How to Play Chess like a Champion Page 4

  1...R×c3!! (D)

  Has the man gone mad? Why doesn’t he resign?

  2.g8/Q ...

  Now hear this: with only a knight against a mighty queen, Black has a forced win! And here’s the proof:

  2...Nd2+

  Forcing White’s reply.

  3.Ka1 ...

  But now it seems that White is safe in Abraham’s bosom. If 3...b2+ 4.Ka2 and Black is stymied. (D)

  3...Rc1+!!

  Surely this move fills the bill. White can simply capture the rook and laugh...but not for long.

  4.R×c1 b2+ 5.Ka2 ...

  This situation deserves a diagram to illustrate one of the most remarkable examples of pawn promotion in the history of chess. (D)

  White has received the scare of his life, but he’s moderately happy. He now expects 5...b×c1/Q after which he will play 6.Qb8+. This will give him a draw by perpetual check, for example, 6...Ka5 7.Qa7+ Kb5 8.Qb7+ Ka5 9.Qa7+ etc.

  Note that after 6.Qb8+ Black dare not play 6...Kc5?? or 6...Kc4?? for then 7.Qc8+ wins Black’s queen!

  Very clever, but suppose Black does not choose to promote to a queen? This gets more fantastical all the time!

  5...b×c1/N+! (D)

  6.K×a3 Nc4 mate (D)

  One of the most beautiful positions ever seen on the chessboard – and all thanks to the classy footwork of the two knights, aided by the onrushing pawns.

  Turn back again to the starting diagram. If you had Black in this position, would you dream of saving the game as Krogius did? Probably not; but most masters would. Credit it to their ingenuity, or routine, or quick sight of the board. In fact, for all I care, credit it to their undoubted conceit which goads them to explore every possibility before they reluctantly resign.

  If ever a man was inappropriately named, it was H.E. Bird, one of the strongest English masters of the Victorian era. In his pictures he is a jolly-looking man with a comfortable stomach curve. I’m told he was a chartered accountant in real life and played chess on the side. It would be more accurate to say that he was a chess master in real life and played at accounting on the side. And this remains true even though his accounting was paid in pounds and his chess playing in shillings.

  Bird’s chess was highly original: he prided himself on eccentric moves that amazed everybody, including himself. He was feared because of his ingenuity, which might break loose at any moment and turn the position upside down. Bird despised foresight, for he found that playing by whim was more fun and just about as successful.

  Bird might have taken his motto from the Gospel according to St. John: “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and wither it goeth.” But he got results, so who can say he was wrong?

  In fact, he even won an uncompleted match from Wilhelm Steinitz, that fantastical believer in order and system and method. The moral – if Bird would permit a moral – is undoubtedly that if you strive less strenuously, you get better results.

  In his games Bird always stopped to pick posies: he wanted a good time. And with his eccentricity and sense of humor, he got what he wanted. Once, though, he came a cropper in a hilarious manner. Here’s how it happened: (D)

  Bird – Englisch

  White to move

  Bird’s opponent in this game was a perfect foil for him. Englisch was a player of fine capabilities but he was dull: solid, humorless, and dull.

  Whereas most of us desire to win, Englisch had one exclusive ambition: to draw. If there was any beauty in chess, it consisted in drawing a game. Just as Macbeth had to murder, English had to draw. He didn’t win often – but neither did he lose often. When Englisch said, “They shall not pass!” he meant business. And that is what Bird found out in this game.

  Most players would give up the position of the diagram as a dead draw because of the considerably simplified nature of the position. But Bird has played for this position, because he relies on his rook which is formidably posted on the seventh rank, cutting down the black king’s mobility and thereby creating mating possibilities. The first move of Bird’s ingenious plan is:

  1.R×e8! ... (D)

  If Black plays the obvious reply he loses: 1...R×e8? 2.N×f6. Now White threatens 3.N×e8, but above all, he threatens 3.Rh7 mate. So Black would be lost, for in preventing the mate he would lose a rook.

