ASWERS FOR CHAPTER 3 79

28 1c3 was stonger. Now Black's

c2-pawn ensures enough counterplay
for a draw.
28 .. d7 29 'xa7+ c8 30 ' a6+
d7 31 ' al ' xe4 32 lxe4 .xe4 33
'd4+ cc7 34 We5+ <d7 35 ' d6+
<c8 36 'i xe6+ b8 37 \e5+ ra7 38
' al + b7 39 f3 :d8 40 'b2+ rc7
41 f ldl 42 1e5+ <c8 If.
1h
43 1e8+ c7 44 'e7+ gives White
peretual check.
It wasn' t too long after this game
that Hodgson was allowed to use a
simila motif to 24 c4, and this time I
was the unfortunate victim:
Emms - Hodgson
British Ch (Plymouth) 1989
1 e4 d6 2 d4 lf6 3 lc3 c6 4 f4 'i a5 5
'i f3 d5 6 e5 le4 7 .d3 la6 8 lge2
lb4 9 .xe4 dxe4 10 ' xe4 (D)
lO ... fS! 11 ex6 .f5!
Black went on to win the gae.
Puzzle 87
A. Petrosian - Hazai
Schilde jr 1970
( 1 c4 g6 2 lc3 .g7 3 d4 lf6 4 e4
d6 5 f3 e5 6 d la6 7 .e3 lh5 8 'i d2
1h4+ 9 .f1e7 10 0-0-0 0-0 l l .e3
f5 1 2 .d3 f4 1 3 .f .f6 1 4 lge2
.h4 15 .g 1 .d7 1 6 <b 1 b6 17 lc 1
lc5 1 8 .c2 a 1 9 .xc5 bxc5 20 .a4
.xa4 21 lxa4 :t8 22 1c2 h8 23
ld3 lb4 24 :a3 1e8 25 ld3 g5 26
h3 lf6 27 :c 1 <g7 28 b3 ld7 29
'd2 lb7 30 ldb2 lb6 3 1 al h5 32
ldl lxa4 33 lxa4 lb 34 lc3 'c8
35 lb5 .g3 36 'e2 f6 37 lbl e7
38 a3 :xa4 39 bxa4 d8 40 lc3 lb8
41 lb5 lxb5 42 axb5 'i a8 43 la4
1a7 44 a2 <c8 45 1b2)
Hazai tied a very cheek move:
45 . \b6! !
This worked a teat after White's
rather caeless reply.
46 lxb6+?
With a little more thought White
might have seen that he should instead
go for the systematic attack on the a
pawn; for example, 46 'i d2
1
a7 47
<b3 b7 48 lb2 <tb6 49 <a4! .h2
50 ld3 and White will follow up with
5 1 lc l and 52 lb3, after which the
pawn is lost and White should win
comfortably.
46 . cxb6
Now Black threatens simply 47 . . . h4,
with an absolute ' shut-out' so . . .
47 h4 gxh4 48 ' d2 h3! 49 gh3 h4
It's clea tat White can make no
progess whatsoever.
50 b3 b7 51 <ia4 qa7 52 ' g2
b7 53 'b2 qa7 54 ' c2 b7 55
' c3 a7 1h-l/2
Puzzle 88
Braga - Tim man
Mar del Plata 1982
( 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d 3 e5 .f5 4 lc3 e6
5 g4 .g6 6 lge2 c5 7 .e3 lc6 8
dxc5 lxe5 9 ld4 lf6 1 0 f4 lexg4
1 1 .b5+ e7 12 .gl 1c7 1 3 c6 b6
80 THE MOST AAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
14 'i e2 'i x4 1S c7 l4 1 6 l6+ d6
17 h3 'ig3+ 1 8 f1 'i f4+ 19 e1
'i g3+ 20 f1 'i xc3 21 'i xg4 'i xb2
22 a4 'xa1 + 23 <ig2 fS 24 14 'i f6
2S ih2+ cS)
Braga entertained the audience
with the following sequence:
26 lb8! !
I have to admit that te fa more
mundane 26 ig1 +! also appeas to
draw, a 26 . . . d6 27 ih2+ is a per
petual, while 26 . . . d4 27 ixd4+ 'i xd4
28 lxd4 xd4 29 ic6 looks ex
tremely risk for Black.
26 . .'xh4 27 c81+ b4
27 . . . <d4 looks fa too risk. After
28 ld1 + e3 29 ld3+ <e2 30 ig3 !
1xg3+ (30 . . . lxg3 3 1 ld4+ <e1 32
'c3#) 3 1 lxg3+ <d1 32 ld3+ White
should win.
28 lbl+ <a 29 lal+ <b4
29 . . . b2? loses to 30 ieS+.
30 lbl+ a3 31 lal+ b4 1h-1
Puzzle 89
Chandler - Speelman
British Ch (Edinburgh) 1985
( 1 e4 c6 2 d4 dS 3 eS ifS 4 h4 h5 S
c4 dxc4 6 ixc4 e6 7 lc3 ld7 8
lge2 ie7 9 lg3 ig6 10 lce4 lh6
1 1 lgS 'i a+ 1 2 id2 ib 13 l3e4
ixe4 14 lxe4 lfS 1S ic3 ixc3+
16 bxc3 ld8 17 id3 lxd4 18 ld6+
<e7 1 9 0-0)
Now 1 9 . . . lxeS allows White to
win the exchange with 20 cxd4 lxd3
21 lxb7, while 1 9 . . . 'i xc3 20 lc 1
' a3 21 f4 gives White some pressure
in return for the two pawns. Instead
Speelman reacted with:
19 . lf3+! !
''he knight on d4 is en prise, which
makes it a desprado; a doomed piece
trying to sell its life a dealy a possi
ble" - Speelman. After this aaing
move White is already in serious tou
ble.
20 gxf3
An important alterative is 20 'xf3
lxeS and here Speelman gives the
following lines:
a) 21 'i g3 lxd6 22 'xg7 'i xc3 !
23 'i xh8 (or 23 h1 lxd3 24 'i xh8
lh3+! and Black mates) 23 . . . lf3+.
b) 21 lfS+! exfS 22 lae1 lhe8!
23 1xfS (23 ixfS g6 24 ic2 f
leaves Black a fairly comfortable pawn
ahead, since 2S 1f6 le6 26 :xeS ! ?
lxeS 27 ixg6 ld7 dosn' t give White
enough play for the material invested)
23 . . . f8 24 'xhS lxd3 2S 'ih8+
re7 26 'i xg7 d8 27 hS 'i xc3 28 h6
lf3+! 29 gxf3 'i xg7+ 30 hxg7 lg8
and Black should win the endgae.
20 ... lxe5 21 lxb7 'c7 22 lxd8
22 lcS 'i d6 is also good for Black;
for exaple, 23 lb7 'ixd3 24 lxd8
lxf3+ 2S h1 (or 25 g2 lxh4+ 26
<h2 'i e4) 25 . . . 1f5 26 lxc6+ <f6
and White must give up his queen to
avoid mate.
22 lxd8 23 f4 lxd3 (D)
w
2 'i x5?
ASWERS FOR CHAPTER 3 81
This allows a crushing attack on the
white king. White's last chance lies in
24 fxe5.
24 ... lf3+ 2s g2 ' xf4 26 :rd1
lxe3 27 lab1 'h2+ 28 <n 1h3+
29 e2 le2+ 30 e3 lxh4+ 0-1
Puzzle 90
lvanchuk - Seirawan
1lburg 1992
( 1 d4 lf6 2 c4 e6 3 lc3 .b4 4 e3
c5 5 lge2 cxd4 6 exd4 d5 7 c5 le4 8
.d2 lxd2 9 1xd2 a 1 0 a3 .xc3 1 1
"lxc3 .d7 12 .d3 a4 1 3 0-0 lc6 14
lae1 lxd4 1 5 lxd5 .c6 1 6 lb6)
I asked whether Black should move
his rook or go onto the counterattack.
Seirawan did both:
16 . la5! !
This incredible move attacks the
c5-pawn, but also puts the rook en
prise.
17 ld1
1 7 ' xa5 allows Black a winning at
tack wit 17 . . . lf3+! 1 8 <th1 ( 1 8 gxf3
' g5+ 1 9 h1 .xf3#) 1 8 . . . ' h4 1 9 h3
1f4! , while 17 lc 1 loses to 17 . . . lb3.
Thus Black gains a pawn.
17 .. :xeS 18 .e4! ? 1xb6 19 1xd4
0-0 20 le1 lbS 21 ' xa4 .xe4 22
' xe4 lxb2 23 lb1! leS 2 g3 g6 25
a4!
White is aiming for a rook ending,
as the queen ending after 25 lxb2
1xb2 26 lb1 lc 1+ 27 lxc 1 1xc 1+
28 'g2 gives Black good winning
chances.
25 1b3 26 lxb2 'i xb2 27 'ibl !
:e2 28 \xb2 lxb2 29 a gS 30 :al
rg7 31 a6 bxa6 32 :xa6
White has managed to simplify
down to a rook ending which is drawn
with caefl play.
32 g4 33 la4 hS 34 h3! gxh3 35
:b4 lbl+ 36 h2 lfi 37 lf4 eS 38
lf3 g6 39 cx3 e4 40 le3 rs 41
<g2 :d1 42 la3 h4 43 gh4 <hS 44
:as g4 45 hS :d6 (D)
46 f3+! exf3+ 47 f ld2+ 48
<el lh2 49 :as lxhS 50 f lh2+
st n 4 52 lb8 ld 53 :as lb2
54 le8 f 55 le3 e4 56 la3 ld2 57
lb3 ld3 58 lxd3 xd3 59 xf
e4 60 <e2 f4 61 <f f3 62 <n
lf.lf
9 Amazi ng Openi ng Surpri ses
In tis modern age we live in an era of advanced chess information, caused by
massive computerized chess databases and high-tech communications. Top
players cannot make a single move without anyone and everyone knowing about
it the next day and so it' s much more difcult to keep new ideas a secret and thus
reap more beneft from them. Nevertheless, surprising your opponent with a new
move in the opening remains a powerful weapon. It imediately puts him on the
back foot as he attempts to work his way through te complications. And all this
in the knowledge tat you've been looking at it for hours in the comfort of your
own home, perhaps with a nice cup of tea and the latest version of Fritz whirring
in the background.
Of course tere have been many important theoretical novelties discovered in
the history of chess (I guess 1 e4! was one of them). Here ae 1 8 of my own fa
vourites.
This line aises from the Open De
fence to the Ruy Lopez. Black has just
played the advance . . . d4. What stun
ning move can White play here?
This line arises from the Petof De
fence. Formerly White had tied 1 3
:e 1 . What new idea forced a major re
assessment of this line?
AANG OPENING SURPRISES 83
93
w
This is another position from the
Open Lopez. What brilliant new move
was played here?
94
w
95
w
This position aose fom a sharp
line in the Queen's Indian Defence.
Black's last move was . . . .b7-c8, at
tacking White's vulnerable knight on
f5. What should White play?
Black's lat move wa 13 . . . c6. What This position is precaious for
incredible reply forced Black to aban- Black, but 29 :d3 lxd3 30 .xd3+
don this move (in favour of 1 3 . . . .e6)? g8 3 1 .h7+ f8 32 .f5 <g8 33
.h7+ f 34 .f5 g8 35 lxe6 'c7!
allowed Black to escape wit a draw in
Luther-Borges, Elista OL 1 998. How
can White improve on tis?
84 THE MOST AANG CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
97
w
This position aises from a very
shap vaiation of the Nimzo-Indian
Defence. White's next move has (at
least for the moment) put this line out
of comission as fa as Black is con
cerned. What does White play?
98
B
This position aises fom a well
known line in the Petof Defence. Un
til a few yeas ago, everone thought
that Black had to play 4 . . . d5 here. How
was this belief shattered?
99
w
Here's a typically complex position
aising fom the Botvinnik Variation
of the Semi-Slav Defence. What stag
gering move did White come up with
here?
This position, aising fom the Si
cilian Taimanov, had been seen many
times before Black cae up with a
staling new way to play the position.
What was the novelty?
AAZNG OPENING SURPRISES 85
This position aises from a line of
the Grinfeld Defence that was quite
fashionable in the 1980s. What sur
prising novelty did White come up
with here?
White has just played 'd 1-a4+,
forking king and kight. What should
Black do about this?
This is another position from the
contoversial Botvinnik Vaiation of
the Semi-Slav Defence. In 1 993, a
statling new move was played here.
What was it?
Z @_
10
g

&
B

.... .

- -

; ,,

This position aises fom the Ta
rasch Vaiation of the French Defence.
Black has a surprisingly effective
move here. Can you spot it?
86 THE MOST AMAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
This position aises fom the Mod
ern Benoni. Can you suggest an outra
geous move for Black?
Up to the ealy 1 980s, 9 . . . lc6xd4,
giving the position above, used to be
Black's main move in the g3 Taima
nov. What happened to change this?
Black has just played lO . . . lf6-e4,
forking queen and bishop. How should
White react?
