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Home , Adolf Anderssen, Daniel Harrwitz, Efstratios Grivas, Gregory Serper, Howard Staunton, Immortal Game

THE TACTICS BIBLE Magnum Opus

by Efstratios Grivas

www.thinkerspublishing.com Editor in Chief Romain Edouard

Consulting Editor Daniël Vanheirzeele

Proofreading Ezra Kirk

Graphic Artist Philippe Tonnard

Cover design Iwan Kerkhof

Back cover photo Saint Louis Club, Spectrum Studios

Typesetting i-Press ‹www.i-press.pl›

First edition 2019 by Th inkers Publishing

Th e Tactics Bible. Magnum Opus Copyright © 2019 Efstratios Grivas

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 978-94-9251-043-3 D/2018/13730/24

All sales or enquiries should be directed to Th inkers Publishing, 9850 Landegem, Belgium. e-mail: [email protected] website: www.thinkerspublishing.com TABLE OF CONTENTS

KEY TO SYMBOLS 7 FOREWORD 9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 11

PART 1. A TACTICAL WORLD

TACTICAL EDUCATION 13 CHESS SCHOOLS 15 THE 16 THE EVERGREEN GAME 30 THE RAINBOW GAME 39 THE CHESS GAME 43

PART 2. TACTICAL PLAY

ATTACK VIA THE EDGED FILES 59 BLOCKING THE F6-SQUARE 80 FIERCE 100 IN THE BOX 108 THE KING HUNT 114 THE NOVOTNY 139 DEFENCE & COUNTER-ATTACK 164

PART 3. BASIC MATES

QUEEN MATE 181 BOX MATE 185 DOUBLE MAJOR PIECE MATE 189 TWO BISHOPS MATE 192 TWO KNIGHTS MATE 195 & MATE 205 FOOL’S MATE 225 SCHOLAR’S MATE 228

PART 4. COMBINATIVE MATES (QUEEN & )

ANASTASIA’S MATE 233 ANDERSSEN’S MATE 241 ARABIAN MATE 245 BACK-RANK MATE 258 BLIND SWINE MATE 274 COZIO’S MATE 277 DAMIANO’S BISHOP MATE 279 DAMIANO’S MATE 283 DOVETAIL MATE 290 EPAULETTE MATE 295 GOLDEN CAGE MATE 300 GRECO’S MATE 304 HOOK MATE 313 KILL BOX MATE 320 LAWNMOWER MATE 322 LOLLI’S MATE 328 LURED MATE 339 MARSHALL’S MATE 344 MAX LANGE’S MATE 346 MAYET’S MATE 350 MORPHY’S MATE 357 NEW YORK MATE 361 OPERA MATE 366 SWALLOW’S TAIL MATE 375 PART 5. COMBINATIVE MATES (BISHOP, KNIGHT & )

BLACKBURNE’S MATE 381 BODEN’S MATE 387 DAVID & GOLIATH MATE 392 DOUBLE BISHOP MATE 397 KNIGHT CORNER MATE 400 LEGAL’S MATE 406 PILLSBURY’S MATE 412 PONY EXPRESS MATE 416 RETI’S MATE 424 428 SUFFOCATION MATE 444

KEY TO SYMBOLS

! a good move ?a weak move !! an excellent move ?? a !? an interesting move ?! a dubious move  only move =equality  unclear position  with for the sacrifi ced material  White stands slightly better  Black stands slightly better  White has a serious advantage  Black has a serious advantage +- White has a decisive advantage -+ Black has a decisive advantage  with an attack  with  with counterplay  with the idea of  better is  worse is Nnovelty + #mate

FOREWORD

So, here is another one of the thousands of chess books dealing with tactics! Well, nothing new under the sun; just a huge collection of categorised mate- rial, dealing with tactics and all existing mate patterns.

I am not seeking glory with this book, but I certainly had to have a book in tactics! Th at’s the main idea of the book; to be a companion for trainers and players who seek improvement — simple but eff ective!

Th e names of the mates are not important. What’s crucial is understanding and sub-consciously memorising these patterns in order to recognise when they’re about to occur in a player’s own games.

Th ese mating patterns are not confi ned to chess problems and puzzles. As will be shown, they occur in the games of Grandmasters and even World Cham- pions, past and present! Th ey belong to everybody’s games, even beginners’!

