Christiansen Storming the Barricades.pdf

Storming the Barricades

Larry Christiansen

ceJAl�IBllTI

This book is dedicated to Natasha

First published in the UK by Gambit Publications Ltd 2000 Reprinted 2002 Copyright © Larry Christiansen 2000 The right of Larry Christiansen to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent pur­ chaser. A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication data is available from the British Library. ISBN 1 901983 25 0 DISTRIBUTION:

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Gambit Publications Ltd Managing Director: GM Murray Chandler Chess Director: GM John Nunn Editorial Director: FM Graham Burgess German Editor: WFM Petra Nunn

Contents

Symbols

4

Introduction

5

1

Evolution of an Attacking Player

6

2

Attack: General Considerations

27

3

Ripping Apart the King Position

43

4

King-Hunting

68

5

How Not to Attack

83

6

Seizing Opportunities

104

7

Creatins; and Exploiting Weaknesses

128

8

Larry Christiansen's Eleven Favourite Attacking Games of the 1990s

144

Index of Players

17 5

Index of Openings

176

Symbols

+

check

Web

world championship

++

double check

Ct

candidates event

#

checkmate

!! ! !? ?! ? ??

brilliant move

zonal event

good move

IZ z OL

interesting move

ECC

European Clubs Cup

dubious move

qual

qualifying event

bad move

tt

team tournament

blunder

jr

junior event

+-

White is winning

worn

women's event

± �

White is much better

mem

memorial event

White is slightly better

rpd

rapidplay game

interzonal event olympiad

equal position

corr.

correspondence game

; + -+

Black is slightly better

1-0

the game ends in a win for White

Black is much better

lf2_lf2

the game ends in a draw

Black is winning

0- 1

the game ends in a win for Black

Ch

championship

nth match game

Cht

team championship

(n) (D)

=

see next diagram

I ntroduction

I regard this book as mainly inspirational in content. Although there is plenty of 'how-to' material and considerable practical advice regarding the art of attacking chess, my goal is to instil the sense of adventure and spirit that is so important to successful warfare on the chessboard. Be warned - the kind of ruthless, aggres­ sive chess described and celebrated in this book is not for the faint-hearted ! The attacking player should have an 'attitude' . He never fears or avoids com­ plications, welcomes imbalance, is ever-alert for opportunities and automati­ cally searches for combinations and tactics. He may gaze across the board but his eyes tend to rest on the area around the enemy king. In difficult positions, the at­ tacking player craves activity and is willing to part with material to launch coun­ ter-attacks. He doesn't go down quietly. I regret not including hundreds if not thousands of brilliantly combative games in this book. As I neared completion of the book, I noticed that many fan­ tastic games and examples by such brilliant stars as Bobby Fischer, Judit Polgar, Lajos Portisch, Bent Larsen, Ljubomir Ljubojevi6, Alexander Khalifman and many others were not present. I hope to overcompensate for this omission in a fu­ ture book. In a sense, this book is semi-autobiographical. I have included more than a few examples and games from my own career (including some losses and blun­ ders). Most of these are pretty entertaining, or instructive, and a few were impor­ tant milestones in my career. The first chapter, Evolution of an Attacking Player, is a brief summary of my career and important events that helped shape my style. I think my story as a chess-player can be useful to students of the game, who can both learn from my mistakes and perhaps emulate my strengths as a chess-player. I wish to thank my wife, Natasha, for her continuous help and encouragement of this project, Heather Sanford for vital technical assistance during the final stages of the book, and Bill and Vesna Kelleher for their valuable advice and re­ search.

Larry Christiansen Cambridge, Massachusetts January 2000

1 Evolution of a n Attacki n g Player

A s a youngster growing u p in subur­ ban Riverside, California in the 1960s, I was attracted to many board games such as draughts (checkers), Monop­ oly, Parcheesi, etc. The game that fas­ cinated me the most was chess. I watched older kids playing chess at a swimming club when I was eight years old and slowly began to grasp how the pieces moved. For a long time, I thought rooks could only move at the edge of the board and the strange en passant rule allowed. a pawn to capture like a knight on its first move. Finally, my father taught me the rules (he was unsure about en passant as well) and I started my first, fumbling steps to be­ coming a decent player. I played in my first chess tourna­ ment in 1966, where I finished in sec­ ond place in the Riverside Elementary Chess Championship. The director of the tournament, a young man by the name of Lee Corbin, invited me to play in the Riverside Junior Chess Club, which met on Saturday afternoons in a rickety structure in a small park. Corbin was the director and teacher at the chess club and earned a small fee from the Riverside Parks & Recre­ ation Department. The Junior Chess

Club usually had about ten to twenty members, with many youngsters drift­ ing in and out of chess. I myself stopped coming to the club for a pe­ riod after losing badly in a ladder tour­ nament. My parents, while supportive of chess, never pushed me one way or the other regarding the game. A core of regulars of about six or seven players met almost every week. The leader of the club, aside from Corbin, was Ross Stoutenborough, three years my senior and far my supe­ rior during most of my youth. Other members of the core group included Robbie Newbold (a future National High School Champion), R.J. Fisher, Roger Myers, and Tom Devine (all of whom attained at least USCF Expert strength). Corbin had a special gift for teaching children, who responded to his quiet intelligence and dedication. He taught all of the basic principles such as quick development, central control, opposition, etc. He covered the tricky business of chess notation (I first learned Descriptive Notation) and he often reviewed classic games (he was partial to Paul Morphy and Joseph Blackburne). Last but not least, Lee provided transportation to and from

EVOLUTION OF AN ATTACKING PLAYER

various school tournaments in the Riverside area. It was not long before I became an absolute chess fanatic. My first chess book, Fred Reinfeld's 1001 Sacrifices and Combinations, became a constant companion at home and school. This book helped to develop tactical skill and helped spark a basic love of attack and sacrifice. I also enjoyed going to the Riverside Public Library to ex­ plore its fairly large collection of chess books and magazines. I regret to say that a fair number of the Chess Re­ view Annuals I checked out from the library were returned with pages stuck together with ice cream drippings. I read many standard treatises on the game including Reti's Masters of the Chessboard, Chernev's Logical Chess, Move by Move, Euwe and Kra­ mer's The Middlegame in Chess, and of course Nimzowitsch's My System. I also read the classic game anthologies by Keres, Alekhine, Fischer and oth­ ers. Keres's classical style and simple understandable annotations made him my favourite chess author. I would linger on the tactical meiees and slowly began to grasp the basics of not just tactics but also the initiative, weak squares, the bishop-pair and other im­ portant themes. I was particularly im­ pressed with Alekhine's games. On Sunday mornings, I couldn't wait to get out of bed to read the Los Angeles Times chess column by Isaac Kashdan and the Riverside Press Enterprise chess column by George Koltanowsky.

7

In 1967 I joined the Riverside Chess Club and started playing in club ladder tournaments against adult players at time-controls of 40/2 or even slower. This prepared me to play in my first real open tournament, which finally came in late 1967 when I entered the Redlands Open. In the first round I was paired with veteran master Robert Jacobs and, not surprisingly, lost badly. Here are the first few moves: Christiansen - Jacobs

Redlands 1967 l e4 e5 2 �f3 d5 I had never seen this before but I figured the best response was to de­ velop, so...

3 �c3?! d4 Here I felt that I should keep the knight centralized and plunged for­ ward with...

4 �5?? ...which of course loses a piece after...

4 c6 ...

I had the right instincts (develop­ ment, centre) but insufficient appreci­ ation of my opponent's possibilities! The tournament was not a complete shut-out. I managed a win and a draw in the five-round event. Southern California in the late 1960s was a very good place to play chess. There were quite a few clubs in the area as well as a very active Southern California Chess League. The Piati­ gorsky Foundation sponsored a school

8

STORMING THE BARRICADES

chess competition every December (I won my grade championship a few times) and there was a good open tour­ nament somewhere in the vast area nearly every month. My parents be­ came accustomed to me arriving home in the early hours of the morning, after a long outing in the chess league. I usually had to pay for this the next day by struggling to stay awake in class (difficult even in normal circum­ stances). My progress as a player continued steadily. My first United States Chess Federation rating was 1652 (summer 1968) and within two years I broke the 2000 level. I became more and more entranced with the sacrificial, attack­ ing mode of play. Boris Spassky's drive to the World Championship was in full gear and his classical and me­ thodical attacking games made a strong impression on me. His steam­ roller wins in the Closed Sicilian (1 e4 cS 2 lDc3 lOc6 3 g3) against opponents like Geller, Larsen and Korchnoi led me to adopt that system for White for a period of time. As Black, like many youngsters at that time, I liked to play the Dragon Sicilian and King's Indian Defence. Aside from Lee Corbin, the person who had the biggest influence during my formative years was Ross Stouten­ borough, my Junior Chess Club col­ league who was clearly on his way to becoming a USCF Master. He had a strong aptitude for positional play but was no slouch in tactical slugfests. In

late 1969, Ross and I played a little private match where he destroyed me 5-1. My dubious attacking schemes were consistently punished by the more judicious Stoutenborough, who spe­ cialized in refuting unsound attacks. Eventually I learned that raw aggres­ sion on the chess board was doomed to failure unless soundly based. Ross and I played in many tournaments to­ gether, along with another young star of the Riverside club, Robert Newbold, who lived a few blocks away from me. Newbold, a little younger than Ross, was a good calculator and tactician but couldn't match Ross's advanced posi­ tional understanding. He ranked some­ where between Ross and me in play­ ing strength until I managed to close the gap in the early 1970s. Robbie, Ross and I became regulars on the modest open tournament circuit of Southern California and soon became known as the "Riverside Trio". In April 1970, Ross, Robbie and I (along with Roger Myers - a solid USCF Expert) travelled to New York to play in the National High School Championships. I was in the eighth grade and scored a respectable 6/8 while Robbie shocked Ross and me (and maybe himself) by winning the tournament with a superb 71/'i/8 score. New York was quite a culture shock for a middle-class California brat and the New York chess scene was worlds away from the more mellow California chess climate. During the 1970 High School Championships, I remember

EVOLUTION OF AN ATTACKING Pl.AYER

the intense excitement generated by Bobby Fischer's dramatic re-emergence back to chess with his participation in the USSR vs World match, held in Bel­ grade. Fischer's 3-1 win over Tigran Petrosian on board 2 created a buzz of excitement among the school kids who packed the McAlpin Hotel. Fischer's spectacular comeback was quite an in­ spiration to me and the other school kids, although I preferred the less me­ chanical styles ofTal, Larsen, and Spas­ sky to Fischer's scientific precision. One important aspect of my devel­ opment as a player came in the endless blitz sessions I had with Ross, Robbie and other juniors. I played thousands of blitz games during my early years, which helped to develop a quick, tacti­ cal skill. Blitz is an ideal way of quickly learning tactical patterns that are the basic ingredients for successful attacking play. One of my earliest published games was the following game against veteran master Julius Loftsson from a tourna­ ment in mid-1970. After I misplayed the opening, my opponent carelessly allowed a tactical shot that reversed the fortunes.

Christiansen - Loftsson

Los Angeles 1970 1 c4 tt:'l f6 2 tt:'l c3 g6 3 e4 d6 4 d4 .i.g7 5 ttJ f3 0-0 6 .i.e2 e5 7 .i.e3 I was not fond of the line 7 0-0 tt:'lc6 8 d5 tt:'le7 because of Black's kingside attacking chances.

9

7...exd4 8 tt:'l xd4 :es 9 f3 c6 10 1i'd2 d5 1 1 cxd5? I was out of theory at this point. Correct is 11 exd5.

11 ... cxdS 12 exd5 tt:'l xd5 13 tt:'l xd5 'ii'xd5 14 :dt 'it'xa2 15 0-0 1i'd5 16 :rel a6 There is nothing wrong with play­ ing 16...tt:'lc6, when Black is a solid pawn ahead. 17 1i'c3 tt:'l c6 18 .i.c4 1i'h5?? (D) Correct was 18...1i'd7! 19 �bl :xe3 20 'ii'xe3 .i.xd4 21 'ii' h6 b5 22 .i.dS .i.b7 23 .i.xc6 .i.xc6 24 'ii' h4 :cts 25 :ct3 .i.f6 26 'ii'xf6 'ii'x d3 27 'ii'xc6 °ii'd2 and Black should win.

19 .i.xf7+ ! All forcing moves should be exam­ ined and that goes double for a forcing move that draws the king out. Here, Black's king becomes a hunted fugi­ tive.

19 ... 'iii> xf7 20 'ii'c4+ :e6 If Black plays 20 ... .i.e6, then 21 tt:'lxe6 l:txe6 22 :ct?+ is similar to the game.

10

STORMING THE BARRICADES

21 �xe6 .i.xe6 22 lld7+ �e7 23 llxe7+ �xe7 24 .i.cS+ �d8 25 .i.b6+ 1-0

from England by the name of David Strauss made his debut at the River­ side Chess Club. Both the newcomer and I were rather sceptical of each

In 1 97 1 , I returned to New York to

other's chess prowess at first, but after

play in the National High School

some casual blitz games with the pro­

championships along with Robbie and

fessor it soon became clear that a

Ross. Ross had by now achieved a

strong new member of the club had ar­

USCF Master rating and was the top

rived. Strauss immediately began win­

rated player in the field. There were

ning various open tournaments in the

some strong New York players in the

southern California area and he gradu­

field, such as Danny Kopec, Jon Jacobs,

ally became my main chess mentor in

Peter Winston, and the Jacklyn brothers.

Riverside when Robbie left town for

I started well with a string of victories

Stanford University and Ross became

but Ross had a· setback by allowing a

immersed in his studies and social life

perpetual check in a winning position

at UC Riverside.

against Iowa's Jon Frankie. In the sixth

Strauss was an alumnus of Cam­

round I managed to defeat second­

bridge University and was a member

ranked Jon Jacobs, who blundered a

of the famous Cambridge University

piece in a good position, while Ross's

Chess Club during the late 1 960s. He

bid for the title ended when he lost to

had rubbed shoulders with famous

unheralded Pennsylvania player Peter

player-authors like William Hartston

Radomski. Although I was sorry to see

and Raymond Keene (their books were

Ross lose, I was relieved I wouldn't

virtually must-reads in those days)

have to face him in a subsequent round.

and had a scholarly approach to the

In the seventh round, I managed to de­

game. He was sufficiently gifted tacti­

feat Radomski in a long game to take

cally but his real strengths were supe­

the lead and then drew in the last

rior positional understanding (at least

round with Robert Gruchacz of New

compared to me) and excellent tech­

York to clinch the title of National

nique. Almost to the point of neglect­

High School Champion. Shortly after

ing his professorial duties, Dr Strauss

the draw with Gruchacz, I raced down

devoted much of his spare time to

twenty flights of stairs (the elevators

chess. Our clashing styles at the chess­

were constantly slowed by schoolboys

board made for some memorable en­

who pressed all the buttons upon exit­

counters.

ing for their floor) to call my parents in California to report the news.

We played a few private training matches in the early 1 970s. I came out

Also in 1 97 1 , a young University of

a bit ahead in these sessions, usually

California Riverside statistics professor

due to Strauss overlooking a tactical

EVOLUTION OF AN ATTACKING Pl.AYER

trick in a winning position. He fared better against me in actual tournaments when money was on the line. I learned a great deal playing and working with David, who eventually earned the IM title. Most of the openings I adopted in the 1970s were a result of his influ­ ence (I sponged his research basically). In those pre-computer days, prepara­ tion was done the hard way - sifting through bulletins, wading through ECOs, and rummaging through the latest chess magazines. One of the main headaches in the old days was carting around chess books and bulle­ tins, most of which were never opened once the tournament began. In 1972 I was selected to represent the United States in the famed Belgian Under-18 Schoolboy Championships at Schilde. This tournament ran con­ currently with the Spassky-Fischer match in Reykjavik and worldwide chess interest was at a record high. The Schilde tournament was one of the most pleasant in which I have ever played. Local families hosted the par­ ticipants and there was a most conviv­ ial atmosphere in the little bar that became the main social hangout for the local chess fans, host families, players and their seconds. The food was terrific and the local Schilde beer was outstanding. I managed to win this tournament, scoring 71'2 out of 9, finishing ahead of future GMs Koch­ iev (USSR), Van der Sterren (Holland), Mestel, (England) and Szekely (Hun­ gary).

11

My father, Harold, accompanied me to this event and he may have had a better time than I did. He was able to revisit some of his World War II battle sites in Belgium and had a very pleas­ ant time socializing with the Schilde organizers. He even practised his rusty German with Kochiev's trainer V ladi­ mir Zaic. As a consequence of my Schilde victory, I became a very minor celeb­ rity in southern California. I was inter­ viewed by the Los Angeles ABC TV affiliate (I was nervous and inarticu­ late under the hot lights) and was even enlisted to judge a fashion show on ca­ ble TV ! One of my strangest experi­ ences was having the notorious tabloid National Enquirer run a story on Schilde with an angle on how me and the Soviet player Kochiev got along so well together in the tournament (detente on the chessboard). It is a pity this great event was discontinued in the early 1980s. Every player associ­ ated with Schilde remembers it fondly. During the period 1972-5, I domi­ nated US junior chess. I won the US Junior Closed Championships in 1973, 1974 (with Peter Winston) and 1975, and also the National High School Championships in 197 1-3 (in 1972 I shared first with Craig Barnes and Harold Boas). In the late summer of 1973, I played in the World Junior Championships in Teesside, England and finished in a tie for third with Michael Stean and Slavoljub Marj­ anovic behind runner-up Tony Miles

EVOLUTION OF AN ATTACKING PLAYER

Walter Browne and Y asser Seira­ wan - with his amazingly expres­ sive face Petrosian might have become a world-class clown if he hadn't taken up chess; • Attempting to climb Mount Whit­ ney with Jim Tarjan and Ross Stoutenborough (I stopped about 4000 feet short); • Going to bed as Miguel Quinteros and Roman Dzindzichashvili were in the middle of an epic blitz match and then waking up to find the pair still slugging it out, completely oblivious to time (Dzindzi lost about $40.00 during the 30-hour session but went on to win the tour­ nament!). The most hilarious moment of all the Lone Pines came during one of the blitz sessions in the analysis room ad­ jacent to the tournament hall. The rau­ cous verbal banter of the analysis room was a stark contrast to the quiet intensity of the playing hall. Quips and insults were hurled freely, and woe to the kibitzer who suggested more than one bad move in a row. Wal­ ter Browne was playing blitz with hot young star Yasser Seirawan, and a Se­ attle master, Victors Pupols, watching the action along with dozens of other spectators, was recounting a Pal Benko published reaction to one of Seira­ wan's early tournament appearances. Pupols: " ... he wrote that Yasser [who wore a long, flowing robe and had long hair] looked like a girl, and not a very good looking girl at that!"

13

Browne: "Yeah, but he was still in­ terested!" A roar of laughter swept the room including from Seirawan, who could trade verbal jabs with the best of them. The 1981 Lone Pine tournament (won by Viktor Korchnoi) turned out to be the last. Louis Statham died in 1982 and the event died with him. Whether because of the clean, high­ altitude air, spectacular environs or the daily brilliancy prizes, the quality of chess in the Lone Pine tournaments was a level or two above the norm. Here is one my better efforts from the Lone Pine series.

