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    Mastering Chess Tactics PDF

    Uploaded by

    Ugochukwu Iwuoha

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    SLT HLS) Ua tes AMC ELH ee Tae cM ltr) Mastering Chess Tactics Neil McDonald Batsford Ltd, London Introduction aking a successful combination is, fone of the most enjoyable parts of 1 game of chess. 1 still have the scoresheet of my first ever combination which was made when 1 was a relative newcomer to chess. It was a two move knight fork which won my opponent's queen. With all the modesty of youth [later wrote ‘a brilliant finish, though say it mysell?” in big red letters on the scoresheet. My sense of elation ‘sas understandable, Up until then I had been the vietim of m combzations and hese at last T had ssrasped the mechanies of preparing ® combination of my own. It was a great moment and I felt very proud of myself, The good news is that tactical skill can be leamt. There may be a ‘ot of beauty and depth but there is no magic or mystery even in the ‘most profound sacrifice. J had three aims in writing this Doak: io show the reader all. the archetypal tactical patterns teach the art of combining two or more of these pattems in complex combinations 10 examine the strategical prerequisites for a successful combination ‘Thus you will find here every tactical device you will need in 2 game of chess, except those specifically aimed at the king. It is ‘envisaged that a companion book in this series will cover all methods of attack against the king. Some tactical ideas are simple 10 calculate, but difficult to see in the first place, If there is a win present in the position but you have never seen the necessary tactical idea your task becomes the chess equivalent of reinventing the wheel—a labor- ious and time consurin and you may not even succeed in doing itt business, The player most famed for his combinations was Paul Morphy Who was the world’s best player way back in the 1850s. [ have a ook of his best games by Philip Sergeant, written in 1916. This con- tains the advice “Morphy was an artist; and the best way to enjoy an artist is not 10 dlisseet him This is an impressive statement high sounding and full of authority: it is also wrong. Afier all, if 6 Introduction Sergeant had no wish to find out the secret of Morphy’s genius, why did he write a book on him? We all want to know what makes an artist tick, whether he is a painter, a song ‘writer ora sportsman. In this book | have made liberal use of the games ‘of Garry Kasparov, the greatest star of our age, who shows an absolute mastery of all forms of chess combination. Remember that some of the greatest chess minds in the world such as Kasparov himself, Shirov land Morozevich fall victim to the combinations given here, So don't worry if you don't understand everything the first time you read this book! It may well be that you will come back 10 it at different points in your chess career and each time you will understand a bit more. I have tried to describe every single tactical operation that a player might face or need to use in a game, Whenever I couldn't find a notable example in the published games of the great masters or wanted additional material 1 have referted to my own humble games, both won and lost. I hope I will be forgiven for this indulgence. Whatever our strength if we fear the basics of tactical play we can sometimes carry out what would have seemed before to be a chess: board miracle. 