a Queen without any compensation or announce a checkmate in two moves - take the Queen. Upon closer examination, the checkmate may not be there.

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Example #4  Next examples deals with the Middlegame position. Take a look:

Well, Black should recapture the pawn. However, just before that, he has a simple in-between move that inflicts damage on White's pawn structure - 1…Nxc3 2.Pxc3 Bxc5 and the position is Dynamically Balanced. White has some initiative and space advantage as well as the target on the d-file. Black has potential with two bishops and weak White pawns.

If you didn't take the N on c3 because you liked so much your centralized Nd5, consider what happened in the game - 1…Bxc5 2.Ne4 Be7 3.Pc4 Nb6 4.Pb3. Compare the Ns now!

I have several more interesting examples form the simul and plan to share them with you next time.

To be continued.......

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