THE

KING�HUNT
IN CHESS
W. H. Cozens

INTRODUCTION BY

Irving Chernev

DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.

New York
 Copyright© 1970 by G. Bell and Sons, Ltd.
All rights reserved under Pan American and
International Copyright Conventions.

This Dover edition, first published in 1976, is an

unabridged republication of the work originally
published by G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., London, in
1970. This edition is published by special arrange­
ment with Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 419
Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10016.

International Standard Book Number: 0-486-23240-9

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-17364
Manufactured in the United States of America
Dover Publications, Inc.
180 Varick Street
New York, N .Y. 10014
 CONTENTS

Page

I. Hoffman-Petrov, Giuoco Piano, Warsaw 1844 5

2. Staunton-Amateur, Muzio Gambit, c. 1850 6
3. Matschego-Falkbeer, Kieseritzki Gambit, Vienna 1853 8
4. Max Lange-von Schierstedt, Scotch Gambit, c. 1856 10
5. Morphy-Amateur, Two Knights Defence, New Orleans 1858 12
6. Anderssen-Kolisch, Petrov Defence, Paris 1860 13

7. Steinitz-Rock, Evans Gambit, London 1863 16

8. Anderssen-Mayet, Evans Gambit, Breslau 1867 18

9. Steinitz-Anderssen, Vienna Game, Baden-Baden 1870 21

10. Riemann-Tarrasch, King's Gambit Declined, Breslau 1880 24
1 1 . Ware-Weiss, Stonewall Attack, Vienna 1882 27

12. Dorrer-Chigorin, Steinitz Gambit, Correspondence game

1884 29
13. Taubenhaus-Pollock, Allgaier Gambit, Nottingham 1886 31
14. Showalter-Pollock, King's Gambit, Match 1891 34
15. Schlechter-Marco, Queen's Gambit Declined, Vienna 1898 37
16. Emanuel Lasker-Lee, Caro-Kann, London 1899 39

17. Kurz-Treybal, Salvio Gambit, Prague 1904 42

18. Vidmar-Bernstein, Sicilian, Sebastian 1911 44

19. Chajes-Tartakower, King's Indian, Karlsbad 1911 47

20. Edward Lasker-Thomas, Dutch Defence, London 1912 51

21. Nimzovitch-Tarrasch, Queen's Gambit Declined, St. Peters-

burg 1914 53

22. Alekhine-Yates, King's Indian, Karlsbad 1923 55

 THE KING-HUNT
23. Marshall-Bogolyubov, Queen's Gambit Declined, New York
1924 59

24. Richter-Kretschmar, Richter's Opening, Berlin 1925 62

25. Spielmann-S. Rubinstein, Queen's Gambit Declined, Vienna

1933 64

26. Botvinnik-Chekhover, Reti's Opening, Moscow 1935 67

27. Chekhover-Kasparyan, King's Indian, Match 1936 70

28. Machate-Bologyubov, Giuoco Piano, Bad Elster 1936 73

29. Ichim-Rosselli, Slav Defence, Munich 1936 76

30. Yanofsky-Dulanto, French Defence, Buenos Aires 1939 79

31. Medina-G. Wood, Ruy Lopez, London 1946 81

32. Szab6-Euwe, Queen's Gambit Accepted, Groningen 1946 84

33. Tartakower-Euwe, Giuoco Piano, Venice 1948 86

34. Smyslov-Florian, GrUnfeld Defence, Moscow 1949 89

35. Averbakh-Kotov, Old Indian, Zurich 1953 91

36. Tal-Simagin, Caro-Kann, Leningrad 1956 93

37. Botvinnik-Gligoric, English Opening, Moscow 1 956 96

38. D. Byrne-Fischer, Grunfeld Defence, New York 1956 98

39. Tal-Panno, Ruy Lopez, Portoroz 1958 101

40. Namshil-Szab6, King's Indian, Leipzig 1960 104

41. Ivkov-R. Byrne, French Defence, Varna 1962 106

42. l\'loser-Underwood, Sicilian, Correspondence game 1962 109

43. Penrose-Popov, Sicilian, Enschede 1963 112

44. Stein-Korchnoi, Sicilian, Moscow 1964 115

45. Prins-Day, Sicilian, Lugano 1968 118

AUTHOR'S NOTE

The tradition that White occupies the bottom of the diagram is an essential
par t of the algeb raic notation used in most countries. Th roughout the
present book, however, we make use of the freedom of the English notation
and follow a more natural convention-that the bottom of the diagram
always represents the winning side, regardless of c olour.
 INTRODUCTION

This is a book of 45 games devoted to the pursuit and tracking

down of the King. The aggressor in each game manages to force
the King out of an apparently safe position into the open, where he
is driven to the end of the board and then captured (or ch eckmated).
One might think that concentration on one theme would render
the book monotonous, but such is not the case in Mr. Cozens's work.
The games show a great deal of variety in treatment, as the styles
of many masters, ranging from Staunton in 1850 to Fischer today,
are displayed.
Practically every game in the book is a delight, and some of the
selections are truly wonderful. There are old favorites of which one
never grows tired, such as:
Nimzovich-Tarrasch, St. Petersburg, 1914
Alekhine-Yates, Carlsbad, 1923
Marshall-Bogolyubov, New York, 1923
Tartakower-Euwe, Venice, 1948
There are also some astonishing beauties, which may be new to
the reader, such as:
Tal-Simagin, Leningrad, 1956
Tal-Panno, Portoroz, 1958
Smyslow-Florian, Moscow, 1949,
and of course the sensational Byrne-Fischer, New York, 1956.
The games cover a wide range, both in time and technique.
There are displays of virtuosity by such early masters as Anderssen,
Steinitz, Lasker and Tarrasch to the modern wizards-Botvinnik,
Stein, Smyslow, Tai and Fischer, and these brilliant specimens
extend from the early 1800's to the late 1960's.
The annotations to the games are clear and simple. They carry
out the main purpose of such comments, in that they bring out the
hidden beauttes of the actual moves, and answer the reader's ques­
tions as to the consequences of alternative responses. The author's
enthusiasm for his theme is evident in this book, and helps add
charm t o his work.
 THE KING-HUNT
While THE KING-HUNT stresses entertainment, there is no lack of
instruction, as the reader is bound to learn a great deal about the
art of d irect attack from a collection of fine games devoted to this
important aspect of chess.
This is an attractive, enjoyable book. It will please and gratify the
reader, and even more to the point, greatly increase his attacking
skill.
Irving Chemev
San Francisco
October, 1970
 FOREWORD

Yet Another Game Anthology?

THE PIONEER anthology of chess games was George Walker's Chess

Studies ( 1844). The title is misleading to the modern reader, for the
term 'study' is now reserved for composed positions illustrating
endgame or midgame stratagems, whereas Walker's book consisted of
a thousand complete games. There were no notes apart from a few
parenthetical suggestions. It was a collection rather than a selection,
incorporating just about all the worth-while games available to the
writer at the time. Now, in mid-20th century, game anthologies
exist in hundreds and in a score of languages; and they have diversi­
fied and become specialized in ways undreamt of by George Walker.
The commonest type by far is the tournament book-the record of
a single event. The very first international tournament (London
1851) was fully recorded in book form and it is now exceptional for
any tournament not to have its book. This may be anything from
a set of bulletins, cheaply duplicated and available within a few days
of the event, to elaborate printed compilations replete with photo­
graphs, charts and drawings and with every game annotated by
grandmasters. Such books, though valuable documents, must by their
very nature contain a proportion of games which are colourless or
downright bad.
Sometimes the games of one player are published as a book. One
of the earliest of such collections was Lowenthal's Morphy's Games of
Chess (1 860) while the 1960s have seen a flood in various languages­
Botvinnik, Najdorf, Petrosyan, Fischer, Korchnoi, Geller, Spassky,
to name but a few. When the games are annotated by the player
himself the book can become virtually an autobiography. There are
famous examples of this type by, e.g. Marshall, Botvinnik and
Keres.
Hazeltine's Brevity and Brilliancy in Chess (1866) set twin trends
which are still very much alive. There are several excellent collections
of miniature games in English, mostly grouped by openings. A note­
worthy German example is Kurt Richter's Hohe Schule der Schach­
Taktik which classifies more than 600 complete short games accord­
ing to their strategic and tactical content.
Treatises on the openings are not all austerely analytical but may be
richly illustrated by actual play. For instance Die Franzosiche Vertei­
dung by Rolf Schwarz contains no fewer than 360 complete games all
beginning with the French Defence. The Middle Game also, though
 THE KING-HUNT
less susceptible to analysis, has been illustrated by game collections
-notably The Middle Game by Euwe and Kramer.
Then there are historical anthologies-some of which give an out­
line history of the game, such as Reti's Masters of the Chessboard
and Euwe's The Development of Chess Style, and some which con­
centrate on a particular period of time; notably the Year Books
which have appeared in several languages at one time and another.
Patriotic collections of games by the players of one country are also
being written. British, Canadian, Swedish, Yugoslav, Bulgarian,
Estonian and, above all, Russian chess have all been documented in
this way in recent years. Games have even been grouped on such a
nebulous criterion as style: e.g. Tartakower's Das Neuromantische
Schach and Coles' Dynamic Chess.
Notwithstanding all these classifications the present work attempts
to break new ground by bringing together games in which the only
essential common factor is the hunting of one of the Kings out from
his defences into the open. Date, opening, length of the game,
nationality of the players-these things are immaterial.
The games are not necessarily brilliancies but in fact it soon emerges
that there are very few which are not. This is inevitable for the
King is paramount, even to the diehard positional player. The
master who says, truly enough, that 'mate is the last thing one thinks
about', takes care to keep his King well covered, knowing all the time
that a sudden onslaught on the King can in a few moves wreck the
result of hours of constructive man<l!uvring. If the King can be
forced or cajoled out of his corner to the second or third rank while the
heavy pieces remain on the board the end of the game is usually in
sight. Even if he does not run into a direct checkmate the possi­
bilities of multiple divergent attacks are almost certain to result in
severe loss of material. It follows that to produce this state · o f
affairs the sacrifice of a piece or two will often prove to be a good
investment, and consequently the present book, which did not set out
to be a collection of sacrifices (there are plenty of such books) turns
out to be second to none in sacrificial richness.
Will not a sequence of forty-five games all won by such methods
lead to monotony? By no means. The openings employed and the
whole style of play span well over a century of chess evolution.
Some of the King-Hunts start very early in the game; some only
after a prolonged build-up. Some consist of forced sequences of
King moves; others are unfathomable and have to be conducted
more by intuition than by dead reckoning. A few are casual or
exhibition games, some from pre-tournament days; but most are
from serious match or tournament play. Most of the games are
won by celebrated masters but some are by little-known players.
 THE KING-HUNT
There are even several preposterous cases where the greater player
finds himself being hunted : Tarrasch, Nimzovitch and Tartakower
for instance find themselves in the distinguished company of two
world champions, Steinitz and Alekhine, as victims of the King­
Hunt. There is certainly no monotony.
If the chronological arrangement happens also to give a slight
sketch of the development of chess methods over the last century and
a quarter, that is incidental. The real common factor is just the
hunting of the King.

That king
Treading the purple calmly to his death,
While round him, like the clouds of eve all dusk,
The giant shades of fate, silently flitting
Pile the dim outline of the coming doom;
And him sitting alone in blood while friends
Are hunting far in the sunshine.

Robert Browning
 THE KING-HUNT

THE EXPRESSION 'King-Hunt' used throughout this book is not just a

synonym for an attack on the King. A King who is beset and mated
where he stands has certainly been attacked but has not, in our sense
of the· word, been hunted. A King-Hunt occurs when a King is
driven or decoyed out from his prepared stronghold, wherever it
may be-K-side, Q-side or even centre-and compelled to move away
from the edge towards the middle of the board.
Almost inevitably such a King will quickly succumb, and there are
two connected but yet distinct reasons why this is so. The obvious
fact is that he is displaced from the help of his defensive pieces, being
often in front of them instead of behind, and in particular no longer
having hi.s rampart of unmoved pawns as shelter. Even more
important than this is the fact that in advancing to meet his attackers
he allows his opponent to economize most of the time and effort
usually involved in transporting pieces methodically to the region of
the King, skirmishing all the way with the defenders. Every
advancing King-move will probably save the opponent three or four
piece-moves. The whole logistic problem which is inherent in a
normal chess attack is by-passed. The mountain this time comes to
Mahomet.
So radically is the whole aspect of a game transformed by the
emergence of a King into the open that it is normally worth the
sacrifice of a piece or two, or not infrequently even the Queen, to
achieve the object. The Queen sacrifice occurs sooner or later in
about a quarter of all our illustrative games. It can easily happen that
when a King has been driven out to mid-board or beyond, a mere two
pieces will be capable of finishing him off while his own more numerous
pieces look on helplessly with never a chance to move. Staunton in
Game 2, Anderssen in Game 6, Richter in Game 24 and Euwe twice,
in Games 32 and 33, are seen bringing their King-Hunts to triumphant
conclusions with the only two pieces they have left on the board.
How is this expulsion of the King to be achieved? The direct
forcing method is by means of checks to which King advances are
the only legal reply; see for instance Edward Lasker in Game 20
or Kotov in Game 35. Or there may be threats, whether of mate or
something less drastic, from which the only escape is a King move.
Botvinnik, in Game 37, achieves the remarkable feat of taking his
opponent's King right down to his seventh rank without a single
check! Then there is the blackmail type of sacrifice in which accept­
ance leads to the exposure and advance of the King while refusal leads
 THE KING-HUNT
to permanent loss of material. For instance a Rook may take the
Knight which stands guard at KB3, choosing a moment when the op­
ponent must eitherremain a Knight down or play P x R, shattering his
own defences and letting in the heavy pieces to begin the driving process.
There are times when a heavy sacrifice will lead to a forced sequence
culminating in a foreseeable mate. We have a phenomenal example
of this in Game 3 where Falkbeer's 1 7 Q x Ktch! leads inexorably to
25 Kt-Kl mate, with every intervening move absolutely forced.
More often the exact line of the hunt is not foreseen. It is intuitively
evident that the King will not survive unscathed in mid-board.
Games 4 and 35 show Max Lange and Alexander Kotov respectively
sacrificing their Queens for hunts which led eventually to mating
positions which could hardly have been calculated in detail before the
combination began.
It may not even be necessary to achieve a direct mate. The
multiple threats of fork, pin, skewer, etc., may rapidly win back the
sacrific ed material, leaving the attack still in being at no cost. A
King-Hunt can lead, like any other form of attack, merely to a won
ending, as in Pollock's win from Showalter (Game 14) or Tal's two
wins (Games 36 and 39).
The hunt can begin very early in the game but such opportunities
are mostly explored by now and documented in the books. The
K-Gambits for instance provide many examples of this, including
the Steinitz Gambit (Game 12) the Allgaier Gambit (Game 13) and
the Salvio Gambit (Game 17). An old favourite from the Two Knights
Defence is the notorious Fegatello, which we illustrate with a Morphy
game (No. 5). Of course a hunt can begin at any stage so long as
enough attacking material remains on the board to prevent the King
from advancing with impunity. In the Showalter-Pollock match
game and in the Alekhine-Yates game from Karlsbad, 1923, we see
vigorous King-Hunts launched at move 33.
The most spectacular games show the King hunted right across to
the seventh or eighth rank. A dozen or more of our games show this
happening. There are also some lateral hunts covering seven or
·

eight files. The grandfather of all King-Hunts, however, was

provided by Euwe at Groningen in 1946 when he hounded Szab6's
King over all eight ranks and all eight files!
Sometimes when a King has been hunted far from home he evades
the immediate grasp of his pursuers by doubling back like a hare
before the greyhounds and retracing his steps. In two games from
1911, Vidmar-Bernstein and Chajes-Tartakower, as well as the 1 964
game Stein-Korchnoi we see the King eventually mated on or near
his starting point after a long round-trip out across the board and
back again.
 THE KING-HUNT
Equally fascinating are the cases where the King is hunted relent­
lessly within a confined space, entering the same territory again and
again in vain efforts to escape. Anderssen hunted Steinitz like this
at Vienna 1873, forcing the world champion's King to visit fourteen
of the sixteen squares in his corner of the board. Other examples
are the already-mentioned game Alekhine-Yates and, most remark­
able of all, lvkov's win from Robert Byrne at the Varna Olympiad
(Game 41).
The forty-five games which illustrate all these facets of the King­
Hunt have been chosen from a 'short' list of many hundreds. There
are reasons, technical or pseudo-scientific, with which one might
seek to j ustify the selection of each game; but one wonders whether
in fact the real justification in most cases is not the sheer exhilaration
of the play. Such games speak a language of their own and cannot
fail to thrill. We leave the last word to Dryden:
All human things are subject to decay.
And when fate beckons, monarchs must obey.
 1
One of the fathers of modern chess was Alexander Petrov (born
1794) the Russian after whom the defence 1 P-K4, P-K4; 2 Kt­
KB3, Kt-KB3 is named. (Game No. 6 is an example.) He was
an independent thinker and never feared to disagree with the teach­
ings of the great Philidor, the king of 18th-century chess. Not many
of his games have survived but among them is this evergreen which
fitly begins our collection of King-Hunts.

HOFFMAN PETROV
Casual Game. Warsaw 1844
Giuoco Piano

1 P-K4 P-K4 7 B-Q5 Kt x KBP

2 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3
3 B-B4 B-B4
4 P-B3
This way of playing the opening
is forte rather than piano. The
genuine piano development is
4 P-Q3, an example of which is
shown in Game 28.
4 ... Kt-B3
If Black prefers solid defence he
can play 4 . . . B-Kt3 and 5 . . .
Q-K2 as Euwe does in Game
33. The line chosen here attacks
the white K-pawn instead.
5 P-Q4 P xP
6 P-K5
The best move is 6 P x P, as
Greco had shown more than two
hundred years before this game
was played. To the present
move Black has an excellent
reply.
6 . . . Kt-K5
But this is not it; and 6 . . . ,
Kt-KKt5 i s even worse. The
move is 6 . , P-Q4!
. .
Evidently this had been Petrov's
intention. King-Hunts beyond
number have begun with the
sacrifice of Knight or Bishop on
KB7. To question its soundness
in the present case would be
pernickety : this was before the
days of tournament chess, when
half-points have to be earned by
blood and sweat.
8 K x Kt P x Pch
9 K-Kt3
This is unnecessary. 9 K-Bl
would have left him with a
Knight against three pawns, and
prospects as good as Black's.
9 ... P xP
10 QB x P Kt-K2
11 Kt-Kt5 Kt x B
12 Kt x BP
(See diagram on page 6)
With sardonic satisfaction, no
doubt, White returns the com­
pliment of Black's 7th move.
He is attacking Queen, Rook and
6 THE KING HUNT
Knight, and if 12 . . . , K x Kt 14 K-R3 P-Q3ch
White will get two pieces m 1 5 P-K6
return, with a winning game. If 1 5 P-Kt4 Black has the ex­
quisite 15 . . . , Kt-B5 mate.

15 . . . Kt-B5ch
1 6 K-Kt4 Kt x KP
17 Kt x Kt
After this move Black mated in
four by :

Position after 12 Kt x BP
12 . . . 0-0! !
This completely unexpected re­
source leaves White with nothing
better to do than take the Queen,
after which his King will be
hunted down by four black pieces
and inevitably mated.
13 Kt x Q B-B7ch
17 . . . B x Ktch
18 K-Kt5 R-B4ch
19 K-Kt4 P-R4ch
20 K-R3 R-B6 mate
At move 17, however, White had
a more tenacious defence in
P-Kt3, guarding his KB4 and
KR4. The finish then might
have been 17 . . . , Kt x Ktch;
18 K-Kt5, R-B4ch; 19 K­
Kt4, R-B3ch; 20 K-R4, R­
B5ch; 21 K-Kt5, Kt-K3ch;
22 K-R5, P-Kt3ch; 23 K­
R6, R-R5ch! 2 4 P x R, B-K6
mate. In this mating position,
thirteen moves after the diagram,
Black is still virtually a whole
Queen down.

2
In the 1 840s English chess was dominated by Howard Staunton
(born 1810), a social lion but also a considerable scholar-not by any
means only in the field of chess-who had read all the known litera­
ture of the game. His style in. match play was, like that of many a
master since, careful to the point of dullness ; but he visited many
provincial chess clubs and did great work for the game by exhibition
play in a very different style.
Here is a Muzio Gambit, typical of the time. This obsolete open­
ing remains the best standard example of advantages in space and
time being more than adequate to overcome superiority of dead
pieces.
 THE KING-HUNT
STAUNTON
Exhibition Game, about 1850
Muzio Gambit
1 P-K4 P-K4
2 P-KB4
Philidor had laid down the prin­
ciple that 2 Kt-KB3 was in­
ferior because it obstructed the
KB-pawn. The corresponding
principle on the Q-side is still
generally accepted today but it is
a matter of experience that the
K-Gambit leads to so much
tactical skirmishing that posi­
tional considerations take second
place, and almost all masters
have preferred 2 Kt-KB3
throughout the 20th century.
Akiba Rubinstein was a notable
exception.
2 ... P xP
Games 1 0 and 1 4 show two ways
of declining the gambit.
3 Kt-KB3 P-KKt4
This is the classical method of
holding on to the pawn. Much
of the romance of the opening
has been destroyed by the mod­
ern defences 3 . . ., P-Q4 and
3 . . ., Kt-KB3.
4 B-B4 P-Kt5
5 0-0
Black has moved only pawns,
and White can afford to sacrifice
a piece as early as the 5th move.
Centuries of analysis have never
really refuted this Muzio Gambit.
Instead of castling White can
offer the Knight in two other
ways: 5 Kt-B3 and 5 P-Q4.
5 ... P x Kt
6 Q xP Q-B3
Black's position is critical, al-
7
AMATEUR
though he is a piece ahead. The
Queen move defends KB2 and
threatens to win a second piece
by Q-Q5ch. White replies with
a pawn sacrifice, opening yet more
lines.
7 P-K5! Q xP
8 P-Q3
Many games have been won at
this point by 8 B x Pch and 9 P­
Q4, but White's game is so strong
that there is no need to try to
force it in this way.
8 ... B-R3
9 Kt-B3 P-QB3
Yet another pawn move, a�ter
which Black's chances of survival
are practically nil. His ide� of
restricting the white Q-Kmght
and preparing P-Q4 is f�r too
leisurely. It was essential to
block the K-file by Kt-K2.
10 QB x P
Threatening R-Kl.
10 Q-Q5ch
1 1 K-Rl B xB
12 QR-Klch Kt-K2
13 R-K4
Much better than 13 Q x B
which would allow the exchange
of Queens.
13 . . . Q-Kt2
(See diagram on page 8)
14 Q x B
Deliberately allowing th� for�.
When one has every piece m
strong play and the opponent has
8 THE KING-HUNT
19 Q-K7ch K-B3
20 Q-B7ch!
Staunton finishes beautifully. His
Queen and Rook, with the help
of a few pawns, will be sufficient
to force the mate. Of Black's
five remaining pieces four have
taken no part in the game.

20 . . . K x Kt
Or 20 . . . , K-Kt4; 21 Q-B4ch,
K-R4; 22 Q-Kt4ch, K-R3;
23 Q-R4 mate.
Position after 13 . . . Q-Kt2
21 P-B4ch K-Q5
virtually none (see diagram! )
21 . . . , K-K3 would have given
this sort o f luxury i s permissible.
a little more trouble. Perhaps
14 . . . P-Q4 22 P-Q4!, (threatening P-Q5
Now Black's position is demol­ mate) Q x QP; 23 Q x BPch, K­
ished by a further double sacri­ Q3; 24 R-B6ch, K-B4; 25 Q­
fice. Though a Rook and Bishop K7ch, K x P; 26 P-Kt3ch, K­
ahead he is given no chance to Kt4 ; 27 P-R4ch, K-R4; 28
move anything except his King. Q-Klch, Q-Kt5; 29 Q-K5ch,
P-Kt4 ; 30 Q-B7 mate.
15 B x P! P xB
16 R x Ktch! K xR 22 Q-Q6ch K-K6
17 Kt x Pch K-K3 23 Q-B4ch K-K7
1 7 . . . , K-Bl would be followed Or 23 . . . , K x P; 24 R-Ql ch
by 1 8 Q-Q6ch, K-Ktl ; and 25 Q-Q2 mate.
19 Kt-K7ch, K-B l ; 20 Q­
QS mate. 24 R-B2ch K-K8
25 Q-Q2 mate.
18 Q-K4ch K-Q2 This pursuit right across the
Had the black Queen interposed board to the eighth rank recurs
she would have been lost for many times in the course of this
nothing after 1 9 R-B6ch. book.

3
Ernest Falkbeer (born 1829) is, like Petrov, remembered by a defence
which is still played today: 1 P-K4, P-K4; 2 P-KB4, P-Q4.
He was a Hungarian but lived many years in England. The follow­
ing game, in which he does not employ the Falkbeer Counter Gambit,
shows him trifling with weak opposition; but the breathless nine­
move chase, introduced by a Queen sacrifice, is far too good a King­
Hunt to be omitted.
 THE KING-HUNT 9

MATSCHEGO FALKBEER
Casual Game, Vienna 1853
Kieseritzki Gambit

1 P-K4 P-K4 11 . . . Kt-QB3

2 P-KB4 P xP With another deadly threat:
3 Kt-KB3 P-KKt4 1 2 . . ., Kt-Kt5ch; 13 K-Q2,
4 P-KR4 P-B6ch; 14 Kt-K3, B-B7.
4 B-B4 as played in Game 2
allows Black a free choice be­ 12 P-R3 B-B7
tween pushing on with 4 . . . , 13 Kt-Q5 B xP
P-Kt5 or setting up a pawn 14 Kt x QBPch K-Ql
chain with the moves B-Kt2 15 Kt-Q5
and P-KR3. The present move, White decides to recentralize his
by contrast, forces Black's hand. Knight, but he could hardly have
been worse off had he taken the
4 ... P-Kt5 Rook.
5 Kt-K5
This is the Kieseritzki Gambit.
A strong alternative is the 15 . . . P-B4
Allgaier Gambit 5 Kt-Kt5, in­ 16 Kt x QP P x Pch
volving the sacrifice of the 17 K-B4
Knight which has no retreat. To save his Knight; but it
An example is shown in Game 13. doesn't!

5 ... Kt-KB3
6 Kt-QB3
A developing move but not a
good one, for the Knight on K5
will now be driven to a poor
square. 6 P-Q4 is better; and
another good move would be
6 B-B4 attacking KB7.

6 ... P-Q3
7 Kt-B4 B-K2
8 P-Q4 Kt-R4
Black defends his forward KB­
pawn, attacks the KR-pawn, and 17 . . . Q x Ktch!!
opens what is in fact nothing less Introducing one of the most
than a mating attack. remarkable finishes on record.
The white King is drawn into the
9 B -K2 B x Pch cordon of black pieces, and the
10 K-Q2 Q-Kt4 whole of the nine-move King­
11 K-Q3 Hunt runs like clockwork. Every
Apparently the only way to avoid white move is absolutely forced.
disastrous loss of material after It might almost be a comp� sed
1 2 . . . , P-B6 dis. eh. ending in the style of the per10d.
10 THE KING-HUNT
18 K xQ Kt-B3ch 23 K x P R-R4ch
19 K-B4 B-K3ch 24 K x Kt B-Q4ch
20 K-Kt5 P-R3ch 25 K-Q6 Kt-Kl
21 K-R4 P-Kt4ch mate.
22 Kt x P P x Ktch

4
Yet another 19th-century master whose name is immortalized by an
opening is Max Lange (born 1832). His famous attack, which can
arise by transposition in half a dozen different ways, kept the analysts
busy for half a century. He was a very strong player, a match for
most of his contemporary masters. The following game, however, is
played against an amateur and Max Lange gives full rein to his
imagination.

MAx LANGE VON ScmERSTEDT

Exhibition Game, about 1856
Scotch Gambit

1 P-K4 P-K4 7 PxP Q xP

2 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3 8 B-B4 Q-Ql
3 P-Q4 P xP 9 Kt-Kt5 Kt-K4
4 B -QKt5 9 . . . , 0-0 was out of the question
If White does not wish to play because of 10 Q-R5. But now
4 Kt x P the usual moves are White regains the gambit pawn,
4 B-QB4 or 4 P-B3. The text leaving the black King exposed.
move produces a crude sort of
Ruy Lopez. By 4 . . . , Kt­ 10 Kt x BP Kt x Kt
B3 Black could transpose into 11 B x Ktch K xB
the Berlin Defence. His chosen 12 Q-R5ch P-Kt3
line is probably better. 13 Q x B
Material is equal; there are
4 ... B-B4 Bishops on opposite colours ;
5 0-0 KKt-K2 Black has the Q-side pawn
6 QKt-Q2 majority; but what carries more
Players of this line often try weight than any of these things
6 Kt-Kt5 here, threatening to is the difference between the two
sacrifice on KB7 and then pick up King positions.
the loose Bishop by Q-R5ch.
Max Lange prefers to develop the 13 . . . Kt-B3
other Knight, but plays the same 1 4 Kt-B3 R-Kl
combination a few moves later. 15 B-R6
With this move White makes the
6 ... P-Q4 King's corner uninhabitable. He
 THE KING-HUNT 11
threatens 16 Kt-Kt5ch after King and with relentless subtlety
which K-Ktl would lose out­ shepherd him across the board
right to 17 Q-B4ch. The un­ to be mated on QR7. The
opposable Bishops as usual feature of the play is that Max
strongly favour the attacker. Lange makes no fewer than five
non-checking moves in his mat­
15 . . . B-B4 ing attack--one of them an
1 6 QR-Kl Q-Q2 elegant Knight sacrifice.
17 Q-B4ch B-K3
18 Kt-Kt5ch K-B3 21 P x Bch K-K4
19 Q-K2 There is no escape on the back
This looks like deliberate provo­ rank.
cation, in full expectation of 22 R x Reh K-Q4
Black's next move. 22 . . . , K-Q3 loses the Queen
after 23 Kt-K4ch and 24 Kt­
B6ch.
23 Kt-K4
Threatening the King-Queen
fork.
23 . . . K-B5
24 P-QR4!
Cutting off escape via Kt4.
Now Black tries in vain to get
away to R4.
24 . . . Q xP
25 P-Kt3ch K-Kt5
19 . . . B-Kt5 26 B-Q2ch K-R6
As anticipated.

20 P-KB3!?
The idea of sacrificing the Queen
in order to open the KB-file is
beautifully conceived and appar­
ently quite sound; but Black is
under no compulsion to fall in
with White's scheme. There
seems no reason why he should
not retire the Bishop, leaving
White with the onus of finding his
win.

20 . . . RxQ
Black cheerfully takes the Queen
and waits to see what will
happen. The rest of the game is
beautiful to watch. The four
white pieces cordon off the black
27 Kt-B3! !
Threatening 28 R-Rlch with
the twin sequels 28 . . . , K-Kt7;
29 R-R2 mate or 28 . . . , K­
Kt5; 29 Kt-K4 mate. At the
same time he defends the Rook
12 THE KING-HUNT
on K2. But when Black takes 29 R-Rlch Kt-R7
the Knight he brings a Bishop to 30 R x Ktch! K xR
B3 instead and the net is drawn 31 R-Kl Resigns.
tight. For now R-Rl mate is inevit­
able. Compare Game 43 in which,
27 . . . P x Kt a century later, Popov's King
28 B x P Kt-Kt5 found itself in much the same
Still Black finds an answer to the situation against Penrose.
threat of 29 R-Rl mate.

5
Paul Morphy (born 1837) is at once the most glamorous and the most
baffling figure in the whole history of chess. The story is well known:
his prodigious powers as a teenager; his defeat of all comers in
Europe and America by the age of 21; his subsequent horror of the
taint of professionalism ; his eventual revulsion from chess and his
abandonment of it when he was about 30; then the shadows closing
in upon his last fifteen years up to his death at the age of 47.
Almost the whole of Morphy's serious chess is to be found in one
tournament (New York 1857) and two major matches (against
Harrwitz and Anderssen) and it is here that one must look in making
any attempt to assess his stature as what would now be called a
grandmaster. But his fame rests almost equally upon some three
hundred other encounters--exhibition games, most of them played
blindfold--odds games and miscellaneous friendlies. We select an
odds game-a mere trifle.