This position occured tee times
on three diferent boads in the sae
round in the same tournament, with
te net result of three wins for White.
To round things of, all three white
players played the same move here.
What was it?
Answers for Chapter 9
Puzzle 91
Karpov - Korchnoi
Baguio Cit Wch ( 10) 1978
( 1 e4 e5 2 lf3 lc6 3 ibS a6 4
ia4 lf6 S 0-0 lxe4 6 d4 b5 7 ib3
dS 8 dxeS ie6 9 lbd2 lc5 10 c3 d4)
Here Karpov uncorked an amazing
novelty:
11 lg5! !
This staggering move is thought to
be an invention of Kapov 's trainer
Igor Zaitsev. It seems unlikely that
White can get away with simply put
ting his kight en prise, but such is the
stength of this move, it is still consid
ered White's most critical line even to-
day.
11 ... dxc3
This was Korchnoi's choice in the
stem game. Black has two oter op
tions:
a) 1 1 . . . idS ! ? is a relatively new
invention of the Bosnian grandmaster
I van Sokolov, but it curently lies un
der a cloud after Svidler-Anand, Dos
Hermanas 1 999, which continued 12
lxt! xf7 1 3 'f+ e6 14 \g4+
qe7 1 5 e6! ixe6 1 6 le1 'i d7 17
ixe6 lxe6 1 8 tf3 le8 19 lg5
lcd8 20 id2 h6 21 lf3 'i d5 22 :es
'd6 23 cxd4 hS 24 'i e4 and White
had a clea advantage. Something new
is required for Black if 1 1 . . . id5 can
be deemed to be playable.
b) 1 1 . . . 'xgS is te most obvious
continuation. White plays 12 'f3 and
now:
b1) 1 2 . . . <id7 1 3 idS ixd5 14
1
xdS+ id6 1 S cxd4 lxd4 1 6 lc4 is
clealy better for White, Brendum -
Brinck-Claussen, Denmak 1 979.
b2) 12 . . . id7 1 3 ixf7+ 'e7 14
idS lxe5 1 5 'i e2 d3 16 'i e 1 c6 17 f4
1h6 1 8 if3 ! led to a win for White in
Wolf-Flea, London 1 990.
b3) 12 . . . 0-0-0! is Black's best re
sponse and possibly the critical line of
the whole 1 1 g5 vaiation. After 1 3
ixe6+ fxe6 1 4 'i xc6 'xeS 1 S b4!
'd5 ! 1 6 1xd5 exdS 1 7 bxcS dxc3 1 8
lb3 d4 19 ia3 Black has two con
nected and advanced passed pawns for
the piece. No real conclusions have
been drawn as to whether this gives
Black enough compensation.
12 lxe6 fxe6 13 bxc3 'i d3 14 f3
'xd1 15 ixd1
Black is only a little worse and te
game was eventually drawn ( 1 S . . . ie7
1 6 ie3 d3 1 7 ib3 f7 1 8 lad1
ldxeS 1 9 lxeS+ lxeS 20 if4 lc4
21 ixc4 bxc4 22 ld4 id6 23 ie3
lhb8 24 lxc4 lb2 2S a4 la2 26 g3
lb8 27 :d1 lbb2 28 :dd4 :b1 + 29
<g2 :ba1 30 :h4 h6 3 1 ic5 eS 32
ia7 e6 33 :cg4 ie7 34 :hs if6
3S :c4 d7 36 ib8 c6 37 :e4 :xa4
38 c4 :a 39 ixe5 ixe5 40 lhxeS
lxeS 41 :xeS :a4 42 :e4 :a 43 h4
hS 44 :f4 1/2- 1/). However, this is by
no means the end of the story. See later
in the chapter (Puzzle 93) for a sub
stantial improvement for White in this
variation.
88 THE MOST AAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
Puzzle 92
Nadanian - Sharbatov
corr 1992
( 1 e4 e5 2 f3 f6 3 xe5 d6 4
lf3 xe4 5 d4 d5 6 id3 c6 7 0-0
ig4 8 c4 f6 9 lc3 ixf3 10 'i xf3
lxd4 1 1 'h3 te6 1 2 cxd5 txd5)
White played:
13 ig6! !
Putting the bishop en prise to two
pawns is very 'visual' . Funnily enough,
another novelty of simila value and
surprise was actually played aound
the sae time. 1 3 ib5+! ! looks like a
silly move, until you spot that 1 3 . . . c6
can be answered by 14 ld1 ! , as in
Pletanek-Dufek, cor. 1992. Follow
ing 14 . . . cxb5 1 5 lxd5 'i c8 1 6 ie3 !
ib4 17 xb5 0-0 1 8 lc 1 White held
a clea advantage.
13 ... fd7
Alteratively:
a) 1 3 . . . xc3? 14 'i xe6+ 'i e7 15
ixf7+ d8 16 ig5 ! is winning for
White.
b) 1 3 . . . hxg6 14 'i xh8 wit advan
tage to White.
c) 13 . . . fxg6 14 'i xe6+ le7 1 5 ld1
'i c8 1 6 'ib3 and White's initiative is
worth more than a pawn.
d) 1 3 . . . e7 14 ld1 'i c8 15 ic2
and again Black has touble complet
ing his development.
14 le1! 0-0-0?
14 . . . ie7 1 5 lxe6 txc3 1 6 ig5 !
ld5 17 lxe7+ xe7 1 8 ixf7+! is
winning for Wite, but Nunn suggests
14 . . . fxg6! as being Black's best move.
For exaple, 1 5 'i xe6+ txe6! ? 16
lxe6+ d7 17 xd5 xe6 1 8 xc7+
rf7 1 9 xa8 id6 and Black regains
the piece with an equal position.
15 xd5 hxg6
1 5 . . . fxg6 1 6 :xe6 'i xd5 17 ig5 !
and 1 5 . . :ixd5 1 6 ixf7 ae winning
for White.
16 1xh8 ib4 17 ' xd8+! 1xd8
18 xb4 a 19 c2 1d3 20 a3!
White's extra material is decisive.
20 ... b5 21 ie3 b4 22 led1 1a6 23
lc2 1-0
Puzzle 93
Kasparov - Anand
New York PCA Wch ( 10) 1995
( 1 e4 e5 2 f3 c6 3 ib5 a6 4
ia4 f6 5 0-0 xe4 6 d4 b5 7 ib3
d5 8 dxe5 ie6 9 bd2 c5 10 c3 d4
1 1 g5 dxc3 12 lxe6 fxe6 1 3 bxc3
'i d3 14 ic2 'i xc3)
15 b3! !
White defends the rook with his
knight, but the knight can be captured.
This was the result of some of Kaspa
rov's legendary opening prepaation
and over te boad he bashed it out a
tempo. Anand thought for 45 minutes
before making his reply.
15 . xb3
In te strictest sense 1 5 lb3 wasn' t
actually a novelty; it had previously
been played in the obscure corespon
dence game Berg-Nevestveit, 1 990,
which continued 15 . . . :d8 1 6 id2
'i xe5 17 :e1 'i d5 and now Ian Rog
ers's suggestion of 1 8 'i g4 seems to
give White a stong attack.
16 ixb3 td4
The aterative is to capture the rook
immediately wit 16 . . . 1xa1 . Kapaov
was then planning 1 7 1h5+! :
a) 1 7 . . . d7? 1 8 ixe6+ <xe6 1 9
' g4+ f7 20 'i f3+ Ce6 (or 20 . . . g8
21 'd5#) 21 'ixc6+ id6 22 exd6
'i e5 23 id2 ' xd6 24 :e 1 + r;f 25
'i f3+ g6 26 'ig4+ r;f7 27 ic3 !
ASWERS FOR CHAPTER 4 89
and Black ha no defence against the
various threats.
b) 1 7 . . . g6 1 8 'f3 ld8 ! 1 9 1f6
lg8 20 xe6! and now: 20 . . . lxe6 21
1xe6+ e7 22 'i xg8+ and White
wins comfortably; 20 . . . g7 21 f7+!
lxf 22 'i e6+ also wins for White af
ter 22 . . . f8 23 a3+ or 22 . . . d8 23
ld1+; 20 . . . e7 21 d7+! xd7 22
e6+ lxe6 23 'i xa1 with a clea ad
vantage to White; 20 . . . :g7 21 a3
'i xf1 + 22 xfl and again White is
better.
17 ' g4! ' xa1 18 xe6 ld8 (D)
18 . . .'c3 ! may be Black' s best ty
here. Kaspaov then recomended 19
.d7+ f7 20 e3, without giving
furter analysis. After 20 . . . .c5 White
has many promising continuations,
but I cannot fnd a real knockout blow.
However, Lar y Christiansen's 21 e6+
g8 22 xd4 xd4 (22 . . . 1xd4? 23
1f3) 23 1f5 f6 (23 . . . lf8? 24 e7 !
forces mate) 24 'd5 g6 25 'i xa8+
rg7 26 'ixa6 leaves White with a
clea plus.
19 ih6!
This was still all pat of Kaspaov's
prepaation and thus was bashed out at
the boad.
19 ' c3 20 xg7 1d3 21 xh8
' g6
After 21 . . . le2+ 22 <h1 lg3+ 23
hxg3 'i xf1 + 24 <h2 White's attack is
too stong.
22 f6 e7 23 xe7 'i xg4 24
ixg4 qxe7 2S lc1!
An important fnesse, preventing
. . . c5. This endgame is won for White,
and Kaspaov's technique didn' t let
him down.
2S . . c6 2 f4 aS 27 1 a4 28 <e3
b4 29 d1 a 30 g4 :ds 31 :c4 cS 32
<e4 :d8 33 :xeS le6 3 ldS lc8
35 fS lc4+ 36 <e3 lcS 37 gS :c1 38
:d6 1-0
Puzzle 94
Browne- Bi sguier
US Ch (Chicago) 1974
( 1 e4 e5 2 lf3 lf6 3 lxe5 d6 4
lf3 lxe4 5 d4 d5 6 d3 ie? 7 0-0
lc6 8 c4 lb4 9 cxd5 lxd3 10 1xd3
'i xd5 1 1 le1 if5 1 2 lc3 lxc3 1 3
'xc3 c6)
Browne now played a devastating
novelty:
14 ih6! !
Simply attackng the g7-pawn.
14 . :gs
The main point of White's idea is
seen in the variation 14 . . . gxh6 1 5 le5
'd? 1 6 lae1 e6 17 d5 ! cxd5 1 8
:xe6! and the opening of the a1 -h8 di
agonal causes Black's downfall .
1S leS ' d7 16 :ae1 e6 17 lgS!
Black is in big touble.
17 . 0-0-0
Once again 17 . . . gxh6 fails, this
time to 1 8 lxe6 fxe6 19 lxe6 lg7 20
d5 ! f8 21 1xg7+! rxg7 22 :xe7+
'xe? 23 :xe7+ and White wins the
endgame.
90 THE MOST AAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
18 lxf7! .xf7 19 lxe7 \xd4 20
lxf7 \xc3 21 bxc3 gxh6
White has a clea advantage. The
concluding moves were:
22 :b1 lgS 23 h4 :bS 24 lxbS
cxbS 25 l:xh7 :d1+ 26 h2 ld2 27
lxh6 lxa2 28 hS lxf 29 lh8+ <c7
30 h6 <b6 31 h3 aS 32 g4 b4 33
cxb4 axb4 34 le8 :n 35 <g2 lf7
36 gS :rs 37 h7 lxgS+ 38 <if3 lhS
39 h8\ lx8 40 lxh8 1-0
Puzzle 95
Miles- Beliavsk
Tilburg 1986
( 1 d4 lf6 2 c4 e6 3 lf3 b6 4 lc3
.b4 5 .g5 .b7 6 e3 h6 7 .h4 g5 8
.g3 le4 9 1c2 d6 10 .d3 .xc3+
1 1 bxc3 f5 12 d5 tc5 1 3 h4 g4 14
ld4 1f6 15 0-0 lxd3 1 6 'xd3 e5 17
lxf5 .c8)
The move that frrst comes to mind
is 1 8 e4, but in fact this is just what
Black wants, as after 1 8 . . . .xf5 ! 19
exf5 ld7 the blocked position favours
Black, despite him being a pawn down.
Miles's solution is much more radical,
but extemely stong.
18 f4! !
I really like ths move. White ignores
the attack on f5 and just gets ready to
roll his pawns through the cente. This
move has forced Black to look for new
approaches ealier on.
18 . ' xfS 19 e4 'ihS 20 fxeS dxeS
21 cS! d8
21 . . . .a6 22 c4! is also perilous for
Black, who has to deal wit the new
threat of :f5. Afer 22 . . . ld7 23 lf5
1g6 24 c6 Cc5 25 lxe5+ d8 26
1d4 Black's aS-rook cannot enter the
game.
22 d6 ' e8
22 . . . c6 is met by 23 d7 followed by
1d6 with a decisive attack.
