300 Most Important Tactical Chess Positions E-Book

Thomas Engqvist

• Herausgeber: Batsford
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 506

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

An International Master's instructive guide to essential tactical strategies and positions in chess.  A comprehensive book from the Swedish International Master Thomas Engqvist for understanding the most important tactical chess positions in the opening of a game, the middle game and the endgame. It cuts to the chase on the must useful tactical positions at each stage of the game. Knowing the positions is one thing but this experienced coach shows you how to create them, even out of nothing, in the spirit of Tal and Alekhine. It covers other important facets of tactical play, including calculation (how to calculate with the help of stepping stones), attacking play such as defence and counter attack, and even psychological tactics. Each numbered position can be seen as a test-yourself quiz (with answers given below the diagrams) to help cement tactical understanding. Since it's advisable to revise the positions from time to time, this book can be your life-long companion, enabling you to dramatically increase your tactical chess understanding.  The perfect guide for players who want to reach a higher level but don't have time to spend hours every week on less productive study.

Leseprobe

300 Most Important Tactical Chess Positions

Study five a week to be a better chessplayer

Thomas Engqvist

Contents

Introduction

Part 1: 150 most important tactical positions in the Opening and the Middlegame

1-27: Five basic tricks: Fork, Discoverer, Pin, Trapping and Overloading

28-45: Mating Combinations

28-39: The magnet sacrifice and back rank mate

40-45: Other mating combinations

46-47: Stalemate

48-49: Composing and Solving Problems

50-59: Calculation of Variations

50-52: Candidate moves

53-54: Motif and Theme

55-56: Stepping stones

57-58: Evaluations

59: Pragmatism or deep analysis?

60-74: Knight Manoeuvres and Knight Sacrifices

75-96: Bishop Manoeuvres and Bishop Sacrifices

97-99: Exchange Sacrifices

100-109: Rook Manoeuvres and Rook Sacrifices

110-113 : Queen Manoeuvres and Sacrifices

114-116: King Manoeuvres

117-139 : Pawn Play

117-128: The unexpected pawn break

129-132: The unexpected pawn push

133-138: The passed pawn

139: Dynamic play with pawns

140-150: Attacking the King

140: Attacking the king with pawns

141-143: Attacking the king with pieces

144: Prophylaxis against an attack on the king with pieces

145-146: Attack on the king with major pieces

147-149: Attack and defence where diagonals are involved

150: Counterattack or prophylaxis?

Part 2: 150 most important tactical positions in the Endgame

151-168: Pawn Endings

169-180: Knight Endings

181-200: Bishop Endings

201-210: Knight and Bishop Endings

211-273: Rook Endings

274-300: Queen Endings

Introduction

The book you are holding in your hand, dear reader, is a follow-up to my previous 300 Most Important Chess Positions – Study five a week to be a better chess player (Batsford 2018). However, the two books are not dependent on each other since their respective focus is on different territories of chess. The former book dealt with positional methods whereas this one focuses on tactical ideas. They can therefore be integrated as part of a training scheme and be studied as a single course. It’s a matter of taste in which order you wish to read them or whether you even prefer to work with them concurrently. However, one advantage of starting with the positional methods is that when you move on to the tactics you will come across numerous references to the former book, which you will recognise if you have been ambitious enough to remember the many key concepts given there.

The most important thing is to do the work in a step-by-step fashion. Once you have set off on your path of study you can expect to enrich your chess understanding and acquire more and more tactical and positional weaponry. But, most importantly, you will develop a good habit that will progressively and significantly improve your playing strength over the coming weeks and months. Learning to play good chess is like learning a language or a musical instrument. It does take time to gain a sufficient understanding of the ideas but afterwards you’ll never forget them. Indeed, when you have finished reading the books you will have gained sufficient experience to truly understand what to my mind are the most important factors concerning tactical and positional chess.

300 most important chess tactics in the opening, middlegame and endgame was originally an email course which started with the help of my Swedish homepage Schacksnack.se at the beginning of 2019 and lasted for approximately a year. The course was labelled “Less is more – The 300 most important tactical positions” and was primarily aimed at Swedish chess players, since the course was written in the Swedish language. The main idea was to study five tactical positions very carefully every week. All positions have thus been thoroughly explored by the participants as well as myself with the assistance of the latest versions of Komodo, especially Komodo11. There the positions were presented randomly whereas in this book they are thematically arranged in the opening and middlegame section and according to the specific endgame in the endgame section. For example, in pawn endings, stalemates, breakthroughs, passed pawns, pawn races and transitions to queen endings come to the forefront and are therefore the most common tactical ideas to be explored. Both methods, random and structured, have their own merits. If the positions are solved randomly it’s more like a real game situation. However, in the book you will not know the result or the level of difficulty beforehand. The advantage of a thematic order is that you can practice a specific theme. The advantage of a specific endgame is that you can focus on the tactical peculiarities of a particular endgame as well as the peculiarities of the piece which is defining what kind of endgame it is.

I discovered this clever concept of studying a useful but limited number of positions by coincidence as a junior at the end of the 70s when my club SK-33 in the small town of Enköping helped to arrange a couple of meetings with Robert Danielsson. At the time he was a well-known chess specialist in Stockholm, teaching the game to children. Danielsson has written books and study materials for beginners on a high pedagogical level. In Sweden he is most famous for his categorisation of five basic tactical tricks with the help of just one word. The Swedish key word is GABIÖ and it is indeed a clever acronym. Every letter stands for one fundamental and common tactical trick. G stands for Gaffel (Fork), A for Avdragare (Discoverer), B for Bindning (Pin), I for instängning (Trapping) and the last letter Ö means Överlastning (Overloading) If the letters are put in a more convenient order in the English language an equivalant word might be DPFOT. It might be a helpful acronym to help remember the five most common tactical tricks in the English language.

During one of our meetings in Stockholm, Danielsson and I agreed to follow a disciplined and structured scheme which meant I had to study five positions from Pachman’s Mittelspielpraxis im Schach and Endspielpraxis im Schach every week. If you work diligently and follow such a schedule ambitiously it will take approximately one year to assimilate the content from all the positions. You will learn all this for a lifetime if you are careful and slowly repeat the positions from time to time, maybe even up to at least 10 times, especially if the position is unfamiliar to you, until you have the specific positions at your fingertips. The main reason to study only a limited number of five positions each week is to restrict your focus to only the most important ones and concentrate solely on them. If you study too many positions, and too quickly, the risk increases that sooner or later you lose discipline and forget what you once tried to learn. The key is to learn slowly but surely and take time to reflect on the positions. If you can discuss these with your friends then so much the better. The best way to learn is actually to teach others, so if you have this opportunity, and it comes natural to you, then you should take advantage of that.

The reason for the limit of 300 tactics in the present book is motivated by the phrase “Less is more”. It’s according to the principle that the less you know the less you will forget. It will be easier to remember 300 tactical ideas in a systematic manner than 1,000 random ones, since you will have a limited number of tactics on which to concentrate and continually study and revise on a regular basis. Such a learning process will be more effective in the long run and help you to focus on the most important tactical ideas.