MORPHY AMATEUR
Odds Game, New Orleans 1858
Two Knights Defence

First the white Q-Rook is re­ Morphy's day. Black has several
moved from the board. Then play playable moves here : 5 . . . , Kt­
begins : QR4 ; or 5 . . ., Kt-Q5 ; or 5 . . . ,
P-Kt4.
1 P--K4 P-K4
2 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3 6 Kt x BP
3 B-B4 Kt-B3 6 P-Q4 is even more forcing,
4 Kt-Kt5 P-Q4 keeping the Knight sacrifice
5 PxP Kt x P? dangling over Black's head.
A well known mistake, allow­
ing the Fegatello sacrifice which 6 K x Kt
was known many years before 7 Q-B3ch K-K3
 THE KING-HUNT 13

The whole point of the variation Rook odds. But he will never get
is that this King move is Black's round to using his odds; the rest
only way of preventing a com­ of the game is headlong flight.
plete disaster by losing the
Knight on his Q4, so a King­
Hunt is already in full swing. It
does not often end as decisively
nor as prettily as in the present
case.

8 Kt-B3 Kt-Q5?
The best way of making a real
fight of it would have been
8 . . . , Kt-Kt5; 9 Q-K4, P­
B3 ; 10 P-QR3, Kt-R3; 11 P­
Q4, Kt-B2, etc.

9 B x Ktch K-Q3 Position after 11 . .

. Kt x B
10 Q-B7!
Threatening 11 Kt-K4 mate. 12 Kt-K4ch K-Q4
13 P-B4ch! K x Kt
10 .. . B-K3 14 Q x Kt Q-Q5
11 B x B Kt x B 15 Q-Kt4ch K-Q6
16 Q-K2ch K-B7
(See diagram opposite) 17 P-Q3ch K xB
Black has contrived-perhaps 1 8 0-0 mate!
unwisely-to exchange off a pair Compare Game 45 in which
of Bishops, on the principle that White resigns just in time to
this gives added weight to his avoid the move 0-0-0 mate.

6
Adolf Anderssen (born 1818} was one of the game's greatest natural
players. In his insatiable zest for play and in creative imagination
he is to be compared only with Labourdonnais before him and with
Alekhine and Tal since. He was a Breslau mathematician, and the
wonder is that he remained very little known outsid e his own country
until he was over 40. In those days there was no official world
championship but there is no doubt that after Morphy's withdrawal
from chess Anderssen was the strongest player in the world. When
he was nearly 50 he narrowly lost a match to Steinitz, whose whole
approach to the game was more scientific.
Over seven hundred of Anderssen's games are on record and to play
through them leaves the brain reeling at his inexhaustible fertility.
His opponent in the following game-Baron Kolisch-was, unlike
14 THE KING-HUNT
the losers of our five games so far, himself of master strength. The
game was one of several played during Anderssen's visit to Paris in
April, 1 860. It develops into a gigantic King-Hunt, with the black
King hounded over seven files and all the eight ranks.

ANDERS SEN KoLrscH

Casual Game, Paris 1860
Petrov Defence
1 P-K4 P-K4 12 . . . P-Q4
2 Kt-KB3 Kt-KB3 A predictable reaction from the
This counter-attack is still a aggressive Kolisch. He strikes
playable, though not a popular, out bravely for freedom but in his
method of avoiding the rigours dangerous situation the cautious
of the Ruy Lopez. 12 . . . , P-Q3 might have been
more prudent.
3 Kt x P Q-K2
The immediate recapture 3 . . . , 13 Kt-K5 QKt-Q2
Kt x P is bad, leaving Black in 14 P x P Kt x P
great difficulty after 4 Q-K2. 15 Kt(3) x Kt P x Kt
The standard continuation is 16 P-B4
3 . . . , P-Q3 and then 4 . . . , Kt x Anderssen is in his element: he
P. Kolisch's move gives Black a breaks up the black K-side still
reasonably free game. more and opens a file for his own
Rooks. But there is some risk
4 Kt-KB3 Q x Pch
involved in leaving his Q-pawn
5 B-K2 B-B4 pinned.
6 0-0 0-0
7 P-Q4 B-Kt3
8 P-B4 P-B3 16 . . . P xP
9 Kt-B3 Q-K2 17 Kt x Kt
Black is well behind in develop­ He must make this exchange, for
ment and White's next move puts 17 B x P loses a piece : 17 . . . ,
him in real difficulty. Kt x Kt; 1 8 B x Kt, Q x B. Most
masters would have unpinned
1 0 B-Kt5 the Q-pawn by 1 6 K-Rl before
A highly unpleasant pin. Black embarking on P-B4, but Ander­
adopts a radical solution of the ssen was never happier than
problem. when juggling with disaster.

10 . . . P-KR3 17 . . . PxB
1 1 B-R4 P-Kt4 18 Kt-B6ch!
1 2 B-Kt3 The enemy King was always
In addition to his backward Anderssen's priority. In any case
development Black now has a 18 Kt x R would have been not
seriously weakened K-side. only petty but decidedly bad, for
There is bound to be trouble in Kolisch would not have missed
store. the opportunity of playing 18 . . .
,
 THE KING-HUNT 15
Q-R5! 1 9 P-KR3, B x Pch; Rooks but also preparing Q­
20 K-Rl, B x RP!-knockout! KKt3 with another subtle
battery aimed at the undefended
18 ... K-Kt2 black Queen. He was a con­
1 9 Q-Q3 sistently far-seeing player in the
The first mating threat appears. tactical rather than the strategic
sense.
19 . . . R-Rl
20 B-R5 24 . . . R-Bl
White puts on the pressure and 25 QR-KBl R-B2
clears the K-file for possible Rook 26 Q-KKt3!
action. 20 Kt x P would again Anderssen now threatens to open
have allowed the deadly Q-R5; his two batteries with successive
this is presumably why Kolisch sacrifices, thus: 27 Kt-R7ch,
deliberately refrained from 19 . . . , R x Kt; 28 R x Pch, B x R; 29
P x Pch. Q x Qch. Kolisch apparently
missed the threat; in any case
20 . . . B-K3 the white attack is bound to win
21 Q x Pch K-Bl through before long.

26 R-B5

22 Q-K5
Typical of Anderssen's style was
his subtle use of prepared batter­ 27 Kt-R7ch! K-Kl
ies. In the present position the 28 Q-Kt7
Knight on B6 is screening poten­ Attacking the Rook, putting a
tial attacks against KB7 and fourth attack on the KB-pawn,
KR8. and at the same time casually
defending his own Q-pawn. Some­
22 . . . Q-B2 thing has to go.
23 Q-K3 Q-Q3
24 R-B4 28 . . . R x Kt
Given the initiative and some 29 Q x R R xP
targets to shoot at, the most Black also lays a battery, hope­
complex winning schemes pro­ fully threatening to win both
liferated in Anderssen's brain. Rooks by 30 . . . , R x Reh. But
Here he is not only doubling now comes the King-Hunt.
16 THE KING-HUNT
30 B x Pch B xB coming at table-tennis tempo.
31 Q x Bch K-Ql
32 Q-Kt8ch K-B2
33 R-B7ch K-B3
34 Q-K8ch K-B4
35 K-Rl! R-KR5
Anderssen having prudently
spared one move to safeguard his
own King, Kalisch defiantly con­
tinues with a mating threat of
his own. But now the pursuit is
resumed in earnest and a blaze of
eleven consecutive checks brings
the game to an end.

40 Q-K2ch!
36 R-Blch R-B5 One Rook will be enough.
37 P-Kt4ch K xP
Or 37 . . . , K-Q5; 38 Q-KR8ch! 40 ... K xR
41 R-Kt3ch K-B8
38 R-Ktlch K-R6 42 Q-Klch K-B7
39 R-B3ch K xP 43 Q-Ktlch K-Q7
No craven resignations in those 44 R-Q3ch K-K7
days ; they were game to the end. 45 Q-Qlch K-B7
By now the moves were probably 46 R-B3 mate.

7
Wilhelm Steinitz (born 1836) bestrode the second half of the 19th
century like a colossus. After beating the ageing Anderssen 8-6
in a match which had gone 4-all, 5-all and 6-all he proclaimed himself
World Champion and defied all challengers for twenty-eight years,
yielding at last, at the age of 58, to Emanuel Lasker, thirty-two years
his junior. Steinitz found chess a happy-go-lucky game to be
played by the light of nature ; he left it a thorough-going science.
What is not so well remembered today is the fact that he had his
own romantic period as a young man in Vienna, where he gloried in
the name of 'The Austrian Morphy'. The following game was played
in an exhibition in London and nothing annoyed Steinitz more than
its attribution to Morphy by several chess writers.
 THE KING-HUNT 17

STEINITZ RocK
Exhibition Game, London 1863
Evans Gambit

1 P-K4 P-K4 QR4, hoping to destroy the K­

2 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3
3 B-B4 B-B4
4 P-QKt4
For sixty or seventy years this
gambit held its own in first class
master practice and produced
brilliancies galore, White winning
the short games and Black the
long ones. In the end it was the
cold appraisal of Lasker which
evolved a simple treatment of the
Bishop. No doubt it was with
this in mind that Black vacated
the square with 7 . . . , B-Kt3.
But this time Steinitz is ready
with an astonishing answer.
11 R-Klch B-K3
This ingenious move seems to
save the situation, for if 12 Q­
Kt4 Black escapes with 12 . . ,
·

K t x B ; 13 Q x Kt, Q x P, etc.
defence which was tantamount to
In any case it is Black's only
a refutation as far as tournament
hope ; the alternative 1 1 . . . , K­
play was concerned.
Q2 is hopeless : 12 B-Kt5ch,
P-B3; 13 P x Pch, P x P; 14 Q x
4 ... B xP
5 P-B3 Pch, etc. However, as in many
B-R4
chess brilliancies, someone has
6 0-0 Kt-B3
been taking too much for
7 B-R3 granted.
In the Evans Gambit the stan­
dard attacking moves P-Q4,
0-0, B-R3 or Kt2 Q-Kt3,
etc., can be transposed in a
bewildering number of ways,
providing plenty of chances for
Black to go wrong. 7 B-R3, as
played here by Steinitz, is less
forcing than 7 P-Q4 but it
succeeds brilliantly because
Black allows his King to be
caught in the centre.

7 ... B-Kt3?
7 . . . , P-Q3; followed soon by
0-0 should give Black a safe 12 P x B! !
game. A game won b y Staunton from
Cochrane some twenty years
8 P-Q4 P xP before (which may have been
9 Q-Kt3 P-Q4? known to Steinitz) ran, after
1 0 KP x P Kt-QR4 White's 6 0-0 above : 6 ., · ·

When White plays Q-Kt3 in B-Kt3; 7 B-R3, P-Q3; 8 P­

the Evans Black always likes to Q4, P x P; 9 P x P, Kt-B3;
be able to counter with Kt- 1 0 P-K5, P x P; 11 Q-Kt3,
18 THE KING-HUNT
Q-Q2 ; 12 P x P, Kt-QR4; 14 B-K6ch K-B3
15 Kt-K5ch K-Kt4
16 B-B4ch K-R4
17 B-Kt4ch K-R5
18 P x Kt mate.
Some sources claim that this
game was played at the odds <?f
Q-Rook. Curiously enough this
would make no difference, for
Steinitz does not get round to
developing even his Q-Knig�t,
and although the Rook does give
check on the last move it would
still be mate even if the Rook
were not there. One suspects
13 P x Kt! ! , Kt x Q ; 1 4 R-Klch, that some journalist, noticing
K-Ql ; 15 B-K7ch, K-Kl ; this, introduced the 'Q-Rook
16 P x P, R-KKtI ; 17 B-B6ch, Odds' in an attempt to gild what
Q-K3 ; 18 B x Q, B x B ; 19 P x is a perfect lily as it stands.
Kt with a piece ahead. The Other sources give the game as
sacrifice as played by Steinitz having been played at Q-Knight
leads to an even more summary odds; and still the mate holds
execution. good. It remains now for some­
one to suggest odds of Q-Rook
12 . . . Kt x Q and Q-Knight. It would still be
1 3 P x Pch K-Q2 mate!

8
We revert now to Anderssen and one of his greatest chess friends­
Carl Mayet (born 1810)-who was one of the group of seven Berlin
masters known as 'The Pleiades'. Anderssen and Mayet used to visit
one another in Berlin and Breslau and they must have played
hundreds of light-hearted games together. Their last meeting was
in Breslau in August, 1867, and the following game is possibly the
last they ever played. It is an exhibition of glorious skittles, not to
be j udged by the standards of tournament chess. At the finish Mayet
is three pieces up, with his King mated on QB8.
 THE KING-HUNT 19

ANDERSSEN MAYET
Casual Game, Breslau 1867
Evans Gambit

1 P-K4 P-K4 A casual spectator at this point

2 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3 might have been excused for
3 B-B4 B-B4 thinking that Black had set up
4 P-QKt4 B xP his King and Queen on the wrong
5 P-B3 B-Bl squares to begin the game.
This is an experiment, of course, Seventy years later a similar state
and Anderssen is only too happy of affairs arose as follows : (Vecsey
to accept the challenge to refute -Nagy, Budapest 1937) 1 P­
it. Steinitz also tried out this QB4, P-K4 ; 2 Kt-QB3, P­
move-as one might expect-as KB4 ; 3 P-K4, Kt-KB3; 4 P x
well as 5 . . . , B-K2 and 5 . . . , P, P-Q3; 5 P-KKt4, P-KR4;
B-Q3 in his continual attempts 6 P-Kt5, Kt-Ktl ; 7 B-RB,
to improve on the usual lines of Q x P; 8 P-Q4, Q-B3; 9 Kt­
the defence. Q5, Q-B2; 10 Kt-B3, K­
Ql; 11 Kt-Kt5, Q-Kl
6 P-Q4 P xP
7 0-0 Kt-QR4
As in the previous game Black
adopts this method of trying to
remove the Bishop from its
strong diagonal, and again he gets
an unpleasant reply, though in the
present case he must surely have
been half expecting it from
Anderssen.

8 B x Pch
A move which Anderssen would
make without a second thought. Compare this position with
In view of the state of Black's Anderssen-Mayet : it is even
game it is perfectly justified. more remarkable. Although this
game is by no means a King­
8 ... K xB Hunt its finish is well worth
9 Kt-K5ch K-K2 playing through : 12 P x P; Q x
10 P x P Q-Kl Pch; 13 K-Bl, Kt-KR3 ;
1 1 Q-R4 P-QKt3 14 Kt-K6ch, B x Kt; 15 P x B,
12 Kt-QB3 P-B3 Q-K5; 16 B-Kt5ch, K-B l ;
13 P-B4 1 7 P-K7ch, Kt-Kt5; 18 B x
What an attack! And Black still Ktch, P x B; 19 Q x Pch, Q x Q;
has every piece (except his King! ) 20 P-K8(Q) mate.
on the edge of the board. Back now to Anderssen­
Mayet:
13 . . . P-Q3
1 4 B-R3 K-Ql (See diagram on page 20)
20
Position after 14 . . .
1 5 Kt-B3 B-Q2
16 QR-QI K-B2
The King is being hunted at long
range and is already on the run.
17 P-Q5!
White is still a clear Bishop in
arrears, but no doubt quite
happy. He now proceeds to
break open the position before
Black can mobilize his dormant
K-side pieces.
17 . . . P-B4
18 Q-B2 P-QKt4
When Black wins an Evans
Gambit it is usually because of his
Q-side pawn majority. The black
pawns are potentially quite
dangerous, and already he seems
to be threatening 19 . , P-Kt5.. .
1 9 P-K5! P-QR3
On second thoughts Mayet
decides that his 'threat' of P­
Kt5 had better not be carried out!
After 19 :, P-Kt5 ; 20 B x P!,
. .
P x B; 21 Kt-Kt5 dbl. eh the
black King would not long sur­
vive.
20 P-K6! B-BI
The only piece which ventured
off the edge retires to base. Now
THE KING-HUNT
Anderssen has a chance to dem­
onstrate his famous skill with the
Knights.
21 Kt-Q4! Kt-Kt2
Had Black taken the Knight the
sequel would have been 22 Kt x
Pch, K-Kt3; 23 Q-B7ch, K x
Kt; 24 R-Ktlch, K-R5;
25 Q-B2ch, K x B; 26 Q­
Kt2ch and 27 Q-Kt4 mate.
But Black might have tried
21 . . . , Kt-B5.
K-Ql
22 Kt-K4 Kt-B3
Development at last!
Kt x P
23 Kt-Kt5
24 Kt-B5 B xP
Black has been busily picking off
pawns and now has a colo� sal
majority of 4-1 on the Q-s1de;
but the time of reckoning is near.
25 KR-KI B x Kt!
Well played; by now Mayet must
have had hopes of turning the
tables after all, for he is still a
Bishop and two pawns ahead.
26 Q x B Kt-K2
27 Kt-K6ch K-Kt3
28 R x Pch!
Introducing the final decisive
hunt. If now 28 . . . , Kt x R
 �I

THE KING-HUNT 21

White continues 29 Q x Pch, 30 B-Kt4ch! ! P xB

K-R4 ; 30 Q-B3ch, K-Kt3; 31 Q-B7ch K-R5
31 Q-B7 mate! Why did these 32 Kt-B5ch K-R6
gorgeous opportunities always 33 Q-R5ch K-Kt7
happen to Anderssen? 34 Q x Pch K-B7
35 R-K2ch K-B8
28 K-R4 36 Q-Kl mate.
29 Q-B2! Kt x R

9
All our examples so far have been casual or exhibition games.
Tournament chess is made of sterner stuff and only rarely produces
the really big King-Hunt; nevertheless most of the games to come are
tournament games. The next is a historic one which played a
decisiye part in the great international congress at Baden-Baden in
1870. This was a double-round tournament of nine heavyweights.
Andcrssen, now aged 52, scored his greatest triumph by winning it
with a. score of 1 1 /16. When his last round game against Louis
Paulsen--one of the very greatest of all defensive players-began to
look drawish Anderssen cheerfully staked his chances of first prize on
an intuitive sacrifice of the Exchange, and won.
But what pleased him most, no doubt, was his cracking pair of wins
against Steinitz, who had recently defeated him in match play for the
World C hampionship. Both games were very fine but in the second
one Steinitz was made to suffer as few World Champions have ever
done. He had to watch helplessly while his King performed a lively
dance over fourteen of the sixteen squares in his quarter of the board
with the old assassin from Breslau shooting at his feet all the way.

STEINITZ ANDERSSEN
Baden-Baden 1870
Vienna Game

1 P-K4 P-K4 aiming at an early P-Q4 . .The

2 Kt-QB3 B-B4
Black has considerable choice in
the Vienna, White's second move
being less forcing than 2 Kt­
KB3. After 2 . . ., Kt-QB3
many of the normal K-Gambit
lines are playable. The most
active defence is 2 . . ., Kt-KB3
theme of Anderssen's move is to
play the solid P-Q3 without
shutting in the Bishop.
3 P-B4
When Anderssen had the white
pieces he had played the Evans.
Steinitz in his turn offers the
22 THE KING-HUNT
Vienna Gambit. Neither of these later it looks as though he could
great players had much use for have moved there direct; but
the close defences. what subtleties were revolving in
that fertile brain, who knows?
3 ... P-Q3
4 Kt-B3 Kt-KB3 17 Kt-Kt5 QR-QI
5 B-B4 P-B3 18 Q-B3 Q-Kt3
Other moves played here are 19 B-Ktl
5 . . ., 0-0 and 5 . . . , Kt-B3.
Anderssen chooses an elastic
pawn formation for which both
he and Steinitz had a predilec­
tion. Steinitz commonly used it,
for instance, with the white side
of the Ruy Lopez.

6 P xP
Unnecessarily releasing the ten­
sion. H e could have continued
to build up with 6 P-Q3.

6 ... P xP
7 Q-K2 19 . . . P-R6!
He cannot win the pawn : 7 Kt x This move involves the sacrifice
P?, Q-Q5. of a piece but White is to be given
no peace for the working out of
7 ... QKt-Q2 his plans. He might as well have
8 P-Q3 P-QKt4 taken this pawn. If Black then
Anderssen begins a big Q-side continued with 20 . . ., Q-Kt6 he
action which leads eventually to a could play 21 P-Q4. He prefers
breakthrough in this sector, the to believe either that Anderssen
white King being meanwhile has made an oversight or else
unable to castle. that he is treating him too
cheekily.
9 B-Kt3 P-QR4
10 P-QR3 Q-Kt3 20 P-QKt4 B x KtP!
11 Kt-QI P-R5 The positional piece sacrifice was
12 B-R2 0-0 part of Anderssen's stock-in­
13 Kt-K3 B-R3 trade-against the World Cham­
14 Kt-B5 pion or anyone else. There is
Steinitz has aggressive intentions going to be a King-Hunt.
of his own on the K-side but
Anderssen keeps him too busy 21 P x B Q x Pch
elsewhere. 22 K-K2
Since 22 B-Q2 would be met by
14 . . . P-Kt5! 22 . . . , Q-Kt7 the King's travels
15 P x P Q x Pch begin.
16 P-B3 Q-R4
Since h e goes to Kt3 two moves 22 . . . P-R7!
 THE KING-HUNT 28

This pawn is determined to his element, follows up the attack

immolate itself. with blow after blow.

23 B-Q2 Q-Kt4 27 B x Kt R-Kt7ch

24 R x P Kt-B4 2 8 K-K3 Q-R4!
It looks as though White will With the threat of 29 . . . , Q-Q7
have to continue with 25 R-R3. mate he now regains one piece.
The threats are mounting, and
not only against the Q-pawn; 29 R-Ql Q x Bch
Black may also drive away the 30 P-Q4 P x Pch
Knight by P-KR3 and then 31 K-B4
play Kt x KP. Steinitz decides If 31 R x P Black mates in four:
on a policy which was to win or Q-B8ch; 32 K-Q3, Q-Q7ch;
save many a difficult game for 33 K-B4, Q-Kt5ch; 34 K­
him later in his career-to return Q3, Q-Kt6 mate. Or if 31 Kt x
some of his winnings. After his P, Elack simply takes the other
Exchange sacrifice he will be left Knight, winning easily.
with two Bishops against Rook
and pawn. But he is in for some 31 . . . P-R3!
smashing surprises. 32 Kt-R3 R-Kl!
Threatening 33 . . . , Q-K4 mate.
25 R x B Q xR
26 E-Kt4 33 Q-Q3 P-Kt4ch
34 K-B3 P-Kt5ch
35 K-Kt3 R x KP
36 Q-Bl
36 Kt x Pch is useless, for after
36 . . . , K-Bl Black is threaten­
ing 37 R-K6ch.

36 . . . Q-K4ch
37 K-R4 P x Ktch
By a neat piece of play Black has
contrived to take the Knight with
check. White cannot reply 38 B x
R because of the reply Q x Bch;
39 K x P, Q-Kt5 mate.
All part of the typical Steinitz 38 K x P R-Kt6ch
defensive scheme. Not only is the And now if 39 B-Q3 Black wins
Q-pawn s afeguarded but the black the Knight by R-B5!
Knight is disarmed as well; but
what he has not foreseen is : 39 P-Kt3 R-B5!
The same move is still playable.
26 . . . R-Ktl!!
Thus Anderssen achieves in full 40 Kt x Pch K-Bl
his long-range object of outflank­ 41 Q-B4
ing the stranded King on the
Q-side and now, absolutely in (See diagram on page 24)
24 THE KING-HUNT
But his sufferings are not yet
over.

41 . . . R-R5ch!!
42 K-Kt2
If 42 K x R, Q-R4 mate!

42 . . . R x RPch!
43 K x R Q x Pch
44 K-Rl Q-R6ch
45 K-Ktl R-Kt6ch
Steinitz resigned. The end of the
Position after 41 Q-B4 dance would have been 46 K­
B2, R-Kt7ch; 47 K-Kl, Q­
Steinitz has somehow managed to Kt6ch; 48 K-B l, Q-B7 mate
conjure up a double threat of his -with White still threatening his
own : 42 Q x P mate or 42 Q x R. mate in one.

10
Another of the game's most famous players now appears as victim of
the hunt. Tarrasch was in fact not yet twenty years of age. He
reappears as the hunter in a famous chase in No. 21.
Fritz Riemann (born 1859) was only three years older than
Tarrasch who far outstripped him as a player in later years. In the
present game, however, Riemann certainly shows to great advantage.

RIEMANN TARRASCH
Casual Game, Breslau 1880
King's Gambit Declined

1 P-K4 P-K4 4 ... B-KKt5

2P-KB4 B-B4
This quiet way of declining­
even ignoring-the King's Gam­
bit puts difficulties in the way of
White's castling.
5 B-K2
At this point Marshall later
introduced a complicated line
beginning 5 P x P, P x P; 6 Q­
R4ch.

3 Kt-KB3 P-Q3
4 P-B3 5 ... B x Kt
Equally playable is 4 Kt-B3, 6 B xB Kt-QB3
a line in which White has the 7 P-Q3 Kt-B3
option of eliminating the black 8 Q-K2 0-0
K-Bishop by Kt-QR4. 9 P-B5
 THE KING-HUNT
This constricting advance is often
used by White in the K-Gambit
Declined and Vienna Openings.
In the present case it would
seem to achieve little since Black
has already exchanged his white­
square Bishop, but in fact it
works out very well.
9 ... P-KR3
In later years Tarrasch would
certainly have reacted imme­
diately with 9 . . . , P-Q4, an
advance which he never achieves
in the present game.
10 P-KKt4! Kt-R2
1 1 P-KR4! P-B3
Black is playing to prevent
White from advancing P-KKt5,
but he does not long succeed.
12 P-Kt4!
Riemann proceeds in masterly
fashion to gain ground on both
sides of the board, leaving his
King for the time being in the
centre.
12 .. . B-Kt3
13 P-R4
It is most unusual to see a
double outflanking mancruvre
carried out so early in the game.
At move 13 White has already
moved every pawn.
25
13 . . . P-R3
1 4 Kt-R3 Q-Q2
Encouraged by this removal of
one guard from the square KKt5
Riemann now decides to sacrifice
two pawns for one and then try
for an immediate mating attack
on the KR-file.
1 5 P-KKt5! BP x P
16 P x P Kt x P
17 B x Kt P xB
18 B-R5!
The attack is very strong. When
this Bishop goes to Kt6 there
will be an immediate threat of
R-R8ch followed by Q-R5ch
and mate next move. Black just
manages to stave off the worst,
helped by the fact that Riemann
has not castled, and so has to
spend a move mobilizing his
other Rook.
18 Kt-Ql!
19 B-Kt6 Kt-B2
20 0-0-0 Kt-R3
When annotating the game a
dozen years later Tarrasch real­
ized that this last defensive move
was superfluous and that he
could have played 20 . . . , Q x RP
instead. He gives analysis to
show that the black King could
have weathered the storm and
that when the white attack had
blown itself out he could have
taken over the initiative ; but this
sort of thing is not so easy to see
in the heat of battle-especially
for a teenager.
21 Q-QR2ch K-Rl
22 Kt-B4 B-R2
23 R-Q2 P-Kt4
At last Tarrasch finds time to
begin a counter-action, but it
comes too late: he is over-run.
(See diagram on page 26)
26 THE KING-HUNT

Position after 23 P-Kt 4 Position after 29 . . . K-B2

24 R(2)-R2!! P x Kt the Queen, only to succumb to

25 R x Ktch! P xR the big King-Hunt.
26 R x Pch K-Ktl
27 Q-R2! Q-Kt2
Tarrasch pointed out that by 30 . . . Q xP
interpolating 27 . . . , B-K6ch 31 R x Qch K xR
he could have given Riemann When one's King is as exposed as
more trouble in the later stages, this, a Queen i s a much deadlier
as the KKt pawn would have enemy than two Rooks, espec­
been defended. ially with Bishop and advanced
pawns to provide support.
28 P-Q4!
This is masterly play, shutting 32 Q-R6ch K-K2
out the Bishop. The tempting 33 Q x KtPch K-Q2
28 R-R7 on the other hand 34 B-B5ch K-B3
would have been a blunder : 35 B-K6!
28 . . . , Q x B! ! ; 29 P x Q, R­ The key move, threatening
B8ch; and 30 . . . , R-B7ch and 36 Q-Q5ch, K-Kt3; 37 P-R5
Black wins. mate. The non-checking move
shows the master-hand, as usual.
28 . . . P xP
29 B-R7ch K-B2 35 . . . K-Kt2
36 B-Q5ch P-B3
(See diagram in next column) 37 Q-Kt7ch K-Kt3
30 P-B6!! 38 P-R5ch K-Kt4
With a beautiful piece of Queen­ 39 Q-Kt7ch K-R5
virtuosity in view: 30 . . . , Q­ 40 Q x Pch K-R6
Rl ; 3 1 Q-R5ch, K-K3 ; 32 Q­ 41 Q x BP Resigns.
Kt4ch, K-B 2 ; 33 Q-Q7 mate; 41 . . . , K-R5 ; 42 Q-Kt3ch,
or 32 . . . , K-K4 ; 33 Q-B5 K-Kt4· 43 P-B4 mate. Tar­
mate. Tarrasch sees it and gives rasch g�nerously included this
up his Queen instead, remaining game in his own collection Drei­
indeed with his two Rooks for hundert Schachpartien.
 11
Visits to Europe by American chess players in the 19th century were
extremely rare. One of them was the entry of Preston Ware in
the Vienna Tournament of 1882. This was one of the strongest
meetings ever, with eighteen of the world's best players in a double­
round tournament. Ware would almost certainly have finished in
last place but for the fact that two players withdrew at the halfway
point and defaulted all the rest of their games. However, he had the
consolation of a win against the World Champion (who also won the
tournament) and he must certainly have enjoyed the following game
against Weiss.

WARE WEISS
Vienna Tournament 1882
Stonewall Attack

1 P-Q4 P-Q4 8 .
. . 0-0
2 P-KB4 9 P-QR3
These two pawn moves, together Now he has seven pawns on
with the supporting moves P­ black squares.
K3 and P-QB3, form the Stone­
wall, which can be used either 9 ... P-QKta
by White or by Black. It was 10 P-R3 B-Kt2
with this same pet opening that 11 B-Kl Kt-K5
Ware succeeded in winning a 12 QKt-Q2 Kt x Kt
marathon game against Steinitz. 13 Q x Kt Kt-R4
Black's Knight play is unfortun­
2 P-K3 ate. First he gratuitously ex­
3 Kt-KB3 Kt-KB3 changed off the one which was a
4 P-K3 B-Q3 key man in his defence at KB3;
5 B-Q3 P-B4 now he starts a pointless raid
6 P-B3 Kt-Ba with the other one. The threat
7 0-0 P-QR3 of Kt-Kt6 is an empty one,
8 B-Q2 White having time to evade it,
In an opening which sets six ' while at QB5 the Knight will be
white pawns on the black squares out of play. He would have
the problem piece is the Q­ been wiser to play this remaining
Bishop, which would seem to Knight across to the deserted
have no prospects at all. Ware K-side.
used to tackle the problem
methodically, playing the Bishop 14 R-Ql Kt-B5
outside the pawn chain through 15 Q-K2 Kt-R4
the one gap which remains­ 16 B-R4
to KR4. With the problem of this piece
 28 THE KING-HUNT
solved White now has a powerful 20 . . . R-B4
K-side attack in the making. 21 Q x KPch R-B2
22 Q-Kt6
16 . . . Q-B2 Now the threat is 23 Q-R7ch,
17 Kt-Kt5 K-Bl; 24 Q-R8 mate.
The fortress of the black King is
now certain to be destroyed. 22 . . . K-Bl
White could even have played 23 Q-R7 K-Kl
17 B x Pch at once, but the way
Only by flight can the King
he conducts this phase is both avoid mate.
strong and elegant.

17 . . . P-R3 24 B-Kt6 B-KBl

18 Q-R5! Kt-B5
This Knight alone has wasted
- enough time to lose the game
irrevocably. The excuse for re­
turning to B5 is the possibility
of a fork at K6 or Kt7. Mean­
while his house is on fire.
Protecting the KKt-pawn; but
now the white KB-pawn threat­
ens to complete the destruction
of the position by marching to
the sixth rank. The pinned Rook
is beyond salvation, so the black
King continues his flight.

