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- Herausgeber: Batsford
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
One of the most influential books on chess ever published – now in digital format. The Tiger is a vicious beast. He doesn't care about the aesthetic side of chess. He doesn't even care about making the 'best' moves. All he cares about is winning. Do you want to win more games? Then become a Tiger. 'Chess for Tigers' tells you how to make the most of your playing strength, how to play upon your opponent's weaknesses, how to steer the game into a position which suits you and not your opponent, how to get results against strong opposition and how to avoid silly mistakes. This is a cult classic that is as relevant to today's generation of chess players as the first edition was. Regularly voted in the top 10 best chess books of all time, this book should be read by all chess players, especially beginners who want to win at all costs. Author Information Mr Webb started to make an impact on the chess world in the 1960s. He learned the game at the age of seven and ten years later, in 1966, he was under-18 champion in Britain and fourth in the European junior Championship. He married and moved to Sweden in the 1970s and became one of the few correspondence chess Grand Masters. The first edition of Chess for Tigers was first published in 1978. The sad death of Simon Webb in March 2005 shocked the chess community.
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Seitenzahl: 187
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013
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www.anovabooks.com
First published in the United Kingdom in 2005 by Batsford 151 Freston Road London W10 6TH
An imprint of Anova Books Company Ltd
Copyright © Simon Webb
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
First eBook publication 2013 ISBN 9781849941594 Also available in paperback ISBN 9780713489880
This book can be ordered direct from the publisher atwww.anovabooks.com, or try your local bookshop.
Distributed in the United States and Canada by Sterling Publishing Co., 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016, USA
Contents
Foreword
1 So you want to be a Tiger?
2 Play the man – not the board
3 Looking in the mirror
4 How to improve your opening repertoire
5 How to catch Rabbits
6 How to trap Heffalumps
7 Fortune favours the lucky
8 How to win won positions
9 What to do in drawn positions
10 Clock control
11 How to avoid silly mistakes
12 Team Play
13 Quick Play
14 Correspondence Chess
15 Are you ready …?
Foreword
Since the second edition was published in 1990, there have been dramatic changes in competitive chess. Time limits have become shorter, adjournments and adjudications have been replaced by quick finishes, and Quick Play events have become much more popular. Correspondence chess has been transformed by the impact of e-mail, analysis engines and databases.
So I have updated Chess for Tigers to reflect these and other changes.
Simon Webb
Stockholm, 2005
Note: Some time after the author had submitted his manuscript for this new edition of Chess For Tigers, FIDE, the International Chess Federation, passed new laws forbidding a player to write moves down in advance and also insisting that a player’s scoresheet be visible to the arbiter throughout the game. This clearly has a bearing on advice given here and here, but as a mark of respect to the late Simon Webb we have retained his original text.
I So you want to be a Tiger?
You could be a much better chess player than you are.
How? Simply by making fuller use of your natural ability. You have a reasonable knowledge of your favourite openings, your positional judgement is better than that of many players you lose to, and you can analyse tactical lines as well as some players of twice your strength. And yet you only play at your full strength maybe one or two games in ten. This is because you waste much of your ability by not directing it properly. You get into the wrong positions against the wrong opponents, you make silly mistakes, you adopt the wrong mental attitude, and you handle the clock badly.
If you could fully harness your natural ability you would find yourself consistently beating your current rivals and holding your own against players you now consider to be out of your class.
‘Well, I’m sure I could do better if I spent a lot more time studying chess …’, you may say, ‘… but there are other things in life, and I don’t really want to spend hours and hours every evening swotting up openings and things’
The answer is – you don’t have to! You need not spend any more time on chess than you do now, but what you must do is adopt a practical approach and play to win.
Next time you sit down to play a match, ask yourself what is your aim in playing. Are you aiming to play the best moves? Or are you playing to win? There is a difference. Many players aim merely to play the best moves, objectively speaking. They never succeed, of course, but that doesn’t stop them trying. But chess is not a science – it’s a game, a struggle between two mortals who make mistakes, deceive themselves and each other, get tired, allow themselves to be distracted, and altogether have no hope of attaining perfection at the chess-board. If you want to become a Tiger, you must forget about playing the best moves and concentrate on winning.
Of course, I know that you play chess for enjoyment, and that winning or losing isn’t really all that important – the game’s the thing. But just between you and me, you may as well admit that you get a bit of a kick out of winning, and you simply hate losing. If you want to improve your results you must harness that desire to win and transform yourself into a Tiger of the chess-board. And if you want to know how, read on …
Note. This book is designed to make you think. Diagrams are placed to bring out key points, and to get the maximum benefit you should have a brief look at the position in each diagram before continuing with the text.
