Tune Your Chess Tactics Antenna

by Emmanuel Neiman

Salzburg 1948

  1.e4c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5

  The Rossolimo Variation.

  3…g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Re1 Nd4

  6… 0-0 = was better.

  7.e5! Ng8 8.d3 Nxb5 9.Nxb5 a6

  Remember the tin opener…

  10.Nd6+!exd6 11.Bg5!

  This in-between move is the point of the combination.

  11…Qa5 12.exd6+ Kf8 13.Re8+!

  The trivial 13.Qe2 would also win, for example: 13…Bxb2 (in order to allow the g7 escape square to his king) 14.Qe8+ Kg7 15.Ne5 Bxe5 16.Qxe5+ f6 17.Bxf6+ Nxf6 18.Qe7+ Kh6 19.Qxf6 with a lift of the el-rook to follow, via the third or fourth rank.

  13…Kxe8 14.Qe2+ Kf8 15.Be7+ Ke8

  16.Bd8+!

  White attacks the black queen.

  16…Kxd8

  16…Kf8 17.Bxa5+−.

  Only one move is winning here. Rossolimo had seen it beforehand, of course. Can you picture which square is the weakest in Black’s defensive set up?

  17.Ng5!

  1-0

  White is two minor pieces and a rook down, but nevertheless he will give mate quickly, because the f7-point cannot be defended. The entire black army is impotent, lacking development and coordination. No piece can come to the rescue of the king. The g8-knight is overloaded, for it cannot defend f7 and e7 at the same time (17…Nh6 18.Qe7#).

  It is this inability to defend that allows the attacker to throw in a violent sacrifice followed by a slow build-up, involving the cool arrival of new offensive forces, while the defender is unable to support his weak point.

  Defence too far away

  Grischuk,Alexander

  Genba,Vladimir

  Khanty-Mansiysk 2011 (1.1)

  1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nbd7 6.e4 Be7 7.Bxc4 0-0 8.Qc2 c5 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.0-0 Ng4 11.Bf4 Qf6 12.Bg3 Nge5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Be2 Nc6 15.e5 Qe7 16.Qe4 Nd4 17.Bh4 Nxe2+ 18.Nxe2 Qd7 19.Rad1 Qb5 20.Qg4 Kh8

  White has four attacking men here. The queen, the dark-squared bishop and the e5-pawn are able to participate in an attack on g7. Meanwhile the d1-rook is able to deflect a possible defence along the 8 th rank.

  From the defensive point of view, we can observe that the black rooks are not connected (as the light-squared bishop is not developed yet) and the dark-squared bishop and the queen – the two ‘natural’ defenders of g7 – are erring on the queenside. Additionally, the rook on f8 prevents Black using this square for his bishop to defend g7. All these factors allow for a swift finish:

  21.Bf6! gxf6

  On 21…Rg8, quickest is 22.Qxg7+ Rxg7 23.Rd8+ and mates.

  22.exf6

  1-0

  After 22…Rg8

  the rook is overloaded (see Chapter 13, page 124): 23.Rd8 Bf8 24.Rxf8.

  Pieces too far away

  Srebrnic,Ana

  Galojan,Lilit

  Porto Carras Ech-tt 2011 (5)

  1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 Bb4 5.Nd5 0-0 6.e3

  Nxd5 7.cxd5 Ne7 8.a3 Bd6 9.Ne2 c6 10.Nc3 b6 11.0-0 Ba6 12.d3 Qc7 13.dxc6 dxc6 14.b4 Rad8 15.Qc2 Qc8 16.Bb2 Bb8 17.Rfd1 Qf5 18.Bf1 Rd6 19.e4 Qh5 20.Be2 Qh3 21.Bf1 Qh5 22.Be2 Qh3 23.Bf1 Qd7 24.a4 Rd8 25.b5 Bb7 26.Qb3 c5 27.Rac1 Rh6

  The game is more or less equal according to the computer, though from an human point of view, Black has more perspectives. Now White blundered:

  28.f3

  28…Qd4+ 29.Kg2 Rxh2+!

  A classical rook sacrifice that drives the white king to the fatal h-file, and allows the queen to imprison it with tempo from f2.

  30.Kxh2 Qf2+ 31.Bg2

  Black has only one attacking piece in action, but as White’s forces are all useless on the queenside, he has all the time to bring on another, decisive one with the cool

  31…Rd6

  0-1

  With the unstoppable threat of 32…Rh6 and mates.