1 hope this book gives you a lot of fun and provides you with the ammunition to make some Kasparov-like combinations! Neil McDonald Gravesend, England 1 Knight Forks ith its bizarre and seemingly imegular mover ment, the knight ‘causes the inex perienced player a lot of grief. I is far easier to keep track of threats from a bishop which moves neatly along diagonals of the same colour than the side-swerving, colour-hopping horse. ‘The most troublesome feature of all is the knight fork: A knight fork occuss when two pieces are simultaneously attacked by a knight. In the diagram White has just played 1 QeS+. The black ‘king has to move out of check and then White takes the queen Tn the next diagram, there is no immediate knight fork but one can be prepared White would ike to play 1 ‘Wxe62? but then 1..W1 is mate. Instead the queen exchange 1 Wat7+ Lxt7 drags the black king ‘onto a square where it is separated from his rook by the distance of a knight fork. Now 2 DeS+ $e6 3 )xe6 wins the rook. The knight's power to attack simultaneously pieces so widely apart makes it an enormous danger for the unwary. Here is an example from one of my own games that remains vividly in my mind twelve ‘years after it was played, 8 Knight Forks N.McDonald - A.Stromer Cappelle la Grande 1991 Black to play Thad lingered on many moves in this hopeless position. Black’s rook cuts off the white king fom the passed pawn, and after the correct 58.. (or 2 Wh8+) ted 3 Weal while Black to move wins with a lateral skewer: L.al=W 2 g8-W (there is nothing better) 2,.89h1+! (exploit ing the bed position of the white king 10 set up the skewer) 3 23 Welt 4 hs Wes ‘Skewers in the opening are quite unusual, but the following is a fine example of a trapper trapped! Ha: Hungarian Championship 1973 1 ef 06.2 43.65 3 14 d6.4 ON g6 5 feS dred 6 Oine5 According to Tartakower a com bination just shows that someone has blundered. Certainly someone has blundered here as the © pawn ‘can’t be given up for nothing, but is White or Black? Bilek exploited the double attack to win the knight with 6..¥aS+ 7 2d? Wre8, but White had the last laugh with the skewer 8 23! We7 9 Kxh8 when hhe was the exchange and pawn up. Black, a Hungarian Grandmaster, had forgotten that with 4.6%? he was ruining his indirect defence of the €5 pawn, Kasparov used the threat of a skewer to build up an initiative in the following example. G.Kasparoy - R.Ponomariov Linares 2002 Black to play Black is a pawn up but seriously ‘behind in development. Therefore he played 19..a6 attacking the bishop, with the idea of gaining time to put his bishop ont excellent d5 square after 20 Sad b5 21 Bcd Qb7 22 EAM ds. Kasparov however found an excellent way to frustrate this plan’ 20 Eh3t when if 20..axbS the skewer 21 Wxh7+! Exh7 22 Bxh7+ 8 23 Bxc7 leaves White the exchange up. Ponomariov saw this and played 20..e7 but after 21 Rd3!—the bishop is delighted to have the square vacated by the rook and threatens 22 xg6+!—21..£3 22 g4t White kept up the attack and eventually won on move 38 Skewer 71 Mallleseas Cordoba ~ ‘A.Morozevich Pamplona 1998, White t play Here Ilescas played 22 adh counting on having pressure on dS ina quiet position, However, 0. tactical firebrand like Morozevich, there is no such thing as a quiet positon. Here he applied a skewer with decisive effect 72 Skewer An unexpected retreat with the big threat of 23...06 spearing the ‘white queen against the rook on fl 23 Dxds Giving up the exchange straight away. If instead (a) 23 Bgl @a6 24 We6 (if 24 Wha e325 Wo} AL mate) 24,43 25 Rei Dos 26 Wad Les ‘winning White’s queen. (b) 23 Bfel a6 24 Web (or 24 Wo4 a3 scinning the exchange) 24. a3 25 BEM? (better to give up the exchange with 25 Wad5) 25,.,Db4 26 Wad x61 winning, A wonderful demonstration of the power of the skewer. 23..S96 24 Wxb6 SRxfl 28 Hafl xa? 26 Wrd8 Exd8 The exchange up for a pawn and with two weak pawns to attack Black made short work of the endgame, 27 Re3 Des 28 dd eS 29 D3 Dxe3 30 bre} Sxd4 31 Deas Ee8 32 Dbs HeS 33 Od6 Bxe3 34 3 Hee2 1 J.Hodgson - D-Norwood British Championship, Eastbourne 1991 Afer the rather eccentric opening moves 1 d4 g6 2 h4!? 