see that sometimes the Black Knight takes White's QBP ( 5 ) , and at other times the Bishop does. It just de
pends on how White plays. By playing 5 . . . BxP immediately, Black frees White from this uncer
tainty.
6
P-QR3White forces Black to declare his intentions. As can be seen from the preceding discussion, this is one of the best moves, since it avoids the complications that arise in other lines. White can also answer
6
BQ2 and
6
N-B3.6
. . . BxBPHere the exchange
6
BxN eh would have been a strategic mistake, as Black would have no compensation for the loss of the Two Bishops and would even have trouble winning back his Pawn.For instance :
6
. . . BxN eh; 7 QxB, N-K5; 8 Q-B2, NxQBP; 9 P-QN4, and White has an excellent game : 9 . . . KN-R3 is forced, and Black cannot attack White's Pawn formation by . . . P-QR4, as he actually does in the game.
7 P-QN4 ( ? )
Although White aggressively pushes back Black' s Bishop, the move is doubtful, because it means
a weakening of White's Q-side Pawns, a weakness of which Black will soon be able to take advantage.
Of course, one cannot generalize, but this move should always be looked upon with suspicion. It
de-pends on whether Black can take advantage of it with an eventual . . . P-QR4.
Or suppose that instead White should try the plausible-looking 7 B-N5? Black could then win a Pawn by 7 . . . BxP eh; 8 KxB, N-N5 eh, followed by . . . QxB, which illustrates how important it is not to play by rote, but rather to analyze at each step, especially looking into checks and captures.
White's best move here is 7 N
B3, maintaining that same slight superiority we have seen in other variations.
7 . . . B-K2
8 N-B3
The text is preferable to 8 B-N2, because in that case White loses the possibility of protecting his QNP by R-QNl.
If White should play 8 P-K4, the beginning of an entirely dif
ferent line, 8 . .. P-QR4; 9 P-K5, PxP!;
10
PxN, BxP, and Black stands best.8 . . . P-QR4
White has an imposing Pawn formation on the Q side. But Black,
Nimzo-Indian: 4 Q-B2, P-B4 Variation
1
7 by 8 . . . P-QR4, seeks to inducethe Pawns to advance in order to weaken them. This he can do the more easily, because White will not want to saddle himself with two isolated Pawns by PxP nor can he allow Black to play . . . PxP without first protecting his QR. If he plays 9 P-N5, Black can occupy and hold the important QB4 square after . . . P-Q3 and . . . N-Q2-B4.
9 R-QNl
The alternatives do not look attractive : ( a ) 9 P-N5 would give Black a strong square, as explained above; ( b ) 9 B-N2, PxP;
10
PxP, HxR eh;1 1
BxR, BxP costs aPawn; ( c ) 9 N-R2, PxP;
10
PxP, BxP eh, and White cannot retake without losing his Rook.9 . . . N-R
3
Black attacks White's QNP a second time, again inviting him to advance his NP, after which Black's QB4 square would be at his direct disposal.10
N-R2The Knight is forced to go to the edge of the board to protect the QNP. After only a few moves, White is already obliged to limit himself to defensive measures. This is all the consequence of White's
"enterprising" 7th move.
10 . . .
P-Q4Black continues his development in the regular way and at the same time enables his pieces to continue the Q-side attack. It is an attempt
to open the position in order to take maximum advantage of White's backward development, a bid to contest White's hold on the center with his QBP.
11
P-K3If
1 1
PxP, Black could retake with his Queen, Knight, or Pawn and obtain a satisfactory position in each case. If he answered1 1
... PxP, he would have a slight disadvantage in his isolated QP but the advantage of allowing his QB to come out.
If
11
P-B5, Black would try to break up White's Pawn formation by1 1
. .. P-QN3 or first by11
. .. B-Q2, as in this game.1 1
. . . B-Q2The Bishop also wants to play its part on the Q side.
12 P-B5 ( ? )
The die i s cast, but in the wrong direction. Preferable was 12 PxQP, in order to continue after 12 . . . NxP with 13 P-K4. Black can therefore do better after 12 PxQP by 12 . . . PxNP, and if
13
PxNP, NxQP, attacking White's NP at the same time. However, should Whitetry to win a Pawn by 13 PxKP, he Black six with castling. This means that in the time that White is com
pleting his development, Black can considerably strengthen his offen
sive on the Q side. thus continuing his questionable course instead of admitting it and playing PxP or allowing Black to exchange Pawns. White's intention was to get more room on the Q side. Now White has it-at the price of three tempi-and this makes the space worthless. It only creates weaknesses. True, with the text,
·white has established a Pawn ma
jority on the Q side, from which may and does result a passed Pawn.
