One of Eline's most successful tournaments so far was the Chess Olympiad held in Chennai in 2022, where she played on board 1 (!), scored 7.5/10 (!!) and
won the silver medal (!!!). Her games from this event are some of the most fascinating and entertaining chess games I have ever seen, with a lot of topsy-turvy encounters, tactical fights and evaluation swings (check, for example, her game against Marie Sebag or Mariya Muzychuk).
However, for the
purposes of this video/article/.pgn, I have decided to choose a nice combination she executed in the 8th round in her game against Deysi Cori from Peru.
This game was also quite complicated and combative, but after her opponent missed a nasty intermediate check of the knight on b6 earlier, by move 26 Eline obtained a completely winning position. However, White needs to be exact - there is only one winning combination. Can you find it?26.Rxd7+...This capture on d7 actually wins material and is the only clear winning move.26.Nxd7Is also, sufficient!26....Rxd727.Nxd7Kxd727...Rf5Was
played in the game, but after28.Bd3Rxf229.Ne5Eline had no problem with
converting her advantage.28.Bb5+...The point of the
small combination, winning an exchange.28....axb529.Rxe5Perhaps not the most remarkable tactical combination of all time, but I wanted to single it out due to the importance of the event and the class of the opponent (and also - most of Eline's other games from the 2022 Olympiad are so rich, complex and double-edged that they are worthy of separate videos :D).1-0