Each mate’s theoretical pattern is presented as a diagram, with constructed ex- amples and actual games. It is suggested that students set-up and play through these mates from the losers’ viewpoint as well.

Most diffi cult of all is recognising patterns when they occur horizontally (i.e., rotated 90 degrees) from the normal orientation. Th e key to each pattern is the status of the squares surrounding the king: which ones are obstructed, which are potential fl ight squares that can be controlled with the available pieces. Players are advised to know these patterns forwards, backwards and upside down!

Novice players oft en complain they are unable to infl ict these mates on their opponents and that opponents spot the threat and fi nd a defensive move to prevent the mate.

Knowledge of the game and the defensive skill of today’s players, even at the amateur level, is much greater than it was 200 years ago. Players should re- member Nimzowitsch’s advice: ‘A threat is stronger than its execution’. Th reat- ening mate can force the opponent to make a defensive move that may com- promise his position elsewhere.

Th e knowledgeable player uses a mating threat as a (small) tactical stepping stone to gain an advantage. Just like any piece of knowledge and its skillful application, a mate threat can be a potent tactical weapon in a player’s arsenal.

One of the critical elements of position analysis is king safety, both one’s own king and the opponent’s.

Armed with knowledge of mating patterns, players can be alert for opportu- nities to bring their games to a speedy conclusion or prevent a disaster if they fi nd themselves under such pressure.

Frequently, these mating possibilities occur on the kingside because players typically castle on that wing, or else in the middle of the board due to a player’s failure to castle.

Efstratios Grivas September 2018 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books of this kind cannot be exclusively based on previous literature, al- though I have to pay tributes to various respected authors and trainers, such as Karsten Mueller and Mark Dvoretsky. Many other historical names can be found throughout the book, even dating back to 1500!

Tactics have a longer history than strategical concepts, mainly because they are much easier to understand for everybody!

So, my main sources were a healthy collection of internet sites, especially www. wikipedia.com, and the ChessBase online collection of games. Even www. facebook.com was helpful to fi nd games and examples which fi t in the pre- sented subjects!

PART 1. A TACTICAL WORLD

I consider that when you tell your TACTICAL EDUCATION students that there is something to fi nd in a given position, you have al- How exactly does our tactical train- ready given away half of the solu- ing/learning procedure take place tion. So, as I believe that training from our very fi rst chess years? should be a simulation of the bat- tle to come (game), the conditions Usually the trainer supports his/ should be similar. her trainees with some photocop- ies fi lled with diagrams and sub-ti- So, I am trying to provide my train- tles like ‘White/Black to play wins/ ees with just a position with the draws’. Th e trainees work on these only information being whose move exercises and they find out how it is — sometimes not even that! OK, their tactical abilities stack up. this sounds pretty hard but nobody promised you an easy job here! If Well, this is a very well-known you fi nd it hard to work on chess, method but I’ve always wondered then what about working 9–5 in how correct it is. You see, the train- a factory? I oft en used to remind my er already provides a huge amount trainees of this — aft er all they had of information to the trainee. He made their hobby a profession and informs him that there is a combi- should be thankful for this… nation to be found and that this is a winning or a drawing one! What is certain is that tactical mo- tifs are continuously repeated and Th is is nothing like game condi- can be learned exactly like we tions, where nobody will give any learn opening theory. Somebody help or information. In a chess is obliged to teach them and some- game, the player is alone in the des- body is obliged to learn them — you ert, relying only on his own capabil- need two to tango and you must ities, seeking his oasis… learn the dance in depth in order to perform it! 14 THE TACTICS BIBLE

Th ere are many ways to teach tacti- joying their life and their coff ee! cal motifs — no doubt about it, but Th ere is nothing wrong with this; at the end of the day the most im- wrong are the trainers who take portant for the trainer is to have cre- them seriously! ated a teaching program. Yes, these games are spectacular, I am sure that there are a lot of easy to absorb and nice to present, books on tactics but their main but that is all. Th eir tactical educa- drawback is that the presentation tion is poor, as they are lacking the is usually poor, without a concrete defence factor, which is quite im- thematic outlook. portant in our modern world.