Christiansen - Bisguier

Lone Pine 1977 1 c4 tl:l f6 2 tl:l f3 e6 3 tl:l c3 d5 4 d4 c6 5 e3 tl:l bd7 6 i.d3 i.b4 7 0-0 0-0 8 ..W c2 'il e7 9 e4 dxc4 10 i.xc4 e5 11 i.e3 tl:l g4 12 i.g5 'ii'd6 13 d5 tl:l b6 14 i.b3 i.xc3 15 bxc3 h6 16 i.h4 i.d7 17 h3 tl:l f6 18 i.g3 l:.fe8 19 c4 c5 20 l:.ael tLlh5 21 i.h2 'il f6 (D)

14

STORMING THE BARRICADES

Black is on the verge of imposing a clamp on White's dark squares with ...lt:Jf4 but White beats him to the punch. The following blow unleashes the dynamic potential in White's posi­ tion by creating an enormous centre coupled with fresh attacking chances against Black's king. 22 lllxeS! l:txe5 23 f4 Of course 23 i.xe5? 'i'xe5 gives Black the edge because of his control over the dark squares e5 and f4. 23...l:teeS 24 e5 'ii'h4 Black defends correctly by staying as active as possible.

l:txel 33 i.g6+ e7 39 �c2 and Black's overloaded position falls apart.

Botto

-

15

Christiansen

Buenos Aires 1975 1 e4 c5 2 tllf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 tllxd4 tllf6 5 tllc3 tllc6 6 �g5 �d7 7 'ii'd2 :cs S �e2 tllxd4 9 'ii'xd4 'ii'a5 10 �xf6 gxf6 11 0-0 :gs 12 tlld5? :xc2 13 b4 'ii'a3 14 �c4 (D)

36 ... tllf6 37 'ii'f5 tllgS! I� this way Black can still put up stubborn resistance.

3S 'iii>x el 'ii'a5+ 39 'iii>f2 'ii'xa4 40 �d6+ 'iii>g7 41 'ii'g4+ 'iii>hS 42 �xc5 'ii'xa2+ 43 'ii'e2 'ii'al White won the ending as follows: 44 'ii'd2 'ii'f6+ 45 'iii>gl 'ii'al+ 46

'iii>h2 'ii'e5+ 47 g3 'ii'f5 4S �xa7 'iii>g7 49 �d4+ 'iii>rs 50 g4 'ii'n 51 c5 r,t;i es 52 c6 bxc6 53 dxc6 'ii'b5 54 'ii'e3+ tlle7 55 �f6 'ii'b4 56 'ii'xe7+ 'ii'xe7 57 �xe7 'iii>xe7 5S 'iii>g3 'iii>d6 59 'iii>h4 'iii>xc6 60 'iii>h5 'iii>d5 61 'iii>xh6 'iii>e6 62 g5 'iii>f5 63 h4 'iii>g4 64 h5 1-0 It is important to note how White's massive centre opened attacking pos­ sibilities by clearing diagonals and giving greater mobility to White's pieces. Mating schemes just flowed from the position. In the spring of 1975, I participated in the Pan-American Youth Champi­ onships in Buenos Aires, Argentina, settling for a share of second place be­ hind the rising Brazilian player Jaime Sunye Neto. A game from that event typified my play from that period flashy but often suspect.

White has woefully misplayed a sharp line in the Sicilian and Black can quickly end his resistance with 14...'ii'f 3 15 tlle3 ( 15 g3 �h3 16 tlle3 �h6 17 'ii'd 1 'ii'xd 1 also wins easily) 15... �h6 16 'ii'd 5 ( 16 g3 loses to 16...�xe3) 16... �e6 17 'ii' xb7 :xc4 with an easy win. Instead, I couldn't resist the temptation to sacrifice a rook and queen for a 'mating attack'. The game continued:

14 ... :xg2+ ?? ! 15 'iii>xg2 �h3+ 16 'iii>gl 'ii'f3 17 tlle3 �h6 lS 'ii'dl (D) 1S...'ii'xe3! This was the shot that I couldn't re­ sist. Unfortunately, I failed to consider the defence 19 �xf7+! 'iii>f 8 (but not 19...'iii>xf7?? 20 fxe3 �xe3+ 21 ::f2

16

STORMING THE BARRICADES

l:.xf2 22 'iVb3+ and wins) 20 Wh5 (20 fxe3 ?? i.xe3+ 2 1 l:.f2 l:.xf2 22 �h 1 i.g2+ 23 h7 (D)

0-1 Near the end of 1980 I had the priv­ ilege of playing for the US Olympiad team in Valetta, Malta. Olympiads are not just serious team events but also a massive reunion of old friends from around the world. In Malta, the US

23

team's living conditions were less than ideal (players shared dilapidated apartments without hot water or maid service) but nearly everyone had a great time (one exception was Nick de Firmian, who contracted a nasty case of pneumonia midway through the event). Teams from small countries like Bermuda and US V irgin Islands would host festive parties, including one where the featured event was a belly-dance by a member of the Cana­ dian Women's team. In Malta, the US team was weakened considerably by the absence of GMs Kavalek and Browne, who protested against the seeding of recent Soviet defector Lev Alburt to first board on the US team. I scored a respectable 711 1 on board 3 in Malta, but the US finished in a mildly disappointing fourth place in the event behind the USSR, Hungary and Y ugo­ slavia. I have participated in nine Olympiads for the US and thoroughly enjoyed each one. If the tension in the team event gets too high, there is al­ ways comic relief available at the FIDE Congress, which also meets during Olympiads. In early 1981 I was invited again to the Linares tournament, which this time had a very strong field headed by World Champion Anatoly Karpov, Lajos Portisch, Boris Spassky, Bent Larsen, and other stars. I was paired with Boris Spassky in the first round but was suffering from the effects of jet lag (it was a 9-hour time differ­ ence between California and Linares).

STORMING THE BARRICADES

24

Somehow I fell asleep in my hotel room and was awakened by a voice yelling something in Spanish. I grog­ gily looked at my watch and noticed I was already fifteen minutes late for the round. I bolted out of the room, ran to the tournament hall, grabbed a dou­ ble espresso and sat down to play the former world champion. It is normal to get first round jitters but in this case I was just glad to have made it to the board. I decided to play sharply against Spassky and we castled on op­ posite wings in a Queen's Gambit De­ clined Exchange V ariation. Spassky misplayed a break in the centre and fell victim to a pinning combination.

Another scheme is to advance the queenside pawns to a4 and b5 followed by . .'ii'a5 to put pressure on White's king position. 13 'iii bl b5 14 lllf4 Heading toward the excellent d3square. .

14 a5 15 .if5! .••

White has a slight advantage since Black's queenside play is stymied and White will finally have a free hand to start activity against Black's king.

15 a4 16 llld3 .ixf5 17 gxf5 lll8d7 18 l:.hgl .if8 19 l:.g2 c5? •.•

Better is l 9...a3 20 b3 'ii'a5 .

20 dxc5 lllxc5 21 lllxc5 l:.xc5 22 'iWd3 'iii h8 (D)

Christiansen - Spassky

Linares 1981 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 lllc3 lllf6 4 cxd5 exd5 5 .ig5 .ie7 6 e3 0-0 7 .id3 lllbd7 8 lllge2 l:.e8 9 'ifc2 lllf8 10 h3 c6 11 g4 .id7 12 0-0-0 (D)

23 llle4 l:.xe4 24 'ifxe4 'iWc8 25 'iWd3 llle4 26 f3 lllxg5 27 l:.xg5 .ie7 28 f6 .ixf6 29 l:.xd5 h6 30 l:.xc5 'iWxc5 31 l:.cl 1-0

12...l:.c8

After defeating Spassky, I contin­ ued to roll by winning three of my next four games, including a nice win over Lajos Portisch in the fifth round.

EVOLUTION OF AN ATTACKING PLAYER

25

Oddly enough, two of these wins, like the win against Spassky, featured a combination involving the e4-square.

Quinteros - Christiansen

Linares 1981

Christiansen - Portisch

Linares 1981 27 °ii'd5+ �f8 28 'ii'e4! f7?! 28 . . . lLJxe4? 29 d7+; 28 . . .'ii'd8 29 .i.xc5 bxc5 30 'ii'b7 'ii'd7 31 'it'a8+ r:/;f7 32 'ii'd5+ wins. The text-move runs into a mating-net.

29 'ii'e7+ �g6 (D)

White should be able to weather Black's counterplay after 25 b4 lLJe6 26 c5 a5 and hold on to his extra pawn. Instead, the Argentine GM walked into a little combination ...

25 lLJgl? .txc3 26 :xc3 lLJe4! ...and he went on to lose. In the sixth round I was paired with Karpov, who was half a point behind me. Karpov played an Austrian Attack against my Pirc Defence, but despite an early queen exchange, came under pressure from my active pieces. In the critical make-or-break position (see diagram overleaf), I faltered badly. Black could solve all of his prob­ lems with 23 . . .h? ! 24 fxe5 xh6, with a clearly better ending owing to White's terrible pawn-structure. In­ stead, I played...

23....tg7? 24 .i.xg7 �xg7 30 h5+ r:/;xh5 31 'ii'f7+ 1-0

... allowing Karpov to trap my knight with 25 :d3!. I managed to get two

26

STORMING THE BARRICADES

Karpov - Christiansen

Linares 1981 pawns for the knight but Karpov' s brilliant technique soon ended resis­ tance.

Going into the final round, Karpov led me by half a point. I managed to catch him in the final round when Kar­ pov drew quickly with Gligoric while I defeated the Spanish entrant Juan Bellon. However, Karpov was awarded first prize based on his superior Buch­ holz points. Linares 1 98 1 signified an advance to superior GM status and marked a final step from my first, fum­ bling efforts as a nine-year-old. When I stepped up to the stage to accept my prize in Linares, I couldn't help think­ ing about those early years with Lee Corbin, Ross Stoutenborough, David Strauss and even Fred Reinfeld. It was a very long way from Riverside to Linares.

2 Attack: General Considerations

The primary ingredient i n successful attacking play is basic mastery of tac­ tics. Trying to attack without tactical expertise is like going into battle with­ out knowing how to fire a gun or wield a sword. One must know the basics like pins, forks, double attacks, dis­ covered attacks, discovered checks, interference, smothered mate, back­ rank mate, etc., in order to launch a successful aggressive action on the chessboard. There is no easy way to develop tactical skill. I learned tactics from simple trial and error and continuous inspection of combination books like Fred Reinfeld's 1001 Sacrifices and Combinations. Blitz games can be a useful way to cram as much chess­ board experience as possible into a short amount of time and a good way to become familiar with tactical pat­ terns. Reviewing classic games with a chessboard is another good way to grasp essential tactical points. All players at GM level are ex­ tremely proficient tactically (some more than others) and can deduce ba­ sic combinations and tactics almost instantly. Years of experience and a basic love of tactics has brought me to a high level of tactical fluency. To il­ lustrate this point, here is a position

from a one minute game I played on the Internet Chess Club in 1 999 against a South American GM.

I recognized a mating pattern and played 1 ll:id5! exd5 2 ltxh7! �xh7 3

°ii'h6+! 1-0. My tactical ability was also expe­ dited by analysis sessions with col­ leagues. Most chess-players have gone through the routine of analysing a game with an opponent and some ki­ bitzers. Often these sessions devolve into 'gotcha' exercises where each side seeks to find a tactical refutation of a proposed move. The game actu­ ally being analysed is long forgotten as kibitzers and players try to out­ combine one another (GMs do this as much as club players) in positions that

28

STORMING THE BARRICADES

only remotely resemble the original one being analysed. The competitive environment of these sessions is use­ ful for sharpening tactical skill and ex­ changing ideas. After reaching the desired level of tactical skill, the prospective attacking player must learn to judge when and when not to attack. Certain conditions must apply if an attacking plan can be put into effect. Some conditions are pretty obvious. If you have a lead in development, you should be able to start bringing pressure to bear quickly and efficiently. An obvious weakness in the enemy king position is a clear signal to start a plan to bring pressure to bear upon the weak point. Superior central control is a very important component for launching a successful attack. The extra space and mobility derived from central control makes shifting attacking pieces to the target area a much simpler process. Sometimes you simply have to at­ tack. If each side has castled on oppo­ site wings for instance, it is a fairly safe bet that the correct strategy will be to launch, as quickly and efficiently as possible, an attack against the oppo­ nent's king. There is also the despera­ tion scenario, where the only serious chance of saving the game lies in furi� ous efforts aimed at the enemy king. A notable and extreme example of a desperation attack came in the final round of the 1997 World Team Cham­ pionship in Lucerne, Switzerland. I was in an absolutely must win situation

against Kazakhstani IM Temirbaev if my team, the USA, was to have any chance of capturing the gold medals. I pick up the action after 26...'ii'e6-e7 (D).

Christiansen - Temirbaev

Lucerne Wcht 1997 I had misplayed a promising posi­ tion and was now faced with the pros­ pect of losing the c-pawn. I could grovel and most likely achieve a draw with 27 b4 axb4 28 l:tdxb4 'ii'xc5+ 29 'ii'd4 thanks to the solid blockade of the d-pawn, but obviously there would be no winning chances. Instead, ne­ cessity dictated: 27 l:th4??(!) 'ii'xcS+ 28 ltJd4 g5 29

l:txh6?! �xh6 30 l:tcl My opponent was suffering some time-pressure and this became of deci­ sive assistance. Black could now de­ fend adequately with 30 ... .i.d7 3 1 h4 l:tg8 32 �f2 ! tDh7 ! but decided to force matters with...

30 l:tb4? 31 lDcbS l:txb5 •..

ATTACK: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

After 3 1 . . .'ii'xc l+ 32 'ii'xc l �xb5 33 lLixb5 l:te6 (after 33 . . .l:txb5, White can advantageously retrieve material by 34 1Wc6, while 33 ... l:txb3 34 liJd4 ! is dangerous for Black) 34 1Wc5 ! l:txb3 35 1i'f8+ �g6 36 liJd6 the result should be a draw. 32 l:txc5 l:txc5 33 h4 White is definitely back in business. 33 ... l:te5 34 hxg5+ 1:.xg5 35 lLif5+ �h5 36 1Wf4 d4 37 ltJe7! Forced now is 37 ... l:tg6 ! 38 g4+ ltJxg4 39 ltJxg6 �xf3 ! with a likely draw, but that is not easy to see in time-pressure. Instead, the game concluded. . . 37 ... ltJg4?? 38 fxg4+ l:txg4 39 1i'xf7+ �g5 40 1i'g6+ 'it>f4 41 'ir'd6+ �e3 42 1i'xc5 1-0 White wins after 42 ...l:txg2+ 43 �fl l:tt2+ 44 �el l:te2+ 45 'it>dl , etc. Despite the result, sad to say, the US team was eclipsed by the Russian team by half a point, and had to con­ sole itself with the silver medals. I will expand on such radical at­ tacking strategies in further chapters. The early examples illustrate mainly garden-variety, standard attacking themes. I cannot overemphasize the importance of quick development and efficient mobilization of attacking forces. Time is of the essence ! Rapid mobilization of overwhelming force against a weakness in the enemy camp, whether it be an exposed king or weak squares, is a key factor in basic, suc­ cessful attacking play.

29

Here we see a how a Dragon Sicil­ ian is annihilated through the ancient method of opening the h-file. With vir­ tually every move by White, he pro­ gresses further towards his aim of mating the opposing king.

Zeltic - Forster

Mitropa Cup (Portoroz) 1998 1 e4 c5 2 lLif3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ltJxd4 ltJC6 5 ltJc3 g6 6 �e3 �g7 7 f3 ltJc6 8 'ir'd2 0-0 9 �c4 �d7 10 0-0-0 1i'a5 11 'it>bl :res 12 �b3 ltJe5 13 h4 b5 14 ltJcxb5 'ir'd8 15 �h6 �h8 16 h5 ltJxh5 (D)

One reason the Yugoslav Attack in the Sicilian Dragon Variation became popular at all levels is that it provides a simple and effective method for at­ tacking the black king. White basically tries to open the h-file for a mating at­ tack before Black launches his own attack on the other wing. As Bobby Fischer wrote in My 60 Memorable Games (p. 20 of the descriptive notation

STORMING THE BARRICADES

30

edition) ". . .pry open the [h-file], sac, sac, ... mate !" Of course, the Dragon Variation has gone through many theo­ retical rises and falls over the years and it continues to thrive in tournament and match play at the highest levels. Some variations run to well over 30 moves ! In the diagram above, we see a Dragon Variation that has gone badly astray. Black has sacrificed his b-pawn in the hope of opening lines and di­ verting White from his natural king­ side mating operation. He contem­ plates gaining time attacking the knight on b5 and bringing his rooks to bear on the open b- and c-files. Unfortu­ nately, White gets there first, with the knight on b5 playing an important role in the attack. 17 .l:.xh5! The main point behind this 'auto­ sac' is 17 ... gxh5 18 'ii'g5+ lllg6 19 .i.xf7+ (19 'ii'xh5? l:.c5 ! would be careless) 19 ... �xf7 20 'ii'd5+ e6 2 1 lllxd6+ �g8 2 2 lllxe6 .i.c6 (forced) 23 lllxd8+ .i.xd5 24 lllxc8 .i.c4 25 lllxa7 .l:.xa7 26 b3 with four healthy pawns for the piece and a relatively easy win. Black tries to confuse the is­ sue with his next move, but that leads to even greater woes. 17 a6?! 18 ll'lxd6! The beginning of an irresistible at­ tack based on the eventual removal of the black king's key defender - the dark-squared bishop. 18...exd6 19 .i.g5 'ii'b 6 20 .l:.xh7! �xh7 21 l:r.hl+ �g8 (D) .•.

2 1 ... �g7 22 .i.e7 ! forces a speedy mate.

22 .l:.xh8+! �xh8 23 .i.f6+ �h7 24 'ii'g5 ll:lxf3 Forced. 25 gxf3 l:.c5 26 .i.d5 Not 26 ll:lf5? .l:.xf5 27 exf5 'ii'f2 ! and, rather unexpectedly, Black is still alive. 26 ...l:.xdS 27 exd5 1-0 This example illustrates the dan­ gers of an open h-file in the Dragon Si­ cilian. A big lead in development must be exploited without delay, as seen in the following game.

Christiansen - G ilden

USA 1976 1 e4 c5 2 ll'lc3 e6 3 ll'lf3 a6 4 d4 cxd4 5 lllxd4 b5 6 .i.d3 i.b7 7 0-0 'ii'c7 8 'ii'e 2 d6 9 a4 bxa4 10 l:r.xa4 ll'lf6 11 .i.g5 .i.e7 12 f4 0-0 13 e5 ll'ld5 14 lllxd5 .i.xd5 (D)

ATTACK: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

Black's weak opening play has per­ mitted White to muster his pieces quickly and aggressively in a prelude to an attack against Black's poorly­ defended king. The following move, designed to impose a mating wedge on Black's king, is almost automatic (or something to be very seriously consid­ ered) in this kind of position. 1S �f6! Besides pointing a gun at g7, the bishop also stops Black creating some freedom for his king by means of ... f6. 1S...g6 15 ...gxf6? 16 'ii'h5 f5 17 tLlxf5 leads quickly to mate. 16 fS! This opens more lines and creates new threats. This hardly needed to be calculated. White's overwhelming at­ tacking formation and Black's back­ ward position speak for themselves. Almost any logical, violent continua­ tion will work in these circumstances. 16 �xf6 Black faces variations such as 16...exf5 17 lLixf5 gxf5 18 'ifg4+ fxg4 •.•

31

1 9 l:txg4# so he decides to exchange the powerful bishop. But the pawn that takes the bishop's place is also a formidable force. 17 exf6 es Black tries to drive away the power­ fully placed knight, but White has the luxury of ignoring the threat and bring­ ing up his heavy artillery. Of course 17 ...exf5 1 8 lLixf5 is total annihilation. 18 'ii'g4! exd4 Or 1 8 . . . 'itth8 1 9 tLle6! and Black is overwhelmed. 19 l:txd4 �b7 20 fxg6 fxg6 21 �xg6 �h8 22 'ii'hS l:txf6 23 l:txf6 1-0 Mate is avoidable only through massive material loss. Black's badly played opening opened the window to a crushing attack. A blend of sharp tactics and effi­ cient handling of the pieces proved de­ cisive in the following recent game.

