Daily Dacha Tactics
Each day we add a Dacha color-themed tactic for interactive play. Test your color theory and enjoy!
Dacha Tactics #43 - "sleeping knight" gets a good night's sleep in the dark.
This is from a game of mine. After an exciting Budapest gambit skirmish, a strange position has arisen. His king isn't great but our powerful "sleeping" knight is getting booted. Or is it? Neither side has dark bishops so dark will always be an important and sought-after color. Sometimes this
Dacha Tactics #35 - Nezh's dark magic!
A classic Nezh game here. The position looks normal and a sane player would try and save the queen. However this is Nezh, and to boot -- the dark squares on black's kingside are looking fine and tasty today. How to proceed? Try and procure the Nezh dark magic from
Dacha Tactics #34 - cracking Naroditsky with strict cheesecake dark dacha.
A juicy smooth cheesecake has arisen. Where to look for plans? Well the color money is equal. However there are some weak dark squares in question --and with black's bishop on g7 relatively sleeping, our dark bishop on a3 is ready to pounce! Interact with the puzzle below. If you
Dacha Tactics #33 - king shows dark chops to hold draw!
White's bishop looks trapped. Is there a form of escape or is it simply over? Let's look at color $ -- both have light bishops, neither have dark. If there is hope -- it will be on dark. But how? Let's dig deep for underground dark resources... Interact with the puzzle
Dacha Tactics #32 - knight shows off dark.
From a blitz battle -- all seems normal-- but how about some color money investigation! We have a knight vs white's light bishop. Which means we are ahead on dark but behind on light. His king stands on dark, seemingly activating his king like the books tell us to do.
Dacha Tactics #31 - battle versus Caruana, knight showing light juice!
Battle vs Caruana! We are black here, in a bit of a time scramble. How to begin? Well let's see the color $$ -- knight his dark bishop. So we are ahead on light, he's ahead on dark. There are some juicy opportunities for our knight on d3, e2...and already
Dacha Tactics #30 - oozing dark juices.
This was a cheesecake blitz game vs the strong IM Lawrence Trent. A juicy position has arisen, what with our "Sleeping" Knight on d6. Color money is equal. However , neither side has a dark bishop so it would be helpful to look to replenish our dark! How? Interact with the
Dacha Tactics #29 - light rebuild.
An interesting endgame from a blitz game of mine. Knight vs Bishop -- means that we are behind on light but ahead on dark. His d4 pawn might be a target one day -- who knows. His pawn on c6 is a nuisance and is on light. How to replenish,
Dacha Tactics #28 - Max Euwe shows faith in light golden bishop.
This is a classic game by Max Euwe. The position is very complex - how to begin? The same way we begin every position -- colors. so the color imbalance is light bishop for us, dark bishop for him. We are down 1000 dark, up 1000 light. In addition our
Dacha Tactics #27 - Reshevsky shows off golden light bishop.
We have a golden light bishop vs a knight. As such we look for color $$ -- we're ahead on light but behind on dark. The pesky knight must be neutralized... Interact with the puzzle below. If you get stuck, you can always click the "lightbulb" icon in the lower-left of
Dacha Tactics #26 - oozing dark for the win!
From an exciting blitz game. Material is equal but the color money is not. We are ahead on dark and behind on light. Thankfully his kingside is ridden with dark holes! How to display our Golden dark bishop and take advantage? Interact with the puzzle below. If you get stuck,
Dacha Tactics #25 - dark nugget incoming!
From a blitz game of mine in a wild time scramble! Material is about equal -- let's look for color $. So we have a light bishop vs a rook. This means we are ahead on light, but behind on dark. White's king is precarious but alas , stands on a dark
Dacha Tactics #24 - Nimzo light squeeze featuring triangulation!
Here black has a large advantage, what with the poor dark bishop sleeping in the b2 boondocks. That being said, our knight isn't great either and our king needs to find a way to invade. Color money time! We are behind on dark and ahead on light. Let's see if
Dacha Tactics #23 - Reti vs Romanovsky light magic.
A complex endgame we have here. Since there are opposite colored bishops, the color money swings are real and palpable. White is +$1000 light, Black is +$1000 dark. F5 is under some pressure, and if fxe6 then ooops!-- f5 mates us. How to break black on light, and show
Dacha Tactics #22 - Alekhine vs Yates dark magic.
This is a personal favorite of mine from my early childhood chess days. Alekhine is playing Yates, we have a great knight and 2 strong rooks. First -- what is the color $$? Well knight vs light bishop means we have extra dark $. Which squares are sensitive in black's game? Once
Dacha Tactics #21 - Capablanca dreams big for the golden bishop.
Black is clearly doing well here. More space, 2 bishops, and a very compact position. How to form a plan? Let's begin with colors naturally! The imbalance is black has a light bishop for the white knight. This means we are ahead on light. As a bonus -- this is
Dacha Tactics #20 - Capablanca finds dark amidst the light!
An interesting endgame taken from a Capablanca game vs Janowski. Lots of funky pawns everywhere, which are strong which are weak and how to play? Well let's begin with colors! The imbalance is our Golden light bishop vs his knight which means we are +500 light and -500 dark. Our
Dacha Tactics #19 - dark dacha Capablanca vs Vidmar.
