Attacking Chess Tactics: Win with the Battery & Open Files

Often we associate a positional fight when it comes to open files. However, open files might also bear a tactical momentum. The game Bagirov-Minaux is a very instructive example of the danger of open files.

How often have you thought yourself that a chess position is equal - at least objectively?

Well, it turns out there is a big difference between an objective evaluation and the difficulty of solving problems.

In this example we see how black might use his "easier to play" position to pose problems to the white side.

Rubinstein is considered to be one of the strongest classical players when it comes to positional play. One will have a hard time to find a more instructive game containing the theme of the battery in chess.

With eveything set, white used black's coordination to set up the battery with tempo and push black into a really unfavorable position. The rest was a matter of conversion - winning a winning position

The battery is strong in open positions (in the case of bishop+queen the diagonals) and here black tried to win some material by opening the position. It was just in time when he realised that he was running into mating ideas, but it was already to late and white won with a beautiful queen sacrifice.