was even stronger. On 22…Bxe5 the best move would be 23.Qg1, but then the ending is lost after 23…Qxg1+ 24.Kxg1 Bxg3 and Black is two pawns up.
Tactically, we have to notice when a piece has no retreat.
Minor pieces are frequently trapped in the corner.
Study position
White to play loses the bishop if he takes the h7-pawn, by 1…g6, while Black loses the knight after taking on a2, with 2.c3. In this position, this is not so relevant, because the lost piece can take two pawns, with chances of a draw in both cases. In the latter case the position is still unclear after 2…h5. But we must remember that the corner pawn is often poisoned.
For major pieces, taking the b- and g-pawns is the most dangerous:
1…Rxb2 2.Bb3!
Trapping the rook and rounding it up:
2…Rc8 3.0-0-0
An old trick
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 Qb6 8.a3!?
A playable move, setting an old trap:
8…Qxb2 9.Na4
And the queen is already lost.
Let’s try to detect which piece can be trapped, and how, in the following examples:
Queen trapped
Jakobsen,Ole
Veselsky,Jozef
Arvier Weh Seniors 2006 (4)
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.a3 a5 9.Qc2 Qe7 10.Rd1 Rd8 11.Bg5 dxc4 12.Rxd8+ Qxd8 13.Bxc4 Nc6 14.0-0 Be7 15.Rd1 Bd7 16.Ba2 h6 17.Bf4 Rc8 18.Qe2 Qb6 19.h3 Be8 20.e4 Rd8 21.Rxd8
Qxd8 22.e5 Nh7 23.Bb1 Nf8 24.Qe3 b6 25.Qe4 Bc5 26.Be3 Bxe3 27.Qxe3 Ne7 28.Nd4 Nd5 29.Nxd5 Qxd5 30.Be4 Qc5 31.f4 g6 32.Kf2 Bd7 33.Ne2 Qb5 34.Qc3 Qa4 35.Nd4 Qd1 36.Bf3 Qa4 37.Ke3 g5 38.g3 gxf4+ 39.gxf4 Ng6 40.Qc1 Be8
We can notice that the black queen lacks space, partly because the e8-bishop restricts it. The only available square is d7.
1.Bc6!
Closing the safety exit.
1…Bxc6 2.b3
Winning the queen.
Djuric,Stefan
Navacchia,Andrea
Carnevale Open 1998
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Bc4 Nb6 5.Bb3 dxe5 6.Qh5 e6 7.dxe5 Nc6 8.Nf3 Nd4 9.Nxd4 Qxd4 10.Qe2 Be7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Rd1 Qc5 13.Nc3 Rd8 14.Rxd8+ Bxd8 15.Bf4 Bd7 16.Ne4 Qf8 17.c4 Bc6 18.Bc2 Be7 19.Rc1 Rd8 20.Be3 Rd7 21.a3 a5 22.h4 Na4 23.Rb1 Nc5
23…Nb6 was preferable, when White is only slightly better.
Black’s pieces are well coordinated, but they lack manoeuvring space. How did White win?
24.Nxc5!
24.Bxc5! amounts to the same.
24…Bxc5 25.Bxc5 Qxc5
26.b4!axb4 27.axb4
And on the queen’s retreat, 28.b5 traps the bishop.
Morphy,Paul
De Rivière,Jules Arnous
Paris m 1863
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Qe7 5.d4 Bb6 6.0-0 d6 7.h3 Nf6 8.Re1 h6 9.a4 a5 10.Na3 Nd8 11.Nc2 Be6 12.Ne3 Bxc4 13.Nxc4 Nd7 14.Ne3 g6 15.Nd5 Qe6
White has an advantage in development here, but where is Black’s specific problem? The queen is trapped, so if it is attacked, it will perish.
16.Bxh6!
with advantage (White won the game). On 16…Rxh6 17.Ng5 wins the queen.