  Now most players, trapped in this cruel dilemma, would knock over the pieces in disgust, but English finds a way to draw the game, even though this requires a mere miracle.

  1...Rh5+!

  The key to the defense.

  2.Kg1 R×e8 3.N×f6 ... (D)

  Now White forks both rooks. After the indicated 3...R8e5 4.N×h5 R×h5 he will advance with his king, with splendid winning chances in the ending.

  But Englisch dismisses this possibility with a lordly indifference. He has an idea – and what an idea!

  3...Rh1+!! 4.K×h1 Re1+ 5.Kh2 Rh1+! 6.K×h1 Draw! (D)

  Black to move

  Black is stalemated! Englisch has found the draw. “Black to move,” says the caption. But he has no move! Bird, who didn’t mind telling a joke on himself, added this plaintive comment:

  “The stalemate at the finish caused much amusement to all excepting White,” So you don’t have to take my word for this: it really happened.

  Slow Torture by Encirclement

  So far you’ve seen how the masters play forceful chess by making moves that tingle with the power of imaginative inspiration. You can imagine a master banging down a piece as he makes a glorious sacrifice undreamed of by his opponent. And this kind of force, violent and crushing in its effectiveness, is easy to understand.

  But there’s another kind of forceful master chess, in which the moves are so quiet you can hear a pawn drop.

  Quietly forceful moves? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms? Not at all. These moves are more subtle, harder to foresee, harder to find, harder to appraise. They involve threat after threat in some cases. In others they consist of a series of moves that shrink the opponent’s mobility, until he’s left without a move and must cry, “Uncle!”

  In any case, these moves are not flashy, but they reduce the opponent to helplessness just as surely as if he were being hammered with sensational sacrifices.

  You’ll recall we said earlier that Nimzovich denied playing “brutal” chess. It’s all a matter of semantics, for in the position of the next diagram Black throttles and pummels his opponent into helplessness – all, to be sure with, nice, quiet moves. (D)

  Rabinovich – Nimzovich

  Black to move

  To understand what is happening, note that Black controls the open d-file, which he uses as a point of invasion into White’s position. White is unfortunate in that he cannot similarly put his rook to good use. This rook is out of the fight and is, in fact, a target for attack.

  And so: the aggressive position of Black’s rook allows him to threaten. The ineffectual position of White’s rook forces him to defend. As Black varies and multiplies the threats, White collapses under the pressure.

  1...Qd6! 2.Bc2 ...

  This parries Black’s threat. But now the bishop is tied down to the thankless chore of preventing ...Rd1+.

  2...Ne4! (D)

  Surprising but logical. White can’t play B×e4 because his bishop is tied down to the prevention of ...Rd1+ winning White’s queen.

  Consequently Black’s impudent knight escapes scot free and Black threatens to win the exchange by ...N×g3+

  3.Rg2 ...

  White saves his rook and guards against ...N×f2+

  3...h4! (D)

  Black certainly suffers from no dearth of ideas. Now he threatens ...h3, driving away White’s rook so that ...N×f2+ will become feasible.

  White can parry with 4.h3, but in that case there follows 4...Qd7! 5.Kh2 Rd2! 6.B×e4 R×e2 and Black’s crushing grip on the second rank assures victory for him. (Remember that impressive contrast of Black’s active rook and White’s passive rook!)

&
nbsp; 4.Ng1 ...

  Stops ...h3, at the cost of giving more ground. White’s knight has retreated from the fray. Worse yet, White’s rook can’t get back into play, as the maneuver Rg1 followed by Rd1 is now impossible. Thus, White’s clumsy pieces are getting in each other’s way.

  4...Nc3! (D)

  Threatening to capture White’s a-pawn. Note Black’s crafty tactic. First he attacked in the center, then on the kingside, and now on the queenside. By diffusing his attack all over the board, he steps up the psychological attack on the defender’s moral. Don’t let up for a moment, is Black’s motto, and it serves him well.