25 P-B5 K-Q2
26 B x R Kt x KP
So the Knight achieves his am­
bition at last. The Exchange will
be regained, but the King is
homeless.

19 Kt x KP! P x Kt
Since he finds himself forced to
retmn the Exchange almost at
once he might as well have let it
go now, keeping a pawn on KB2.
But in any case he has little hope
now of surviving, with the white
Rooks ready to j oin the attack.
20 Q-Kt6!
Threatening 21 Q-R7ch, K­
B2; 22 B-Kt6 mate. The black­
square Bishop turns out to be a
very powerful factor in the
attack.
27 B-K6ch K-B3
28 Q-Kt6! B-Q3
Desperately trying to improvise a
new shelter. But this in turn will
be violently destroyed .
29 KR-Kl Kt x R
30 R x Kt P-B5
Black has emerged only a pawn
down, and now he tries to delay
the opening of files on the Q-side.
(See diagram on page 29)
31 B x Pch!!
With a new and fatal extension
of the King-Hunt Ware brings
the game to its close. The black
Q-Rook never has a chance to
show that it even exists.
 THE KING-HUNT 29
31 . . . K xB
32 Q-K6ch K-B3
33 Q x Pch K-Q2
34 Q-K6ch K-B3
All the time the Bishop on KR4
is playing its part.

35 P-Q5ch K-Kt4
36 Q-K2ch K-R5
37 Q-B2ch K-Kt4
38 P-R4ch Resigns.
38 . . . , K-R4; 39 P-Kt4ch,
B x P; 40 P x Bch, K x P; 41 B­
Position after 30 . . . P-B5 Klch, K-R6; 42 R-Rl mate.

12
Our next game introduces one of the most original · and creative
players i n the whole of chess history-Mikhail Chigorin (born 1850).
His full strength developed late, and few games remain even from his
twenties ; but eventually he came to challenge many of the more
dogmatic aspects of the teachings of Steinitz. At about the age of
40 he played much superb match chess, including two good attempts
at the World Championship and a drawn match with Tarrasch.

DoRRER CmGORIN
Played by mail during 1884 : the game lasted eight months
Steinitz Gambit

1 P-K4 P-K4 move would be unplayable.

2 Kt-QB3 Kt-QB3
Compare the note at this stage in
Game 9. From the present posi­
tion the King's Gambit is usually
played, and some of the standard
defences still hold good. There
are, howeyer, some important
differences, and the present game
illustrates one of them.
3 P-KB4 P xP
4 P-Q4
The Steinitz Gambit. With the
two Knights still at home this
Steinitz tried stubbornly for
many years to prove that in the
present position it is good, but
although White won some fine
victories analysis eventually
drove the opening out of use.
Steinitz was prepared to accept
the immediate displacement of
his King to K2, maintaining that
it was in no great danger. In the
present game Chigorin sees that
it does not stop there, but is
driven up to Q4, back to QKtl,
up to the centre again and finally
30 THE KING-HUNT
right away to be mated on QR7 safeguards his central position by
-a sixteen-move tour. simply avoiding the check,
visualizing 17 Q x QP, B-B4ch;
4 ... Q-R5ch 18 K x Kt, B-B4 mate!
5 K-K2 Q-R4ch
Chigorin experimented tirelessly 17 Kt-Q3
in all the gambits, both with
White and Black, and the present
move is a case in point. Com­
moner lines were 5 . . . , P-
KKt4; 5 . . . , P-QKt3 ; 5 . . . ,
P-Q 4 ; and, probably best, 5 . . . ,
P-Q3.

6 Kt-B3 P-KKt4
7 Kt-Q5
This i s usually one theme of
White's play in the Steinitz
Gambit. The early move of the
black Queen has left QB2 un­
defended. In some variations 17 . . . P-Q5ch!
Black p ermits the fork. This is the trouble with using the
King in mid-board. In any
7 ... K-Ql hands but those of Steinitz him­
8 P-KKt3 QKt-K2 self (and sometimes even in his)
Black prepares to expel the it gets too hot to hold.
Knight and then to break up the
white centre pawns, letting the 18 K x P
gambit pawn go. To 18 K x Kt Black replies
18 . . . , P-B4! threatening 19 . . . ,
9 Kt x Kt B x Kt B-B4ch followed by mate next
10 P x P P-Kt5 move.
1 1 Kt-Kl Kt-B3
12 B-Kt2 P-Q4 18 . . . B-KB4
First assault on the centre pawns. 19 B x Kt R-Qlch
20 B-Q5 P-B3
13 P-K5 Kt-K5 21 P-Kt4 P-Kt4
14 K-K3 With the white King on Q4 and
Quite i n the spirit of the gambit. all the long-range black pieces
'The King is a strong piece,' said still on the board Black of course
Steinitz. plays to break up the position.
Chigorin is in his element in this
14 . . . P-KB3 sort of game. Watch his Queen­
Second assault on the centre. play.

15 P-B4 P x KP 22 K-B3 P xB
1 6 QP x P K-Kl! 23 P-B5
This move bears all the marks of Dorrer plays to keep the lines
correspondence chess. Chigorin closed.
 THE KING-HUNT 31
23 . . . Q-R6!
24 Q-Bl P-Q5ch
25 K-B2 Q-R3!
26 B-Q2 Q-K3!
Threatening to win a piece by
27 . . . , Q-B5ch.

27 K-Kt2 Q-B5
28 Kt-Kl P-Q6
29 R-Bl Q-Q4
30 Kt-Kt2 B-K3
Now the threat is 31 . . . , Q x
RPch; 3 2 K-B3, Q-Kt6 mate.
Position after 35 P-QR3
31 R-Rl P-QR4!
R x Bch! ; 37 Q x R, Q x Kt ;
Reinforcements are arriving all
the time. Since White cannot while 3 6 B x P creates self­
play 32 P-QR3 because of mate interference: 36 . . . , Q-Kt6ch;
in two by 32 . . . , Q-Kt6ch, nor 37 K-Bl, R-B5ch.
32 P x P because of 32 . . . , B x P
36 K-B2 R x B!
Black is bound to get the QR­
37 P x R Q-Kt6ch
file for his Rooks.
38 K x P Q-Kt7ch
39 K-K3 Q-B6ch
32 Q-B2 P xP 40 K-K4 B-B4ch!
33 B x P R-Rl 41 K-Q5
Black is now threatening to win If 41 K x B Black replies 41 . . . ,
the Queen by 34 . . . , R x Pch. Q-Q6ch and then brings the
Rook into play. But it makes
34 K-Ktl R-R5 little difference now.
35 P-QR3
41 . . . Q-Q6ch
(See diagram in next column) 42 K-B6 Q-Q2ch
35 . . . P-Q7! ! 43 K-Kt6 B-Qlch
Clearing the lines beautifully 44 K-R6 Q-B3ch
for the finish. If now 36 Q x P 45 K-R7 B-K5
the Queen is overloaded : 36 . . . And mate next move.

13
Jean Taubenhaus, Polish born (1850), spent most of his life as a chess
professional in Paris, competing in a dozen tournaments between 1885
and 191 4 . Here he has a rare old set-to with Pollock, who appears
again as the winner of Game 14. First White has his King driven to
the third rank and both Rooks captured by the black Queen; then
the tide of battle turns and the black King has to start running. A
32 THE KING-HUNT
skittle? Not a bit of it: this was an important international tourna­
ment game!

TAUBENHAUS POLLOCK
Nottingham Tournament 1886
Allgaier Gambit

1 P-K4 P-K4 9 B x Pch K-Kl

2 P-KB4 P xP 10 P x P P-Kt6
3 Kt-KB3 P-KKt4 Or 10 . . . , B-K2; but this pawn
4 P-KR4 P-Kt5 has ambitions.
5 Kt-Kt5
The Allgaier Gambit, deliber­ 11 P-KB4
ately losing the Knight which After 21 single moves there is
could be safeguarded by 5 Kt­ only one piece off the back rank;
K5, as in Game No. 3. but there is havoc among the
K-side pawns.
5 ... P-KR3
6 KtxP 11 . . . Kt-KB3
The King-Hunt may be said to 12 B-B4 P-Kt7
have started; but before it 13 R-Ktl
reaches its consummation White Both Queens are now itching to
himself has much to suffer. get in the destructive check on
KR5.
...
6 K x Kt
P-Q4
7 13 . . . B-KKt5
This move (instead of 7 B­ 14 Q-Q3
B4ch) bears the name of Edmund The white Queen, having been
Thorold of Bath, a strong ama­ driven off her original diagonal,
teur who seems to have had no takes up position on another,
contact at all with London chess. with the threat of 1 5 P-K5,
In the present game the move which would in turn threaten
amounts to no more than a both 16 P x Kt and 16 Q­
transposition. Kt6ch. To this Pollock prepares
a wicked reply.
7' . . . P-B6
From Black's point of view this
is the most vigorous line, seek­
ing to render the white King's
position as insecure as that of his
opposite number. Black could
also play 7 . . . , P-Q3 ; but
probably his best policy-as in
most King's Gambit lines-is the
immediate counter-sacrifice of
the Q-pawn by 7 . . ., P-Q4.

8 B-B4ch P-Q4!
 THE KING-HUNT 33
14 . . . Kt-B3! 21 . . . Q x R?
1 5 P-K5 Kt-K5! ! Finally wrecking his game, so
Threatening 16 . . ., Q x RPch well begun. He could have ex­
with mate to follow. White must changed Queens, remaining with
take the Knight. Rook against two pawns. Care
would have been needed still
16 Q x Kt Q x Pch against the strong white centre
17 K-Q2 Q-B7ch pawns but the extra piece should
18 K-B3 Q xR have carried the day. Instead,
Black is now a Rook ahead and with a greedy impulse rare indeed
seems to have a won game. If, in Pollock, Black takes the other
for instance 19 Q-Kt6ch, K­ Rook, and in the process tucks
Q l ; 20 Q-B6ch, K-Bl; 21 Q x his Queen away out of play. The
R, then Q x Pch; 22 K-Kt3, rest of the game is all King-Hunt.
Kt-R4ch; 23 K-R4, Q x Bch;
24 K x Kt, P-Kt3 mate.

19 B-K3!
Taubenhaus begins a desperate
rescue operation involving the
loss of his other Rook.

19 . . . Q-K8ch
A natural enough continuation
in the heat of battle, but it lets
the game slip. When a player has
conducted his attack in the
brilliant vein of Pollock thus far
it seems somehow ungracious in 22 Q-Kt6ch K-Ql
the annotator to point out, after 23 Q-B6ch K-Bl
quiet analysis, what he should 24 Q x R K-Q2
have done; but Black could 25 Q-R7ch B-K2
surely have won here by the 26 P-K6ch B xP
subtle 19 . . . , B-KB4!, shutting 26 . . . , K-Kl ; 27 Q-Kt8ch,
out the white Queen. After B-Bl; 28 Q-B7ch, K-Ql ;
20 Q x B, Q x Bch, or 20 Q­ 29 Q-Q7 mate. Or 26 . . . , K­
B3, Q-R7, Black would retain Q3; 27 Kt-K4 mate.
his Rook advantage and kill the
white attack. 27 B x Bch K xB
28 P-Q5ch
20 Kt-Q2 P-Kt8{Q) Taubenhaus is playing the closing
21 B x Q? phase powerfully. When he un­
When one's opponent has two willingly played 18 K-B3 he
Queens one hurries to annihilate could hardly have foreseen that
one of them, but this, neverthe­ his own King would ten moves
less, is too hasty. Now was the later be playing a useful part in
golden opportunity for Q­ the encirclement of the black
Kt6ch. one.
34 THE KING-HUNT

:� Q-B5ch �t
xP
K4
Forced. 29 . . . , K-Q3 leaves
\ 31
32
33
Q xB
Q-K6ch
P-R4ch
Q xB
K-Kt4
K xP
White a choice of three mates on 34 Q-Kt3ch K-R4
the move. 35 Kt-B4ch K-R3
36 Q-R4 mate.
30 Q x Ktch K-B3

14
W. H. K. Pollock, loser of that remarkable slugging match with
Taubenhaus, now reappears in another battle royal, this time as the
winner. He was an Englishman (born 1859) but played most of his
chess i n Ireland and America. Though too inconsistent to make a
good tournament player he produced many brilliant games, defeating
Tarrasch, Pillsbury and even Steinitz, as well as most of his other
contemporaries at one time or another during his short life.
His opponent here, Jackson Showalter, was several times champion
of the U.S.A., and also played some good chess in Europe in the late
1890s. For the first half of this game Showalter made all the running
but at move 33 he met such a thunderbolt that he might well have
resigned. Instead he played on, piloting his King perilously up to
the eighth rank and part of the way back, finally wriggling out of the
mating attack, only to be left with a lost ending.

SHOWALTER Po':.LOCK
7th Match Game, Kentucky 1891
King's Gambit

1 P-K4 P-K4 try to refute the black Knight­

2 P-KB4 Kt-KB3 move.
A most unusual way of declining
the gambit. Pollock used to say, 3 ... Kt x P
when he indulged in such eccen­ 4 Kt-KB3 P-Q4
tricities : 'It isn't that I want to 5 P-Q3 Kt-B4
get my opponents out of the 6 P-Q4 Kt-K3
books. I want to get myself out Black has set up a satisfactory
of them.' defence with the white Q-pawn
for a target. White has an asset
3 P xP in the open KB-file.
White could return to well­
trodden paths by 3 Kt-QB3 7 B-Q3 P-QB4
with a standard line of the Vienna 8 P-B3 Kt-B3
but he takes up the challenge to 9 0-0
 THE KING-HUNT 35
For the s ake of freedom and some
lead in development Showalter
sacrifices a centre pawn. It is a
speculative matter and he never
gets enough for the pawn.

9 ... P xP
10 P x P QKt x QP
11 Kt x Kt Kt x Kt
12 Q-R4ch Kt-B3
13 Q-KB4
No doubt this was his aim; but
Black easily frees himself.
Position after 20 KR-Bl
13 . . . B-B4ch
14 K-Rl B-K3 21 P-Kt5 Kt-K2
15 Kt-Q2 Q-B2 22 B-Kt4
16 Kt-B3 0-0-0 The white pressure grows with
On the K-side Black probably every move. Pollock keeps a
feared the active white Bishops cool head and proceeds to force
and the open KB-file. But on the off the Rooks.
Q-side he will also be in consider­
able danger. Showalter imme­ 22 . . . R-QBl
diately transfers his attention to 23 B-Q6ch K-Rl
the King' s new address, where he 24 Q-R3 R x Rch
also has an open B-file. 25 R x R R-QBl
26 R x Rch Kt x R
The removal of all the Rooks
17 Q-QR4 P-KR3 relieves Black considerably, but
Presumably with distant ideas Showalter still has the initiative
of a general pawn advance, but and now first regains his sacri­
White keeps him much too busy ficed pawn and then wins an­
for any such thing. other.
18 B-Q2 K-Ktl 27 B-B8! B-KB4
19 P-QKt4 B-Kt3 28 B x P B-K5
20 KR-Bl 29 B-K2 P-Q5
The white attack gathers mo­ 30 B x P P-Q6
mentum, and Black looks to be Showalter has wiped out the
in trouble. 21 P-Kt5 is threat­ black K-side, establishing a
ened. majority of 3-1. Meanwhile Pol­
lock has at last been able to
(See diagram in next column) undertake some aggression of his
20 . . . Q-Q2 own; his far-advanced Q-pawn is
Pollock defends well, not only now a factor to be reckoned with.
safeguarding his Queen but
counter-threatening 21 . . . , Kt x 31 B-Ql Q xP
KP and also clearing the way to 32 Q-B8 Q-B5
challenge Rooks on the QB-file. With two Queens and four
36 THE KING-HUNT
Bishops in action the tactical
possibilities multiply. White's
last move threatened the KB­
pawn and also the Knight (with
mate) . Black's reply guards both
of these and draws a bead on the
white QR-pawn. White now
makes the tempting reply which
protects his QR-pawn and appar­
ently wins the black KB-pawn,
for the black Queen cannot desert
the Knight. But Showalter has
not realized j ust how much
dynamite the position contains.
33 B-Kt3
33 . . . P-Q7!!
A stunning move which not only
brings the pawn within reach of
promotion but also gives the
black Queen access to KB8 and
QB8. What is White to do?
If 34 B x Q Black mates in three
by 34 . . . , P-Q8(Q)ch. If
34 Kt x P, Black mates in three
by 34 . . . , Q-QB8ch. If 34 B x P,
Black mates in two by 34 . . . ,
Q-KB8ch. And these last two
mates are threatened in any case.
Showalter might well have des­
paired, but he succeeds in finding
a move which puts up a real fight.
34 P-KR4!
Thus he destroys all the mating
threats at one stroke, and at the
same time makes a fighting
weapon of the KR-pawn.
34 . . . B x Kt!
35 P x B
If 35 B x Q Black forces mate :
35 . . . , P-Q8(Q)ch; 36 K-R2,
Q-Kt8ch; 37 K-Kt3, Q x Pch;
38 K-B4, Q-Kt5 mate.
35 . . . Q-KB8ch
36 K-R2 Q-B7ch
37 K-R3 Q x BPch
38 K-R2
Black has a draw for the taking,
but of course wants to press on
with the King-Hunt. He cannot
do it entirely with checking
moves and therefore now re­
collects that he is himself threat­
ened with mate in one!
38 . . . K-Ktl
39 B x QP Q-B7ch
The black Q-pawn did not
achieve promotion, but it has
cost White a piece. Showalter
now pins his hopes to his passed
KR-pawn and fights on with
spirit.
40 K-R3 Q xB
41 Q x P Q-K6ch
42 K-Kt4 Q xP
43 P-R5 B-B2
Pollock threatens 44 . . . , Q­
Kt6ch; 45 K-B5, Kt-Q3ch;
White can avoid this threat and
at the same time reach the sixth
rank with his pawn, but the
defencelessness of his King must
be fatal in the end.
44 P-R6 P-R3!
The wisest plan. With a safe
black-square flight for his King
Black can now bring the Knight
across to attempt a mate.
 THE KING-HUNT 37
45 Q-Kt8 A respite in the checks in order to
This plan White promptly coun­ threaten mate in one instead.
ters, at the same time threaten­ 50 Q-Kt7 Kt-Q3ch
ing P-R7-R8. But now the 51 K-Q7 Q-Qlch
barrage of checks is resumed. 52 K-K6 Q-Klch
53 Q-K7 Q x Qch
45 . . . Q-Kt6ch At last it is possible for Black
46 K-B5 Q-B5ch to exchange Queens and win the
Not 46 . . . , Q x Q; 47 B x Q, pawn.
Kt-K2ch; 48 K-K6, Kt x B ;
49 P-R7! 54 K x Q Kt-B4ch
55 K-B6 Kt x P
47 K-Kt6 Q-K5ch 56 B-K6!
48 K-B7 Q-B4ch There is this one last shot in
49 K-K8 Showalter's locker. He stale­
Not the first King in this selection mates the Knight and even now
to reach KS-nor yet the last. threatens to draw by 57 K-Kt5,
winning the Knight and rema�n­
ing with Bishops on opposite
colours. Pollock's reply ex­
tinguishes the hope.

56 . . . B-B5!
57 P-R4
Reluctant to resign after such a
struggle.

57 . . . K-B2
White resigns. This hammer and
tongs match was won by Show­
49 . . . Q-B3 alter 6l-5l.

Karl Schlechter (born 1874) was possibly the greatest player who
never held the World Championship. He came within a hair's­
breadth of it in 1910 when Lasker j ust saved his title by halving a
challenge match 1-1 with 8 draws.
Schlechter in his prime was so nearly unbeatable that they called
him 'The Drawing Master' but his magnificent tournament record
and string of brilliancy prizes bear witness to his devastating power of
attack. When it came to hunting a King he was as happy as the
next man.
D
38 THE KING-HUNT

SCHLECHTER MARCO
Vienna Jubilee Tournament 1898
Queen's Gambit Declined

1 P-Q4 P-Q4 Black ought rather to have

2 P-QB4 P-K3
The Queen's Gambit-and par­
ticularly this method of declining
it-was the fashionable opening
of the late 'nineties. Its popu­
larity can be ascribed largely to
the influence of Pillsbury from
Hastings, 1895, onwards.
3 Kt-QB3 Kt-KB3
4 Kt-B3 P-QKt3
5 B-Kt5 B-K2
6 P-K3 0-0
7 B-Q3 B-Kt2
Black's sequence of moves can
lead to a debacle, as Marco found
to his cost two years later at the
Paris Tournament of 1900. The
safe line, hammered out over the
years, is to play QKt-Q2 and
P-B3 instead of the fianchetto.
8 0-0
Schlechter quietly develops. Mar­
shall's incisive line at Paris was
to omit castling and launch an
immediate onslaught against
KR7 by 8 P x P, P x P ; 9 B x Kt,
B x B; 1 0 P-KR4! Against Burn
the result was a famous minia­
ture: 1 0 . . . , P-Kt3; 11 P-R5,
R-Kl ; (Marco played 1 1 . . . ,
P-B4 but lasted only five moves
longer than Burn) 12 P x P,
RP x P ; 13 Q-B2, B-Kt2;
14 B x P! , P x B ; 15 Q x P, Kt­
Q2; 1 6 Kt-KKt5, Q-B3;
17 R-R8ch! K x R; 18 Q-R7
mate.
8 ... QKt-Q2
9 Q-K2 P-B4
10 QR-QI P-QR3
resolved the problem of the
centre here by removing all four
of the pawns. Now White takes
a strong initiative.
1 1 QP x P! Kt x P
12 B-Ktl !
This retreat not only safeguards
the Bishop against exchange;
it is also a Turton manreuvre,
preparing to set the Quee:I?- as a
projectile in front of the B1shop­
gun.
12 Q-B2
13 Q-B2
Already threatening to win a
piece by 14 B x Kt.
13 . . . P-Kt3
1 4 B x Kt B xB
15 P x P
15 . . . B x Kt?
This cannot be wise. The black­
square Bishop is vital for the
defence of the K-position which
will now be defenceless with all
its pawns on white squares.
Black would have done better to
 THE KING-HUNT 39
exchange his other Bishop : 15 . . . , Threatening destruction by
P x P; 1 6 Kt x P, B x Kt! 27 Q-QB4ch . .

16 P-Q6! 26 . . . B-Q4
A powerful interpolation, prob­ 27 P-QKt4 Kt-Kt2
ably overlooked by Marco. The
black Queen is driven back and a
most uncomfortable wedge is
forced momentarily into the
black lines. The pawn is re­
linquished almost at once but
White gains time for a decisive
K-side attack.

16 . . . Q-Ktl
17 Q x B R-Ql
18 Kt-K5!
En route for KKt4 with deadly
invasion on the black squares.
28 P-R4ch!
Black would have been in far less
At the cost of this pawn two more
danger with a Bishop on KKt2 pieces are enabled to join the
instead of QKt2. hunt and mate is in sight.
18 . . . R xP 28 . . . KxP
19 Kt-Kt4 Q-Ql 29 B-B2ch K-R6
20 Kt-R6ch K-Bl 29 . . ., K-Kt4 ; 30 B-Q3ch
21 Q-R8ch K-K2 would lead to a similar finish.
22 Q x P Q-KBl
To prevent 23 Q x BP mate; but 30 R-Rlch K-Kt7
now the Rook is guarded only by 31 Q-Q4ch! K xB
the King, who must therefore 32 Q-Q3ch K-Kt7
resume his headlong flight. 33 Q-R3ch K-B7
34 R-Blch K-Q7
23 R xR K xR 35 Q-B3ch K-K7
24 Kt x Pch K-B3 . . . and White has the embarrass­
25 Kt-K5ch K-Kt4 ing choice of five mates on the
26 Q-R4! move.

\, 16
Emanuel Lasker was unique among World Champions. Chess was
no consuming passion with him; he was able and willing to leave the
game alone for years at a time. He founded no school, had no dis­
ciples, was no pioneer of new openings ; yet his mastery of middlegame
and endgame has seldom been approached. There is something
40 THE KING-HUNT
almost visionary about the way he extracted wins from barren or even
downright bad positions. Yet he himself described his methods­
incredibly-as 'common sense' .

LASKER LEE
London Tournament 1899
Caro-Kann

1 P-K4 P-QB3 defence or attack. At this mo­

Although this move had been ment he is in the act of deciding
recorded as long ago as the 16th on the King as his objective-a
century it was still a novelty in natural enough decision in view
tournament play, dating from the of Black's defensive attitude.
1880s and being played only very
rarely. 13 . . . B-Q3
14 Kt-K2 Kt-Kt5
2 P-Q4 P-Q4 A flicker of aggression­
3 Kt-QB3 P xP just about Lee's only one in this
4 Kt x P B-B4 game.
5 Kt-Kt3 B-Kt3
6 Kt-B3 Kt-Q2 15 R-Bl Kt{2)-B3
All this is still played today. 16 Q-R4 K-Ktl
Black prevents White from play­
ing Kt-K5.
7 P-KR4
7 B-Q3 is perfectly good but
Lasker's line leaves Black with
fewer options.
7 ... P-KR3
8 B-Q3 B xB
9 Q xB KKt-B3
10 B-Q2 P-K3
Thus Black gets a satisfactory
development for all his pieces.
His position, however, is wholly
defensive. Against the World 17 P-B4!
Champion this was presumably The real assault begins. Lasker
Lee's ambition-an impression fearlessly denudes his own King,
which the rest of the game con­ Black being very ill-placed for
firms. any sort of counter-offensive.
There is now an immediate threat
11 0-0-0 Q-B2 of 18 P-B5 and 19 B-B4.
12 KR-Kl 0-0-0
13 Q-Kt3 17 . . . Q-K2
Lasker was, par excellence, an 18 Kt-B3 Q-B2
improviser-prepared at the drop Now that White has loosened
of a hat to conduct any sort of control of his KB4 there is no
 THE KING-HUNT 41

venom in P-B5. Black there­

fore switchbacks with his Queen,
intending to force off the Bishops
by 19 . . . , B-B5. This is pure
spoiling tactics, and Lasker de­
cides not to let him have his way.

19 P-KKt3! Q-Bl
20 P-Kt4! P-K4
21 P x P Kt x KP

Position after 24 . . . P-QKt4

25 Kt x Pch!
For the utter destruction of
·
Black's King-shelter a Knight is
a small enough price to pay.

26 . . . P x Kt
26 Q x P Kt-R6
27 Q-R5ch!
Not fearing the cross-check.
22 B-K3!!
A typical Lasker position. He 27 . . . K-Kt2ch
suddenly produces bewildering 28 B-B5!
multiple threats: Q x Pch, B x Threatening 29 Q-Kt6ch and
Pch, R x B , P-B5. Lee decides 30 Q-R7 mate. Meanwhile the
to eliminate the troublesome outlying black Knight on QR6
QB-pawn and it is difficult to find is left, apparently unheeded,
anything better for him to do. until in due course-at move 34
But now he is in the hands of the its time comes to be captured
greatest of all masters of mid­ with check.
game complications.
28 . . . B xB
22 . . . Kt x P 29 P x B R xR
23 B x Pch K-B2 30 Kt x R
24 R-Q4! There has been a lot of blood­
Now 24 . . . , Kt-Kt3 would letting but White still has all the
allow 25 B x Ktch, K x B ; 26 Q­ material he needs for the final
R5 mate; and 24 . . . , Kt-K4 hunt of the black King from
would be no better: 25 Kt x Kt, QKt2 to his destiny on KR7.
B x Kt ; 26 Q-R5ch and mate
next move. 30 . . . Q-Ql
After 30 . . . , Q-Rl White would
24 . . . P-QKt4 play 31 P-B6ch, K-Ktl ;
32 Q-Kt6ch, K-Bl ; 33 Kt­
(See diagram in next column) B5, mating on K7 or Q6.
42 THE KING-HUNT
31 P-B6ch K-Bl 35 R-Ql! Q-Kt3
32 Q-R8ch K-B2 36 Kt-B3ch K-K3
33 Q-R7ch K-Q3 If 36 . . . , K-K5 White mates on
Now at last White can take the the move with 37 Q-Q3.
Knight with check; but Black
had no option: K-B l ; 34 Q­ K-B 4
37 Q-Q6ch
Kt7 mate.
38 Q-Q3ch K-Kt5
After 38 . . . , K-K3 he would be
34 Q x Ktch
quickly mated after 39 R-Klch.
Black is two pawns down and
could now resign with a clear
conscience. Instead he continues 39 Kt-K5ch
to watch with fearful fascination And Lee resigned in face of the
the march of his King to execu­ unavoidable 39 . . ., K-R6; (or
tion. 39 . . ., K-R4 ; 40 Q-B3ch and
mate next move) 40 Q-Blch,
34 . . . K-Q4 K-R7 ; 41 Q-Rl mate.

Karel Treybal (born 1885) was a Czech master who seldom ventured
far from his native land. He competed in a dozen international
tournaments over a span of thirty years and was seen in England at
the Folkestone Olympiad in 1933. No less a judge than Alekhine
described him as 'conspicuously endowed with the imaginative sense'·
Treybal was only nineteen years old when he played the following
game at a Prague chess club.

KURZ TREYBAL
Casual Game, Prague 1 904
Salvio Gambit

than the Muzio idea of leaving the

1 P-K4 P-K4 Knight to be taken (see Garn� 2)
2 P-KB4 for it invites an immediate
The seventh and last King's Queen-check with the consequent
Gambit in our King-Hunt collec­ displacement of the white �i�g.
tion. Yet it was the choice of Stem1tz
in serious match play against
2
... P xP Zukertort and Anderssen.
3
Kt-KB3 P-KKt4
4
B-B4 P-Kt5 5 ... P-Q4
5
Kt-K5 In the heyday of the gambits
On the face of it this Salvio Black invariably checked at once;
Gambit would seem less inviting but the counter sacrifice is good
 THE KING-HUNT 43
against nearly any form of the
King's Gambit.

6 B xP Q-R5ch
7 K-Bl
The necessity for this move,
both here and in the Bishop's
Gambit (3 B-B4) seems to
spoil one primary object of the
opening-the use of the K­
Bishop's file for attack. In prac­
tice the loss of time by the black
Queen often allows White to get
quick counterplay with his minor
pieces.
7 ... Kt-KB3
Black i nvites White to take the
KB-Pawn, either with Bishop or
with Knight. He could, of course,
have defended by 7 . . . Kt­
KR3. White's headache is that
he must constantly watch the
possibility of sudden black
attacks by P-B6 or P-Kt6.
One of the liveliest forms of the
gambit is 5 . . . , Q-R5ch; 6 K­
Bl, P-B6; the Cochrane Gam­
bit.
8 B x Pch K-Ql
The addict of the K-Gambit
cares little, as a rule, for the
safety of his own King : his
interest is exclusively in the other
one.
Position after 11 Kt-B3
11 . . . P-B6!
Sooner or later this move usually
means the break-up of the white
K-side in the Salvio Gambit.
12 P-KKt3
It is difficult to know what to do.
He might have had better
chances of survival by bringing
his outlying Bishop back into the
game at QB4 disputing the
diagonal of the black Q-Bishop
from his QR3 to KBS.
12 . . . Q-R6ch
13 K-B2
The white King begins another
fatal journey to the eighth rank.
He has no option, for 13 K-Kl
is followed by 13 . . . , Q-Kt7;
14 R-Bl, B-QR3.

9 P-Q4 Kt-B3 13 . . . Q-Kt7ch

10 Kt x Ktch P x Kt 1 4 K-K3 B-QR3!
Again, the fact that his pawns are Threatening 15 . . . , B-KR3
now well and truly wrecked does mate.
not worry Black, but the new
diagonal now available to his Q­ 15 K-B4
Bishop probably gives him great What else? There is no escape by
pleasure. 15 P-Q5 for Black would
promptly plug the flight by
1 1 Kt-B3 15 . . . , P-B4.

