Monthly Archives: June 2009

Chess Sacrifice as a Chess Tactics: to free a square for another piece

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Posted by ChessMaster on June 12, 2009 – 9:17 am
Filed under Attacking tactics, Chess lessons, Chess tactics
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You may sometimes find in your games that if you could place one of your pieces on a particular square, you could have a better game. Unfortunately you find that the square is occupied by your own piece or pawn. If it is a piece, you can plan to move it to some other square, possibly even retreating. But if it is a pawn, you have a problem because pawns cannot retreat and you cannot capture your own pawn!

The only way is to push the pawn forward but the opponent may get wise to your intentions and maneuver his pieces to guard or occupy the vacated square. But if you have the opportunity to create a threat by that pawn move, your opponent may be forced to attend to that threat first. If he can capture the pawn without any exchange, he feels all the better for it! That gives you the opportunity to place your desired piece on the now empty square to set your plan in motion.

You can therefore guess that this kind of chess tactics mostly involves the sacrifice of a pawn. The example from some master game will help you to understand this chess tactics better and to identify when such situations arise in your games.

The game we have chosen is nothing spectacular but it is one of historical importance. Played in the World Championship Match held at Reykjavic in 1972 between reigning champion Boris Spassky and contender Bobby Fischer, win in this game made Fischer the new World Champion. The position has been taken after 29 moves have been completed. Many contend that White’s 30th move was a blunder that handed over the game to Fischer. But in an endgame position, such an error that can be identified after seeing the end result is not always apparent at the point of occurrence and you must remember that Fischer still had to show how to take advantage of the move!

sacrifice to vacate square for other pieces

The game continued as follows.

30. g4 f5   With the White Bishop of the opponent on the board, Black’s BP and RP would be safer on black squares till they were ready to progress under support. Black sacrificed the forward BP to get rid of his doubled pawn and transferred this problem to White! It also made space for his f7 pawn to the safer f6 square and it blocked both of White’s BP.
31. gxf5 f6  
32. Bg8 h6  
33. Kg3 Kd6  
34. Kf3 Ra1  
35. Kg2 Ke5  
36. Be6 Kf4  
37. Bd7 Rb1  
38. Be6 Rb2  
39. Bc4 Ra2   White tried for a trap. If 39. … Kxf5 then 40. a5 Ra2 41. a6 Ke5 42. b4 after which
42. … Rb2 43. b5 Kd4 44. a7
or
42. … Ra4 43. b5 Rxc4 44. b6
40. Be6 h5  
41. Bd7   White phoned in his resignation after this move. In any case, so long as Black R is on second rank, White’s BP is pinned and White’s K has to remain in touch with f2. Thus
41. … Kg4 42. Kg1 h4 43. Kg2 h3+ 44. Kg1 (if 44. Kxh3 then 44. … Rxf2) Ra1+ 45. Kh2 Rf1 with Rxf2+ to follow

 

There is another lesson to learn from this game. In endgame positions with few pieces and some pawns, excepting for the obviously right or wrong moves, your opponent may have many possibilities available each of which needs to be tackled by you in different ways. To save headache in calculating all possibilities and counter-moves, you may play the waiting game (provided you do not lose initiative in the process) by moving your pieces insignificantly to see how your opponent commits himself. You can then decide on your moves till the point where you can repeat the process to know the further direction of the game. This can be an important chess strategy in the end game and an essential ingredient in creating zugzwang for your opponent where the situation is ripe for it.

 

Middle game tactics: Bad French bishop is not always bad

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Posted by on June 11, 2009 – 3:56 pm
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In last two Bad Bishop articles (how to deal with bad bishop and bad French bishop and its consequences) we talked about how the bad bishop can lead to a disaster in this article we will look at other side of the Bad Bishop.

One of the trick situations one quite frequently encounters in a middle game is that of a bad French bishop arising in the opening stage of the game in which the light squared bishop of black is invariably blocked by its pawns at e6 and d5, shunning the possibility of prospective development for that light squared black bishop.

