Do You Have That Pattern in a Size 6?

Wow! Where has all the time gone? We'll I've had family visits and other such things to occupy me. But I can also report that I've been working on my chess too regularly to have had time to write about it lately!

But today I got what promises to be a great new book in the mail: Studying Chess Made Easy by Andrew Soltis. I read so many of his openings books for club players 20 years ago and appreciated his attention to the mindset of a patzer, so I decided to give this book a go. I haven't been able to put it down since it arrived!

Among all of the study and training ideas that I've read so far, here's a real gem he presented while selling the idea of learning patterns to develop your intuition. It comes from the game Anand-Leko, Nice 2009. Forget about Fritz' opinion about what move yields the biggest edge and let yourself find the jolting game continuation that removes the heavy hitters from the board while giving a winning advantage.

Look below the fold for the solution.


1.Bxf7+! Rxf7 2.Qh8+! Kxh8 3.Nxf7+ and Nxg5

Oh, and by the way, did I mention that the game was played blindfolded with rapid time control?