Queen on the edge
Kravanja,Georg
Sakelsek,Tadei
Graz Open 2011 (1)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qa4 Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.dxc5 bxc5 8.0-0 Be7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Rd1 Qb6 11.Qb5 Qc7 12.Bf4 d6 13.Rd2 h6 14.Rad1 e5 15.Be3 Nc6 16.Nh4 Rab8 17.Nf5 Nd4 18.Nxe7+ Qxe7 19.Qa4 Bxg2 20.Kxg2 Rb4 21.Qa6
21…Rb6! 22.Qa4
22.Qa3! was the best defensive try: 22…Qb7+ 23.f3 Ra6 24.Na4, when the white queen is off-side, but not trapped. Of course Black retains an edge after, for example, 24…Re8 intending …e5-e4, but the game is not over yet.
If 22.Qa5 Qb7+ 23.Nd5 Nxd5 24.cxd5 Ra6 25.Qc3 Qxd5+ 26.f3 Rxa2 loses two pawns, with a miserable game.
22…Qb7+ 23.Kg1 Ra6
0-1
The queen is sometimes trapped in the middle of a crowded board. Here’s a celebrated example:
Fischer,Robert James
Schweber,Samuel
Buenos Aires 1970 (4)
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qc7 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.Be2 Bd7 9.0-0 Nge7 10.a4 Na5 11.Re1 cxd4 12.cxd4 Nc4 13.Bd3 h6 14.Nd2 Nxd2 15.Bxd2 Nc6 16.Qg4 g6 17.Re3 0-0-0 18.Rg3 Kb8 19.Rf3 f5 20.exf6 e5 21.Qg3 Nxd4 22.Re3 e4
23.Rxe4!
23.Bf1 Nf5=.
23…Qxg3 24.Rxd4!
The queen is dominated – a frequent theme in studies. The point is the alignment between queen and king along the h2-b8 diagonal, which keeps a number of squares off-limit.
24…Qg4
24…Qd6 25.Bf4±.
25.Rxg4 Bxg4 26.Bxg6
The two pawns more than compensate for the lost exchange, and White now has an impressive 4:1 majority on the east side.
26…Rhg8 27.Bh7 Rh8 28.Bd3 Rde8 29.f7
29.Bb4 Bh5 30.Bd6+ Ka8 31.f4 Re6 32.Be5+− was even stronger.
29…Re7 30.f8 Q+ Rxf8 31.Bb4 Rff7 32.Bxe7 Rxe7 33.f3 Bd7 34.a5 Kc7 35.Kf2 Rf7 36.Ke3 Kd6 37.g3 Kc5 38.f4 Bg4 39.Rb1 Re7+ 40.Kd2 b6 41.axb6 axb6 42.h3 Bd7 43.g4 d4 44.f5 Re3 45.f6 Rf3 46.Rf1 Rxf1 47.Bxf1 Be6
1-0
Sometimes a piece is not even taken, but its imprisonment is fatal to its possessor.
The classical example is from Capablanca:
Winter, William
Capablanca,Jose Raul
Hastings 1919 (5)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bb4 5.0-0 0-0 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.d3 Bd6 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 c5 10.Nd5 g5 11.Nxf6+ Qxf6 12.Bg3 Bg4 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 Qxf3 15.gxf3 f6
Locking White’s bishop in for life.
16.Kg2 a5 17.a4 Kf7 18.Rh1
18.c4!, Kasparov’s move, would also imprison Black’s bishop.
18…Ke6 19.h4 Rfb8 20.hxg5 hxg5 21.b3 c6 22.Ra2b5
Black opens the game on the other side, where the white bishop cannot interfere.
23.Rha1 c4 24.axb5 cxb3 25.cxb3 Rxb5 26.Ra4 Rxb3 27.d4 Rb5 28.Rc4 Rb4 29.Rxc6 Rxd4
0-1
Here’s an excerpt from an Internet blitz game:
‘Blue Saphire’
Neiman,Emmanuel
ICC (3’/3’) 2009
Black wins ‘à la Capablanca’:
19…Nxe2+ 20.Qxe2 Bxf3 21.Qxf3
21.gxf3 is better, though White’s position is unenviable. For the computer, the two moves are more or less of equal strength, while any master, given time to think, would notice that White is helpless without queens on the board, because he is virtually a piece down. The concept of the trapped but not captured piece is very similar. Basically, the white bishop is no better than a pawn in this position, because it has no mobility and can only bite on granite.
21…Qxf3 22.gxf3 a5 23.a4
23.h4 is only slightly worse for Black, according to Houdini 1.5 in 2012, whose rating is considered to be around 3250… of course White is hopelessly lost.