  Baramidze,David

  Kalinitschew,Sergey

  Germany Bundesliga 2006/07 (4.4)

  1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.Re1 0-0 8.a4 Rb8 9.d3 d6 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.c3 Bxb3 12.Qxb3 Na5 13.Qc2 b4 14.d4 exd4 15.cxd4 c5 16.dxc5 dxc5 17.b3 Nd7 18.Bb2 Re8 19.Rad1 Qc8 20.e5 Nb6 21.e6 fxe6 22.Ne4 c4 23.Neg5 Bxg5 24.Nxg5 g6

  In this game, Black’s chances lie on the queenside, thanks to his 3/2 pawn majority there. Black’s king is completely isolated from the rest of its army, which allows White to win on the spot with a destructive sacrifice, in spite of the fact that only two of his men (one will be shut off on the next move) are looking at the enemy monarch.

  It is the impossibility for Black to bring on defenders that makes a quick win possible for White. Look at both knights on the queenside, or at the queen on c8: they are simply witnesses to the execution.

  25.Nxh7!!Kxh7 26.Re5 c3

  At least keeping the bishop away from the lone king.

  27.Rh5+!

  An accurate intermezzo, in order to force the king to block the g-file.

  27…Kg7 28.Rg5

  1-0

  Now, White will take on g6 with the queen, and mate is inevitable.

  Defence too far away

  Ivanchuk,Vassily

  Bu Xiangzhi

  Nanjing 2008 (10)

  1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Bb4 4.Nf3 0-0 5.0-0 d6 6.Nd5 Be6 7.d4 Bxd5 8.exd5 e4

  This is a rather strange position, if we compare it with the normal lines after 1.e4 e5. An experienced grandmaster like Ivanchuk will immediately grasp the differences with a standard set-up. The dark-squared bishop, which might be on e7, has apparently ‘jumped over’ its pawns, so that it cannot defend the kingside. The light-squared bishop – which should be on c8 – has disappeared, thus leaving the light squares along the diagonal c8-h3 unprotected.

  So, two natural defenders of Black’s castle are out of office.

  Now White has a crucial problem to solve: where to go with the knight?

  9.Nh4!

  Towards the beautiful f5-square! The plan is quite straightforward: White will eliminate the knight on f6, the main defender of Black’s fortress, and bring on his own men to surround the enemy king. We can imagine the following steps:

  - play Bg5 in order to pin the f6-knight;

  - add pressure on f6 by opening the f-file with f2-f3;

  - create a mating attack with the knight on f5, the queen and possibly the f1-rook.

  Simple. Yet, the great Vassily had to foresee those ideas before he moved his attacked knight! As a rule, any move by the knight should be linked with an idea, or even a plan. Had it moved to the natural g5-square, for example, all those attacking ideas would have been unavailable.

  9…C6 10.c3 Ba5 11.Bg5 Nbd7 12.Nf5

  An accurate move order, which allows the white bishop to maintain the pin on h4, in case Black plays …h7-h6.

  12…Nb6

  Black attacks the bishop, but at the same time removes a useful defensive knight from the kingside. Anyway, the position is already very advantageous for White.

  13.f3!!

  The white bishop is not needed in order to checkmate the black king, so Ivanchuk wastes no time and follows his plan.

  13…h6

  On 13…Nxc4 the cool move 14.fxe4 is crushing.

  Black is a piece up, but he is unable to rearrange his minor pieces on the queenside for the defence of his king. So White has many more attackers than Black has defenders. Here, 15.Nxg7 is threatened, with a winning position. There is no defence. If 14…Nxb2, for example, 15.Qf3 wins after 15…Nc4 16.Nxg7 and game over.

  14.Bh4 e3

  His only chance is to keep the f-file closed.

  15.Qd3 Nxc4 16.Qxc4 Qd7!

  Bu sets up a clever defence after his faulty opening. But he has to give up a pawn, which leads to bad endgame prospects.

  17.Nxe3 Nh5 18.Rae1

  Central Park Station!

  18…Bd8 19.Bxd8 Rfxd8 20.Qd3 Rab8!?

  A prophylactic move, anticipating dxc6 and the opening of the b-file.

  21.b3!?

  Same idea!

  21..Nf6 22.dxc6 bxc6 23.Re2 a5 24.Rfe1 g6 25.d5 Nxd5

 
26.Nxd5 cxd5 27.Qxd5 Qa7+ 28.Kh1 Qc5 29.Qd2 d5 30.Re5 a4!31.bxa4

  The direct 31.h4! was more energetic.

