Contents Symbols 4 Introduction 5 Part 1: The Basics 1 Pin 7 2 Deflection 16 3 Overload 23 4 Decoy 28 5 Double Attack 36 6 Knight Fork 44 7 Discovered Attack 50 8 Clearance 56 9 Obstruction 64 10 Removing the Defender 71 11 The Power of the Pawn 77 12 Back-Rank Mate 85 13 Stalemate 91 14 Perpetual Check and Fortresses 96 Part 2: Advanced Tactics 15 f7: Weak by Presumption 103 16 The Vulnerable Rook’s Pawn 111 17 Attacking the Fianchetto 118 18 The Mystery of the Opposite-Coloured Bishops 125 19 Chess Highways: Open Files 131 20 Trapping a Piece 141 21 Practice Makes Perfect 149 Solutions 158 Index of Players 188 Index of Composers 191 KNIGHT FORK 6 Knight Fork The knight is considered to be the least powerful White is now a queen and two rooks down – 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 dan- gerous piece. It is nimble and its jumps can be -+-+-+N+ quite shocking. That is why a double attack by a +-+-+p+- knight is usually distinguished from other dou- B ble attacks and called a fork. -+-+nm-M +-+-z-+- A single knight may cause incredible dam- age in the right circumstances: -+-+-+-+ +-+-+PZ- -+-+-+q+ -+-+-+-+ +-+r+p+- +-+-+-+- W -+N+nm-M +-+rz-+- 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# +-+-+PZ- -+-+-+-+ Our opponent will not be very eager to walk into a fork, so we may need to force it. Deflec- +Q+N+-+- tion and decoy are very common methods: Alb. Beliavsky r+-wr+k+ 1st Prize, Korolkov-100 Jubilee, 2008 zpv-+p+p W First White decoys his opponent’s pieces -+p+-+pV into forks: +-+n+l+- 1 Ëf5+!! Êxf5 2 Ìe7+!! Îxe7 (D) -+-ZN+-+ -+-+-+q+ Z-+-+-+P +-+-tp+- LZQ+-ZP+ W -+-+n+-M +-+RT-M- +-+rzk+- -+-+-+-+ Ligterink – Pachman +-+-+PZ- Donner Memorial, Amsterdam 1994 -+-+-+-+ 21 Íxd5 cxd5 +-+N+-+- White seems to be in an unpleasant pin, but he has fully appreciated the power of his horse. KNIGHT FORK 45 22 Ëxc7! -+-+-+-+ Deflection from the vital f6-square. +-+-mp+p 22...Ëxc7? B Black had to settle for 22...Íxe4 23 Ëxb7 -+-+-+p+ with some chances for a draw. s-+-Z-+- 23 Ìf6+ Êh8 24 Îxe8+ 1-0 Black realized what was coming after the -+-+-Z-+ forced 24...Îxe8 (D): +p+-+KZP -+-+r+-m -S-tR+-+ zpw-+p+p +-+-+-+- W -+-+-SpV Semionova – Alexandrova +-+p+l+- Alushta (Women’s Zonal) 1999 -+-Z-+-+ 53...Îxb2! 54 Îxb2 Ìc4 Z-+-+-+P The knight will usher the b-pawn through to -Z-+-ZP+ promotion. Because of the possible fork on d2, the pawn is invulnerable. +-+R+-M- 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- tion with decoy. A dominant position of a rook and knight duo can even overpower a queen, as in the fol- r+-+-t-+ lowing group of diagrams. +p+-+-mp W -+-+-tk+ -w-+lzps +-+-zpvp z-+-+-+- B -+-z-sp+ -z-S-WP+ +PsP+-+- +-+-Z-+P -z-+P+-Z P+-+-ZL+ +-+-+-+- T-+-M-+R -ZQS-ZP+ Pashikian – Ozturk t-+NM-+R Istanbul 2007 Raetsky – Avrukh 24 Ëc7+! 1-0 Biel 1996 It suddenly becomes clear that Black’s queen is overloaded. 18...Îc1! 0-1 A far-advanced pawn may also be bait for a The next diagram features a similar motif, piece to be forked (see following diagram): with the knight executing the fork on a slightly The passed pawn on b3 is well blockaded ‘à different square. In the second diagram over- la Nimzowitsch’with a knight. However, Black leaf, the decoy is prefaced by an exchange sac- can force a change of guard: rifice. 