23…f6
24.Kg2 Ng7 25.h4 Ne6 26.hxg5 hxg5 27.Rh1+ Kg7 28.Rh5
It is not a good idea to exchange the rooks, of course, but this was just a quick game on ICC, and at this point the main thing was not to lose on time.
28…Rh8 29.Rdh1
Here at long last, the computer realizes that White’s game is completely lost.
29…Rxh5 30.Rxh5 Rh8 31.Rxh8 Kxh8 32.c3 Nc5 33.b4 Nxa4
0-1
The following amusing game showed an incarceration of both White’s bishops:
Bishops in jail
Short,Nigel
Kramnik,Vladimir
London 2011(2)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nd4 5.Nxd4 exd4 6.e5 dxc3 7.exf6 Qxf6 8.dxc3 Bc5 9.Qe2+ Qe6 10.0-0 0-0 11.Qf3 d6 12.Bg5 Qf5 13.Be7 Qxf3 14.gxf3 a6 15.Ba4
15.Bxf8 axb5 16.Be7 16…Bh3 17.Rfe1 f6
and the dark-squared bishop is locked in. It is also interesting to notice that in this particular structure, there’s no available g4-g5 for White.
15…b5 16.b4
16.Bxf8 bxa4 17.Be7 f6 18.Rfe1 Bd7 and Black is bette
r.
16…Re8 17.Rfe1 Bb6 18.Bb3 Bb7 19.Kg2 d5
White’s light-squared bishop is in jail for ever, like in Winter-Capablanca above. The game is basically over.
20.Re5 c6 21.Rae1 Bc7 22.R5e2 Bc8 23.a4 Bd7 24.Bh4 Rxe2 25.Rxe2 Re8 26.Rxe8+ Bxe8 27.Bg3 Bd8 28.Be5 f6 29.Bb8 Bg6 30.axb5 axb5 31.Kf1 Kf7 32.Ke2 Ke6 33.Ke3 Bb6+ 34.Ke2 Bh5 35.Ba2 g5 36.Bb3 f5 37.Ba2 f4 38.Bb3 Kf5 39.Bd6 g4 40.Kf1 g3 41.fxg3 fxg3 42.Bxg3 Bxf3 43.Ba2 Be3
0-1
Chapter 6
Crucial Defender/Overloaded Defender
Sometimes the enemy’s attacks are kept in check by just one piece. When we castle kingside, that piece is the f3-/f6-knight, which most notably keeps the queen from landing on the natural attacking square h4/h5. The classical bishop sacrifice on h7 and the double-bishop sacrifice can only happen when this defending knight is not on f6.
As a rule, it is always important to identify the main defender in the enemy’s camp, and, when identified, to look for a tactical theme in order to get rid of it.
Elimination of the Defender
Damljanovic,Branko
Doric,Darko
Paracin 2011 (6.5)
1.c4c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3e5 4.e3 Nf6 5.a3 Be7 6.Qc2 h6 7.b3 0-0 8.Bb2 d6 9.Be2 Be6 10.0-0 Rc8 11.Rfd1 d5 12.cxd5 Nxd5 13.Bc4 Nc7 14.Ne2 Bd6 15.d4 cxd4 16.exd4 exd4 17.Nexd4 Nxd4 18.Nxd4 Qe7 19.Nf5 Bxf5 20.Qxf5 Rce8 21.g3 Ne6 22.h4 g6 23.Qf3 Ng7
In this game, Black’s main defender is not the useless fianchettoed knight – we should remember that a piece does not defend the square it stands on – but the black bishop, which enables Black to answer Qc3 with …Be5 (not Qe5 because of Rxd6).
So the winning move is the logical
24.Rxd6!
1-0
24…Qxd6 25.Qc3, and the only defence against checkmate is to give a rook on e5.