The typical French defense opening is the cause for such a development and it is this reason that many of the exponents of French defense that black’s light squared bishop be sacrificed in the early part of the game, thus paving way for a competitive middle game between the two players.

The bad French bishop is not always bad as it is perceived to be, and if right tactics are employed, black’s light squared bishop can be very handy and turn out to be the good bishop. In this game, played between two grandmasters in the early 1990s, one can find and appreciate how the bad French bishop has been converted into a good one leading to the victory of black over white.

Given below is the position of the game after 11 moves and it is the turn of white to make the move.

graphic1

A cursory look at the position indicates that black’s light squared bishop is rooted to its original square at c8 blocked by pawn at b7 and Knight at d7. But, black can make the bad bishop active if it is prepared to sacrifice a couple of pawns if required. Black did precisely the same after the opportunity presented itself.

12. Bxe4 Kh8
13. Bxd5 fxe5 The opportunity presented itself with a chance to open up the two black bishops
14. fxe5 …

The position after the 14th move of white is presented below for an assessment:

graphic2

Black effectively seizes the opportunity and surprises White with a couple of sacrifices in an attempt to gain control over the board.

14. … Ncxe5
15. dxe5 Nxe5
16. Nf4 Bb4+
17. Kf1 …

The position after White’s 17th move is given below:

graphic3

Black has successively cleared the way for the “bad” French bishop to finally come out and assist in the attack. The smart play by Black ensured that the “bad” bishop gets transformed ultimately into a “good” one, and spearheaded the attack on White king, as follows:

17. … Rxf4
18. gxf4 Bh3+ French bishop comes out with a bang
19. Ke2 Ng4
20. Nd4 Qc5
21. Be6 Rd8
22. Be3 Nxe3
23. Kxe3 Bxe6
24. Rc1 …

The position after white’s 24th move is given below:

graphic4

Black has virtually taken control over the game with the assistance of the two bishops, especially the otherwise “bad” French bishop.

24. … Rxd4
25. Qxd4 Bd2+
26. 0 – 1

It is curtains for White. The “bad” French bishop need not always be bad. Effective tactics is bound to make this bad bishop a very good one. This game also vindicates the fact that the famous French defense is in fact a very competitive opening worth exploring.

Chess Sacrifice as a Chess Tactics: gaining space for attack

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Posted by ChessMaster on June 10, 2009 – 7:46 pm
Filed under Attacking tactics, Chess lessons, Chess tactics
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Making out a chess game as a war on the chessboard, can you first tell why in these days of missiles, artillery, aerial attacks and so on, the infantry still holds such an important position in any army? The rockets and gun-shells can annihilate but they cannot win territory, for that you need the infantry who go forward and occupy vacated space. Moreover, when the enemy retreats preparing for a defensive strategy, the heavy armaments have to move forward to keep the enemy in range and so they need advancing space controlled by your infantry. Of course the infantry in turn needs the support of all the heavy firepower, otherwise they become just fodders for enemy cannons.

To draw a simile, the pawns are the infantry which go forward to occupy and control more space on the chessboard. They need support of the other pieces for doing this and the space gained in turn helps the pieces to go in for the killing attack on the opponent King’s position.

I hope I have been able to convey the importance of space in launching chess attacks. The plan to gain space is an important chess strategy and the way you move your pawns and supporting pieces constitute the chess tactics to realize that aim.

You will find all the brilliant tactical masters in chess like Frank Marshall, Mikhail Tal and Rashid Nezhmetdinov tried to create more space for their pieces. They would unhesitatingly sacrifice one or more pieces just to create that space for their other pieces.

The masters who have been successful against these attacking players knew about this tactics. To prevent such attacks, they adopted the strategy of denying that space and used a tactical play aimed at closing the positions through blocked pawns and pieces. They would go through many maneuverings and positional play to frustrate the attacking players, induce them to overreach and then take opportunity of the mistakes to gain the upper hand.