  To defend the a2-pawn is not so easy. This if 5.a3? Na2! and White’s queen must give up the defense of the a3-pawn, allowing ...Q×a3 after which Black wins easily.

  5.a4 Na2!

  Beginning a new maneuver which leaves White altogether discombobulated.

  6. Qf1 Nb4! 7.Be4 Rd1! (D)

  At last Black has been able to penetrate on the last rank. Compare the situation with the one at the start. Black’s position has become stronger in a number of ways. His rook is more menacing and now pins White’s knight (after the queen moves). Black also has his eye on the f2-pawn.

  8.Qc4 ...

  For a moment it looks as if White’s pieces are getting better positions. But only for a moment...For now Black starts a new series of killing blows.

  8...f5!

  Driving the bishop into a huddle, for if 9.Bc2 Rc1 White is forced to play 10.f3 to protect the bishop. But then comes 10...Qc5! 11.Q×c5+ b×c5 and the bishop is lost.

  9.Bf3 ... (D)

  Note how ineffectually White’s pieces are bunched together on the kingside. True, White momentarily threatens B×d1 but Black adroitly cancels the threat.

  9...h3!

  This move is possible because Black has pinned White’s knight. If now 10.B×d1 h×g2+ 11.K×g2 Q×d1 and Black has won a piece.

  10.Rg3 ...

  Black’s rook is still attacked. What does he do about it? Nothing. For counterattack is the best defense.

  10...Nd3! (D)

  Threatens ...N×f2 mate! And meanwhile Nimzovich has a diabolical variation in mind: if White tries 11.R×h3 then 11...N×f2+ 12.Kg2 N×h3 13.B×d1 Q×d1 14.N×h3 Qg4+ winning the knight and remaining a piece ahead with an easy win. Beautiful play!

  11.Qc2 ...

  Guards against the mate. But this is menial work for a queen.

  11...Rc1 12.Qe2 Rb1! Resigns (D)

  White has had enough. After 13.R×h3 Rb2 14.Qf1 N×f2+ 15.Kg2 N×h3+ 16.K×h3 g5! Black wins quickly.

  This is great master chess, impressive in its sustained power, captivating in its richness of imaginative variety. You can play over these moves a thousand times, and they will never lose their power to thrill you. For each time you will see some new masterly detail, some masterly touch, some exquisite refinement that you missed previously.

  But above all, it is the process as a whole that really matters – the encirclement process, whereby White is reduced to utter helplessness. There are no checks, no captures, none of the violent moves of a powerful sacrificial combination. But power is there nonetheless, all the more forcing because it is exerted so “quietly.”

  It is possible to carry on the “squeeze” process even more unobtrusively, by almost purely positional moves. This is done by cutting down the opponent’s mobility without recourse to threats. It is one of the most valuable facets of the chess master’s art, and it is one of the essentials of good chess. Here’s an example to show how it’s done.

  Perhaps no other chess master has ever approached Sammy Reshevsky when it came to determination. He’s the hardest fighter of them all. Any position is grist to his mill. He is at his best when he gets the assignment to make something out of nothing.

  To him “dull” positions don’t exist. If he thinks about it long enough, he’s sure to find an angle. Once he gets that far, he has a won game before his opponent quite knows what it’s all about.

  Because Reshevsky can almost hear the grass grow, he can spot microscopic advantages. They’re enough for him to work on.

  Slowly, slowly, and with the greatest patience in the world he builds up the advantage, strengthens his position, gets his striking forces into action, and hits hard. No one is his superior in the art of applying slow torture on the chessboard. (D)

  Reshevsky – Steiner

  White to move

  In the position of the diagram Reshevsky wants to tie up his opponent’s pieces until they are stripped of all mobility. An important element of this plan is to play e3-e4 and f2-f4, leaving Black’s knights with very few squares to play to. But before this happens, Reshevsky must remove the black queen. He therefore plays:

  1.Qc5! ...

  Attacking Black’s queen and also his knight at e5. Thus Black is forced to exchange queens.