23 dxc7++ rxc7 2 ' dS lc6 25
lf7+ .d7 26 laf1 ! ld8 27 l1f6
c8 28 cxb6 axb6 29 \bS (D)
1-0
Black is totally busted; for exam
ple:
a) 29 . . . Cb8 30 .xe5 ! .xb5 3 1
lc7#.
b) 29 . . . 1xf7 30 'a6+! cc7 3 1
.xe5+! lxe5 32 1a7+ c8 33 lxb6!
1f1 + (what else?) 34 <xf1 :df8+ 35
e2 Cc6 36 1b7+ <d8 37 :xc6
ixc6 38 'i xc6 and White wins.
Puzzle 96
Magomedev - Khosseinnov
Dushnbe 1999
( 1 e4 c5 2 lf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lxd4
a6 5 .d3 lf6 6 0-0 'c7 7 'i e2 .d6 8
f4 ic5 9 ie3 1b6 10 c3 lc6 1 1 h 1
lxd4 12 cxd4 ixd4 1 3 .xd4 1xd4
14 Cc3 0-0 1 5 lad 1 1b 1 6 e5 Ce8
17 a3 fe7 1 8 Ca4 'i d8 19 .b1 d5 20
exd6 .d7 21 c5 .b5 22 .d3 'xd6
23 .xh7+ h8 24 'i e3 1e7 25 fh3
lf6 26 le4 lfd8 27 lfe1 .c6 28
g5 .e8)
29 la1! !
ASWERS FOR CHAPTER 4 91
The reasoning behind tis seem
ingly undeveloping move is that White
needs both rooks for the attack, and
plans to double on the e-fle. Thus 29
:at rles out any exchanges ! The only
quibble I can fnd with the move is that
it seems like 29 :bt would also be just
as good, but returning to the home
squae is aesthetically more pleasing.
29 ld6 30 leS! :adS 31 :ae1
White's simple plan is complete
and Black is already in big touble.
The frrst threat is 32 f5.
31 fc7 32 le4 ld1
32 . . . lxh7 loses to 33 lg5.
33 lxf6
33 .g6+ g8 34 lxf6+ gxf6 35
'i h7+ f8 36 :xe6 is more accurate.
33 . :xe1+
Other moves also lose: 33 . . . 'i xe5
34 .f5# or 33 . . . gxf6 34 .g6+ g7
35 1h7+ f8 36 :xe6! ! , etc.
34 :xe1 gxf6 35 .fS+ <g8 36
'ih7+ f 37 .xe6! 'xf4 38 'i h8+
qe7 39 .x7 + cxf7 40 'ih7 + f8
41 1e7+ 1-0
Puzzle 97
Atalik- Sax
Szeged 1997
( 1 d4 lf6 2 c4 e6 3 lc3 .b4 4
\c2 d5 5 a3 .xc3+ 6 'ixc3 le4 7
tc2 lc6 8 e3 e5 9 cxd5 'i xd5 10 .c4
'i a5+ 1 1 blxb4 1 2 'i xe4 lc2+ 1 3
e2 'i el + 14 cf3 lxa1 15 .b2 0-0
1 6 g3 h8)
Ealier the main move here had
been 17 lf3, but Black had been scor
ing quite well ; for example, 17 . . . 'xh1
1 8 lg5 f5 1 9 1xe5 .d7 ! led to a win
for Black in Hillap Persson-Timman,
Kge 1 997, the latest word on the sub
ject before tis game.
Atlik played a new move:
17 dxeS! !
White calmly captures the e-pawn,
before getting on with kingside opra
tions. In many lines this pawn can be
used to speahead the attack, so it's
worh spending a tempo here.
17 .. .e6 18 lf3! 'xh1 19 lgS g6
20 lxf7+! ! :xr7 21 .xe6 :g7 (D)
w
22 .f7! !
Making way for the e-pawn.
22 :xr7?
Black can put up more resistance by
tying to get his queen back into the
gae wit 22 . . .il . Afer 23 e6 'i d6+
24 f4 g5 25 g4! ! (White's kng pa
ticipates in the attack) 25 . . . 'i d1 + (not
25 . . . gxf4+? 26 h5 1c5+ { or 26 . . . fxe3
27 h6 1xh2+ 28 .h5 ! } 27 1e5
'i xe5+ 28 .xe5 and White will force a
quick checkmate with <th6) 26 f5 ! ,
Atalik gave 26 . . . tc2? 27 .xa1 'i c5+
28 'i e5 1xe5+ 29 .xe5, followed by
e7. However, 26 . . . 'i d6 is a better de
fence, because 27 ixal gxf4 28 exf5
'i c5+ 29 te5 'i c2+ is annoying for
White.
23 e6+ g8
After 23 . . . lg7 White wins with 24
e7 h5 25 'ixg6.
92 THE MOST AAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
24 1d4! f8 25 exf7 xf7 26
1d7+ 1-0
Following 26 . . . f8 27 .g7+ g8
28 .h6 there' s no way to stop mate on
g7. This game won both the best nov
elty and bst gae prize for lnortor
71 .
Puzzle 98
Timman - Murrey
France 1993
( 1 e4 e5 2 lf3 lf6 3 d4 lxe4 4
.d3)
To introduce a novelty at move four
in such a well-known opening is an
aaing feat, but this is exactly what
Murey did:
4 ... lc6! !
Incredibly, Black leaves the e4-
knight en prise, but whatever move
White plays here, Black is always able
to regain the piece with a playable po
sition. The net result is that nowadays
4 . . . lc6 is seen as a viable alternative
to 4 . . . d5.
5 ixe4
Of course this must be the most
critical move. After 5 d Black plays
5 . . . lc5 ! , planning to answer 6 dxc6
with 6 . . . e4. NCO gives the vaiation 7
cxb7 .xb7 8 .e2 exf3 9 .xf3 .xf3
10 ixf3 .d6 1 1 0-0 0-0 as equal.
Other possibilities for White include 5
dxe5 ! ? and 5 lxe5.
S ... dS 6 ig5 ' d7
Black must be caeful here. 6 . . . f6 7
lxe5 ! is good for White. However,
6 . . . 'd6! ? is playable; for exaple, 7
dxe5 'ib4+ 8 lc3 dxe4 9 a3 ia5 10
ld4 'xe5 1 1 lxc6 1xg5 12 lxe4
1h4 1 3 1d4 ! with complications in
Kovans-Velcheva, Berlin 1996.
7 i.d3 e4 8 0-0 f6 9 :et
Here Nunn gives 9 .f4 exd3 10
1xd3 .d6 1 1 le1+ f 12 id2 as
slightly better for White.
9 .. .e7 10 .f4 exd3 11 'xd3 0-0
12 lc3 .b4 13 le2 le7?!
Pobably Black should play 13 . . . 1t
here, with a roughly level position.
White now wins a pawn and eventu
ally the gae:
14 1b5! lg6 15 1xd5+ :r7 16
.d2 .xc3 17 1xd7 .xd7 18 .xc3
lf4 19 le3 ld5 20 leel .f5 21
lacl lxc3 22 bxc3 ld8 23 c4 .g4
24 c3 .xf3 25 gx3 f8 26 lbl b6
27 le4 f5 2 :e5 ld6 29 lbel g5 3
le8+ qg7 31 lle6 lxe6 32 lxe6
:r6 33 :e7 + lf7 3 le5 f6 35 c5
:r8 36 cn lb8 37 e2 b5 38 d3
b4 39 lel bxc3 40 xc3 c6 41 d
cxdS 42 <d4 lb2 43 c6 :c2 44 xd5
ld2+ 45 <c5 lc2+ 4 d6 :d2+ 47
qc7 lxa2 48 lcl re7 49 c8 lxf
50 c7 lb2 51 lc5 h6 52 h3 f4 53
:e5+ f6 54 la5 1-0
Puzzle 99
lvanchuk - Shirov
Wik aan Zee 1996
( 1 d4 d 2 c4 c6 3 lc3 lf6 4 lf3
e6 5 .g5 dxc4 6 e4 b5 7 e5 h6 8 .h4
g5 9 lxg5 hxg5 10 .xg5 lb7 1 1
exf6 .b7 12 g3 c5 1 3 d5 ib6 14 .g2
0-0-0 15 0-0 b 1 6 la4 1b5 17 a3
exd5 1 8 axb cxb4 1 9 .e3 lc5 20
1g4+ ld7)
Ivanchuk stunned the chess world
with:
21 ' g7! !
A queen is a high price to pay, but
nevertheless I vanchuk could not resist
te lure of this move, which wa not the
result of hours of prepaation, but more
over the boad inspiration (technically
ASWERS FOR CHAPTER 4 93
speaking, 20 . . . ld7 was actually the
new move). Well, what does White get
for the queen, apart from a few admir
ing glances from the spectators? The
f-bishop is defected fom its defence
of the c5-knight, which means White
will immediately pick up two minor
pieces. Added to this, White obtains
an annoying passed pawn on g7 and
Black' s remaining pieces ae uncoor
dinated. White' s remaining forces ae
in hamony and can be used to drum
up a surprisingly stong attack against
the black king.
21 .. ixg7 22 fxg7 lg8 23 lxc5
d4?!
Shiov errs in the immense compli
cations. 23 . . . ic6? is also not good in
view of 24 lxd7 ixd7 25 lxa7 lxg7
26 lfal , but it seems that 23 . . . :xg7 !
is the best t, after which it's difcult
to say what's going on.
24 ixb7+ lxb7 25 lxb7 'i b6!
(D)
25 . . . <txb7 26 ixd4 a 27 :ret is
very strong for White, as Black cannot
get rid of the powerful g7-pawn.
26 ixd4! 'i xd4 27 lfd1 1xb2
27 . . . 1xdl+ 28 :xdl xb7 29 :d4
lxg7 30 :xc4 a 3 1 lf4! b6 32 h4
b5 33 b3 gives White a winning rook
and pawn ending. Black's other option
is 27 . . . 'xg7, but then 28 lxa7 b8
29 ldal le8 (or 29 . . . 'd4 30 la5 ! !
1c5 31 lb7+ <c8 32 lxf7) 30 ld6
le 1 + 3 1 lxe 1 <xa 7 3 2 lxc4 again
gives White a winning ending.
28 ld6+ <b8 29 ldb1 ' xg7?! 30
lxb4+ c7 31 la6!
White's two rooks and knight team
up to make an iresistible attacking
force. Black's defences ae totally in
adequate.
31 . lb8 32 :xa7+ xd6 33 lxb8
1g4 34 ld8+ c6 35 la1 1-0
Puzzle 100
Karpov - Kasparov
Moscow Wch ( 12) 1985
( 1 e4 c5 2 lf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lxd4
lc6 5 lb5 d6 6 c4 lf6 7 llc3 a6 8
la3)
Kaspaov unleashed a spectacula
move:
8 . d5! !
At frst sight this move seems im
possible, as it just loses a pawn, but
Kasparov had worked out a daring
scheme by which Black could obtain
long-term play with his pieces. The
gamble cerainly worked in his match
with Karpov, as Kasparov scored a
draw and later an incredible win using
this idea.
Before this game, Black had con
centated only on 8 . . . ie7 or 8 . . . b6, al
though in the strictest sense, 8 . . . d5
was not a theoretical novelty. It had
been tied by the Hungarian player
Dely as fa back as 1 965.
9 exd5 exd5 10 cxd5 lb4 11 ic4
Facing a prepaed sacrifce for the
frst time, Kaov understandably plays
94 THE MOST AAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
quite timidly and allows Black com
forable equality. It is now established
that 1 1 ie2 is the critical test of te
gambit; for example:
a) 1 1 . . . ic5? 1 2 ie3 ! (in a later
gae against Kaspaov, Karpov played
12 0-0 but Black won in dazzling fash
ion - see Puzzle 147) 1 2 . . . ixe3 1 3
'a4+ ld7 14 'xb4 ic5 15 'e4+
<f8 16 0-0 b5 17 lc2 and White is
clealy better, Kapov-Van der Wiel,
Brussels 1 986.
b) 1 1 . . . lfxd5 ! ? 12 0-0 ie6 1 3
\a4+ b5 14 laxb5 ! axb5 1 5 ixb5+
e7 1 6 lxd5+ lxd5 17 1e4 and
White has a stong attack for the piece,
Z. Almasi-J. Horvath, Hungaian Ch
1993.
ll .. ig4 12 ie2 ixe2 13 ' xe2+
fi e7 14 ie3 lbxd5 15 lc2 lxe3 16
xe3 ' e6 17 0-0 ic5 18 lfel 0-0
lh.lh
Puzzle 1 01
Eingorn - Tukmakov
USSR Ch (Lvov) 1984
( 1 d4 lf6 2 c4 g6 3 lc3 d5 4 cxd5
lxd5 5 e4 lxc3 6 bxc3 ig7 7 lf3
c5 8 lb 1 0-0 9 ie2 lc6 10 d5 le5
1 1 lxe5 ixe5 12 'i d2 e6 1 3 f4 ih8
14 c4 le8 15 e5 f6)
Ealier White had tied 16 d6, but
16 . . . fxe5 17 0-0 e4! 1 8 ib2 ixb2 19
lxb2 b6 was favourable to Black in
H. Olafsson-Gutman, Grindavik 1 984.
Eingorn played instead:
16 f5! !