(See diagram in next column) 15 . . . B-R3ch

44 THE KING-HUNT
1 6 K-B5 Q-R6 threatens 17 . . . , K-K2 with a
quick mate.
17 . . . R-KBl
18 P-Q5 R x Bch!
19 K x R Q-R4ch
20 K-B6 B-Kt2ch!
Willy-nilly the white King must
capture his third piece in five
moves. If 21 K-K6, B-QBl
mate.

21 K x B Q-Kt3ch
22 K-B8 K-Q2
mate.
A royal mate. Compare similar
finishes by Morphy (Game 5)
17 K x Kt Edward Lasker (Game 20} and
There is nothing better; Black Day (Game 45) .

'"'
18
The careers of the two players in our next game, Ossip Bernstein
(born 1 882) and Milan Vidmar (born 1885) run curiously parallel.
Both were players of undoubted grandmaster strength but both were
strong-willed enough to relegate chess firmly to second place in
their very successful careers-Bernstein as a financial lawyer, Vidmar
as an electrical engineer. Both went for years at a time without
playing any public chess at all. Both lived to old age, and both
played again in their quiet later years.
The tournament of San Sebastian 1911, is memorable for the
meteoric first appearance of Capablanca in Europe. What is not so
well remembered is that Vidmar finished only a half-point behind
him. In his game with Bernstein Vidmar chased the black King out
from his position at KKtl, across to QB2 and then back, after a
thirteen-move hunt, to his starting point.
 THE KING-HUNT 45

VIDMAR BERNSTEIN
San Sebastian Tournament 1911
Sicilian

1 P-K4 P-QB4 7 0-0 P-KKt3

The Sicilian was an uncommon With a kind of Dragon formation.
defence at this time. Apart from
the present game it was played 8 Kt x Kt B x Kt
in this tournament only once by 9 Q-K2 B-Kt2
Nimzovitch and twice by Tar­ 10 R-Ql
rasch-four times in 105 games. Threatening 1 1 P-K5.
In the mid-20th century it has
come strongly into favour: the 10 Kt-Q2
last four games in the present 1 1 B-K3 0-0
selection show modern examples 12 B-Kt3
of it. Vidmar wants to challenge the
black-square Bishop by B-Q4,
2 Kt-KB3 but if he does so at once Black
The veteran Burn played 2 Kt­ replies 12 . . ., B x B ; 13 R x B,
QB3 against Tarrasch. Q-Kt3 and wins the QKt­
pawn ; so White first screens the
2 ... Kt-QB3 Kt-file. For one reason or an­
At this point Nimzovitch played other this retreat of the Bishop is
2 . . . , Kt-KB3 against Spiel­ nearly always necessary in the
mann, inviting 3 P-K5 (which, B-B4 variations of the Sicilian.
however, Spielmann refrained
from playing). This is a very 12 . . . Q-B2
early example of hypermodern­ 13 B-Q4 Kt-B4
ism, antedating Alekhine's De­ 14 B x B
fence in master play. The destruction of this Bishop is
a major strategic success against
3 P-Q4 P xP any K-fianchetto position.
4 Kt x P Kt-B3 Better still, of course is to man­
5 Kt-QB3 P-Q3 age it without also losing the
This is where the other game corresponding Bishop of one's
diverged, Tarrasch playing 5 . . . , own, but this is seldom possible.
P-K3 against Leonhardt. Both
lines are still in use today. 14 . . . K xB
1 5 Kt-Q5 B x Kt
6 B-QB4 16 P x B KR-Kl
Another modern-looking move. 17 Q-Q2!
K2 has long been deemed the best White prevents the black K­
place for the white K-Bishop pawn from advancing and at the
against most Sicilian variations, same time eyes the weak black
but the QB4 development has squares in the hollow fianchetto
been used a great deal of recent formation around the black King.
years-notably by Fischer. The white pawn on Q5 cramps
6 ... B-Q2 the whole black game.
46 THE KING-HUNT
17 . . . K-Ktl upon the black Queen has time to
18 P-QB3 Q-Kt3 intervene on KKt2 and break
Bernstein threatens to win a the whole attack.
pawn on QKt6, at the same time
reducing the game to a major­ 22 R-KR3 Q x QP
piece ending. This is Vidmar's 23 Q x RPch K-Bl
chance. 24 Q-R4!
Still neatly using the black
squares Vidmar threatens to
close the trap by 25 Q-B6,
with mate to follow.

24 . . . K-Kt2
25 Q-R6ch K-B3
The black King must take to the
road: if 25 . . ., K-Ktl; 26 Q­
R8 mate.

26 R-B3ch K-K2
27 Q-R4ch K-Q2
Or 27 . . . , K-B l ; 28 Q-R8ch,
19 Q-R6! K-K2 ; 29 Q-B6ch, K-B l ;
At the cost of a pawn, and 30 Q x KtP!
although all the minor pieces
disappear from the board, Vid­ 28 Q-R4cht
mar now engineers a winning A spectacular piece of agility,
King-Hunt, based entirely on switching to a white diagonal
the one weakening pawn move and also preparing R-Ql.
in front of Bernstein's King.
28 . . . K-B2
19 . . . Kt x B 29 R-B6
20 P x Kt Q x KtP Giving added weight to the threat
21 R-Q3! of R-QL
Virtually the winning move: the
KR-pawn cannot now be de­
fended. Black is welcome to 29 . . . P-QKt4
take another Q-side pawn, for 30 Q-R5ch K-Q2
after 21 . . . , Q x KtP; 22 R-Kl The return journey begins!
the white attack would obviously
be stronger still. 31 P-QB4! Q x BP
32 R-Ql K-K2
21 . . . P-K4! He cannot save both Q-pawn
B ernstein finds an ingenious way and KB-pawn.
of giving his King a flight square.
If now 22 P x P e.p., Black re­ 33 R(6) x QP K-B l
takes with the Queen. The
incidental threat of mate by (See diagram on page 47)
23 . . . , Q-K8ch then compels Bernstein's King is back in his
White to waste a move, where- home, Black is a pawn ahead, and
 THE KING-HUNT 47
White is still in some danger of King at last, and prevention of
mate on the back rank. How is the defence 36 . . ., Q-KB5.
the game to be won?
36 . . . QR-B I
37 Q-B6ch K-Ktl
Back to the base from which he
set out at move 23.

38 P-R4
The assault on the last barricade.

38 . . . Q-KKt5
39 R-Q7 Q-K3
40 Q-Kt5 R-B5
41 R(I )-Q6
This is the crisis. If the black
Queen now moves away to R6
Position after 33 K-Bl White mates by 42 R x Pch.

34 Q-R3!
Threatened discovery-always a
potent weapon.
34 . . . K-Kt2
35 Q-KB3 P-R4
With reawakened hope Black
actually tries to capitalize on his
pawn-snatching by pushing his
majority. But the King-Hunt
still has the last word.
36 P-KKt3
There are two useful points to
this move : a loophole for the
41 . . . Q-Kt5
Thus he guards the Kt-pawn; but
White is ready with a different
knockout.
42 R-Q8!
Black resigns, for 42 . . ., Q x Q
loses a Rook, while 42 . . . , R­
QB 1 loses the Queen. The best
that Black could do would be
42 . . . , R-KB l ; but then; 43 R x
Reh, K x R; 44 R-Q8ch, K­
Kt2 ; 45 Q x KPch, P-B3; (or
45 . . ., K-R2; 46 R-R8 mate)
46 Q-K7ch, K-R3; 47 R-RS
mate.

19
In the Karlsbad Tournament, held a few months after San Sebastian,
there occurred another example-like Game 10--of a minor master
scoring a spectacular victory against an admittedly much greater
player. In this mammoth tournament of twenty-six players Oscar
Chajes (born 1873) finished in bottom place. Yet against Tartakower
he showed superb form, first winning material and then returning it
in order to drive the black King across to QB2 and back again-as
48 THE KING-HUNT
i n Game 18 but by an even longer route-to be mated on his starting
square, KKtl.
Tartakower himself never lost his boyish relish for a good King­
Hunt; once thoroughly outplayed he was often willing to give his
opponent the pleasure of mating him. He probably thought it was
the least he could do for the unfortunate Chaj es ; one imagines him
watching the process with a professional detachment and thinking
how he might perhaps have done it better himself.

CHAJES TARTAKOWER
Karlsbad Tournament 1911
King's Indian

1 P-Q4 Kt-KB3 9 0-0 P-B3

2 Kt-KB3 P-Q3
These were the very early days
of the Indian defences, of which
Tartakower was one of the
pioneers . The present order of
moves usually foreshadows what
is now known as the Old Indian,
with a black Bishop on K2.
Game 35 is an example.
3 P-B3 QKt-Q2
4 QKt-Q2 P-KKt3
5 P-K4 B-Kt2
Black has, after all, chosen a
King's Indian formation. White's
position, with the QB-pawn ad­
vanced only one step, certainly
takes some of the sting out of the
placing of the black K-Bishop.
6 B-Q3 0-0
7 Kt-Bl P-K4
8 Kt-Kt3
The Knight has reached a good
defensive post, screening the
King's position and observing
some important white squares.
On this square it stands un­
moved for 26 moves. It then
makes one more move-a move
which more than justifies its
career.
8 R-Kl
10 R-Kl Q-B2
In the centre the state of tension
persists, with much manceuvring
behind the lines, each waiting
for the other to commit himself
with an exchange or an advance.
11 B-Q2 Kt-1 n
12 P-KR3 B-K3
13 Kt-Kt5
The first step over the frontier.
Nowadays even this would prob­
ably have been prevented by a
black P-KR3 before placing
the bishop on K3.
13 . . . P-KR3
Now, however, there seems less
point to creating the weakness:
White was probably going to
take the Bishop anyway.
14 Kt x B Kt x Kt
15 B-K3 Kt-Q2
Still the jockeying for position
continues in the centre. This
Knight move puts two extra
defences on the black K-pawn
and one extra attack on the
white Q-pawn. Yet it may be
tactically wrong, for Black's
most sensitive point is the KR­
pawn, and a Knight would have
 THE KING-HUNT 49
been handy within reach of 23 B-R4!
KKtl. A decidedly nasty pin, which
Tartakower may not have taken
1 6 B-B2 QR-QI into consideration. White seizes
17 Q-Q2 this moment to make a well­
Now Black feels the weakness of j udged exchange of Bishop for
his KR3. Knight, introducing a complex
passage of play based on the
17 . . . K-R2 position of the black Queen on
1 8 P-KB4 the same diagonal as a white
Thus things come to a head in the Bishop. The fianchettoed Bishop
centre; White threatens P-B5. is allowed to achieve his ultimate
ambition of mastering the whole
18 ... P x BP black long diagonal across to
19 B x P P-QB4 the white Q-Rook-but it costs
Strategically this is logical play, Black two minor pieces.
seeking to unleash the latent
power of his Bishop, on which 23 . . . R-K2
the whole black game is based. 24 B x Kt! R xB
With this move and his next 25 P-Q5! Kt-B4
Tartakower is playing to loosen 26 P-Kt4! B xR
up the white Q-side; but within 27 R x B Q-QI
half a dozen moves it becomes 28 P x Kt PxP
clear that he has loosened his Black has Rook and pawn against
own position even more. The Bishop and Knight. His game
white formation is resilient. looks by no means lost for he has
a 3-1 Q-side majority, the QB­
20 B-K3 Q-Kt3 pawn being particularly menac­
21 KR-QI P xP ing. His trouble is the weakness
22 P x P of his K-position, and this is the
Chajes has achieved his object usual penalty of winning the
of keeping two centre pawns, and Exchange at the cost of relin­
he dares Black to take the QKt­ quishing the Bishop on KKt2.
pawn.
29 K-R2 P-B5
22 R-QBI Given the choice of defending his
KR-pawn by 2 9 . . ., Q-Bl or
going all out for counterattack
Tartakower opts for the latter.
It would be interesting to know
how long he took in considering
this move.

30 B x KRP P-B6
31 Q-B4

(See diagram on page 50)

Now there is crisis in the air. On
the one hand White threatens
50 THE KING-HUNT
34 . . . P x Kt
35 Q-R6ch K-Ktl
36 B x P
White simultaneously threatens
the Queen and mate in three
beginning with 37 Q-R8ch.
Black parries both threats, his
pawn meanwhile waiting im­
patiently on the seventh rank.

36 . . . Q-B2ch
37 P-Kt3 R-R2
38 Q-Kt6ch K-Bl
Position after 31 Q-B4 If Black tries 38 . . . , R-Kt2
White can reply 39 B x R after
32 B-Kt5 followed by Q-R4ch which 39 . . . , Q x B allows 40 Q­
and B-B6 with a mating attack. K6ch and 41 Q x R, while 39 . . . ,
On the other hand the black P-B8(Q) leads to 40 R x Q, win­
QB-pawn has reached the sixth ning at once.
rank, with three major pieces
well placed to support it. 39 Q x P
Again Black has a threatened dis­
31 . . . P-B3 covery hanging over his head.
Tartakower prevents 32 B­ This time he makes his new
Kt5 and 33 Q-R4; but by Queen.
shutting off the Queen he per­
mits vVhite to play the same 39 . . . P-B8(Q)
moves in reverse order. Black 40 R x Q Q xR
is doomed.

32 Q-R4! P-B7
33 B-Kt5ch K-Kt2
34 Kt-B5ch!!
Black t hought that by guarding
the KB-pawn twice he had
prevented the breakthrough, but
this sacrifice deflects the KKt­
pawn so that after 35 Q-R6ch
the KB-pawn will fall. Chajes
has played throughout in master­
ly form, outwitting Tartakower
first on the Q-side and now on
the K-side. Black cannot refuse The position is still fascinating.
the Knight : 34 . . . , K-B l ? ; For the moment Black has two
3 5 Q-R8ch, K-B2; 3 6 Q­ Rooks against Bishop and three
Kt7ch, K-K l ; 37 Q-Kt8 mate. pawns. White cannot afford to
Or 34 . . . , K-Ktl?; 35 B x P play 41 B-Kt2ch, R-B2, etc.
with much the same result. And he certainly cannot play
 THE KING-HUNT 51
41 Q x R(7), R-B7 mate! But moves earlier the black King
he can make better use of his dis­ could have run out to the Q-side
covered check: via Q3. Chajes has preferred to
confine him where the white
41 B-B3ch! centre pawns can have their
Cutting Black's communications effect. It must be remembered
on the QB-file so that if now that all this time Black is threat­
41 . . . , R-B2 White can play ening mate on the move.
42 Q x R(8)ch.
46 . . . K-Kl
41 . . . K-K2 47 Q-Kt8ch K-K2
White could now play 42 Q x 48 P-Q6ch K-Q2
R(7)ch, but this is his day and 49 Q-Kt4ch!
he is not going to be satisfied Subtly confining the King within
with anything less than the most the cordon. If now 49 . . . , K­
precise play. He draws his B3 Black loses both his pieces!
cordon tight around the fleeing
King and still gets his Rook with 49 . . . K-Ql
check five moves later on. 50 B-B6ch K-Kl
51 Q-K6ch K-Bl
42 Q-K6ch K-Ql 52 Q-K7ch K-Ktl
43 B-B6ch K-B2 Home!
44 B-K5ch K-Ql
Just as in the previous game the 53 Q-Kt7 mate.
black King begins his return Black threatens mate in one!
journey. Similar strings of forcing moves
while under threat of mate may
45 Q-Kt8ch K-Q2 be seen in Game 21 (Nimzovitch­
46 Q x R(7)ch Tarrasch) and in Game 30 (Yan­
Had White played this five ofsky-Dulanto).

' 20
The illustrious name of Lasker has sometimes been the cause of con­
fusion in the chess world. Emanuel was the great World Champion
who reigned from 1894 to 1921. Berthold, his brother, was eight
years older and although he never took chess very seriously a few of
his games are in print. Edward was also a German but has been an
American citizen ever since the First World War. He was not related
to the others but was a friend and admirer of Emanuel although
eighteen years his j unior. He played in several international
tournaments, but the following game-perhaps his best known one
-was only a skittle. It was played in the City of London Chess
Club just a few hours after Lasker arrived in England from Germany,
and he understood so little of the English language that he was not
52 THE KING-HUNT
aware of his opponent's name until after the game. Mr. Thomas­
later to become Sir George-was at the time and for many years
after one of England's strongest players. Both these masters, now
octogenarians, retain their interest in the chess world.

EDWARD LASKER THOMAS

Casual Game, London 1912
Dutch Defence

1 P-Q4 P-KB4 8 Kt-K5 o-o

The D utch Defence has never
been really popular but it has
had some notable protagonists;
Botvinnik in particular won
many fine games with it.
2 Kt-QB3
This forthright development is
simple and good, though less
often seen than some of the other
possibilities. 2 P-QB4 permits
Black to play an early B­
QKt5( eh) and exchange off a
pair of Bishops. 2 P-KKt3 is
a shrewd line, anticipating
Black's probable intention of
developing his Q-Bishop at QKt2.
There is also 2 P-K4, the
Staunton Gambit.
9 B-Q3 B-Kt2
It is easy for the armchair critic
to blame Black's play after seeing
the catastrophe which overtakes
him. The truth is that White has
economized the usual move P­
QB4; given just one extra move
Black might have consolidated
and had quite good play on the
half-open KB-file. He could
even have saved the day here by
9 . . . , B x Kt; 1 0 P x B, Q-R5;
with B-Kt2 to follow later.

2. . . Kt-KB3
:3 Kt-B3 P-K3
4 B -Kt5 B-K2
5 B x Kt
White's plan is quite simple-to
force P-K4 without making a
gambit out of it.
10 Q-R5!
5 . • . B xB Lasker threatens 11 Kt x Bch,
6P-K4 P xP P x Kt; 12 Q x P mate. There is
7Kt x P P-QKt3 a sufficient defence by 10 . . . ,
Although Black's position looks KB x Kt, for the sacrifice 1 1 Kt­
solid he is in arrears with devel­ B6ch would lead to nothing:
opment and the leisurely fian­ Black recaptures with the Rook,
chetto makes the situation peril­ making a flight on KBl .
ous. Thomas, however, prefers a
 THE KING-HUNT 53
subtle and apparently satisfac- 13 Kt( 5)-
tory defence : Kt4ch K-Kt4
14 P-R4ch K-B5
10 . . . Q-K2 Every move is forced, just as in
The idea is that after 11 Kt x Bch the Falkbeer game, No. 3.
Black recaptures with the pawn,
and the KR-pawn then stands 15 P-KKt3ch K-B6
guarded by the Queen. What 16 B-K2ch K-Kt7
only Lasker has seen is: 17 R-R2ch K-Kt8
18 K-Q2 mate.
1 1 Q x Pehl! K xQ Thus every white piece partici­
12 Kt x Bch K-R3 pated in the King-Hunt, the
He has no choice : 12 . . . , K-Rl ; whole black army being mean­
13 Kt-Kt6 mate. while cut off from the battlefield.

Nimzovitch the iconoclast challenged many of the dogmas of Tarrasch

the classicist, in print and at the board. There was no love lost
between them, and victories were always a source of satisfaction to
the winner. Probably the one that pleased Tarrasch most of all was
the following game, played when he was 52 and his rival 28. Not
only is the white King chased to the seventh rank but the game is
embellished by the celebrated double Bishop sacrifice made famous by
Lasker in his game with Bauer at Amsterdam a quarter of a century
earlier.

NIMZOVITCH TARRAS CH
St. Petersburg Tournament 1914
Queen's Gambit Declined

1 P-Q4 P-Q4 3 P-B4 P-K3

2 Kt-KB3 P-QB4
Tarrasch played this move as a
matter of principle at the earliest
possible moment when playing
Black against a Q-pawn Open­
ing. He preferred to accept the
slight loosening of his position
which it involves rather than
endure the cramped situation
which is Black's lot in the Ortho­
dox (Games 23 and 25) and Slav
(Game 29) Defences.
E
4 P-K3
On this occasion Nimzovitch
continues with the symmetrical
development which Tarrasch
himself thought best. Schlechter
and Rubinstein worked out the
line based on 4 BP x P followed
soon by the K-fianchetto which
is still regarded as best today.
4 ... Kt-KB3
5 B-Q3 Kt-B3
54 THE KING-HUNT
6 0-0 B-Q3 17 Q-B2 Kt x Kt
7 P-QKt3 0-0 18 Kt x Kt
8 B-Kt2 P-QKt3
9 QKt-Q2
The first break in the symmetry.
The Knight accepts a modest
position rather than obstruct the
Q-Bishop and the Q-Rook which
is coming to QBL

9 ... B-Kt2
1 0 R-Bl Q-K2
11 BP x P
Black was threatening to ex­
change off the white Q-Bishop
by 11 . . . , BP x P and 12 . . . ,
B-R6. 18 . . . P-Q5
A sharp reminder that Black '.1lso
11 . . . KP x P has a Bishop on the long diag­
12 Kt-R4 onal: the pawn move simultan­
This is subtle and logical. The eously opens the line of the black
threat of Kt-B5 induces Black Bishop and closes the line of the
to play P-Kt3, weakening the white one. Worse still, Black has
black squares and making the two Bishops, as Nimzovitch soon
white Q-Bishop a potential game­ has cause to regret.
winner. Nimzovitch considers
the loss of time a good invest­ 19 P x P B x Pch!
ment. 20 K x B Q-R5ch
21 K-Ktl B x P!!
12 . . . P-Kt3 The white King is so isolated
13 Kt(4)-B3 QR-QI from all his forces that Tarrasch
14 P x P can afford to immolate both
The power of the fianchettoed Bishops to expose him. If now
Bishop is now clear, but it is 22 K x B Black plays 22 . . . ,
Black who will have the better Q-Kt5ch followed by 23 . . . ,
pawn control in the centre. The R-Q4. So the King prepares to
clash of two ideas makes fascinat­ make a bolt for it.
ing chess.
22 P-B3 KR-Kl
14 . . . P xP Mercilessly cutting off the K-file
15 B-Kt5 escape route. If now 23 K x B
The white-square Bishop intends Black wins at once by 23 . . . ,
to augment the effect of his R-K7ch.
black-square colleague by re­
moving the Knight which guards 23 Kt-K4 Q-R8ch
the central black squares. 24 K-B2 B xR
The unkind point is that after
15 . . . Kt-K5 25 R x B the white Queen would
1 6 B x Kt B xB be lost by 25 . . . , Q-R7ch;
 THE KING-HUNT
so now the hunt is really on.
25 P-Q5
White reopens the long diagonal,
hoping that even yet he may
make something of his threats of
Q-B3 and Kt-B6ch.
55
Queens. He chooses a neater way
which involves allowing White to
achieve his ambition of occupying
that long black diagonal.
2 6 Q-B3
Nimzovitch at last gets in his
attack, threatening 27 Q-Kt7
mate. But it is too late: Black is
ready with a forced finish.

26 ... Q-Kt7ch
27 K-K3 R x Ktch!
28 P xR P-B5ch!
29 K xP R-B lch
30 K-K5 Q-R7ch
31 K-K6 R-Klch
32 K-Q7 B-Kt4
mate.
A pure mate ends the King-Hunt.
Had White played 32 K-B6
the mate would have been 32 . . . ,
25 . . . P-B4! Q-R5. Meanwhile Nimzovitch
Tarrasch could have won crudely has been threatening mate in one
but safely enough by Q-Kt7ch for the last seven moves. Com­
followed by the exchange of pare Games 19 and 30.

"'- 22
In the next game a World Champion-indeed the most forceful of
them all-is handled very roughly by the British champion Yates.
F. D. Yates (born 1884) was a stolid Yorkshireman. He was slow to
mature, not making any great stir in the chess world until his late
twenties, but after this he became more and more a menace to the
continental grandmasters and scored many fine victories.
His style of play curiously echoed the pattern of his own career­
slow in the initial build-up period, with no attempt at wild play, but
powerfully aggressive in the middlegame. Alekhine always found
Yates a handful, losing two tournament games to him and having
several frights at other times.
In the present game Alekhine's King is smoked out by a fine sacri­
ficial combination and undergoes a fifteen-move hunt all within a
little square 3 x 3. For the ultimate in close chasing like this see
Game 4 1 , Ivkov-Byrne, Varna 1962.
56 THE KING-HUNT

ALEKHINE YATES
Karlsbad Tournament 1923
King's Indian

1 P-Q4 Kt-KB3 10 B-K3

2 P-QB4 P-KKt3 Alekhine typically plays to cross
Fashions in the chess openings his opponent's plans, and Yates
have often been moulded largely now takes the opportunity to
by the influence of a single player. plant a Knight on K4 instead.
Before the First World War the
Indian defences made only the 10 . . . Kt-Kt5
most s poradic appearances. It 1 1 B-Q4 Kt(5)-K4
was very largely Yates himself 12 Kt x Kt Kt x Kt
who shaped the King's Indian 13 P-B5
into a reliable defence in the White opens operations on the
early 'twenties and gave it its Q-side, hoping presently to ex­
first popularity. In the present tend the range of his K-Bishop
game he is playing his pet defence which for the moment is blocked
against a very great master, by his own pawns.
soon to become World Champion,
and a very good case he makes 13 . . . P xP
out fo r it. It was Euwe who 14 B x P P-Kt3
drove it out of fashion in the 15 B-Q4 B-QR3
'thirties, and probably Bole­ 16 R-Kl
slavsky-in the late forties­ Now White threatens to play
did most to bring about the 17 P-B4, driving away the
renaissance which still persists Knight and then following up
today. with 18 B x B, leaving Black
with the sort of weakened K­
side such as Alekhine loved to
3P-KKt3 B-Kt2
attack.
4B-Kt2 0-0
5Kt-QB3 P-Q3
6Kt-B3 Kt-B3
This was the way Yates played
the defence, provoking P-Q5,
after which he liked to retire the
Knight to Ktl and then re­
develop it via Q2 or R3 to the
strong square QB4.

7 P-Q5 Kt-Ktl
8 P-K4 QKt-Q2
9 0-0 P-QR4
With an eye to the future he
safeguards the square QB4 16 . . . Q-Q3!
against the possibility of P­ A diabolically subtle reply. Upon
QKt4 by White. 17 P-B4 Black now intends
 THE KING-HUNT 57
1 7 . . . , Kt-Q6; 18 B x B, Q­ 25 Q-K6ch K-Rl
B4ch! 1 9 K-Rl, Kt-B7ch· 26 P-B3 Q-Kt4ch
20 K-Ktl, Kt-R6ch; 21 K__'._ 27 K-Rl R-Q3
Rl, Q-Kt8ch! ; 22 R x Q, Kt­ 28 Q-R3
B7 mate . This was evidently By a devious route the white
Yates's day. Queen has found her way to the
threatened sector; but the black
17 B-B l B xB pieces are converging ominously,
18 R x B with invasion points at K4 and
The biter bit! It is the white KB5 which the white Knight is
K-side which has been weak­ powerless to cover.
ened.
28 B-K4
18 . . . P-QB4 29 R-K2 R(3)-KB3
Undeterred, Yates lays another 30 Kt-Ql R-B5
snare : the en passant capture 31 Kt-K3
would now be answered by 19 . . . , The Knight is now within range
Q x B!! 20 Q x Q, Kt-B6ch win­ of defensive points at Kt2 and
ning a piece. Kt4 but Black's initiative keeps
him one vital move ahead all the
time. He now expels the white
19 B x Kt Q xB Queen from the immediate vicin­
20 Q-Kt3 QR-Ktl ity.
21 Q-Kt5 P-B4
Alekhine was of course a master R-R5
31
of ewry phase of the game.
32 Q-K6
Yates on the other hand excelled From this point the white Queen
particularly in the late middle­
never returns; but it is an un­
game, and here he is in his ele­ avoidable desertion. (32 Q­
ment. Three-quarters of the
Kt2, R x Pch.)
minor pieces have gone; he has an
excellent Bishop and good
32 . . . Q-R4
c�ances of · ::i- breakthrough with
Threatening destruction by 33 . . . ,
his Rooks m the recrion of the
R x Pch; 34 K-Ktl, R-R8ch;
white King. In rese�ve he also
35 K-B2, Q-R5ch; 36 K­
has a Q-side majority of pawns,
Kt2, Q-R7 mate.
but for the moment his interest is
elsewhere.
33 Kt-Kt4
Whit? totters on the brink, and
22 QR-Kl P-KB5!
yet his defence seems to hold, for
23 Q-Q7 QR-QI
he not only protects the R-pawn,
24 P x P Q x BP
and prepares to over-protect it
White is now obviously in danger
by R( l)-B2 but also threatens
from the heavy pieces. He can
to smash the attack at once by
hardly take the K-pawn, for
Kt x B.
after checking on Kt5 and B6
Black would continue with QR­
33 . . . R x Kt!!
Kl and penetrate with the
Rooks. (See diagram o n page 58)
58 THE KING-HUNT
white square to another, ob­
structing the King still more.

40 . . . Q-R8ch
41 K-Kt3
In reply to 41 R-R2 Yates gave
41 . . ., Q-B6ch; 42 K-R4,
B-B3ch; 43 P-Kt5, Q-B5ch;
44 K-R3, B-K4!; 45 R-Kt2,
Q-B6ch; 46 K-R4, Q-R4
mate.

Position after 33 . . . R x Kt!! 41 . . . Q-K8ch

42 K-R3 P-KKt4!
A superb permanent sacrifice of Yates quietly closes the cordon,
the Exchange which must have threatening 43 . . . , Q-R5 mate.
been based more on intuition Checking now does White no
than analysis. Yates's courageous good ; the King move does not
play was never better exempli­ prevent the mate; and since
fied than in this combination, 43 R-R2 allows 43 . . ., Q­
played, we have to remember, K6ch; 44 K-Kt2, Q-B7ch;
against Alexander Alekhine. 45 K-R3, Q-B6 mate White
has nothing to do but take the
34 P x R Rook right away to QB2.
Of course the Queen could not
take, but now, after the white 43 R-QB2
King is driven to Kt2, Black This is the only available square,
will have Queen and Rook simul­ and certainly it gives air to the
taneously attacked, and will white King. But the Rook itself
have to embark on a pro­ is now undefended, and Yates
tracted King-Hunt with Queen immediately takes advantage of
and Bishop against Queen and this fact.
Rook. The Bishop, however,
may well prove to be as strong
as a Rook, for it runs on the black 43 . . . Q-B8ch
squares while White finds himself 44 K-R2
with nearly all his material on If 44 R-Kt2 B lack can continue
white squares, obstructing his 44 . . . , Q-R8ch; 45 K-Kt3,
King's escape. Q-R5ch; 46 K-B3, Q-R6ch;
47 R-Kt3, Q-BS mate.
34 ... R x Rch
35 K-Kt2 Q x RPch 44 . . . Q-Kt8ch
36 K xR Q-R8ch 45 K-R3 Q-R8ch
37 K-B2 B-Q5ch 46 K-Kt3
38 K-Kt3 Q-Kt8ch 46 R-R2 would have allowed
39 K-R3 Q-B8ch mate on the move; but now Yates
40 R-Kt2 plays a second non-checking
The Rook is forced from one move, subtly exploiting the posi-
 THE KING-HUNT 59

tion of the outlying Rook and This sixteen-move ending, so

forcing a win in all variations.
rich in epaulettes and half­
epaulettes, is as fine an example
as any extant of Queen and Rook
being completely dominated by
Queen and Bishop.

47 R-B3 Q-Kt8ch
Of course Yates is not interested
in exchanging his triumphant
Bishop for the miserable Rook.
This is a King-Hunt and it must
move to its predestined end.

48 K-R3
46 . . . Q-Q8!! 48 K-B3, Q-B7 mate.
Now the Rook cannot return to
the K-side without producing a
48 . . . Q-B8ch
fatal self-block; e.g. 47 R-R2,
Q-K8ch; 48 K-B3, Q-K6ch; 49 K-Kt3
49 K-Kt2, Q-B7ch; 50 K­ 49 K-R2, B-Kt8ch.
RI, Q-B8 mate. Or 47 R­
Kt2, Q-K8ch; 48 K-B3, Q­ 49 ... B-B7ch
K6 mate. Alekhine might have 50 K-B3 B-Kt8ch
tried 47 Q-B7 (Q x R? ? ; 48 Q­ 51 K-Kt3 Q-B 7ch
B8 mate) but Yates would simply 52 K-R3 Q-R7
have played 47 . . ., Q-Q6ch mate.
winning the Rook with check The black K-pawn has never
(if 48 Q-B3, B-K4ch). moved!