It’s not enough to learn tactical play in itself. One also needs the mental tools to solve problems effectively. The groundbreaking book Play like a Grandmaster by Alexander Kotov impresses upon its readers the need for mastering three abilities to become an exceptionally good player. These abilities are fast and correct calculation of variations, a deep feeling for combinations and a correct evaluation of different kinds of positions. In the present book the focus will be mostly on the second ability, a deep feeling for combinations, since it’s an ability which by nature is more tactical. However, to be good at executing and preparing combinations you obviously must be good at calculating complicated variations as well. In a sense tactics is a hybrid of these two abilities and both must be mastered if your aim is to become a really strong tactician at the board.

When a position has been reached where a combination is possible then the time has come to execute it. To be able to do this effectively, a great arsenal of tactical and combinational ideas is needed as well as high level calculating ability. When it comes to the definition of a combination it’s obviously not enough to quote Alekhine’s “The combination is the heart of chess:” It’s not consensus in the chess world that defines what a combination really is. According to the Sahovski Informator system in Belgrade, which has produced five editions of the Encyclopaedia of Chess Middlegames/Combinations beginning in 1980, a combination is “a forced variation with a sacrifice which leads to a positive result” This definition originates from Botvinnik (“The combination is a forced variation with sacrifices”) and is the most popular one but it’s not entirely correct. I believe that Averbakh, who in his book Chess Tactics for Advanced Players stipulates that a combination is a double threat, is on the right track since it also covers the manoeuvre as well as the exchange.

Consider the following miniature which I won with a tactical trick after an exchange.

Engqvist – DzevlanSCT Åland/Åkersberga 1997

1 ♘f3 ♘f6 2 c4 g6 3 b3 ♗g7 4 ♗b2 0–0 5 g3 c5 6 ♗g2 ♘c6 7 0–0 d6 8 e3 ♗f5 9 ♕e2 e5 10 d3 a6 11 ♘c3 ♖b8 12 h3 ♕c8 13 ♔h2 b5 14 ♖ac1 ♖e8 15 ♖fd1 h6 16 ♘d2 ♕d7 17 ♘de4

Black to move

17...♗e6??

Correct was 17…♘h7 making the e4-knight as well as the g2-bishop temporarily redundant.

18 ♘xf6+ ♗xf6 19 ♕f3

And Black resigned due to the double threat on f6 and c6. Dzevlan presumably made the tactical mistake of focusing too much on positional considerations such as controlling the d5-square that he missed a simple fork with the queen only two moves ahead. According to Botvinnik’s definition this isn’t a combination since before the fork an exchange took place and not a sacrifice. This proves how problematic it is to define a combination, especially if it must contain a sacrifice. Exchanges or manoeuvres can be part of a tactical trick as well, as long as there is a double threat in the position.

So the heart of all tactics is the double threat and as I have already described in 300 Most Important Positions with regard to Réti’s famous pawn ending from 1921, position 158, Averbakh used that famous position containing the immortal manoeuvre ♔g7-f6-e5 to explain that the double threat is the heart of all tactics and combinations.

On e5 the king is threatening to support the c6-pawn with ♔d6 as well as reach the enemy pawn on h4 with ♔f4.

There are a lot of books on the market which teach you how to carry out combinations so the aim of this book is not only to focus on this rather well-covered tactical aspect. More important is the underestimated, almost forgotten topic of how to reach a position where a combination is possible. This is actually the true art of chess and shows the big picture of how to relate to tactics as a whole. If the most important aspect in positional play is how to manoeuvre to achieve your objective, the question with regard to tactical matters is how to direct your play towards achieving your tactical objective.

Some say that tactics is 99 percent of the game and others that this is the case for positional play. The truth of the matter is that tactical and positional play are intertwined. In the above mentioned miniature my opponent made the mistake of focusing too much on the positional side of the game and on this particular occasion was punished for that. I’m sure this has happened to all of us at some time when playing in serious chess competitions. It happened to me in position 298 but I was lucky not to be punished, at least not on this occasion. Or as Euwe expressed it in Strategy and Tactics in Chess: “One is constantly faced with two problems: What must I do and how must I do it? In some cases one of these two problems may possibly surpass the other in importance to such an extent that it seems as if we only had one problem to deal with; in reality, however, both problems are always present.” This is the key: we must always simultaneously focus on two kinds of chess, tactical and positional. Otherwise, sooner or later, we will give away points to opponents who understand this better than us.

Although the present book will mainly deal with the answer to the second question, “How”, rather than “What”, the most advanced notion in the tactical field is actually to know how to reach the position where you can execute a tactical idea. (Of course this is also valid for prophylactic chess when we try to figure out in advance how our opponent might execute a tactical idea.) Famous in this respect are Rudolf Spielmann’s words regarding Alekhine’s combinational vision: “I can comprehend Alekhine’s combinations well enough, but where he gets his attacking chances from and how he infuses much life into the very opening – that is beyond me. Give me the positions he obtains, and I shall seldom falter. Yes, I continually get drawn games, even out of the King’s Gambit”.

If you have an advantageous position and you feel that the position is ripe for a hidden combination it’s sometimes a matter of “religiously” believing that a combination in this or that position can be found, especially when you are close to giving up the search for an ingenious tactical solution. The main idea, psychologically speaking, is to have a profound belief that it’s possible to transform an advantageous position by means of a combination or some other kind of tactical solution to extract a win.

A strong belief, combined with tactical skill, is really what top master chess is all about. “Anyone” can learn and deliver required tactics but most of us, including the great Spielmann, are not able to reach the desired positions. We mustn’t forget that Spielmann was a great player in the field of tactics and on top of that wrote the classical The Art of Sacrifice in Chess. Included in the present book are therefore tactical positions as well as some initial phases of games designed to cover this highly important but nevertheless less explored topic of how to reach a position where a combination is possible. There isn’t a single book dealing with this highly underestimated subject. How to create combinations by Vladimir Pafnutieff has an appropriate title but one which is too ambitious since in fact this book only scratches the surface. This and other works mostly deal with different types of combinations, but that is not the most important component. More important is to understand what the pieces can do, the individual peculiarities of the pieces. But, in this respect, also important are the peculiarities when pieces and pawns are working together. In the absence of any book concentrating on the issue of how to reach a position where a combination is possible, you will only be able to find this out by studying famous games by great masters. For example, great attacking and combinative players like Anderssen, Chigorin, Alekhine, Tal, Nezhmetdinov, Kasparov and Shirov come to mind.