This move produces a nice image,
as there ae now six pawns attacking
each other on the fft and sixth ranks.
Apat from its aesthetic value, the ac
tual point of 1 6 f5 is to expose the
weakness of Black' s bishop, which is
hemmed in on h8. Another aim is to
open Black' s kngside, giving White
good attacking chances.
16 . gx5
1 6 . . . fxe5 1 7 fxg6! hxg6 1 8 0-0 exd5
1 9 'h6! 'i d6 20 ih5 wins for White,
while 1 6 . . . exd5 17 fxg6 hxg6 1 8 cxd5
lxe5 19 0-0 was also good for White
in Agzamov-J. Pfibyl, Sochi 1 984.
17 lb3 le7 (D)
In NCO, Nunn gives the vaiation
17 . . . fxe5 1 8 0-0! exd5 (or 1 8 . . . f4 19
d6) 1 9 cxd5 f4 20 d6 lb8 21 d7 ixd7
22 ld3 le7 23 ld6 'i e8 24 ic4+
<f8 25 1d5 ie6 26 lxe6 lxe6 27
Wxe6 'i xe6 28 ixe6, with a small ad
vantage to White.
w
After 17 . . . le7, in Eingorn-Tukma
kov White played 1 8 ib2 and eventu
ally won te game ( 1 8 . . . fxe5 1 9 _g5+
ig7 20 ixe5 h6 21 \g6 _e8 22
'ixe8+ :xeS 23 lg3 :e7 24 id6
ld7 25 ixc5 exd5 26 cxd5 h7 27
d6 b6 28 ia3 ie5 29 ld3 ia6 30
le3 id4 3 1 le6 ixe2 32 xe2 g7
33 lf1 lf8 34 <d3 ic5 35 ixc5
bxc5 36 c4 lb7 37 lfe1 1 -0) . How
ever, in the later gae McCabridge
Hjartason, Grindavik 1 984, White
improved furher with 1 8 d6! lg7 19
ASWERS FOR CHAPTER 4 95
exf6 'i xf6 20 ib2 e5 21 ixe5 ! ! 'i xe5
22 le3 and White was winning, e. g. :
a) 22 . . . 'a1+ 23 f'i xh1 24 le8+
qf7 25 ih5+ lg6 26 ixg6+ <xg6
27 lg8+ cf 28 lxh8 and White's
threats ae too strong.
b) 22 . . . 'e6 (the game continua
tion) 23 lxe6 ixe6 24 1e3 :e8 25
'xc5 and White went on to win.
Puzzle 102
lllescas - Sadler
Linres Z 1995
( 1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 e4 c6 4 ie3
f6 5 c3 e5 6 d5 a5 7 f3 id6 8
'a4+)
8 ... id7! !
It goes without saying that Illescas
would have been totally stunned by this
move. Any reasonable person would
have expected 8 . . . c6, after which
White keeps the advantage with 9
dxc6 xc6 10 ixc4 0-0 1 1 :d 1 .
9 'xa a6!
Now we see te point. Black threat
ens to tap the white queen with . . . b6,
and tere is no eay solution to White's
problems.
10 b1?
This undeveloping move just adds
to White's problems. Many possible
improvements have been suggested:
a) 10 ic5? b6 1 1 ixd6 bxa5 12
ia3 :b8! 13 xe5 lb4! 14 ixc4 0-0
was clealy better for Black in Epi
shin-Vaulin, Russian Club Cup 1 998.
b) 10 ixc4?! b6 1 1 1xa6 :xa6 1 2
ixa6 0-0 1 3 0-0 g4 14 id2 f5 1 5
exf5 ixf5 1 6 h3 f6 was also good
for Black in Kapov-Lautier, Monaco
r 1 996.
c) 10 a4! ? xe4 (or 10 . . . 'e7 and
play should just transpose after 1 1 a3
xe4 1 2 ixc4 b5 1 3 id3; 10 . . . b6 1 1
xb6 cxb6 1 2 ixb6 looks better for
White) 1 1 ixc4 b5 12 id3 1e7 1 3 a3
is given as "unclea" in NCO.
d) 10 b is recomended by Ftac
nik, who gives 10 . . . b6 1 1 1a3 a5 1 2
1c1 axb4 1 3 e2 xe4 14 'xc4 f5
15 g3 as better for White. However,
Ward disagrees, giving the further
moves 15 . . . f6 16 ig5 h6 17 ixf6
'xf6 and "Black has a more comfort
able position, despite only having two
pawns for a piece".
10 . .. xe4 11 d1 c3! 0-1
Illescas decided to take a 'rest day' .
White can still stggle on after 1 2 b4
b6 1 3 'a3 a5 14 id3 axb 1 5 'c 1 ,
but ' stuggle' is certainly the operative
word.
Puzzle 103
Van Wely - Kramni k
Biel IZ 1993
( 1 d4 d5 2 f3 c6 3 c4 f6 4 c3
e6 5 ig5 dxc4 6 e4 b5 7 e5 h6 8 ih4
g5 9 xg5 hxg5 10 ixg5 bd7 1 1
exf6 ib7 12 g3 c5 1 3 d xf6 14 ig2
ie7 1 5 0-0 xd5 1 6 ixe7 xe7 17
xb5 1b6 18 a3)
18 .. . lh4! !
This is certainly an unusual move,
the main idea of which is to defend the
vulnerable c4-pawn! Van Wely found
a sensible reply:
19 'i d
Capturing the rook allows Black a
menacing attack: 1 9 gxh4 :g8 ! 20
xc4 f4 21 f3 (not 21 xb6? h3+
22 <h1 ixg2#) 21 . . . :xg2+ 22 h1
'c7.
19 . ld4?!
After this game, other moves were
investigated:
96 THE MOST AAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
a) 19 . . . lg8? 20 f4! lxf4 21 lxf4
lxf4 22 1xf4 'xb2? 23 1d6+! and
White wins.
b) 1 9 . . . lf4! ? is another incredible
move, with which Black achieves a
self-fork. Neither piece can be cap
tured, so White plays 20 lxc4, and
now:
b1 ) 20 . . . 'c7? 21 f3 ! lxg2 22
' g5+ f8 23 gxh4 lf4 24 h1 ld8
25 le5 ld5 26 lae1 ld3 27 'ih6+
and Black resigned in 011-Topalov,
Biel IZ 1 993 on account of 27 . . .fe7
28 lxd3 lxd3 29 lxe6+! .
b2) 20 . . . 'a6 21 lfc1 ! (21 le3
ld8 was unclea in the game Nau
mann-K. Miller, Bundesliga 1 998/9)
and now 21 . . . .xg2 22 gxh4 lg8 23
'xf4 .h3+ 24 'i g3 lxg3+ 25 hxg3
1b7 26 le3 1xb2 27 a4 is better for
White according to Dautov. However,
the Danish 1 Stefen Pedersen gives
the improvement 21 . . . lg8, when 22
.xb7 1xb7 23 1d6+ f6 24 1e5+
qe7 25 1xc5+ f6 26 1e5+ e7 27
l3 2+ 28 f1 lxc1 29 ll 5+ d7
30 ' d6+ e8 3 1 lxc1 exf5 32 1e5+
f8 33 ' c5+ qg7 34 gxh4 seems
critical ; Black has drawing chances
here. Overall, this line could certainly
use a practical test.
Back to Van Wely-Kamnik, which
continued:
20 ' g5+! lf6 21 .xb7 lg8 22
'eS ld7 23 1e2 'xb7 24 lxc4
White is simply a pawn up with a
better position. Van Wely converted
this into a win:
2 .. . lh4 25 f3 fc7 26 le3 <f 27
lg4! :hs 28 lad1 ldS 29 1e4 'd6
30 le3 ld4 31 lxd4 1xd4 32 ld1
'i xe4 33 fxe4 ce7 34 lc4 lb8 35
flc6 36 ld3 :g4 37 ld2! a 38
lc3 d6 39 h3 lg8 40 lc4+ re7 41
lb3 ld8 42 lb5 ld4 43 lxcS lb4
44 a3 1-0
Puzzle 1 04
Em ms - Kosten
British Ch (Edinburgh) 1985
( 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 ld2 lf6 4 e5
lfd7 5 f4 c5 6 c3 lc6 7 ldf3 cxd4 8
cxd4 1b6 9 g3 .b4+ 10 f g5 1 1
.e3 f6 1 2 .h3 0-0 1 3 .g4 fxe5 14
fxe5)
14 ... .cS! !
This way of attacking a pawn with a
bishop is seen more than once in this
book. In fact 1 4 . . . .c5 was actually a
suggestion of George Botterill and had
appeaed in the British Chess Maga
zine a few months pror to the gae. I
was awae of the move, but wasn' t
fghtened of it and actually thought it
was still good for White, but I had
missed something important later on.
15 .xe6+ <h8 16 dxc5 1xb2+ 17
.d2 g4!
This cae as a big shock. For some
reason I was expecting 17 . . . ldxe5 18
.xc8 laxc8 19 <g2, when I didn' t
think Black had enough play for the
piece. 17 . . . g4 is much stronger, and
unfortunately I didn' t react well to the
new circumstances.
18 .xdS?
1 8 .xg4 'i d4+ 1 9 qg2 'xg4 is
better for Black, but White should play
1 8 lb 1 ! 1xe5 1 9 .xd7 1d4+ 20 .e3
'i xd1 21 lxd1 .xd7 22 lxd5 .e6,
which looks like a roughly level end
ing.
After the text-move, my position
deterorated rapidly.
18 . . ldxe5 19 .xc6 bxc6 20 lb1
\d4+ 21 .e3 ld3+ 22 e2 gf3+
ASWERS FOR CHAPTER 4 97
23 lxf1e4 24 1xd3 ia6! 25 ' xa6
1xf+ 26 <d2 lfd8+ 27 c2 1e4+
28 b2 lab8+ 29 a3 ' xe3+ 30
lb3 'xc5+ 31 b2 ld2+ 32 b1
lxb3+ 0-1
Puzzle 105
Spassk - Fischer
Rekavik Wch (3) 1972
( 1 d4 lf6 2 c4 e6 3 lf3 c5 4 d5
exd5 5 cxd5 d6 6 lc3 g6 7 ld2 lbd7
8 e4 ig7 9 ie2 0-0 10 0-0 le8 1 1
'i c2)
Already 2-0 down in the match,
Fischer caused another sensation by
playing a contoversial idea, simply
allowing his kingside pawns to be
shattered.
11 ... lh5! ! 12 ixh5 gh5
Black hopes that active play on the
kingside will compensate for his stc
tural defciencies. Perhaps it is not sur
prisingly that this idea didn' t really
catch on, but for this highly chaged
game it worked like a treat.
13 lc4
1 3 a4 le5 14 ld 1 ! 'i h4 15 le3
lg4 16 lxg4 hxg4 17 lc4 'i f6 1 8
id2 'i g6 19 ic3 ixc3 20 bxc3 and
now 20 . . . b6 21 lfe1 ia6 22 ld2 le5
23 f4! was clealy better for White in
Gligoric-Kavalek, Skopje OL 1 972,
although perhaps Black could im
prove here with Byrne's suggestion of
20 . . . f5.
13 .. le5 14 le3 'h4 15 id2
15 f3 ! , preventing Black's next
move, looks better.
15 lg4! 16 lxg4 hxg4 17 if4
'i f6 18 g3?
This is a defnite mistake, as now
the e4-pawn becomes weak. White
should play 18 ig3.
18 id7 19 a4 b6 20 lfel a6 21
le2 b5! 22 lae1 ' g6 23 b3 le7!
Black has a clea advantage now, as
there is nothing to combat the plan of
simply doubling on the e-fle and at
tacking the e4-pawn.
24 ' d3 lb8 25 axbS abS 26 b4
c4 27 ' d2 lbe8 28 le3 h5 29 l3e2
<h7 30 :e3 g8 31 l3e2 ixc3 32
' xc3 :xe4 33 :xe4 %xe4 34 :xe4
1xe4 35 ih6 1g6 3 ic1 'b1 37
n if5 38 e2 ' e4+ 39 ' e3 'c2+
40 'i d2 1b3 41 ' d4? id3+! 0-1
Puzzle 106
Motani - Liang Jinrong
Chicago 1983
( 1 e4 c5 2 lf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lxd4
lc6 5 lc3 fc1 6 g3 a6 7 ig2 lf6 8
0-0 ie? 9 le1 lxd4)
Paul Motwani came up with a stun
ning novelty:
10 eS! !
This was not the product of had
prepaation, but rather over-the-boad
inspiration. 10 e5 is nowadays consid
ered to b almost a refutation of the
9 . . . lxd4 line.
10 lc6
Black has also tried 10 . . . lb5 1 1
lxb5 axb5 12 exf6 gxf6 ( 1 2 . . . ixf6! ?)
and now Mrdja-Janssen, Baden-Baden
1 985 continued 1 3 ' g4 if8 14 fh4
'i d8 1 5 b3 h5 1 6 ib2 ie? 17 a3 f
18 lad1 f5 19 'i d4 lg8 20 h4 fe? 21
1d2 and White was clealy better.