� 23
F. J. Marshall (born 1 877) held the championship of the U.S.A. for
twenty-seven years and seldom played a dull game. This last state­
ment could be applied also to his present opponent, who appears later
on (Game 28) as the hunter.
60 THE KING-HUNT

MARSHALL BoGOLYUBov
New York Tournament 1924
Queen's Gambit Declined (in effect)

I P-Q4 Kt-KB3 start a minority attack, threaten­

2 Kt-KB3 P-K3 ing P-QKt4-5. Black has to
3 B-Kts spend two moves on preventive
After 3 P-B4 Bogolyubov's fav­ measures, after which White is
ourite line was 3 . . ., B-Kt5ch. justified in turning his attention
The early move of the white K­ to the black King.
Bishop prevents both this and
3 . . . , P-QKt3 (4 P-K4!), 13 . . . Q-Ql
but it leaves Black with a strong 14 QR-Kl P-QR4
reply in 3 . . . , P-B4! However, 1 5 Q-K2 Kt-B3
�lack prefers to revert to classic­ The white pieces are all set and
ism. Marshall now goes all out for a
mating attack in the style of
3 ... P-Q4 many of Pillsbury's games.
4 P-K3 QKt-Q2
5 P-B4 P-B3
The game is now a standard Q­
Gambit Declined, with Black
apparently aiming at the Cam­
bridge Springs Defence-6 Kt­
B3, Q-R4. This Marshall pre­
vents in the simplest way, by
going into the Exchange Varia­
tion.

6 P xP KP x P
7 Kt-B3 Q-R4
Half the strength of the Cam­
bridge Springs consists in the 16 Kt-K5! B-Q3
latent attack against the white 17 P-B4 P-B4
Bishop on KKt5. After the 1 8 B-Ktl B-Q2
exchange of pawns this no longer 19 Q-QB2
exists and the Queen move in the The Turton manceuvre with
present position achieves noth­ Queen and Bishop, already seen
ing. in Game 16 (Schlechter-Marco),
puts strong pressure on KR7,
8 B-Q3 Kt-K5 introducing the threat of 20 Kt x
9 Q-B2 Kt x B QP!
10 Kt x Kt P-KR3
11 Kt-B3 B-K2 19 . . . B-B3
12 0-0 0-0 20 P x P B xP
13 P-QR3! 2 1 K-RI
The awkward position of the Once the black Knight is dis­
black Queen allows Marshall to lodged from his KB3 the white
 THE KING-HUNT 61
attack must break through. One Q6 mate) 33 B-R7ch, K-Rl ;
threat is Kt-Kt4, but Marshall 34 B-Kt6ch, K-Ktl ; 35 Q­
also frees the K-pawn for ad­ R7ch, K-Bl ; 36 Q x P mate.
vance to K4-K5.
30 K-Ql
21 . . . R-Kl 31 Q-B6ch R-K2
22 P-K4 B-Q5
23 Kt x B P x Kt
24 P-K5 Kt-Kt5
25 Q-R7ch
Thus White's main aim is ach­
ieved. But meanwhile Bogolyu­
bov has made an escape route for
his King and the mate is not yet
in sight. In fact the black King
will be mated on QR5!

25 . . . K-Bl
26 P-KKt3
Black also has his threat-Q­
R5!
26 Q-Kt3
27 B-B5
Attacking the Knight but also
covering Q7 in readiness for the
inevitable King-Hunt.
27 . . . Kt-B7ch
28 R x Kt
Alekhine called this an unneces­
sary sacrifice, and recommended
28 K-Kt2. The idea that
sacrificial lines should be played
only when necessary comes
strangely from Alekhine of all
people. In any case, the sacrifice
of the Exchange in order to gain
a tempo for the attack is quite in
Marshall's style.
28 BxR
29 Q-R8ch K-K2
30 Q x KtP!
The hunt is really on; Black
cannot stop to take the Rook
without being mated in six by
31 Q-B6ch, K-Bl ; 32 Q x
RPch, K-Ktl; (K-K2 ; 33 Q-
32 P-K6!
The black Rook has pinned itself
and Marshall takes crushing ad­
vantage of its helplessness. 32 . . .,
B x R is now met by 33 P x P!
and the pawn promotes.
32 . . . B-Q5
33 P x P!! B xQ
34 P-B8(Q)
The Queen does an amusing
vanishing trick from B6, in­
stantly reappearing at B8 and
making a Rook profit on the deal.
34 . . . K-B2
35 R x Rch B xR
36 Q x R
The game is as good as over, for
White is Knight and pawn up and
threatening 37 Q-B8ch. Black
might have resigned, but he lets
us see the elegant finish of the
hunt.
36 . . . K-Q3
37 Q-R8!
White threatens 38 Q-K5ch,
K-B4; and either 39 Q x Bch
62 THE KING-HUNT
or ag Kt-R4ch winning the 39 Kt-R4ch K-B5
Queen. Black avoids both threats 40 Q-B3ch K-Kt4
but is summarily mated. 41 B-Q3ch K x Kt
42 Q-B2 mate.
37 . . . Q-Ql Marshall announced this mate
38 Q-K5ch K-B4 after Black's 37th move.

24
One of the great tacticians of the 20th century is Kurt Richter of
Berlin (born 1900). Apart from the tournament at Podebrady in
1936 he has been content to remain inside Germany, quietly enjoying
his chess and writing many attractive books in the process. The
following game is phenomenal-studded with sacrifices and showing a
King-Hunt from Kl to KS.

RICHTER KRETSCHMAR
Berlin Championship 1925
Richter's Opening

1P-Q4 P-Q4 B-B4; 3 . . . , P-B3; 3 . . . , P­

2Kt-QB3 KKt3 ; 3 . . . , QKt-Q2 ; and
Richter has played this move so 3 . . . , Kt-K5 are all reasonable
often that it may well bear his moves.
name. (Another devotee was the
French master Louis Betbeder.)
4 B-R4 B-B4
It has an anti-positional look in
5 P-B3
its obstruction of the QB-pawn,
Black has been playing to pre­
and it leaves Black with plenty vent White's P-K4, but White
of options, but White gets a good
plays to force it; this is an
development and Richter usually
essential part of Richter's
emerges with a good game.
scheme. The opening is closely
related to the Blackmar-Diemer
2 .. Kt-KB3
Gambit.
.

When Black plays 2 . . . , P-K3

Richter continues 3 P-K4
transposing into the French De­ 5 ... QKt-Q2
fence, against which he has 6 Kt x P! Kt x Kt
scored some fine victories, par­ 7 P-K4 B xP
ticularly with the line 3 . . . , 8 P xB Kt-K6
Kt-KB3 · 4 B-KKt5 B-K2 '· White has established mobile
5 B x Kt, B x B ; 6 Q-Kt4. centre pawns, but Black seizes
an unusual opportunity of seeing
3 B-Kt5 P-KR3 that he does not retain the two
Black has a big choice here : 3 . . . , Bishops as well.
 THE KING-HUNT 63
.
9 Q-Q3 Kt x B Kmght' with a still. more remark-
1 0 Q x Kt P-KKt4 able sacrifice in view.
1 1 B-Kt3 P-QB3
1 2 0-0-0 19 . . . BP x P
Black's castling prospects . are 20 Kt-Q4 Kt-Bl
not very promising on either 21 Kt x KP!! .
.
wmg, and White has a fine open Black's last move was m�ended,
.
ame with var1 us attack'mg of course, t? prevent this very
0
�ossibilities. Richter asks for Capture· Richter decides ' even
at the cost of a p1ec to prevent
nothing better.
castling· He can � dly have
·

12 . . . Q-R4 been sure of a forced. :-in but he

. '
He c an
13 K-Ktl
14 Kt-K2
B-Kt2
R-KBl
.
combines by intmhon.
expect at least a perpetual ?h ,
�f
�
Black protects his KB-paw� m and there are al�i:ys . w��
.
read mess for castling Q-s1de; chances when the mg is the
but Richter gives him no peace. run.

15 P-KR4t· 21 Kt x Kt
P-KB4 · · ·

22 Q x P Q-Kt3
16 P-K5 P-K3
p p P xP 23 Q-Kt6ch . K-K2 .
� .
The primary obJ ect is attamed :
��R R7 R;-KKt�
. vigour Rich­ Black cannot castle. The per-
With characteristic
petual check is a 1ready ava1'lable
·

ter has been making threat after

threat to prevent Blac� from (by 24 Q-B6ch, etc. ) but Richter
castling. Now, however, it does is not interested.
look as though he has r� n o�t of 24 P-B4!
steam and that Black will qmetly More open lines!
equalize.
24 . . . P-Q5

19 P-Q5!! .
This type of sacrifice-m d eed 25 R x P! !
this very move-occurs fre­ Throughout the attack Black has
quently in Richter's gan_ies. H . t ne move short
seemed t? be JUS
0
extends the range of his Ro � of salvat10n-a not u nusual state
and vacates a square for �.is for Richter's opponents.1 White
64 THE KING-HUNT
therefore burns his boats and goes and indeed it is difficult to see
in for the kill. He is certain to how White is going to prevent
regain a minor piece, for 25 . . . , him. Black still threatens mate
Q x R removes a guard from the m one.
Knight, while 25 . . . , Kt x R
removes one from the Bishop.
However, he will remain a Rook
down, and still the win is not
forced.

25 . . . Q xR
Or 25 . . . , Kt x R; 26 R x Bch.
But Black might have done best
to refuse the offer by 25 . . . ,
QR-KB l ; for White could not
then play 26 R-Q6 in view of
the reply 27 . . . , Q-Kt8ch, etc.

26 Q-B6ch K-Q2 29 B-B2 ! !

27 Q-B7ch K-B3 A worthy finishing touch t o this
Else the Rook goes with check. elegant game. Black has no
Black, of course, has been threat­ option but to take the Bishop,
ening mate by Q-Q8 ever since after which his King, deserted in
he took the Rook at move 25. mid-board, will be at the mercy
of the white Queen-his own
28 Q x Ktch K-B4? Queen, Bishop and two Rooks
By playing 28 . . . , K-B2 meanwhile standing by powerless
Kretschmar might yet have to intervene.
drawn the game, for White
seems to have nothing better 29 . . . Q xB
than perpetual check on the sixth 30 Q-Q5ch K-Kt3
and seventh ranks. With a whole 31 Q-Q6ch K-R4
Rook in hand, however, Black is 32 P-Kt4ch K-R5
evidently hoping for a win. If 33 Q-Q7ch K xP
he can work his King round to 34 Q-Kt5ch K-B6
QR3 he will be able to develop 35 R-R3ch K-Q7
his extra piece at last. He cannot 36 Q-Kt2ch K-K8
achieve this by 28 . . . , K-B2 37 R-Rlch Resigns.
because of 29 Q-B7ch, K­ After 37 . . . , Q-B8; 38 Q-Blch
Kt3?; 30 B-B2, winning the the black Queen is lost for
Queen, so he tries to go via B4; nothing.

Rudolf Spielmann (born 1883) was known in his day as 'The Last
Prophet of Romanticism', nobody foreseeing the advent of Mikhail
Tal! Spielmann loved a King-Hunt, kept a sharp eye open for it at
 THE KING-HUNT 65
every stage of the game, and devoted a whole chapter to the subject
in his book Richtig Opfern.
His opponent here is not the great Akiba Rubinstein but his son, a
comparatively minor master. Whether Spielmann would ever have
dared to treat Akiba quite like this is doubtful, but the method is
absolutely typical of him. In the first fourteen moves he sacrifices
two pieces-not for mate nor for any forced winning line but seeing
only, as he admitted, that he could get the black King on the run.

SPIELMANN S. RUBINSTEIN
Trebitsch Memorial Tournament, Vienna 1933
Queen's Gambit Declined

1 P-Q4 Kt-KB3
2 P-QB4 P-K3
3 Kt-QB3 P-Q4
For the opening stages compare
Game 1 6 (Schlechter-Marco) and
particularly the note at White's
8th move.

4 Kt-B3 B-K2
5 B-Kt5 0-0
6 P-K3 P-QKt3
7 B-Q3 B-Kt2
8 B x Kt! B xB
9 P xP P xP Position after 10 P-B4
1 0 P-KR4!
All this is exactly as Marshall
played at Paris 1900. Both Burn to be sure, but the rest is not so
and Marco continued 10 . . . , simple. If Black plays the best
P-Kt3 and were demolished defence-and he does-there is
forthwith by 11 P-R5. The no mate. White has to invest a
alternative defence 10 . . . , P­ second piece and develop a great
KR3, provoking 1 1 P-KKt4, lateral hunt which eventually
does not look any more inviting. embraces all eight tiles.
Rubinstein decides to leave the
K-side alone and counter classic­ 11 . . . K xB
ally against the white centre­ 1 2 Kt-Kt5ch
not a bad idea if only the K-side Black has evidently foreseen that
will hold. he has just one reply which keeps
the game alive. Not 12 . . . , B x
10 . . . P-B4 Kt; 13 P x Bch. Not 12 . . . , K-
Ktl ; 13 Q-R5, with immediate
(See diagram in next column) mate. Not 12 . . . , K-Kt3;
1 1 B x Pch! 1 3 Q-Q3ch, K-R4; 14 Q­
A hackneyed enough beginning, R7ch, K-Kt5 ; 15 P-B3ch,
66 THE KING-HUNT
K-Kt6· 16 R-R3ch, K x P;
17 Q-B 2ch, K-Kt8; 18 Q­
R2 mate, another hunt to the
8th rank. He therefore plays :
12 . . . K-R3!
13 Q-Q3
Threatening 14 Q-R7 mate.
13 . . . P-Kt3
He cannot play 13 . . . , R-Rl
because of the King-Queen fork;
but now he intends K-Kt2
followed by R-Rl with a ten­
able position.
14 P-R5! !
This second piece sacrifice i s the
key to the combination, whether
Spielmann saw it or not. One
can well believe that he did not,
for over the board he was pre­
pared to sacrifice by intuition
and the look of the position, as
he himself often admitted. The
threat now is 15 Kt x BPch!!
after which 15 . . . , R x Kt would
be answered by 16 Q x P mate.
14 . . . B x Kt
15 P x Pch K-Kt2
16 R-R7ch K-B3
The black King must keep run­
ning. If 16 . . . , K-Ktl there
follows 17 P x Pch!, ·18 Q­
Kt6ch and mate next move.
17 0-0-0!
White, still two pieces down,
quietly castles, tucking his King
away and mobilizing the second
Rook. Meanwhile Black has two
pieces right out of the game, still
unmoved.
17 . . . P-B5
Rubinstein gains a tempo and
prevents the opening of more
lines. He may even have re­
garded the advanced pawn as the
spearhead of an eventual att�ck
of his own, but if so he was bemg
far too optimistic : from now on
he will have to give his undivided
attention to the survival of his
own King.
18 Q-K2 K-K2
19 P-B4 B-B3
20 P-K4!
Spielmann opens the centre fear­
lessly, so that his little army of
four pieces may decisively over­
run Black's force of six. The
threat is 21 P-K5, with an
avalanche of pawns.
20 . . . P xP
21 Kt x P K-Q2
Level exchanges would of course
suit Black admirably; but un­
fortunately for him 21 . . . , B x
Kt would not have been a level
exchange, for after 22 Q x .�h
the Q-Rook would go as weif.
22 P-Q5 Kt-R3
At last! But the Knight is
hardly more 'developed' here
than on Ktl.
23 P-Kt7 R-KKtl
24 R-R6!
 THE KING-HUNT 67
After this White is bound to Black rearranges his forces clev­
begin winning back material. erly, but in vain. His misplaced
If 24 . . . , B-K2 White plays King cannot escape the white
25 P-Q6, winning the Bishop Queen and Rook.
and opening the game still
further. Rubinstein chooses, per­
32 Q-B6 R-QBl
haps a little more promisingly, to
let his Queen go. For it he will 33 Q-Q5 R-Ql
have Rook and two Bishops­ 34 Q x P R-Q2
normally more than equivalent­ 35 Q-Kt8ch K-Kt2
and also removes the advanced 36 Q-Q5ch K-Ktl
KKt-pawn. 37 Q-B6
The seventh successive Queen
24 . . . B x KtP move-and there are still four to
25 R-Q6ch K-B2 come-threatens to win one of
26 Q x Pch! the black pieces by 38 P­
Masterly precision. The black QKt4.
King still takes precedence over
the Queen as a target. Now he 37 . . . P-R4
is forced to shut in his Q-Rook. 38 Q x Pch Kt-Kt2
39 Q-B6 R-Ql
26 . . . K-Ktl 40 Q-B7ch Resigns.
2 7 R x Qch R xR Thirty moves ago the hunt
28 K-Ktl started on KR2. The end of the
Black was threatening to return long trail would be 40 . . . , K­
the compliment with 28 . . . , R2; after which White could con­
R-QBl . tinue by simply taking the
Bishop or, more conclusively,
28 ... Kt-B2 by 41 R-Q5 threatening 42 R x
29 P-Q6 Kt-K3 P mate; then 41 . . . , K-R3;
30 P-B5 B x Ktch 42 Q-B6ch, K-R2 ; 43 R-Kt5
31 QxB Kt-B4 forcing mate.

""- 26
The next game shows a World Champion in the bud-Botvinnik
at the age of 24. The fact that this devastating win, played in a
great international tournament, is not even included in Botvinnik's
own selection of his hundred best games, 1926-46, is an eloquent
comment on the standard of his play during those years.
68 THE KING-HUNT
BoTVINNIK
Moscow Tournament 1935
Reti's Opening
1 Kt-KB3 P-Q4
2 P-B4
Reti pioneered this order of
moves but it is not so much an
opening as the basis of a complex
of openings which melt bewilder­
ingly into one another.
2 ... P-K3
2 . . . , P-Q5 is what White is
trying to provoke but it is not
commonly played. After Black's
present move White can revert
to the Queen's Gambit Declined
by 3 P-Q4, but this also is un­
common, for the simp1e reason
that people who intend that
opening are likely to play either
1 P-Q4 or 2 P-Q4.
3 P-QKt3
Now the opening is taking shape.
It is not Reti's Opening, which
requires 3 P-KKt3. The present
system was often used by Nim­
zovitch, whose name is some­
times given to it. It has much in
common with the system known
as Bird's Opening ( 1 P-KB4)
and also, with reversed colours,
with a form of the Dutch
Defence.
3 ... Kt-KB3
4 B-Kt2 B-K2
5 P-K3 0-0
6 B-K2 P-B3
7 0-0 QKt-Q2
8 Kt-B3 P-QR3
9 Kt-Q4
The best square for the Knight
in Bird's Opening and related
systems is K5. This in fact is
where it is heading but it must
CHEKHOVER
first make way for the advance of
the KB-pawn.
9 P xP
10 P x P Kt-B4
11 P-B4! Q-B2
12 Kt-B3! R-Ql
13 Q-B2 QKt-Q2
14 P-Q4
Black is badly cramped, his Q­
Bishop and Q-Rook being useless
for the time being. White on the
other hand has a mobile centre
and varied attacking possibilities.
14 . . . P-B4
Black is in a quandary. He must
have air, and as White has pre­
vented P-K4 this seems the
next best thing. With this and
his next three moves he gets a
certain amount of freedom but
manages to free White's game
even more-a not uncommon
result when trying to break out
of a constricted position.
15 Kt-K5
The basis of many and many a
K-side attack. Pillsbury, for
instance, made quite a trademark
of it in the Q-Gambit Declined;
but of course it was a favourite
move long before his time. Where
it stands, the Knight is almost
intolerable for Black, but its
capture immediately opens the
KB-file and displaces Black's
K-Knight from its best defensive
square, KB3.
15 . . . P-QKt3
16 B-Q3 P xP
17 P x P
 THE KING-HUNT 69

White has the hanging pawns. If

one of them could be induced to
advance Black might blockade
them and prove them weak; but
there is no chance of this. On
the contrary they exert a power­
ful crippling influence over the
whole black game.

17 . . . B-Kt2
18 Q-K2 Kt-Ill
Black over-protects his KR2 so
that the displacement of his other
Knight would not be so serious; Position after 21 .. . P-R3
but a Knight on KBl does have
the tactical disadvantage of mak­ 22 . . . P x Kt
ing the defence of KB2 rather 23 P x P Kt(l )-Q2
more awkward-as Chekhover He dares not move the other
presently finds to his cost. Knight and let in the white
Queen. But now comes :
19 Kt-Ql
With all deliberation Botvinnik 24 Kt x P! !
starts walking his Knight round I n the true spirit o f the King­
from QB3 to KB2 whence it will Hunt. The fact is that Black has
be able to proceed either to been so thoroughly out­
KKH or else via R3 to KKt5. man<l!uvred that White has
several ways of winning; e.g.
19 . . . R-R2 24 Kt x Kt, Kt x Kt; 25 R x P! !
Presumably to protect the K-side
along the second rank. But there K x Kt
24 . . .
is an awful lot of wood in
25 P-Kt6ch! K-Ktl
between.
25 . . . , K-Bl looks more hope­
20 Kt-B2 Q-Ktl ful. Then 26 Q x P would not be
21 Kt-R3 P-R3 check and Black could try 26 . . . ,
Played to prevent 22 Kt-Kt5. Kt-K4 hoping after 27 P x Kt
This, however, is one of the not to be able to unleash a violent
infrequent cases where it is attack of his own by 27 . . . ,
found on further inspection that B-B4ch; 28 K-Rl B x Pehl,
the preventive move does not in etc. ,
fact prevent. But Botvinnik on that day s
form would no doubt have played
(See diagram in next column) not 27 P x Kt but 27 R x Ktch! !,
22 Kt-Kt5! P x R; 28 Q-R3 ! and still have
The sacrifice of this Knight (and had the last word.
only by taking it can Black
defend his KB2) is amply justi­ 26 Q x Pch K-Rl
fied by the powerful play it gives 27 Q-R3ch K-Ktl
to the Rooks. 28 B-B5!
70 THE KING-HUNT
Threatening mate in two by 29 32 . . . B xR
B-K6ch and 30 Q-R8 mate. 33 Q-R7ch K-Bl
34 R-Kl
28 . . . Kt-Bl Threatening Q-R8 mate.
29 B -K6ch Kt x B
30 Q x Ktch 34 . . . B-K4!
Chekhover is happy to see the What else? The K-file must be
forces reduced for he is still two closed and 34 . . . , B-K2 would
pieces up. The agony of the be a self-block. If now 35 R x B
King-Hunt awaits him neverthe­ of course Black would play
less. 35 . . . , Q x R with alacrity.

30 . . . K-Rl 35 Q-R8ch K-K2

31 Q-R3ch K-Ktl 36 Q x Pehl K-Q3
Sad. If 36 . . . , K-Kl ; 37 Q­
B7 mate. So the black King has
to obstruct the Queen, and the
Bishop can then be taken with­
out setting her free.
37 Q x Bch K-Q2
38 Q-B5ch K-B3
38 . . . , K-B2; 39 R-K7ch,
K-B3; 40 Q-K4ch, K-Q3 ; 41
B-R3 mate.
39 P-Q5ch K-B4
40 B-R3ch
The Bishop, fianchettoed at move
32 R x Kt! 4, has stood ever since on Kt2,
The crown of the combination. motionless, yet powerfully in­
White will have Rook and Bishop fluencing the play. Now it makes
against Black's two Rooks and its second and third moves and
two Bishops. Mobility makes all the mating net closes.
the difference. Just a move or 40 . . . KxP
two to release the pieces over in 41 Q-K4ch K-B6
the north-west corner would win 41 . . . , K-Kt4; 42 Q-Kt4 mate.
the game for Black but alas! he
must spend all his time moving 42 B-Kt4ch K-Kt7
his King. 43 Q-Ktl mate.

27
Chekhover (born 1 908) is out of luck in the present collection, for
he loses the next game too. It was played in a match between two
Russian masters best known as composers of endgame studies. In
this field their names are world famous, but both are also fine players,
 THE KING-HUNT 71
a statement which is borne out by the fact that each has achieved the
considerable feat of reaching the final of the U.S.S.R. championship.
Kasparyan (born 1910) is particularly original in the middlegame and
the following exhilarating chase to the eighth rank is a fine example of
his play.

CHEKHOVER lCASPARYAN
Match Game, Erevan 1936
King's Indian

1 P-Q4 Kt-KB3 10 P-Kt3

2 P-QB4 P-Q3 Still White refrains from P-K4,
3 Kt-KB3 P-KKt3 and Kasparyan now makes a
4 P-KKt3 B-Kt2 vigorous advance which succeeds
5 B-Kt2 0-0 in loosening the position of the
6 0-0 white King.
This double K-lndian formation
has been used a great deal since 10 . . . P-K5l
that period. Normally it pre­ 1 1 Kt-Q4 P-K6!
sents no great dangers to either 12 P-B4
side, but in the present game After playing 10 P-QKt3 Chek­
things soon take an unusual turn. hover is understandably unwill­
ing to play 12 B x P. Black
6 ... QKt-Q2 would exchange off the Bishop by
7 Kt-B3 P-K4 12 . . . , Kt-Kt5, leaving his own
8 P xP K-Bishop very powerful.
The natural way to make a stable
game of it would be for White to 12 . . . P-B3
play 8 P-K4, reserving the 13 B-Kt2 Q-R4!
option of P-Q5 later on. Chek­ This, surprisingly enough, is the
hover wants to make an open Queen's shortest route to the K­
game of it from the start. Later side.
on he finds it a little too open.
14 Kt-B3 Q-R4!
8 ... P xP 15 Kt-Ql Kt-B4
9 Q-B2 1 6 B-K5
White's intention is to fian­ White is still bent on using the
chetto his other Bishop and then long black diagonal. He couJd,
play QR-Ql, but the mobility no doubt, have won the outlymg
of the black K-pawn proves to K-pawn, but in any case his King
be his undoing. A good system will now be very exposed, for
might have been to work against Black can remove the Bishop at
the Black K-Bishop by B-K3 any time by B-KR6.
and Q-Q2, prefacing these
moves by P-KR3 to keep the 16 . . . B-B4
black Knight out of KKt5. 17 Q-Kt2

9 ... R-Kl (See diagram on page 72)

72 THE KING-HUNT
satisfaction in removing the orig­
inal cause of all the trouble!

23 . . . B xB
24 K x B Q-R7ch
25 K-B3 B-R5
Threatening mate by Q-Kt6.

Position after 17 Q-Kt2
17 . . . R x B!!
A fine positional sacrifice. The
Rook can be taken three ways,
and in all of them the diagonal
of the black K-Bishop opens with
devastating effect: 18 Q x R,
Kt(3)-K5 ; or 18 Kt x R, Kt­
Kt5.
26 R-KKtl Q-R6ch
27 K-B4 R-Kl
28 Kt-Kt4 Kt-K3ch
29 K-K5 Kt-Kt4ch
Kasparyan, a great master '?f
the mating study, crosses his
fingers and hopes for 30 K-B4,
to which he will reply 30 . . . ,
Q-B6ch!! ; 31 P x Q, Kt-R6
mate, and be happy for t�e rest
of his life. But Chekhover is also
a master of the study. He avoids
both this and 30 K-B6 (R-K3
mate), and continues his head­
long flight.

18 P x R Kt-Kt5 30 K-Q6 B-Kt6ch

19 P-KR3 Kt x KP! 31 R x B Q x Rch
The K-side is ruthlessly stripped. 32 K-Q7
The Knight pinned against the
Queen will be easily regained.

20 Kt x Kt B x P!
21 R-B l
There is nothing better to do than
mobilize the reserves. White
cannot keep his winnings by
21 B x B, for after 21 . . ., Q x B
Black can still win the pinned
Knight by R-KL

21 . . . B x Kt
22 Q-B2 B xP
The white King stares destruc­ Another neat little study · has
tion in the face, and seems likely arisen and Chekhover finds it too
to be mated where he stands. In interesting to be resigned. Kas­
fact he will make a journey to paryan rises to the occasion by
KB. offering the second Exchange and
demonstrating that Queen and
23 Kt x P Knight are sufficient for his _
Chekhover no doubt takes some needs.
 THE KING-HUNT 73
32 Q x Ktch! Chekhover prevents one of them,
33 K x R Q-B lch 36 . . ., Q-Ql mate, but not the
34 K-K7 Q-B2ch other :
35 K-K8
If 3.5 K-B6 Kasparyan can 36 . . . Kt-Kt2
reply quietly 35 . . . , P-KR3!, mate.
threatening mate not only by Such finishes are the regular
Q-Q3 but also by Kt-R2. stock-in-trade of these men, two
of the world's greatest composers.
35 . . . Kt-K3! One imagines them now eagerly
This move also threatens two seizing the pieces and demon­
mates. strating to one another all the
other fascinating things that
36 R-Ql nearly happened.

28
Effim Bogolyubov was one of the greatest of Russian grandmasters.
He was born in 1889 and reached his prime in the 1920s, his zenith
being the tournament of Moscow 1925 which he won, ahead of Lasker
and Capablanca. In 1929 and again in 1934 he tried unsuccessfully
to wrest the World Championship from Alekhine, another Russian
exile. For political reasons neither of these great players ever
returned to Russia; but whereas the Soviet writers have now offi­
cially forgiven Alekhine and placed him high in their roll of honour
they are still loth to admit that Bogolyubov ever existed.
He became a naturalized German and spent the last twenty-five
years of his life in Germany. The following game was played in a
small all-German tournament. His opponent was little known
internationally so the game has not been much publicized; but the
elegance of the hunt, with one Knight being offered four times before
being finally accepted, makes it one of Bogolyubov's best productions.

MAcHATE B oaoLYunov
Bad Elster Tournament 1936
Giuoco Piano

1 P-K4 P-K4 comes more quickly when White

2 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3 plays 4 P-B3 (see Games 1 and
3 B-B4 B-B4 33) but there is plenty of play in
4 P-Q3 P-Q3 the more deliberate method of the
The Giuoco Pianissimo--old fash­ present game.
ioned but not so dull as some of
its critics makes out. The clash 5 B-K3 B-Kt3
74 THE KING-HUNT
6 Kt-B3 Kt-B3
7 Q-Q2 B-Kt5
In spite of its name the opening
provides rapid and effortless
development to both sides. In
the modern Sicilian, by contrast,
it is not unusual after seven
moves to see the black K-side
still untouched. The fact that
both sides can develop so easily
is, of course, the very reason why
most modern masters avoid the
opening.
8 Kt-Q5 Kt x Kt
9 B x Kt 0-0
10 P-B3
In the Giuoco Piano it is com­
mon practice to keep the oppon­
ent guessing as to one's castling
intentions, but the trouble with
the present move is that it will
leave the white King uncomfort­
able on either wing : it loosens the
Q-side and at the same time
permits Black to break up the
K-side.
10 . . . B x Kt
11 P x B Q-B3
12 P-KB4
Here White might have staked
everything on 12 K-K2, with
immediate use of the KKt-file.
Bogolyubov would no doubt have
reacted sharply in the centre,
forcing P-Q4 without delay.
12 . . . B xB
13 P x B Kt-K2!
This is the grandmaster getting
to work to force the game, con­
scious that the opposition is not
quite up to his own class. He
invites 1 4 B x KtP, after which
1 4 . . . , R-Ktl would give him a
powerful iniative; e.g. 15 B-Q5
(not 15 B-R6? which loses a
piece after 1 5 . . . , P-Q4! ) Kt x
B; 16 P x Kt, P x P; tearing the
centre wide open. White avoids
this but however he plays now he
is bound to be in difficulties,
simply because his King is so
much less secure than Black's.
14 B-Kt3 P-QR4!
15 0-0
Machate chooses the K-side­
not very inviting, certainly, but
Black has a ready-made attack
on the other wing too.
15 . . . P-R5
16 B-B2 P-R6
More than the average master
Bogolyubov liked to spread his
operations over the whole board.
In typical fashion he has taken
the initiative on the Q-side, but
it is still not easy to see how he
will manufacture his win. Both
his Bishops have gone and there
is no direct way of getting at t�e
exposed white King. Meanwhile
there is considerable potential in
the central white pawn-mass.
17 P-Kt4 P-B4
18 BP x P Q xP
19 P xP Q x P(4)
20 B-Kt3 P-Q4
21 P-Q4 Q-B3
22 P x P
White's object is to engineer a
concerted advance of the centre
pawns; a good idea but it might
have been better achieved by
22 P-K5! with P-K4 to follow
soon.
22 . . . Kt x P
23 P-B4
(See diagram on page 75)
For eight moves Bogolyubov �as
restrained himself from attackmg
in the region of the castled King.
 THE KING-HUNT 75

Now the time has come and he vanced at moves 14-15-16, is

gives a remarkable demonstra-
tion of the power of Queen and
Knight in combination, not call-
ing on his Rooks for another ten
moves.
now playing a part in the en­
circlement of the white King.
And still the Knight wizardry
continues.
30 K-Q3

Position after 23 P-B4

30 . . . Kt-K4ch!!
23 . . . Q-Kt3ch! An echo of move 27. Had the
24 K-B2 Knight been accepted then, the
Compulsory, alas, for 24 K-Rl King and Queen would have been
allows 24 . . . , Q-K5ch, winning crudely skewered by R-Qlch.
at least a pawn and forcing the This time the offer is more
Queens off. subtle: 31 P x Kt, Q x P! threat­
ening R-Ql mate!
24 . . . Kt-B3!
Now the Knight gets into the 31 K-K4 P-B4 ch
attack either at K5 or at KKt5. 32 K-B4 Kt-Kt5
With a nasty threat of Q-B2ch.
25 B-B2 Kt-Kt5ch The Knight has made six of
26 K-K2 Q-R4! Black's last ten moves-and
Quietly inducing the King to there are more to come!
keep walking.
33 K-Kt3 QR-Kl
27 K-Q3 Kt-K4ch! Apart from castling this is the
28 K-B3 Kt-B6 first Rook move in the whole
29 Q-K2 game.
The Knight, pinned against the
Queen and twice attacked, ap­ 34 R-B3
pears for a moment to be lost, 'Protecting' the K-pawn; but
but everything has been fore­ this is another of those preventive
seen. moves which do not prevent.