Svidler - Kasimdzhanov

Wijk aan Zee 1999 1 e4 cS 2 tLlf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 tLlxd4 a6 S tLlc3 bS 6 �d3 'ii'b 6 7 �e3 �cs 8 �e2 tLlc6 9 lLixc6 dxc6 10 �xcS 'ii'xcS 11 'ii'd3 lLif6 12 f4 es 13 rs �b7 14 0-0-0 �e7 lS g4 l:thd8 16 'ii'f3 b4 17 tLla4 'ii'aS 18 b3 cS? (D) This careless move (better is 1 8 ...h6 19 h4 l:txd l + 20 l:txdl l:td8 ±) opens the floodgates to a mating attack based on a pawn-storm. Not too much calcu­ lation was necessary to justify the en­ suing line-opening sacrifice . . .

STORMING THE BARRICADES

32

19 g5! Black's last move was meant to de­ lay this thrust but Black forgot to con­ sider the consequences for his king. 19 �xe4 20 f6+ � Now that the black king is under siege, White brings out the reserves with tempo. 21 i..d3 Attacking the knight and the king­ side beyond. Now 21 ...�d6 is crushed by 22 fxg7+ q;,g8 23 i..xh7+ �xh7 24 'ii'h5+ �xg7 25 _.h6+ �g8 26 g6 i..xhl (not so much greed as necessar­ ily removing a potent attacking unit) 27 :txd6 ! 'fie? 28 :tf6 :td 1+ 29 �b2 Svidler, Informa.tor 741195. If that win isn't enough, the direct 22 1i'h5 ! is also effective, e.g. 22 ...i.. xh l ? ! 23 1i'xh7 �e8 24 i..f5 ! gxf6 25 gxf6 with mate next move. 21 ...:td4 22 :tdel �d6 No choice in the matter. 22 ... :txd3 23 cxd3 doesn't help at all. 23 'ihis 23 fxg7+! �g8 (23 ... �xg? 24 'ii'f6+ �g8 25 i..xh7+!) 24 i..xh7+ �xh7 25

'ii'b5+ �xg7 26 'iib6+ �g8 27 g6 i..xhl 28 'fib?+ �f8 29 :txe5 and White forces mate in four more moves. This is simple and direct, but Svidler' s method is more spectacular and equally effective. 23 ... e4 24 g6! fxg6 Or 24 ...exd3 25 'fixh7 d2+ 26 �b2 with mate on the way. 25 ...xh7 gxf6 26 :thgl Black cannot allow this rook to in­ vade down the g-file. 26...gS (D)

·

••.

27 :txg5! The stopgap is demolished to make way for the other heavyweight. This had to be foreseen when playing 23 'ii'h5 . 27...fxgS 2s :n+ �es 29 _.g7 �dS 30 :rs+ �es 31 _.xb7 :cs 32 ...f7 1-0 Svidler alertly, if routinely, punished the careless play of his opponent. Once Black's king came under fire, White did not let up for an instant in hunting it down, hurling pawns and

AITACK: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

finally a rook to break open the king­ side. A fine demonstration of good, solid attacking play. The tiny Baltic country of Latvia has produced a number of brilliant at­ tacking players, most notably Mikhail Tai, Alexei Shirov and Alexander Sha­ balov. This example shows how a strong attacker like Alexei Shirov first identifies the moment to attack, and then quickly brings his forces to their optimal attacking posts.

Shirov - Ernst

Gausdal 1991 1 d4 ltJf6 2 c4 g6 3 lLJc3 dS 4 ltJf3 i.g7 5 i.gS lLie4 6 cxdS lLJxgS 7 lLJxgS c6 8 e3 cxdS 9 1i'f3 f6 10 ltJh3 i.xh3 11 1i'xh3 rs c7 29 ttJd6 l:e7 ! Black is quite alive. After the text-move, Black has only one answer.

25 ...ttJe7 26 °ikh7+ c;itf8 27 °ikh8+ ttJg8 (D) 28 f5 White has three ways to win here: 1) 28 .tf2 (intending to hit the e7 exit square with 29 .th4) 28 .. .f6 29

49

ttJh7+ 'iii>e7 30 l:fc3 'iii>d 8 3 1 l:xc8+ "ikxc8 32 l:xc8+ l:xc8 33 .tb6+ 'iii>d7 34 'ii'xg7+ l:e7 35 ttJxf6+ ttJxf6 36 "ikxf6 with a decisive material advan­ tage though some work remains. 2) 28 ttJh7+! e7 29 'ii'xg7 'iii>d8 (or 29 ... l:xb3 30 'ii'g5+) 30 ttJg5 l:f8 (30. . .l:b7 3 1 .td2 ! ) 3 1 .td2 ! 'iii>e8 (3 1 . . .'ii'e7 32 ttJh7 .tc5+ { 32 ...f6 33 "ikg6! .tc5+ 34 'iii>h l .td4 35 .ta5+ .tb6 36 .txb6+ l:xb6 37 ttJxf8 'ii'xf8 38 l:g3 wins } 33 'iii>h l l:e8 34 l:g3 ! .tb4 35 .te3 leaves Black helpless against 36 'ii'xg8 !) 32 l:fc3 f6 33 'ii'g6+ d8 34 l:c6! fxg5 (34 ...'ii'a7+ 35 'iii>h l a5 36 l:xc8+ ! l:xc8 37 ttJxe6+ 'iii>e7 38 l:xc8 'ii'a6 ! 39 l:c7+ 'iii> xe6 40 'ii'g4+ f5 4 1 'ii'g6+ ttJf6 42 h3 and White wins) 35 .ta5+ 'iii>e7 36 'ii'xg5+! 'iii> f7 (36...'iii>e8 loses to 37 'ii'g6+ 'iii>e7 38 l:c7) 37 f5 ! exf5 38 'ii'g6+ 'iii>e7 39 l:c7 and Black must soon resign. 3) The game continuation, 28 f5, which is most aesthetically pleasing.

28 ... exfS 29 e6 fxe6 30 l:g3 g6 Or 30...e5 3 1 ttJh7+ c;ite7 32 l:xg7+ 'iii>d6 and now the cleanest win is 33

so

STORMING THE BARRICADES

l:.g6+ ! (33 l:.xd7+ -*.xd7 is not at all easy for White, who should demand more for his attack than merely queen for rook and bishop) 33, .. 'ii'e6 (after 33 ...l:.e6 34 l:.xg8 d4 35 -*.xd4 White wins easily) 34 'ii'g7 (threatening 35 'ii'c7# and weaving a bizarre mating­ net) 34...-*.d7 35 l:.xe6+ l:.xe6 36 -*.a7 ! l:.a8 37 -*.b6 with the unstoppable threat of 38 -*.c7+ - Black's king finds his protectors more of a danger than his pursuers ! 31 ltib7+ �f7 32 i.b6 �e7 33 i.gS+ m 34 i.f6?! 34 ltif6! ends Black's suffering very humanely; for example, 34 .....a7+ 35 �bl ltixf6 36 'ii'xf6+ �g8 37 ..xg6+ and Black faces massive material loss. The text-move gives Black a brief flicker of hope. 34 l:.fS (D) 34 ...e5 35 ltig5+! �f8 36 l:.h3 (the threat is 37 'ii'xg8+! ! �xg8 38 l:.h8#) 36 .....a7+ 37 �bl i.e6 38 l:.h7 and White soon delivers mate.

If 35 ...'ii'xc7, then 36 ..g7+ �e8 37 'ii'xc7 collecting yet more material. 36 'ii'xf6+ �es 37 •xg6+ �d8 38 l:.xd7+ -*.xd7 39 ltixrs i.xf8 40 'ii'f6+ i.e7 41 l:.g8+ �c7 42 •c3+ �b7 43 l:.xb8+ �xb8 44 h4 1-0 Leading a king to its doom may in­ volve multiple sacrifices. Most play­ ers are familiar with the two-bishop sacrifice, a close cousin to the i.xh7+ sacrifice (it usually starts out with -*.xh7+). The bishops are sacrificed to remove the pawn-cover in front of the king, allowing the queen to take a strong position with tempo. There fol­ lows a rook-lift to the third or fourth rank, whereupon the rook joins the queen in hunting down the king.

...

Miles - Browne

Lucerne OL 1982

35 l:.c7! ltixf6

Miles didn't reflect long before he let fly with ... 18 i.xb7+! �xh7 19 'ii'bS+ �g8 20 i.xg7! �xg7

RIPPING APART THE KING POSITION

Or 20 ...f6 2 1 'it'h8+ cj;n 22 i.xf8 i.b8 23 'it'g7+ and wins.

21 -.Wg5+ cj;bS 22 -.Wf6+ cj;b7 23 :c4 1-0 Of course this concept of ripping open the kingside is not restricted to bishops. A double knight sacrifice led to a quick victory in the following ex­ ample.

51

possible sacrifice, especially if a rook can be lifted to assist in harassing the denuded king. I have been on the giving and re­ ceiving end of many sacrificial mating attacks. Here is a rather simple, yet in­ structive example from one of the famed Lone Pine tournaments. Christiansen - Verduga

Lone Pine 1977 1 ll:if3 d6 2 d4 g6 3 e4 i.g7 4 ll:ic3 ll:if6 5 i.e2 0-0 6 0-0 ll:ia6 7 e5 ll:id7 8 i.f4 dxe5 9 dxe5 ll:iac5 10 'ii'c l c6 1 1 i.h6 'it'a5 1 2 i.xg7 cj;xg7 13 :et ll:ie6 14 i.c4 ll:ib6 15 i.xe6 i.xe6 16 l:te4 ll:id5 17 l:th4 h5 18 ll:ie4 i.g4 (D)

Christiansen - Carter

Ventura 1974 I sealed the black king's fate with: 14 lill'.h7 cj;xb7 15 'ii'h5+ 'it>g8 16 ll:ir6+ ! gxf6 17 l:te4 1-0 Black has no defence to the corning mate along the h-file ( 1 7 ... �g7 1 8 -.Wh6+). Such basic combinations are in­ stinctively detectable to IM-level play­ ers and above. If you have pieces aimed at or hovering around the en­ emy king position, it is mandatory to look at forcing lines arising after a

White has methodically weakened the dark squares around Black's king position by first exchanging off dark­ squared bishops, and then provoking 1 7 ...h5 . Black's meandering queen over on the queenside spells danger and invites a vicious strike on the other side of the board.

52

STORMING THE BARRICADES

19 liJd4 :adS? ! Verduga's sense o f danger deserts him. He had to shore up his kingside defences with 1 9. . .:hS, though White has a promising initiative after 20 h3 .t.c8 2 1 c4 lDc7 22 11fg5. 20 h3 .t.c8 21 :W.S! :hs 2 1 ...gxh5 22 11fg5+ 'iii'h7 23 11fxh5+ 'iii'g7 24 ltJg5 :hs 25 11fxf7+ 'iii?hQ 26 g4 ! forces mate in all cases; for exam­ ple, 26. . .liJc7 27 lDe4 ! :dg8 28 f4 ! .t.xg4 29 hxg4 :xg4+ 30 'iii'f2 and the al -rook will make its presence felt on the h-file. 22 :ms rw.s 23 c4 :b4 23 . . .liJb4 24 11fc3 ! ; 23 ...ltJc7 24 11fg5 is very strong. 24 11fel! 11fb6? Black is simply a pawn down after 24 ...11fxel + 25 :xel liJb4 26 liJf3 :f4 27 liJed2 but that is better than losing the exchange. 25 liJf3 :Xe4 26 'i'xe4 11fxb2 27 11fbl! ...and White won easily ( 1 -0, 33). A much more spectacular example by the forceful Walter Browne came at my expense. Browne - Christiansen

USA Ch (Mentor) 1977 1 d4 e6 2 c4 b6 3 dS .t.a6 4 e4 exdS S exdS lDr6 6 ltJc3 .t.b4 7 'i'e2+ .t.e7 S 11fc2 c6 9 .t.d3 bS 10 cxbS cxbS 1 1 ltJge2 b 4 1 2 liJe4 liJxdS 13 O·O 0-0 14 :d1 Was 15 liJ2g3 g6 16 .t.h6 :es (D)

White is a pawn down but has ex­ cellent compensation in the fonn of superior development and attacking prospects based on the weak dark squares around Black's king. How­ ever, Black is on the verge of finally bringing his b8-knight into the game, so White must act quickly. Browne be­ gins a powerful manoeuvre to transfer his most powerful attacking weapon to the kingside. 17 11fd2! This set-up move is really the key to White's subsequent fun. Black's knight on d5 must react to the masked threat, giving White time to install over­ whelming force on the kingside. 17... lDr6 This is an unfortunate response when Black desperately needs to de­ velop his queenside pieces. However, the alternative, 1 7 ....t.xd3, is also dis­ mal, e.g. 1 8 11fxd3 lDc7 1 9 11fd4 lDe6 20 liJf6+ .t.xf6 (20...'iii'h 8? 2 1 .t.g7+! wins) 2 1 11fxf6 d5 22 11ff3 ! (22 liJf5 ? gxf5 23 :d3 f4 { forced} 24 .t.xf4 liJxf4 25 11fxf4 'it'b6 26 :xd5 11fe6 ! enables

RIPPING APART THE KING POSITION

53

Black to consolidate) 22 ...l:td8 23 l:tac 1 builds up the position while keeping Black from developing. 18 'ii'f4! 'ii'b6 1 8 ... ltlh5 1 9 ltlxh5 'ilfxh5 20 l:te 1 ! l:tc8 21 g4 ! gives White a crushing at­ tack. Black's rickety, undeveloped po­ sition is ripe for destruction. 19 i.xa6 ltlxa6 (D) 1 9 . . . ltlxe4 20 ltlxe4 ltlxa6 2 1 ltld6 is overwhelming. Forced. 26 �hl! Not 26 �xh2?? 'ilfd6+ 27 �gl 'ii'd 3! and Black wins. 26...'ii'xf6 27 'ii'xf6+ Black's broken kingside and numer­ ous weak pawns make serious resis­ tance impossible. Browne, although in extreme time-pressure, never gives Black a chance. 27 �g8 28 'ii'g5+ �h8 29 'ii'f6+ �g8 30 'ii'g5+ �h8 31 �xh2 l:te6 32 l:tdl l:tg8 33 'ii'f4 l:teg6 34 g3 f6 35 l:txd7 ltlc5 36 l:td6 h4 37 'ii'xh4 a5 38 'ii'd4 1-0 The key to the attack, aside from finding the finishing combination, was the set-up move 17 'ii'd2 ! , which brought overwhelming force to bear on Black's porous kingside. ••.

20 l:td6! 20 ltld6?! ltlc5 lets Black twitch a little while longer. Browne's combina­ tion leads to significant material gain and the initiative. 20 i.xd6 21 lLlxf6+ �h8 (D) 22 i.g7+! The equally spectacular 22 ltlfS ! ! is similar to the game after 22. . .i.f8 (22 . . .i.xf4 23 i.g7#; 22. . . gxfS 23 'ii'xf5 mates quickly) 23 i.xf8 'ii'xf6 (23 ...l:txf8 24 'ii'h4 ! h5 25 'ilfg5 forces mate) 24 i.g7+ 'ii'xg7 25 ltlxg?. 22 �xg7 23 ltlgh5+! gxh5 24 'ii'g5+ �h8 25 "iih6 i.xb2+ ••.

••.

Boris Spassky found a clever way to deliver mate in the following game played in the German Chess League. Not all mating attacks are bombastic noisy affairs; some can be quietly ele­ gant.

54

STORMING THE BARRICADES

Andruet - Spassky

Bundesliga 198718

identical combination in a game also played in the German Bundesliga.

1 d4 lDf6 2 c4 e6 3 ll:if3 .i.b4+ 4 .i.d2 .i.xd2+ S 'i'xd2 dS 6 ll:ic3 0-0 7 e3 'ile7 8 :Cl J:.d8 9 'ii'c2 ll:ibd7 10 cxdS exdS 1 1 .i.d3 ll:if8 12 ll:ie2 c6 13 0-0 ll:ig6 14 ll:ig3 l'le8 15 'i'cS 'i'd8 16 ll:id2 lilh4 17 b4 a6 18 a4 .i.d7 19 l:bl ll:ig4 20 'i'c2 g6 21 bS axbS 22 axbS hS 23 bxc6 bxc6 24 l'lfel 'i'f6 25 ll:idn l:a3 26 l'le2 cS 27 dxcS ll:ieS 28 .i.bS (D)

Christiansen - S. Gross

Bundesliga 1989190

Black has assembled an imposing cast of unfriendly characters around White's targeted king. Spassky found a very pleasing way to force mate with ... 28 'i'f3!! 0-1 Black delivers mate after 29 gxf3 ll:iexf3+ 30 h l .i.h3 ! despite the presence of White's curiously helpless knights on fl and g3. I was struck by Spassky's combina­ tion when it first appeared in chess magazines during 1 988. Two years later, I had a chance to pull off a nearly ...

There is no question that White has a very promising attack. I had a brief charge of attacker's adrenaline when I calculated the following possibility that harks back to Spassky's creation from two seasons earlier. I looked at the idea 3 1 .i.xc5 .i.xg2 32 f6! and now 32 ...l'lxc5 is mated ii la Andruet­ Spassky by 33 ll:ie7+ h8 34 fxg7+ bl 1fe5, when Black has few complaints. For the initiative

66

STORMING THE BARRICADES

to be meaningful, White needs to re­ capture on g 1 with a rook.

22....txeS Kamsky did not like the look of 22. . . lLle2+ 23 •xe2 .txh4 24 l:gl h8 (best) 25 1i'g4 l:g8 (25 ... g6 loses to 26 l:hl ) 26 l:hl g5 27 1i'h5 1i'f8 28 lLlc5 with an overwhelming attack for White. 23 fxeS •xh4 24 l:xgl •r4+ 25 ci>bl •xeS (D)

Setting his sights on h6 and secur­ ing squares for the knight. Black also has back-rank problems as the white bishop controls his luft square h7. 27 •e3 28 l:g2 hS 28 ... l:e7 29 1i'f6 g6 30 .tc4 wins easily so Kamsky gets his king off the g-file. However, he must abandon the e-file in order to bring relief to his king. 29 l:e2! 'ii'gl + 30 ci>a2 l:aa8 Black's back rank was the new headache. But now he must yield ma­ terial. •.•

31 lLld7 l:acS 32 'ii'f3 32 1i'e4 f5 33 'ii'e6 is also devastat­ ing. 32 fS 33 lLlxf8 l:cS 34 lLlg6+ The crowd-pleasing 34 1i'xf5 l:xf5 35 .txf5 g6 (35 ... g5? 36 l:e7 wins quickly) 36 lLlxg6+ ci>g7 37 l:e6!, win­ ning easily, might have been played by someone like Shirov, but Anand's move is equally effective. .••

White is better, despite Black's slight material advantage, because: 1 ) Black is tied down to the defence of g7 and other vulnerable units; 2) White's pieces are mutually supportive and his knight has almost unlimited romping grounds; 3) White's king position is impreg­ nable; 4) Black's kingside passed pawns cannot advance without weakening his king protection. Anand keeps an iron grip on the po­ sition from here to the finish. 26 lLlcS l:a7 27 •c6!

34 •xg6 35 l:el 'ii'f6 36 •as+ h7 37 .tc4! l:c6 3S •gs+ g6 39 l:gl+ •••

Black faces either mate or massive material loss, so...

