+P+-+K+- +-+-+-+- B -+-+P+-+ W -+-+-+-+ Zlw-+P+R +-+-+-Z- P+-+N+Q+ P+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+- Z-+K+-+- -+-+-TP+ Kwqs-Z-S +-+-+RM- +-+-+-+

Contents Symbols Introduction 45Part 1: The Basics 1 Pin 2 Deflection 3 Overload 4 Decoy 5 Double Attack 6 Knight Fork 7 Discovered Attack 8 Clearance 7 16 23 28 36 44 50 56 64 71 77 85 91 96 9 Obstruction 10 Removing the Defender 11 The Power of the Pawn 12 Back-Rank Mate 13 Stalemate 14 Perpetual Check and Fortresses Part 2: Advanced Tactics 15 f7: Weak by Presumption 16 The Vulnerable Rook’s Pawn 17 Attacking the Fianchetto 18 The Mystery of the Opposite-Coloured Bishops 19 Chess Highways: Open Files 20 Trapping a Piece 103 111 118 125 131 141 <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">21 Practice Makes Perfect </li><li style="flex:1">149 </li></ul>Solutions Index of Players Index of Composers 158 188 191 K NIGHT F ORK 6 Knight Fork <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">The knight is considered to be the least powerful </li><li style="flex:1">White is now a queen and two rooks down – </li></ul>piece in chess (besides the pawn, of course). As a deficit of approximately 19 ‘pawns’. His only the great world champion Jose Raul Capablanca remaining piece is a knight. But a brave one... taught us, the other minor piece, the bishop, is 3 Ìe3+ Êf6 4 Ìxd5+ Êf5 5 Ìxe7+ Êf6 6 better in 90% of cases. However, due to its spe- Ìxg8+ (D) cific qualities the knight is a tremendously dangerous piece. It is nimble and its jumps can be -+-+-+N+ quite shocking. That is why a double attack by a knight is usually distinguished from other double attacks and called a fork. +-+-+p+- -+-+nm-M +-+-z-+- -+-+-+-+ +-+-+PZ- -+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+- BA single knight may cause incredible damage in the right circumstances: -+-+-+q+ +-+r +p+- W-+N+nm-M +-+r z-+- -+-+-+-+ +-+-+PZ- -+-+-+-+ +Q+N+-+- The knight has managed to remove most of Black’s army. Now it is the king’s turn to suffer: 6...Êf5 7 Ìe7+ Êf6 8 Ìd5+ Êf5 9 g4# Our opponent will not be very eager to walk into a fork, so we may need to force it. Deflection and decoy are very common methods: Alb. Beliavsky 1st Prize, Korolkov-100 Jubilee, 2008 r +-wr +k+ zpv-+p+p W-+p+-+pV +-+n+l+- -+-ZN+-+ Z-+-+-+P L ZQ+-ZP+ +-+RT-M- First White decoys his opponent’s pieces into forks: 1 Ëf5+!! Êxf5 2 Ìe7+!! Îxe7 (D) -+-+-+q+ +-+-tp+- W-+-+n+-M +-+r zk+- -+-+-+-+ +-+-+PZ- -+-+-+-+ +-+N+-+- Ligterink – Pachman Donner Memorial, Amsterdam 1994 21 Íxd5 cxd5 White seems to be in an unpleasant pin, but he has fully appreciated the power of his horse. K NIGHT F ORK 45 22 Ëxc7! Deflection from the vital f6-square. 22...Ëxc7? -+-+-+-+ +-+-mp+p -+-+-+p+ s-+-Z-+- -+-+-Z-+ +p+-+KZP -S-tR+-+ +-+-+-+- BBlack had to settle for 22...Íxe4 23 Ëxb7 with some chances for a draw. 23 Ìf6+ Êh8 24 Îxe8+ 1-0 Black realized what was coming after the forced 24...