Zhao Xue
Karjakin,Sergey
Cap d’Agde 2006 (1.2)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.h4 g4 11.Ne5 h5 12.0-0 Nbd7 13.Qc2 Nxe5 14.Bxe5 Bg7 15.Rad1 0-0 16.f3 Nh7 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.g3 Qc7 19.Kh2 f5 20.fxg4 fxg4 21.b3 Rxf1 22.Bxf1 cxb3 23.axb3 a6 24.e5 c5 25.dxc5 Nf8 26.Ne4 Qxe5 27.Ng5 Bd5 28.Bg2 Rc8 29.Bxd5 exd5 30.Rf1 Kg8
White has a beautiful attacking position with his three pieces ideally placed. As the old saying goes, you need three men to give checkmate: one to be sacrificed, the other two to deliver checkmate. This is a very valuable piece of advice, especially when one of the two remaining attackers is the queen.
The knight is protected on the strong g5-square, the rook occupies the open f-file, and the queen is ready to invade along the b1-h7 diagonal. If we examine the defence, we must notice that the powerfully centralized black queen has little influence here, as it mainly controls dark squares while White is threatening to invade on light squares, mainly h7 and g6.
Hence the main defender is the f8-knight, which protects both these light squares, and the win is quickly achieved by
31.Rxf8+
1-0
If 31…Rxf8 32.Qh7#, and on 31…Kxf8 White can accede to a third light invasion square on f7, beginning with the check 32.Qf2+ Ke7/e8 (or 32…Kg7/g8 33.Qf7+ Kh8 34.Qh7#) 33.Qf7+ Kd8 34.Ne6+ and wins.
Important piece
Tikkanen,Hans
Eriksson,Johan
Vasteras ch-SWE 2011 (4)
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Nge2 c5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d3 a6 9.h3 Rb8 10.a4 Ne8 11.Be3 Nd4 12.Rb1 Bd7 13.b4 Nxe2+ 14.Nxe2 cxb4 15.Rxb4 b5 16.Qb3 Nc7 17.Rb1 bxc4 18.Qxc4 Rxb4 19.Rxb4 a5 20.Rb7 Ne6 21.d4 Re8 22.Ra7 Nf8 23.Bf1 Qb6 24.d5 Qb1 25.Nd4 Qxe4 26.Nc6 Qb1 27.Kh2 e6 28.Bg2 exd5 29.Bxd5 Be6 30.Re7 Rxe7 31.Nxe7+ Kh8 32.Bxe6 Qb7 33.Nxg6+ fxg6
White has an attack on the light squares along the diagonal a2-g8, and tries to reverse the position of his queen and bishop, in order to have the queen give mate on g8.
34.Bd5! Qb2
On 34…Qe7 White would simply win by taking the a-pawn with 35.Bb6 and queening on a8.
If 34…Qb8 35.Qb5! Qxb5 36.axb5 Nd7 37.b6 wins a knight.
35.Qc7! Qf6
The queen on f6 is the only defender against the fatal invasion of the White queen on f7.
36.Bd4!
3 6.Qxa5, for example, would also win.
36…Qxd4 37.Qf7
1-0
A similar, frequent type of combination can occur when a piece has too many defensive functions. We can detect this by looking at the various duties that a defender may fulfill.
Here a theory about defence applies that was notoriously illustrated by the games of Emanuel Lasker: the principle of economy. Basically, this principle implies that one should not use many men to defend the same point, and keep as many men available as possible for counter-attacking purposes.
On the other hand, too much economy leads to a single piece being torn between various tasks. This is the overloaded defender.
Overloaded Queen (1)
The first overloaded defender we look at is the queen.
Study position
Here’s a case where the black king is both cornered and stalemated by its own men (notably the h8-rook). A single check by White will be decisive.
The black queen defends against White’s attack on f7 (by queen and knight) and d5 (by the lone queen). White is able to exploit this detail by trying to remove the black queen from its post, or interfering with a defensive function it is fulfilling.
The right move here is the bright
1.Re7!
The rook adds a fresh mating threat, so it must be taken.
But Black loses in all variations. Taking with a minor piece leads to a direct mate on f7, as the horizontal range of the black queen has been intercepted by its own pieces so that it does not control f7 anymore:
A) 1…Nxe7 2.Qf7#;
B) 1…Bxe7 2.Qf7#;
C) 1….Qxe7 2.Qxd5+ and White gives checkmate on the next move.
Let’s have a look at a more recent and more complex example: here we need to take some time to examine the starting position.