1-0 In the next example (see diagram on following page) White uses diver­ sionary sacrifices to tie the noose around Black's king. White's ultimate goal in this posi­ tion is to get his king out of the centre and then to start working on Black's weakened king position. The temporary

67

RIPPING APART THE KING POSITION

Christiansen - J. Graf

Bundesliga 1989190

extra pawn is a useful diversion to gain just enough time to launch a deci­ sive attack. The game continued: 24 0-0! Wb6+ 25 'ifi>h2 The snug placement of the king is an important ingredient in White's successfu l mating attack. He needn't be bothered by surprise checks to dis­ turb his plans. 25...WxbS 25 ... llJxb5 26 .llb l ! 'iti>h8 27 'ii'd 3 gives White strong pressure on both sides of the board after retrieving his piece. 26 'ifxc3 gxf5 27 W'c7! h6 28 llJh5! llf7 29 'ifc8+ 'it>h7 (D) 30 llJxg7 ! It didn't take much calculation to decide that the inactive rook on fl was a cheap price to pay for the wrecking crew attending to Black's kingside. 30 Wxn •••

30 ...'it>xg7 3 1 i.xh6+ ! 'it>xh6 (after 3 1 .. .'it>h7 3 2 .llc l Wd7 3 3 i.d2 White should win without much problem) 32 Wh8+ 'it>g6 33 h5+ 'it>g5 34 f4+! exf4 35 Wg8+ 'it>f6 36 llel ! wins easily. 3 1 llJe6! 'fibs 3 1 . ..Wc4 is met by 32 Wes .llg 7 ! 3 3 llJf8+ ( 3 3 llJxg7? hxg5 ) 33 ...'iti>hS 34 h5 ! (34 i.f6? Wf4+ draws) 34 ...WgS 35 i.f6 and wins. 32 i.f6! Wd7 32 ...'iti>g6 33 Wh8 leads to mate after 33 ... llxf6 34 Wg7+ 'it>h5 35 g4+ 'iti>xh4 36 Wxf6# or catastrophic mate­ rial loss after 33 ...f4 34 i.g5 ! hxg5 (34 ...'1Pf5 35 Wxh6 threatening llJg7+ is no improvement) 35 h5+ 'it>f5 36 Wh6 e4 (36 ...llf6 37 llJg7#) 37 llJd4+, etc. 33 liJfS+ 1-0 This attack didn't require calcula­ tion as much as it demanded intuition. With a safe king, and ample forces hovering over the enemy monarch, a mating attack came naturally. =

·

4 Ki ng-Hunti ng

Sometimes, having broken through the

times (often a difficult chore if the

first line of defence, the opponent 's

hunt involves captures by both sides).

king is forced to take flight on another

As the king moves from its original

side of the board. Chasing down the

square, beware of newly opened diag­

exile is often a very difficult task and

onals and files. A ventilated and aban­

certain principles must be taken into

doned kingside can become a quick

account. It is a very infrequent occur­

and convenient source of counterat­

rence in modem grandmaster chess to

tack due to the open files.

see king-hunts like those in the swash­

All of these factors are illustrated in

buckling era ofLabourdonnais, Morphy

the following examples. The first game

and Anderssen. Defensive knowledge

features sacrifices that first expose,

has increased by quantum leaps and

and then entomb, the enemy king.

players have a much more heightened sense of danger than their 19th century

Passov - J. Zamora

predecessors. Yet king-hunts across

New York 1991

the board do arise on occasion and one should understand certain principles regarding king-hunts. Kings are slippery fellows and I have seen dozens of cases where thoughtless checks and random play lead an attack into a dead-end with nothing to show for a massive material deficit. E very conceivable - even ab­ surd-looking - check and tactic must be taken into account. A fresh sacri­ fice to bring needed reinforcements or to increase the exposure of the target king must always be evaluated. Al­ ways be careful about sudden checks against your own king in the event you play a 'quiet move ' . The material count should be kept in mind at all

1 e4 eS 2 €\f3 tlJc6 3 .lc4 tbf6 4 €\gS d5 5 exdS €\as 6 d3 h6 7 €\r3 e4 8 'ire2 €\xc4 9 dxc4 .tcS 10 tbfd2 .lg4 11 Wn 0-0 12 h3 .thS 13 €lb3 .te7 14 .le3 bS 15 g4 bxc4 16 'irxc4 (D)

69

KING-HUNTING

White is hoping to spur his lagging development. If Black plays an insipid move like 16 ...i.g6 then after l 7 lCic3, White can look forward to keeping his pawn and bringing his king to safety. Black instead sacrifices a piece to be­ gin a merry chase of the king. 16 tiJxdS! 17 gxb5 tbxe3 18 fxe3 i.b4+ 19 e2 Vg5 20 'iWxe4 llae8 21 Vf3 (D)

24 Vd5+ 25 b4 :bs+ 26 a3 (D) .••

•.•

Black wraps up by first diverting the queen's attention and then com­ posing a mating-net. 26 i.e7+!! 27 Vxe7 :xb3+! ! 0·1 A classic king chase by 1 1 -year old Zamora (now known as Sammour­ Hasbun). When launching his sacrifi­ cial attack, he had to use imagination (examining every conceivable forcing move) and calculation to land his catch. Almost as spectacular was a long, successful and instructive king-hunt carried out by Australian IM Alex Wohl: ...

All of these moves have been forced since 1 6 ...tbxd5 . Black feeds his at­ tack with some further sacrifices. 21 lb:e3+! ! The white king will be chased to the queenside where the open b-file will become death row. 22 Vxe3 Vg2+ 23 q;,d3 :ds+ 24 c4 If24 tbd4, Black's most convincing line is 24 . .'iWxhl (better than 24. ..i.f2 25 Ve4 l:txd4+ 26 'ifxd4 Vf3+ 27 c4 i.xd4 28 tbc3, when White has survival chances) followed by ...c5 to retrieve sacrificed material while keep­ ing a brutal pin along the first rank. •••

.

Wohl - Gipslis

Biel Open 1996 1 tbf3 tbf6 2 c4 cS 3 tbc3 e6 4 g3 b6 5 i.g2 i.b7 6 O·O i.e7 7 d4 cxd4 8 Vxd4 tbc6 9 'iWf4 0-0 10 :d1 VbS 11 b3 l:[dS 12 i.b2 d6 13 lld2 a6 14 l:tadl bS 15 tbg5 bxc4 (D)

70

STORMING THE BARRICADES

White is well organized for un­ friendly action against Black's king. He begins his attack with a rather blunt attacking move that brings all seven of his pieces into the attack against Black's king.

16 lLice4! dS

A new sacrifice to fuel the attack.

23...gxf6 Refusal of the offer with 23 . . .'W'e5 is met by 24 'W'xg7 c:j;d7 25 .ih3 !, and White crashes through on e6.

24 'iWf7+ c:j;d8 25 lLixe6+ d7 26 lLicS+ c:j;d6 27 b4! (D)

The only try. Black at least wins a piece for the trouble of watching his king run through a gauntlet of attack­ ers.

17 'iWh4 dxe4 18 .ixf6 .ixf6 19 'iWxh7+ r8 20 l:[d7! This takes away the flight square e7 and prepares to clear squares on the seventh rank so as to get at the black king. The materialistic 20 :xd8+ is less effective as after 20. . .'W'xd8 ! 21 :xd8+ :xd8 Black has plenty of fight left in him. 20...l:.xd7 21 :xd7 c:j;e8 22 :xr1 lLie7 (D) After 22 . . ..ie7, Black is quickly routed by 23 'iWg6 (threatening 23 l:[f8++ !) 23 ...'iWd6 24 :xe7++ c:j;xe7 25 'W'xg7+ c:j;d8 26 'W'xb7.

23 l:[xf6!

Wohl had to foresee this quiet killer at least when he played 23 l:[xf6. Looking ahead to this type of clinch­ ing blow is vital for a king-hunt attack to be successful.

27...'W'e8 28 'W'xf6+ c:j;c7 29 'W'eS+ b6 30 lLid7+!

KING-HUNTING

A pleasing finish to a model kinghunt game. 30 ... 'iii>c6 31 1i'cS+! 3 1 iiJf6 is not bad either. 31 'iti>xd7 32 i.b3+ 1-0 Wohl made sure he had sufficient resources to continue his mating at­ tack even when the king managed to cross to the queenside. •••

Rohde - Zsu. Polgar

New York 1992 1 c4 eS 2 iiJcJ iiJc6 3 iiJf3 rs 4 d4 e4 5 liJgS h6 6 iiJh3 gS 7 iiJgl i.g7 8 e3 iiJf6 9 h4 'iii>f7 10 iiJh3 'iii>g6 (D)

lines where the white king comes out early). l l f3 The first order of business is to punch holes in the pawn-cover. Now 1 l ...exf3 1 2 gxf3 opens the g-file with dire consequences, so Black must sup­ port the centre. 1 1...1i'e7 12 f:xe4 iiJxe4 1 2 .. .fxe4 1 3 iiJf2 d6 14 iiJfxe4 liJxe4 15 iiJxe4 iiJxd4 (nothing better) 1 6 i.d3 clearly favours White. 13 liJxe4 1i'xe4 14 i.d3! This had to be very carefully con­ sidered. White's attacking chances look far from clear, taking into account his own weakened king position. 14 1i'xg2 15 i.xfS+! 'iii>xfS 16 :n+ 'iii>e6 (D) After 1 6...'iii>g6 1 7 1i'd3+ 'iii>h 5 1 8 liJf4+! gxf4 1 9 1i'f5+ 'iii> xh4 2 0 :xf4+ 'iii>g 3 2 1 1i'g4+ 'iii>h2 22 Wh4+ 'iii>g l 23 i.d2 (quickest) Black has no defence to 0-0-0+. This all had to be calculated when playing 1 4 i.d3. •••

Black has made the risky decision to bring her king out into the field to support her besieged pawn-front on the kingside. The idea is analogous to certain lines of the French Defence where White brings his king out to support a pawn-front. In this position, the idea fails because White can attack the centre in an effective way (gener­ ally the centre is closed in the French

71

1 7 1i'h5! !

72

STORMING THE BARRICADES

White threatens two nasty checks on g6 and f7 and Black's king needs some room to roam to the queenside.

26 i:i;e2 J.g4+ 27 i:i;d3 J.dl 28 .tel+ i:i;a4 29 'i'c4+ i:i;aS 30 J.d2+ 1-0

11 tbes ...

The only other conceivable defence is 17 .. .'l'g3+, hoping to disturb the co­ ordination of White's pieces. Then White can calmly play 1 8 ll:f2, which ends the checks and maintains the threats of 'i'f7+ and 'i'g6+. Best is then 18 ... ltf8 19 'i'g6+ J.f6 20 'i'xh6! (20 d5+? 9;e7 2 1 dxc6 dxc6 ruins ev­ erything) 20...lllb4 (20 ...9;e7 2 1 hxg5 is crushing) 2 1 'i'xf8 llld3+ 22 i:i;e2 ltlx:f2 23 ltlx:f2 with an easy win. The text-move returns a piece in or­ der to break up the stifling white cen­ tre and opens a flight path for the king. 18 dxe5 J.xe5 19 'i'f7+ i:i;d6 20

1U6+! i:i;cS Or 20 ...J.xf6 2 1 'l'xf6+ i:i;c5 22 b4+ (22 'i'xh8? is not as convincing due to 22. . .d6) 22...i:i;xb4 23 ltbl + 9;a4 24 'i'c3 and Black will soon be mated after some spite checks. White's king is well protected by the knight on h3.

The following dramatic game, while not perfect, shows the energy and drive necessary to conduct a success­ ful attack. Lautier almost lets Leko's king slip out of harm's way but then regroups and trains his attack toward the wondering king's final refuge. Lautier - Leko

Ubeda 1997 1 e4 c5 2 ltlfJ d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ltlxd4 lLJl'6 s llJc3 e6 6 g3 lllc6 7 .tg2 .td7 8 O·O J.e7 9 J.e3 0-0 10 'i'e2 'i'c7 1 1 ltldb5 'i'b8 1 2 a4 b 6 13 f4 ltd8 1 4 g4 a6 15 toa3 J.e8 16 g5 llld7 17 :tfJ ltlc5 (D)

21 b4+! i:i;xb4 22 J.d2+ i:i;a3 23 c5! Opening the long-range threat of24 'i'b3#. The rest of the game is easy to understand. Black makes 'only' moves to avoid immediate mate. 23 dS 24 cxd6 J.g3+ 25 :r2! 'l'bl+ 25 ...J.x:f.2+ 26 lllxt2 'i'gl + 27 i:i;e2 J.g4+ 28 i:i;d3 J.f5+ 29 'i'xf5 'i'xal 30 'i'a5+ i:i;b2 31 J.c3+ i:i;b1 32 'i'b4+ forces mate. ...

This type of position is common to certain variations of the Sicilian (Paul­ sen, Taimanov, Najdorf, Scheveningen, etc.). White is organizing an attack on the kingside led by a general pawn

KING-HUNTING

advance, while Black searches for counterplay in the centre and queen­ side. White has an impressive build­ up but how can he break through? The blunt 1 8 f5 would unnecessarily allow 1 8 ... t:Lie5, establishing a defensive Rock of Gibraltar. From e5, the knight covers approach-squares such as g4, making it difficult for White to swing his queen to the kingside. In this par­ ticular formation, h7 is the target of choice as Black is not positioned to bring a knight to the ideal defensive square f8. Lautier elects to continue amassing force on the kingside.

18 l:r.h3 g6 Black must stop 19 'iWh5 . 19 .:.n i.d7 Leko knows he is in trouble, so he creates some running room for his king while taking the sting out of a po­ tential f5 advance. The defensive plan of sacrificing an h-pawn to seal the kingside fails at this moment: after 1 9...i.f8 20 'iWg4 h5 2 1 gxh6 �h7 22 tLlc4 Black can do little to stop a future and devastating tLid2-f3-g5(+).

73

This will be forced sooner or later so Leko tries to play it on his terms.

21 'ii'h 4!? Lautier decides on a plan to demol­ ish Black's pawn-chain with a piece sacrifice. The alternative is 2 1 gxh6 �h7 22 tLlc4. Then: 1 ) 22 ...l:r.g8 (a suggestion by Lau­ tier in Informator 691218) to hold up the f5 advance is met by the simple and powerful 23 i.xc5 ! bxc5 (23 ...dxc5 24 e5 is crushing) 24 e5 ! with the point 24 ...d5 25 t:Lixd5 ! exd5 26 'iifxd7 and wins. 2) 22... d5 23 f5 ! is also disastrous for Black. 3) If Black tries 22 ... b5 , White breaks through with 23 f5 ! (note that e5 is covered by the knight on c4). 21 i.fS (D) ...

20 'ii'g4! White forces ... h5, intending later to sacrifice a piece on that fragile pawn-chain to break through on the h-file, to be followed by further pres­ sure on a new front with f5 . Once White sacrifices on h5, the attack re­ quires the additional punch delivered by the advance f5 to be completely successful.

20 hS ...

22 i.f3?! Impatient to explode the pawn­ chain, Lautier doesn't stop to consider an even more effective method to det­ onate the kingside. 22 t:Lie2 !, prepar­ ing to transfer the knight to the ideal

STORMING THE BARRICADES

74

support square g3 (where it supports the f5 advance and also gets ready for �xh5), would quickly end resistance. If 22 . . . .tg7 (22 ... �e7 23 .td4 ! e5 24 f5 exd4 25 �g3 followed by �xh5 and f6 flattens Black) White wins quickly with 23 f5 (23 �g3 first is also good if White remembers to play f5 before sacrificing on h5) 23 ...�e5 24 f6 .tf8 25 �g3 �c6 26 �xh5 e5 27 �f4 ! (27 l:.f5 also does the trick) 27 ... .txh3 28 �xg6 fxg6 29 f7+ �g7 30 'ii'h6#. The inclusion of the f5 ad­ vance together with a sacrifice on h5 puts overwhelming pressure on Black's defences. As it is, even after the text­ move, Black's game hangs by a thread. The next dozen moves or so are forced. 22 .tg7 23 .txhS gxhS 24 'ii'xhS �e7 25 fS exfS 26 exfS .txfS The difference between 22 .tf3 and 22 �2 becomes clear now. Black manages to block the f-file, at least for a while. 27 tbdS! �xdS 28 .:.xrs 'ii'b7 ! Better than 28 ...'ifc7 as in certain cases Black can counterattack against White's king at an opportune moment. 29 g6 �f6 30 Jbf6 .txf6 31 'ii'h7+ �f8 32 .th6+ �e8 33 'ii'g8+ The 'quiet move' 33 �4 ! ? has some poison. For instance: 1 ) 33 . . .fxg6?? 34 l:.e3+ .te7 35 �xb6 ! ! forces mate. 2) 33 ...�d7 34 'ifxf7+ .te7 35 l:.e3 l:.e8 36 .tg5 leads to a decisive advantage for White. 3) 33 ....td4+ 34 .te3 fxg6 (ifBlack plays 34 ....txe3+?? 35 l:.xe3+ �d7,

then 36 l:.e7+ ! ! wins nicely) 35 .txd4 'ii'xh7 36 l:.:xh7 gives White tremen­ dous compensation for the exchange despite the disappearance of the queens (36...�xa4 37 �3 followed by 38 �5 is winning, for example). Not surprisingly, both players were in severe time-pressure at this stage.

33 �d7 34 'ii'xf7+ �c6 35 'ii'xf6 'ii'd7 36 'ii'f3+ dS (D) •••

36 ... �c7 37 a5 ! leads to fresh at­ tacking chances against the king after 37 ... b5 (37 ... bxa5 38 .td2 !) 38 b4 �e6 39 c4 ! according to Lautier in

lnformator 691218.

•••

37 �c4 White surrenders the g-pawn in or­ der to activate this piece. 37 'ii'e6 38 .tf4 'ii'xg6+ 39 l:.g3 'ii'e6? ••.

A draw should result from 39 ... 'ii'h7 ! 40 �e5+ �b7 4 1 .tg5 l:.d6 42 �c4 l:.d7 43 �e5. 40 �e5+ White can win quickly by 40 l:.g7 ! 40...'ii'e l + 4 1 �g2 �d7 42 l:.g6+ �b7

75

KING-HUNTING

43 .i.d2 1r'h4 44 lLia5+! bxa5 (44 ...�a7 45 'ii'xd5) 45 'ii'xd5+ �b8 46 'ii'b3+, when Black must resign. 40 ... �b7 41 l:[g7+ lL!d7 (D)

In the next example, Shabalov suc­ cessfully storms Smirin's king posi­ tion, but when the king takes flight, he complicates matters and has to win the game all over again. Shabalov - Smirin

Manila OL 1992 1 e4 cS 2 lLif3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lLixd4 lLif6 S lLic3 lL!c6 6 .i.gS e6 7 'ii'd2 .i.e7 8 0-0-0 0-0 9 f4 h6 10 h4 lLixd4 1 1 'ii'xd4 a6 1 2 .i.e2 'ii'aS 1 3 .i.f3 l:[d8 14 g4 .i.d7 (D)

Time-pressure is over and White has come out with a strong initiative. Lautier readjusts well to the new at­ tacking environment and energetically keeps his initiative going.

42 .i::r.e7! 'ii'd6 43 .i.g3 'iii>c8 44 lLif7! 1i'c5+ 45 �bl 'iii>b7 Or 45 . .:.f8 46 lLid6+ �d8 47 'ii'e2 ! ..

'ii'c6 48 'ii'e6 with decisive threats.

46 lL!d6+ �a7 47 c4! Black is practically in zugzwang.

47...aS 48 'ii'xdS 1i'xd5+ 49 cxdS Black must lose the exchange and accept a hopeless ending.

49 ... �a6 50 lL!bS lL!cS 51 lLic7+ �b7 52 lLie6+ �a6 53 lLic7+ �b7 54 lLixa8+ �xa8 55 d6 lLixa4 56 h4 lLixb2 57 hS 57 l:[c? a4 58 d7 was a less dramatic method.