29 . . . Q-R4ch 34 . . . Kt x KP!
Even the black QR-pawn, ad- It's that Knight again! If 35
76 THE KING-HUNT
R x Kt Black forks with 35 . . . , there is a threat of 37 . . . , R-R3
P-l35ch. mate.

35 Q-Q3 Q-B2ch 37 R x Kt R-R3ch

36 K-R3 R-B3!
The final achievement of the
Knight is to stand passively en
prise at K6, giving Black the
one tempo he needs to administer
the coup de grace with Queen and
Rook. White must capture, for
38 K-Kt2 Q x Pch
White resigns, foreseeing the
mate which Black can force after
39 K-B3 by R-R6, or after
39 K-Bl by Q-R8ch; 40 K­
B2, R-R7ch; 41 K-Kt3, Q­
Kt7ch; 42 K-B4, Q-Kt5 mate.

29
The Olympiads, which draw together players with a wide range of
ability and varying styles and methods, never fail to produce plenty
of out-of-the-ordinary chess. (See Games 30, 40, 4 1 and 45.}
They are now held biennially and draw a huge entry which makes a
satisfactory method of organization very difficult to devise. Even
the Swiss System with all its well-known defects would be preferable
to the present group system under which some pairings are played
twice, even though many are not played at all.
The Munich Team Tournament of 1936 was an unofficial Olym­
piad, interpolated between Warsaw 1935 and Stockholm 1 937. The
matches were contested on eight boards instead of the usual four, and
although there was a clash of dates with the grandmaster tourna­
ment at Nottingham a wealth of good chess was played. The follow­
ing game-yet another eight-rank hunt-is too good to be missed.

IcmM (Rumania) ROSSELLI (Italy)

Munich Team Tournament 1936
Slav Defence

1 P-Q4 P-Q4 threatening to do so. The system

2 Kt-KB3 Kt-KB3
3 P-B4 P-B3
This Slav Defence differs from
the Orthodox 3 . . . , P-K3 of
Games 15, 23 and 25 not only in
leaving the Q-Bishop unob­
structed but also in making
preparation in some variations to
take the gambit pawn and either
hold it or make counterplay by
was very popular about this
time on account of its thorough
exploration during the Euw�­
.
Alekhine World Champ10nsh1p
match of 1935 in w.hich both
players adopted it repeatedly.
4 Kt-B3 P xP
5 P-QR4
After this non-developing move
 THE KING-HUNT
Black brings out the Bishop
which is usually such a problem
in the Queen's Gambit Declined.
Another method sometimes used
by White is to allow Black to
play P-QKt4 and then attack
with P-QR4.
5 ... B-B4
6 Kt-K5
Simply 6 P-K3 is another way
to recover the pawn. 6 Kt-R4
on the other hand achieves
nothing; the black Bishop retires
leaving White's Knight out on a
limb.
6 ... QKt-Q2
7 Kt x P(4) Q-B 2
8 P-KKt3
This is the idea of retaking the
QB-pawn with the Knight : the
Bishop is to be developed on
KKt2.
8 ... P-K4
Thus Black secures complete
freedom for his pieces.
9 PxP Kt x P
10 B-B4 Kt(3)-Q2
11 B-Kt2 0-0-0
The black pinned Knight is not
in danger: it can always be
sustained by P-KB3. Q-side
castling, however, is certainly
tempting providence, for two
white Bishops point that way,
and there are open files for both
Rooks. Euwe, a connoisseur of
this defence, won a fine game
from Alekhine by refraining from
castling until move 26, and then
choosing the K-side.
12 Q-Bl P-B3
13 0-0 P-KR4
This rapid opening of the KR­
file was no doubt Black's idea in
77
castling Q-side, but White is also
well placed for similar tactics and
the white pieces are more ag­
gressively placed to support an
attack.
14 P-R5 P-KKt4
15 Kt x Kt!
Already the complications are
critical and the result of the game
may hang on a single tempo.
To this excellent move Black
cannot reply, as he would no
doubt prefer, with 15 . . . , P x B
because he would then lose the
Exchange after 16 Kt-B7; so
four pieces come off, leaving
White with the vital tempo for
P-R6, which will open an even
more dangerous file and strength­
en the fianchettoed Bishop.
15 . . . Kt x Kt
1 6 B x Kt Q xB
17 P-R6! P-R5
18 P x Pch K-Ktl
If Black plays 18 . . . , K x P
White finishes beautifully :
19 Kt-Kt5!!, Q x Kt; 20 B x
Pch!, Q x B; 21 R x Pehl winning
the Queen, and mating before
the black pieces can intervene.
19 Kt-R4 PxP
Black also opens the Rook's file,
78 THE KING-HUNT
and appears to be not without 23 Q x Pch!! KxQ
chances of his own. 24 Kt-B5ch K-Kt3
24 . . . , K-Ktl is no better:
20 RP x P B-K5 25 R-R8ch, K-B2; 26 R­
A strong move-indeed essential B8ch, K-Q3; 27 Kt x Bch, R x
-both for attack and defence. Kt; 28 P-Kt8(Q)ch, Q x Q;
The white K-Bishop is neutral­ 29 R-Qlch, K-K4; 30 R x Q,
ized. etc., leaves White a clear enough
wm.
21 Q-QB4! R-Q5
Black could have killed the 25 P-Kt8(Q)ch K x Kt
attack stone dead here by 21 . . . , The white Queen has reappeared
without delay, and the real
B x B ; 22 K x B, Q-Q4ch. He
probably did not like the look of sacrifice amounts to a Bishop for
a pawn-a small investm�nt
the resulting endgame. Rosselli
which has brought the black Kmg
decides to keep up the tension
to the fourth rank, with the
instead. He has foreseen the
certainty of further travels in
possibility of White's 22 Q-R6
the near future.
and is ready with what seems to
be a perfectly adequate reply.
26 Q-R7ch K-Q4
27 R-R5
22 Q-R6! Q-Kt4 Had Black interposed with 26 . . . ,
Forcing the Queens off and Q-Kt3 this same Rook move,
clearing up the position very with check, would still have won
satisfactorily--or so it seems. the Queen. Black could now
But chess is an unkind game : resign, but he lets us see the rest
Rosselli's ingenuity has in fact of the hunt.
let him in for an immortal King­
hunt. 27 . . . B-QB4
28 R x Q P xR
29 Q-Q7ch B-Q3
30 B x Bch K xB
31 Q-K6ch B-K4
32 P-B4 P xP
33 R x Pch K-K6
34 Q-Kt3ch Resigns.
The black King will be driven
inexorably to the eighth rank to
be mated : e.g. 34 .. . , K-Q7;
35 Q-QB3ch, K x P; 36 R­
B2ch, K-Q8 ; 3 7 R-Blch, K­
K7; 38 R-Kl mate.
 30
The Buenos Aires Olympiad of 1939 was in progress at the outbreak of
the Second World War. It is hard to believe that the game which we
select from it was the work of a schoolboy, Abe Yanofsky, playing
top board for Canada at the age of 14. At move 21 White's Queen is
attacked and it appears that any attempt to save it permits mate.
Black might have been excused for anticipating a win rather than a
King-trip to the eighth rank!
An even more prodigious performance, by an even younger player,
may be found in game No. 38.

YANOFSKY (Canada) DuLANTO (Peru)

Buenos Aires Olympiad 1939
French Defence

1 P-K4 P-K3 first objective is the weakened

In later years Yanofsky has him­ KBP, but the Queen's road is
self become an acknowledged also cleared to KR5, from which
authority on the French Defence. point she will operate simultan­
Here he is quite happy playing eously against KB7 and KR7.
the white pieces against it.
13 . . . P-QKt3
2 P-Q4 P-Q4 Oblivious of what his schoolboy
3 Kt-QB3 Kt-KB3 opponent is preparing.
4 B-Kt5 P xP
The surrender of the centre at
this point avoids the highly
analysed Classical Defence and
gives Black a safe though not
very active game.

5 Kt x P QKt-Q2
6 Kt-KB3 B-K2
7 Kt x Ktch Kt x Kt
. . . , B x Kt probably leads to
safer equality.

8 B-Q3 P-B4
9 PxP Q-R4ch 14 B x Kt B xB
1 0 P-B3 Q x P(4) 15 B x Pch
1 1 0-0 0-0 The most hackneyed sacrifice
12 R-Kl R-Ql of all, which nevertheless leads to
1 3 Kt-K5 an infinite variety of afterplay.
White opens his attack. Its Contrast, for instance, the sequel
80 THE KING-HUNT
to a very similar sacrifice played 22 R x Pch!!
by Spielmann in Game 25. If Without this key-move the whole
now 1 5 . . . , K x B White has the line of play would be false, for
familiar mating procedure 16 Q­ the white Queen is tied to the
R5ch, K-Ktl ; 17 Q x Pch, K­ Kt-file on pain of instant mate.
R2; 18 R-K3, etc.
22 . . . Kx R
15 . . . K-Bl 23 R-Klch
16 Q-R5 B x Kt Now the black King has four
There is little choice. If 16 . . . , flights. If 23 . . . , K-B4 White
P-Kt3 White can play 17 B x mates in three beginning with
P, P x B ; 18 Q-B3. 24 R-K5ch, w hile both 23 . . . ,
K-Q2 · 24 Q x Pch and 23 . . . ,
17 R x B Q-B2 K-Q4 ; 24 Q-Q4ch lead quickly
18 B-K4 B-Kt2 to the loss of the stranded black
Presumably this was why he Queen. He therefore tries :
played his Queen back to B2.
But it is the unfortunate position 23 . . . K-Q3
of the black Queen on Kt2 24 Q-B6ch K-B4
which plays an important part in Any other move and the black
the King-Hunt which now fol­ King and Queen are skewered by
lows. Yanofsky records that he Queen or Rook.
had planned it all, including the
superb Rook sacrifice at move
25 R-K5ch K-B5
22, before starting his attack with
14 B x Kt. 26 P-Kt3ch K-Q6
26 . . . , K x P would be met by
19 B x B Q xB 27 R-K7ch, picking up the
20 Q-R8ch Queen.
K-K2
21 Q x P R-KKtl
27 Q-Qoch K-B7
If 27 . . . , K x P White forces
mate by 28 R-K3ch followed
by 29 R-K2ch.

28 R-K2ch Resigns.
28 . . . , K x P allows mate in one
by 29 Q-Q2; while if he goes to
the eighth rank it is mate in two
by 29 Q-Q2ch, etc. The whole
chase has had to be conducted
with checks under threat of mate
in one.
 31
The London 1946 Tournament marked the revival of international
chess after the sterile years of war. Medina came from Spain to
take part, and although he finished in the lower half of his section the
following game, in which he hounded Wood's king down to the eighth
rank and halfway back again, must have made his trip worth while.
This is a battle royal.

MEDINA G. Woon
London Tournament 1946
Ruy Lopez

1 P-K4 P-K4 Lopez ·white's zone of influence

2 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3 is going to be the Q-side, ai;id he
3 B-Kt5 P-QR3 _ territory.
begins to stake out hrs
4 B-R4 Kt-B3
5 0-0 Kt x P 10 . . B-Kt5
The Open Variation made popu­
.

1 1 QKt-Q2 B-K2
lar by Euwe's predilection for it 12 Q x P 0-0
about this time. But White soon 13 P-Kt4 Kt-R4
sidetracks him from the well 14 Q-Kt3 Q-Kl
analysed lines. 15 P-Kt5 P xP
16 P x P
6 P-Q4 P-QKt4 With his Q-side majority estab­
7 P-Q5 lished and the wedge on QB6
A decidedly unusual move in cuttin'g off the black pieces, it
place of the natural and normal looks as though White will have
7 B-Kt3. things all his own way on the left
flank·' but it is notoriously dang­
7 ... P xB erous to put too much reliance on
Black gratefully accepts the in­ Q-side pawns while the opponent
vitation to remove a piece which has a majority of pieces on the
is often the mainstay of White's other wing, as seems to b� the
attack in the Ruy Lopez. case here. One would estimate
Black's chances as rather the
8 P x Kt P-Q3 better at the moment.
Probably this is the best treat­
ment of White's opening. There
are interesting prospects for both 16 ... B-K3
sides. 17 Q-B2 P-B4
18 P-QR4 B-B3
9 R-Kl Kt-B3 19 B-Kt2 Kt-B5
P-B4
10
Most unusually for the Ruy (See diagram on page 82)
82 THE KING-HUNT
deadly. If, for instance, 26 . . . ,
Q-R6 trying for mate, White
saves himself by 27 R x Pch,
K-Rl ; 28 R x BPch!, K-Ktl ;
(or 28 . . . , R x B ; 29 P­
Kt8(Q)ch) 29 R-Kt7ch, K­
Rl ; 30 P x Kt, R x B; 31 R­
Kt3, winning the Queen or
making a new one.

26 . . . P xB
27 Kt x P Kt-R6ch
28 K-Bl R x BP
Position after 19 . . . Kt-B5 29 Q-Kt2 R-QKt1
Black is a Bishop ahead, has
The two attacks take shape with blocked one of the pawns, and
unusual clarity. One would say still has threats on the K-side.
that if there is to be any King­
hunting it is Black who will do it. 30 R(3)-K3
White turns his attention to the
20 P-R5 Q-Kt3 K-file, threatening to destroy
21 P-Kt3 the blockader by 31 R-K8ch.
A forced weakening, and a serious Black could have closed the file
matter with no Bishop to cover by 30 . . . , B-K5. Instead he
the white squares. seized a tactical chance to remove
the menacing pawn once for all.
21 . . . B-Q4
It might have been wiser to 30 . . . R xP
devote all his energies to forcing White cannot take the Rook
P-KB5. because of the reply 31 . . . , R­
B8ch, winning the Queen. But
22 P-Kt6 Q-Kt5 he is not to be outdone.
23 P-Kt7 R-R3
The only hope is to blockade the 31 R-Q7
terrible pawns. He needs only a Intending to meet 31 . . . , R x Q
few moves respite to make his with 32 R-K8 mate.
own attack irresistible.
31 . . . B-B5ch
24 R-R3 32 K-Kl B-B2
A useful move, combining de­ 33 Q x R Q-QB5
fence with attack. Now Black Black threatens mate beginning
throws everything into an with Q-QB8ch; but now White
attempt at a mating attack. can begin to check, and with the
help of an Exchange sacr�fice �e
24 . . . P-K5 gets his King-Hunt gomg m
25 B x B P x Kt earnest.
26 R-K7
The threat against KKt7 is now (See diagram on page 83)
 THE KING-HUNT 83
Black threatens both 45 . . . ,
R x P and mate in two by 45 . . . ,
R-R8ch. But the hunt begins
again.

45 Q-B4ch K-Kt7
46 Q x BP K xP
47 Q-R7ch K-Kt8
48 Q x P R-R8ch
Not to be denied a little hunting
on his own account.

Position after 33 . . . Q-QB5 49 K-K2 Kt x Pch

50 K-Q3 P-B4
51 Q-B6 R-R6ch
34 Q-R8ch K-Kt2
35 R x Bch K xR
The black Queen is tied to the
Rook. This was why White
checked from QR8 rather than
QKt8 or QB8.

36 Q-K8ch K-Kt2
37 R-K7ch K-R3
38 Q-B8ch K-R4
39 R x Pch K-Kt5
40 R-R4ch K x Kt
41 R x Q R xR
The first phase of the hunt has
ended with the white Queen 52 Q-B3!
opposing black Rook and Knight. With a pawn waiting at QR7
White has also a threatening QR­ White can cheerfully indulge in
pawn. Black, however, has his Queen sacrifices.
meagre forces quite aggressively
disposed and he has a pair of 52 . . . R-R3
united passed pawns in the back­ 53 K-B2 P-B5
ground . He has no intention of 54 K-Ql Kt-B8
resigning, and his King will be White's precious pawn is in­
subjected to a great deal more directly protected all the time by
hunting yet. the threat of a Queen check on
the black diagonal.
42 P-R6 Kt x P
43 P-R7 Kt-K5 55 Q-Kt7ch K-B7
Forestalling the white promotion 56 Q-QKt2ch K-Kt6
check, so that if 44 P-R8(Q) 57 K-Kl
he can reply 44 . . . , R-B8 mate. Threatening the Knight and once
more indirectly protecting the
44 Q-R6 R-R5 pawn.
84 THE KING-HUNT
57 . . . Kt-K6 64 Q x P Kt-R7
58 Q-B2ch K-R6 65 Q-K5
59 Q-B3ch K-R5 The pin is always a potent
60 P-R8(Q) weapon in Queen endings. The
At last! final zugzwang cannot be far
away now.
60 . . . R xQ
61 Q x R K-Kt6 65 . . . Kt-Kt5
Black has only Knight and two 66 Q-B3ch Kt-K6
pawns against the bare Queen, 67 Q-QB6 Kt-Kt7
but he is evidently enjoying this 68 Q-KB3ch K-R7
remarkable struggle. While there The 16th and last move of a
are pawns there is hope. gallant King. Now it is mate in
three.
62 K-K2 P-Q4
63 Q-Kt8ch Kt-Kt5 69 K-B2 Resigns.

32
The London Tournament had broken the ice, but the first real en­
counter of international heavyweights since 1939 came just a few
months later across the North Sea at Groningen in Holland. This
was during the interregnum after the death of Alekhine, and the line­
up contained enough talent to make it stronger than the triennial
Interzonals of the present day. Botvinnik, who was to become
World Champion two years later, took top place, half a point ahead
of e:x-champion Euwe.
The Second World War was particularly cruel to the career of Euwe
(born 1901) swallowing the years which should have marked the very
peak of his achievements. The following game, in which Euwe
mercilessly pursues the Hungarian grandmaster S zabo, is probably
the most spectacular he ever played. It is the only one in the present
collection in which the King is made to traverse all eight files as well as
all eight ranks.

SZAB6 EuwE
Groningen Tournament 1946
Queen's Gambit Accepted

1 P-Q4 P-Q4 ment of the Q-Gambit was either

2 P-QB4 P xP direct acceptance, as here, or
3 Kt-KB3 P-QR3 else the Slav Defence with an
Euwe played the openings with early acceptance of the QB-pawn.
great skill. His favourite treat- The move P-QR3 is usually
 THE KING-HUNT 85
played sooner or later in the
�ambit Accepted, and by playing
1t now Euwe restricts White's
choices, i n particular preventing
him from playing Q-R4ch, the
Mannheim Variation.

4 P-K3 Kt-KB3
5 BxP P-K3
6 0-0 P-B4
7 Q-K2 Kt-B3
8 R-Ql P-QKt4
9 B-Kt3 P-B5
Position after 18 . . KR-Ktl
Black establishes a Q-side pawn
.

_ .
ma1or1ty, but the real motive of
this move is tactical-namely to With Queen, two Rooks and two
exchange off the white K-Bishop. Bishops readily available Black
has a tremendous attack, and in
view of all the open lines it is
10 B-B2 Kt-QKt5 doubtful if White's game could
11 Kt-B3 Kt x B possibly be saved. The black
12 Q x Kt B-Kt2 King is safest in the centre.
13 P-K4
Understandably White wants to Q-Q4
19 Kt-Kl
make something out of his centre B-Q3
20 P-B3
pawns, but this advance is pre­ Q-KR4
21 K-Rl
mature, as . Euwe immediately R-Kt6
22 P-KR3
shows. White had at his dis­ K-K2
23 B-K3
posal here a combination which R( l)-KKtl
24 Q-Bl
has won many games in similar
25 P x P
positions of the Q-Gambit Ac­
For ten moves this pawn has
cepted (e.g. Reshevsky-Vidmar
stood unmolested, both sides
Nottingham 1936): 13 P-Q5 : having been too busy to do any­
P x P ; 14 P-K4! ; with danger­
thing about it. White takes it
ous play against the black King
now, having literally nothing
and Queen. better to do. But the white
barricades are bound to be over-
13 . . . P-Kt5! run.
1 4 P-K5
Practically forced. 25 R x KtP!
26 Q x R
14 ... P x Kt If 26 Kt x R, Black wins by
15 P x Kt KtP x P Q x Pch; 27 K-Ktl, B-Kt6.
16 Q-R4ch Q-Q2
17 Q x BP R-Bl 26 . . . R xQ
18 Q-K2 KR-Ktl 27 K x R

(�ee diagram in next column) (See diagram on page 86)

86 THE KING-HUNT
Black was threatening a quick
mate with 34 . . . , B-Q4ch.
White must clear his Q4 to give
room to his useless Bishop.

34 . . . B x Pch
35 K-Kt4 K-Q2
A forgotten ally comes across to
complete the mating net; but this
scheme is not without risk, for
White-though one may have
forgotten it-still possesses two
potentially dangerous Rooks.
Position after 27 K x R They have the Q- and QKt-files
already at their disposal and
White has managed to get two
now Szabo deliberately gives up
Rooks for his Queen, but the
another pawn to open the QB­
hunt is only just beginning. file as well. Black will have to be
careful not to give the Rooks a
27 . . . Q-Kt3ch
single chance to enter.
28 K-B2 B-Kt6ch
29 K-K2 B x Kt!
The hide-bound classicist may 36 P-B4 Q x BPch
be surprised to see the Bishop­ 37 K-R5 Q-B6ch
pair squandered in this way, 38 K x P B-B5ch
but, as Euwe himself has pointed 39 K-Kt7 Q-Kt6ch
out, the presence of Bishops on 40 B-Kt6 Q-B6ch
opposite colours is a distinct asset The whole of this ending has
to the side which is attacking the been a superb exhibition of the
King. Certainly he now demon­ lateral and diagonal powers of
strates that he has all the attack­ the Queen.
ing material he needs with Queen
and the unopposable Bishop on 41 K-Kts B-R3!
the white squares. Now White allows himself one
consolation check but mate must
30 R xB Q-Kt7ch follow.
31 K-Q3 B xP
32 P-QR4 B-K5ch 42 KR-Qlch K-Kl
33 K-B4 Q-QB7 White resigns; 43 K-B7, Q­
34 P-Q5 Kt2ch; 44 K-Q6, Q x B mate.

33
Here is another example of Euwe's vigorous play at this period.
The redoubtable and well-loved Tartakower is unfortunate in this
selection, appearing for the second time as the victim.
 THE KING-HUNT 87

TARTAKOWER Eu wE
Venice Tournament 1948
Giuoco Piano

1 P-K4 P-K4 13 Kt x B P x Kt
2 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3 14 Q-Kt3ch Kt-K3
3 B-B4 B-B4 15 Q x P
4 P-B3 B-Kt3 This is the critical position.
This move and Black's next two Black has maintained his firm
constitute the strongpoint system base in the centre and is about to
of defence in the Giuoco Piano. strike viciously at the K-side.
Black avoids exchanging his K­ White has won a pawn, but his
pawn, keeping it well protected Queen is away on QKt6. Twenty­
instead as a permanent feature eight moves later this Queen,
of his game. still unmoved at QKt6, has the
option of being lost or forming a
5 P-Q4 Q-K2 self block in her own King's
Now that the black Bishop has mating net!
retreated from QB4 the exchange
of pawns is no longer compulsory. 15 . . . P-Kt4!
For comparison see Game No. 1 1 6 B-QB4 P-R3
17 P-R4 K-R2
6 0--0 P-Q3 18 RP x P RP x P
White is at liberty at any time to 19 P xP QP x P
play P-Q5 or P x P, but either 20 B-K3 R-Rl
of these moves would open a 2 1 P-KKt3 K-Kt3
diagonal for the black K-Bishop. 22 K-Kt2
Both sides have cleared the way
7 P-KR3 Kt-B3 for their Rooks to occupy the
8 R-Kl 0-0 R-file and White intends, no
9 Kt R3
- Kt-Ql doubt, to exchange off one pair at
Euwe conceives a remarkable once. He is one move too late:
plan in the Steinitz manner, the lightning strikes.
withdrawing both Knights to the
back rank in order to have P­
QB3 and P-KB3 available.
Whether the fact that it involves
the loss of a pawn was accidental
or a really superb decoy of the
white Queen only the master
himself could tell. But with
Euwe in the dazzling form of this
game one can well believe that it
was the latter.

10 B-Bl Kt-Kl
11 Kt-B4 P-KB3
12 P-QR4! P-B3 22 . . . Kt-B5ch!!
88 THE KING HUNT
23 P x Kt B-R6ch
24< K-Kt3
White must return the piece in
this way, for if 24 K-Ktl,
Black continues 24 . . . , KtP x P
threatening Q-R2 or Q-Kt2
with immediate destruction.
2� . . . KP x Pch
25 B x P Q-Q2! !
Euwe' s conduct o f the attack is
the essence of perfection. After
this surprising finesse White's
only way to avoid mate in two
or three moves is to retire his
Knight to the pathetic square
KR2.
26 Kt-R2 P x Bch
27 K x P R-R5ch
28 K-K3 B-Kt7
Black threatens 29 . . . , R x KP
mate, but this is easily prevented.
After his next move White prob­
ably saw visions of rallying his
forces and getting away with his
two extra pawns after all.
29 Kt-B3
29 . . . R x Pch! !
Black forces a renewal o f the
hunt. Now the white King will
stand in the centre of the board,
exposed to the full power of
Black's four remaining pieces.
30 K x R Kt-Q3ch
31 K-Q3
Anything else is worse. For
instance 31 K-B4, Q-B4ch;
32 K-Kt3, Q-R6ch; K-B4,
Q x Kt mate. Other moves lose
the outlying Queen either by a
fork or a discovered check.
31 Q-B4ch
32 K-Q4 Q-B5ch
33 K-Q3 Q x Bch
34 K-B2 B x Kt
At last White has a moment's
respite to bring his Queen back
into the game, but now that
Black has picked up two minor
pieces he can hardly invite the
exchange. He decides instead to
make an escape route for his
King to get away to the QR-file
via the black squares.
35 P-Kt3 B-K5ch
36 K-Kt2 Q-Q6
The non-checking moves are
always the difficult part of a
King-Hunt. Now White can give
a check or two.
37 R-Ktl ch K-B2
38 QR-QBI
He decides against the second
check. After 38 Q-B7ch, K­
K3 his Queen would be more
remote than ever, and in no less
danger. For instance: 39 QR­
QBI , Q-Q7ch; 40 K-R3?, Kt­
Kt4ch!
38 Q-Q7ch
39 K-R3
(See diagram on page 89)
For the third time the game
coruscates into brilliance. The
white King has been driven into
 THE KING-HUNT 89
Q-Rook and the game ends with
successive sacrifices of Knight
and Rook, reminiscent of Black­
burne-Lipschutz, New York
1889. Every chessmaster hopes
to create one immortal game in
his lifetime. This is Euwe's.
39 . . . Kt-B5ch!!
40 P x Kt R x Pch!!
41 K x R Q-R7ch
42 K-Kt4 Q-Kt7ch
White resigns, for 43 K-B5
Position after 39 K-R3 loses the Queen by 43 . . . ,

the line of fire of the unmoved I Q x KBPch, and the only altern­
ative is 43 K-R5, Q-R6 mate.

\. 34
Vassily S myslov (born 1921) won the World Championship in 1957
but held it for one year only. He is one of the giants of the game;
the massive style which marks his maturity alarms even his fellow
grandmasters. The following game, played in his twenties, is not
really typical. It shows another King being driven straight across
the board to be mated on the eighth rank.

SMYSLOV FLORIAN
Moscow v. Budapest, Team Match 1949
Grunfeld Defence

1 P-Q4 Kt-KB3 up under pressure from the black

2 P-QB4 P-KKt3 K-Bishop combined with an early
3 Kt-QB3 P-Q4 P-QB4.
Today Smyslov is himself recog­
nized as one of the leading 7 ... Kt-R3
authorities on this defence. 8 B-K2 P-B4
9 P-Q5 P-K3
4 Kt-B3 B-Kt2 The destruction of White's
5 Q-Kt3 P xP central formation proceeds sys­
6 Q x BP 0-0 tematically. Black has also ach­
7 P-K4 ieved the endgame advantage ?f a
The usual state of affairs in the majority of pawns on the Q-s1d� .
Griinfeld Defence is that White It is a long time before there . is
gets a strong-looking centre any hope of making use of this;
which, however, generally breaks in fact White keeps his opponent
90 THE KING-HUNT
so busy on the K-side in the
present game that the Q-side
pawns never move at all.

10 0 -0 P xP
P xP
11 Q-R4
12 P-QR3
This move indicates not a timid
player but a resolutely aggressive
one in the present position, for it
prevents 12 . . . , Q-Kt5 after
which White would either have to
exchange Queens or else retreat
with loss of time and initiative. Position after 17 . . . K-B3

12 . . . B-B4 was 19 . . . , Q-B2; 20 P-Q6,

Q-KR4
13 KR-Kl Q-Q2; 21 QR-Kl, R x R;
14 B-R6 22 R x R, R-KI; 23 R-K7!,
White methodically removes the R x R; 24 Q-R8 mate.
black-square Bishop-a standard
procedure against the King's 18 . . . K x Kt
Fianchetto formation. 19 Q-Kt7!!
The non-checking moves are
14 . . . Kt-K5 always the difficult ones to fore­
15 B x B K xB see, and no doubt this is the one
16 Kt-KKt5 which Florian overlooked. He is
The attack which Smyslov opens invited to take the Bishop as well,
with this move should not have but if he does he is mated; e.g.
been decisive. Black undoubt­ 19 . . . , R x B; 20 P-B4ch, K­
edly ought to have played 16 . . . Kt5; 21 P-R3ch, K-Kt6;
Kt x KKt; 1 7 Q x Kt, Q-Ql 22 R-B3ch, K-R5; 23 Q-R6
with a defensible game and good mate.
prospects in the ending, but no
doubt he relied upon the fact 19 . . . R-K5
that White cannot take the 20 P-B4ch R xP
KR-pawn without losing a piece. 21 R x R K xR
Black does indeed win a piece, 22 R-Blch K-K6
but he could hardly have fore­ If 22 . . . , K-K5 Smyslov had
seen the full cost! another quiet move in readiness :
23 B-B4!
16 . . . Kt x QKt?
1 7 Q x Pch K-B3 23 Q-K5ch K-Q7
24 B-B4! Q x RP
(See diagram in next column) The condemned man eats the
18 P x Kt! proverbial hearty breakfast.
Now Black can take Knight or
Bishop. After 18 . . . , R x B 25 R-B2ch Resigns.
White plays 19 P-KB4 and one 25 . . . , K-Q8; 26 Q-K2ch,
continuation given by Smyslov K-B8; 27 R-Bl mate.
 35
Most of our games-since the first eight-have been from inter­
national tournaments. The next one is, if possible, even more deadly
serious for it comes from the penultimate stage of a World Champion­
ship series. The reader may be forgiven if after playing through the
game he finds this difficult to believe!
Alexander Kotov (born 1913) reached the peak of his form here­
abouts. In 1952 he won the Saltsjobaden Interzonal by three clear
points and the following game was played in the subsequent Can­
didates Tournament in Switzerland.
The spectacular sacrifice of Queen for only a pawn can hardly be
paralleled in master play, for it does not lead to any clear mating
line but merely brings the white King into a sector from which there
is no escape. Averbakh has to make no fewer than thirteen King­
moves in the 3 x 2 rectangle KR4-KR5-KB4-KB5 .