  1...Q×c5 2.N×c5 ... (D)

  And now White threatens N×a6. Black can defend against this threat, but it’s not only the move-to-move threats that matter. White’s pieces have more scope than the black pieces.

  Black’s job is to get more room for his pieces; in that case he can free himself. White’s job is to grab more room for his pieces, driving Black’s forces back until they are left without a good move.

  This is an assignment that is dear to Reshevsky’s heart.

  2...Nf5

  Driving away White’s powerful rook – but not for long.

  3.Rdd1 Bb7

  Now Black at last has brought all his pieces into play. But as Reshevsky relentlessly demonstrates, this is pure delusion.

  4.e4! ... (D)

  Forcing one of the knights into an ignominious retreat.

  Now here’s a vitally important tip about the knights, which is generally known only to first-class players. The knight is a very sensitive creature and deeply dislikes certain types of pawn moves.

  When White places his pawn on e4, he not only drives away a black knight from f5. He also makes it impossible for Black at a later point to play either ...Nf5 or ...Nd5. For, if Black should play either of these moves, White has pawn takes knight in reply.

  There’s an important general conclusion for you to draw from this point. We’ll follow it up in the note to Black’s fifth move.

  4...Ne7

  Black’s position has quickly changed for the worse. At f5 the knight was active and in good play. But now that this piece has been forced back, it plays a minor role.

  5.f4 ...

  Reshevsky knows a good thing when he sees it. First he crippled the effectiveness of one black knight, and now he repeats the process with the remaining black knight.

  5...N5c6 (D)

  Reshevsky’s last two pawn moves have made it impossible for Black to play a knight to d5, e5, or f5. What this indicates is that if you play the right pawns moves, you can greatly cut down the mobility of the hostile knights.

  This is valuable knowledge that you can apply in many a game. Right here, in the present situation, Reshevsky has started the slow torture process by depriving Black’s knights of most of their mobility.

  Next step: White wants exclusive control of the open d-file.

  6.Rd7 ... (D)

  Now he threatens to win a piece.

  6...Bc8

  Black saves his bishop, but at what a fancy price! The bishop is back on his home square and who knows when this piece can be brought into play again?

  7.Rd6 ... (D)

  White’s rook is back at his powerful post on d6 (see the starting diagram). But there is this important difference: thanks to White’s pawn doing sentry duty on the e4-square, Black cannot drive away the formidable rook at some future time with ...Nf5.

  7...h6

  Black marks time for lack of something better to do.

  8.Kf2 ...

  White marks time, but with a difference: he wants to show Black that he has no way of freeing himself.

  8...Rd8

  This looks like an attempt to fight for control of the d-file. But it can�
�t be much of a fight because White can use both rooks on the file, while Black can only use one.

  9.Rcd1 ... (D)

  The typical reply. White puts on more pressure. In that way he underlines Black’s lack of proper communication between the two rooks.

  If Black wants to fight force with force, he must use his two rooks to oppose White’s two rooks. Theoretically he can do this by playing 9...Bb7, setting up communication between his rooks.

  But after 9...Bb7 White simply plays 10.N×b7 winning a piece (10...R×d6 11.N×d6 – or 10...R×b7? 11.R×d8+ and in either case White has won decisive material.)

  So we conclude that Black must put up or shut up – he cannot fight for control of the d-file. Is this an accident, or is it in the logic of the position? The second answer is definitely the right one. Black suffers from an all too passive set up of his pieces. It’s therefore only to be expected that he is forced to give way whenever there is any prospect of a tactical skirmish.

  9...R×d6 10.R×d6 ... (D)

  White has won the fight for control of the queen file – another big step forward in his overall encirclement program

  10...b4

  There isn’t much else that Black can do, so he hits out at the knight. Naturally nothing is achieved as the attacked knight moves off to a better square.

  11.N3a4 ...

  In certain eventualities this knight can play with powerful effect to b6. And meanwhile White threatens to win Black’s a-pawn.