57 ... a4 58 h6 a3 59 .i.eS lLic4 60 .i.f6 1-0

Smirin has neglected to play the central reaction ...e5 in response to White's aggressive formation from a Rauzer Sicilian and has waved an "at­ tack me" sign at a player who needs no prompting, Alexander Shabalov. White's full-blown pawn-storm oper­ ation has one impediment - his own bishop on g5. White doesn't care to help Black free his cramped position with 15 .i.xf6 as a way to get the pawns rolling so he splinters Black's

76

STORMING THE BARRICADES

kingside with a sacrifice instead. This decision could be made without much calculation as White had earlier, with his g4 advance, essentially committed himself to this sacrificial course of ac­ tion. 15 .txb6! gxh6 16 g5 ti:Je8 Black cannot allow the h-file to be opened without paying the ultimate price. He must also cover the g7-square to stop mates if the g-file is ventilated. In addition, he must find a square where the knight will not be engaged with tempo by an advancing white foot-soldier. The weak 16 . . . lt:Jh7? is overrun by 17 ltdgl h5 (a feeble stop­ gap) 1 8 i.xh5 followed by g6. That leaves him, by the process of elimina­ tion, with only one move, 16 .. lbe8. 17 ltdgl (D)

Black must of necessity surround his king with defenders in order to meet White's first assault wave. 19 f5! 'l'e5 20 'ii'd 2 exfS 20...lt:Jg7 2 1 ..tf3 exf5 22 00 ! fxe4 23 lt:Jf6+ 'it>h8 24 ..txe4 and the coming g6 advance will be crushing (24....i.c6 25 .i.xc6 bxc6 26 ltel ! 'l'f5 27 lthfl 'l'b5 28 a4! 'l'xa4 29 li'd3 wins). 21 g6! fxg6 22 ltxg6+ 'it>h7 23 lthgl (D)

.

23 fxe4 ••.

17 hS ...

17 .. .'l'c5 18 gxh6+ 'it>h7 19 ltg7+ 'it>xh6 20 ltg6+ ! ! 'it>xg6 (20...'it>h7 2 1 lth6+!) 2 1 'l'h8 .i.xh4 (forced) 22 'l'xh4 leads quickly to mate. 1s .txh5 ..trs

Shabalov recommends, in lnfor­ mator 551223, the defence 23 ... lt:Jf6 24 �bl ! (by getting the king out of the way of the c 1-h6 diagonal, the queen gains access to its preferred attacking square g5) 24 ... lt:Jxe4 (24 ... lt:Jxh5 25 'l'g5 lt:Jf4 { 25 ... lt:Jg7? 26 lth6+ �g8 2 7 li'h5 forces mate on h8 } 26 lbd5 ! and White crashes through on the g­ file) 25 lt:Jxe4 fxe4 and now he settles for only a slim edge for White in his analysis after 26 lt l g5 ..tf5 27 li'f2, giving the line 27 ....i.xg6? 28 ..txg6+ 'it>h6 29 'l'f7 .tg7 30 lth5+ 'l'xh5 31

KING-HUNTING

.ixhS h 7, missing that White can force mate here with 32 'firs+ �h8 33 .if7 .id4 34 'fig6 .ie3 3S 'fif6+ �h7 36 .ig6+ �h6 37 .ixe4+ �hS 38 .if3#. A much tougher defence to re­ fute is 27 ... e3 28 'ilfxfS WxfS 29 :xrs :es and Black is far from lost (per­ haps this line was omitted somehow in the editing process). Completely win­ ning is, instead, the tripling crusher 26 'fig2 ! ! (threatening 27 :h6+ ! ) with the following possibilities: I) 26 ... 'l'xhS 27 :g7+ c7 35 :e7 :ae8 36 VaS+ b6 37 'fic3+ ?? In time-pressure, Shabalov misses the knockout blow 37 'fixa6 ! :xe7 (37 ... �d8 38 :xd7+ �xd7 39 'fib7+ f8 (D)

38 l:.f3?? Thanks to some very energetic play earlier in the game, Lautier has a very promising attacking position against Gelfand. White's pieces are situated aggressively near Gelfand's weakened kingside. The pawns on e5 and g5 can be utilized either to force open lines and diagonals or to assist in weaving a mating-net. Very tempting is the idea of creating a queen and rook battery on the h-file. Black has very few de­ fensive trumps. His knight may jump into e3 if White is not careful and Black's bishop controls the fl -rook's entry square to the g-file, so prevent­ ing l::tg l in certain cases. White's e­ pawn is slightly vulnerable and his queenside is bankrupt. Still, based on the weakened position of Black's king and the fine assembly of attacking weapons at hand, White must have a

White should play 38 'it'h8+ g3 .txa3 i s unclear) 40... 'it'd5 4 1 'it'f6+ 'it>d7 42 'ii'xf7+ 'ii'xf7 43 l::lxf7+ .te7 44 'it>xg2 (44 .td2 l:.c2 favours Black) 44 ...l::txc3 45 l:.d6+ '1t>c8 46 l:.e6 'it>d7 (46 .....t>dS? 47 g6 can only favour White) 47 l::td6+ with a draw.

38 ...l::td8 39 l::txe3 .txe3 40 .tb4+ .tcs 41 .tas 'ii'b3 0-1 This must have been a very painful loss for the French GM. After excel­ lent play to achieve a dream attacking position, he saw his position disinte­ grate during the frenetic final moves leading to move 40. This is, of course,

How NOT TO ATTACK

87

an old story familiar to players of all levels. Let's go back to the position af­ ter 35 ...b5 (D).

Note how the little combinations just flow out of the position when ev­ erything is in place. Use all of your weapons! Lautier obviously learned some­ thing from this fizzled attack. A few months after the mishandling of his tremendous attack against Boris Gel­ fand, Lautier reached a very promising attacking position against that formi­ dable defensive specialist Anatoly Karpov. This time around Lautier bril­ liantly dismantled his renowned oppo­ nent's defences, as we are about to see.

Here White should unleash his en­ tire attacking force with 36 i.h3 !, and now: 1) 36...1We7? 37 e6 is utterly crush­ ing. 2) 36 ... 1Wg6 37 .tf5 ! 1Wxg5 and now White can choose between 38 e6!, 38 1Wh3 ! and 38 %tg4, all of which are overwhelming. The most direct is 38 1Wh3 �f8 39 e6 f6 (best) 40 %tg4 1Wh6 4 1 %th4 1Wg5 42 %th5 ! (driving the queen away from the kingside) 42 ...1We3 43 e7+! �f7 (43 ...�xe7 44 :tel �f7 45 %txe3 %txe3 46 1Wg4 %txc3 47 1Wg6+ wins; 43 ...%tcxe7 44 %th8+ �f7 45 i.g6+ ! �xg6 46 1Wh5#) 44 .tg6+! �xg6 45 %txf6+! gxf6 46 1Wf5+ �f7 47 1Wxf6+ �g8 48 %th8#. 3) 36...1Wd5 37 e6! %txe6 (37 .. .fxe6 38 g6 is overwhelming; 37 . . .%tf8 38 i.f5 ! l0ci6 39 .th7+ destroys) 38 i.xe6 fxe6 39 g6! i.xa3 40 1Wf4 wins easily, threatening 1Wh4.

lautier - Karpov

Donmund 1993 1 c4 lLJf6 2 lLJc3 e5 3 lLJf3 lLJc6 4 g3 i.b4 s lDds e4 6 lLJh4 o-o 7 i.g2 :es S O·O d6 9 d3 exd3 10 'ifxd3 lLJxd5 11 cxd5 lLJe5 12 'ifc2 .tc5 13 b3 'ife7 14 i.bl a5 15 a3 lLJg6 16 lLJxg6 hxg6 17 e4 g5 lS :ael f6 19 �bl g4 20 f4 gxf3 21 :xr3 i.d7 22 :r4 :rs 23 :en i.e3 24 :t4f3 i.b6 (D)

88

STORMING THE BARRICADES

In the situation at hand it seems, at first glance, that White has nothing

special in the position. His dark-squared

25 l:ae8 •••

25 ... .i.xg4 26 l:g3 and now: 1) 26 ...i.hS 27 'it'd2 ! g6 (forced to

bishop and doubled rooks clank inef­

meet the threat of 'it'h6) 28 l:f5 ! �h7

fectually against the f6 point and his

29 'it'f4 and Black cannot defend for

light-squared bishop seems destined

long.

for a purely defensive role guarding

2) 26 . . . i.d7 21 'it'd2 :n 28 'it'h6

e4. Black's king protection is a bit soft

l:af8 29 'iig6 (29 l:f4 ?? .i.e3) 29 ...'it'e8

but his basic structure seems sound

30 .i.xf6 ! (30 l:xf6? 'it'e7 lets Black

and he can create future counterplay

simplify) 30. . . i.d4 ! 3 1 e5 ! ! leads to a

against White's centre with ... c6. White

massacre.

would like somehow to start some kingside action but a primitive scheme

With his actual choice, Karpov at­ tempts to buttress his kingside.

like h4, l:f4 and later g4 is not too

26 l:h3! (D)

promising. The time required to effect

The threat of 27 e5 ! now forces

such a scheme will give Black time to

Black finally to grab the tainted pawn.

counter-punch with the break ... c6. Lautier found a brilliant clearance of­ fer that exposes the true dark side of Black's position. Black's main handi­ cap is the peculiar placement of the bishop on b6. Although it has a clear view of the a7-gl diagonal, it is a long way from the crisis centre that will be Black's kingside. Lautier correctly judged that the following pawn sacri­ fice was worth the cost incurred due to the open lines and fresh access squares he will acquire in return.

25 g4!

26....i.xg4 27 l:g3 i.hS

When I first came across this game,

Black is swarmed asunder after

my first impression was that this was a

this, but the alternative 27 . . . .i.d7 was

reckless fling from a young maniac.

also bleak; e.g., 28 'fid2 and now:

But a closer examination reveals the

1) 28 . . .l:t7 29 'it'h6 (29 l:f4? fails

deep insight behind Lautier's sacrifice.

to 29 .. .fS !) 29 ... l:ef8 30 'it'g6 trans­

White will be able to exert more pres­

poses to note '2' to Black's 25th move.

sure on the kingside than Black can

2) 28 ... �h7 29 'it'e2 g6 (29 ... 'it't7

bear, keeping in mind the onlooker

loses to 30 i.xf6 ! gxf6 3 1 l:f4) 30 l:f4

status of the black bishop on b6.

'it't7 3 1 l:gf3 l:e5 32 i.xe5 dxe5 33

How NOT TO ATTACK

l:h4+ �g8 34 .th3 and Black's posi­ tion is hopeless.

89

Morozevich - de Firmian

Amsterdam Donner mem 1996

28 'ii'd2! g6 29 :rs 'ii'h7 Black must shed his important f­ pawn, as 29 . . .�h7? 30 "ii'f4 sets up a crushing sacrifice on h5 in the near fu­ ture. But now Black must deal with threats from all directions. 30 .txf6 :r1 31 'ii'gS c6 (D) 3 1 ...�fS 32 l:f4 helps little.

32 eS! Bringing the final reserve into play. The rest is brutal.

32...dxeS 33 dxc6 �rs 34 l:xeS :XeS 3S 'ii'xeS .tc7 36 "ii'e6 36 l:d3 ! bxc6 37 .txc6 would have been a pretty finish.

36 ... .tg4 37 'ii'xg4 l:xr6 38 'ii'c8+ 1-0 An outstanding attacking blow-out by Lautier against a defensive genius, and a good example of how to attack. In the next example, some desul­ tory play by Morozevich is followed by an unsound piece sacrifice.

1 e4 cS 2 ll:lf3 d6 3 d4 ll:lr6 4 ll:lc3 cxd4 S ll:lxd4 a6 6 .tc4 e6 7 .tb3 ll:lc6 8 .te3 .te7 9 r4 0-0 10 'ii'r3 ll:lxd4 1 1 .txd4 b S 1 2 .txf6 .txf6 1 3 e S .th4+ 14 g3 l:b8 1S 0-0-0 .te7 (D)

Nick de Firmian is a leading expert of the Najdorf Sicilian but that didn't stop the aggressive young Russian Alexander Morozevich from testing him in one of the sharpest lines of that well-regarded defence. Both sides have castled on opposite wings, which sig­ nifies a very sharp struggle ahead. Even though White has a lead in de­ velopment, Black's solid yet active position will not be easy to crack. Black's kingside is free of weaknesses and his dark-squared bishop is lend­ ing a strong defensive hand. Black has a built-in counterattack only a move or two away on the queenside which will build steam as his queenside pawns will be advancing with tempo by

90

STORMING THE BARRICADES

hitting White's minor pieces. The pru­ dent, if rather spectacular course here would be 16 exd6 .txd6 17 lDe4 .tb7 1 8 l:he l a5! ( 1 8 ...'ii'c 7? 1 9 f5 is dan­ gerous) 1 9 'W'g4 .i.xe4 20 l:xe4 l:b6! (20 ... a4? 21 .txe6) 21 f5 a4 22 fxe6 axb3 23 e7 bxa2 24 exd8'ii' (not 24 exf8'ii'+? losing to 24 ...'ii'xfS 25 �d2 f5) 24 ....tf4+! 25 gxf4 al 'ii'+ 26 �d2 l:.xd8+ 27 �e3 'ii'a8 with an equal po­ sition. Instead, Morozevich allows Black to stabilize his centre, when he will have a free hand to start attacking White's king.

16 l:hel?! dS 17 rs White hopes to tear open the king­ side by playing f6 but this is easily dealt with. 11 ...�h8 (D) This good defensive move takes away tactical ideas based on the a2-g8 diagonal. Getting queenside play going with 1 7 ...a5? is risky in view of 1 8 f6 ! ; e.g., 1 8 . . . gxf6 1 9 .txd5 ! exd5 20 l:xd5 'ii'c7 21 exf6 and White has the makings of a killer attack.

18 h4? This nearly pointless move (the only point is that it prevents a check on g5) hands the initiative to Black. Cor­ rect is 1 8 :n ! g6 ! (not 1 8 ... a5? 19 f6 gxf6 20 exf6 .i.d6 21 'ii'h5 'ii'b6 22 l:d3 ! a4 23 g4 ! with a winning attack) 1 9 g4 !? intending to play for f6 fol­ lowed by 'ii'f4 and l:d3 with serious attacking chances.

18... aS 19 f6 1 9 a4 bxa4 20 lDxa4 .td7 clearly favours Black, but the text-move leads nowhere.

19 ... gxf6 20 exf6 .txf6 21 tLlxdS 21 tLle4 dxe4 22 'ii'f4 'ii'e7 23 'W'xb8 a4 24 'ii'xb5 axb3 25 axb3 l:g8 26 l:xe4 l:xg3 27 l:c4 l:g8 poses more of a challenge for Black, but is also insuf­ ficient.

21 ...exdS 22 :Xd5 1i'b6 23 c3 .tg7 24 .tc2 fSI This completely ends any conceiv­ able attacking ideas and the rest is a routine execution.

2S 'ii'd3 b4 26 l:d6 1i'c7 27 c4 l:b6 28 l:d5 l:g6 29 c5 :Xg3 30 1i'bS 1i'f4+ 31 �bl 'ii'xh4 32 'ii'xaS l:a3 33 bxa3 0-1 In the next example, White rushes to sacrifice and nearly ruins a promis­ ing attack. Christiansen - Gheorghiu

Torremolinos 1977 1 c4 cS 2 tLlf3 tLlf6 3 lDc3 e6 4 e3 dS S cxdS lDxdS 6 d4 cxd4 7 exd4 .te7 8

How NOT TO ATTACK

i.d3 lDc6 9 0-0 0-0 10 l:lel lDf6 11 a3 b6 12 i.c2 i.b7 13 'ii'd3 g6 14 i.h6 l:leS 15 l:ladl l:lcS 16 i.b3 lDa5 17 i.a2 lLJdS lS lDe4 l1c7 19 lLJeS i.f8 (D)

91

on Black's weak dark squares with the following sequence.

20 i.g5 i.e7 21 i.xe7 l:lexe7 22 i.xd5 exd5 22 ...i.xd5 23 lDf6+ dS! Well calculated by Ivanchuk. His f2-pawn decides the struggle. 31 'ii'd2+ 'ii'd4 32 .txc6+ 'it>xc6 33 'l'xd4 .ta6+ 0-1 •••

A trendy line in the Caro- Kann has led to a very sharp middlegame where White is trying somehow to exploit the position of Black's uncastled king. White begins his attack by fixing the

98

STORMING THE BARRICADES

enemy monarch in the middle of the board. 19 .i.bS+! gS 27 ll'id6 .i.xd6 2S 'ii'xd6 'fixd6 29 l:r.xd6 .i.xg2 "unclear") 24 ...exfS 2S .i.xf6 gxf6 26 .i.c4 'fie? ! with a slight edge for White (I agree). White has another interesting possibility based on the pe­ culiar position of Black's bishop on h2, viz. 24 .i.c6! and now: 1 ) 24...exfS 2S .i.xd5 ll'ixd5 26 'fif3 (Black cannot consolidate his position because of the bishop on h2) 26 ....i.c? (26 ... ll'ic3+ 27 bxc3 doesn' t help much) 27 l:r.xd5 with a winning initia­ tive for White, who commands the whole board while Black's king re­ mains badly placed. 2) 24...'ii'c?? 2S .i.xd5 ll'ixdS 26 g3 ! trapping the black bishop (26 .:.xdS exdS 27 .i.d4 f6 2S g3 is also strong). 3) 24 ...'ficS 2S .i.xdS exdS (after 2S ... ll'ixdS 26 g3! Black's bishop will never escape) 26 'fif3 .i.c7 (26 ....i.eS 27 .i.xb6 with a clear plus for White) 27 .i.d4 and Black is not happy. Leko's actual move allows a combi­ nation based on Black's vulnerable back rank.

24 .i.d4! es (D) 24 ... exfS 2S .i.xf6 gxf6 26 l:r.d7 is crushing - Timman.

25 .i.xb6!! 'ii'xb6 26 .:.d6! 'fic7 27 'fic4!

White drives the black queen to the back row.

27...'ii'bS Not 27 ...'fixc4? 2S .:.dS+ mating.

28 .:.b6?! White could conclude matters with the elegant 2S .i.c6 !, overloading the black queen. Black has the following possible defences: 1 ) 2S . . . .i.xc6 29 .:.xc6 ll'ieS 30 'fies+ �gs 3 1 .:.cs +-. 2) 2S ...'ii;>gS 29 .:.xf6 ! . 3 ) 2 S. . .e4 29 g3 and now: 3a) 29 ....txc6 30 .:.xc6 'fies 3 1 .i::r.c? ! (better than 3 1 ll'id6 'fidS 32 .:.cs+ �e7 33 'fie?+, when Timman only analysed the inferior 33 ... ll'id??, but after 33 ... 'ii;>e 6! the situation is far from clear) 3 1 . ..'fie6 32 'ii'cS+ 'ii;> gS 33 l:r.c6 ! ll'id7 (3 3 ...'fid7 34 .:.cs+ ll'ieS 3S 'fieS ! �h7 36 l:r.xeS and White wins easily) 34 'fixa5 'fies (34 . . .'fieS 3S l:r.cS) 3S l:r.cS+ �h7 36 .:.xhS+ c;i;>xhS 37 'fidS+ c;i;>h? 3S 'fixd7 wins easily. 3b) 29 ...e3 30 'ficS ! 'ii;> gS 3 1 ll'ie7+ c;i;>fS 32 ll'ics ! c;i;>gS 33 .:ds+ c;i;>h? 34 'fifS+ g6 3S 'fixf6 ! l:r.xdS 36 'fixf7+

STORMING THE BARRICADES

100

�h8 37 'it'f6+ �h7 38 'it'e7+ mates quickly. 3c) 29...'it'c7 30 .ia4 ! (30 .ib5 'it'b8 3 1 'it'c5 �g8 32 lLJe7+ also leads to a quick win) 30...'it'b8 and now 3 1 'it'c5 is crushing.

28 'it'c8 29 lhb7? ...