After you have gained sufficient expertise in the field of tactical motifs and their calculation, what could be more important than to know the underlying mechanism of how to strive for a combination? On a basic level it’s possible to study this important process by looking at miniature games with specific openings, those under 20, 25 or 30 moves depending on your definition of a miniature game. What you learn from miniature games you can use in other positions as well and this includes all phases of the game, since your play can proceed along the same lines using minor operations or manoeuvres with a specific purpose in mind. The advantage of studying important miniature games is that they effectively teach you how to construct opportunities for combinative blows and that is why they are included in the present book. It’s not the hidden trap in itself that is important, it’s how to create the right conditions to set that trap. This is the heart of Alekhine’s successful combinational vision. However, as in the above mentioned game, sometimes it is your opponent who creates the right conditions and then the tactical opportunity is served on a silver platter. We must always be ready to play normal moves too as these may sometimes be enough to prepare a tactical blow, even against strong opposition. Consider the following miniature:

Engqvist – WallaceStockholm International 1997

1 ♘f3 d5 2 g3 c6 3 ♗g2 ♗g4 4 0–0 ♘f6 5 b3 ♘bd7 6. ♗b2 e6 7 d3 ♗c5 8 ♘bd2 0-0 9 e4 ♕e7 10 a3 a5

Here Wallace offered a draw which I declined.

11 h3 ♗h5 12 ♕e1

Black to move

12...♖fe8??

An amazing mistake.

13 e5 Black resigned.

The f6-knight is trapped by the pawn.

This is clearly a case of a loss of concentration by my opponent and perhaps the early proposal of a draw was a telling signal. I declined, but I could never have imagined the psychological impact that it would have. Sometimes a draw offer might indicate that the player isn’t feeling motivated enough to play chess on that day and that in itself is a trigger to continue the game, regardless of the colour of the pieces.

Which of the three phases of the game is the most important to study if your main goal is to learn tactics as effectively as possible? Tactical ideas are obviously important in all phases of the game but the middlegame is the most productive one for study, especially if you are interested in more advanced tactics. (Here one can draw a parallel to the Chinese school which believes that the middlegame is the most important phase of the game. This is contrary to the western world which tends to focus more on openings and endings, especially when teaching chess, but as Averbakh has mentioned “the theory of the middlegame lags perceptibly behind the two other phases of the game.”) Tactics in the opening mainly relate to straightforward traps, whereas tactics in the endgame focus more or less on passed pawns, breakthroughs or stalemates. In the middlegame, as well as in multi-piece endings, there will be several active pieces involved and this is the main reason tactics may not only be complicated but at worst lead to such insurmountable variations that even highly experienced players have problems successfully dealing with them. Such “impossible” variations are really like climbing up a high ice-clad mountain with a pick until the inevitable fall.

How do we know which are the most important tactical positions to study and learn for a lifetime’s use? Of course that’s a relative notion depending on your talent for tactics and your previous knowledge and experience. For a novice, a position illustrating the way to win with Greco’s bishop sacrifice on h7 followed by a mating attack with knight and queen, is important, but if you are already familiar with the main mechanism you will need to study and comprehend more advanced positions with the same concept. The ability to create complex combinations requires prior mastery of basic positions in order to be able to solve the specific tactics demanded in more difficult positions. Since this book is aimed to a rating category ranging from 1000 to 3000, all levels of player have to be satisfied. This implies that the lower the individual player’s level the more basic positions he or she is required to master. On a higher level it means that in a complicated position you must figure out whether Greco’s gift is correct or not correct. To find the solution obviously demands a high level of skill in the calculation of variations. The area of calculation will also be touched on since it’s an extremely important part of tactics, if not the most important part, especially when dealing with complex positions. The famous concept of “stepping stones” developed by the Norwegian grandmaster Jonathan Tisdall in his book Improve Your Chess Now will also be explained.

We mustn’t forget that many positions will be more difficult to solve if we are not aware of the concept of motif and theme as developed by Kotov. To find the motif is actually to find an answer to the what-question and is a good example why positional and tactical thinking constantly integrate with each other. Most of the time when analysing combinational possibilities the motif is noticed before the theme but sometimes it’s the other way around. When motifs and themes have been established it’s easier to find the candidate moves. Only after these preliminary stages have been considered can we start the concrete calculation of variations where we try to establish the various stepping stones on which to focus. After the establishment of stepping stones the tree will grow until the final stepping stone results in an evaluation. Only after we have compared the different evaluations from the different trees can we be relatively sure which is the best choice of move.

It is not only knowledge of the most relevant positions that is important but also the solutions, provided they are explained in a pedagogical and easy-to-learn manner, since you need to learn the ideas in the most straightforward manner. After all, you are supposed to learn, understand and remember the tactical ideas for a lifetime and therefore you need to embed the positions into your conscious mind of chess thinking as early as possible in your chess career. Of course this means that if you have been unable to learn appropriate chess thinking early in your life, it’s better to learn the ideas later regardless of your age. To be able to carry out this approach to learning successfully it’s vital to revise the positions from time to time by looking at them again to see if you remember the tactical idea(s) instantly. If you have forgotten the solution in a particular position you should check it again until the relevant idea is permanently stuck in your mind. For the most part, the reason you forget things is because you didn’t understand them properly in the first place. What you understand you will remember more easily, especially if you regularly revise the positions. Don’t forget to do this as it’s the most important piece of advice I can give regarding the technique of studying these important positions. After all, repetition is the mother of knowledge.

When you have finished reading the book, feel free to contact me at [email protected]. I would really appreciate your feedback for possible future editions or workbooks.

Part 1:150 most important tactical positions in the Opening and the Middlegame

1-27: Five Basic Tricks: Fork, Discoverer, Pin, Trapping and Overloading

As mentioned in the Introduction the Swedish chess teacher Robert Danielsson gathered together five tactical tricks in a Swedish compendium for beginners: fork, discoverer, pin, trapping and overloading. These tricks should be mastered on a fundamental level before one undertakes the task of solving different combinations. The reason is that the tricks may be intertwined with each other and sometimes be concealed a couple of moves ahead in the position. We cannot expect the combinations to be served on a silver platter even though that will occasionally be the case.

To find combinations is like mining for gold in Alaska. This is also the reason why even very good players sometimes overlook one of the five basic tricks.

Here follow three positions from top level chess where one highly qualified player missed a fork at a certain point. It pays to study positions where a strong player missed a tactical solution.

1

Euwe – SmyslovWorld Championship,The Hague/Moscow 1948White to move

Here Euwe played 27 ♕e3 which received a question mark from Keres even though White still has a technically winning position. Indeed, Euwe went on to win the game after 42 moves.

There are two tactical solutions which would have won the game much quicker. The most efficient would have been 27 ♕xf7+! ♖xf7 28 ♖c8+ ♗d8! (28...♖f8 29♖xf8+ followed by a knight fork (double threat) would have been too easy to find.) 29 ♖xd8+ ♖f8 30 ♘e6 (The point of the bishop move to d8 is that 30♖xf8+?? loses to 30...♕xf8). After the fork Black loses a piece since there is no saving queen check. This was no standard combination since the knight decided the game with a fork without a check and maybe this is why Euwe missed it.

Euwe could also have won with the tactical knight fork 27 ♘e6 fxe6 28 ♕xe6+ ♔g7 (28...♔h8 29♖c8) 29 ♕e4 ♕xe4 30 ♗xe4 ♗xb2 31 ♖c6 but it would have taken longer compared with the queen sacrifice on f7.

2

Ding Liren – GiriSinquefield Cup, St Louis 2019White to move

Black had just moved the rook from c7 to c6 instead of to a7 and that gave Ding Liren the opportunity to produce a nice finesse which exploits the forking possibilities hidden in the position.