A Capablanca game. We are slowly squeezing black with the bishop pair. Well let's look for the pride and joy -- our dark Golden bishop naturally. If so , the knockout will likely be on dark ... Interact with the puzzle below. If you get stuck, you can always click the "lightbulb"
Dacha Tactics #18 - light dacha finale.
A wild tactical melee has occured and white's king has landed on the edge. How to finish the job? With his light bishop being pinned, our own light bishop may as well be a Golden bishop. We can begin to look for a light knockout... Interact with the puzzle below.
Dacha Tactics #17 - full board light squeeze, featuring a sleeping bishop!
A perfect full board dacha has been built. The last black move was h6, dark brick. Now it is time to cash in on our light central dominance, spearheaded by our light mini bishops and "sleeping bishop" on d3. Interact with the puzzle below. If you get stuck, you can
Dacha Tactics #16 - hardcore dark dacha.
An interesting position has arisen. Both kings are slightly under fire. How do we begin? Color $$ of course! So it's our dark bishop vs his light. Meaning we're -1000 light and +1000 dark. The swing is real! How valuable is our dark $$? Well his king is tender and there are
Dacha Tactics #15 - lighthouse dacha!
Very complex! Where to start looking? The colors, naturally. Black has more space and pressure on White's king. As for the color money, the imbalance is Knight vs Dark bishop. Which means we are behind on dark, but ahead on light. Moves like Nf3 spring to mind -- but don't
Dacha Tactics #14 - tactical dark rebuild.
An interesting endgame has arisen. Black has the bishop pair plus the more active king. We are ahead on dark, behind on light. As a bonus -- our dark bishop is a Golden Bishop. As we look further, it dominates the hapless white Knight on h3. If the Knight ever
Dacha Tactics #13 - cashing in the light money.
Clearly White has a nice attack. The open h file and the pieces peering onto Black's kingside gives us high hope. And what about the color money? The imbalance is Knight for us, Dark bishop for Black. Meaning we are behind on dark but ahead on light. How to use
Dacha Tactics #12 - light with DARK intentions!
A complex position. We could start calculating and crunching variations. Well bravo for that! But -- even better, let's have colors be our guide. To start -- what is the color $$? The imbalance is our knight for blacks light bishop. This means he is ahead on light, we are ahead
Dacha Tactics #11 - pawn sacrifice enabling the knight to crush on its color!
Famous position from Lasker vs Capa! To start, what is the color $$? The imbalance is knight vs light bishop, so that will mean we are behind on light but ahead on dark (+500). We also have more space. And the Ne6 "Sleeping Knight" is already tickling dark. The Nc3 --
Dacha Tactics #10 - golden bishop oozing dark energies.
Interesting position we have here. Black has a nice golden dark bishop and with the white king on dark, there promises to be juicy ideas. Also note how white has little to no pawns on dark -- i.e. no dark rebuild. Find the knockout blow! Interact with the puzzle
Dacha Tactics #9 - yearning for dark rebuild!
White has lots of passed pawns -- it should be simple to win! Except that Black has a strong blockade on the dark-squares, preventing us from advancing to promote. If we can break this blockade, then we win with our passed pawns! Therefore, it's time to march in some dark
Dacha Tactics #8
Although the material is equal, it is clear that white has a nice bind and much more space and activity. Is there a knockout blow? First we look at the color money... White has a knight vs light bishop which means we have more dark $$ -- 500 to be exact.
Dacha Tactics #7
Here white has a roaming pair of bishops. But the first thing to look at is which one is the REAL dangerous of the 2, notably the Golden bishop. Since black does not have a dark bishop , our dark bishop is unopposed and Golden. We must believe in it and
Dacha Tactics #6
This is a beautiful tactic by the great Adolf Anderssen from the 1800s. Clearly we are doing very well and have an attack brewing vs the white king, but how to proceed? As always -- we begin by assessing the Facts -- color facts! The imbalance is light (Golden) bishop
Dacha Tactics #5
This was one of my favorites vs Magnus Carlsen. Through out the game I was proudly showing off my golden dark bishop lurking on b2. After many escapades, it netted me an extra piece. The finish is pretty, and will naturally relate to dark -- note our pressure on the
Dacha Tactics #4
Here white is in a commanding position. A better pawn structure with a kingside attack well underway. One could calculate some possible breakthrough lines but why not get some color background first to give us insight! So the imbalance here is our knight vs his light bishop. Meaning -- we
Dacha Tactics #3
Here we begin by looking at the color imbalance. Well it's a light (golden!) bishop for us, vs a knight for him. This means we are ahead on light (albeit behind on dark). The juicy part is that to top it off, white has no mini light bishops and his
Dacha Tactics #2
Black has an open h file which could be promising for a kingside attack. In addition , the color money is interesting -- we have a knight vs his light bishop, which means we are behind on light and ahead on dark. All this means that dark squares are especially vulnerable
Dacha Tactics #1
There is a color imbalance here: Black has a light-squared bishop against White's knight, so Black is up on light money, and his light-squared bishop is his golden bishop. Therefore, if there are tactics here -- it would make sense for them to be on light squares, as this is