Overloaded Queen (2)
Van Beek,Lucien
Pel,Bonno
Netherlands NED-chT 2007 (3)
1.d4 d6 2.c4 g6 3.e4 Bg7 4.Nc3 e5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bg5 f6 7.Be3 Nh6 8.h3 Nf7 9.d5 Ne7 10.c5 0-0 11.cxd6 cxd6 12.Bd3 f5 13.Rc1 Bd7 14.Qb3 fxe4 15.Bxe4 Nf5 16.Qxb7 Nxe3 17.fxe3 Bh6 18.Nd1 Rb8 19.Qxa7 Rb4 20.Rc7 Be8 21.Bc2 e4 22.Nd4
White has several causes of concern here, the main one being the position of its king, still in the centre. Hence the possibility for Black to give a check on h4 with the queen should be carefully kept in mind and calculated, though for the moment the white monarch could go and find a more or less safe hiding place on d2. Please notice that if the white pawn was not on e3, this defence would not exist, and the basic parade with Nf2 would be refuted by …e4-e3 (though there should also be other refutations, with the open f-file).
Well, this encourages us to examine the possibility of 22…Rxd4, and now we see that the white queen on a7 is overloaded, because it has the duty to protect its rook – while the black queen is still on d8 – and also to take on d4 in case of RxNd4.
22…Rxd4!23.exd4
If 23.Qxd4, 23…Qxc7.
23…Qh4+ 24.Nf2
24.Ke2 Bb5+ will be mate.
24…e3−+
And Black wins.
Overloaded Rook
Batsiashvili,Nino
Shen Yang
Shenzhen 2011 (6.2)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Qc2 c5 8.e4 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Nc6 10.Qa2 cxd4 11.cxd4 Nxd4 12.Nxd4 Qxd4 13.Bb5+ Ke7 14.f3 Rc8
14…Rd8 was safer.
15.Bg5+ f6 16.Rd1 Qc3+ 17.Bd2 Qc2
17…Qe5! leads to an unclear game.
18.Bb4+!Kf7
In this wild game, observe the role of the black rook. It has two important functions. Firstly it must defend the black queen on c2. The second function, slightly hidden, is to prevent the dangerous check on e8. It appears that if the king takes on e8, it is quickly mated after Qxe6+. So here we have our ov
erloaded piece!
19.Be8+!!
1-0
19…Rxe8 (king moves are no better as Black gets mated: 19…Kg8 20.Qxe6#; or 19…Kxe8 20.Qxe6+ Be7 21.Qxe7#) 20.Qxc2.
Creating an Overloaded Queen
Rodshtein,Maxim
Negi,Parimarjan
Biel 2010 (1)
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 c6 6.Ne5 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 Be7 8.e3 b5 9.a4 b4 10.Nxc4 0-0 11.0-0 Ba6 12.b3 Nbd7 13.Bxc6 Rc8 14.Bg2 e5 15.Re1 Bxc4 16.bxc4 Rxc4 17.Qb3 Rc8 18.a5 Re8 19.Rd1 exd4 20.exd4 Bd6 21.Be1 Ne4 22.Bxe4 Rxe4 23.Bxb4 Bxb4 24.Qxb4 Ne5 25.Qb7 Nf3+ 26.Kg2 Rxd4 27.Na3 Nd2 28.Ra2 Nf3 29.Rxd4 Nxd4
Black has to deal with the threat of a back-rank mate with the major pieces. At the moment the white queen attacks Black’s rook, which is defended by its own queen. To make this piece overloaded, we have to create a second duty for it, and so did White, with the simple pin:
30.Rd2
1-0
Black now has an overloaded queen, which must defend the rook and the knight, while taking care of the back-rank mate as well.
There is no defence. If Black forestalls the back-rank mate with, for example, 30…h6 then 31.Rxd4! nets a piece. The counterattack 30…Rb8 is inefficient because of the same 31.Rxd4; 30…Rc1 (or 30…Rc7) 31.Rxd4 is the same again.
Chapter 7
Impotent Defence/Defence Too Far Away
An important motif lies in the inability of the defender to parry an attack on a particular part of the board. There can be several reasons for this. A very common one is insufficient development.
Rossolimo,Nicolas
Romanenko,Ivan Simon
Tune Your Chess Tactics Antenna Page 5