  Here’s a variation that illustrates the attacking power of Whites major pieces – and the importance of cutting the queen off from the defence, by keeping the white rook on e5: 31…h5 32.f4! axb3 33.axb3 Rxb3 34.f5 Qxc3

  35.Qg5! Rd6 (defending g6) 36.Qh6 with decisive mating threats.

  31…h5

  31…Kg7 was necessary.

  32.f4 Rbc8 33.f5 Qxc3 34.Qh6

  1-0

  Part II - Find the Relevant Theme

  Introduction, Combination Themes, Standard Mates

  Chapter 8: King Position + Exercises

  Chapter 9: Unprotected Pieces + Exercises

  Chapter 10: Alignment + Exercises

  Chapter 11: Knight Fork Distance + Exercises

  Chapter 12: Trapped Pieces + Exercises

  Chapter 13: Crucial Defender/Overloaded Defender + Exercises

  Chapter 14: Impotent Defence/Defence Too Far Away + Exercises

  Chapter 15: Solutions

  Introduction

  Find the Relevant Theme

  (How to Respond to the Signal)

  Here we reach the third phase of the reflexion. This phase consists of what we sometimes call a ‘plan’. We have analysed the different elements, now we must concentrate on the important point. Strategically, this may mean that we must look for a desirable exchange, or a change in the central structure, for example.

  Tactically, we have noticed a signal, or two, that allow us to assume that a tactic is available. Now we have to look for the way to exploit the opponent’s weaknesses, but before the exam of the candidate moves (phase 4) and the calculation (phase 5) we must find the main idea. This idea will be the consequence of the signal that we have just noticed. It means that we must look for a tactical theme (a tactical theme is a mechanism) that is suited to the previous examination of the signals. So we will try for each signal to point at the relevant themes that will help us to find the right combination.

  But first I will present a number of standard combination themes and mates for less experienced readers.

  A. Standard Combination Themes

  We distinguish ten different themes:

  Double Attack

  A double attack consists in attacking two different weak points of the opponent simultaneously.

  1.Rc5!

  wins a bishop.

  Pin

  A pin is the exploitation of an alignment. We attack a piece that cannot move because a stronger piece is standing behind it. The idea is either to win the pinned piece, or to prevent it from defending.

  1.Rc8!

  wins the d8-bishop.

  Skewer

  A skewer is the exploitation of an alignment: we attack two different pieces on the same line.

  1.Rc8+

  wins the h8-bishop.

  Discovered Attack

  We speak of a discovered attack when one of our pieces is masking the action of a long-range one (rook, bishop or queen). By moving the piece in front, we can attack with the piece behind it.

  1.Ke7+

  Wins the dark-squared bishop – and also the light-squared after the following forced sequence.

  1…Bf8+ 2.Rxf8+ Kg7 3.Rxf7+ Kh6 4.Rxf3

  Line or Square Clearance

  Line or square clearance is when one of our pieces makes way for another piece. It can be linked with the opening of an important line, like a discovered attack, or of an important square.

  1.Qxg7+!

  The queen is sacrificed just to allow the knight to occupy the h6-square.

  1…Nxg7 2.Nh6#

  Line or Square Closing

  Line/square closing consists in sacrificing material in order to force our opponent to close off an important line in his own defence.

  1.Rb5! axb5

  Closing the b-file. If 1 …Rd2 2.b7 wins.

  2.b7

  White will promote to a queen, take the b-pawn, and the win is easy.

  Elimination of the Defender

  Elimination of the defender consists in capturing an important defender, so that it can no longer fulfill its task.

  1.Qxa8+

  The rook was the only defender against a back-rank mate.

  1…Nxa8 2.Re8#

  Deflection

  Deflection consists in diverting a defending piece or pawn from its main duty.

  1.Re8+!

  wins the queen because after

  1…Rxe8

  The queen on a3 is not protected anymore. 1…Qf8 2.Rxf8+ is no better.

  2.Qxa3

  Decoy

  A decoy consists in forcing a defensive piece to occupy a specific square that favours the attacker.

  1.Qa8+!

  forces the king to go on an unfavourable square because the forced

  1…Kxa8

  allows

  2.Nxc7+Kb73.Nxe6

  with a winning position for White.

  Extraction

  Extraction is the action of attracting the enemy king toward our forces by giving material, so that we are able to checkmate him.

  1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 Nd7

  5.Bxf7+!

  White forces Black’s king to march on its own toward the enemy forces.

  5…Kxf 76.Ng5+Kf6

  6…Kf8 7.Ne6+ wins the queen thanks to a fork; 6…Ke8 7.Ne6 traps the queen on her original square.

