14 Nov 12
We've all seen the center fork trick:
White gets the pawn back and restores material equality. Black has achieved the goal of eliminating white's central e4 pawn.
Here is a new one to me (from a blitz game):
This position just came up from a Grunfeld I was playing. It was a blitz game, so I just trotted out Nbd7.
1. ... Nxd5 !? eliminates white's center completely!
Obviously 2.Qxd5 Bxc3+ wins the queen, so 2.Nxd5 is the only try.
And here is what I call the center pin trick's follow up
2. ... Be6
The knight is pinned to the queen and lost. White can cash in with 3.Qxc7 Bxd5 4.Qxd8 Rxd8 for material equality.
Black has a slight pull (White will have to untangle quite a bit.) , but the pawn structure is very drawish.
The whole variation has just served to eliminate white's cramping d5 pawn.
I only give Nxd5 an !? because the final position may not be enough for black if he is playing for a win. It equalizes at least however and gives black a good, playable position.
Anyway, capturing a pawn that was twice protected never even occured to me!
It's a nice trick to have in the arsenal for future reference!
15 Nov 12
Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics
We've all seen the center fork trick:
[pgn]1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 {The start of it} 5.Nxe4 d5 {There's the fork} [/pgn]
White gets the pawn back and restores material equality. Black has achieved the goal of eliminating white's central e4 pawn.
Here is a new one to me (from a blitz game):
[fen]rnbq1rk1/ppp2pbp/5np1/ ...[text shortened]... never even occured to me!
It's a nice trick to have in the arsenal for future reference!
White is in real trouble in this position, how is he going to develop the Bc1 or Ra1? Rb1 ..Be4 doesn't work. Perhaps a4 is the only try, releasing the rook from the pin that way..?
From the point of view of equalising out of the opening, this all looks pretty good for black. What are the moves just prior to your first diagram?
15 Nov 12
Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromficsInteresting, i think perhaps whites Nf3-e5-f3 wasted some time. I think the knight retreat is pretty much forced as black is threatening Nxd5 which as far as i can see wins a pawn. I've never been much of a fan of the grunfeld playing from the white side, i think i might have tried it a couple of times as black. Looks like a good system for black though, might have to book up a little and give it a spin. 🙂
I doubt that the exact position will be reached again. Nxd5 is just a nice trick to look out for in similar positions.
For completeness, here is how I got to the position:
[pgn]1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 {I haven't played the Grunfeld much lately. In fact, my most recent Grunfelds with black start 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5. This is a nice alterna ...[text shortened]... 12.exd5 {And this is where the shot 12 ... Nxd5 comes in, instead of my 12. ... Nbd7.} [/pgn]