Îxe8 (D): -+-+r +-m zpw-+p+p WSemionova – Alexandrova Alushta (Women’s Zonal) 1999 -+-+-SpV +-+p+l+- -+-Z-+-+ Z-+-+-+P -Z-+-ZP+ +-+R+-M- 53...Îxb2! 54 Îxb2 Ìc4 The knight will usher the b-pawn through to promotion. Because of the possible fork on d2, the pawn is invulnerable. 55 Îe2 b2 56 Îe1 b1Ë 57 Îxb1 Ìd2+ 58 Êg4 Ìxb1 59 Êg5 Ìd2 60 Êh6 Ìe4 61 g4 25 Íg7+!! decoys the king to g7, after which Ìf2 62 Êxh7 Ìxh3 63 f5 g5 64 Êg7 Ìf2 65 the knight picks up a rook and a queen. Êh6 Ìxg4+ 0-1 One last fork before the curtain falls. Deflection is especially effective in conjunc- <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">tion with decoy. </li><li style="flex:1">A dominant position of a rook and knight </li></ul>duo can even overpower a queen, as in the following group of diagrams. r +-+-t-+ +p+-+-mp W-+-+-tk+ +-+-zpvp -w-+lzps z-+-+-+- -z-S-WP+ +-+-Z-+P P+-+-ZL + T-+-M-+R B-+-z-sp+ +PsP+-+- -z-+P+-Z +-+-+-+- -ZQS-ZP+ t-+NM-+R Pashikian – Ozturk Istanbul 2007 Raetsky – Avrukh Biel 1996 24 Ëc7+! 1-0 It suddenly becomes clear that Black’s queen is overloaded. 18...Îc1! 0-1 A far-advanced pawn may also be bait for a piece to be forked (see following diagram): The next diagram features a similar motif, with the knight executing the fork on a slightly The passed pawn on b3 is well blockaded ‘à different square. In the second diagram overla Nimzowitsch’with a knight. However, Black leaf, the decoy is prefaced by an exchange sac- <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">can force a change of guard: </li><li style="flex:1">rifice. </li></ul>46 A C OURSE IN C HESS T ACTICS In this position it looks like Black is in trou- -+-+qtk+ +-Tnvpzp p+N+p+-+ +p+p+-+n -+-Z-V-+ +-+Q+-Z- PZ-+PZL Z +-+-+-M- ble, but the tricky knight decides the game by carrying out the decoy on a totally unexpected square. W44...Ëxf2+! 45 Îxf2 Îh1+!! 0-1 The forking threat may be useful in attacking weak points. r +q+r +k+ +pzl+pvp WFedorowicz – Pieterse p+n+-+p+ +-VN+-+- -+-+PZ-+ +-+-+-ZP PZ-+-WL + +-+RT-M- Ostend 1987 21 Îc8! 1-0 -+r +-+k+ z-+-+pz-z-+p+-+ +-+n+-+p -+-S-+-+ +-Z-+PZ- PZ-+Q+KZ +-+r +-+- BRogozenko – Voigt 2nd Bundesliga 2006/7 Black’s troops are awkwardly placed. In this case forking will give White an option to attack on c7 for free. 21 Íb6! Íxh3 21...cxb6 22 Ìxb6 nets at least a pawn for White. Kounalakis – Mastrovasilis European Ch, Plovdiv 2008 22 Ìxc7 Another fork. 22...Íxg2 23 Êxg2 1-0 23...Îxd4! 0-1 24 cxd4 Îc2 25 Ëxc2 Ìe3+ 26 Êf2 Ìxc2 We should also examine the fork as a defen- sive method: nets a knight for Black. -+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+- -t-+-+-+ +p+-+k+- W B-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-Z- p+-+-+-+ Z-+k+-+- KWqs-z-S +-+-+-+- -+-+p+-+ zL w-+P+r P+-+n+Q+ +-+-+-+- -+-+-TP+ +-+-+RM- Felgaer – Peralta Argentine Ch, La Plata 2008 E. Pähtz – Stefanova Reykjavik 2008 K NIGHT F ORK 47 Elisabeth Pähtz could have saved a halfpoint here, if she had made the most of her tricky knight. 16...