Motwani gves the line 10 . . . lxc2 1 1
1xc2 ld5 1 2 ixd5 exd5 1 3 fd1 0-0
14 lxd5 1d8 15 ie3, when the theat
of ib6 is virtually impossible to meet.
11 exf6 gxf6
1 1 . . . ixf6 can be met by 1 2 ld5
1d8 13 ie3 ! , again threatening ib6.
98 THE MOST AAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
12 1g4 leS 13 'gl lg6 14 ldS?
After this eror, Motwani eventu
ally loses the game, but in C. O. O. L.
Chess he gives 14 ie4! , which gives
White a decisive advantage; for exam
ple:
a) 14 . . . if8 15 'xf6 ie? 16 ld5 !
'a5 17 id2 'ixd2 (or 17 . . . 'ixd5 1 8
'xh8+ lxh8 19 ixd5 exd5 20 ig5
llg6 21 lxe7+ llxe7 22 le1 ) 1 8
llxe7 :r 1 9 lf5 ! .
b) 14 . . . lf8 15 ld5 exd5 1 6 ixg6
hxg6 17 ih6 <d8 1 8 lxe7 ! .
14 . . exdS 1S .xdS lf8 16 ih6
'eS 17 ' xf6 'i xdS 18 lxe7+ ll xe7
19 le1 ' e6 20 lxe6 dxe6 21 igS
lle6 22 'g7 id7 23 'xh7 lle7 2
h4 :d8 2S f3 ie6 26 <f f6 27
'hS+ d7 28 ie3 :h8 29 ' a <ie8
30 e4 lfS 31 1e7 lg8 32 g4 :g7 33
' f4 ll xe3 34 \xe3 qf7 3S hS eS 3
'ib6 ld3 37 'e7+ qg8 38 1e8+
<if7 39
1
e7 + :d7 40 1b6 e4 41 h6
:h7 42 gS fxgS 43 1e3 g6 0-1
Puzzle 1 07
Kasparov - Panno
Buenos Aires simul 1997
( 1 d4 lf6 2 c4 e6 3 lc3 i b4 4
'c2 0-0 5 a3 ixc3+ 6 'i xc3 b6 7 ig5
c5 8 e3 d6 9 dxc5 bxc5 10 0-0-0 le4)
The obvious 1 1 ixd8 lxc3 is fne
for Black, because 12 lxd6 runs into
1 2 . . . ll e4. Kaspaov played the not so
obvious . . .
11 1d3! !
. . . using the fact that after 1 1 . . . llxg5
1 2 h4! , the knight is tapped and Black
doesn' t even have a satisfactory way
to give back the piece. Allowing the
h-fle to be opened is not recom
mended and 1 2 . . . ll e4 is also not good
in view of 1 3 'xe4 1b6 14 'xa8
ib7 15 :xd6! llc6 1 6 1xf+ xf
17 lf.
11 ... lxf 12 ixd8 llxd3+ 13
ixd3 :xd8 14 ie4
The sting in the tail. Black is forced
to give up his extra pawn and must
now fght for equality.
14 .. dS 1S exdS ib7 16 lle2
ld7?!
A later game saw an improvement
for Black with 1 6 . . . exd5 ! 17 llc3 lc6
18 ixd5 la5 and afr 19 ixb7 llxb7
Black drew comfortably in Kaspa
rov-Timan, Prague (5) 1 998. White
could consider 1 9 :hf1 ! ?; for exam
ple, 19 . . . ixd5 20 lxd5 llb3+ 21 c2
ld4+ 22 exd4 lxd5 23 dxc5 lxc5+
24 b1 lc7 25 :d6 with perhaps a
minute advantage for White.
17 dxe6 ixe4 18 e7! le8 19 lxd7
f6 20 lg3! ig6 21 h4 h6 22 hS ih7
23 :h4 rf7 24 le4 :xe7 2S lxe7+
<ixe7 26 lxeS d6 27 b4 :e8 28
<d2 leS 29 :xeS xeS 30 a4 ig8
31 bS ib3 32 aS ie4 33 b6 axb6 3
axb6 idS? 3S e4! ib7 36 <e3 ie6
37 lfS ixe4 38 g4 1-0
Puzzle 1 08
Keres - Najdorf
Gothenburg IZ 1955
( 1 e4 c5 2 lf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 llxd4
lf6 5 ll c3 a6 6 .g5 e6 7 f4 ie? 8
'i f3 h6 9 .h4 g5 10 fxg5 lfd7 1 1
lxe6 fxe6 12 1h5+ f8)
13 ibS! !
The point of this move is not only to
prepae castling, but also to be ready
to eliminate a defensive knight from
c6 or d7. The two other games that
featured this move were Geller-Pano
ad Spask-Pilnik.
13 g7?
ASWERS FOR CHAPTER 4 99
Geller-Panno concluded 1 3 . . . e5?
14 ig3 ixg5 1 5 0-0+ e7 1 6 ixe5
'ib6+ 17 <hl dxe5 1 8 'i f7+ d6 19
:adl + 'i d4 20 lxd4+ exd4 21 e5+
c5 22 1c7+ c6 23 ixc6. It was
later discovered that Black's bst move
is 13 . . . :h 7! ; for exaple, 14 0-0+ <g8
15 g6 :g7 16 :n ixh4 17 'i xh6
lxf7 1 8 gxf + <xf7 1 9 :ft + if6 20
'ih7+ f8 21 'i h8+ e7 and now
White has nothing better than peret
ual check.
14 0-0 eS 15 ig3 g6
After 1 5 . . . bc6 we see the point of
White's 1 3th move. White wins with
1 6 ixc6! bxc6 17 ixe5+ dxe5 1 8
1f7#.
16 gxh6+ :xh6 17 :r7+! <xf7 18
' xh6 abS 19 :n+ e8 20 'xg6+
<d7 21 :r7 c6 22 dS! :xa2
22 . . . exd5 23
1
xd6+ e8 24 1g6
d7 25 exd5 is winning for White.
23 h4
Spassky-Pilnik ended 23 h3 1h8
24 xe7 xe7 25 1g5 lal + 26 h2
1d8 27 'ixb5+ c7 28 1c5+ <b8 29
ixd6+ a8 30 ixe7 la 3 1 1b4
1 -0.
23 ... 'i h8 2 xe7 Cxe7 25 'gS
1-0
0 Beware of the King!
Knowing how to handle your own king is one of the most important aspects of
chess and the skill involved should not be underestimated. Beginners tend to un
derestimate the importance of king safety, often leaving their kng in the cente of
the boad where it's vulnerable. After this problem is rectifed, the next step on
te ladder is to lea how to use your king in the endgae. Experience is required
before this a is perfected and inexperienced players tend to under-use their king
here.
Under-use of the king is certainly not a feature of the examples here. In some
cases the kng seems to be in turbo-drive as it's chaging aound the boad, while
in others a subtle king move here or there makes all the difference in the overall
picture. One thing's for sure: you already have a big clue to each puzzle in this
section. Even so, I hope you fnd them sufciently challenging in any case.
109
w
White's queen and knight ae on ac
tive posts, but the white rook is rather
tied down to the defence of the g2-
pawn. In fact, moving it anywhere of
the second rank (apat fom e4) allows
a mate in one. How does White tackle
this problem?
By moving his rook to g8, Black
has lost the right to castle on the kng
side. Meanwhile, tree pieces need to
move before he can castle the other
way. What's the best way to achieve
this?
BEWARE OF THE KING! 101
1 12
B
Black's queen and knight occupy
goo post, but White's contol over his
eighth rank makes it difcult for Black
to make further progress. Unless . . .
what amazing idea did Black come up
with here?
Not much seems to be going on in
this quiet-looking opening position.
How does White liven things up?
White is two pawns down, but is
ahead in development and Black's
king is lookng rather unsteady. What
should White do here?
102 THE MOST AAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
115
w
White has a big advantage here as
he has total control over the open d
fle, while Black's rooks ae hemmed
in. How does White increase te pres
sue?
116
B
This position looks very unclea.
White is the exchange for a pawn up,
and has got aound te back with his
queen and rook. On the other hand, his
own king sufers fom a lack of cover.
How can Black exploit this?
In this fairly normal-looking posi
tion White has just played 'i e4-h4.
What amazing idea does Black have
here?
Answers for Chapter 0
Puzzle 109
Teichmann - Consultants
Glasgow 1902
( 1 e4 e5 2 lf3 lc6 3 ic4 lf6 4
0-0 lxe4 5 d4 exd4 6 :e1 d5 7 ixd5
'i xd5 8 lc3 'ih5 9 lxe4 ie? 10
ig5 ie6 1 1 ixe7 lxe7 12 lg3 'h6
1 3 'i xd4 0-0 14 lad1 lc6 15 1a4
lad8 1 6 ld4 lxd4 17 lxd4 lxd4 1 8
1xd4 b6 1 9 'i e5 c5 20 f4 ic8 21 f5
ib7 22 1e7 'i c6 23 le2 f6 24 le4
'i d5 25 ld6 ic6 26 h3 c4 27 c3 h6)
28 h2! !
Preventing . . . 'i d1 +, but this in it
self is hadly worth two exclamation
maks. What other idea does White
have?
28 ... b5 29 g3! !
What's this?
29 ... a5?!
The black team seem to be oblivi
ous to White's plan. Otherwise they
would surely have played 29 . . . :as! ,
intending . . . <ih7 and . . . lg8, to defend
the g7-pawn.
30 h4!
Finally we see the real point of
White's extraordinary concept. The
king manoeuvre has freed the rook to
move along the e-fle, as now . . . 'i xg2
will be neither checkmate nor even
check. In paticula, White now plans
le3-g3, when suddenly it's Black's
g-pawn tat is under threat.
30 ... g6? (D)
Black sees the danger, but panics
ad plays te wrong defence. 30 . . . 'd3?
also doesn' t help after 3 1 le3 1d2 32
lg3 1f4+ 33 lg4, when White wins.
However, there was still time for the
calm 30 . . . la8 ! , planning to meet 3 1
le3 with 3 1 . . . h7 32 lg3 lg8.
w
White must now avoid 3 1 fxg6??,
which runs into 3 1 . . . 'ig5#.
31 le3!
This move is still surprisingly dif
cult to meet. White's threat is now 32
lg3 g5+ 33 1h5 ! .
31 . . .'i xg2? 32 :g3! 1f
Perhaps only now did Black realize
that after 32 . . . g5+ 33 h5 'i xg3 34
g6! the king completes its journey
and Black cannot avoid mate.
33 fxg6 ' f4+ 3 lg4 'f+ 35 <hS
1-0
Puzzle 1 1 0
V. Kovacevic - Seirawan
Wijk an Zee 1980
( 1 d4 g6 2 e4 d6 3 lc3 ig7 4 ie2
lf6 5 g4 c6 6 g5 lfd7 7 h4 b5 8 h5
104 THE MOST AAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
lg8 9 hxg6 hxg6 10 lf b4 1 1 lb 1
a 12 a4 c5 1 3 d5 lb6 14 c4)
Seirawan showed that the best way
was ' not at all' and played an incredi
ble move:
14 .. <d7! !
The king heads for te safe haven of
c7 and Black can then develop his
queenside pieces at leisure. Another
advantage of this move is that the
queen and the g8-rook ae immedi
ate} y connected, so that Black is very
quick in contesting te open h-fle.
15 lbd2 lh8! 16 lg1 qc7
The kng is wonderfully safe here
and Black's position is already look
ing quite a lot better than it did a few
moves ago. Over the next few moves
Seirawan gradually takes over the ini
tiative.
11 lb1 :h3 18 b3 'h8! 19 ln
l8d7 20 Jf4 le5 21 lxe5 JxeS 22
ixeS 1xe5 23 f Jd7 2 1c2 'i d4
25 :g2 lh1 26 lf (D)
26 1h8!
This is another ' visual' move. The
queen leaves its appaently dominat
ing post in the cente and switches its
attention to the h-fle via the top
right-hand corner of the boad.
27 f4 ' h4 28 ld1 f6 29 gxf6 exf6
30 e5
This smacks of desperation, but
. . . le8 was coming in any case.
30 ... fxe5 31 fxe5 lf8 32 exd6+
<ib7 33 id3 le8+ 0- 1
After 34 ie2 Black mates with
34 . . . lxf1+! 35 <xf1 'ih1#.
Puzzle 1 1 1
Keres - Richter
Munich 1942
( 1 c4 e5 2 lc3 lf6 3 lf3 lc6 4
d4 exd4 5 lxd4 ib 6 Jg5 h6 7 Jh4
g5 8 ig3 d6 9 lc 1 lxd4 10 1xd4
if5 1 1 h4)
Richter dealt with the threat in a
radical way:
11 . d7! !
This move must have been a big
shock to Keres. In one fell swoop,
Black unpins both the f6-knight and
the g5-pawn and prepaes counterlay
with . . . le4. Meanwhile, the kng is
surprisingly safe on the d7 -squae.
12 ld1?!