I feel that the correct approach is to Th e other two from this survey are collect some thematic, nearly iden- modern, ‘correct’, fi erce fi ghts, where tical positions which involve simi- both opponents tried their best. lar motifs. Here I am fully presenting four im- Th en again, this leads to an import- portant games in the Tactical Edu- ant question; which games should cation of an ambitious chess player I present to my trainees? Well, near- and I am putting strong emphasis ly every trainer that I know starts on the defence factor as well. from some famous games from the last centuries, like the ‘Immortal Th e games are: Game’ or the ‘Evergreen Game’. 1. vs Lionel Kizeritzky, 1851 (Th e Th ese two games are usually pre- Immortal Game). sented with poor analysis, empha- 2. Anderssen Adolf vs jean Du- sising the winner’s triumph, with- fresne, 1852 (Th e Ever- out any care for the defending green Game). resources. 3. Gregory Serper vs Ioannis Ni- kolaidis, St Petersburg 1993 (Th e It is then natural that the trainee Rainbow Game). will mistakenly start thinking that 4. vs Veselin To- every attack is destined to succeed... palov, Wijk aan Zee 1999 (Th e Chess Game). My personal opinion is that those two games were simply played by Try to follow the games, analyse coff ee-house players who were en- them, understand them, and cal- PART 1. A TACTICAL WORLD 15 culate the variations and I am sure Th e second was the so-called ‘Clas- that you will enjoy them even more sical School’. Around 1860, Louis than when the defence is absent! Paulsen realised that many attacks on the king succeeded because of poor defence. CHESS SCHOOLS agreed with that In the short chess history of the post and rejected the prevailing notion 1500 AD years, there have been four that attack was more honorable main ‘schools’ of chess. than defence. Steinitz strength- ened defensive techniques and ad- Th e fi rst was the so-called ‘Roman- vocated strategic manoeuvring to tic Chess’, which was the style of gain enough of an advantage before chess prevalent in the 19th century. launching an attack. It was characterised by brash sacri- fi ces and open, tactical games. Steinitz was an advocate of the queenside pawn majority and the Winning was secondary to winning use of the bishop pair. He also em- with style, so much, in fact, that it phasised occupation of the centre was considered unsportsmanlike to of the board and . decline a — the sacrifi ce of Steinitz began using his ideas in a pawn or piece to obtain an attack. games in 1872. Steinitz had few fol- lowers at fi rst, but by the 1890s most It is no coincidence that the most masters had been infl uenced by his popular openings played by the Ro- ideas. was a great mantics were the ‘King’s Gambit promoter of the Steinitz school. Accepted’ and the ‘ Accepted’. Some of the major play- Th e third one was the so-called ‘Hy- ers of the Romantic era were Adolf permodern School’. Th e hypermod- Anderssen, and Hen- ern school was founded by Aron ry Blackburne. Nimzowitsch, Richard Réti, Sav- ielly Tartakower, and Th e Romantic style was eff ectively Grünfeld in the 1920s. ended on the highest level by Wil- helm Steinitz, who, with his more Th e hypermodernists rejected the positional approach, crushed all of idea that occupation of the centre his contemporaries and ushered in was important. Instead, the hyper- the modern age of chess. modern school emphasises control 16 THE TACTICS BIBLE of the centre by attacking it with players but their emphasis on rigor- pieces, especially from the periphery. ous training and study of the game, i.e. considering chess a sport rather Th e hypermodern school also de- than an art or science. nied the superiority of the two bish- ops in all types of positions and What I keep telling my trainees is claimed that the bishop pair was that the level of defence is the great- only strong in open or semi-open est improvement in chess over the positions. last 150 years. When there is action it is natural to see a reaction; when And the fourth one was the so- there is an attack, a defence is just called ‘Soviet School’. In the 1940s around the corner. the began a long dom- ination of chess. Th e Soviet school Also, after the ‘immortal game’, agreed with Tarrasch and empha- I keep telling them to remember to sised mobility. bring out the queen’s bishop and not to leave the rooks standing in the A weakness that could not be at- corners! tacked was not a real weakness. Th e Soviet school was based on teachings At the end of the day, I do not think of (1850–1908). it is that important which ‘school’ you choose to follow; just do it well Generally speaking, chess experts and try to play the best moves… in the USSR described the Sovi- et as a fast-paced, daring style of play best exemplifi ed THE IMMORTAL GAME by the young generation of postwar players like . THE OPPONENTS