AVERBAKH KoTov
Zurich. Candidates Tournament 1953
Old Indian

I P-Q4 Kt-KB3 These last two moves of Black

2 P-QB4 P-Q3 are designed to over-protect his
3 Kt-KB3 QKt-Q2 K-pawn and also to bring latent
4 Kt-B3 P-K4 pressure to bear on the white
5 P-K4 B-K2 K-pawn. With many players the
Black settles for the Old Indian ulterior motive is to induce
formation. By 5 . . . , P-KKt3 he White to react by closing the
could still have gone over to the centre by P-Q5, after which
King's Indian. Black will have time for a
leisurely build-up against the
6 B-K2 0-0 white King.
7 0-0 P-B3
Black's position is now identical 10 R-Ktl P:-QR4
with the Hanham Variation of Just as in the Hanham Variation
Philidor's Defence, in which, it would be unwise to allow White
however, White would probably unchallenged expansion on the
have a Bishop instead of a pawn Q-side.
at QB4'. The solid pawn forma­
tion here employed by Black is 11 P-Q5 Kt-B4
one in which Steinitz always 12 B-K3 Q-B2
placed great faith. 13 P-KR3 B-Q2
14 QR-BI P-KKt3
8 Q-B2 R-Kl 15 Kt-Q2 QR-Ktl
9 R-QI B-Bl 16 Kt-Kt3
92 THE KING-HUNT
So far the centre of gravity is
well over towards the Q-side; the
K-side is as yet undisputed no­
man's-land. This last move in­
vites Black to close up the central
pawns completely-an invitation
whid1 he accepts. During the
next dozen moves both sides
turn their attention to the K-side
and there is a general migration
across the board.

16. . . Kt x Kt
Q x Kt
17 P-B4 30 . . . Q x Pch!!
18 K-R2 K-Rl 31 K x Q R-R3ch
19 Q-B2 Kt-Ktl 32 K-Kt4
20 B-Kt4 Kt-R3 Now the white King is in a box,
21 B x B Q xB and there is no way out. But
22 Q-Q2 Kt-Ktl how to mate him is another
23 P-KKt4 P-B4 matter. The trouble with sacri­
Now the battle for the K-side ficing a whole Queen is that the
is really on. White's King's field opponent can always afford to
is considerably weakened but he give back even two pieces and
is hoping his Rooks will take still win the endgame.
control.
32 . . . Kt-B3ch
24 P-B3 B-K2 33 K-B5 Kt-Q2
25 R-KKtl R-KBI This threatens mate in three by
26 QR-BI R-B2 34 . . . , R-KBich; 35 K-Kt4,
27 KtP x P P xP R-KKtlch; 36 K-B5, R-B3
28 R-Kt2 P-B5 mate. But 3 4 . . . , Kt-Kt5!
At his own chosen moment would have been even stronger,
Kotov seals the K-side as well, preventing White's next move.
and prepares to assault the KRP. The Knight could not have been
taken by King or Rook or pawn
29 B-B2 R-B3 on pain of mate in one or two
30 Kt-K2 moves.
In view of the threatened 30 . . . ,
R-R3 White must defend the 34 R-Kt5! R-Blch
KR-pawn. The Knight comes 35 K-Kt4 Kt-B3ch
across, making an incidental 36 K-B5
threat of 31 Q x RP, to which Black needs time to work out his
White expects the reply 30 . . . , mating procedure so, with a
P-Kt3 as a matter of course. whole range of discoveries at his
Then 31 Kt-Ktl and everything disposal he now makes use of
is under control. The fantastic some see-saw checks to catch up
idea that Kotov would forestall on the clock.
him by one move could never
have entered Averbakh's head. 36 . . . Kt-Ktlch
 THE KING-HUNT 93
37 K-Kt4 Kt-B3ch sarily mean checks. He now
38 K-B5 Kt x QPch threatens 45 . . . , R-Kt2ch;
It is a little risky to give the 46 K-B5, R-B3 mate. White
white Queen a possible point of must concede a piece, but this he
entry, but Black dares not risk a can well afford.
draw by repetition of position.
45 B-R4 R-Kt3ch
39 K-Kt4 Kt-B3ch 46 K-R5 R(2)-Kt2
40 K-B5 Kt-Ktlch Threatening 47 . . . , R-R3 mate.
41 K-Kt4 Kt-B3ch
42 K-B5 Kt-Ktlch 47 B-Kt5 R x Bch
43 K-Kt4 B xR 48 K-R4 Kt-B3!
Now Kotov is ready to try again White still has a Queen against
to find the decisive line. His Rook and two pawns but Kotov
precious pieces are being thinned
plays inexorably for mate. Now
out: only Knight and two Rooks he threatens 49 . . . , R-R4 mate.
are left to finish the job. White
is still a vast amount of material
ahead and he needs only a move 49 Kt-Kt3
or two of respite from the checks This propitiatory sacrifice C!f
to get it into action . another piece is forced, and it
brings the material situation to
44 K x B something like equality. But
Black will not be denied his mate.

49 . . . R x Kt
Not 49 . . . , P x Kt of course, for
White would be only too pleased
to play 50 Q x R. Now for one
moment Black does not threaten
mate in one, and the white Queen
can make a despairing effort to
get into the game.

50 Q x QP R(6)-Kt3
51 Q-Kt8ch R-Ktl
Resigns.
44 . . . R-B2 Certainly the most spec�acular
Black must operate with forcing King-Hunt ever seen m the
moves, but this does not neces- World Championship series.

36
The Russian Championship i s b y far the strongest national cham­
pionship in the world-stronger than many international events.
When a nineteen-year-old Latvian found his way into the final in
94 THE KING-HUNT
January, 1956, there was some surprise. When he finished one point
behind the winners there was astonishment. We who know the
subsequent history of Mikhail Tal (born 1936) tend to take the sheer
fantasy of his early games as a matter of course; at the time the
veterans could hardly believe their eyes, but decided to wait for
another tournament to see whether he could keep it up.

TAL SIMAGIN
XXIII Championship of the U.S.S.R., Leningrad 1956
Caro-Kann

1 P-K4 P-QB3 11 Q x B
2 P-Q4 P-Q3
Tal's reputation had preceded
him. Whether it was wise for
Simagin-an experienced master,
nineteen years senior to Tal-to
adopt not merely the con­
servative Caro-Kann but this
patent, ultra-conservative ver­
sion of it is doubtful. Probably
nothing could have pleased Tal
better.

3 Kt-QB3 Kt-B3
4 P-B4 Q-Kt3
5 Kt-B3 B-Kt5 11 . . . P-KR3
6 B-K2 QKt-Q2 The master calls the youngster's
7 P-K5 bluff, forcing him to choose
True to his temperament Tal between sacrifice and ignomin­
opens battle without waiting to ious retreat. The idea that any­
castle or complete the develop­ one should ever have provoked
ment of his minor pieces. The Tal by confronting him with such
black K-side is cluttered up and a choice is now hardly believable.
White has no intention of giving Without more ado the hunt is on.
him time to play P-K3 or P­
KKt3 and release his Bishop. 12 Kt x BP! K x Kt
13 P-B5! P x KP
7 ... Kt-Q4 14 BP x Pch K xP
8 0-0 Kt x Kt A Knight is a reasonable enough
To Tal, at least at this stage of price to pay for a King on K3
his career, doubled pawns meant while the white heavy pieces
merely another open line for a have plenty of open lines at their
Rook. disposal. White seems to have a
choice of inviting continuations.
9 P x Kt P-K3
10 Kt-Kt5 B xB (See diagram on page 95)
 THE KING-HUNT 95

sets to work with renewed vigour,

in spite of the fact that he now
has only two pieces left.

19 Q-Kt3! B-K2
20 Q x Pch K-Q3
21 P x Pch Kt x P
22 R-Qich K-K3
23 Q-Kt3ch K-B4
24 R-Blch K-K5
25 R-Klch K-B4
26 P-Kt4ch!
Tal's resources are inexhaustible.
Position after 14 . . . KxP If this pawn is taken either by
King or Knight 27 Q-K6ch
15 R-Ktl!! wins a piece, and soon mates.
This fantastic move, which would
not have crossed the mind of 26 . . . K-B3
most players, is recognizable 27 R-Blch K-Kt3
today as pure Tal. If Black 28 Q-K6ch K-R2
refuses the Rook, White has Simagin resigns himself at last to
simply placed it in play with gain the loss of a piece. 28 . . . , B-B3
of tempo, and after taking the would not save it: 29 Q-B5ch,
K-pawn will soon be cutting K-B2; 30 Q x Kt!
Black to pieces on the centre
files. 29 Q x Kt KR-Kl
30 R-B7! B-Bl
15 QxR 31 Q-B5ch K-Ktl
16 Q-B4ch! Castled at last? Black finally
The point is that the black King gets his Rooks into play, and
must now move to a black square, the tempo of the game slackens.
after which the black Queen will But White is now comfortably
be lost by a discovered attack. ahead and soon forces a won
ending :
16 . . . K-Q3
17 B-R3ch K-B2 32 K-B2 B-B4ch
18 R x Q B xB 33 K-Kt3 R-K6ch
For one moment Black seems to 34 K-R4 QR-Kl
have obtained Rook, Bishop and 35 R x Pch!
Knight for his Queen, but the Even at this late stage Tal
key to the whole combination is takes the elegant way. In return
the double threat contained in for the desperado Rook he g�ts
White's next move, which leaves the Bishop and one of the Q-s1de
Black the choice of giving up the pawns. The resulting passed
Bishop or allowing the King­ pawn, coupled with the � xposure
Hunt to start all over again. of the black King, gives the
To the delight of the reader he Queen an easy win against the
chooses the latter course and Tal two Rooks.
96 THE KING-HUNT
35 K xR 41 Q-Q8ch K-K5
36 Q x B R( l)-K3 42 P-R6 K-B6
37 Q x RPch K-Kt3 43 P-R7 R-K7
38 Q-R8 K-B3 A last hope: 44 P-R8(Q), R x
Black cannot even snatch the P mate!
QB-pawn; 38 . . . , R x P ; 39 Q­
Kt8ch, K-B3; 40 Q-R8ch and 44 Q-Q3ch R(3)-K6
41 Q x R. 45 Q x R(3)ch! Resigns.
An appropriate finish to this
39 P-R4 game, which has been played
This is the winner. throughout with such magnifi­
cent verve. Whichever way
39 . . . K-K4 Black re-takes, the R-pawn
40 P-R5 K-Q4 queens next move.

37
The next game must surely be unique among King-Hunts. Bot­
vinnik is the winner, and just as in Game No. 26, played twenty-one
years earlier, he chases the black King from KKtl to QKt7. The
difference is this : that whereas the 1935 result was obtained by
means of a barrage of checks, the present hunt is carried out, from
beginning to end, without a single check! Playing it over, one catches
a whiff of brimstone in the air and gets a strong impression that some
sort of black magic is involved.

BoTVINNIK GLIGORIC
XII Olympiad, Moscow 1956
English Opening

1 P-QB4 P-KKt3 file and sets off a remarkable

P-KKt3
2 P-QB4
B-Kt2
B B-Kt2
Kt-QB3
4 Kt-QB3
5 Kt-B3 Kt-R3
This deliberate breaking of the
symmetry is a clear indication
that Gligoric is looking for a
win and not a draw. His idea is
that the Knight shall not ob­
struct either the K-Bishop or the
KB-pawn. The flaw is that White
has not castled. Botvinnik, with
his usual courage, opens an
immediate attack along the KR-
train of events.
6 P-KR4! P-Q3
7 P-Q3 R-QKtl
This move is usually good in such
positions. It has the negative
virtue of removing the Rook
from the attentions of the white
K-Bishop and the positive aim
of supporting the advance of the
QKt-pawn as well as possibly
reinforcing the attack of its own
K-Bishop against QKt7 at some
future time.
 THE KING-HUNT
In the present circumstances,
however, it is a strategic mistake
-probably a fatal one-for it
leaves Black virtually unable to
castle on either side.
8 P-R5
With the black Knight on KB3
it would have been much more
difficult to force this advance.
8 ... B-Q2
9 B x Kt B xB
10 P x P RP x P
11 Q-Bl!!
Thus the Queen forces her way
into the black game.
An interesting echo of all this
occur:red in the game Morra­
Suttles at the Tel-Aviv Olympiad
eight years later: 1 P-K4, P­
KKt3; 2 P-KR4, B-Kt2; 3 Kt
-QB3, Kt-QB3; 4 P-R5, P­
Q3; 5 B-B4, Kt-Q5 ; 6 P-Q3,
Kt-R3; 7 B x Kt, B x B ; s KKt
-K2, B-Kt5; 9 P x P, RP x P;
(see next diagram) 1 0 Q-Bl!,
B-R4'· 1 1 P-B4 P-K4·
12 Kt ; Kt, B x P; rn' 0-0, B ;_
Q; 1 4 B x Pch, K-Q2; 15 B­
K6ch, K-Kl ; 16 B-B7ch, etc.
Draw. But Botvinnik has no
intention of settling for perpetual
check.
97
Position after 9 . . RP x P in the
.
Morra-Suttles game
11 B-Kt2
12 R x Rch B xR
13 Q-R6 B x Ktch
Black has virtually no choice, for
White threatens not only Q x B
but also Kt-KKt5. This latter
move is not prevented by 13 . . .,
B-B3, for after 14 Kt-KKt5
Black could not capture.
14 P x B P-K3
15 Kt-Kt5
Flohr, the perfectionist, sugg­
ested that 15 K-Q2 would have
been still better, inducing Black
to defend with 15 . . ., Q-K2,
and only then 16· Kt-Kt5.
The idea is that Black would have
been deprived of the defensive
resource which he now employs.
15 . . . K-K2!
Thus the black Queen is given an
avenue to the K-side. Neverthe­
less, this voluntary move of the
black King is the first of a long,
long trail.
16 K-Q2 B-Kl?
But this is a fatal change of plan.
16 . . ., Q-Rl would have elimin­
ated the worst of the danger.
Now the Queen is enclosed again.
98 THE KING-HUNT
17 Q-Kt7 K-Q2 pawn ; so the King continues his
From now on the black King is travels.
the hare, keeping one jump ahead
of the hounds. 26 P-R4 K-R4
27 Q-Kt5 K xP
18 P-B4 Q-K2 As no reasonable defensive
19 R-Rl Kt-Ql scheme presents itself Black de­
This agglomeration of black cides at least to give himself a
pieces will result before long in passed QR-pawn! But from this
not only the King but also the excursion the King will never
Queen being in danger of check­ return.
mate! 28 R-Rl!
This rapid transfer from the
20 Kt-K4 K-B2 north-east for service in the
21 R-R8 B-B3 south-west recalls the finish of the
22 Kt-B6! K-Kt3 fine game Alekhine-Chajes, Karls­
If 22 . . . , B x B White does indeed bad 1923.
checkmate the black Queen by
23 R-K8. The tract of territory 28 . . . K-Kt6
chosen by the black King is the Into the jaws of death. But if
safest part of the board for the 28 . . . , K-R4 there follows 29
moment-but it is not safe Kt-Q5!!, Q x Q ; 30 R-Rl mate.
enough!
29 Q-R4 K-Kt7
23 B x B Kt x B 30 P-Kt4 Resigns.
24 R-R7 Kt-Ql Mate is inevitable. Probably the
25 Q x KtP! K-R3 most original game in this collec­
After 25 . . . , P x Q; 26 R x Q tion, epitomizing the genius of
White soon picks up a second Botvinnik.

""' 3 8
We who live in mid-20th century have been privileged to witness
the emergence of the greatest chess prodigy of all time in Robert
Fischer. He has eclipsed the fabulous exploits of Morphy, Capa­
blanca, Reshevsky, Yanofsky and Pomar, at least in point of age.
The greatest of these, Capablanca and Reshevsky, only entered the
international arena seriously at about twenty-three years of age after
being infant prodigies. Fischer was already an international grand­
master at 1 5 ; while still in his 'teens he wore the battle honours of
Portoroz, Mar del Plata, Zurich, Bled, Belgrade, Leipzig, Stockholm
and Varna, to name only the most important events.
In one thing only has he been outdone. Tal won the World
Championship before his 24th birthday, but Fischer, by abstaining
 THE KING-HUNT 99

from the 1964-66 and 1967-69 series, has deferred his earliest chance
of winning it until 1972, by which time he will be 29.
It is unlikely that Fischer will ever play a better game than one of
the earliest of his ever to be recorded, the win against Donald Byrne
in the Rosenwald Tournament when he was thirteen years old. Move
after move is astonishingly unexpected, and Byrne's King is event­
ually chased for fourteen moves, all but one of them back and forth
along his own back rank.

D. BYRNE FISCHER
Rosenwald Tournament, New York 1956
Grurifeld Defence

1 Kt-KB3 Kt-KB3 The next seven moves provide

2 P-B4 P-KKt3 one of the most remarkable
3 Kt-B3 B-Kt2 passages in the whole of recorded
4 P-Q4 0-0 chess.
5 B-B4 P-Q4
At the age when many a school­
boy is j ust learning the mysteries
of Scholar's Mate Fischer plays a
sophisticated transposition into
the Griinfeld Defence, with which
he has won many a victory since.

6 Q-Kt3 P xP
7 Q x BP P-B3
8 P-K4 QKt-Q2
9 R-Ql Kt-Kt3
10 Q-B5
Already the game is taking an
original shape. White should 11 . . . Kt-R5!!
have played Q-Kt3 or Q-Q3 This Knight cannot be taken :
and followed with B-K2 and 12 Kt x Kt, Kt x P and then
0-0. Now his Queen has ven­ (i) 13 Q x KP , Q x Q;
tured too far afield. 14 B x Q, KR-Kl , etc.
(ii) 13 Q-Kt4 , Kt x B ;
10 . . . B-Kt5 14 Kt x Kt, B x R ;
Black is in sight of complete 1 5 K x B , B x P, etc.
freedom by means of KKt-Q2, (iii) 13 Q-Bl, Q-R4ch;
soon forcing P-K4. 14 Kt-B3, B x Kt, etc.

11 B-KKt5 12 Q-R3 Kt x Kt
White hopes thus to prevent 13 P x Kt Kt x P!
Black's KKt-Q2, but he is now Black's moves look like over­
given cause to regret his delay sights, but he is seeing every­
in getting his King into safety. thing.
100 THE KING-HUNT
14 B x P Q-Kt3! White takes the Queen and
Even the Exchange is taboo : awaits his fate. For the next
15 B x R, B x B!; 16 Q-Kt3, twenty-four moves we are treated
Kt x QBP! ; 17 Q x Kt, B-Kt5. to a very convincing King-Hunt
So White makes one last attempt by the black minor pieces.
to get castled.
18 B x Q B x Bch
15 B-B4 Kt x QBP! 19 K-Ktl Kt-K7ch
If the Knight is taken this time Black proceeds to use a string of
Black regains the piece by KR­ see-saw checks to pick up some
Kl with a winning game; or if material, at the same time gain­
16 B x R he gets the advantage ing some useful time on the
by 16 . . . , R-Klch. But he has clock.
another move which surely Black
has overlooked: 20 K-Bl Kt x Pch
21 K-Ktl Kt-K7ch
16 B-B5 22 K-Bl Kt-B6ch
Apparently a complete refuta­ 23 K-Ktl P xB
tion, for White is now attacking 24 Q-Kt4
Queen, Rook and Knight; but Still Black has only two Bishops
now comes the final ferocious and two pawns for the Queen.
kick of the combination. 24 . . . , Kt x R would be answered
by 25 Q x B with chances of
survival.

24 . . . R-R5!
On this day Fischer could do no
wrong. The only way now for
White to guard his Rook would
be 25 Q-Q6, but then follows
25 . . . , Kt x R; 26 Q x Kt, R x P
with immediate destruction by
by 27 . . . , R-R8. White must
therefore concede the Rook, after
which his game is lost on material
alone; but he chivalrously---0r
16 . . . KR-Klch stubbornly-plays on, and lets us
17 K-Bl B-K3!! see how a won game is won.
An utterly fantastic position.
The combination works without a 25 Q x P Kt x R
flaw: 26 P-KR3 R xP
(i) 18 Q x Kt, Q x B! ; 27 K-R2 Kt x P
1 9 P x Q , B x Q, etc. 28 R-Kl R xR
(ii) 18 B-K2, Kt-Kt4, etc. 29 Q-Q8ch B-Bl
(iii) 18 B x B, Q-Kt4ch; 30 Kt x R B-Q4
19 K-Ktl, Kt-K7ch; 31 Kt-B3 Kt-K5
20 K-Bl, Kt-Kt6ch; 32 Q-Kt8 P-QKt4
21 K-Ktl, Q-B8ch! ; Black could, if he so wished,
22 R x Q, Kt-K7 mate. march right ahead with this
 THE KING-HUNT 101

pawn; but he has other ideas. Kt-Kt6ch; 37 K-R2, Kt­

B8ch; 38 K-R3 (or Rl), B x P
33 P-R4 P-R4 mate.
34 Kt-K5 K-Kt2
The release of the black-square 36 ... Kt-Kt6ch
Bishop brings about a quick 37 K-Kl B-Kt5ch
finish, for Rook and two Bishops 38 K-Ql B-Kt6ch
constitute a deadly mating mach­ 39 K-Bl Kt-K7ch
ine even without the help of a 40 K-Ktl Kt-B6ch
Knight. The immediate threat 41 K-Bl R-B7
of B-Q3 induces White to take ! mate.
his King off the diagonal. Not many better games than this
one have ever been played-by
35 K-Ktl B-B4ch anyone. The only comparable
36 K-Bl production by one so young is
If the King goes to Rl the mate Capablanca's last match-game
comes even more rapidly : 36 . . . , against Corzo.

\"" 39
Tal's elders prophesied that his zest for happy-go-lucky chess would
lead him to disaster in the international arena. They were stunned
when he won the Interzonal in 1958, the Candidates in 1959 and the
World Championship in 1960. His prodigious genius was now un­
deniable.
The following game against the Argentinian grandmaster Oscar
Panno is a good illustration of the rich complexity of his style at this
time.

TAL PANNO
Interzonal Tournament, Portoroz 1958
Ruy Lopez

1 P-K4 P-K4 the masters begin to differ in

2 Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3 their treatment of the middle­
3 B-Kt5 P-QR3 game. Some like to play the
4 B-R4 Kt-B3 black Rook to Kl and follow
5 0-0 B-K2 with B-Bl, prefacing these
6 R-Kl P-QKt4 moves with P-KR3 to keep the
7 B-Kt3 P-Q3 white Knight away from KKt5.
8 P-B3 0-0 Another old and popular line
9 P-KR3 Kt-Q2 is Kt-QR4 followed by P­
The closed defence to the Ruy QB4. Panno does indeed use this
Lopez has been pretty well idea later on, but first brings
hammered out, but hereabouts the K-Knight over to QKt3,
102 THE KING-HUNT
within jumping distance of QB5 . rn . . . Kt x R!
Undoubtedly the best way. To
10 P-Q4 Kt-Kt3 have saved the Queen would have
11 B-K3 P xP cost material, but now Black gets
12 P x P Kt-R4 rook and two Knights for the
13 B-B2 P-QB4 Queen, with, one would have
14 P-K5 thought, excellent chances. It
A predictable reaction from Tal: has been said, however, that
the absence of the white K­ Tal's Queen is worth more than
Knight from its usual defensive other Queens, and the final
post prompts him to open up the phases of this game bear out this
lines for his Bishops to attack the hypothesis.
K-side, even though it may mean
the complete disappearance of 20 Kt x Q B-B4
his pawn centre. 21 Q-KB3 QR x Kt
22 R x B B x Kt
14 . . . QP x P 23 B x P R xP
1 5 Kt x P Kt(3)-B5 Black might have tried 23 . . . ,
16 Q-Q3 P-B4 P x P instead, with threats of
17 B-Kt3 P-B5 pushing the Q-pawn straight
Panno's defensive scheme is to ahead. The present move, which
shut out the black-square Bishop leaves Black with a Q-side major­
and then capture the white­ ity as well as his five pieces,
square one, after which he hopes also looks good ; but now the
to have good play with his own white Queen begins to show her
two Bishops. paces.
18 B-Q2 24 Q-Kt4 B-Kt3
25 Q-K6ch B-B2
26 Q-B5 Kt-B7
27 P-QKt3 B-Kt3
Tal was apparently waiting for
this. Black had several other
possibilities : 27 Kt(5)-R6, or
27 R-Q8ch and 28 Kt-Q7,
or even 27 R x B . But the idea
that an opponent who is al­
ready, numerically, reduced to
three pieces against five should
be considering sacrificing two of
them in order to conduct a King­
18 . . . Kt(4) x B Hunt with the remaining one is
19 Kt-B6!? not what one usually considers.
Complications proliferate of their Yet this is precisely what Tai
own accord in Tal's games. now does.
Whether the transaction implicit
in this move ought to have won is (See diagram on page 103)
doubtful-but it does! 28 R x Pch!! K xR
 THE KING-HUNT 103

35 P-B3ch, etc., but he has

something better:

35 Q-B6!
Tal threatens instead to win two
pieces by 36 Q-Kt5ch, K-B6;
37 Q x Bch, K-K7; 38 Q x Ktch.

35 . . . P-R3
36 Q-K5
Now the threat is 37 Q-K2
mate. What a Queen!
Position after 27 . . . B-Kt3
36 . . . R-K5
37 Q-Kt7ch K-B6
29 B-R6ch! K xB 38 Q-B3ch Kt-K6
30 Q x Reh K-Kt4 39 K-Ktl B-Kt5
31 P x Kt P xP 40 P x Kt P-KR4
31 R x P looks more natural; 41 Q-Kl
presumably Panno wanted to .
-Yet another threat of mate in
prevent 31 . . . , Q-Q8ch. Black one: 42 Q-B2 mate. Tal has
still has his Rook and two minor used the black self-blocks with
pieces against the bare Queen, great virtuosity.
but the exposure of his King­
always paramount in Queen end­ 41 . . . R xP
ings-now tells heavily against
Black still has hopes of maki!1-g
him. White's King and pawns something of the encl.osed wh�te
also play a vital part. King, but the terrible white
Queen gives him no chance.
32 P-Kt3! B-K5
Black takes the opportunity to 42 Q-Blch K-K5
threaten something on his own 42 Q x Pch K-B6
account : 33 . . . , R-Q8ch; 34 K­ 44 Q-Blch K-K5
R2, R-R8 mate. 45 Q x P .
This is the last straw: White
33 P-R4ch K-Kt5 proposes to make a second Queen!
Still threatening mate ; and after
34 Q-B4ch, K-R6 Black wins 45 . . . K-Q5
at once. Surely he would have had more
of a sporting chance by 45 . · .,

34 K-R2! R x Pch; but Tal's Queen would

White avoids the mate and now probably have been too much for
threatens 35 Q-B4ch, K-R4; him in the end.
36 Q-Kt5 mate.
46 Q-Q6ch K-B5
34 . . . B-B4 47 P-R4 R-K8ch
There is nothing better, though 48 K-B2 R-K7ch
it loses a piece. White could play 49 K-Bl R-QR7
104 THE KING-HUNT
Behind the pawn, but there is no with . the black King now all
stopping it. alone in mid-board the white
Queen is bound to have the last
50 Q-R6ch K-Q5 word. Tal solves the problem
51 P-R5 P-B5 neatly:
Panno, game to the last, also
tries for a promotion, but still his 56 Q-Kt3ch K-Q3
King is hounded by the enemy 57 Q-Q3ch Resigns.
Queen . If the King goes to the B-file
the pawn falls with check. If
52 Q-Kt6ch K-Q4 58 . . . , K-K4 the Rook is lost
53 P-R6 R-R8ch by 59 Q-B3ch. If 58 . . . , K-K3
54 K-B2 P-B6 then 59 Q-K4ch forces K-B2
55 P-R7 P-B7 and the finish will be 60 Q x P,
It has been a battle royal but R x P; 61 Q-R7ch and 62 Q x R.

40
Many players who never normally play in master tournaments get
their chance in the Olympiads. Namshil of Mongolia put up a good
fight at Leipzig against the Hungarian grandmaster Szabo (born
1917), but was worn down and finally succumbed to a ten-move
mating combination introduced by a double Rook sacrifice.

NAMSHIL SZABO
Leipzig Olympiad 1 960
King's Indian

1 P-QB4 P-KKt3 it has enjoyed a tremendous

2 Kt-QB3 B-Kt2 revival in the 'fifties and 'sixties
3 P-Q4 Kt-KB3 and is now almost as riddled with
The English Opening has become analysis as the Ruy Lopez.
a normal King's Indian. White has to make up his mind
about here concerning his strat­
4 P-K4 P-Q3 egic intentions. Namshil decides
5 P-B3 0-0 to castle Q-side and try a bayonet
6 B-K3 P-K4 attack on the other wing.
7 P-Q5 P-B3
8 Q-Q2 P xP 10 0-0-0 P-QKt4
9 BP x P P-QR3 The coffee-house routine : get
A lot has happened to the King's there first!
Indian since our Game 22, which
showed Yates playing it against 11 K-Ktl QKt-Q2
Alekhine in 1923. After going 12 P-KKt4
right out of fashion in the 'thirties It is easy enough to sit in one's
 THE KING-HUNT 105

study and announce that this is opening of the long black diag­
pre�ature. Szabo himself said onal for the Bishop would be
that White should have con­ cheaply bought at the price of a
solidated his game by R-Bl pawn. On second thoughts White
and Kt-QI. But such patience is of the same opinion.
is not possessed by every chess­
player. 21 Kt-K2 P-R5
22 Kt-Kt2 Q-R4
12 . . . Kt-Kt3 23 P x P B xP
13 P-Kt3 24 Kt x B Q x Kt
This is certainly unwise; it is the The breach has been made, but
sort of move which Steinitz the black attack is running out of
roundly condemned eighty or steam with three of his pieces
ninety years ago-the voluntary away on the K-side.
weakening of one's K-position
when there is not an absolute 25 B-B4 Kt-Q2
need to do so. 26 B-Kt3 Q-R4
27 R-B6 Kt-B4
13 . . . P-Kt5 By cutting off the Rook's retreat
1 4 B x Kt Q xB in this way Black induces White
1 5 Kt-R4 Q-R4 to sacrifice the Exchange present­
16 B-B4 B-Q2 ly, and by doing so Namshil gets
17 Kt-Kt2 B x P! some counterplay. After the
The sort of combination which game Szabo said that Black's
the grandmaster takes in his correct strategy would have been
stride. The Bishop, apparently to play 27 . . . , P-B4, opening a
interested only in QR5, swings file on the K-side.
casually over to KKt5. It cannot
be captured, for after 18 . . . , 28 Kt-Bl P-B4
Kt x KP; 19 Q moves, Kt­ 29 Q-QB2 P xP
B6ch the combined powers of the 30 P x P R-B6
Knight, Queen and newly re­ 31 R x Kt!
leased K-Bishop would end the Undoubtedly the only policy for
game very quickly. White. Black's pressure is be­
coming intolerable, with threats
18 B-Q3 B-Q2 of R-QB6 and B-R3.
19 Kt-B4 Q-B4
Black makes room for the QR­ 31 . . . P xR
pawn to advance and make a 32 P-Q6ch K-Rl
breach for the Rooks. 33 Q-B4 R-B6
34 Q-K6 Q-R3!
20 R-QBl The beginning of an elegant com­
Threatening to discover on the bination. The threat of 35 . . . ,
black Queen by 21 Kt x KP. P-B5 compels White to vacate
QKt3 for the pawn advance.
20 . . . P-QR4!
Szabo cheerfully ignores the 35 B-Q5
threat. If White cares to win the
K-pawn he is welcome to it. The (See diagram on page 106)
106 THE KING-HUNT
King to be mated on his KR4.