After 12 ie5 ic5 ! 1 3 ixf6 ixd4
14 ixd8 laxd8 Black's bishop-pai
gives him the advantage in the end
game, but perhaps White should play
1 2 f3.
12 ... le4 13 ' eS Jxc3+ 14 bxc3
lxg3 15 fxg3
15 1xg3 b6! prevents c5 and prom
ises Black a comfortable position.
15 . ig6 16 hxgS
Both 1 6 c5 1e7 and 1 6 h5 Jc2 17
1b5+ c8 18 ld2 Je4 ae also fne
for Black.
16 .. Wxg5! 17 1f4 lae8 18 ldS
1xf4 19 gxf4 b6! (D)
Black's superior pawn-structure
gives him a clealy better endgae,
ASWERS FOR CHAPTER 5 105
w
which was finally won by Richter af
ter a long struggle.
20 <f hS 21 e3 h4 22 :gs ie4 23
ie2 leg8! 24 ig4+ c6 25 l: xg8
lxg8 26 lxh4 <cS 27 if3 ixf3 2
<xf3 <xc4 29 lh7 :rs 30 g4 <xc3
31 <e4 cS 32 dS c4 33 e4 <b4 34
gS c3 35 :h2 lc8 36 l:c2 bS 37 fS a
38 <xd6 c4 39 eS b4 40 d7 :as
41 e fxe6 42 f6 a4 43 f7 b3 44 axb3+
axb3 45 lxc3+ xc3 46 g6 b2 47 g7
b1 'i48 r'i1b7 + 49 xe6 la6+ so
rs 'i d7+ 51 f4 la4+ 52 <g3
'i d3+
52 .. .'ig4+ mates quickly.
53 'f3 :as 54 g8' lxg8+ 55 <ih2
l:h8+ 56 gl lg8+ 57 h2 <c2! 58
' c6+ <d1 59 ' f3+ 'i e2+! 0- 1
Puzzle 1 1 2
01 1 - Hodgson
Groningen PCA qua/ 1993
( 1 e4 c5 2 f3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 xd4
f6 5 c3 lc6 6 ig5 e6 7 'i d2 ie7
8 0-0-0 0-0 9 f4 lxd4 10 'i xd4 'i a5
1 1 ic4 id7 1 2 e5 dxe5 1 3 fxe5 ic6
14 id2 ld7 15 ld5 'i c5 16 lxe7+
'i xe7 17 l:he1 lfd8 1 8 'i g4 lf8 19
id3 l:xd3 20 cxd3 'i d7 21 b1
'xd3+ 22 <a1 h5 23 'ixh5 ia4 24
ic3 ixd1 25 l:xd1 'i e4 26 'g5 a5
27 'i d2 lg6 28 g3 le7 29 'i d7 ld5
30 id4 1e2 3 1 lc 1 b5 32 ic5 1d3
33 'i c6 ld8 34 id6)
34 ... h7! !
What's tis, another king stoll?
35 fcs <g6 36 h4 lh8!
Now we see te beautiful logic be
hind Hodgson' s king mach. Black's
rook, which had been his worst piece,
suddenly comes alive via the h-fle.
Together with the well-placed queen
and knight, the new rook will give
Black a clea advantage. It seems tat
Hodgson's idea is the only way to en
ergize his last piece.
37 a3 l:hS 38 tgl <h7 39 ld1
39 'i a7 hits two pawns, but follow
ing 39 . . . lf5 40 'ixa5 lf, Black's ini
tiative is more important.
39 ... tb3 40 ld2 :rs!
Just look at the activity of the black
rook now, compaed to what it was a
few moves ago!
41 g4 lf4 42 1bl + g8 43 gS b4!
Typically, Hodgson sets up a breath
taking fnale.
44 ld3 lc3 45 ixb4 (D)
45 bxc3 'i xa3+ 46 'i a2 lf1+.
4S ... ta2+! 0-1
Black mates after 46 'i xa2 lfl +.
106 THE MOST AANG CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
Puzzle 1 13
Korchnoi - Plachetka
Luhcovice 1969
( 1 d4 lf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 e5 4 lc3 d6
5 e4 ie7 6 g3 0-0 7 ig2 lbd7 8 'e2
a6 9 a4 b6)
Korchnoi now played an outlandish
move:
10 <d1 ! !
Obviously White's king can' t de
cide which way to castle, so he does
neither ! In fact, the king will be rea
sonably safe on c2, while removing it
from the kingside allows White to
stat pawn-stor oprations there.
10 ... le8 11 f4!
White is now threatening to gain
lots of space with f5. With this threat
hanging over him, Black felt obliged
to mix things up:
11 .. f5! ? 12 exfS exf4 13 ixf4 leS
14 g4 bS! ? 15 ixe5 dxe5 16 ab5
ld6 17 lf3 ib7 18 c2 axb5 19
cxb5 e4 20 ld2 lxa1 21 lxa1
Korchnoi has now consolidated and
eventually his exta material counted:
21 . . . e3 22 .xe3 igS 23 ' xcS
ixd2 24 <xd2 'i gS+ 25 c2 .f4 26
le1 lc4 27 le2 1xg4 28 d6! ixg2
29 d7 ld6 30 1xd6 ' xfS+ 31 <b3
'i f7+ 32 b4 1-0
Puzzle 1 14
Hans Muller -Anon
Venna simul 1934
( 1 d4 d 2 c4 dxc4 3 lf3 lf6 4
'i a4+ lbd7 5 lc3 e6 6 e4 c5 7 d5
exd5 8 e5 d4 9 ixc4 dxc3 1 0 exf6
'i xf6 1 1 ig5 'i c6)
12 0-0-0! !
Choosing to disregad the fact that
the queen is under threat, White sim
ply ploughs on with the attack. In fact,
Black could well be completely lost
after this move.
12 ... 'i xa4
Funnily enough, the position after
12 0-0-0 has appeaed a few times in
world chess since its discovery. The
highest-profle victim was Lev Polu
gaevsky, who was caught out by Mak
Taimanov 26 yeas later in the Soviet
Chapionship. That game concluded
1 2 . . . cxb2+ 13 <ixb2 ( 1 3 b1 is just as
good) 1 3 . . . ie7 14 lhe1 f6 1 5 ib5
'ib6 1 6 c 1 fxg5 1 7 ixd7+ f8 1 8
lxe7 ! cxe7 19 1e4+ d8 20 if5+
rc7 21 'i e5+ c6 22 ld6+ b5 23
'ib2+ 1 -0.
12 . . . ie7 ! is relatively best for
Black, planning to meet 1 3 lhe1 with
1 3 . . . 0-0! . However, White still retains
a big advantage after 1 3 1xc6 bxc6 14
ixe7 cxb2+ 15 xb2 xe7 16 lhe1+
d8 17 le5, as in Gacia Palermo
Gelfand, Oakha 1 988.
13 :bel+ ie7 14 lxe7+ <f8
14 . . . d8 15 lexd7+ e8 1 6 :d8#.
15 lxf7+ g8 16 :rxd7+ 1xc4
17 ld8+ cf7 18 le5+ 1-0
White regains the queen and will b
a piece up.
Puzzle 1 1 5
Short - Timman
Tilburg 1991
( 1 e4 lf6 2 e5 ld5 3 d4 d6 4 lf3
g6 5 ic4 lb6 6 ib3 ig7 7 'i e2 lc6
8 0-0 0-0 9 h3 a 10 a4 dxe5 1 1 dxe5
ld4 12 lxd4 1xd4 1 3 le1 e6 14
ld2 ld5 15 lf3 1c5 1 6 1e4 'ib
17 ic4 lb6 1 8 b3 lxc4 1 9 bxc4 le8
20 ld1 'c5 21 'ih4 b6 22 ie3 'i c6
23 ih6 ih8 24 :d8 ib7 25 lad1
ig7 26 l8d7 lf8 27 ixg7 cxg7 28
l1 d4 lae8 29 1f6+ <g8 30 h4 h5)
ASWERS FOR CHAPTER 5 107
31 h2! !
The king is safer on h2, right? Or is
there something more?
31 lc8?
Had Timman somehow been awae
of Short's incredibly devious plan,
then he would have put up stifer resis
tance in the form of 31 . . . ic8, attack
ing the d7-rok. However, it wa shown
after the gae that White can still win
by playing 32 g4! :
a) 32 . . . ixd7 33 gxh5 h7 (alter
natively, 33 . . . gxh5 34 'g5+ <h7 35
'xh5+ cg7 36 lg4#) 34 g5+ h6
(34 . . . <g8 35 h6 and 'g7#) 35 xf7+!
:xf7 36 'xg6.
b) 32 . . . ib7 33 ld3 hxg4 34 h5
gxh5 35 'g5+ ch7 36 'xh5+ cg7
37 'xg4+ ch6 38 'g5+ ch7 39
l3d4 and lh4#.
c) 32 . . . hxg4 33 g5 ! and now:
c1 ) 33 . . . ib7 34 f3 ! followed by 35
lxf7 wins.
c2) 33 . . . ixd7 34 h g3+ (34 . . . gxh5
35 'h6) 35 fxg3 'xa4 36 h6 'xc2+
37 ld2! (decoying the black queen)
37 . . . 'xd2+ 38 <h3 and White mates
on g7.
c3) 33 . . . g3+ is the most stubborn
defence, but Jon Speelman found a
winning solution: 34 <xg3 ixd7 35
h2! ! 'xa4 36 h5 gxh5 37 lh4 and
there is no defence against :xh5 and
lh8#.
32 g3! !
All of a sudden it dawns on us what
Short's aaing idea is. White's plan is
simply f4-g5-h6 and then 'g7#. In
credibly, there is no defence to this.
32 lce8 33 f4 ic8 34 gS (D)
1-0
Black can only prevent 35 <h6 by
34 .. 5h7, but then White can win with
either 35 lxf7+ lxf7 36 'xf7+ ch8
37 h6 or 35 'xg6+ h8 36 'h6+
<g8 37 cf6.
Puzzle 1 1 6
Kasparov - Short
London rpd ( 3) 1987
(1 f3 d5 2 d4 ig4 3 e5 if5 4
c4 f6 5 f3 c6 6 c3 e6 7 g3 ib 8
ig2 le7 9 0-0 0-0 10 'ib3 a 1 1 a3
ixc3 1 2 bxc3 d7 1 3 d2 a4 14
'a2 ig6 15 e4 if7 1 6 lb1 lb8 17
'i c2 b5 1 8 cxd5 cxd5 1 9 'd3 'i a5 20
le1 lfc8 21 lb4 l6 22 lb2 e7 23
lc2 b6 24 h4 :b7 25 ih3 lc6 26
lb2 c4 27 lb4 'c7 28 xc4 lxc4
29 id2 'c6 30 e5 f5 3 1 if1 ih5 32
'i e3 h6 33 leb1 qt 34 l1 b2 g8 35
f3 1a6 36 lb1 c6 37 ixc4 dxc4 38
:4b2 e7 39 d xd5 40 'i c5 ixf3
41 :xb5 :c7 42 :b8+ h7 43 'if8
'i a7+ 44 f1 le7 45 :1 b2)
Short decided to attack with his
kng:
45 <ig6! !
Now we know where he got his idea
against Timman! On this occasion the
king is perfectly safe on the light
squaes and even proves to b a men
ace, wit ideas of . . . h5-g4.
46 ic1 <hS! 47 la8
108 THE MOST AAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
Stunned by Short's audacity, Kas
paov fails to put up any resistance.
47 :i 5
Here Black can win the exchange
back with 47 . . . 1xa8 48 1xa8 3+
49 ixe3 ixa8, but by this stage Short
was certainly after more.
48 lc8?
48 la6 ofers more hop.
48 1xa3 49 g4+ ixg4 50 lxc4
' a1 0-1
After 5 1 lc2 'ibl White's position
falls apat.
Puzzle 1 1 7
Kamsk - Karpov
Dortmun 1993
( 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 d2 dxe4 4
xe4 d7 5 g5 gf6 6 id3 e6 7
lf3 id6 8 'i e2 h6 9 e4 xe4 10
ixe4 f6 1 1 'ih4)
Karpov shook his opponent with an
incredible move:
11 <e7! !
The idea of this move is actually
quite simple. By connecting his queen
with the h8-rook, Black now teatens
1 2 . . . g5 1 3 1h3 g4, winning a piece. In
fact, White has no easy way to deal
with this idea, unless, like Kasky, he
is willing to sacrifce a pawn.
Appaently Pogaets deserves credit
for this idea, although coincidentally
it's one of te frst moves that Fritz
suggests. Stanger still is the fact that
Fritz likes the even more outageous
1 1 . . 5d7 ! ?.
12 eS! ?
This is the critical test of Black's
idea. 1 2 if4 ib+! gives Black no
problems.
12 .. ixe5 13 dxeS ' aS+ 14 c3
'xe5+ 15 ie3 b6 16 0-0-0
Suming up, Black has an exta
pawn and White has a safer king and
the bishop-pair. The game is very
fnely balanced.