Not all Soviet players used this play- ADOLF ANDERSSEN ing style, though. Th e most notable exception was Botvinnik, whom Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen born com- in Breslau (now Wrocław), Poland pared to the methodical Wilhelm (July 6, 1818 — March 13, 1879) was Steinitz. a German chess master. He is con- sidered to have been the world’s Th e main contribution of the Soviet leading chess player for much of School of Chess was not the style of the 1850s and 1860s. He was quite PART 1. A TACTICAL WORLD 17 soundly defeated by Paul Morphy pat (now ), Livonia, Russian who toured Europe in 1858, but Empire to a Baltic German fam- Morphy retired from chess soon af- ily (1 January 1806 or 20 Decem- ter and Anderssen was again con- ber 1805–6 or 18 May 1853 in Par- sidered the leading player. is). From 1825 to 1829 he studied at the University of Dorpat, and then Aft er his defeat by Steinitz in 1866, worked as a mathematics teacher, Anderssen became the most suc- like Anderssen. From 1838 to 1839, cessful tournament player in Eu- he played a correspondence match rope, winning over half the events he against Carl Jaenisch — unfi nished, entered, including the Baden-Baden because Kieseritzky had to leave for 1870 , one of the . In Paris he became a chess strongest tournaments of the era. professional, giving lessons or play- He achieved most of these success- ing games for fi ve francs an hour, es when he was over the age of 50. and editing a .

Anderssen is famous even today Kieseritzky became one of the four for his brilliant sacrifi cial attacking leading French masters of the time, play, particularly in the ‘Immor- alongside Louis de la Bourdonnais, tal Game’ (1851) and the ‘Evergreen Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint- Game’ (1852). He was a very import- Amant, and Boncourt. For the few ant fi gure in the development of years preceeding his death, he was chess problems, driving the transi- among the top two players in the tion from the ‘Old School’ of prob- world along with . lem composition to the elegance His knowledge of the game was sig- and complexity of modern compo- nifi cant and he made contributions sitions. to of his own, but his career was somewhat blighted by He was also one of the most like- misfortune and a passion for the able of chess masters and became unsound. an ‘elder statesman’ of the game, to whom others turned to for advice or In 1842, he tied a match with Ignazio arbitration. Calvi (+7 −7 =1). In 1846 he won matches against the German mas- ters Bernhard Horwitz (+7 −4 =1) and (+11 −5 =2). He Lionel Adalbert Bagration Fe- enjoyed a number of other magnifi - lix Kieseritzky was born in Dor- cent victories throughout his career, 18 THE TACTICS BIBLE but he lacked nerve when it came to Kieseritzsky and a bunch of names tournament play. I won’t bother boring you with. An- derssen was the eventual winner of VENUE the event, and went on to be regard- ed as one of the fi nest chess players Th e game was played between the of all time. two great players at the Simpson’s- in-the-Strand Divan in London, But our story isn’t about his tourna- England, in 1851. It was an informal ment. It isn’t about his victory. It’s one, played during a break in a for- about a simple practice match he mal tournament. Kieseritzky was played against Kieseritzsky in a café very impressed when the game was on the 21st of June, which ‘screwed over, and telegraphed the moves of Kieser inside out’ by the time it was the game to his Parisian . over. It was a fi tting match for the Th e French chess magazine La Ré- longest day of the year. gence published the game in July 1851. Th is game was nicknamed ‘Th e To keep it simple, Anderssen was Immortal Game’ in 1855 by the Aus- playing with white. Kieseritsky trian Ernst Falkbeer. chose black. Anderssen opened by off ering his kingside bishop’s pawn, ATTACK & DEFENCE and used this move to gain control of the centre of the board. Th e glee a seasoned chess player feels having perfected a war strategy He slowly capitalised on this start, out of the trillions of possible moves building momentum to play a game using his 16 piece army is almost or- that relied on an extreme amount of gasmic. Pardon me, I’ll stamp out guesswork coupled with some fabu- the ‘almost’. It is orgasmic. lous calculations. Around a quarter way into the game, Anderssen had In 1851, the fi rst international chess pinned the black queen, leaving his tournament was held in England. own bishop up for grabs. Invitations were sent to some of the most renowned chess players in Eu- What you must remember is that he rope for a knockout style event to wasn’t in a position where he would declare ‘the World’s Chess Cham- have surely captured the queen. He pion’. The foggy streets of Lon- was just restricting her movement. don welcomed (among others) the To lose a bishop in order to restrict likes of Adolf Anderssen and Lionel the queen’s walking space was un- PART 1. A TACTICAL WORLD 19 orthodox, but Anderssen did it any- It was something like Federer nod- way. It was the fi rst of his four sacri- ding to Nadal and saying ‘I’m go- fi ces that would shoot this game to ing to lose this point now, because the fame it has reached today. I know you’re going to make a mis- take the next time you serve and give Anderssen had a vague outline of me the match. Th ere you go… Dou- what he was doing, and he decid- ble fault! Game, Set, Match — me’. ed to be fi rm and attack whenever he could get the chance. In a crown One for the ages. Anderssen’s com- jewel move at the half-way point, binative skill and foresight are time- Anderssen used both his rooks as less. Kieseritzky sure showed his bait to set up a trap of a lifetime, limitation by going for piece-grabs blocking out the black king. rather than defending his kingside against White’s ominous buildup When Kieseritzsky fell for it and there. realised what Anderssen had done, popular legend goes that he resigned Kieseritzsky recorded this match with a smile (which was very rare, and shared it with all the other he was one of the most arrogant competitors. From then on, he was players back then) and continued known till his death as ‘the immor- to play just to see whether Anders- tal loser’. Th e world acknowledged sen would win the way he thought its signifi cance, and till date, not he would. Anderssen picked this up a match has been played that ri- and announced the fi nal vals its contribution to chess litera- move out loud. For a chess player, ture. Anderssen proved something, this is hilarious. It’s like saying, which has stayed with his fans for ‘Okay… So you just lost… Now let a lifetime: ‘Victory does not de- me show you how I’m about to de- pend on the pieces that you lose. It feat you’. depends entirely on the pieces that you can continue playing with!’. Anderssen’s genius didn’t end there. He planned the checkmate in such a way, that Black was forced to take his queen as a fi nal magnifi cent sac- rifi ce, before he checkmated Kiese- ritzsky with his remaining bishop, rubbing salt on his wounds. 20 THE TACTICS BIBLE