The difficulty, however, is that a two clear advantages-in this game an advance in development and attacking chances against White's Q-side Pawns. The value of two advantages counts progressively.
To win the game on the basis of one advantage may be a difficult job, whereas having two advantages reduces the work to much less than half. No wonder the amateur who, just as in Game 1, does not make errors, cannot withstand the logical exploitation scheme of his master opponent.
13 . . . Q-B2
The text serves to prepare an attack against White's spearhead Pawn by . . . P-QN3. If Black had tried to attack White's spearhead Pawn directly by 13 . . . P-QN3, then there would have followed 14 P-B6 and 15 P-N5, and Black
sible, concentrating forces, and then, after a long, long consolida
tion, consider advancing it.
The opponent should handle a spearhead Pawn offensively by at
tacking it with a Pawn as soon as possible, without giving the pos
sessor an opportunity to break through.
Black plays 13 . . . Q-B2 in
stead of 13 . . . R-B l partly be
cause his QR may figure in some possible later tactical turns against
the White QN, partly because it may tum out that Black's KR could he mobilized to his QBI.
14 B-N2
This is a routine move, which White undoubtedly made on the theory that a Bishop is powerful when it is stationed on a long diag
onal. But the move does nothing against Black's threatened . . . P
QN3. The point of immediate con
cern in the White camp is that the White Queen is unprotected. Cor
rect, therefore, was 14 B-Q3, in order to be able to answer 14 . . . l'-QN3 by 15 PxP or even by 15 Q-K2.
14 . . . P-QN3!
Taking advantage of the pin along the QB file. Black now threatens to win a Pawn. A Pawn advantage is significant in itself, hut in this position, the extra QP will give Black the possibility of later converting his half-passed QP into a full-fledged passed Pawn.
It should finally be noticed that instead of the text, Black cannot play the sham sacrifice 14 . . .
NxBP because of the in-between moves 15 BxN or 15 B-K5 ( pro
tecting the Knight on R2 ) . 15 B-K5
Molesting the Black Queen and driving it to a somewhat less active square ( QBl ) , as a consequence of which Black's KR will not be able to occupy the QB file. The move also clears White's QN file for his QR.
15 . . . Q-Bl
The Queen has to maintain the pin.
16 BxKN
By forcing the reply 16 . . . BxB, he takes away one of the pieces attacking White's QB5.
This is the only way to save the Pawn, but on the other hand, it facilitates matters for Black by giv
ing him more freedom.
Could White have avoided the loss of a Pawn here without the exchange 16 BxKN? Let us exam
ine the position.
Black threatens 16 . . . PxP. The exchange 16 .. BxQN does not help, for after 16 . . . QxB, the White N ( R2 ) is attacked: 17 N-Bl , PxP;
18 PxP, Q-R4 eh.
The only possibility seems to be the sham sacrifice : 16 P-B6. What follows must be calculated exactly, as accidental combinations reign the field : 16 . . . QxP; 17 QxQ, BxQ; 18 P-N5, N-B4; 19 PxB,
RxN; 20 RxP. How can this posi
tion be judged? Material is even.
White has a powerful passed Pawn;
his prospects seem rosy. However, Black has one strong counter-trump, a better center as a result of his superior development, as appears from 20 . . . KN-K5; 21 P-B7, P
B3; 22 B-Q4, P-K4! ; 23 R-N8, R-Rl ; 24 BxN, BxB; 25 RxR eh, KxR; 26 B-R6, N-Q3, and Black wins a Pawn in the end because the White KB has to withdraw and then the White QBP is untenable.
16 BxB
17 BxN
Again to reduce the number of pieces and save the Pawn on QB5.
But this also means simply post
poning the execution.
After 17 P-B6 ( as in the former variation ) , QxP; 18 QxQ, BxQ; 19 P-N5, N-B4; 20 PxB, RxN; 21 RxP, R-R8 eh and Black's advan
tage is obvious.
17 QxB
Not 17 . . . RxB, because of 18 P-N5, followed by 19 P-B6.
18 N-Bl
By this series of exchanges, White has actually saved his Pawn, but . . .
18 . . . PxP
To isolate White's BP, which now becomes a very weak sister.
White cannot retake with the Queen, since then 19 . . . KR-B l would cost a lot of material.