Timman wants more than the pawn­ up ending that arises after 29 'it'xc8+ .ixc8 30 l:b8 �g8 3 1 l:xc8+ �h7 32 l:xh8+ �xh8 33 lLJd6. Absorbed with his own possibilities, he overlooks a nasty defensive resource for Black. 29 'it'xb7 30 lLJci6 (D) •..

defended, yet uncastled enemy king. The near-perfect gem, however, was tarnished by Timrnan' s unfocused play near the end. The following phenomenally com­ plicated game contains a little of ev­ erything. Tal's menacing attack against Keller's uncastled king was about to fizzle out until a fatal blunder at the end ruined a brilliant defensive effort by Keller. This is a good example of a superior player nearly 'forcing' his opponent to win. Keller consistently found the 'only' moves time after time until Tal was nearly out of tricks. Stronger players normally prefer to give their opponents some rope with which to hang themselves. Tai

-

Keller

Zurich 1959 1 lLJf3 lLJf6 2 c4 e6 3 lLJc3 dS 4 d4 c6 5 .igS dxc4 6 e4 bS 7 a4 'it'b6 8 .ixf6 gxf6 9 i.e2 a6 10 0-0 .ib7 ll d5 cxdS 12 exdS b4 13 a5 'it'c7 (D) 30 'it'e7?? •••

30...lLJe4 ! ! not only saves Black, but gives him a clear edge after 3 1 lLJxe4 (3 1 lLJc8 lLJd2+) 3 1 ...g6 32 lLJd6 'ike7 33 'ikc6! e4 (33 ... �g7 34 lLJe8+ saves the day) 34 lLJxe4 .ie5 . 31 'ikc8+ lLJe8 32 lLJfS! Black's queen is dominated.

32 hS 33 lLJxe7 �xe7 34 'it'd7+ 1-0 .••

Despite the errors near the end of the game, this was a good example of how to harass an apparently well

How NOT TO ATTACK

Mikhail Tal earned his reputation as an attacking wizard by his single­ minded zeal to checkmate the oppos­ ing king. His weapon of choice was the sacrifice. During his formative years on the way to greatness, no price was too high if it gave him a mating attack or even the semblance of a mating at­ tack. Nobody was more ingenious at devising new schemes and sacrifices to further his goal, or to bamboozle his opponents. In the position above, we note that Black is a pawn up and has played 12 . .. b4 to drive the knight from c3, where it supports the d5-pawn. White is almost fully developed and Black's kingside has been somewhat ruptured. The obvious continuations, 14 lDe4 and 14 lDa4 can be met by 14 ...lDd7 !, when it is not clear if White has enough play for the pawn - Black has managed to gain vital time to speed his development. Also worth considering is the sacrifice 14 dxe6, which puts the torch to Black's king position. If the sacrifice is declined with 14 ... fxe6, then White whips up a crushing attack with 15 lDd4 ! bxc3 16 i.h5+ �e7 17 llel ! i.d5 18 i.f3 cxb2 19 .i.xd5 bxal 'ii' 20 'ii'xal , so White has to judge whether he gets enough compensation if Black accepts the piece with 1 4 . . . bxc3. The answer 15 lbd4 looks promising, ideally central­ izing the knight for attacking purposes and also threatening 16 exf7+. It looks likely that Black's king will be forced to stay in the centre, where it will be subjected to continuing pressure and

101

threats from the active white pieces. That pawn on e6 will be a major nui­ sance for Black and he must constantly tend to the chronic weaknesses in his position (doubled pawns, f5-square, open d-file). Sacrificing a piece is a major commitment but Tal always pre­ ferred to err on the side of boldness, and of course he went for the sacrifice:

14 dxe6! bxc3 As noted above, 1 4 . . . fxe6 15 lDd4 bxc3 1 6 .i.h5+ �e7 1 7 lle l .i.d5 1 8 .i.f3 ! i s good for White. 15 lbd4 llg8! (D) This defangs 16 exf7+, which would now be happily met by 1 6 . . . �xf7 17 .i.h5+ :g6. The rook may also enter the game with ...llg5 at some stage.

16 'ii'a4+ �d8 17 g3 .i.d5! Black puts up an inspired defence. This fine defensive move blocks the d-file and keeps an eye on the e6pawn.

18 :rdl �c8?! The greedy defence 1 8 . . .cxb2 ! 1 9 1 llabl c 3 (the most consistent) is best

102

STORMING THE BARRICADES

met by 20 exf7 'ifxf7 2 1 .tc4 ! , and now: 1) 2 1 . . .'itc7 22 .txd5 'ifxd5 23 'iie8 ! 'iti>b7 24 tlle6 with a decisive at­ tack. 2) 2 1 . . . .txc4 22 tll e6+ 'iti>e7 23 'iib4+ ! 'iti>xe6 24 'ifxc4+ 'ite7 25 l:tel + and wins. 3) 21....td6 22 tllf5 .txc4 23 tllxd6 'iie6 24 tll xc4+ tlld7 25 tllb6 (25 l:.xd7+ 'ifxd7 26 l:.d l is far less con­ vincing) 25 ... l:.a7 26 'iic2 followed soon by l:.d3 and the digestion of Black's dangerous pawns on b2 and c3. 4) 21.. .l:tg5 ! 22 tlle2 (22 tllf3 'it'd? ! is very strong) 22 . . .tlld7 (best) 23 l:.xd5 l:.xd5 24 tll xc3 l:.c8 25 .txd5 'tie? and, amazingly, the position looks equal after 26 .tc6 'ifd6 27 .txd7 l:txc3 28 .tf5 l:.c 1 + 29 'iti>g2. Black has a strong passed pawn on b2, but it is securely blockaded and White may nibble away at Black's weak kingside. 19 bxc3? Tai is in too much of a hurry to eliminate the nuisance. 19 'iie 8+! 'itb7 and then 20 bxc3 is crushing. Black must play 20...tllc6, which loses spec­ tacularly to 21 l:.abl + 'iti>a7 (Black's king is now in a very precarious posi­ tion) 22 exf7 tllxd4 ! 23 l:.xd4 l:.g5 24 .tf3 ! l:.e5 25 l:.xc4 ! ! 'iid6 (25 ... 'ifxc4 26 'tid7+ or 25 . . ..txc4 26 'ifxa8#) 26 .txd5 l:.xd5 (26 . . .l:.axe8 27 l:.b7+ 'iti>a8 28 l:te7+ followed by 29 exf8W+ wins) 27 'iie3+ l:tc5 28 l:.d4 ! 'ifc6 29 'tid3 l:.b5 (forced) 30 l:.d7+ 'lrb8 3 1 l:.d8+ 'iti>c7 32 l:.dl ! and now Black is

helpless against the coordinated ma­ jor-piece attack aided by the f7-pawn. 19....tcS! (D) This stops 'ife8+ and creates some sticky counter-threats towards White's king. If White moves the d4-knight then ...l:.xg3+ ! pops up out of nowhere. Tai now puts one piece en prise after another trying to bring his attack back to life.

20 e7?! Objectively, 20 .txc4 was better, though definitely not as tricky. White then has reasonable compensation for his piece after 20.. .fxe6 2 1 .txd5 exd5 22 tlle6 'iid6 23 tllf4 'ifc6 24 'ifc2. I would call it +. Actually, it is amazing that Black's position holds together as he makes forced replies for the next eight moves or so. 20...tllc6 21 .tg4+ 'itb7 22 tllb 5!? 22 l:.abl + 'ita7 23 tll xc6+ .txc6! (23 ... 'ifxc6? 24 'iixc6 .txc6 25 .tf3 ! ! .tb5 26 l:.d7+! ! 'itb8 27 .txa8 wins) 24 'iixc4 l:.g5 ! consolidates Black's position.

How NOT TO ATTACK

22...We5 Not, of course, 22 ... axbS? 23 Wxb5+ i.b6 24 axb6 winning for White.

23 :et i.e4! Black somehow manages to keep White's pieces at bay.

24 .:abl! (D)

103

a rook and two pieces for the queen, and the e7-pawn is doomed. But, as happens so often, the defender relaxes his guard and disaster strikes.

28 Wdl :es?? (D) White has some prospects to hold after 28...l2Jxe7 thanks to Black's ugly pawn-structure, but he would clearly be fighting an uphill battle. Keller's bril­ liant defence is ruined by one careless move. He wanted to keep the queen away from d5 and/or h5, but he will pay a heavy price.

Tai puts yet another piece en prise trying to create problems for his oppo­ nent.

24 .:Xg4! ••

If 24...i.xb l , White answers with the unexpected 25 :xb l ! {25 :xe5 /Oxe5 26 1fd l i.xf2+! favours Black) and he has a decisive attack despite his rook deficit and hanging pieces!

25 lbe4 Wxe4! 25 ...:xe4?? loses to 26 /Od4+.

26 /Od6+ 'iic7 27 /Oxe4 l.xe4 Black has nearly finished navigating the tactical minefield. He now has

29 .:b7+! White nets a piece and a rook for this sham sacrifice. 29...'iixb7 30 Wd7+ 'iib8 31 e8W+

:xe8 32 Wxe8+ 'iib7 33 1fd7+ 'iib8 34 Wxc6 1-0 This wild and woolly battle was typical of Tal in his early years.

6 Sei z i n g O pportu n ities

Sometimes a promising attack comes as a result of a mistake by your oppo­ nent in an otherwise stable position. Understanding and exploiting the mis­ take - seizing your opportunity - is the main theme in this section. A related theme is the art of creating complica­ tions in unfavourable circumstances, also known as desperation attacks. In my experience, I often have to resort to tactical trickery to confuse my op­ ponent in a bad position. The idea is to create the maximum number of tacti­ cal obstacles in the hope the opponent either runs short of time figuring out ways to counter your tricks, or actu­ ally stumbles and creates opportuni­ ties. The following detailed analysis of a memorable slash-and-burn slugfest showed opportunistic, creative, blood­ thirsty chess by both sides. Each player seizes and misses various opportuni­ ties during the course of the game. Shirov - Gulko

Groningen PCA qual 1993 1 e4 e6 2 d4 dS 3 lDc3 .i.b4 4 es cs s a3 .i.xc3+ 6 bxc3 lDe7 7 lDr3 b6 8 .i.bS+ .i.d7 9 .i.d3 c4 10 .i.fl .i.a4 11 h4 h6 12 hS 'iPd7 13 g3 'tWg8 14 .i.f4 1Wh7 lS l:cl 'iPc7 16 .i.g2 lDd7 17

lDh2 aS 18 00 'iPb7 19 lDe3 'iPa7 20 g4 f6 21 exf6 gxf6 22 0-0 l:hg8 23 'ire2 l:ae8 (D)

A very complicated position has been reached from a Winawer French. Black anticipates creating play on the g-file by means of ...'ikg7 followed by the thrust . . .e5 or ... f5. White would like somehow to open the position to the benefit of his bishop-pair but he is not well placed to do that. That annoy­ ing bishop on a4 helps to keep the po­ sition closed while tying White's pieces to the defence of the c2-pawn. The rook on c 1 makes a sad impres­ sion and a logical move would be the obvious 24 l:bl , simply putting this piece on its best square before taking concrete action. Another reasonable move here would be the sophisticated

SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES

24 .i.d6 ! ? in order to provoke 24 ...lL!c8 25 .tg3, when White has improved the position of his bishop while Black has moved his knight to a more pas­ sive square (which is why 24 .i.d6 is better than the immediate 24 .tg3). Of course, White can also consider the violent sacrifice 24 lLixc4, which, if accepted, opens the hl -a8 diagonal for his dormant bishop and gains two pawns with increased activity. Black then has essentially three replies: 1 ) 24 ....tb5 can be swiftly dis­ counted: 25 'ii'xe6 dxc4 (there are no promising discoveries for the knight on e7) 26 :bl and it is abundantly ob­ vious that White has a raging attack and initiative bubbling around Black's king. He is certain to have full com­ pensation. 2) 24 ... dxc4 gives White two op­ tions (there are no other forcing moves available): 2a) 25 'ili'xc4 looks attractive, since it seems that the bishop on a4 is in trouble, but it neglects kingside de­ fence. Black returns the piece for a vi­ cious attack with 25 ... lLid5 ! 26 .txd5 exd5 27 'ili'xa4 l:.xg4+ 28 .i.g3 f5 ! . 2b) So White must turn his atten­ tion to 25 'ili'xe6, which seems more promising. From e6 the queen works on both sides of the board and in the centre, where it helps dominate Black's restless knights. But Black is not with­ out resources. After 25 ....:cs 26 l:.fel :g7 27 .i.d6 Alexei Shirov gives the line 27 ... lL!g8 28 .te4 "±" in lnfor­ mator 591334, missing the effective

105

but difficult-to-find answer 27 ... 'ili'g8 ! 28 .i.xe7 (28 'ili'xg8 lLixg8) 28. . .:xg4, when Black gets his extra piece back thanks to the pin on the g-file. Black has other resources against 25 'i'xe6, such as 25 ... f5 !?, when 26 'ii'd6 l:.c8 27 :fet lLic6 28 d5 lLicb8 29 :e7 :g7 seems to hold, but 25 ... .:cs 26 :fe l l:.g7 seems the most promising. 3) The other possibility to consider is 24 ...e5 ! ?, counterattacking in the centre and putting the f4-bishop under fire. White can, at a minimum, avoid material loss with 25 lL!b2, but he can also play the speculative 25 lLid6 ! ? exf4 2 6 lL!xe8 :xe8 2 7 : fe t with some pressure for his small sacrifice of two pieces for rook and pawn. In the end, overestimating his at­ tacking possibilities and discounting Black's resources, Shirov plunged for­ ward with the reckless ... 24 lLixc4?! As discussed above, Black can grab the piece and endure White's initia­ tive. Instead Gulko, noted for his fine counter-punching prowess, plays the second best move, the counter-thrust... 24...eS!? (D) 25 lLib2 This forcing move ensures material equality, but White also risks handing the initiative over to his opponent. As already mentioned, 25 lL!d6! ? was also worth considering, offering two pieces for a rook in order, after 25 ... exf4 26 lL!xe8 :xe8, to establish an unpleasant pin with 27 :fet . Black should re­ spond actively with 27 .. .f5 !, when it is

106

STORMING THE BARRICADES

27 'iif3 l0h4 28 1i'xf4 l0xg2 29 1i'c7+

29 �xg2 Jlxg4+ 30 1i'xg4 Jlg8 fa­ vours Black. Shirov swoops in to men­ ace the suddenly exposed black king. 29...�a6 (D)

anybody' s game after 28 1i'f3 fxg4 29 1i'xf4 llc8! (planning to meet 30 1i'd6 with 30...iOfS), though B lack proba­ bly has the edge. 25 exf4?! The steady 25 ... .tc6 is better, sup­ porting the centre and removing the bishop from danger. Although Black is a pawn down, White's knight on b2 is an eyesore and counterplay is com­ ing soon on the kingside. Chances are roughly equal after 26 .tg3 (26 .te3 f5 ! rudely smashes open the g-file) 26...1i'g7 27 f3 (the alternative 27 c4?! exd4 ! { 27 . . .dxc4 28 d5 is good for White } 28 cxd5 .txd5 favours Black) 27 ...iOfS ! 28 1i'f2 i0xg3 29 1i'xg3 f5 ! 30 l0d3 fxg4 3 1 fxg4 e4 32 l0b4! .tb7 (32... axb4?? 33 1i'c7+ �a6 34 axb4 leads to a mating attack) 33 llfS ! . Gulko thought h e was getting to White's king first but he comes in for an impolite riposte. 26 ltJxa4 lLJrS 26...1i'g7 is too slow, as after 27 f3 iLJfS 28 1i'b5 ! l0e3 29 llbl Black's king position soon falls apart. •••

30 Jlb1 White has serious threats because of the unprotected status of Black's queen. The attempt to denude Black's kingside and go for a major-piece mat­ ing attack with 30 l0c5+ ! ? is interest­ ing, but only good enough for a draw after 30 ... bxcS 3 1 llbl Jlb8 (forced) 32 1i'c6+ (if 32 dxc5, then 32 ...Jlxg4 forces White to take a perpetual with 33 1i'c6+ �a7 34 1i'c7+, etc.) 32...'ilia7 (32...l0b6? loses to 33 dxc5). The at­ tempt to win by 33 Jlb5? (White should take a draw with 3 3 1i'c7+) loses to 33 ... JlxbS 34 'iixb5 i0el l ! (34 ...Jlxg4? 35 1i'xa5+ �b7 36 llbl + �c6 37 'iia6+ Wc7 38 llb7+ �d8 39 1i'a8+ We7 40 Jlxd7+! wins for White) 35 Jlxel Jlxg4+ 36 'ilifl 1i'g7! (protecting the queen and threatening ... Jlgl +),

SE/'ZJNG OPPORTUNrflES

when White has nothing better than 37 'i'xa5+ Wb7 38 l:tbl + Wc8 39 'i'a8+ Wc7 40 l:tb7+ Wd6 4 1 dxc5+ We7 42 l:txd7+ Wxd7 43 'i'xd5+ Wc8 and at some point he will run out of checks. 30 ll.b8 31 :Xb6+! 3 1 f3 ! ? ll.h8 (forced) 32 'i'c6 (32 Wxg2 'ffxc2+ followed by ... 'i'xa4) 32...l0e3 33 l:tfel lOc4 34 'ffb5+ Wa7 35 'i'xd5 l:thc8 36 l:te2 l:tc7 37 l:tbel 'i'g8! is OK for Black (:f). The strong knight on c4 holds Black's precarious position together beautifully. 31 :Xb6 32 lOcS+ lOxcS 33 'ffxh7 •••

107

'ffd3+ l:tc4 38 'ffxd5 ! ll.xc3+ 39 Wg2 l:tc7 40 'i'a8+ Wb5 4 1 'iib8+ Wc6 42 'ffb6+ Wd7 43 'i'xf6 assessing the re­ sulting position as "±", which seems a little conservative. White looks like he is winning fairly comfortably after 43 ...l:t7xc5 44 'ffg 7+! We8 45 'ffxh6, which prevents ... ll.xa3 and sets up Wxfl . The h-pawn will soon force the black rooks into passivity, and win­ ning will be only a matter of time. 34 .11.gS 35 dxcS (D) .•

•••

(D)

3S...i0r4+

With three black pieces under at­ tack, White should emerge from the maelstrom with a winning material advantage but Black's pieces are dan­ gerously active around White's king.

33...l:txg4 34 f3? According to Shirov in lnformator 591334, White could consolidate his material advantage with 34 dxc5 ! l0e3+ 35 Wh2 i0xfl + 36 Wh3 l:tb7 37

Gulko now manages to coordinate his dwindling forces and is able to generate dangerous threats against the white king.

36 Wh2 36 Wf2?? ll.e6 37 l:th l (White has nothing better) 37 . . .l:te2+ 38 Wfl l:tg3 wins for Black. Black now sets up a mating-net that forces White to take a perpetual check but one final twist awaits the players.