2)f6 3 gs Sig? 4 Dad? 5 § ¢3 exd4 6 exdd Black was tempted to attack two white pawns with 6..Wb6. There followed 7 Dest Black completely missed the point of this and replied 7..Wb4+? expecting (0 gain time by attacking the knight and foreing it to retreat back to d2. However, after 8 &d2! Wares (or 8..WbS 9 of and the threat of 10 @d6+ gives White the initiative) 9 Ket the black queen ‘couldn't escape as 10 Zxc8 mate ‘would follow. Strictly speaking, the fact that it is mate on 8 rather than a win of material makes this a pin rather than a skewer, since the king is more important than the queen; but the mechanism of attacking picce with an ‘y-ray’ through the enemy queen is more typical of @ skewer than a pin, After 9..xe1 10 dtxel De6 11 DE3 White had a distinct material advantage but a Graw was immediately agreed due to the tournament situation—Julian Hodgson only needed half a point to become the 1991 British Champion, 10 Skewer Puzzles 1 Sugden - N.McDonald Hastings Challengers 2001/2002 White to play. Seeing that after 38 c7 Black can stop the passed pawn with 38, 218, White played 38 Ze pinning the rook. How should the game now finish? 2 Anand - T.Radjabov FIDE Grand Prix, Dubai 2002 White to play. Black's king has been driven out into the open and is surely doomed, but what is the simplest way to finish the game? 74 Skower Puzzles 3 N.MeDonald - B.Jacobs GLC Masters, London 1986 Black to play With two extra passed pawns Bue ealy winning, Hate he layed 42..2, calculating that (@ beer Geet td One? aI wins, or (b) 43 xed Sixe2 and if White captures. the knight then Heft regains the piece with a skewer afier which the rook and pawn endgame is easily won for Black. What was the flaw in this caleulation? 4 N.MeDonald - Gulzsak Elekes tournament, Budapest 1995 White to play White gave up the f pawn with 52 shea! Hat? Why? 11 Discovered Attack ‘ve always wondered why this isn't called uncovered attack? Whatever its name it can be a fearsome tactical weapon as the following examples show abede fen White plays 1 Qf4 or I eS. The knight attacks the bishop and at the same time an attack By the rook is, uncovered--or discovered—on the knight on d8. The black pieces can’t defend cach other so next move ‘White will capture one of them, White plays 1 dieS+ uncovering am attack on the black king by the bishop and also attacking the black rook with his king. Black can't deal with both threats and so is forced to give up the rook with either 1...2d3 2 Sixd3+ or |..tig5 (or anywhere else) 2 xd6. Because this example involves a discovered attack on the black king itis also referred t0 a5 a discovered check, The most famous example of discovered check was recorded as far back as 1620 by Greco. It goes 1 e4 05 2 13 x6 3 Fes Drei 4 Wer Dior? 3 @o6+: the black king is in check 76 Discovered Attack from the queen and therefore he loses his own queen to the knight You will have noticed in these examples that the strength of a discovered attack comes from the fact that there are two threats: one from the piece that is lying hidden in ambush and a secondary one from the piece that moves out of the way (0 reveal the ambush, Therefore itis closely related to the theme of double attack. If the defender cannot deal with both threats he is Vikely to lose material A-Morozevich - J.Polgar Frankfurt-West Masters 1999 White to play In this position White has every chance to win, but he fell for 2 horrible swindle. 43 Weg? Not 43 Exe7 Wre7, but 43 Wh6t wins nicely, for example 43...2%e2+ 44 Gh2 exb6 (or 44.AxE4 45 Exe?) 45 Bxi7+ wig8 46 c7 xf 47 c8-M Dstt 48 We7+ and White picks up the knight to end all resistance. B..DBH This clears the way with gain of time for the discovered attack 44 ext It 44 fl Edi+ is a mighty ‘check(!) all the same, Uncovering an attack on White’s ‘queen, 45 WE Zxt1+ 46 dextt Wed Not only has White lost. the queen, but to cap it all he now drops, the bishop to a double attack. 47 seg? Wald 48 a4 6 0-1 ‘S.Pedersen - N.MeDonald London 1997 Black to play Here White has a very pleasant position with the two bishops and Potential pressure along the e file ‘Therefore I tried to entice him into a blunder with 28...e6!? 