A tale of three discoveries: a discovered attack proved the winning move in all three games.
Unmasked threats - discovered attacks and discovered checks - are the most difficult threats to spot. You pay attention to the piece that moves, but the threat comes from the piece behind.
I've attached a discovered attack training page - get your eye in! In 2010, the Devon U14 team lost an awful lot of points (or a lot of awful points) to discovered attacks, and the puzzles are all things that they missed.
{Some over-cautious play by Black gave White some chances early on, but it fizzled out. White decided to save a pawn ... but lost a Knight instead! White then attacked very well and won the Exchange, leaving the balance Rook against two minor pieces - about equal. But then Black sprang a deadly discovery to win.}
[Event "Exeter Juniors vs Sidmouth B"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2012.05.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Frangleton, Elsa"]
[Black "Susevee, Gus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C41"]
[PlyCount "66"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 (3. d4) 3... h6 {Black is being
very safe, but that is very dangerous! White's pieces might quickly overrun
an undeveloped position.} 4. O-O (4. d4 $1 {
If you're ahead in development, open lines.}) 4... Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. d4 exd4 7.
Nxd4 O-O 8. Bf4 Bd7 9. e5 {A bit early.} (9. Qf3) (9. Qe2) (9. Re1) 9... dxe5
10. Bxe5 c5 11. Nf3 Nc6 12. Bb5 (12. Bg3 {
I like to hang on to my Bishops - Knights are a bit short-sighted.}) 12... Nxe5
13. Nxe5 Bxb5 14. Nxb5 Qb6 15. Qe2 a6 16. a4 $4 {
Even if White is losing a pawn, that's better than losing a Knight.} (16. Na3
$1 16... Qxb2 $4 17. Nec4 $1 {discovers an attack on e7} 17... Qd4 18. Qxe7)
16... axb5 17. axb5 17... Rxa1 $1 {Of course, swap when you're ahead.} 18. Rxa1
Re8 19. Qc4 Rf8 20. Ng6 $1 20... Re8 21. Re1 {
White's three pieces are more active than Black's four!} 21... Qd8 22. h3 22...
Kh7 $2 23. Qxf7 23... Rf8 $2 {Black can't cope with the pressure!} (23... Bd6
$1 {is calm, and swaps off a pair of pieces.}) 24. Nxf8+ 24... Bxf8 {
White has done very well to get back into the game.} 25. h4 Qd2 26. Re6 Qc1+
27. Kh2 Qf4+ 28. g3 $4 (28. Kg1 28... Qc1+ {is a draw, if Black wants it.})
28... Ng4+ {A deadly discovered attack.} (28... Qxf2+ $1 {is faster!} 29. Kh1 (
29. Kh3 Qf1+ 30. Kh2 Ng4#) 29... Qf1+ 30. Kh2 Ng4#) 29. Kh3 Qxf7 30. Re4 $2
30... Nxf2+ 31. Kg2 Nxe4 32. g4 Qf2+ 33. Kh1 Ng3# 0-1
{White's home-made system against the Dragon got into a bit of a muddle, and once it started going wrong, White jumped from the frying pan to the fire to the furnace...}
[Event "Exeter Juniors vs Sidmouth B"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2012.05.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Royle, James"]
[Black "Stone, Sebastian"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B27"]
[PlyCount "38"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 (2. c3 {is a solid system, planning d2-d4}) (2.
Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 {is a more aggressive start. White has a few ideas, depending
on where the Bf1 is going to go.}) 2... g6 3. c4 (3. d4 $1) 3... Bg7 {
The Bishop parks itself on the long diagonal, waiting for a chance to jump out.
} 4. d3 ({Last chance for} 4. d4 $1) 4... Nc6 5. Nc3 5... d6 {At this point,
White has a hole on d4 and no obvious way of opening a file for the Rooks. In
a way, the Nf3 is better on e2, as then White could plan for f4-f5} 6. Qa4 Bd7
7. Qb3 Rb8 8. Bf4 Nf6 9. O-O-O O-O 10. d4 $2 {Right sort of idea, but it fails
to a common sort of trap in Dragon systems. [White could have played this
push all in one go on move 3!]} 10... cxd4 11. Nxd4 $2 (11. Nd5) 11... Nxd4 12.