36 ... l:tb7 37 lt'h8 l:tbg7 38 'ffa8+ Wb5 39 c4+

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STORMING THE BARRICADES

Shirov makes one last attempt to force a win that isn't there. 39...�c4 40 'it'a6+ 'iilrxcS 41 'it'xaS+?? White should force a perpetual check with 4 1 'l'cS+ 'iilrd6 (or 4 1 ...'iilrd4 42 l:.d 1 + 'iilre 5 43 Wes+ and not now 43 ...'iilrf S?? 44 l:txdS+ forcing mate, but 43 ...'iilrd 6, again with a draw) 42 'ii'd S+ 'iilrcS 42 Wes+, etc. 1h,.l/2 The players agreed to a draw, based on the mutual illusion that White has a perpetual check. Actually, Black wins after 4 1 ...'iilrd4 ! 42 'it'a4+ (42 l:td l + 'iilre 5 and White will soon run out of checks) 42 ...'iilre5 43 'l'eS+ 'ii&rf5 44 'l'cS+ 'Oe6 45 'l'eS l:tgS 46 'ilf7 l:t5g7 and White's queen is trapped! Although 24 !Oxc4 was, in hind­ sight, dubious, I cannot fault Shirov for his enterprising attempt. Nobody can calculate every conceivable varia­ tion and the lines were complicated enough that his opponent didn 't chal­ lenge its validity. A slow, manoeuv­ ring game opened up into a tactical melee - Shirov's forte - and he nearly succeeded in winning. The next example involves a game I played against Sammy Reshevsky in my first USA Championship. Christiansen - Reshevsky

USA Ch (Mentor) 1977 1 e4 c5 2 'Of3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 !Oxd4 l0r6 5 l0c3 a6 6 .i.e3 e6 7 f4 b5 8 .i.d3

.i.b7 9 0-0 'Obd7 10 'it'f3 b4 11 l0ce2? lOc5 12 '0g3 h5 (D)

A badly-played opening (I should have routed the knight to f2 instead of g3) has led to this embarrassing sce­ nario against venerable S ammy Re­ shevsky. Black threatens to drive my g3-knight away from defence of e4. Losing such a centre pawn against a player ofReshevsky's calibre is a death sentence. I had to formulate a plan de­ signed to create maximum confusion or at least some play in light of the in­ evitable material loss. I finally found a sacrificial line that offered at least a glimmer of active play. The problems this sacrificial line would pose are much more complicated than simply letting the e4-pawn fall without any counterplay. The game continued ... 13 a3 h4 14 '0ge2 l0rxe4 Black has a solid extra pawn after 14 ... bxa3 1 5 b4 .i.xe4 1 6 .i.xe4 l0cxe4 17 l:txa3 d5 but Reshevsky understand­ ably wanted more from the position

SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES

(White does get a little play in this line).

15 lllxe6 This was what I was counting on to create confusion.

15...fxe6 16 axb4 lllg3 17 .i.g6+ �d7 18 'il'g4 lllxe2+? Black should play 1 8 ...lllxfl ! 19 l:txfl ( 1 9 .i.xc5 h3 ! is ruinous after 20 l:txfl 'il'h4 ! or 20 g3 llld2) 1 9 ...llle4 20 llld4 lllf6 ! (20...'fl'f6? 21 lllxe6 �e7 22 .i.xe4 .i.xe4 23 f5 is good for White !) 21 'fl'xe6+ �c7 and White is far short of serious compensation for the rook.

19 'fl'xe2 White's position is well coordinated and Black has particular difficulties defending e6. The open a-file may also become useful for attacking pur­ poses if Black's king flees toward the queenside.

19...llle4 20 .i.d4 lllf6 20 . . . d5 21 .i.xe4 dxe4 22 l:tadl �e8 (22 ...�c8? loses to 23 'il'c4+ 'fie? 24 .i.b6 ! !) 23 f5 ! leads to a promising at­ tack for White.

21 l:tfel (D)

109

21 ...e5? Black had to try 2 1 ...'il'e? 22 b5 ! a5 (22 ...axb5 23 l:txa8 .i.xa8 24 l:tal .i.b7 25 'fl'xb5+ �c8 26 'il'c4+ �b8 27 .i.a7+ �a8 gives White at least perpet­ ual check) although White has prom­ ising chances after 23 'il'd3 (with the idea of l:txe6) or 23 c4 to start a pawn­ front pressing down on Black's king. After the text-move, the centre files open up with devastating consequences for Black's king.

22 fxe5 dxe5 23 .i.xe5 'il'b6+ 24 �bl .i.d6 Or 24 . . ..i.xb4 25 l:ted l+ llld5 26 .i.f7 and Black must return the piece and still face a crushing attack.

25 l:tadl llld5 26 .i.e4 l:the8 27 .i.xd5 �c7 Or 27 ... l:txe5 28 'il'g4+ �c7 29 'il'xg7+ and White wins.

28 'ii'c4+ 1-0 Faced with the choice between a lifeless game a pawn down or a posi­ tion with greater material loss but some play, I prefer to take my chances with the latter case. Eric Lobron finds a way to counter Seirawan's positional pressure by ag­ gressively attacking White's kingside. Seirawan - Lobron

Bad Kissingen 1981 1 c4 g6 2 lllc3 .i.g7 3 g3 e5 4 .i.g2 d6 5 lllf3 f5 6 0-0 lllf6 7 d3 0-0 8 l:tbl lllc6 9 b4 a6 10 a4 h6 1 1 b5 axb5 12 axb5 llle7 13 .i.b2 f4 14 l:tal l:tb8 15 l:ta7

110

STORMING THE BARRICADES

eirs 16 ltle4 fxg3 17 hxg3 ltlg4 18 d4 ii'e8 19 dxeS dxeS (D)

21. ..ii'hS 22 .:.d3? Underestimating the danger. Better was 22 .ia3 lle8 23 e3 ! ? (if Black can play ...lLld4 he stands well; 23 .ib2 was the conservative choice when Black should respond 23 . . .llf8) tempting Black to go for 23 ... ltlfxe3 ! ? 24 fxe3 ltlxe3 25 lld3 ltlxg2 26 �xg2 .if5 27 •el •h3+ 28 �f2 g4 29 ltlh4 •h2+ 30 �e3 ! and White should be able to hold off the attack. 22 .ie6 Suddenly Black has connected his rooks with tempo and has taken over the initiative. .•.

Black seems to stand badly in this outgrowth of a Closed Sicilian Re­ versed. His queenside is backward and his pawn-formation has some blem­ ishes. White correctly played...

23 ii'cl ltld6! (D)

20 ii'al An active move, but also a risky de­ centralization that encourages aggres­ sive motions against the white king. A solid alternative was 20 ltlh2 to ex­ change off Black's active knight on g4.

20...gS! Very direct and good. The black queen will take up an attacking post on h5 to menace mating threats on h2. Also, the thrust . . . g4 may come in handy in some positions to clear the way for pressure on the f-file.

21 lldl Seirawan creates a flight square for his king while occupying the open file. But new dangers emerge for White along the f-file.

The e4-knight is the glue holding White's position together, so Black endeavours to eliminate it.

24 ltlxd6 Giving up the exchange with 24 llxd6 cxd6 25 ltlxd6 fails beautifully to 25 ...e4 ! 26 ltlxe4 .ixb2 27 •xb2 llxf3 ! ! 28 .ixf3 (28 exf3 •h2+ 29 �fl .ixc4+ wins prosaically for Black) 28 ...•h2+ 29 �fl lld8 ! ! - a move of

SEIZJNG OPPORTUNfl'IES

111

astonishing force. If White protects his back rank with 30 l:.al, he is mated after 30 ...l0e3+! 3 1 fxe3 i.h3+, etc., leaving him the option of resigning or giving up a piece for nothing with 30 l0f6+ l0xf6. 24 cxd6 25 :Xd6 (D) Since 25 e4 l:.bc8 ! 26 l:.a4 (forced) 26...d5 ! is utterly crushing, White had no other useful moves. ••.

Christiansen - Kaidanov

USA Ch (Long Beach) 1993

Lobron now pries open the f-file in order to create access to the fl-square. 25.. e4! 26 l:.xe6 :Xf3! Much more efficient (and elegant) than 26 ...exf3 27 exf3 l:.xf3 28 l:.e2 Wh2+ 29 �fl Wxg3, which wins with­ out special problems. 27 exf3 exf3 28 �n ..wi.21 Closing the net on White's king. 29 i.xg7 Wxg2+ 30 �el Wxf2+ 0-1 .

A brief window of opportunity in a positionally-based contest was seized to prepare a decisive pinning combi­ nation in the next example.

Most of this game had been devoted to quiet positional finagling. I was try­ ing somehow to exploit Black's block­ aded, isolated d-pawn while Black sought to conjure up play with his two bishops. Finally, as the game neared the 40th move I had succeeded (thanks in part to my opponent's time-pressure) in creating a modest little initiative. Black's main problem is his vacuous light-squared bishop, lashed to the de­ fence of the isolani but doing little else. The bishop's absence from b7 gives White the chance to strike. 40 l0de6! Not merely a random invasion but a serious attacking move. White plans to take control of the seventh rank with 4 1 Wbl followed by 42 l:.b7, when Black's kingside will come under heavy attack. 40...i.d6? With the time on his clock running down, Kaidanov makes the decisive

STORMING THE BARRICADES

112

error. Black should surrender the d­ pawn in order to simplify the position with 40...'ii'f7 4 1 lDxf8 (4 1 'ii'b l g5 ! 42 lDxf8 gxf4 43 :tb7 i.d3 draws) 4 1 ...:txfS 42 :td6 'ii'c7 43 i.b4 'ii'b7 44 lDxd5 i.xd5 45 'ii'xd5+ 'ii'xd5 46 :txd5 :cs, when Black has chances to hold the ending. 41 'ii'b l! I spent about twenty minutes or so checking and re-checking the varia­ tions and I finally concluded that the coming pin would prove decisive. Black's replies are rather limited be­ cause of the terrible threat 42 :tb7. 41 ...:txe6?! 4 1 ...i.d3 !? offers the most obsti­ nate resistance, although White has an extra pawn and strong pressure after 42 lDxd3 :xe6 43 liJf4 :es 44 liJxd5. 42 lDxe6 fi'xe6 43 i.b4 lDc6 Also losing are 43 ...lDf3+ (I actu­ ally failed to consider this try) 44 �hl ! and 43 ... i.d3 44 'ii'a l ! lDc4 45 'ii'aS+ �f7 46 :tb7+ �g6 47 'ii'hS ! �g5 4S "ifxg7+ i.g6 49 i.xd6 liJxd6 50 :te7 with an easy win. 44 i.xd6 1i'xd6 4S 'ii'al Black cannot shake the pin thanks mainly to his badly positioned bishop. 4S 1i'd7 46 °ifaS+ 1-0 .••

As I mentioned earlier, if one has the choice between a lifeless position a pawn down or a speculative attack involving even greater material loss, I would lean toward the speculative at­ tack, as the following example illus­ trates.

Adianto - Christiansen

San Francisco 1991 1 d4 liJf6 2 lDf3 e6 3 c4 i.b4+ 4 i.d2 as s g3 d6 6 i.g2 liJbd7 7 0-0 es 8 e3 i.xd2 9 'ii'xd2 0-0 10 lDc3 1i'e7 1 1 :tfdl :es 1 2 liJbS lDf8 13 cs e4 14 cxd6 cxd6 lS lDel i.g4 16 :tdcl lDe6 17 :tc2 1i'd7 18 a4 (D)

Black has an important decision to make in this position. White threatens to take control over the c-file with 19 :tac 1 and there is little Black can do to stop this. If lS ... :tecS 1 9 :txcS+ _:txcS 20 "ifxa5, Black is not only a pawn down, but his pieces are tied down to the defence of the d-pawn. Black does have a space advantage on the king­ side and a restless accumulation of pieces on that side of the board, so it makes sense to seek his fortune attack­ ing White's king, even at the cost of material. Defending against even an unsound attack is more unpleasant for White than smoothly converting his positional advantage.

SEIZING OPPORTUNfI'IES

18 tLlgS 19 tLlc7 �f3 20 lLixf3? A very rich and interesting position arises after 20 tLixe8 l:.xe8 ! (20 ...�xg2? 21 tLixf6+ gxf6 22 f4 ! wins) 21 'ii'xa5 (best; this pawn-grab helps to slow Black's attack) 2 1 . . .'ii'g4 and it is not easy for White to shake off the pres­ sure. A passive defence like 22 tLlxf3? exf3 23 �fl h5 ! 24 h4 (else ...h4 will fatally loosen White's kingside and set up a killer sacrifice on g3) 24 ...lLih3+ 25 �h2 tLlxf2 26 l:.xf2 tLle4 27 l:.xf3 1i'xf3 28 1i'e l lLif2 ! is very strong. White should probably play 22 h4 ! lLih3+ 23 �h2 �xg2 24 tLlxg2 g5 ! (this makes luft and pries open access squares on the kingside), and now: 1 ) 25 'ii'b5? ! (to cover the weak light squares) 25 ...l:.c8 ! 26 l:.xc8+ 'Wxc8 27 tLlel (27 hxg5? tLlg4+ ! gives Black at least a draw) 27 . . .tLlxf2 ! 28 'Wxg5+ �f8 29 �g2 1i'h3+ 30 �xf2 tLlg4+ 3 1 �e2 1i'h2+ 32 �d 1 tLlf2+ ! 33 �c l tLld3+! 34 tLlxd3 exd3 and White has nothing better than perpet­ ual check. 2) 25 l:.fl ! (to shore up defence of f2 and support a potential f3 advance) 25 ... l:.c8 (it's hard to find anything better) 26 l:.xc8+ 'ii'xc8 27 tLlel ! and Black's activity is finally neutralized. Adianto's actual choice overlooks a small tactical point. 20 exf3 21 lLixe8 lLih3+! This enables Black to capture on g2 with check and collect two pieces for a rook. 22 �bl fxg2+ 23 �xg2 l:.xe8 24 'Wxa5 •.•

..•

113

Materially, with two pawns and a rook for the two pieces White is not doing badly. But his porous kingside is a natural magnet for Black's pieces. 24 dS 25 1i'b5 'ii'f5 26 l:.acl h5 Of course, Black makes luft with an attacking move. 27 1i'e2 27 'ii'xb7? tLlg5 is overwhelming. White must guard the light squares around his king. 27 ... tLlgS 28 f3 h4! (D) ...

The main point behind this soften­ ing move is 29 g4 tLlxg4 ! 30 fxg4 'ii'e4+ 3 1 �f2 tLlh3+ 32 �el tLlf4 ! (knights and queens make natural partners in such positions) 33 'ii'fl (33 exf4 'ii'h l+ 34 �d2 l:.xe2+ 35 �xe2 1i'xh2+ and Black will capture at least two more pawns with check before he is done) 33 ...'ii'xe3+ 34 �dl 'ii'xd4+ 35 l:.d2 'ii'xa4+ 36 lkc2 (36 l:.dc2 is met by 36 ... l:.e4 ! ) 36 ...l:.c8 and Black will emerge with a queen and three pawns vs two rooks. 29 g:xh4

STORMING THE BARRICADES

114

Ugly, but Adianto hoped to tame the attack by forcing an exchange of queens. 29 .'it'h3+ 30 �bl lLJxf3 31 Wg2 'it'xg2+ 32 �xg2 :xe3 Black has a decisive advantage be­ cause of White's sickly pawns and ex­ posed king. The attack remains strong even in the ending. 33 :cJ �4+ 34 �n :e4 35 :b3 :r4+ 36 �gl lLJe4 37 :xb7 :n 38 :b3 :g2+ 0-1 ••

Next we see the Bosnian GM Ivan Sokolov seizing the chance to launch an attack based on his opponent's mis­ placed pieces. Z. Almasi

-

I. Sokolov

Wijk aan Zee 1995 1 e4 es 2 lLJf3 lLJc6 3 .i.bS a6 4 .ta4 lLJC6 5 0-0 lLJxe4 6 d4 bS 7 .i.b3 dS 8 dxeS .i.e6 9 .i.e3 .i.e7 10 c3 0-0 11 lLJbd2 'it'd7 12 .i.c2 The sequence that follows dates back to Keres-Friedemann, corr. 1935-6 but, due to Sokolov's novelty on move 15, looks likely to be permanently shelved. A more logical try for advan­ tage is 12 :el (discouraging . . .f5) 1 2 ... :ad8 13 .i.c2, as in Lautier-Kra­ senkow, Erevan OL 1996 and Khal­ ifman-V.Mikhalevski, Linares open 1997. 12...fS 13 exf6 �6 14 'it'bl White hopes that he will quickly gain the initiative in the fight for king­ side squares but the queen's absence

from the centre will soon become no­ ticeable. 14 h3 is a solid alternative, though White cannot expect any ad­ vantage. 14...�bS 14 ....i.g4 15 h3 .i.xh3 1 6 lOgS ! (16 gxh3 'it'xh3 1 7 .i.f5 lLJg4 is dangerous) 16 ...lLJg4? ( 1 6 ... .i.g4 17 .i.xh7+ �h8 l 8 lLJdf3 with the idea of 18 ....i.xf3 19 gxf3 ! is good for White) 17 lLJxh3 'it'd6 1 8 :el +- Keres-Friedemann, corr. 1 935-6. 15 lLJgS This had been played many times, but Black always replied 15 ... .i.g8?!, which gives White a promising initia­ tive after 16 .i.f5 'it'e8 l 7 lLJdf3 !, Sher­ zer-V.Mikhalevski, Mamaia U-20 Web 1991. Sokolov finds a strong re­ ply based on a counter-attack. 15 ... lLJg4! 16 lLJgf3 1 6 lLJxh7?! :rs ! 1 7 h3 lLJxe3 1 8 fxe3 g 6! wins two pieces for rook and pawn, a distinctly profitable transac­ tion for Black. Almasi is therefore forced into this sad retreat. 16...'it'd6 (D)

SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES

The outstanding feature of this po­ sition is the fringe placement of the white queen on b l . Not only is it far away from the main action, but it also obstructs the neighbouring rook from useful deployment. The black queen stands nicely centralized and oversees a task-force ready for action against White's kingside, with the focal point being White's h2-square. The question is whether Black can force through an attack before White can bring his queen back into the game. The basic integrity of White's position is sound and his king is well defended. Let's see how the game unfolded. 17 l%el White sensibly creates a flight­ square on fl for his king and props up the bishop in the event of 17 . . .ltJxe3. 17...l1xf3?! In hindsight it is clear that White is solid enough to withstand violent mea­ sures despite his queen's odd place­ ment. The calm, logical continuation is 17 ...ltJce5 (exchanging a passive piece for an active one) 1 8 ltJxe5 'i'xe5 1 9 liJfl ltJxe3 20 lbe3 'i'f6 with a small but certain plus. Sokolov was ea­ ger to strike, and his motive was well­ founded, but he failed to reckon with a key resource in his calculations. Per­ haps he recognized that Almasi, a noted attacker, is less comfortable in the role of prey rather than predator. 18 liJxf3 liJceS (D) 19 liJd2? Black's sudden explosion has rat­ tled the young Hungarian GM, and he

115

chooses a second-rate defence. Also bad is 1 9 liJxe5? 'i'xe5 20 g3 'i'h5 2 1 h 4 .i.xh4 ! 2 2 gxh4 Wxh4 2 3 .i.f5 (23 ..t?fl :rs 24 ..t?e2 l%xf2+ 25 .i.xf2 Wxf2+ 26 ..t?dl ltJe3+ 27 l%xe3 .i.g4+ 28 ..tel 'i'xe3#) 23 ...Wh2+ 24 ..tn :rs 25 .i.c5 d4 ! and wins, as Sokolov notes in Schach (3195 p. 3 1 ). It is not clear, though, how Black can over­ come the correct and active defence 19 liJd4 ! . Thus, 1 9. . .liJc4 20 g3 ltJgxe3 (20. . .ltJcxe3 2 1 fxe3 .i.g5 22 ltJxe6 'i'xe6 23 .i.f5 wins) 2 1 fxe3 .i.g5 22 .i.xh7 ! and White emerges with deci­ sive material gain for little pain. The most interesting try is the reinforcing 19 ... :rs (D), which leads to the fol­ lowing variations: 1) 20 ltJxe6? (needlessly greedy) 20. . .liJf3+! ! 21 gxf3 (21 ..tn liJd2+ !) 2 1 . ..'i'xh2+ 22 ..tn l%xf3 23 ..t?e2 ltxe3+ 24 ..t?dl lDxf2+ 25 ..t?d2 liJe4+ 26 ..t?xe3 'i'f2+ and mate next move. 2) 20 f4 ! ? ltJc4 21 .i.c l l1xf4 ! 22 ltxe6 lte4 ! 23 .i.xe4 Wxh2+ 24 ..t?fl 'i'h4 25 g3 ! 'i'xg3 26 'i'c2 lDge3+ 27 .i.xe3 ltJxe3+ 28 f l lbf3 24 hxg4 .th4 25 'i&?e2 l:txe3+ ! ! provides a spectacular win } 2L.cxd4 22 .txd4 lllxg4 23 g3 and White wins) 21 l:txe3 .tg5 22 l:te2 and Black has little to show for his ex­ change sacrifice. After Almasi's weak 19 tlld2?, he was crushed crisply after... 19 lllc4 20 oo :rs 21 .tdl 21 h3 lllcxe3 22 hxg4 (22 fxe3 l:txfl + 23 'iii>xfl 'fih2 24 hxg4 .txg4 25 l:te2 .th4 mates quickly) 22 ... lllxg4 is too strong for Black, and 2 1 g3 lllge5 sets up a killing check on f3. 21 ...lllcxe3 22 fxe3? 22 l:txe3 was the only chance al­ though Black has a clear plus thanks to his strong bishop-pair. 22...:xn+ 23 �xfl Wxh2 24 .tf3 llleS 2S Wdt .th4 26 l:tcl .tg4! 0-1

1 tllf3 d5 2 c4 c6 3 e3 lllf6 4 lllc3 g6 S d4 .tg7 6 .tel 0-0 7 0-0 b6 8 cxdS cxdS 9 llleS .tb7 10 .td2 tllfd7 1 1 f4 r6 12 ttir3 :r1 13 .td3 ttirs 14 rs gxrs 1s .txrs e6 16 .td3 lllc6 17 llle2 Wd6 18 lllg3 lllg6 1 9 illhS .th8 20 'ft'e2 l:taf8 21 a3 es 22 dxeS fxeS 23 lllgs l:txn+ 24 :xn (D)

••.