2 Play the man – not the board
Only an automaton plays the same way against every opponent. The practical chess-player looks out for the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents, and goes out of his way to capitalize on the weaknesses.
Before a World Championship Match, each player may spend months making a very thorough study of his opponent’s games, searching for weaknesses in his opening repertoire, identifying the types of positions in which he is at home or ill-at-ease, assessing his tendency to over-optimism or pessimism, and so on. You can’t go to these lengths, but you should still be able to make good use of anything you know about your opponent’s style of play.
If you play regularly at a club you will doubtless know what to expect from most of the other club members. You may know that Smith will attack like crazy and go to any lengths to avoid an exchange of queens, that Jones is lacking in confidence and inclined to agree a draw in a good position, and that Bloggs relies mainly on setting cheap traps. With this information you should be able to tackle each of these opponents in a particular way.
You will have less to go on, however, when you face an opponent you know nothing about, in a match against another club, for example. Your friends or team-mates may be able to give you some information about him, but even against a complete Mystery Man you should be able to make a few deductions. Does he look a bit past his prime? Is he carrying a briefcase bulging with openings books? Does he look confident or nervous?
If you’ve got nothing else to go on, age is a reasonable guide. Older players tend to have less stamina; they may be subject to time-trouble, unfamiliar with current opening theory, and bad in complications, but they often play simple positions and endings well. Younger players are usually well genned up on current opening theory (though not the theory of ten years ago), and good at analysing tactical lines, but frequently lack technique in simple positions and endings. Once the game gets started you will be able to modify your first impressions in the light of your opponent’s choice of opening, although by this stage you will have less opportunity to steer the game in a particular direction.
A good illustration of how to play on your opponent’s weaknesses is provided by the way Korchnoi tackled Geller in their semi-final match in the 1971 World Championship Candidates’ series. He knew that he couldn’t outplay Geller positionally (as he frankly admitted after the match); so he deliberately aimed for complicated and unclear positions, in which he believed Geller would be uncomfortable. This approach paid off handsomely. Geller continually became short of time trying to fathom the complications which Korchnoi produced, failed to find the right answers, and lost 5½‒2½. Indeed he lost 3 of the 8 games on time.
Here is the eighth and final game of the match:
White:GellerBlack:Korchnoi
Sicilian Defence, Scheveningen Variation
1
e2-e4
c7-c5
2
g1-f3
d7-d6
3
d2-d4
c5xd4
4
f3xd4
g8-f6
5
b1-c3
a7-a6
Challenging Geller to enter the notoriously complicated lines of the Najdorf Variation started by 6 g5 e6 7 f4 b6 8 d2 xb2 with which Bobby Fischer had had many successes as Black round about this time.
6
f1-e2
e7-e6
7
0-0
Geller opts for quiet development.
7
…
f8-e7
8
f2-f4
0-0
9
g1-h1
b8-c6
10
c1-e3
d8-c7
11
a2-a4
Having completed his development, Geller plays thematically, restraining Black’s possible breaks with … b5 and … d5, and trying gradually to build up control of the centre.
For the moment Korchnoi is passively placed, and contents himself with bringing his remaining pieces into play, while waiting for a chance to open up the struggle.
11
…
c8-d7
12
d4-b3
b7-b6
13
e2-f3
f8-d8
14
d1-e2
d7-e8
15
e3-f2
d8-c8
16
f2-g3
Bringing another piece to bear on e5, and indirectly on Black’s d-pawn. White has plenty of pieces stopping … d5 and … b5, and sooner or later will be able to open up the position with e5.
How is Black to continue?
16
…
f6-d7!
Korchnoi goes for active counterplay on the Q-side. The knight is heading for c5, and at the same time making way for the bishop to come to f6, where it will bear down on White’s Q-side. This plan has the disadvantage of taking a piece away from the defence of the king, but the merit of being active and thus forcing Geller to bring about a confrontation by trying to press home his advantage in the centre.
The alternative of preventing White’s e5 thrust by playing … e5 himself would have been reasonably solid, but would have left White with a slight plus and Black with no active counterplay – just the sort of position in which Geller excels.
17
a1-d1
e7-f6
18
e4-e5!
A pawn sacrifice that can’t be accepted!
18
…
d6xe5
19
f4xe5
f6-e7
19 … xe5 20 xc6 xc6 21 xe5 wins a piece, while 19 … dxe5 20 fe1 leaves Black unable to prevent material loss, for White is threatening both xe5 and xc6.