Rxd4 12... Nh5 $5 {With a discovered attack on d4.} (12... e5 $1 {is simpler!})
13. e5 $2 (13. Be3 {is better} 13... Bxd4 14. Bxd4 14... Qa5 $19) (13. Rxd6
exd6 14. Bxd6 {hopes to get two pawns for a piece, but} 14... Ba4 $1 {
is another awkward discovered attack}) 13... dxe5 $6 14. Qd1 $2 (14. Rxd7)
14... exd4 15. Bxb8 15... dxc3 {It seems as if White is only a piece down, but
in fact has no time to save the Bishop.} 16. Bxa7 $4 16... cxb2+ 17. Kb1 Bf5+
18. Bd3 Bxd3+ 19. Qxd3 Qxd3# 0-1
{In a line Black was unsure about, White got an advantage in space and development, which was used to put pressure on the Queen's-side. After a big chance was missed by White, the game fizzled out into a standard French better-for-Black endgame, and Black took the chances that came by.}
[Event "Exeter Juniors vs Sidmouth B"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2012.05.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Susevee, Greg"]
[Black "Whittington, Reece"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C11"]
[PlyCount "82"]
1. e4 e6 2.
d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 4... h6 {
Pick up a piece instead of a pawn when you can.} (4... Be7 {is better and safe}
) (4... Bb4 $5 {is better and risky}) 5. Bxf6 Qxf6 6. e5 Qd8 7. Nf3 {White has
developed two pieces and has more space. Black is solid, but it's not enough
to be solid.} (7. f4 $5 {White needs to think about opening lines for the
Rooks one day, and f4-f5 is the natural break.}) 7... Nc6 (7... c5 {This contra
dicts my rule about pieces before pawns! But Black needs some counterplay
against the White centre. If Black doesn't manage to set White any problems,
the only things going on will be White's extra space and development. That
means White will be able to attack wherever and whenever they like! Also, one
day Black needs to open a file (or half-open one) for the Rooks. And in the
French, you can make a good start towards that by ...c7-c5.}) (7... Nd7 {
leaves the c-pawn free to move.}) 8. Be2 Bb4 9. O-O 9... Ne7 {Fidgety} 10. a3
Bxc3 11. bxc3 O-O 12. c4 $1 {Doing something about the weak pawns.} 12... Bd7
13. c3 13... c6 {So, Black is still immensely solid, but White is free to do
whatever they like. All White's pieces have good prospects.} 14. Qb3 (14. c5 {
would make the Bd7 feel sorry for itself!}) 14... Rb8 15. cxd5 cxd5 (15... exd5
$1 {and the Bishop can breathe again.}) 16. c4 Bc6 (16... dxc4 $1 17. Bxc4
17... Bc6 $1 {
and the structure has become better for Black - White has a backward d-pawn.})
17. c5 $1 {White is using the extra space to become active on the Queen's-side
- normally that's Black's territory, but here Black is too passive to do much
on the Queen's-side.} 17... b6 18. Qc3 bxc5 19. Qxc5 Qc7 (19... Rb6) 20. Rab1
20... Rfe8 $6 21. Rfc1 $1 {
Most of White's pieces are better than most of Black's.} 21... Rxb1 22. Rxb1
22... Rc8 $2 {Inviting in the Bishop} 23. Ba6 $1 23... Rd8 $4 {
Logical, but Black's Queen is running out of squares.} 24. h3 $2 (24. Rb7 $3
$18) 24... Rd7 {
Black has organised a defence and swaps off White's active pieces.} 25. Bb5
Bxb5 26. Qxb5 Rd8 27. Qb7 Rc8 28. Qxc7 Rxc7 29. a4 Ng6 (29... f6 {
is the other pawn break in the French, and not a bad idea here.}) 30. g3 30...
Rc4 $1 {Endgames in the French are normally better for Black - those early
pawn advances by White mean that Black has some targets.} 31. a5 Ra4 32. Rb5
32... Ne7 {This poor Knight has struggled to do anything useful all game!} 33.
Rb7 Nc6 34. Rc7 34... Rc4 $1 35. Nd2 $1 35... Rc2 $1 {All very logical by both
sides, but the position has turned: Black is better here.} 36. Nb3 $2 36...
Nxd4 $1 {
A clever discovered attack - finally the Knight has found something to do!} 37.
Rxc2 Nxc2 38. Nc5 d4 39. Kf1 Nb4 40. Ke2 40... Nc6 $1 {
picking up a second pawn.} 41. a6 41... Nxe5 {and Black won a Pawn endgame.}
0-1