  7.Qf3#

  Swing Door

  To my knowledge this theme has never been described before. A ‘Swing Door’ indicates a double movement: first, our queen is attacked by the enemy queen and in order to protect it we deliberately auto-pin one of our men. Second, the pinned piece springs out of the pin, in order to execute a discovered attack. This combination is possible only if the enemy queen is protected by an attacked piece, so that when we uncover our queen, there will be a double attack.

  We will illustrate this with three exercises (see next page). The solutions can be found in Chapter 15.

  Swing Door 1

  Salomon,Eduardo

  Bernstein,Osip Samuel

  Montevideo 1954 (4)

  1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nc3 d6 5.d3 Na5 6.a3 Nxc4 7.dxc4 Be6 8.Qd3 Ne7 9.Be3 Bxe3 10.fxe3 Ng6 11.b3 0-0 12.0-0-0 Qe7 13.Nd5 Qd7 14.h4 c6 15.h5 Nh8 16.Nc3 Rfd8 17.Rd2 f6 18.Nh4 Nf7 19.Nf5 a6 20.h6 Bxf5 21.exf5 Nxh6 22.e4 Nf7 23.c5 Qe7 24.Qc4 dxc5 25.Rxd8+ Rxd8 26.Na4

  (Solution on page 142)

  Swing Door 2

  Movsesian,Sergey

  Kortchnoi,Viktor

  Carlsbad 2007 (2)

  1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.f3 Be7 8.Qd2 0-0 9.g4 d5 10.g5 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Nh5 12.Rg1 b6 13.0-0-0 Bc5 14.Qd2 Bxe3 15.Qxe3 Bb7 16.exd5 exd5 17.f4 Qc7 18.Rd4 g6 19.Bg2 Ng7 20.Rxd5 Rae8 21.Re5 Nf5 22.Qe1 Rxe5

  23.fxe5 Bxg2 24.Rxg2 Re8 25.Re2 Kg7 26.a3 Qc5 27.Re4 Re6 28.Kb1 a6 29.h4 b5 30.Na2 Nd4 31.Qf2 Nb3

  (Solution on page 142)

  Swing Door 3

  Morozevich,Alexander

  Papaioannou,Ioannis

  Bursa Wch-tt 2010 (2)

  1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g4 0-0 5.g5 Ne8 6.Rg1 d5 7.Qb3 c5 8.cxd5 Nd6 9.Bh3 Na6 10.g6 c4 11.gxh7+ Kh8 12.Qc2 exd5 13.Bxc8 Rxc8 14.Nxd5 Re8 15.Kf1 Ne4 16.Ne3 Qd7 17.Ng5 Nac5 18.Qxc4 Nxg5 19.Rxg5 Ne4 20.Qb5

  (Solution on page 143)

  B. The Basic Checkmates

  The Shepherd’s Mate

  1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6

  3…g6 is better. After 4.Qf3 Nf6 5.Ne2 Bg7 Black is OK.

  4.Qxf7#

  Legal’s Mate

  1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 h6 4.Nc3 Bg4 5.Nxe5! Bxd1

  5…dxe5 6.Qxg4+−.

  6.Bxf7+ Ke 77.Nd5#

  Fool’s Mate

  1.f3 e5 2.g4 Qh4#

  (see diagram next column)

  Back-rank Mate

  1.Re8#

  This is by far the most frequent checkmate. In most of the games, both players castle. Don’t forget to allow your king a little luft to escape (by respectively h2-h3/…h7-h6,
for example), just in case.

  Arabic Mate

  This checkmate is so called because the required material (rook and knight for White, king for Black) and the rules of the checkmate are the same as at the epoch of the Arabic invasion, which popularized the game in Europe (8th century).

  1…Ra4 2.Rxh7#

  Smothered Mate

  1.Qd5+Kh8

  1…Kf8 2.Qf7#.

  2.Nf7+ Kg8 3.Nh6+ Kh8

  4.Qg8+ Rxg8 5.Nf7#

  Epaulette Mate

  1.Qe6#

  Gueridon Mate

  Damiano’s Mate

  Boden’s Mate

  1.Qxc6+bxc6 2.Ba6#

  Morphy’s Opera Mate

  This checkmate concluded the most famous game ever, Morphy-Duke of Brunswick and Carl (Count) Isouard, played in the Opera de Paris in 1858.

  1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.Qb3 Qe7 8.Nc3 c6 9.Bg5 b5 10.Nxb5 cxb5 11.Bxb5+ Nbd7 12.0-0-0 Rd8 13.Rxd7 Rxd7 14.Rd1 Qe6 15.Bxd7+ Nxd7