19 PxP
Now that a new phase of the game is beginning, let us appraise the position. White has equality of Pawns and pieces, and his isolated QBP is a passed Pawn. It is most remarkable that it was Black who by his moves has created a passed Pawn for his opponent, for the un
derstandable reason, however, that this passed Pawn is isolated and vulnerable because Black's pieces stand more readily at his disposal -there are more attackers than de
fenders. The great handicap for White is that he has not castled and for the moment cannot castle.
Black, on the other hand, has excel
lent development, controls the QR file, and has the Two Bishops.
At this point, the maximum that Black can expect is ( a ) to win White's QBP; ( b ) to prevent White from castling. The minimum would be neither to win the Pawn nor to prevent White from castling.
Black fears that he cannot attain the maximum; therefore, he tries a midway course-to win the Pawn without preventing White from castling. With this in mind, he plays 1 9 . .. Q-R4 eh.
Another try would have been 19
KR-B l ; 20 N-N3, B-QN4; 21 KH-Bl. Also 19 . . . KR-N l looks very strong.
1 9 . . . Q-R4 eh Attacking the uncastled White King. Black cannot prevent White's castling in the long run, because White has Knights to cover the intervening squares, but he can
l ake advantage of the vulnerable position of the White King to make White lose time in protecting and
l hus himself win White's QBP. He
I herefore gives up trying to prevent White from castling in favor of try
ing to win White's isolated QBP.
20 N-Q2
White would prefer to exchange Queens, but 20 Q-Q2?, B-B6.
20 . . . B-R5
Black's pieces are free for action and harass the White Queen as 111uch as possible.
21 N-N3
The only move. If 21 Q-R2, C)xP; 22 0-0?, B-QN4, winning l hc exchange. So with this variant,
Black would prevent castling and ohtain the maximum.
21 . . . BxN
Without any hope for the maxi
m u m , Black wishes at least to win
l hc Pawn.
22 RxB KR-Bl
The White QBP is doomed. For instance, 26 P-B6, Q-R3;
24
P-B7, Q-R2, one of the many ways this Pawn may be eliminated.
23 0-0 RxP
Black could also have played
23
. . . QxP, inviting the exchange of Queens, but since the Black Queen is more active than the White Queen, Black does not wish the Queens exchanged at this time.White has now succeeded in castling, Black in attaining his par
tial aim of the win of a Pawn.
24 Q-Q
3
The game is entering another new phase. Black has won a Pawn, but the win of the game will not be easy, since both sides have only K-side Pawns. This makes the short
legged Wh,ite Knight relatively more powerful than the long-legged Black Bishop. For the moment, however, the Black Bishop is very strong. From its excellent post at its KB3, it exercises pressure all along the diagonal, and particularly on White's key squares QRl, QN2, QB3.
24 . . .
QR-QBlThe Black strategy at this point will be ( a ) a routine move.:....dou
bling Rooks in order to play the Rook to B6, B7, or B8, depending on the situation; ( b ) safety for his King; ( c) penetrating White's posi
tion, which he does with 26 . . . R-B6; ( d ) trying to find objects of attack; ( e ) the push of the QP.
25 P-N3 P-N3
In a struggle between heavy pieces, it is always a good policy to create escape squares for the King.
26 R ( B ) -N l
White also doubles Rooks, which gives hitn possibilities such a� R
N5 or R-N8.
26 . . . R-B6
Black can never make progress without exchanging at least one or two of the heavy pieces, first be�
cause the White Rooks control too many squares, next because White himself can play R-N8 and ex
change one Rook at any time.
27 RxR RxR .
Black recaptures with his Rook rather than with his Queen because his Queen is more active than White's and he wishes to retain it.
28 Q-Bl K-N2
Sometimes such K moves are made to guard the King against sudden assaults. Here, the move is made to cut down on White's poten
tial avenues of escape. Supposing the White Rook or the White Queen
should get into trouble-if the threatened piece could escape by giving a check-this would afford it time and release.
29 N-B3
The White Knight looks for a square from which to blockade the Black half-passed QP, which will soon come into action.
29 . . . P-K4
With the clear intention of push
ing the QP at the right moment.
30 K-N2
White protects his Knight in order to be able to answer the expected . . . P-Q5 with PxP, which would not be possible if the Knight were unprotected. Without White's being able to play PxP, Black could probably obtain a protected passed Pawn, that is, a passed Pawn protected by an adja
cent Pawn, and a very advanced one.
However, White defends his Knight in the wrong way, as will be seen from the continuation.
Preferable was 30 Q-K2 or 30 Q
Q 1. Still better would have been
30 N-Kl in order to answer 30 Pawn is to blockade it with a piece.
This is especially effective if it is an isolated passed Pawn, for then it is difficult to drive the blockader away.