20
b3-d4
c6xd4
21
d1xd4
a8-a7
22
d4-g4
White has a clear advantage. This is not to say that Korchnoi was wrong to provoke e4-e5, for if he had played passively for a few moves Geller would have built up an even stronger position before opening up the centre.
With his last move Geller employs the objectively best plan of attacking on the K-side while the black pieces are grovelling around on the Q-side. How would you defend?
22
…
h7-h5!
Korchnoi deliberately weakens his K-side in order to confuse the issue and encourage Geller to spend valuable time on the clock analysing sacrificial attacks. This is the crucial moment in the game, and an excellent example of playing the man, not the board. A defensive move like … f8 might have been objectively better, but then Geller would have had the sort of position he likes, with everything under control, and would probably have continued to play well.
23
g4-e4
g7-g6
24
h2-h3?
24 xh5! would have led to a powerful sacrificial attack after 24 … gxh5 25 f6!, but Geller, after running short of time analysing this, shrinks from the complications and tries to play positionally after all. Now that his K-side pawn advances have gone unpunished, Black is able to consolidate his gain of space and obtain reasonable chances.
24
…
e7-f8
25
g3-h2
f8-g7
26
e4-e3
d7-c5
27
e2-e1
Although he no longer has the advantage, Geller is still playing for a win, since he is behind in the match. He would like to play h4, followed by either g4 or e4 (after first chasing away the knight with b4). This plan turns out to be too slow, however.
27
…
e8-c6
28
f3xc6
c7xc6
29
e1-h4
a7-d7
If only Geller hadn’t been distracted by the possibility of a K-side attack he would still be controlling the d-file! But once having started it he should have gone through with it.
30
e3-f3
b6-b5
Now that Black has control of the centre White’s pieces lining up on the K-side can do little. If Black can manage to get in … b4, chasing away the knight, he will be able to get in behind the white e-pawn, which is now looking rather weak, and White’s Q-side pawns will also be in danger of dropping off.
31
a4xb5
a6xb5
32
b2-b4?
A tactical error in time-trouble.
32
…
c5-d3!
33
c3-e4
c6xc2
34
e4-f6+
g7xf6
35
e5xf6
d7-d5
Flank attacks are usually easy to repulse when you have control of the centre, and here the rook easily stops White’s K-side threats such as g5, or e4 and gxh5.
36
f3-e3
c2-c4
37
h4-g3
h5-h4
White lost on time, but his position is completely lost in any case, for Black is about to win a second pawn and his pieces dominate the board.
Although unable to match Geller’s fine positional play in the first 20 moves, Korchnoi succeeded in obtaining the sort of complicated position which he plays better than Geller. If Geller had been more aware of his own and Korchnoi’s strengths and weaknesses, he might have been content to maintain a slight advantage by controlling the d-file and restricting Black’s Q-side activity, even though he knew that the K-side attack was objectively better. It is not always a good idea to play the best moves, particularly when you have to use up a lot of time finding them.
You can bet Korchnoi wouldn’t have played like that against Tal!
Another example of the benefits of leading your opponent into unfamiliar paths is provided by my game against Hartston in the 1974 British Championship. Knowing that I very rarely open 1 e4, and prefer Q-side openings, Hartston inveigled me into playing the White side of a Maroczy bind Sicilian, I was unfamiliar with this type of position, went wrong, and was duly punished for my psychologically poor choice of opening:
White:S. WebbBlack:W. R. Hartston
English Opening – Maroczy Bind
1
g1-f3
g8-f6
2
d2-d4
c7-c5
3
c2-c4
c5xd4
4
f3xd4
b7-b6!
An unusual move, allowing White full control of the centre, and with no particular intrinsic merit. It gets an exclamation mark, however, because the player of the white pieces is S.Webb. I always like to fianchetto my king’s bishop in such positions, and this is the one move which prevents me from doing so. Had it occurred to me that Hartston might play this move, I would have played 3 g3 or possibly 2 c4 and then 3 g3.
5
b1-c3
c8-b7
6
f2-f3
d7-d6
7
e2-e4
e7-e6
8
f1-e2
f8-e7
9
0-0
0-0
10
c1-e3
b8-d7
This position is perfectly good for White, objectively speaking, and I knew that I had been playing in approved fashion up to now. From this point, however, I had to decide on some sort of strategy. Should I go for f3-f4-f5? Or g2-g4-g5? Or try to get play against the pawn on d6 by doubling rooks on the d-file? None of these plans looked particularly convincing, so I settled for putting my rooks in the centre and waiting to see what happened. It’s not much use knowing you’ve got a good position if you don’t know what to do with it!