In our next example, the alert eye of Boris Gulko notices an opportunity

After a fairly quiet opening, a de­ ceptively sharp position has been reached where White's kingside pros­ pects seem offset by Black's centre. Black should now play 24 ...h6! to evict one of the dangerous knights, with approximately equal play result­ ing after 25 l:txf8+ tllxf8 26 illh3 .tc8 ! (but not the greedy 26 ... e4? 27 .tb5 .txb2 28 lll3 f4 with a raging at­ tack). Instead, the game took a differ­ ent course.

SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES

24 .i.cS? 2S :xrs+ 'iWxf8 (D) ...

25 ... llixf8 26 'iWf3 ! .i.e6 (26 . . .llid8 27 .i.b4) 27 llif6+ .i.xf6 28 'iWxf6 is fa­ tal.

117

28 .'ii'cs 29 'iWf3 'ii'rs 30 'ii'b3 ! The whole point of the operation is revealed. Black cannot guard his vul­ nerable points e6 and h7. •.

30...'ii'cS 31 llir6+! g8 35 l:.xg7+ 'iii>xg7 36 i.h6+ wins) 29 e5 ! dxe5 (29 .. .fxe5 30 i.e4+ 'iii>h8 3 1 'ii'f3 is killing) 30 'ii'd3+ �g8 3 1 l:.xd7 with an easy win. This line il­ lustrates the ruthless efficiency re­ quired to knock out a stubborn defence. White utilizes every piece to join in the king-hunt. 24 t'LJxa7 25 gxf7+ �h8 26 i.gS! Ivanchuk was not satisfied with merely winning a pawn after 26 fxe8'ii' .•.

119

SEl'ZJNG OPPORTUNITIES

1Wxe8 27 lDe3 followed by .i.xd6. In­ stead, he foresees a continuation that exploits Black' s disorganized posi­ tion. B lack's scattered forces and vul­ nerable back rank form the basis of the Ukrainian GM's initiative.

26 1'd7 27 fxe8lD •••

This is not a misprint. I suspect that a nervous lvanchuk was unable to lo­ cate a queen or rook near the board and chose the best available piece rather than run around the tournament hall searching for a loose queen. Or perhaps he couldn' t resist teasing his opponent. In any event Black's reply is

clearly foreseen by Ivanchuk when playing his 26th move. Now 29...dxe5 loses at once to 30 �b6 (30 liJc7 also wins). Black's best try is 29 ... .i.e6 30 lDf4 liJc8! 3 1 lDxe6 11xe6 32 J.c6 dxe5 33 .i.xe8 Wxe8 though White should win after 34 1'f3 ! e4 35 1'b3+ Wh8 36 11f7 forcing an exchange of queens. Instead Black chooses a speedy death:

29...h6?! 30 �b6 1i'c7 31 .i.dS+ h7

27 .llxe8 28 1'f2 Wg8 (D)

Or 3 l ...Wh8 3 2 Wxf8+ llxf8 33 llxf8+ Wh7 34 .i.e4+ g6 35 .i.f6, when White wins. 32 .i.e4+ Wg8 33 lDdS 'tid7 34

28 ... h6 loses to 29 .i.xh6.

�e7+! 1.0

forced. ••

Black will be mated after 34. . ..i.xe7 35 Wf7+ Wh8 36 Wg6. A very imaginative attacking display highlighted by the earth-shattering pawn-thrusts 24 g6! ! and 29 e5 !. In the next game Vladimir Kramnik blasts open a long diagonal with a sur­ prise combination launched against his unsuspecting opponent. Kramnik

-

Ehlvest

Vienna 1996 29 e5! Tempting was 29 .i.e7 (29 lDe7+? .i.xe7 30 11f7+ Wh8 3 1 .i.xe7?? .i.e6! wins for Black! ) 29 ....i.xe7 30 11f7+ Wh8 3 1 lDxe7 but Black holds with 3 1 ...1i'd8 ! . With the black king's return to g8 White needs to bring his light­ squared bishop into the fray. This was

1 lDf3 lDf6 2 c4 e6 3 liJc3 .i.b4 4 1'c2 0-0 5 a3 .i.xc3 6 1'xc3 c5 7 b4 b6 8 g3 lDc6 9 .i.g2 .i.b7 10 O·O d6 1 1 .i.b2 eS 12 e3 llc8 13 d3 lle8 14 bS lDe7 (D) Black has apparently achieved a reasonable position. White's bishop­ pair doesn't seem to pose much danger

120

STORMING THE BARRICADES

in this relatively closed position. Black plans to secure his kingside by ...lDg6 and then quietly manoeuvre in re­ sponse to White's course of action. Unfortunately, his unprotected bishop on b7 gives White the opportunity to blast open the long al-h8 diagonal with a destructive combination. 15 tllxe5! Also promising is 15 e4 lLJg6 16 lDd2 lDf8 17 f4, with a strong kingside initiative, but after the sharper text­ move Black must live with gaping holes in his king position. 15...J.xg2 16 lDg4 The point of 15 lDxe5 is revealed. Black cannot play 16 ...J.xfl on ac­ count of 17 lDxf6+ gxf6 1 8 ._xf6 fol­ lowed by mate next move. 16 ...lLJed5 Forced if Black wants to continue playing beyond move 20. 17 lDxf6+ 17 cxd5 J.xfl 1 8 l:xfl lLJh5 19 lDh6+ ! �f8 20 lDf5 f6 21 e4 is a good alternative, with White enjoying man­ ifest compensation for the exchange

sacrifice, but Kramnik' s choice, inflict­ ing severe damage to Black's king­ side, is even better. 17...gxf6 18 cxd5 J.xd5 1 8 ... J.xfl 19 l:xfl , intending 20 ._c4 followed by 'it'f4, was unappeal­ ing, so Ehlvest tempts Kramnik into entering an ending with an extra pawn after 19 'it'xf6 'it'xf6 20 J.xf6. Black could put up considerable resistance after the cramping reply 20...J.f3 !, making it difficult for White to mobi­ lize his pawns. Kramnik correctly chooses to attack the vulnerable en­ emy king rather than simplify. 19 l:fel! l:e6 20 f4 �g7 21 f5 l:e8 22 'it'd2 J.b7 23 e4 Threatening 24 'iii'g5+. 23 h6 24 'it'f4 dS (D) 24 ...c4 25 J.d4 ! cxd3 26 l:ad l ._e7 (Black must do something active) 27 l:xd3 J.xe4 28 g4 ! d5 29 l:h3 l:h8 30 g5 ! �f8 3 1 J.xf6 'it'c5+ 32 ._f2 with an easily winning ending for White. .••

25 'it'g4+ �h7 26 'it'h4 �g7 27 exdS! �h7

SEIZING OPPORTUNfl'/ES

Kramnik gives the following alter­ natives in /nformator 67119: 1) 27 ....:.xel+ 28 .:.xel i.xd5 29 i.cl 'it'h8 30 .:.e7 with a decisive at­ tack. 2) 21 ....:.gs 28 d6 ! 'it'xd6 29 .:.e6 ! fxe6 30 'it'xf6+ ,.Ph7 31 'ilft7+ followed by mate. 28 .:.e4 This fresh attacker can only be re­ moved by the disastrous 28 ....:.xe4 29 dxe4. A mating pattern based on a queen sacrifice on h6 emerges as a likely death-blow. 28...i.xdS 29 i.xf6 Black cannot avoid losing a piece after 29 ....:.xe4 (29 ...'it'd6 30 'it'xh6+ !) 30 dxe4 so ... 1-0 A merciless exploitation of Black's weakened kingside position by Kram­ nik. Next we see Nick de Firmian con­ jure up a wicked counter-attack against Tony Miles's uncastled king. Miles - de Firmian

Manila IZ 1990 1 d4 tllf6 2 c4 e6 3 tllc3 i.b4 4 'ii'c2 cS S dxcS tlla6 6 a3 i.xc3+ 7 'ilfxc3 tllxc5 8 f3 dS 9 cxdS b6 10 b4 tlla4 11 'ii'b3 bS 12 e4 a6 13 tlle2 0-0 14 i.gS h6 lS i.h4 exdS 16 es (D) Although White is behind in devel­ opment, his position looks extremely promising. The powerful pin on the f6-knight appears decisive. It seems

121

that Black must now play the hideous 16 ...g5 to avoid losing material. How­ ever, White's uncastled king makes possible the following continuation. 16....:.e8! 17 f4 17 exf6 d4 ! 18 :ct 1 ( 1 8 0-0-0? i.e6 19 'it'd3 :cs+ 20 ,.Pct2 tllb2 ! is one road to disaster) 1 8 ...i.e6! 19 'it'd3 (forced; Black wins after 1 9 'it'c2 i.c4 20 ,.Pf2 d3) 1 9 ...tllb2 ! 20 'it'xd4 tllx dl 21 'it'xdl i.c4 22 'it'xd8 .:.axd8 and White cannot escape the pin with 23 ,.Pf2 due to 23 ....:.d2 (or 23 ....:.d l). If he tries, for example, 23 i.g3, Black plays 23 ....:.d3 to digest the a3-pawn and follows up by pinning the e2knight. 17 ... gS 18 i.f2 tlle4 19 i.d4 i.e6 20 'ii'f3?! 20 h4 ! g4 21 tllg3 was later given as an improvement. Best play is 21...tllac3 22 tllxe4 tllxe4 23 1i'e3 i.f5 and White's position is preferable due to Black's unwieldy kingside. 20....:.c8 (D) Black brings all his pieces into play. While has lost precious time re-routing

122

STORMING THE BARRICADES

his dark-squared bishop and his queen. If White tries to attack crudely with 21 'ii'h5, Black plays 21.. ...c7 ! invading along the c-file. Play might continue 22 fxg5 (22 :cl ? •xcl + 23 ll:lxc l :xcl + 24 �e2 :ec8 is crushing) 22...'ii'c2 23 :dl lllb2 ! 24 .txb2 'ii'xb2 25 gxh6 'ii'xa3 and Black wins as all the check­ ing squares leading to Black's king are covered. 21 rs .td7 22 ll:lg3? (DJ If 22 e6?!, hoping for 22 ...fxe6 23 ,.h5 e5 24 'ii'g6+ =, Black has a pow­ erful grip after 22 ....txe6 23 fxe6 :xe6 24 h4 (24 g3 lllec3 25 �d2 :c4 ! 26 .txc3 d4 and White's game falls apart) 24 ... :C2! 25 hxg5 'it'xg5 26 :dl &3 ! 27 .te3 'ii'g7 ! . The critical move is 22 h4 !, hammering away at Black's weak kingside. Black should respond with 22...:c2!, whereupon 23 e6 .txe6 transposes to the analysis of 22 e6?! above and 23 :dl (best) 23 ... lllb2 24 .txb2 :xb2 25 hxg5 :xe5 26 gxh6! :xf5 offers chances for both sides. The text-move meets with a stupen­ dous shot by de Firmian.

22 :xeS! The crown jewel of White's posi­ tion is eliminated ! If 23 .txe5, White is quickly routed after 23 ...'ii'e7 24 lllxe4 'ii'xe5 25 :d l lllc3 ! 26 :c l dxe4 27 'ii'e3 llld2 l:r.e8 and now 30 l:r.el ? h5 -+, but 30 g4 ! is a much tougher defence as 30...i.e6 3 1 i.xe6 l:r.xe6 3 2 l:r.el f6 3 3 exf6 l:r.xf6 { after 33 ... l:r.xel ?! 34 'ii>xel g5 35 'ii>d2 'it>f7 36 'it>d3 'ii>xf6 ! 3 7 'ii>c4 h5 ! it is Black who just holds the draw } 34

146

STORMING THE BARRICADES

:es :f3 3S :xc5 :xh3 36 c 2 seems to draw) and now: 1 ) 24 li:Jd2 fS I 2S eS (striving to keep lines closed) 2S ... f4 ! 26 li:Jxf4 :at+ 27 f2 gS 28 g3 gxf4 29 gxf4 1fh4+ 30 f3 h8 ! (simplest) and Black is winning. 2) 24 li:Jc l ! .txe4 ! 2S li:Jxa2 .txbl 26 .tbs (to stop ... :e8) 26....txa2 27 0-0 1fd4 28 1fxd4 cxd4 29 .tc4 :cs ! 30 .txf7+ g7 3 1 .tc4 (else . . .:c3 is coming) 3 t .. .:xc4 ! 32 bxc4 b3 33 :f2 .tbl 34 :b2 .tc2 3S f2 f6 36 e2 eS 37 d2 d6 38 :xc2 bxc2 39 xc2 cS 40 d3 gS 41 g3 hS 42 h4 g4 and Black wins by the narrowest of margins. Karpov's weird 19 1fgl ?! concedes Black too many central squares. 19 li:Jgf6 20 e5 li:Je4 This invasion is one good reason why White's queen is needed around the centre. •••

21 b4 21 1fe3 .tb7 22 li:Jd2 li:Jxd2 23 :xd2 :xd2 24 1fxd2 li:Jb6 forces White to enter a hopeless ending.

21 ...c4! Classic Kasparov! He is relentless with the initiative. White must now contend with a frisky passed pawn.

22 li:Jct (D) Kasparov has driven all of White's pieces to the first rank! He concludes the battle elegantly.

22 c3!! 23 li:Jxal c2 24 1fd4 •••

Or 24 :c 1 li:JxeS ! 2S :xc2 (2S fxeS cxb11f 26 :xbl 1fd2#) 2S ... .tg4 ! 26 :d2 li:Jxd2 27 li:Jxd2 :es ! 28 fxeS

:xeS+ 29 f2 1fxd2+ 30 g3 :e3+ 31 h2 :b3# - Kasparov.

24 cxdttf+ 25 xdl •.•

25 1fxdl li:Jg3 26 :h3 li:Jxfl 27 xfl li:JcS (27 . . .li:JxeS also wins) 28 1fxd8 :xd8 29 :e3 :d 1 + 30 :e 1 .ta6+ 3 1 f2 li:Jd3+ wins easily.

25 ... li:JdcS 26 1fxd8 :xd8+ 27 c2 li:Jt2 0-1

White is mated after 28 :gt .tfS+ 29 b2 li:Jdl + 30 allc l li:Jxb3#. It is very rare for Karpov to be smashed so decisively with the white pieces. Number 10 Boris Gelfand outplays Shirov at his own game, in a powerful attacking dis­ play that includes some brilliant quiet moves to set the stage for a mating at­ tack. GeHand

-

Shirov

Polanica 'Zdroj Rubinstein mem 1998 1 d4 li:Jf6 2 li:Jf3 g6 3 c4 .tg7 4 li:Jc3 d5 5 cxd5 li:Jxd5 6 e4 li:Jxc3 7 bxc3 c5

FAVOURITE ATTACKING GAMES OF THE 1990s

8 :bl 0-0 9 �e2 cxd4 10 cxd4 'ii'aS+ 11 �d2 'ifxa2 12 0-0 �g4 13 �g5 h6 14 �h4 a5 15 :xb7 g5 16 �g3 a4 (D)

147

knight. Second, it prepares to activate the light-squared bishop with �c4. Finally, White can break that annoy­ ing pin on f3 by means of the retreat :c2. If he can break the pin, then lbxg5 is possible. Shirov failed to find a good response and played the sec­ ond-rate...

19...lba6?

Black's strategy is simple - keep pushing the passed a-pawn to tie up and divert White's pieces away from the centre and kingside. Black has compromised his kingside somewhat by driving the dark-squared bishop to g3 and it is this factor that must be ex­ ploited by White. The first order of business is to weaken Black's kingside by undermining the g5-pawn.

17 h4! This not only weakens Black's king­ side, but as a bonus, it creates Luft for the white king and thereby removes the nagging worry of back-rank threats. Not good was 17 :xe7? lbc6 1 8 :c7 �xf3 1 9 �xf3 lbxd4 with an excel­ lent game for Black.

17 a3 18 hxg5 hxgS 19 :c7! .•.

This was a theoretical novelty by Gelfand and it has three very impor­ tant points behind it. First, it takes away the square c6 from Black's undeveloped

In lnformator 731538 Gelfand rec­ ommends 1 9 . . .lbd7 and 19 ... 'ifb2 as better continuations. After 1 9 ... lbd7 he gives 20 e5 ! as best with the idea of 20...'ifb2 21 :c2 'ii'b3 22 lbxg5 a2 23 :xa2 ! 'ii'x dl 24 :xdl :xa2 25 �xg4 lbb6 with only a slight edge for White (looks like a clear edge to me), or 20 ...:fc8 2 1 �c4 'ii'b2 22 �xf7+ h8 (22 . . .�f8 23 e6! :xc7 24 �xc7 'ifb5 ! ? { 24 ... lbf6 loses to 25 lbe5 ! } 25 :el ! a2 { 25 . . .'ifd5 26 exd7 'ii'xd7 27 �a2! 'ifxc7 28 'ii'b3 is strong } 26 exd7 'if xd7 27 �xa2 :xa2 28 �e5 should win for White) 23 :xc8+ :xc8 24 'ifd3 ±; Gelfand's assessment looks a bit optimistic here. Black should be OK after 24 ... a2 25 lbxg5 lbf8 26 �xa2 (forced) 26...'ifxa2 thanks to his control over the light squares. 19 ...'ifb2 leads to a slight edge for White after 20 :c2! 'ii'b4 2 1 lbxg5 'ifxd4 ! 22 'ifxd4 �xd4 23 �xg4 a2 24 :xa2 :xa2 25 lbe6 ! lbc6 26 lbxf8 �xf8. Shirov's actual choice leads to a powerful attack for White.

20 .l:.xe7 'ii'b2 Black must make way for the a­ pawn.

21 �c4! 'ii'b4

148

STORMING THE BARRICADES

If 2 1 . .. J.f6, then 22 l:xfl ! l:xfl 23 e5 is crushing. 22 J.xf7+ 'itib8 (D)

initiative vs rook and two minor pieces. Black's main trump, the a­ pawn, never gets going as Black is too busy parrying White's threats. 25 111xe6 Or 25.. .J.e8 26 'ifg4 J.xd4 27 Wh4+ 'itig7 28 'ifh7+ 'itif6 29 e5+ 'itixg5 30 1llg7+ J.g6 3 1 J.h4+ 'itif4 32 'ifxg6 •••

+-.

26 lbxe6 J.xe6 27 J.e5 l:f7 28 'ifh5+ f7 20 .te3 ! .tc5 21 e6+ 'iili>g 8 22 .txd4 (22 e7 g6 23 'ili'e4 ll:ie2+ 24

0