33 c5!

Giri must have missed this nice move which gives Ding Liren the chance to show what the knight can do if the pawn sacrifice is accepted.

33...a5

33...♖xc5? fails to 34 ♘b6 where the knight not only threatens to win the exchange but also to deliver a knight fork at d7. The idea of the text move is obviously to prevent White from playing b3-b4. The other way of doing this was 33...b4 but then White has good winning chances with the strong knight manoeuvre 34 ♘b6 ♖e8 35 ♘d7.

34 b4 axb4

34...a4 35 ♘c3! is convincing evidence of the knight’s versatility in this position.

35 ♕xb4 ♖b8

35...♖xc5? is still met by 36 ♘b6 ♖8c7 37 ♘d7.

36 ♘b6 ♗e6

After 36...♕xc5 37 ♕xc5 ♖xc5 38 ♘d7 Black is forked.

37 ♘d7!

White allows his super knight to be exchanged and in addition sacrifices his c5-pawn to exploit the diagonals and the seventh as well as the eighth rank. A nice transformation of advantages in the spirit of Capablanca and Fischer!

37...♗xd7 38 ♖d5

This intermediate move wasn’t necessary. An immediate 38 ♖xd7 was also fine.

38...♕e7 39 ♖xd7 ♕xc5 40 ♕b3+

By exploiting the classical a2-g8 diagonal White forces Black’s queen to c4, thereby creating a future invasion square on a7.

40...♕c4 41 ♕b2 ♕c3 42 ♕a2+

A very nice triangulation of the white queen!

42...♖c4

42...♕c4 43 ♕a7 threatening mate on both the seventh and eighth rank.

43 g3

White wants some air for his king so as to enable his d1-rook to become active on d6 with decisive effect. However, even more decisive was to focus on delivering a mate on g7 by means of the continuation 43 ♕a7 ♖f8 44 g3 followed by 45 ♖1d4, cutting off the black queen from its defence of the g7-square. Then 44...♖a4 loses to 45 ♕b6.

43...♖bc8 44 ♖1d6 ♔f8 45 ♖xg6 b4 46 ♖xh6 f4 47 gxf4 Black resigned.

3

Hermansson – EngqvistSwedish Championship,Borlänge 1992Black to move

I was able to find a most aesthetic move in this game from the Swedish Championship.

20...♘h3!!

I had never seen such an idea before but anyway I realised I had to do something extraordinary in this position. My opponent undoubtedly expected the routine move 20...♘e4? which could have been met by 21 gxf5 (21 h5? g5) 21...♗xf5 22 ♘xf5 ♖xf5! with mutual chances.

21 ♖xh3

21 ♗e3 is best answered by the pawn fork 21...f4! 22 h5 (22♖xh3♗xg4) 22...♘g5!! and Black wins since the bishop on e6 is defended.

21...fxg4

A line-opening move to set up a fork with a rook and a pawn is not an everyday occurrence.

22 h5

22...♖xf4!

22...gxh3? leads by force to a position with dynamic equilibrium after 23 ♕xg6+ ♔h8 24 ♗xh6 ♕f6 25 ♗xg7+ ♕xg7 26 ♕xe6 ♕xg3 27 ♕h6+ ♔g8 28 ♘xd5 ♖ae8 29 ♘f6+ ♖xf6 30 ♕xf6.

23 hxg6+

Stronger than 23 ♕xg6+ ♔h8.

23...♔h8

23...♔g8 was also fine. Black won after 24 ♖h5 ♖f3 25 ♕e2 ♕f6 26 ♖e1 ♗g8 27 ♕d2 ♕xg6 28 ♖eh1 ♗h7 29 ♘ge2 ♖af830 ♖xd5 ♖f1+ 31 ♖xf1 ♖xf1+ 32 ♘d1 g3 The passed pawns in combination with the bishop pair will decide the game. 33 ♖d8+ ♖f8 34 ♘f4 ♕e4 35 ♖xf8+ ♗xf8 36 ♘c3 ♕h1+ 37 ♕d1 g2 38 ♘ce2 h5 White resigned.

The knight is a tricky piece to handle and normally takes up an outpost in the centre. However, chess is full of exceptions and this position demonstrates that one must also carefully check out decentralising moves, since one of them might turn out to be devastating! Chess would be too easy a game if played by generalisations alone and that is why we must focus on the exceptions. Réti understood this – in contrast to a player like Euwe who was indeed very knowledgeable but not so focused on exceptions.

Here follows six positions where the discoverer is the focus. With a discovery three pieces are involved. The first one is sacrificed (or exchanged) and the second one enables a decisive discovery for the third piece.

4

Réti – TartakowerVienna 1910White to move

As a young amateur, Réti managed to beat Tartakower with the most famous discoverer in history.

9 ♕d8+! ♔xd8 10 ♗g5+

Of course the double check 10 ♗a5+?? would be a huge mistake leading nowhere after 10...♔e8 or 10...♔e7.

10...♔c7

10...♔e8 11.♖d8 mate is the so called Opera mate after the Morphy – Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard game played at a Paris theatre in 1858:

1 e4 e5 2 ♘f3 d6 3 d4 ♗g4 4 dxe5 ♗xf3 5 ♕xf3 dxe5 6. ♗c4 ♘f6 7 ♕b3 ♕e7 8 ♘c3 c6 9 ♗g5 b5 10 ♘xb5 cxb5 11 ♗xb5+ ♘bd7 12. 0–0–0 ♖d8 13 ♖xd7 ♖xd7 14 ♖d1 ♕e6 15 ♗xd7+ ♘xd7

16 ♕b8+! ♘xb8 17. ♖d8 mate.

This game is the most famous of all games and should be learned by heart since it’s a very illuminating example of how to play when ahead in development.

11 ♗d8 mate.

Because of this game the beautiful finish is called Réti’s mate.

How did the position arise and how could Tartakower fall into this trap?

Well, it arose after 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 ♘c3 dxe4 4 ♘xe4 ♘f6 5 ♕d3 e5?

Black makes a mistake which was very common before Morphy entered the arena, i.e. opening up the game when White has more pieces in play. Surprisingly Tartakower commits the same kind of “ancient” error.

6 dxe5 ♕a5+ 7 ♗d2 ♕xe5 8 0–0–0 ♘xe4?? (8...♗e7 was necessary).

One speculation is that Tartakower saw the obvious Opera finale but overlooked the unusual Réti mate.

5

Mason – WinawerVienna 1892White to move

40 ♖xg5!!

A very strong line-opening move which enables the queen to penetrate to the seventh rank.

40...hxg5

If Black tries to prevent the threatened incursion by 40...♕f8, White wins by controlling the sixth rank instead. After 41 ♖g6 ♖xf5 White can force a winning pawn endgame with 42 ♕xf5! ♕xf5 43 ♖g7+ ♘d7 (43...♔c8 44♖g8+♔c7 45♖bxb8 and White wins.) 44 ♖xd7+ ♔c8 45 ♖xb8+ ♔xb8 46 ♖b7+ ♔c8 47 ♗d7+ ♕xd7 48 ♖xd7 ♔xd7 49 g4 etc.