11
d1-d2
a7-a6
Hartston commented on this position in the British Chess Magazine as follows:
‘Now the position bears a very strong resemblance to a Sicilian. I felt quite happy now since I seem to have spent half my life playing Sicilian positions of this type, while my opponent, not a 1 e4 player, had to be less familiar with the problems.’
12
f1-d1
d8-c7
13
a1-c1
a8-c8
14
e2-f1
c7-b8
15
d2-f2
f8-e8
Hartston’s comments again:
‘White has made a series of natural moves and maintains a spatial advantage; nevertheless I believe that Black already has the better prospects. The black pieces, at first sight a little cramped, are beautifully placed to leap into action after the thematic d6-d5 breakthrough – possibly with a pawn sacrifice.’
By this stage I was definitely running out of things to do. I still don’t know what I did wrong, apart from choosing the wrong opening!
16
g1-h1
e7-f8
17
d4-c2
d7-e5
18
e3xb6
I would have preferred to defend my c-pawn, which is doing its best to prevent both … b5 and … d5, but both 18 b3 b5 and 18 a3 d5! are very unpleasant for White.
18
…
e5xc4
19
f1xc4
c8xc4
20
c2-e3
c4-c6
21
b6-a5
Black now has a definite advantage due to his bishop pair and central pawn majority, and Hartston exploits this superbly.
21
…
d6-d5!
22
e4xd5
e6xd5
23
e3-f5
Taking the pawn is too dangerous, e.g. 23 exd5 xd5 24 xd5 xc3 winning a piece, or 23 cxd5 xd5 24 xc6 xe3 also winning a piece. The move played is an attempt to blockade the d-pawn with d4 next move, but there’s something wrong with this …
23
…
d5-d4!
A fine pawn sacrifice, opening up lines for the black pieces to swing into action against the white king.
24
f5xd4
c6-c5
25
h5-b6
c5-h5
26
h2-h3
How would you continue the attack?
26
…
f6-g4!!
Well, if you saw that one either you’re a very good combinative player or you cheated! This is an excellent piece sacrifice, because although it doesn’t force an immediate win it gives Black a lasting attack against which there is no defence.
27
f3xg4
h5xh3+
28
h1-g1
b8-h2+
29
g1-f1
h3-g3
30
c1-c2
g3xg4!
There is no hurry – White has no way of reorganizing his defence.
31
f2-g1
h2-h6
32
d4-f5(?)
A wild attempt to play actively, which only succeeds in losing back the piece without blunting Black’s attack. But it is difficult to see how else White can defend. If 32 a5 or c7 the reply 32 … c5 leaves White hopelessly tied up, while 32 b3 allows 32 … a5! with the powerful threat of … a6+. Possibly 32 a7 would have been the best chance, planning to meet 32 … h4 with 33 f5. After 32 … e5, however, it is difficult to find a move which doesn’t lose something.
32
…
h6-f6
33
c2-f2
f6xb6
34
g1-h2
a6-a5!
35
h2-h3
g4-g6
36
c3-d5?
Losing immediately, but in any case there was no answer to the threat of… a6+ followed by … c5.
36
…
b6-b5+
37
f1-g1
b7xd5
White resigns
A finely played attack by Hartston, but he was able to make use of his attacking skill only because he had tricked me into playing a position I didn’t understand.
In this game choice of opening was the principal factor in ‘playing the man’, but you should be constantly aware of who you are playing throughout the game. The opening provides the greatest opportunity for you to determine the character of the whole game, but critical strategical decisions frequently occur at quite a late stage in the game. A common one, for example, is the choice of whether to continue with a middle-game attack or to swap off into a slightly favourable ending. Here your opponent’s style of play is an important factor to be considered, but there are a number of others, and the main ones can be listed as follows:
(1) The objective merits of the two alternative lines.
(2) Your opponent’s style of play.
(3) Your own style of play (see next section).
(4) The clock position. If you are ahead on time you might do better to choose the attack, while if behind on time you should tend to go for the ending.
(5) Whether you want to keep the draw in hand or whether you need to win at all costs (because of the match or tournament position).
Well, that will do to be going on with, though you will probably be able to think of a few more. The one factor you should not consider, however, is how much the attack will impress everyone if you can win with a brilliant sacrifice. As a Tiger, you should be concerned only with results, and that means going for the ending if that is the safest way of winning.
3 Looking in the mirror
You can identify weaknesses in your opponent’s play without too much trouble, but do you know your own weaknesses? Really? You’re quite sure? Because a lot of players don’t.