29 Wbs? ‘A natural move that attacks dS, but it falls straight into the trap. 29,.xd4+! Black unexpectedly wins a key pawn for if 30 cxd4 the discovered attack 30..e1+! 31 Excl WxbS ‘wins White’s queen. There followed 30 dhl e6 31 Lael Still 31 oxd4 Bel wins, Banke? 32 b3 O16 33 Wad ath} 34 203 y8 35 We eS! ‘Another discovered attack 36 EixeS ed 37 Wahs Ext cand finally a fork. If 38 gxtt Dg3+ wins Whites queen, 38 xed xed 39 Hired dred 40 Exe Hef and Black won, G.Kasparoy - K.Georgiev Sarajevo 2000 abed abedef gn White 10 play Discovered Attack 77 Black has an extra pawn, but his pieces are under great pressure. Tn Particular his rook is very precari ously placed on €7. The obvious way 10 uncover an attack on it is with 27 Qe7+, Then 27..Bxe? 28 Exc? g5 29 &g3 DieS and 28 hxe7 Exel 29 Excl Wxe7 30 Excs+ a7 are both somewhat better for White, but not crushing Kasparov found a much stronger move: 27 eT With this move order White gets to capture both black rooks after 27..Hixe7 28 QxeT+ Wre7 29 Bxc7, leaving him two exchanges up. In contrast, in the 27 @e7* xe7 line above, White can capture either rook, but neither is with ‘check, giving Black time to save the remaining rook, either with 28.5 or 28,.2xcl 21..B x06 Giving up the queen is the only way to play on. 28 xB Exel+ 29 Exe Dxf8 30 ws Kasparov homes in on the weak £7 square. 30...S06 31 Be7 xd Or 31.85 32 exfS! xd (32..gxf5. 33 We3) 33 6 and the threats of 34 Exg?+ and 34 7+ can't both be stopped. 32 exdS (5 33 d6 Has 34 Whét 10 78 By ‘covered Attack The gouble attacks carry the day! 3 it: 34,.cad6 White has either bo nar 36 mya7 Dea? 37 BAT 9. 35 Bag?+ dxgT 36 Wer Se gp) Wado, Meanwhile if 34.85 Bhs and the threat of 36 WI7 Stay tly be met by 36.-Ed7 losing Soap) BxaT Dxd7 38 We8s DAS ‘or 36..Ad7 when 37 Exd7! End? 33 Wer attacks both king androg’ ©.dela Riva Aguado - ‘A.Morozevich Pamplona 1999 White to play Inthe diagram above White played 32 2f6 which on the face of it looks very strong. Besides threat ening 33 @©xg8 it attacks h7 a third Time. If 32..Wxio 33 Bsh7 or 33 Exh? is mate—an extreme example of a successful deflection, On the other hand there is nothing compelling Black to take the knight. Black could defend with 32..g7, bbut Morozevich found something ‘much stronger. 32.00 Blocking the white queen's attack fon h7 and uncovering an attack by the black bishop on the knight. The game ended abruptly wit 33 Wxed?! xf 34 Uxa8? If 34 Wxh4? Bxdl+ is our familiar zwischenzug, winning a rook after 35 &h? Sxh, but White wouldn't last long even after the sensible 34 We2. 34x04 OL Going back to the diagram, after 32 046 eff, much tougher was 33, ‘Dxed!? eS — the point, attacking the rook on c7 and uncovering an attack on White's queen — 34 Exuh7+ with two variations (2) 34..Wxh7 35. Wad! now Black even loses after 35,,Exd8? 36 Exd8+ dg? 37 Bd7+ when the skewer wins back the queen and leaves White oxo pawns up. Un- fortunately for him after simply 35,.Wxed 36 d2—he has to guard against 36..18f4—he is a piece down for two pawns with litle hope (b) 34..doxh7 35 Dgs+ (after 35 16+ Shs! the black king is come pletely safe) 35..<¢e7 36 Se6+ h8 37 Zixd8 WE! and as White is soon mated after 38 g3? Exg3 he has to give up the knight with 38 2it7+ Gat7 39 Wad, with a similar situation to the end of variation (a) above. A.Fedoroy - U.Adianto ‘Olympiad, Istanbul 2000 abedefgh White 10 play Here Fedorov played 31 Dxe6! which is very powerful for if 31..Bxd7 32 Eg8+ Bd8 33 Bxd+ ‘Waxd8 34 @xd8 leaves Black in big trouble in the endgame—the h pawn, ison its way to h8. So Black tried Discovered Attack 79 31.28 32 Weds? Instead 32 h6! leads toa beautiful win—remember that passed pavwns should be pushed! Now 32.. 2142+ 33 scl is nothing for Black, 30 he should try 32.._2e4 33 h7! xg3 34 Wace! sexed 35 n+ aed? 36 Wa7+ reo (if 36.808 37 WER Teads to mate: 37..

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