41 ♕h7+ ♘d7

41...♔d8 42 ♕h8+ and the rook on f6 falls after 42...♔e7 43 ♕g7+ ♖f7 44 f6+.

42 ♗xd7 ♕g8

42...♕xd7 43 ♖c4+ ♔d8 44 ♕h8+ ♕e8 (44...♔e7 45.♖xe4+♔f7 46.♕h7+) 45.♕xf6+ and White wins.

43 ♖b7+!! ♔xb7

The rook is overloaded since after 43...♖xb7 44 ♕xg8 the capture of the bishop by 44...♔xd7 is met by 45 ♕g7+

44 ♗c8+!!

The rook check followed by this discovered double check is incredibly beautiful. 44 ♗c6+?? doesn’t work since Black has two escape squares on the sixth rank.

44...♔a8 45 ♕xg8

Mason now won easily with queen and bishop against Black’s two rooks. Mason has never been known as a famous tactical player which makes this combination even more impressive. Moves 43 and 44 make this Mason’s immortal game and one that is impossible to forget.

6

Reshevsky – FineNew York State Championship1941White to move

The best and the most spectacular continuation 48 ♕xd5!! was unfortunately missed by Reshevsky. This surprising and rare kind of move rests on the notion that sometimes it’s better not to exploit a discovered check at once, since now Black will be mated if the queen sacrifice is accepted.

A slower win was by the prosaic 48 ♗h6+ ♘e8 49 ♕xd5 ♘xh6 50 ♕xd7 ♖xd7 51 ♖xe8+ ♔f7 52 ♖ec8 with a technically winning position. In the actual game Reshevsky played the weaker 48 ♗d6+ ♘e8 49 ♗e5 and the game finished in a draw after 61 moves.

48...♘e8

This prolongs his life a little whereas 48...♘xd5 allows mate in three beginning with 49 ♗h6+ and 48...♕xd5 permits mate in four beginning with 49 ♗h6+.

49 ♕xd7 ♖xd7 50 ♖xe8 and

White enjoys an extra rook.

7

Duras – SpielmannPistyan 1912White to move

45 ♕g3!!

It was not only Marshall who could play beautiful queen moves to g3, as in position 111. Duras knew how to do it as well. His move makes it impossible to parry the threat of ♖xe8+. Note that White cannot release the pin with 45 ♔h1?? since then he would be mated after 45...♕xh6+. However, the tricky text move makes it all possible.

45...♕xh6+ 46 ♕h3 ♕d6

46...♕xh3+ 47 ♔xh3 doesn’t help and leads to the loss of a piece.

47 ♔h1

Now this move is fine since the h6-square is protected.

47...♔g8 48 ♖xe8+ ♔f7 49 ♖h8 Black resigned.

8

Sjugirov – DubovWorld Rapid Championship 2019Black to move

16...♖xa4!!

16...♘xd4 is not as strong. After 17 exd4 ♗xa4 the game is equal. If White permits, Black has the possibility of exchanging bishops with 18...♗b5, or else he can advance on the kingside with 18...g5. Dubov played 16...♖f6? 17 ♘c3 ♖h6 and won after imprecise play by White. Black wouldn’t have had enough compensation for the pawn after 18 h3!.

17 ♕xa4 ♘xd4 18 ♕d1

The point of the exchange sacrifice is that White cannot play 18 ♕xd4 since the queen would then be trapped in the middle of the board after the forced sequence 18...♗xc5 19 ♕e5 ♗d6 20 ♕d4 c5. It’s always beautiful when a queen is caught in the middle of the board, which is not that common even though it does happen from time to time.

18...♘xf3+ 19 ♕xf3 ♘xc5 20 ♗c2 ♘e4

Black has the slightly better game thanks to his stable position in the centre as well as superior harmony of his pieces.

9

Mittelman – ClausenAltonaer Schachklub 1929White to play

White has three pieces in the attack so it’s only natural to ask if a mating net can be created? Yes it can!

1 ♖g7!!

An extraordinary move which ignores the fact that the queen is unprotected and at the same time sacrifices the rook. White’s main threat is the Arabian mate on h7 so Black played...

1...♔xg7

Now if 1...♕xd4 2 ♖h7 mate. To my mind this is the most beautiful example in a practical game of the oldest of all checkmates.

2 ♘e8+

This double check forces the black king to move after which the attacking force of queen and knight, in company with the h3-pawn, inexorably lead the game to a mating finish.

2...♔g6 3 ♕f6+ ♔h5 4 ♘g7 mate.

Note how the tactical themes discoverer and Arabian mate were intertwined with each other.

The third tactical trick is the pin which means that a piece is unable to move due to a bishop, rook or queen pinning the piece. The following five positions illustrate just why a pin can be so decisive.

10

Bronstein – N.N.Simultaneous display, Sochi 1950White to move

When pieces are hanging and there are pins involved it might pay handsomely to take a good look around the board. It might just be possible to make a surprise move which exploits the pin(s).

9 ♖d8+!

Exploiting the pin on the c6-knight to set up a pin on the other knight which after 9...♔xd8 will leave the queen undefended after 10 ♕xe4. So Black resigned.

Incidentally, the position arose after 1 e4 e5 2 d4 exd4 3 ♕xd4 ♘c6 4 ♕a4 ♘f6 5 ♘c3 d5 6 ♗g5 dxe4 7 ♘xe4 ♕e7 8 0–0–0 ♕xe4. Bronstein believes that the move which makes the game special, and laid the foundation for a win, was the queen move to a4. It never occurred to Bronstein to go back to d1. What can one learn from this? Normally moving the queen back to its original square should be avoided since that loses time. Instead one should endeavour to annoy the opponent as much as possible with an active queen. This is actually a general advice given by Znosko- Borovsky in The Middle Game in Chess. Bronstein even goes so far as to mention the slightly bizarre 4 ♕d2 as a possibility. All this can be read in his classic 200 Open Games.

11

Zapata – AnandBiel 1988White to move

The most famous example of a deadly pin in modern top-class chess arose after the following moves: 1 e4 e5 2 ♘f3 ♘f6 3 ♘xe5 d6 4 ♘f3 ♘xe4 5 ♘c3 ♗f5??

6 ♕e2 Black resigned.

If Anand can fall into this trap then anyone can. It’s very easy to focus on the e4-square but after 6...♕e7 7 ♘d5 decides.

Anand made the mistake of not taking into account the whole range of movement of the queen’s knight, because he was distracted by his primary focus on the e4-square.

I can understand this mistake because it is only natural to focus on the e4-square and the e-file. The knight move to d5 in itself was irrelevant but when the queen arrived on e7 the significance of this move changed to such an extent that it became decisive.

This micro-miniature game actually teaches us how mistakes are born and such knowledge is as vital for the attacking side as well as for the defending side.

What we must do is use this knowledge as a formula of how to win and how to avoid losing in other positions.

An example of how such a formula can be elaborated is the comment to move 16 in position 15, where Keres made a similar tactical mistake as Anand.