37 K x R B-R3ch
38 K-Ql Q-Q6ch
39 K-Kl B-Q7ch
Here Namshil resigned ; but as
the rest of the King-Hunt is
forced we take the liberty of
including it.

40 K-B2
If 40 K-Ql Black mates in two .

Position after 35 B-Q5 40 . . . Q-K6ch

41 K-Kt2
35 . . . P-Kt6!! Again if 41 K-Bl Black mates
A passive sacrifice of one in two.
Rook . . .
41 ... Q-K7ch
36 B x R R x Ktch!! 42 K-Kt3 B-B5ch
. . . followed by an active sacri­ 43 K-R3 Q-B6ch
fice of the other. A series · of 44 K-R4 P-Kt4
non-stop checks now drives the mate.

41
Bora Ivkov (born 1933) became Junior World Champion in 1951 and
looks like becoming the natural successor to Gligoric as leader of
Yugoslav chess. In the Varna Olympiad of 1962 he won a remarkable
game which did not receive much publicity, being :. little too long for
most of the magazines and columns. Robert Byrne, brother of
Fischer's opponent in Game 38, was battered by the young grand­
master to such effect that he had to make no fewer than twenty-five
King-moves, almost all in the little triangle KR2, KR3, KKt2.

IvKov R. BYRNE
Varna Olympiad 1962
French Defence

1 P-K4 P-K3 usually makes for interesting

2 P-Q4 P-Q4 play. White reckons that the
3 Kt-QB3 B-Kt5 two Bishops, together with a
4 P-K5 Kt-K2 half-open file, will more than
5 P-QR3 compensate for the badly doubled
An enterprising variation which QB-pawn.
 THE KING-HUNT
5 ... B x Ktch
6 P xB P-QKt3
The idea behind this move
emerges at moves 9 and 10.
7 Q-Kt4
This Queen move is one of
White's standard reactions to the
Winawer Variation of the French,
in which the KKt-pawn has been
left without defence, and the
whole course of the game is
often influenced by the method
Black uses to defend it. Some­
times he prefers to let it go.
7 ... Kt-Kt3
8 P-KR4
A vigorous line which has an un­
settling effect on Black's
attempts to get a comfortable
position.
8 ... P-KR4
9 Q-Ql
The white Queen retires, well
satisfied with the weakening in­
duced in the black K-side pawns.
It may be argued that the white
K-side has been equally weak­
ened; the difference lies in the
central pawn structure. One
does not need to be a grand­
master to see that White is bound
to have the initiative on this
side of the board, where it will be
difficult for Black to get any play
at all.
9 ... B-R3
Doctrinaire play-though not
necessarily bad for all that. The
theory is that owing to the black
pawn-chain on Q4, K3 and KB2
this Q-Bishop is a 'bad' Bishop,
with little scope, whereas the
white K-Bishop is much more
active, most of the white pawns
being on black squares. The
107
exchange of these two Bishops
is therefore reckoned as a strat­
egic success to Black. The flaw
to the reasoning in the present
case is that the black Q-Knight
finds itself 'developed' on QR3,
where it is if anything more out
of play than it was on QKtl. On
this worthless square it stands
unmoved for the next forty-five
moves, when Byrne gives it one
token move before resigning.
10 B x B Kt x B
1 1 B-Kt5 Q-Q2
12 Kt-K2 Q-R5
Black is correct in j udging that
his attack-if any-must be on
the Q-side, but the essential
move to play was P-QB4. As
played, the Queen j oins the
Knight in the wilderness, and it
is the absence of these two pieces
which provides White presently
with the opportunity of playing a
remarkable combination.
13 R-R3 Kt-K2
14 Kt-B4 P-Kt3
15 Q-Q2 K-Q2
16 B x Kt KxB
17 R-B3 QR-KB l
18 Kt�R3!
White plays relentlessly against
the weakened black squares :
invasion at KKt5 or KB6 can­
not be staved off.
18 . . . P-QB4
This comes much too late to in­
convenience White now.
19 Kt-Kt5 P-B5
It is difficult to see what Black
hoped to achieve with this further
advance. Perhaps he hoped that
by completely solidifying the
wall that cuts the board into
halves he could create an im­
pregnable region on the Q-side
108 THE KING-HUNT
into which his King could escape
in due course. But, as so often,
it is the little miracle of a sacrifice
which upsets all the calculations.
Three pawns for the Knight
already provide White with a
fair bargain and he �ight be
thinking in terms of a wm based
on his two passed pawns. In
fact his plan is : first open a file
on the K-side; then bring the
Rook across the back rank to
j oin the attack. He must never
allow Black to play Q x BP,
for then it would be extremely
difficult to get the Rook across.

27 Q-K7ch K-Kt3
28 Q-B6ch K-R2
29 Q-B7ch K-R3
30 P-Kt4!
Nicely timed : 30 . . . , Q x BP;
20 Kt x BP! R x Kt 31 P-Kt5 mate!
21 Q-Kt5ch K-Bl
22 R x Rch K xR 30 . . . P xP
23 Q-B6ch 31 Q-B6ch
This is evidently the position The next stage is to win the Kt­
which White had visualized. pawn with check.
Whenever he checks from KB6
or on the back rank the black 31 . . . K-R2
King is tied to the defence of his 32 Q-B5ch K-R3
Rook, and White can do a fair 33 Q-Kt5ch K-R2
amount of damage with his 34 Q-R5ch K-Kt2
checks. But the situation re­ 35 Q x Pch K-R2
mains quite tricky, for White has Now the ideal plan for White
only two pieces and one of them would be to drive the black
is right out of play. If he is to King on to the Kt-file and then
achieve more than a perpetual play K-Q2, threatening R­
check he must mobilize the Rook, KKtl with check. This proves to
and any roundabout method of be an impossibility, but the series
doing so would allow Black to of exploratory checks which fol­
bring Queen and Knight into lows serves the incidental purpose
action. I vkov has set himself an of gaining moves as the time
intriguing problem and his solu­ control draws near.
tion to it provides one of the most
fascinating passages of play in 36 Q-B5ch K-R3
this book. 37 Q-Kt5ch K-R2
38 Q-R5ch K-Kt2
23 ... K-Ktl 39 Q-Kt4ch
24 Q x KtPch K-Bl The position is identical with
25 Q-B6ch K-Ktl that on move 35. No doubt
26 Q x Pch K-Kt2 Black is keeping a sharp look-
 THE KING-HUNT 109
out for the draw by repetition of 47 Q-B4ch K-R2
position. 48 Q-B5ch
No harm in gaining a little more
39 . . . K-R2 time.
40 Q-B5ch
Now it is identical with move 36. 48 . . . K-R3
49 R x R QxR
40 . . . K-R3 50 P-K6
4 1 Q-K6ch K-R2 The threat of P-K7 and Q­
42 Q-K7ch K-R3 KB8 brings the end in sight.
43 Q-Kt5ch K-R2
44 K-Q2! 50 . . . Q-Kt2
Black, of course, has resolutely 51 Q x P
refused to quit the R-file, so The cruel annexation of a fourth
Ivkov takes the plunge. The and then a fifth pawn simply
Rook is to come across, even underlines Black's helplessness.
though not with check. This
means that Byrne now has one 51 . . . Q-B3
precious move at his disposal for 52 Q x P Q x BPch
strengthening his defence. After all he has gone through
Black probably found consider­
44 . . . Q-Kl able satisfaction in this check,
45 R-KKtl though it does him little good:
Each side now has Queen and the white King has an even
Rook in action but still there is better shelter on QKt2.
no peace for the black King.
Mate in one is threatened, and as 53 K-Bl Q-B5ch
soon as the black Rook emerges it He must attend to rescuing his
will be exchanged off. The wretched Knight.
white pawns will then prove too
much for the black Knight. The 54 K-Kt2 Kt-B2
White Queen is retained for 55 P-K7 Resigns.
harrying the enemy King: in The Knight which has j ust made
the absence of Queens the black its second move (out of 54!) is
King would suddenly become a now lost. The way in which a
strong piece. denuded King can paralyse a
whole game could hardly be
45 . . . R-Ktl better illustrated than in this en­
46 Q-B5ch K-R3 counter.

42
Chess played by post is far from being the long-drawn-out dull affair
some players imagine. The chance to consult books (this is perfectly
legitimate) lends precision to the opening and ending stages, while the
opportunity of analysing by moving the pieces to one's heart's content
llO THE KING-HUN T
brings about deep and surprising combinative play which would
be difficult to handle over the board. We had one example in Game
12. Here is another, in which a brilliant sacrificial attack sweeps the
black King right down to the eighth rank to be mated.

l\fosER UNDERWOOD
Played by Mail in Canada during 1962
Sicilian

1 P-K4 P-QB4 10 P-K5!

2 P-QKt4 Now the black King is in real
The Wing Gambit-one of the danger. White will soon be able
liveliest ways of treating the to play P-KB4 and have every
Sicilian Defence. Since one piece available for attack.
standard aim of the Sicilian
player is to prevent White from 10 P xP
obtaining a strong centre it 1 1 Kt x P QKt-Q2
often gives White an immediate 12 P-KB4 P-QKt3
psychological advantage to buy 13 P-B4 B-Kt2
a strong centre at the cost of a 14 Kt-QB3 P-QR3
wing pawn. Partly to prevent Kt-QKt5
but also to free the Q-Rook. The
2 ... P xP open QR-file which White ob­
3 P-QR3 tained from his gambit is playing
Another way of playing the its part.
gambit is 3 P-Q4.
15 B-Kt2 Q-Q3
3 ... P-K3 16 R-B2
4 P xP B xP By preventing a check White in­
5 P-QB3 B-K2 directly defends the QP; if 16 . . . ,
6 P-Q4 Q x P the Queen is lost after
This centre-perhaps not so 17 B x Pch.
strong as it looks-is White's aim
in the Wing Gambit. Black 16 ... KR-Kl
already has an endgame asset in 17 P-Kt4! Kt-Bl
his passed QR-pawn, but the 18 P-Kt5 Kt(3)-Q2
endgame is a long way away! 19 Kt-K4 Q-B2
20 Q-R5 Kt-Kt3
6 ... P-Q3
7 Kt-B3 Q-B2 (See diagram on page 111)
Black dawdles. It is an urgent With all the pieces still on the
matter to get the Knights out; board White has an attack which
or he could have taken an is really colossal; but how is he to
immediate crack at the white smash it home? This is where the
centre by P-KB4. finger-analysis comes in useful!

8 B-Q3 Kt-KB3 21 Kt x P!
9 0-0 0-0 If Black takes this Knight the
 THE KING-HUNT Il l

wood must have read with bulg­

ing eyes, went as follows:

22 . . . K-Bl
If 22 . . . , K x Kt White mates in
two by 23 P-Kt6ch and 24 Q­
R8.

23 Q-R8ch K x Kt
24 P-Kt6ch! K xP
25 R-Kt2ch!!
All this is beautifully played. If
Black refuses the Rook by 25 . . . ,
Position after 20 . . . Kt-Kt3 K-B4 White has 26 Kt-Q6
(double check again), K-B3;
attack will soon win through; 27 Q x P mate. If, on the other
e.g. 21 . . . , K x Kt ; 22 Q x P, hand, he plays 25 . . . , Kt x R then
R-Rl ; 23 Kt-Q6 eh! B x Kt; the white Bishop is freed from
24 B x Ktch, K-K2; 25 Q x Pch attack and a discovered single
and 26 Q x Reh. But Black has check from it is playable.
a promising-looking resource:
25 . . . Kt x R
21 . . . Kt x P 26 Kt-Q6ch K-Kt4
This way he will at least destroy If 26 . . . , K-B3 White's other
the white-square Bishop--0r so Rook comes across.
it seems.
27 Q x Pch K-R5
22 Q x Pch!! 28 Q-R6ch K-Kt5
The postman innocently drops a 29 B-K2ch B-B6
grenade through Mr. Under­ 30 B x Bch K xB
wood's letter-box. If Black takes 31 R-Blch K-K7
the Queen, White simply plays If 31 . . . , K-Kt5 White mates in
23 Kt-B6, and although there two by 32 P-R3ch and 33 Kt­
are two ways of interposing to K4.
the Bishop, one way of capturing
the Bishop and three ways of 32 R-B2ch K-Q8
capturing the Knight, all are 33 Q-Bl mate.
equally invalid. It is double Or 32 . . . , K-Q6; 33 Q-Q2
check and therefore mate. mate. Another advantage of
But this is not all: Moser's postal chess is that when you get
letter proceeds to announce that a lovely forced sequence like
he now mates in twelve! The this your opponent doesn't get a
rest of the letter, which Under- chance to resign!
 43
Jonathan Penrose (born 1934) has been one of the most successful of
all British champions-a worthy successor to Atkins and Yates. In
the 1963 Enschede Tournament of seventeen competitors he finished
just one point behind the winner, Gligoric. The most spectacular
of his ten wins was scored against Popov of Bulgaria, the black King
having to make a thirteen-move trek from KKtl to QR7.

PENROSE PoPov
Enschede Tournament 1963
Sicilian

1 P-K4 P-QB4 Backward play by Black in the

2 Kt-KB3 P-K3 openings is quite the fashion
3 P-Q4 P xP nowadays, but the present situa­
4 Kt x P P-QR3 tion, in which White has devel­
5 B-K3 Kt-KB3 oped all his minor pieces while
6 B-Q3 P-Q4 Black has apparently not yet
This cannot be good, since White made a start, is an extreme case.
has no need to exchange pawns. Perhaps Popov was thinking, as
6 . . . , P-K4 would have been Steinitz would have done, 'Now
more to the point but Black no I have no weaknesses'.
doubt disliked the idea of wasting
a tempo and confessing a change 8 . .
. Kt-QB3
of mind. 9 P-KB4 Kt x Kt
10 B x Kt Q-B2
7 P-K5 Kt-Ktl 1 1 0-0 B-B4
Nor was this necessary. Q2 was a 12 B x B Q x Bch
better retreat square. Still Black has only his Queen in
play ; but by destroying the white
pieces he is catching up in devel­
8 Kt-Q2 opment.

13 K-Rl Kt-K2
14 P-B4
A shrewd move. If Black should
push P-Q5 White gets an ex­
cellent square for his Knight at
K4. On the other hand if Black
refrains from this advance the
threat to open the QB-file will
make it out of the question for
him to castle Q-side; and if he
castles K-side White is nicely
poised for an attack with pieces.
 THE KING-HUNT
14 . .
. 0-0
15 Q-R5
As usual the absence of a Knight
from KB3 brings immediate dan­
ger.
15 P-R3
16 R-B3 P xP
17 Kt x P
The Knight threatens to pene­
trate powerfully to Q6. A plaus­
ible defence would be 17 . . . ,
R-Ql so as to answer 18 Kt­
Q6 with R x Kt (19 P x R, Q x Q).
But White could simply retire
18 Q-R4 which not only unpins
his K-pawn but pins the black
Knight and enforces Kt-Q6.
17 . . . Kt-B4
18 B x Kt Q x Kt
Black has escaped the danger
from the Knight but the pressure
from three pieces in the region
of his King is still serious.
19 B-Q3 Q-Kt5
20 R-Kt3!
White threatens Q x RP, and
the obvious defence 20 . . . , Q x
BP would only invite 21 R­
KBl , after which the black
King's position would rapidly
be over-run by the combined
weight of four pieces. Black
takes the only alternatin :
20 . . . K-Rl
21 Q-K2
A puzzling retreat : perhaps he
was hoping to force his Queen to
K4 later on. At any rate the
move conceals a vicious trap :
21 . . . , Q x BP; 22 R-Kt4!,
checkmating the black Queen in
mid-board. But the offer of the
pawn is so blatant that Popov
could hardly be expected to
113
assume that it was accidental.
21 . . . B-Q2
Black has almost equalized. He
now intends 22 . . . , B-Kt4,
destroying the white Bishop and
remaining with a tenable major­
piece ending.
22 P-QR3 Q-R5
If Black had had any inkling of
what was in Penrose's mind he
would certainly have played
22 . . . , Q-K2. But he is deter­
mined to play 23 . . . , B-Kt4.
23 R x P!!
The dramatic start to one of the
most spectacular King-Hunts of
recent years. It is interesting to
know from Penrose himself that
he had considered the combina­
tion two moves previously, when
his Queen stood on R5. Being
unable to see his way through all
the complications he dismissed
the whole idea as unplayable in
such an important game. (This
was a zonal tournament with a
bearing on the World Champio_n ­
ship.) Post-mortem analysis,
however, established that at
move 21 the sacrifice would have
been even stronger than it is at
move 23.
In view of the fact that Popov
114 THE KING-HUNT
is now threatening to draw any­
way by exchanging the Bishops,
and since the Rook sacrifice can
hardly yield less than a perpetual
check, Penrose now starts his
hunt, and conducts it triumph­
antly across all eight files and
seven ranks.
23 . . . K xR
2 4 Q-Kt4ch K-Rl
25 Q-R4
The threat of 26 Q x Pch and
27 Q-R7 mate now compels
Black to shed two more pawns,
after which the sacrifice of a
whole Rook looks a little less
vast.
25 . . . P-B4
2 6 P x P e.p. R-B2
27 Q x Pch K-Ktl
28 Q-Kt6ch K-Bl
29 Q-R6ch
These last two checks not only
gain useful time but also give
Black the opportunity of trying
to run a�ay by 29 . . ., K-Kl,
after which 30 Q-R8ch, R­
B l ; 31 B-Kt6ch would win
two pieces.
29 . . . K-Ktl
Thus White is assured of his
perpetual check; but how is he to
win?
30 Q-Kt5ch K-Bl
31 B-Kt6!
This is the winning move. Pen­
rose threatens not only 32 B x R,
after which K x B would allow
33 Q-Kt7ch, K-Kl ; 34 Q­
K7 mate, but also 32 Q-R6ch,
K-Kl ; 33 Q-R8 mate ; or
32 . . . , K-Ktl ; 33 B x Rch,
K x B; 34 Q-Kt7ch, K-Kl ;
35 Q-K7 mate. The attempt
31 . . . , B-Kl is no defence :
White still mates in three by
32 Q-R6ch, etc.
31 . . . P-K4
By creating a flight on K3 Black
just contrives to escape the mat­
ing variations given above; but
now he starts on his journey
down the white diagonal, straight
as an arrow from KKtl to QR7.
32 Q-R6ch K-Ktl
33 B x Rch K xB
34 Q-Kt7ch K-K3
35 Q-K7ch K-Q4
Here he had the option of doub­
ling back by 35 . . . , K-B4; but
then would follow: 36 Q x Pch,
K-Kt3; 37 Q-Kt5ch, K-B2.
Now there is no black K-pawn ;
therefore 38 R-Kl!, R-KKtl ;
39 R-K7ch, K-Bl; 40 Q­
R6ch and mate next move.
36 Q x Pch K-B5
Or 36 . . . , K-B3; 37 R-B lch,
K-Kt3 ; 38 Q-B5 mate.
37 R-Blch K-Kt6
Or 37 . . . , K-Q6; 38 R-B3ch,
K-Q7; 39 Q-K3ch, K-Q8 ;
40 R-Bl mate.
38 Q-B3ch K-R7
39 P-QKt4 Resigns.
He is mated by R-Rl .
 44
Victor Korchnoi (born 1931) and Leonid Stein (born 1934) each won
the U.S .S.R. Championship three times during the period 1960-67.
These two fine players have thus between them taken this strongest
national championship six times in eight years-Petrosyan and
Spassky taking the other two.
The following game was played not in the actual Soviet Cham­
pionship but in the Soviet Zonal Tournament of seven top contenders
for world honours which was played during the early months of 1964.
On this occasion it was Stein's turn to get the better of a rousing
encounter.

STEIN KoRCHNOI
Soviet Zonal Tournament, Moscow 1964
Sicilian

1 P-K4 P-QB4 1 0 Q-Kt3 Q-Kt3

2 Kt-KB3 P-Q3 These two moves speak eloquent­
3 P-Q4 P xP ly of the respective spheres of
4 Kt x P Kt-KB3 influence in which the two players
5 Kt-QB3 P-QR3 intend to operate. White moves
6 B-K2 to the K-side, preparing P-K5 ;
White relies on an old, well Black moves the other way,
tested variation. The more ag­ attacking and pinning the
gressive moves 6 B-KKt5 or Knight, and seeking to immobil­
6 B-QB4 are not necessarily ize the Q-Bishop . This provoca­
stronger. tive move forces Stein to choose
between retracing his steps with
6 ... P-K3 1 1 Q-B2 or letting the QKt­
Black also chooses an old forma­ pawn go.
tion-the Scheveningen Defence
-rather than the fashionable 11 B-K3!
schemes based on 6 . . . , P-K4. Stein accepts the challenge with
A great deal hung on the result alacrity . . .
of this game-possibly even the 11 ... Q xP
World Championship. . . . and Korchnoi in turn accepts
White's challenge. It has been
7 0-0 B-K2 recognized for a hundred years
8 P-B4 Q-B2 and more that winning the QKt­
9 Q-Kl pawn with the Queen in the early
The first really significant move: stages of a game is very danger­
he makes for the K-side. ous. Over the y ears the majority
of recorded examples show that
9 ... 0-0 the loss of time and position
116 THE KING-HUNT
involved are fatal in the long run. 19 Kt-B6ch B x Kt
Two striking examples which 20 P x B Kt-R4
occurred within a few weeks of 21 Q-R4 Q-Ql
one another were Byrne (R.)­ Black has matched move for
Evans, U.S. Championship in move, and still has his pawn, but
December 1965 and Hartston­ now the last white piece joins
Gligoric, Hastings, January 1966, the attack. The strain of finding
in both of which White won viable defensive moves in such a
brilliantly. This is not by any position is tremendous; attacking
means to say that the result is a moves are plentiful.
foregone conclusion. The pawn
has often been taken and held; 22 QR-Kl Kt(2) x P
Emanuel Lasker did it more than
once. Korchnoi likes a danger­
ous game and with the capture
he virtually compels White to go
all out for an attack, no doubt
hoping that he will over-reach
himself.

12 B-B2
This excellent retreat not only
defends the Q-Knight but threat­
ens to win a piece by 13 R-Ktl,
Q-R6; 1 4 Kt-Q5!, Q x Q;
1 5 Kt x Bch!
23 Kt-Kt5
12 . . . Q-Kt5 With the magnificent threat
13 P-K5 P xP 24 R x Kt, Kt x R; 25 B x Kt.
14 P x P Kt-Kl Black's only way then to save
He cannot play 14 . . . , Kt-Q4 King and Queen appears to be
because of 15 Kt-B5!, P x Kt; 25 . . . , Q-Kt3ch; 26 K-Rl,
16 Kt x Kt and again White P-KR4; but after that comes
will win the Bishop on Black's 27 Q x P!!, P x Q; 28 B-R7
K2. mate. With Steinitzian skill
Korchnoi returns both his extra
1 5 B-Q3 Q-R4 pawns to demonstrate that his
1 6 Kt-K4 position is still tenable.
This is the way it usually works
out. 'Stein has a six-piece attack 23 . . . P-K4!
against the black King while the 24 B x KP P-R3!
black Q-side pieces are as yet 25 B x Kt P x Kt
untouched. Yet Korchnoi's de­ 26 Q x P Kt x B
fensive skill brings him within an 27 R x Kt Q-Q5ch
ace of survival. 28 K-Rl Q-KKt5
Black has achieved what looks
16 . . . Kt-Q2 very like equality. The point
1 '7 Kt-KB3 P-KKt3 KKt3 is protected against sacri­
1 8 B-Q4 Kt-Kt2 fice, and he is ready to complete
 THE KING-HUNT 117

his development at last by B­ K-R2; 41 Q-B5ch, K-Ktl ;

B4. 42 R x R mate.

29 Q-R6 B-B4 40 Q-B4ch K-Q3

30 P-KR3 Q-Q5 Or 40 . . ., K-Kt3; 41 R-
Under the impression that the Kt3ch, K-R2 ; 42 Q-B5ch
draw is now safe he relaxes for K-Ktl ; 43 Q-Q6ch, K-R '. �
just one move. With 30 . . . , 44 Q-Kt6ch, K-Ktl ; 45 Q x
Q-QKt5, attacking the Roo� on mate. So the King starts on the
the back rank, the game might return crossing.
still have been held.
41 Q-Kt4ch K-Q4
42 R-Q3ch K-K4

31 R x B!!
And suddenly it's a King-Hunt.
43 Q-Q6ch!
31 . .
. p xR The elegant finishing touch to a
32 R-K3! Q-Kt2 masterpiece.
33 Q-R4 Q-R8ch
34 K-R2 KR-Kl
43 K xB
yet again Korchnoi has managed
to save both King and Queel?-, 44 R�B3ch K-Kt4
but now he is at the end of his Or 44 . . . , K-K5 ; 45 Q-Q3ch
:
resources. His Queen and o�e K-K4 ; 46 R-B5ch, K-K3
Rook are in the corners, and his 47 Q-Q5ch, K-K2 ; 48 R x p
mate.
King is now hunted across to
QB3, back to KR4 and finally
home again to be mated o!1 the 45 Q-B4ch K-R4
square which he now occupies. 46 P-Kt4ch K-Kt3
Or 46 . . . , K-R5; 47 Q-R6
35 R-Kt3ch K-Bl mate.
36 Q-R6ch K-K2
37 R-K3ch K-Q2 47 Q x Pch Resigns.
38 B x Pch K-B2 The finish might have been 47 . . . '
39 Q-B4ch K-B3 K-R3; 48 Q-R5ch, K-Kt,2;
49 R-B7ch, K-Ktl (Home. ) ;
Or 39 . . . , K-Kt3; 40 Q-Kt4ch, 50 Q-R7 mate.
 45
For our last game we return once more to the Olympiads. Since
their beginning in London in 1927 these great biennial gatherings
have produced something over twenty thousand games-a vast
reservoir of chess at every conceivable opening, played by every
grade of player from World Champions to unashamed skittlers.

PRINS DAY
Lugano Olympiad 1968
Sicilian

l P-K4 P-QB4 Bind-which is less fearsome

The last four games in this selec­ than it sounds.
tion are all Sicilians-a true
enough reflection of today's fash­
ion. It is onlv fair that this last 9 ... B-Kt2
one should be won by Black. In 10 B-K3 B-Q3
general it is White who gets the Black is not anxious to advance
brilliancies (and therefore the his Q-pawn and cheerfully ob­
publicity) in the Sicilian; Black's structs it. In fact it never does
wins are earned more patiently move.
and by less flamboyant methods.
This time the boot is on the other
11 P-R3
foot.
This is over-timorous. White
could have started operations at
2 Kt-KB3 P-Ka once by 1 1 P-B4.
3 P-B4
Unusual at this point. White
aims to neutralize all Black's 11 . . . B-K4
ambitions in the QB-file and also 12 Q-Qa P-KR4
makes it difficult for him to A violent and rash move which
achieve P-Q4. pays off in the present game.
Fortune favours the bold-some­
times!
3 ... P-QRa
4 B -K2 Kt-QBa
5 0-0 Kt-Ba 13 KR-Bl B-R7ch
6 Kt-Ba Q-B2 14 K-Bl Kt-K4
7 P-QRa P-QKta 15 Q-Ql Kt x KP
8 P-Q4 P xP 16 Kt-R4
9 Kt x P With all the pieces still on the
Now it is not so unorthodox after board complications proliferate.
all. White has achieved what is Prins has a remarkable scheme
sometimes called the Mar6czy in mind.
 THE KING-HUNT 119
16 Kt-B4 20 . . . B xB
21 P x B Kt-Kt5!
When Black played 12 .. ., P­
KR4 it was probably with this
move in mind sooner or later.
Now is the moment when it is
sound.

22 P x Kt
But there was no need for White
to accept the offer. He could
simply defend his K-pawn by
22 Q-Q3 with a playable game.

22 . . . P xP
17 Kt x KtP! ? 23 Kt-Kl?
Regaining his pawn. After Now he really is lost. Steinitz
White's forthcoming 18 Kt-B3, would certainly have relin­
attacking an undefended Bishop quished his winnings by 23 K­
on KR2 and simultaneously pin­ B2 with fair chances still. The
ning a Knight on QB5, he is attempt to keep the piece is
certain to get his piece back. fatal.
The idea is ingenious and tactic­
ally sound. Positionally, how­ 23 . . . R-R8ch
ever, it is questionable, as soon 24 K-B2
appears.

17 . . . Q x Kt
18 Kt-B3 Q-B3!
Unpinning the Knight and also
preventing 19 Kt x B because of
the reply Q x Pch. But White
still regains his piece.

19 B x Kt! B-B5!
All fascinating. Black now
threatens both 20 . . . , Q x B and
20 . . . , B x R.

20 B-K3 24 . . . P-Kt6ch!
This saves everything and is the Did Prins oYerlook this? Or
only way to do so. What Prins Black's next?
failed to foresee, however, when
starting his Q-side diversion with 25 K x P R x Kt!
his 1 6th and l 7th moves was how 26 Q x R Q x Pch
vulnerable his King would now 27 K-B4
be. Black is able to wreck the Or 27 K-R4, Q-R7ch; 28 K­
defences and start a murderous Kt5, P-B3ch; 29 K-Kt4, P­
King-Hunt. B4ch; 30 K-Kt5, Q-R3 mate.
120 THE KING-HUNT
27 . . . P-Kt4ch 30 K-Kt7 Q-Kt3ch
28 K-K5 (�-K5ch 31 K-R8 0-0-0
And White resigned quickly to mate!
spare his King the ultimate in­ A neat partner to Game 5 in
dignity of: which Morphy, l l O years earlier,
played 0-0 mate.
29 K-B6 Q-B4ch
 W.H.Cozens
THE KING-HUNT
IN CHESS
With its wide-open style of play, often breathtaking sacrifices,
and bold assault, the King-Hunt offers chess players one of the
most dramatic situations possible in the game of chess. When a
King is forced from a secure stronghold into the middle of the
board, the ensuing bombardment can he withering. This collection
of 45 games brings together some of the best attacks in the annals
of chess. Ranging in time from 1844 to 1968, the games exhibit
different styles of play and will be highly instructive for any reader
who wants to improve his own attacking skill.

The entire range of King-Hunts is here: some beginning early,

others starting late; some forced on hy the threat of mate, others
induced by brilliant sacrifices; hunts that go right across the board,
lateral hunts, even one hunt where Euwe hounds Szab6's King
over all eight ranks and all eight files; games where the King
evades his pursuers only to succumb at or near his starting point;
and fascinating games where the King is hunted relentlessly within
a confined space. Some of the games are won by little-known
players, including wins O\er the best, but most are victories of the
top masters, such as Staunton, Morphy, Anderssen, Steinitz, Schlcch­
tef, Lasker, Tarrasch, Marshall, Spielmann, Botvinnik, Euwe, Smyslov,
Kotov, Tai, and others. There are old favoriles and masterpieces
rarely seen in print, plus an exceptional game of special interest:
D. Byrne-fischer (New York, 1956) where the 13-year-old Fischer
conducts one of the greatest King-Hunts--aml one of the greatest
games-ever played.

Abounding in unusual combinations and brilliant intuitive play,

these games will delight chess players at every level of ability.
Though some are casual . and exhibition games, most are from
serious match and tournament play and are eminently worthy
of study. Perceptive annotations and an excellent introduction
help to elucidate each game.

Unabridged republication of the original (1970) edition. Int'Foduc­

tion by Irving Chernev. 93 diagrams. viii + 120pp. 5% x 80!.
23240-9 Paperbound

A DOVER EDITI_ON DESIGNED FOR YEARS OF USE!

We have made every effort to make this the best book possible.
Our paper is opaque, \l'ilh minimal show-through; it will not
discolor or become bri ttie with age. Pages are sewn in signatures,
in the method traditionally used for the best books, and will not
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