Îce8! Correct! To his credit, my experienced opponent sensed or most probably saw the danger: 16...Îfe8? 17 Ëh5 h6 18 Îxe6! fxe6 19 Ëf7+ 67 Êa1? She had to exchange queens first, and ad- Êh8 20 Ëxe8+! Îxe8 21 Ìf7+ +ø. My trap vance her passed pawn as far as possible: 67 did not bring immediate victory, but I benefited Ëxc2+ Êxc2 68 g6 Ìe4 69 g7 Ìf6 and now 70 from the fact that Black’s rook abandoned the Ìg4! is an excellent multi-purpose manoeuvre open c-file. I kept a slight edge and went on to – the knight is attacking the pawn, deflecting win fairly quickly after some errors by my opthe knight, and in fact is still controlling the f1- ponent: square due to the fork on e3! After 70...Ìxg4 17 Ëd3 g6 18 Ëb5 Ìc6?! 19 Îad1 Îe7 20 71 g8Ë f1Ë 72 Ëc8+ Êd2 White has the Ëc5 Ëd8?! 21 Îe3 Îfe8 22 Ìf3 f6 23 Îde1 choice between a simple draw with 73 Ëxg4 or Êf7? 24 Ìb5 1-0 stalemate after 73 Ëc2+ Êxc2. 67...Ëc6 68 Ìf1 Ìxf1 69 Ëxf2 Ëc1+ 70 Nisipeanu discovered that Black missed a Êa2 Ëc4+ 71 Êa1 Ìe3 72 g6 Ìc2+ 73 Êb2 wonderful and unexpected knight fork in the Ëb3+ 74 Êc1 Ëxa3+ 0-1 next position: Chess-players are often advised not to play for traps. And it is a good piece of advice in those cases where the move that lays the trap does not have any other useful purpose. But if you have a chance to set a trap while furthering your constructive ideas in the position, you should do not hesitate to do so. Even if the chances that your opponent will fall into it are small, you are losing nothing. -+r +k+-t +-+q+-+p p+-+L z-+ +-+-v-+- -z-+PS-+ +-z-W-Z- PZ-+-+-Z +K+-+-+R B-+r +-tk+ zp+-+pzp Zhadanov – Tutulan WRomania 2003 -+-wl+-+ s-+p+-+- -+-Z-+-+ +-S-+N+- PZ-+QZPZ T-+-T-M- What? You do not believe him? You do not see a black knight on the board? There, he will show you: 1...Ëd1+!! Transposing with 1...c2+ 2 Êc1 Ëd1+! also works. 2 Îxd1 c2+ 3 Êc1 Íxb2+! 4 Êxb2 4 Êd2 c1Ë+ 5 Îxc1 Íxc1+ 6 Êe2 Íxe3 7 Íxc8 Íxf4 8 gxf4 a5 is also winning for Black. Now rather than 4...cxd1Ë Black plays: 4...cxd1Ì+!! 5 Êb3 Ìxe3 and when the Bojkov – Schaufelberger 2nd Bundesliga 2007/8 Black’s obvious plan is to occupy the e-file with his rooks and initiate simplifications. If I smoke clears, we see that Black is winning: 6 want to keep my slight advantage I need to find Íxc8 a5 7 Êa4 Êe7 8 Ía6 (8 Íb7 Ìf1 ø+) <ul style="display: flex;"><li style="flex:1">the correct way to hinder his plans. </li><li style="flex:1">8...Êd6 9 Êxa5 Îb8 10 Íb5 (10 Êa4 Ìg4 11 </li></ul>h4 Ìf2 ø+) 10...Îa8+ 11 Êxb4 Îxa2 12 h4 16 Ìg5! I spent quite a lot of time on this move. Little Êe5 13 Íc6 Ìf1 ø+. by little I realized that if he chooses the most natural reply his queen might be hanging! Unfortunately for Black, he did not appreciate the greatness of the underpromotion and

+P+-+K+- +-+-+-+- B -+-+P+-+ W -+-+-+-+ Zlw-+P+R +-+-+-Z- P+-+N+Q+ P+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+- Z-+K+-+- -+-+-TP+ Kwqs-Z-S +-+-+RM- +-+-+-+

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