These kinds of mistakes will be repeated again and again so do study them!

12

Ståhlberg – CapablancaMoscow 1935White to move

The Swedish grandmaster Gideon Ståhlberg played Capablanca four times in serious games and on one occasion he even reached a won position. However, all the games ended in a draw and it can be interesting to learn what mistake Ståhlberg made when he missed the win in their first meeting.

23 g4?

The idea is to win material by 24 ♖xf5 but it seems that Ståhlberg forgot that Black could simply move the king into the corner and neutralise the pressure on the f-file and the classical a2-g8 diagonal.

If Ståhlberg had played 23 ♕e5! he would have achieved maximum pressure on Black’s position and most probably would have won the game since Black cannot avoid material loss. 23...♕b6 (23...♕xe5 24 dxe5♔f8 25♗xf7) 24 g4! (24♗xf7+♔xf7 25 g4 also wins) 24...♘h4 25 ♕e7! with threats on f7 and h4. White wins at least the exchange in this variation.

23...♔h8! 24 ♕e5

Now it’s too late for this move since the king is no longer on g8. 24 gxf5 ♖xf5 is nothing for White.

24...♕xe5 25 dxe5 ♘e3!

It’s because of this tactical move that Black manages to free himself from White’s tactical grip.

26 ♗xf7

26 ♖xf7 ♘xf7 27 ♖e1 ♘xe5 28 ♖xe3 ♘xg4 results in a drawish game since Black has active play as well as an extra pawn.

26...♘xd1 27 exd6

27 ♗g6?! ♘e3 28 ♖e1 ♘dc4 29 e6 ♖d1 30 ♖xd1 ♘xd1 31 e7 ♘d6 leads to a position where White is fighting for a draw.

27...♖xd6 Draw.

13

Dus-Chotimirsky – CapablancaSt Petersburg 1913Black to move

Capablanca was famous for his small but effective combinations and this is one of them.

15...♘xd4!

Such a combination can certainly be overlooked since the queen is exploiting the seemingly closed fourth rank.

Capablanca’s move actually eliminates the e3-pawn (not the d4-pawn!) which will then leave the bishop on f4 unprotected.

Dus-Chotimirsky probably expected the inferior 15...♗xc5?, which he might have answered with the practically forced continuation 16 a3 ♕a5 17 dxc5 ♕xc5 18 ♘e4 ♕b6 19 ♘xf6+ gxf6 20 ♗d3.

White has his bishop pair directed at Black’s weakened kingside and that in itself should be enough compensation for the sacrificed d4-pawn.

16 exd4

16 ♘xd7 ♘xe2+ 17 ♘xe2 ♘xd7 would have been a better defence since White has only lost one pawn compared with two in the game.

16...♗xc5 17 a3

17 dxc5 ♕xf4 loses only one pawn but the price is too high after 18 b4 d4 19 ♘d1 e5 since Black has not only taken over the centre but practically the whole board.

17...♕xd4 18 ♗g3 ♗e7

And Black won easily with his two extra pawns in the centre.

14

Aronsson – EngqvistStockholm 2018Black to move

Decentralising moves are sometimes harder to find as I experienced in the following position where I didn’t find the killer-move...

32...♕a1!

White has no defence since Black’s next move will be the devastating 33...♖d1. In the game I played the centralising 32...♕e5? but White parried the double threat easily with 33 ♕b1 and eventually managed to draw.

33 ♕f2 ♖d1 34 ♗e8!!

White’s last chance to stir the pot.

34...♕b1!!

This nice queen move keeps up the pressure on e1 as well as defending the critical g6-square. Of course not 34...♖exe1?? 35 ♗xg6+! and Black is mated in three moves. 34...♖dxe1? is also bad and leads to a perpetual check after 35 ♗xg6+! ♔xg6 36 ♕f5+ ♔g7 37 ♕f8+ ♔h7 38 ♕f5+.

15

Kotov – KeresCandidates tournament,Budapest 1950White to move

White has very strong pressure along the b1-h7 diagonal and it’s possible to increase this still further with the pretty move 16 ♘f4!! exploiting the fact that both the g6- knight and the g5-pawn are pinned. Four white pieces are participating in the attack against the king. “A brilliant turn” wrote the fellowparticipant Swedish grandmaster Gideon Ståhlberg in the tournament book.

16...gxh4

Keres had forgotten to calculate that 16...♕e8 is met by 17 ♘h5! (Here we have a tactical mistake which echoes the miniature Zapata – Anand, position 11, and where Keres was focused on g6 just like Anand was focused on e4. Keres missed the knight move to h5 and Anand the knight move to d5. The knight move to h5 wasn’t dangerous when the bishop was threatened on h4 but when the queen moved to e8 it became strong.) threatening a deadly royal fork on f6. White is clearly better after 17...♕e7 18 ♗f2 ♗xc4 19 h4 when a fifth piece is introduced into the attack, the h1-rook, but this was still Keres’s best option.

17 ♘xg6 ♖e8

18 ♘h8!!

This knight is a true hero since it exploits every opportunity on the board. It not only opens the b1-h7 diagonal but puts pressure on another weak spot – f7. In this original manner the knight maintains its strong attacking position. It’s quite something to jump all the way from h3-h8, especially when these manoeuvres are based on tactics, since the knight has been immune from capture on the f4, g6 and h8 squares. What a knight! And that is an understatement…

18...♖e7 19 ♕h7+ ♔f8

White cannot have everything. Now the knight is in the way of the queen so there is no mate on h8. So White needs other pieces to decide the game.

20 f4!

“Kotov plays the whole game in his best style and doesn’t give his opponent any breathing space.” (Ståhlberg).

20...♘xc4

It’s not possible to escape with the king because after 20...♔e8 21 ♘xf7! ♖xf7 22 ♗g6 ♕e7 23 f5 decides. According to the computer the best move is 20...♗xc4 but White is still winning after 21 f5.

21 f5 exf5

Otherwise White plays the f-pawn to f6, which would be a tremendous wedge in Black’s position.

22 0–0! ♗c8 23 ♗xf5 ♗xf5 24 ♖xf5 ♔e8 25 ♖xf7

25 ♘xf7 wins too but why allow Black the tricky 25...♔d7? The computer suggests the incredible 25 ♖f6!! when the idea is to be able to play 27 ♕f5+ after 26 ♘xf7 ♔d7. White has now broken through and wins easily.

25...♔d7 26.♕f5+ ♔c6 27.♕f6+ ♔d7 28.e6+ ♔c6

28...♔d6 29 ♖xe7 and now 29...♕xe7 isn’t possible because of 30 ♘f7+.

29 ♖xe7 ♕xh8 30 ♖xc7+! ♔b5

Or 30...♔xc7 31 ♕e7+ ♔b8 32 ♖f1.

31 ♕e7 a5 32 ♕d7+ ♔a6 33 ♖b1

It’s a forced mate in nine moves. A very beautifully played game by Kotov. What will remain in the memory though is the incredible knight manoeuvre!

Next follow five positions where trapping is the theme. All chess pieces are able to trap an enemy piece so this is a tactical trick to look out for all the time.