46 ACOURSE IN CHESS TACTICS -+-+qtk+ In this position it looks like Black is in trou- +-Tnvpzp ble, but the tricky knight decides the game by W carrying out the decoy on a totally unexpected p+N+p+-+ square. +p+p+-+n 44...Ëxf2+! 45 Îxf2 Îh1+!! 0-1 -+-Z-V-+ The forking threat may be useful in attacking +-+Q+-Z- weak points. PZ-+PZLZ r+q+r+k+ +-+-+-M- +pzl+pvp W Fedorowicz – Pieterse p+n+-+p+ Ostend 1987 +-VN+-+- -+-+PZ-+ 21 Îc8! 1-0 +-+-+-ZP -+r+-+k+ PZ-+-WL+ z-+-+pz- +-+RT-M- B -z-+p+-+ Rogozenko – Voigt +-+n+-+p 2nd Bundesliga 2006/7 -+-S-+-+ Black’s troops are awkwardly placed. In this +-Z-+PZ- case forking will give White an option to attack PZ-+Q+KZ on c7 for free. 21 Íb6! Íxh3 +-+r+-+- 21...cxb6 22 Ìxb6 nets at least a pawn for White. Kounalakis – Mastrovasilis 22 Ìxc7 European Ch, Plovdiv 2008 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- nets a knight for Black. sive method: -t-+-+-+ -+-+-+-+ +p+-+k+- +-+-+-+- B -+-+p+-+ W -+-+-+-+ zLw-+P+r +-+-+-Z- P+-+n+Q+ p+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+- Z-+k+-+- -+-+-TP+ KWqs-z-S +-+-+RM- +-+-+-+- Felgaer – Peralta E. Pähtz – Stefanova Argentine Ch, La Plata 2008 Reykjavik 2008 KNIGHT FORK 47 Elisabeth Pähtz could have saved a half- 16...Îce8! point here, if she had made the most of her Correct! To his credit, my experienced oppo- tricky knight. nent sensed or most probably saw the danger: 67 Êa1? 16...Îfe8? 17 Ëh5 h6 18 Îxe6! fxe6 19 Ëf7+ 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 op- the 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 -+r+k+-t for traps. And it is a good piece of advice in +-+q+-+p those cases where the move that lays the trap B does not have any other useful purpose. But if p+-+Lz-+ you have a chance to set a trap while furthering +-+-v-+- your constructive ideas in the position, you should do not hesitate to do so. Even if the -z-+PS-+ chances that your opponent will fall into it are +-z-W-Z- small, you are losing nothing. PZ-+-+-Z -+r+-tk+ +K+-+-+R zp+-+pzp W Zhadanov – Tutulan -+-wl+-+ Romania 2003 s-+p+-+- What? You do not believe him? You do not -+-Z-+-+ see a black knight on the board? There, he will +-S-+N+- show you: PZ-+QZPZ 1...Ëd1+!! Transposing with 1...c2+ 2 Êc1 Ëd1+! also T-+-T-M- works. 2 Îxd1 c2+ 3 Êc1 Íxb2+! 4 Êxb2 Bojkov – Schaufelberger 4 Êd2 c1Ë+ 5 Îxc1 Íxc1+ 6 Êe2 Íxe3 7 2nd Bundesliga 2007/8 Íxc8 Íxf4 8 gxf4 a5 is also winning for Black. Now rather than 4...cxd1Ë Black plays: Black’s obvious plan is to occupy the e-file 4...cxd1Ì+!! 5 Êb3 Ìxe3 and when the 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+) the correct way to hinder his plans. 8...Êd6 9 Êxa5 Îb8 10 Íb5 (10 Êa4 Ìg4 11 16 Ìg5! h4 Ìf2 ø+) 10...Îa8+ 11 Êxb4 Îxa2 12 h4 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 Unfortunately for Black, he did not appreci- natural reply his queen might be hanging! ate the greatness of the underpromotion and.