All this was to make you aware of the chess strategies you need to follow for offensive and defensive play. If you are bent on the attack, you must be prepared to use sacrifices to break open the positions. This was one of the uses of sacrifice as discussed in Chess Sacrifices as Chess Tactics.

After all that talk, let us see practical example of how sacrifices are used as chess tactics to create space and how that is utilized to launch successful attacks.

In the Chukaev-Tal game at the 1956 tournament at Tbilisi from which the following position has been taken after 13 moves, you will agree that White was really ‘asking for it’ by his inopportune castling! Nonetheless, it is worth noting how Black immediately swooped in to take advantage of it.

sacrifice to gain space

14. f3 Nb4   Black decided to sacrifice the Bishop to get more space on the Q-side for his attacking chances

 

White was probably more concerned with the two Black Bishops controlling the diagonals to his King’s castle. If White could anticipate the problems going to be created by Black’s Knight move and tried to prevent it by 14. a3, it would be met by 14. … Qb3 with the idea of moving the Queen to a2 for checkmate at b1.
If White tried 15. Bd3 then 15. … Bxd3 16. Qxd3 Qxb2#
Other alternatives:
15. f3 Qa2 16. fxe4 Qa1+ 17. Kc2 Qxb2+ 18. Kd3 Qb3+ 19. Qc3 Qxc3#
15. Rde1 Qa2 16. Bd3 Bxd3 17. Qxd3 Bxb2+ 18. Kd1 Bxa3 and Black is two pawns up.

Let us see how Black created the space and utilized it for launching his attack.

15. fxe4 Nxa2+  
16. Kb1 Nc3+  
17. Kc1 Nxe4  
18. Qc2 Nxg5  
19. Nf3 Nxf3  
20. Bxf3 a5  
21. Rd3 a4  
22. Re1 Qb4  
23. Re7 Rfe8  
24. Rxe8+ Rxe8  
25. Kb1 b5  
26. Ra3 Re1+  
27. Ka2 Qxa3+   The last surprise!
28. Resigns   If 28. Kxa3 or bxa3 then 28. … Ra1#

 

The other notable point is the Black QN’s journey along a6-b4-a2-c3-e4-g5-f3 on successive moves and is a classic example of a Knight maneuver that helped to create space for Black’s Q-side attack.

A typical attacking game from Tal.

 

Middle game tactics: How to deal with the bad French bishop

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Posted by on June 10, 2009 – 4:29 am
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The most important part in the game of chess is the middle game (we saw that in Consequences of Bad Bishop), where both the players, having developed their pieces reasonably well, initiate a series of attacks, counter-attacks, checks, and sacrifices in an effort to gain control over the opponent. The quality of the middle game and the nature of the strategy adopted by the players during this phase of the game are primarily determined based on the positions of the pieces and the kind of development one does take in the opening part.

The nature of the opening game and the favorable positioning of the major and minor pieces determine the tempo for the middle game. We have discussed at length about the Isolated Queen Pawn. Similarly, we might be confronted with an issue of bad French bishop.

What is bad French Bishop? Black’s light squared black bishop is often given this name. In some types of opening games, as part of the development of the pieces in accordance with the classical opening principles, the player playing black might have to move his king pawn at e7 one square ahead to e6 and the queen pawn two squares ahead to d5. These moves, made out of necessity to develop the minor pieces, might appear good in the first instance. However, a second look might reveal that the pawn placed at e6 and/or at d5 might effectively block the diagonal c8-h3 and the diagonal a8-h1, seriously hampering the movement of the light squared black bishop starting from the c8 square. Literally, the movement of the light squared bishop is blocked by its own pieces and sometimes, this immobility of the black light squared bishop might lead to inadequate development, and ultimately present an advantage to the opponent. This situation is referred to as black’s bad French bishop. The name “French” is added to the bishop as this situation typically arises in a French opening.