16

Gibaud – LazardParis 1924Black to move

This famous and important position arose after the moves 1 d4 ♘f6 2 ♘d2!? e5 3 dxe5 ♘g4 4 h3??. It’s probably the most famous micro-miniature ever played. White obviously expected 4...♘xe5 but instead the shocker...

4...♘e3!!

appeared on the board. White had to resign on the spot since his queen is trapped and 5 fxe3 is met by the diagonal mate 5...♕h4+ 6 g3 ♕xg3 mate.

Why can this position be regarded as important, since surely 99.9 percent of relatively experienced chess players would go for 4 ♘gf3? Besides, Breyer’s 2 ♘d2!? is pretty unusual too. We can be fairly certain that this game will not be repeated. I checked the latest Mega Database (2020) which contains more than 8,000,000 million games and only 21 games reached the position after 1 d4 ♘f6 2 ♘d2 e5 3 dxe5 ♘g4. No one played 4 h3 since the game is so universally well-known. So why should we still have to learn this game by heart? We cannot deny the fact that this miniature is aesthetically appealing. After all, the contrast between the two ladies is astonishing, considering that the white queen cannot move at all whereas Black’s queen is much more mobile. This fact alone increases the beauty value. However, there are also some lessons to be learned.

First of all it does show the effectiveness of maximal co-operation between an active knight and an active queen. This idea in itself is fundamentally important since it can be used as an overall strategy in other positions as well. There are always two pieces which lay the foundations for making a combination possible: one which is sacrificed and one which decides the game. If a knight and a queen enter the game early it’s sometimes possible to use them to exert tactical pressure on the opponent. It’s important to be aware of the fact that under ideal circumstances combined play with queen and knight can be decisive, since these two pieces work so well together in view of their different movements which complement each other. A queen and a bishop don’t have the same ability to co-operate unless the queen and the bishop are placed on different coloured squares. In the miniature game the black queen operated on the black squares (a potential check to the king on e1) while the black knight would decide the game on a white square (...♘xd1).

Another interesting lesson from this miniature is that the queen on d8 hasn’t moved at all but still plays a key role. Many times it’s clever not to move the queen in order to save time for other moves. So it can be rewarding to allow the queen to remain on its original square, as it can swing over to the kingside in one move, in this case to h4 and checkmate the king on e1. It’s important to understand that the queen, on its original square, can reach the enemy king in one move regardless of whether it is placed on e1, g1 or c1. To be able to take advantage of the fact that the queens are placed on the same colour as the opposing king is sometimes of crucial importance. An instructive example is the move 16...♕a5! as played in the game Alekhine – Réti, position 20, where 17...♕b6+ was crucial to saving half a point.

17

Renman – KasparovEuropean Team Championship,Skara 1980Black to move

23...♘c5!

A tricky knight move exploiting the centralised position of the white queen. It’s pretty well masked since on move 22 Kasparov moved his queen from a8 to b8 while Renman went for waiting moves with his king between h2 and h1 on moves 22 and 23. It seemed that both were just playing waiting moves but Black had a poisoned arrow ready to shoot if the Swedish player continued his wait-and-see game.

24 ♖c2

White must firstly defend against the knight fork on b3 and secondly against ...e6-e5 which wins the e4-pawn. Capturing the knight is taboo because of the queen on b8, After 24 bxc5? dxc5 the escape square e5 is under Black’s control.

24...e5 25 ♕d1 ♘cxe4 26 ♘xe4 ♗xe4 27 ♗xe4 ♘xe4 28 ♕f3 ♘f6

Despite the fact that White has good control of the light squares it’s not enough compensation for the lost e4-pawn. Kasparov capitalised on his extra pawn and won after 45 moves.

The moral of the story is to play in such a way that subtle traps are laid for the opponent but are masked by apparently just playing a waiting game. Then it’s easier to hide real intentions from the opponent just like Kasparov did against Renman. Most of the time great players have more than one idea behind their moves: one which is relatively easy to see and one which demands a higher level of chess culture.

18

Botvinnik – SpielmannMoscow 1935White to move

When Black enters complications such as capturing the “poisoned” b2-pawn, both players must keep control of all variations linked to a possible trapping of the queen. Nevertheless here it seems that Rudolf Spielmann, a high-calibre combinative player, made a mistake in his calculations. This was probably due to the fact that the trap was slightly different and therefore tricky. It’s easy to focus on the b5- square (Remember the formula from Zapata – Anand!) but that square isn’t the key to trapping the queen in this particular position.

9 ♘a4! ♕xa2

9...♕a3 10 ♖c3 ♕xa2 11 ♗c4 also wins the queen.

10 ♗c4 ♗g4

As we have seen, 10...♕a3 11 ♖c3 wins but obviously not 11 ♖a1?? ♕xa1 12 ♕xa1 ♘c2+ when Black decides with a fork.

11 ♘f3 ♗xf3 12 gxf3 Black resigned.

According to Botvinnik’s comments, Spielmann thought for a long time before resigning. He could have continued playing on a piece down by 12...♕a3 13 ♖c3 ♘c2+ but probably he was patently depressed after trying to fool Botvinnik and getting fooled himself.

19

Böök – SköldScandinavian Championship 1956Black to move

16...♘c2 17 ♕e5

The Finnish player probably thought that this riposte would save him from losing the exchange but Black had seen further...

17...♕d7!

17...♕xe5? 18 ♘xe5 ♗e2 (Of course not 18...♘xa1?? 19♘xg4 and two minor pieces are hanging.) 19 ♗xd5 ♘xa1 20 ♖xa1 ♗a6 21 b4 and White has the slightly better game thanks to his strong position in the centre and active pawn majority on the queenside.

18 ♖ad1?

18 h3 ♗xf3 19 ♗xf3 ♘xa1 20 ♖xa1 was a better continuation but Black obviously remains clearly on top with his material advantage after 20...e6.

18...♘e3! White resigned.

It was this diabolical trap that the Swedish player, a very strong tactician, planned with his seventeenth move. If White captures the knight with the pawn then his queen will be trapped in the middle of the board by ...f7-f6. However, Black will play ...f7-f6 regardless of White’s next move so White resigned. I have managed to get my queen behind bars myself on the e5- square on two occasions so I know the feeling. It’s easy to think that the queen is stronger when centralised but if there are numerous pieces still on the board you must always be mindful of possible finesses which cut off any retreat for the queen.

20

Alekhine – RétiVienna 1922White to move

Here is seems that White’s bishop on b3 is doomed but White can miraculously save it by means of tactical resources.

16 ♕d5!

Now it looks like Black is in trouble due to the double threat of 17 ♕g5 and 17 ♕xa8.

16...♕a5! 17 fxg7

White has to change plan since none of his threats work now. After 17 ♕g5? ♕b6+ followed by 18...♕xf6 Black wins since the bishop on b3 is trapped. 17 ♕xa8? is also met by the decisive check 17...♕b6+ followed by 18...♗b7 winning material.