played the blunder 4.fxe5? h4+ THE GAME 5.e2 e4+ 6.f2 c5+ 7.d4 xd4+ 8.g3 xe5+ 9.f2 d4+ 10.g3 Game 1 g6+ 11.f4 f5+ 12.g3 f2# 0–1 Perenyi,B-Grivas,E 1984. ▷ Adolf Anderssen ▶ Lionel Kieseritzky 3.c4 London 1851 An aggressive move, which invites 1.e4 e5 2.f4 Black to destroy White’s rights. In return, White hopes to 8 rsnlwqkvlntr benefi t from his opponent’s early 7 zppzpp+pzpp queen trip... 6 -+-+-+-+ 5 +-+-zp-+- Th e most popular move nowadays 4 -+-+PzP-+ is 3.f3 d5 4.exd5 f6 5.c4 xd5 3 +-+-+-+- 6.0–0 e7 7.c3 e6 8.e2 c6 2 PzPPzP-+PzP 9.d4 0–0 10.xd5 xd5 11. xd5 xd5 12. xf4 d6, with equal 1 tRNvLQmKLsNR chances, as in Carlsen,M-Aronian,L abcdefgh Stavanger 2015. Th e ‘King’s Gambit’ was fashion- able in those days and every self-re- 3...h4+ specting player would try it. Aft er all, chess engines did not exist and A principal move, although Black defence was a rather mystical, unex- has tried 3...d5 4.xd5 f6 5.c3 plored notion, so there was little to b4, as in Morozevich,A-Alma- worry about or be afraid of. si,Z Monte Carlo 2002.

2...exf4 4.f1

Black felt obliged to accept the of- 4.e2 is weaker: 4...f6 5.c3 fer, but nowadays most games con- g4+ 6.f1 xd1+ 7.xd1 xe4 tinue with the ‘Anti-King’s Gambit’ and Black’s material advantage will with 2...d5 where White’s best option tell, as in Kozolup,V-Grigoryan, is 3.exd5 c6 with an unclear game. A Nevinnomyssk 2012. When I was young I won a game where White (a Hungarian IM) 4...b5