But if White had played 30 N
Kl, Black would have postponed the advance of his QP until he could have advanced it without its becoming a blockaded passed Pawn.
30 31 PxP
P-Q5 Q-Q4!
A so-called "eternal pin," which decides the struggle. The White King cannot unpin, because the Knight needs protection-a well
known situation which the reader should keep in mind.
Note that although the strategic plan of Black calls for the queen
ing of the passed Pawn, Black does not .lose the opportunity offered to
him gratis of making the most of a tactical situation brought about by the pin of the Knight. 3 1 . . . very instructive way, but there was nothing to be done anyway. If 33
Black threatens 34 P-N5.
34 P-N4
If 34 P-R3, P-R4.
34 . . . P-R4!
If now 35 PxP, then 35 . . . P
N5.
35 P-R3 36 PxP 37 Q-K2
PxP Q-K5
There is no defense. The move 37 K-N3 is answered by 37 B-K4 eh or 37 Q-B5 eh.
37 . . . 38 K-Bl Or 38 . . . RxN
39 Resigns
QxP eh QxN
To a certain extent, the amateur loses the game because he did not
realize that the advanced Pawn on the Q side would be weak in this very special case. The question is very subtle, and even a master could go wrong in such a situation.
As a matter of fact, there are even grandmaster games along the same line, and it is precisely on the basis of these games that the active chess player knows that he has to be careful with P-QR3, P-QN4 at such an early stage of the game.
Our amateur did not know this. He cannot be blamed for that, and once on the defensive, one could even pardon him for continuing the wrong strategy by his 12th move P-B5. After that, he could not escape being forced to the de
fense and later losing the Pawn.
He put up the best defense pos
sible, and only toward the very end could he have chosen a line that would have offered more resistance.
Game 3
The English Opening
Ways of maintaining equality in the opening Ways of maintaining equality in the middle game The flexible Pawn majority
Attack on Black's Q-side formation
Exploiting the weakness in a Pawn formation Motives for exchanging pieces
Vulnerability of King in the middle of the board
Chess games are not always won by a blitz attack on the King posi
tion or by drawing the King into a mating net. Sometimes the arrange
ment of the pieces and Pawns dictates an attack far from the King itself, and-as we have already seen in Game 2-at times the opponent's Pawn structure is the object of a winning strategy.
In principle, the strongest Pawn formation is that where all the Pawns stand in a horizontal row. At the outset of the game, the Pawns on both sides stand thus, in a position without weaknesses. As soon as a Pawn advances out of the horizontal position, it becomes a target for an enemy Pawn attack, which may result either in opening a file to the advantage
of the opponent, or leaving the player who advances his Pawns with a weak Pawn position, or in both. DisadvantagedUs formations, such as isolated Pawns, doubled Pawns, backward Pawns, etc., all have their drawbacks, and such weaknesses can often be exploited. Another question is how to induce the opponent to create these weak Pawn positions.
One of the slight disadvantages of the fianchetto move P-N3 is that the opponent is sometimes able to advance his opposing RP to R5 in order, after exchanging this Pawn, to open the Rook file or to weaken
the hostile NP on its N3.
When the opponent's King is castled short and when he has fianchettoed
on the same side, the advance of the other player's KRP may result in an
25
open KR file, which may become a powerful weapon against the hostile King, in general, more powerful than an open R file on the Q wing.
Against the uncastled fianchettoed Q wing the technique is different.
There, the QBP is often advanced to hold or contest the center, leaving the fianchettoed QNP with only the QRP to defend it. In such cases, the P-QR4-QR5xQN6 attack is often effective against this weakened fianchetto. It can result on the one hand in a weakened Q-side Pawn position for the player who has fianchettoed, or it could force him to protect his Q-side Pawns with pieces; once his pieces are immobilized, to protect his Pawns, the other player can take advantage of the situation in quite a different way, namely by undertaking action on some other part of the board.
English Opening Master
White 1 P-QB4
Amateur Black
Instead of occupying the center, White develops a side Pawn with the idea of avoiding contact with the opponent at the early stages of the game in order to develop rapidly.
This type of game, called the English Opening, often leads to a K-side fianchetto for both sides.
By transposition, it may also lead to any one of a number of com
moner openings, such as the Queen's Gambit Declined ( see Games 1 1-14 ) or to some one of the various Indian openings ( see Games 9, 10, 19-22, and 24 ) . Part
moner openings, such as the Queen's Gambit Declined ( see Games 1 1-14 ) or to some one of the various Indian openings ( see Games 9, 10, 19-22, and 24 ) . Part