17...♕b6+

This check is crucial to saving half a point. 17...♔xg7? loses after 18 ♕g5+ ♔h8 19 ♕f6+ ♔g8 20 ♖f3 and Black’s king will succumb to White’s queen and rook. 20...♖e8 (or 20...♖d8 21♖g3+♔f8 22♕d6+♔e8 23♖e3 mate.) 21 ♖g3+ ♔f8 22 ♕d6+ ♖e7 23 ♕h6+ ♔e8 24 ♖g8 mate. Note the co-operation between the queen and the rook. The queen operated on the sixth rank and the d6-f8 and h6-f8 diagonals while the rook decided the game by exploiting the e- and g-files as well as the eighth rank.

18 ♔h1 ♔xg7

19 ♗xc4!

This is the miracle.

19...♗b7

Not 19...bxc4? 20 ♕xa8 ♗b7 21 ♖ab1! and White wins, for example 21...♕xb1 22 ♕xf8+. Note the importance of the natural move 18 ♔h1 since 18 ♖f2?? would have broken connection with the queen’s rook. Incidentally 21 ♖fb1?? is obviously wrong because of 21...♕xb1+ followed by 22...♗xa8.

20 ♕e5+ ♕f6

It’s in Black’s interest to exchange queens because of his weaker king’s position.

21 ♗d3

Now Black should have replied 21...♕xe5! (Réti played the inaccurate 21...♖fe8?! which allowed Alekhine to keep queens on the board with 22♕h5 thereby maintaining a slight edge. However the game ended in a draw after 61 moves.) 22 fxe5 and continued with 22...♖fc8 when a plausible continuation would have been 23 ♖f4 ♖xc3 24 ♖g4+ ♔h8 25 ♖h4 ♖e8 26 ♖xh7+ 26 ♗xh7?! ♔g7! 26...♔g8 27 ♖h5 ♖c5 and the e5-pawn is lost with an equal game, as 28 ♖e1 is met by 28...d6.

Overloading is the last fundamental tactical trick and it means that one piece is unable to control two vital squares at the same time. We will look at seven positions to illustrate this relatively common tactical idea.

21

Zukertort – BlackburneLondon 1883White to move

28 ♕b4!! ♖8c5

28...♖e8 loses to the spectacular 29 ♖f8+!! (The computer suggests the simple 29♕xe7♖xe7 30♖h3) 29...♕xf8 30 ♗xe5+ ♔xh7 31 ♕xe4+ ♔h6 32 ♕h4+ ♔g6 33 ♖g3+.

The queen is immune from capture since after 28...♕xb4 it’s game over in seven moves after 29 ♗xe5+ ♔xh7 30 ♖h3+ ♔g6 31 ♖f6+ ♔g5 32 ♖g3+ ♔h5 33 ♖f5+ ♔h6 34 ♗f4+ ♔h7 35 ♖h5 mate.

29 ♖f8+!!

In his annotations Steinitz states that this move, together with the previous one, represents one of the most attractive combinations ever played.

29...♔xh7

29...♕xf8 30 ♗xe5+ ♔xh7 31 ♕xe4+ ♔h6 32 ♕h4+ ♔g6 33 ♕g4+ ♔h7 34 ♖h3+ and mate next move.

30 ♕xe4+ ♔g7 31 ♗xe5+!!

The computer recommends the faster and more spectacular 31 ♖g8+!! which leads to mate in six moves after 31...♔xg8 32 ♕g6+ ♕g7 33 ♕e8+ ♕f8 34 ♖g3+ ♔h7 35 ♕d7+ ♔h8 36 ♗xe5+ etc.

31...♔xf8 32 ♗g7+! ♔g8

32...♕xg7 33 ♕e8 mate.

33 ♕xe7 Black resigned.

22

Botvinnik – CapablancaAVRO tournament, Holland 1938White to move

30 ♗a3!!

The point of this sacrifice is that the queen will be lured away from e7, thereby weakening the defence of the f6-knight. Later Botvinnik wrote that this famous position was used when he constructed the chess program Pioneer. “In my opinion, the process of playing (and probably, of any game) consists in a generalised exchange. A generalised exchange is what we call an exchange where (in a general sense) the changes have both material and positional (invisible) values. The aim of a generalised exchange is a relative gain of these material or positional values. There are and cannot be any other aims. In this position the black queen has the greatest positional value, while for White it’s the bishop on b2 that has the least value (of those pieces which a chess master takes into account in his calculations). It should be mentioned that for an exchange of these positional values (in contrast to an exchange of the average material values of the pieces), it is not essential for the pieces to be removed from the board, they only need to leave those squares on which they are placed. Therefore in the variation 30 ♗a3 ♕xa3 the exchange of positional values increases the strength of the position of the white pieces, since the black queen leaves the square e7.”

30...♕xa3

Botvinnik gives 30...♕e8 31 ♕c7+ ♔g8 32 ♗e7 ♘g4 33 ♕d7 but it’s no improvement on the game continuation.

31 ♘h5+!

31... gxh5

Botvinnik must have calculated 31...♔h6 32 ♘xf6 ♕c1+ 33 ♔f2 ♕d2+ 34 ♔g3 ♕xc3+ 35 ♔h4 ♕xd4+ 36 ♘g4+! since he mentioned it in his comments but above all it was important for him to see the variation was forced before sacrificing the bishop on a3.

32 ♕g5+ ♔f8 33 ♕xf6+ ♔g8 34 e7

This was most probably a stepping stone position (positions 55-56) where Botvinnik calculated the variations, since he had to calculate precisely how his king could eventually escape Black’s queen checks.

34...♕c1+ 35 ♔f2 ♕c2+ 36 ♔g3 ♕d3+ 37 ♔h4 ♕e4+ 38 ♔xh5 ♕e2+ 39 ♔h4 ♕e4+ 40 g4 ♕e1+ 41 ♔h5 Black resigned.

An instructive example showing how bad pieces should be sacrificed – in the way that Botvinnik so insightfully expressed it in his annotations to his immortal 30th move.

23

Carlsen – KotroniasOlympiad, Mallorca 2004White to move

22 ♘xf6!! ♔xf6 23 ♖xd6+!

This overloading combination is rather unusual since it involves two sacrifices instead of one.

23...♔e7

If 23...♕xd6 then 24 ♕xe3 with a double threat on g5 and a7.

24 ♖xc6 ♕xc6 25 ♕xe3 ♖c7 26 f6+

White is clearly winning with three pawns and a bishop for a rook and moreover Black’s king is exposed. However, Carlsen failed to win this position and it can be worthwhile to analyse what happened.

26...♔d8 27 ♕d3+ ♔c8 28 ♗d5 ♕b6 29 ♕g3

It’s better to defend the h4-pawn economically with 29 g3 which literally kills off the rook’s function on h8.

29...♕d4

29...♕a6 was a better queen move.

30 h5 ♔b8 31 h6?

Here the pawn becomes a weakness and provides a telling example of why one shouldn’t break Philidor’s famous rule which states that pawns should advance in a phalanx. It would have been better to play pragmatically with 31 ♕f3 followed by g2-g4.

31...a4?

31...♕c5 was better since it’s not possible to defend the c3-pawn without losing the h6-pawn.

32 a3