16 .. g5 (D)
17 Wa4
More recently White has been ty
ing 17 1h3; for exaple, 17 . . . c5 1 8
lbel ib7 19 ic4 and now:
a) 19 . . . lad8? 20 ixc5+! 1xc5 21
lxe6+ <if 22 lxd8+ g7 23 lxh8
h5 24 lxf6 1xc4 25 'i f5 'ixh8 26
:h6+ 1 -0 Miroshnichenko-Svetush
kin, Buchaest 1 998.
b) 1 9 . . . ie4 20 f3 if5 21 g4 ig6
22 id5 ! 1xd5 23 lxd5 xd5 24
'i g3 lad8 25 f4 and White was better
in Morozevich-Iordachescu, Kishinev
Chebanenko mem 1 998.
c) 1 9 . . . g4 20 'ih4 lad8 21 :xd8
lxd8 22 'xh6 ixg2 23 id2 'i f5 24
ig5 id5 25 id3 1f3 26 ie2 1f5
27 ixg4 'i g6 28 1xg6 fxg6 29 b3
with an edge to White, Palac-H.Meyer,
Geneva 1 999.
d) 1 9 . . . 4 looks to be Black's bst
bet. Afer 20 f3 l6 21 ib3 :adS 22
'i g4 'i f6 23 ic2 lhg8 24 'i a4 c8
25 bl lxdl+ 26 lxd1 ld8 Black
was surviving and still a pawn ahead
ASWERS FOR CHAPTER 5 109
in Berelovich-Iordachescu, Buchaest
1 998.
17 ... c5 18 lhe1 .d7 19 'i a3 lhd8
20 g3 'i c7 21 id4
21 f4 lg4 22 .d4 gxf4 23 h3 le3
is better for Black.
21 ... .e8! 22 <bl ld5
Kapov recomends 22 . . . .c6! ? 23
.e5 ' d7 24 ic2 1b7 with advan
tage to Black. As the game goes on,
Kamsky gradually hauls himself back
into contention.
23 f4! lad8 24 ic2! l5d6 25
ixf6+ cxf6 26 fxg5+ hxg5 27 :xd6
lxd6 28 c4 ce7 29 1e3 f6 30 h4
gxh4 31 gxh4 1d7 32 'h6 e5?
After this mistake, White's passed
h-pawn becomes a big teat. Stonger
is 32 . . . ld2.
33 h5 'i g4 34 1h7+ d8 35 h6
:d2 36 ' r5 \xf5 37 ix5 id7? ( D J
This error allows White to play 38
c 1 ! :d4 39 .xd7, whereupon both
39 . . . <xd7?? 40 ld1 and 39 . . . :xd7?
40 ld1 ! win for White. Relatively best
is 39 . . . lxc4+ 40 <b1 lh4 4 1 ld1
lxh6, but then only White has win
ning chances.
Kamsk's move lets Kapov of the
hook, and Black assumes control with
his connected passed pawns.
38 .g6? lh2 39 h7 ce7 40 .d3
ie6 41 lgl f5! 42 :g7+ <6 43 :a7
e4 44 .e2 f4 45 b3 f 46 .d1 .f5 47
cl .xh7 48 :b7 <e5 49 lxb6
:xa2 0-1
b Si l ent but Deadl y
Many of the most brilliant checkmating attacks contain what chess annotators
describe as ' the quiet move' , where the aggressor takes time out from incessant
checkng or obvious threats just to play an insignifcant-looking move, often on
the other side of the boad. However, far from being insignifcant, this move usu
ally provides the fnal component in a successful attack by either introducing a
surprising new option for the attacker, or preventing another option for the de
fender. These moves can be described as being ' silent but deadly' and this chap
ter contains many of my favourites. As you will see, quiet moves are not just used
in mating situations; they can be used in the opening, for defensive purposes, or
simply to underline a massive positional advantage.
This position comes from a compli
cated line in the Queen's Gabit Ac
cepted, which is now known as the
Linaes Vaiation. Can you suggest a
good move for Black?
A tactical skirmish has left White
with an obvious recapture at hand, but
is there anything better?
SILEN BUT DEADLY 111
White has seriously mishandled the
opening and has now been left with a
very awkwad pin on the f3-knight.
Has Black any immediate way of ex
ploiting this?
Blak is a piece for two pawns down
here, but on the other hand, he's got
White rather tied up. How dos Black
increase the pressure?
122
w
Both sides possess a dangerous
passed pawn on the seventh rank, but
it's White to move. What should he
play?
Black ha got the white king on the
run, but he must be caefl, as White is
threatening to queen with fatal conse
quences. What should Black do?
112 THE MOST AAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
124
B
Black's pieces ae pointing agges
sively towads the white king. How
should Black continue the attack?
125
w
Black is a piece up, but the only
cover his king has is White' s pawn on
e7. Here White has a ' short' move
which underlines the helplessness of
Black's plight. Can you spot it?
You have to believe me when I tell
you that this bizar e position aose in a
real gae! It's White's move. What
should he play?
Black has an exta piece, but is
faced with the threats of xa8 and
xe6+. What should he do?
Answers for Chapter b
Puzzle 1 1 8
Gelfand - Anand
Linres 1993
( 1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 e4 c5 4 d5 lf6
5 lc3 b5 6 f4 1a5 7 e5 le4 8
'ge2 la6 9 f3 lb4 10 fxe4 ld3+ 1 1
d2)
The obvious material reclaim with
1 1 . . . lf? works against Black here,
as after 12 1e1 'xh1 13 g3 ! , White's
position is no longer resticted by the
knight, which will be picked up in the
corner after g2. Then White's two
pieces would be worth more than
Black's rook. Anand prefered to con
tinue his development quietly:
11 ... g6! !
Black thereby keeps the knight on
d3, where it's a real thor in White's
side. It's true White has an exta piece,
but Black plans to round up the weak
e5-pawn, after which his two pawns
and better development will give him
enough compensation.
12 b3?
Gelfand reacts weaky to the shock
of 1 1 . . . g6. Anand gives the line 12
g3 ! ? g7 13 g2 lxe5, which he as
sesses as unclea, while 12 e3 ! ? is
also interesting. Then 12 . . . g7 should
be answered by 1 3 g3 ! rather than 13
!c 1 ?, which allows Black to snae the
white king with 1 3 . . . lxf4 14 xf4
xe5+! ! 15 xe5? g5 ! and White
cannot prevent mate. For example, 16
d6 f6+ 17 <d5 e6+ 1 8 xc5 'ib6+ 19
b4 a5+ 20 <a3 1c5+ 21 b4 1xb4#.
12 . . . .g7 13 bxc4 lxf4 14 xf4?
This compounds White' s problems.
White should limit the daage with
14 cxb5 .xe5 15 1b3.
14 . . xeS 1S fe2 b4!
Black could not have hoped for a
better position after fifteen moves.
The efect of 1 1 . . . g6! has proved to be
quite devastating. Now Black simply
gains material and enters a winning
endgame.
16 ' a4+ ' xa4 17 xa4 xa1 18
xeS 0-0! 19 ld3 a 20 g3 g7 21
g2 a6! 22 cS lac8 23 c6 :rd8 2
lc1 i.h6+ 2S ef4 i.xd3 26 <xd3
eS! 27 c4 exf4 28 :et fxg3 29 eS
Outwadly, White's pawns lok quit
dangerous, but an exta rook is an ex
ta rook!
29 ... i.f4 30 hxg3 i.xg3 31 le3
f4 32 le4 i.h2 33 i.h3 :c7 3 le2
g3 3S le3 i.f4 36 le4 gS 37 <cS
le7 38 d4 f6! 39 d6 i.xeS+ 40
lxeS lxd6+ 0-1
41 c5 :xc6+! wins.
Puzzle 1 1 9
Rubinstein - Em. Lasker
St Petersburg 1909
( 1 d4 d5 2 f3 f6 3 c4 e6 4 g5
c5 5 cxd5 exd5 6 lc3 cxd4 7 xd4
c6 8 e3 e7 9 b5 .d7 10 .xf6
xf6 1 1 lxd5 xd4 12 exd4
1
g5 13
xc6 i.xc6 14 e3 0-0-0 15 0-0
lhe8 16 lc 1 lxe3 17 lxc6+ bxc6)
Now the natural 1 8 fxe3? ixe3+
19 h 1 'xd4 leaves Black a pawn up
114 THE MOST AAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
and a little better. However, Rubin
stein played a quiet move:
18 'c1! !
This pins the rook to te queen on
g5 and thus regains the rook in much
better circumstances. This idea must
have been planned by Rubinstein as
fa back as when he played 16 :c t .
18 :xd4 19 fxe3 :d7 20 ' xc6+
d8 21 lf4! fS 22 ' cS 'e7 23
' xe7+ rxe7 2 :xrs ld1+ 25 f!
Black has been forced into a lost
rook and pawn ending, in which Ru
binstein's technique is exemplary.
2S ..:d2+ 26 f3 lxb2 27 :as
lb7 28 :a6!
An ideal squae for the rook, where
it both defends a2 and attacks a7.
28 .. f8 29 e4 lc7 30 h4 f7 31
g4 f8 32 rf4 re7 33 hS! h6 34 <fS
rf7 35 eS lb7 36 :d6 r;e7 37 la6
q;r7 38 :d6 f8 39 :c6 rf7 40 a3!
1-0
Black is in zugzwang; e.g. : 40 . . . le7
41 e6+ <g8 42 <g6 le8 43 e7, fol
lowed by ld6-d8; 40 . . . <e7 41 <g6
<d7 42 ld6+ <c8 43 e6; or 40 . . . f
41 g6 :d7 42 lc8+ qe7 43 1xg7.
Puzzle 1 20
Gomes- Neto
Rio de Janeiro 1942
( 1 e4 e5 2 lf3 lc6 3 lc3 ic5 4
ic4 d6 5 d3 ig4 6 ie3 ld4 7 ixd4
ixd4 8 h3 ih5 9 lb5 ib6 10 1e2
le7 1 1 0-0 a6 12 la3 lg6 1 3 g3 ' f6
14 rg2)
14 .. :g8! !
What's tis? To start with, moving
the rook just one squae onto a totally
closed fle looks very mysterious, but
the more you look at the position, the
more you realize the lethal efect of
this move. At the moment there ae
two pawns and a knight in between
Black' s rook and White' s king, but
these obstacles can be removed re
makably quickly. In fact White has
no good defence to Black' s threat of
. . . lh4+! , followed by . . . g5 ! . It is
worth mentioning that Black can also
win by inverting the move-order, viz.
14 . . . lh4+! followed by . . . :g8 ! .
15 c3
15 lbl , intending to protect the
knight with lbd2, actually makes little
diference after 15 . . . lh4+! 1 6 gxh4
g5 17 lbd2 g4! 1 8 hxg4 lxg4+ 19
h3 lxh4+! and Black wins.
1S . lh4+! 16 gxh4 gS
The f3-knight is lost and White is
totally busted.
17 lg1 ixf3+ 18 ' x3 gh4+ 19
h2 ' xf3 20 lxg8+ qe7 21 lxa8
\xf+ 22 rh1 ' f3+ 23 <h2 ' g3+
24 h1 ' xh3 (0-1)
Puzzle 1 21
Samisch- Nimzowitsch
Copenhagen 1923
( 1 d4 lf6 2 c4 e6 3 lf3 b6 4 g3
ib7 5 ig2 ie? 6 lc3 0-0 7 0-0 d5 8
le5 c6 9 cxd5 cxd5 10 if4 a6 1 1 lc 1
b5 12 1b3 lc6 1 3 lxc6 ixc6 14 h3
1d7 15 <h2 lh5 16 id2 f5 17 ' dl
b4 1 8 lbl ib5 1 9 :gl id6 20 e4
fxe4 21 'xh5 lxf 22 'g5 laf8 23
hl l8f5 24 'e3 id3 25 lcel )
2S .. h6! ! 0-1
This understated move takes away
the g5-squae from White and empha
sizes just how helpless White's posi
tion is. In fact, Black has no need to
increase the pressure because White is
actually in zugzwang. Every possible
move by White weakens his position.
ASWERS FOR CHAPTER 6 115
Let' s look at a few possibilities to con
vince ourselves:
a) 26 .cl interferes with the frst
rank and simply drops a piece to
26 . . . .xbl .
b) 26 lc l leaves the e-fle unat
tended, allowing Black to win the
queen with 26 . . . le2.
c) 26 <h2 self-pins the g2-bishop
and thus allows 26 . . . l5f3, winning
the queen.
d) 26 g4 gives Black access to the
h3-pawn and thus allows 26 . . . :5f3 27
.xf3 lh2#.
Looking at White' s pieces, we see
that the queen, the g2-bishop, te gl
rook ad the d2-bishop all cannot move
without losing material . Thus White is
reduced to making irelevant pawn
moves, but these soon rn out. After
26 a3 a5 ! 27 axb4 axb4 28 b3 "h8 !
29 h4 g8 White must self-destuct.