Let us try to understand this aspect and assess how this bad French bishop plays the spoilsport for the black’s pieces through the review of a game played between two grandmasters

Given below is the position after 25 moves, and it is the turn of white to make the move now.

article21

A cursory look at the position indicates that, among the minor pieces, White has sacrificed both of its bishops and retained one Knight, as against one light squared bishop for black. White’s Knight occupies the important d4 square, and the game is evenly poised.

The game proceeded along the following lines:

26. e6 … White decides to open up the position
26. … fxe6
27. Qe5 … White plans to target f6 square for Queen
27. … Rc7 Not a good response from black. It would have been better had he played Qc7 instead of Rc7
28. Qf6 Be8
29. Nxe6 Qd6
30. Re2 Qe7
31. Qb2 … This is a smart move by White offering to sacrifice his h4 pawn Black has other ideas and prefers to go with them
31. … Rc8
32. Ng5 Qd6
33. Qd4 Bf7 The last move by Black is a blunder, literally gifting the game to white, courtesy Black light squared Bishop

This is the position on the board, which clearly shows the blunder of black’s French bishop, leading to the victory for White.

article3

34. Qh8+ 1 – 0

This is an example in which the light squared bishop, devoid of development in the initial stages, has proved to be more of a burden leading to the downfall than of any constructive support in the attack.

It is for this very reason that in most of the variations of the famous French opening, an early sacrifice of black’s light-squared bishop is suggested.

Middle game tactics: Bad French bishop and its consequences

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Posted by on June 10, 2009 – 4:06 am
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Of the three stages in the game of chess, the most important and deciding part is the middle game, where the real action takes place. However, one needs to be aware of the fact that the middle game always follows the opening game. In other words, the course of the middle game is determined by the opening game, and the effectiveness of the opening game and the position of the various pieces as part of the development, more or less, decide the strategy to be adopted in the middle game.

One of the many opening variations played regularly in tournaments is the French opening, where invariably the first and second moves of black are e6 and d5. Whatever might be the reasons behind those moves, the inconsequence of these moves, if not properly attended, might lead to a situation where the black’s light squared bishop is blocked by the pawns at e6 and d5, effectively cramping its development. It is for this very reason, experts in French opening advise that black’s light squared bishop is sacrificed at the initial stages of development. If that light-squared bishop is not effectively handled, this French bishop, as it is otherwise called, might turn out to be a bad French bishop, and hinder the prospects for black in further development.

Let us try to assess the consequences of the bad French bishop with the help of this following game played between two grandmasters. This is a typical French defense or French opening. The opening moves are as follows:

1. e4 e6
2. d4 d5
3. Nc3 Nf6
4. e5 Nfd7
5. f4 c5
6. Nf3 Nc6
7. Be3 cxd4
8. Nxd4 Bc5
9. Qd2 a6
10. 0-0-0 0-0
11. h4 Nxd4
12. Bxd4 b5
13. Rh3

The position is given hereunder:

articl1

As can be seen from the position, black’s light squared bishop is rooted to its original square at c8, unable to be deployed effectively. Black tried to break the shackles with the following move, which most of the grandmasters tried and tested but without much success.

13. …. Bb7
14. Ne2 Bxd4
15. Nxd4 Nc5
16. Bd3 Ne4
17 Bxe4 dxe4
18. f5 Bd5

Instead of the routine Bb7 move, had Black tried the variation

  1. ….. b4
  2. Ne2 a5
  3. ….. a6 (his bad French bishop would have got a better opportunity to play an important role in the game)

The position after the 18th move is given hereunder:

article2

The game proceeded with black literally in the doldrums having committed a blunder of moving the bishop to d5.

19. f6 gxf6
20. Qh6 1 – 0

This is yet another example of bad French bishop playing the spoilsport in Black’s party, and coupled with some avoidable blunders, Black has surrendered the advantage and the game to the smart play of White who capitalized on black’s light-squared bishop.