Puzzle 1 22
Korchnoi - Spassk
Belgrade Ct (7) 1977
( 1 c4 e6 2 lc3 d5 3 d4 .e? 4 lf3
lf6 5 .g5 0-0 6 e3 h6 7 .h4 b6 8
:c t .b7 9 .xf6 .xf6 1 0 cxd5 exd5
1 1 b c6 1 2 ie2 ld7 1 3 0-0 a5 14 b5
c5 15 dxc5 lxc5 1 6 4 1d6 17 .g4
lfd8 1 8 :e 1 le6 1 9 .xe6 fxe6 20
lc6 .xc6 21 bxc6 .xc3 22 lxc3
lac8 23 1c2 e5 24 c7 ld7 25 lcl d4
26 :c6 1d5 27 'ibl d3 28 'xb6 d2
29 ldl 'i xa2)
An obvious candidate move is 30
'ib7, which looks good until you spot
30 . . . 'i a4! for Black. After 31 'xc8+
<h7 White is a rook up, but struggling
due to the chronic weakness of his
back rank. Black wins after 3 2 1h8+?
<xh8 33 c81+ h7 34 lc2 'al ! .
Instead Korchnoi discovered an ex
temely calm response:
30 h3! !
This quiet move, getting rid of all
the back-rank problems, at frst looks
too slow to work. Indeed, White is
temporaily forced to give up a rook,
but then Black has to return the mate
rial with interest.
30 ... ' a4 31 lxd2 :xd2 32 'b7
ldd8
Black has nothing better; for exam
ple:
a) 32 . . . 'ixc6 33 'ixc8+ rf 34
'i f5+! and 35 c8'i.
b) 32 . . . :f 33 c8\ 'dl+ 34 h2
:xeS 35 lxc8+ ld8 36 lc7 and the
crucial g7-pawn drops, leaving White
wit a winning position
33 cxd8' + lxd8 34 lc7! (D)
Now the only way for Black to hold
on to his g7 -pawn is by sacrifcing his
e-pawn, but this just leads to a winning
position for White with a clea exta
pawn.
3 .. ' a1 + 35 h2 e4 3 ' xe4 ' f6
37 f4 'f8 38 la7 'c5 39 'b7 'c3
40 ' e7 :r 41 e4 ' d4 42 f5 h5 43
lxaS ' d2 44 1e5 ' g5 45 la6 lf7
46 lg6 1d8 47 f6 h4 48 fxg7 1-0
116 THE MOST AAING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
Puzzle 1 23
Kamsk- J. Polgar
Buenos Aires 1994
( 1 e4 c5 2 lf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lxd4
lf6 5 lc3 c6 6 db5 d6 7 if4 e5 8
ig5 a6 9 la3 ie6 10 l4 lc8 1 1
ixf6 'xf6 1 2 b6 lb8 1 3 lcd5
'ig6 14 1d3 ie7 15 g3 0-0 1 6 ig2
id8 17 0-0 h8 1 8 l4 le7 1 9 1a3
ixd5 20 exd5 ic7 21 lad1 lg8 22
a5 f5 23 c4 f4 24 c5 f 25 ihl ixa
26 'xa e4 27 lfel lf6 28 cxd6
'g4 29 :d4 :be8 30 'b 'h3 31
ldxe4 xe4 32 lxe4 'f5 33 :xe8
lxe8 34 h4 le2 35 d7 'bl + 36 h2
lxf+ 37 h3)
The obvious 37 . . . 1xh1+? actually
loses to 38 g4 h5+ 39 <xh5, when
Black has no more checks, leaving
White free to queen on his next move.
Instead Polga cae up with:
37 h5! !
This blocks the escape-route via g4.
White can now queen wit check, but
even the force of the two queens is not
enough to resist Black's mating treats.
38 ' f+
38 d81+ h7 is no better. White
can only prevent imediate mate by
giving up a queen with 39 1e4+.
38 . h7 0-1
There is no defence, a 39 ixf3
loses to 39 . . . \fl +.
Puzzle 1 24
Stahlberg -Alekhi ne
Hamburg OL 1930
( 1 d4 f6 2 c4 e6 3 c3 ib4 4
1b3 c5 5 dxc5 c6 6 f3 e4 7 id2
xc5 8 ' c2 f5 9 a3 ixc3 10 ixc3
0-0 1 1 b e4 12 e3 b6 13 id3 lxc3
14 ' xc3 ib7 15 0-0 le7 16 ie2
' e8 17 lfd 1 ld8 1 8 a4 f4 19 a fxe3
20 ' xe3 f5 21 1c3 d6 22 axb6 axb6
23 el e5 24 la7 d4 25 1e3 ld7
26 la2 ldf7 27 f3 lf4 28 id3 fh5
29 ifl ' g5 30 lf)
30 h6! !
With tis restained move, Alekhine
siply protects his queen for the for
coming tactics. Black' s imediate
threat is 3 1 . . . lxf3 ! 32 txg5 :xf! . If
White prevents this with 3 1 'd2?,
then 3 1 . . . ixf3 ! 3 2 lxf3 xf3+ 33
lxf3 lxf3 34 fxg5 lxfl + 35 :xfl
:xfl + 36 <xfl hxg5 3 7 e2 cf7 38
e3 e6 39 <e4 b5 ! gives Black a
winning king and pawn endgame. The
only way for White to hang on is 3 1
id3 ! .
31 <h1? lxf3! 0- 1
Puzzle 125
Maroczy - Romih
San Remo 1930
( 1 d4 d5 2 f3 lf6 3 c4 c6 4 e3 e6
5 lc3 ib4 6 id3 0-0 7 tc2 bd7 8
0-0 te7 9 id2 dxc4 10 ixc4 id6 1 1
id3 e5 1 2 h3 :e8 1 3 lg5 h6 14 lge4
ic7 15 :ael xe4 1 6 xe4 lf6 17
xf6+ 'xf6 18 ic3 th4 19 dxe5
ixe5 20 ixe5 lxe5 21 f4 le8 22
h2 id7 23 ' c3 lad8 24 e4 ic8 25
le3 te7 26 e5 'd7 27 ldl fe7 28
:del fd7 29 lfl te7 30 ibl ld5
3 1 ' c2 g6 32 lg3 f8 33 fe2 'b
34 ixg6 fxg6 35 lxg6 re7 36 'h5
d8 37 'xh6 1xb2 38 e6 lh8 39
e7+ re8 40 lel :d2)
41 'hS! !
These ' short' moves ae sometimes
very had to spot. Another aesthetically
pleasing point of 41 'h5 is that it
moves the queen back along the line of
attack fom the black rook. John Nunn
calls this type of move 'collinea' . As
ASWERS FOR CHAPTER 6 117
fa as threats go, White has just set up
a lethal battery of queen and rook, so
threatening a decisive double or dis
covered check. Black cannot capture
the queen by 41 . . .lxh5 as then White
wins with 42 lg8+ d7 43 e8' +
c7 44 ' xh5. Having said that, Black
doesn' t really have any better defence
either.
41 ... lxg2+ 42 :xg2+ :xh5 43
:xb2 :xh3+ 44 <g1 lh7 45 :h2
:g7+ 46 <f lg8 47 lh6 f7 48
e8i+ :xeS 49 :h7+ 1-0
Puzzle 1 26
Polugaevsk - Torre
Moscow 1981
( 1 d4 d 2 c4 c6 3 f3 f6 4 c3
e6 5 i.g5 dxc4 6 e4 b5 7 e5 h6 8 i.h4
g5 9 xg5 hxg5 10 i.xg5 bd7 1 1
exf6 i.b7 12 g3 c5 1 3 d5 b6 14 dxe6
jxd1+ 15 lxd1 i.xh1 1 6 e7 a6)
17 h4! !
This move was undoubtedly the re
sult of some heavy-duty prepaation
by Polugaevsk, who must have been
burning the midnight oil . Before this
game, ' normal ' attempts to refute
Black's opening had come to nothing.
Hitherto, the latest word on the subject
was Beliavsky-Bagirov, Moscow tt
198 1 , which went 17 exf81+ xf8 1 8
:d6 lb8 1 9 i.e3 :h5 20 i.e2 :e5 21
d1 <g8 22 i.f4 :ee8 23 e3 le4
with advantage to Black.
17 . i.h6 18 f4! ! (D)
Now we begin to see the depth of
the scheme dreamed up by Polugaev
sky. White is not in the least interested
in regaining material . All he wants to
do is imprison the black king on e8
and rook on h8, and then just get on
with the game, forgetting that he's a
rook down. The battle will actually
take place on the queenside, where the
material is roughly level, but White
holds a major advantage because of
the fact that te d1 -rook and the e7-
pawn not only imprson the black king,
but they also present Black with peril
ous defensive problems due to the
constant mating ideas.
18 ... b4 19 :d6! lb8
1 9 . . . bxc3 20 lxb6 cxb2 21 i.xc4 is
also ver favourable for White.
20 ld1 i.xg5 21 fxgS d5!
The best defence. After 21 . . . i.d5
22 e3 i.e6 23 i.g2 i.d7 White wins
by 24 i.c6! i.xc6 25 f5 lg8 26
lg7+ :xg7 27 ld8+ :xd8 28 exd8'+
xd8 29 fxg7.
22 i.xc4 lxe7 23 fxe7 xe7 24
:f6!
Finally Black rds himself of the
choking e-pawn, but White' s active
pieces still give him a big advantage.
24 ... lhf8 25 e3 i.e4 26 :xa6
lbd8 21 :r6 :d6 28 :r4 ld4 29 hS
i.d3 30 ld5+! <d6 31 :xd4 cxd4
32 i.b3?!
Unfortunately, White spoils the
game a little with this eror. After the
game Polugaevsk gave the following
winning line: 32 i.xd3 <xd5 33 h6
118 THE MOST AAZING CHESS MOVES OF ALL TIME
lg8 34 h7 lh8 35 <d2 <d6 36 c2
re7 37 b3 f 38 <ixb4 qg7 39
c4.
32 . ic2! 33 ixc2 xdS 34
ib3+?!
White can still win with 34 h6.
34 . <eS 35 g4 f4?
Torre slips up in time-trouble.
35 . . . d3 ! 36 d2 <d4 draws.
36 g6 <e3 37 g7 leS 38 qn d3 39
g2 f4 40 h6 1-0
Puzzle 1 27
Spangenberg - Ftacni k
Moscow OL 1994
( 1 e4 c5 2 lc3 d6 3 f4 g6 4 lf3
ig7 5 ic4 e6 6 0-0 &e7 7 d3 &bc6 8
f5 d5 9 ib3 dxe4 10 fxg6 exf3 1 1
gxf7+ <f8 1 2 1xf3 1d4+ 1 3 h1
&e5 14 1e2 1g4 15 tf b6 1 6 h3
1g6 17 if4 ib7 1 8 lae1 c4 19 dxc4
&xf 20 &b5 &f5 21 &c7)
Ftacnik found a statling idea:
21 le8!
This moves the rook from one at
tacked squae to another. The beauty
of this move is tat the knight is de
fected fom attackng e6, and the time
gained allows Black to set his kingside
attack in motion.
22 &xe8 id4!
White begins to feel the pressure on
the dak squaes.
23 1d2
Ftacnik gives 23 'e2 lg8 24 &c7
ixg2+ 25 <h2 e5 26 c5 ixf1 27
lxf1 ie3 ! 28 ixe5 &xe5 29 lxf5+
1xf5 and Black wins.
23 . lg8 2 :e2? (D)
This allows a very pleasing fnish.
24 &c7 is more resilient, although
Black should win in the long run after
24 . . . ixg2+ 25 h2 e5.
24 . . ' g3! ! 0-1
Black threatens . . . ' xh3+, and there
is no good way out for White; e. g. :
a) 25 ' xd4 1xh3+ 26 ih2 ixg2+
mates quicky.
b) 25 ih6+ <ixe8 26 ia4+ e7.
c) 25 ixg3 &xg3+ 26 h2 &xf1 +
27 <ih1 lxd2 28 lxd2 :xg2 29 lxg2
<xe8.
d) 25 1b4+ ic5 26 1xc5+ bxc5
27 ixg3 &xg3+ 28 <h2 &xf1 + 29
g1 xeS.
J The Long-Term Efect
This chapter deals wit te long-term sacrifce, which is one of the most difcult
aspects of chess. I would say that most players have within them the skill to spot a
dazling combination, but much more experience is required to judge the quality
of any long-term sacrifce. Often the benefts of such a sacrifce only become ap
paent after many more moves have been played. Sometimes a sacrifce is of
fered for a slow-burning attack against the opponent's king, but just as often we
will see a sacrifce just so that one can contol a certain fle or even just a squae.
Or maybe just to open a diagonal for a bishop or a fle for a rook.
Despite the fact that you know you ae looking for a sacrifce of some sort, this
is still one of te most difcult chapters in te book. It' s no surprise that in most
of the exaples given here, the player offering the sacrifce is an experienced
grandmaster.
128
B
At the moment Black seems to be
struggling to contain White's power
ful-looking pawn-cente. Is there a
draatic solution to his problems?
An important moment has been
reached. White ha some initiative, but
Black has just threatened the white
knight on d5. Does it have to reteat, or
does White have a more dramatic so
lution?