CHESS TWO - BEYOND THE BASICS OF THE ROYAL GAME Vassilis Aristotelous CYPRUS CHESS CHAMPION - FIDE INSTRUCTOR - FIDE ARBITER VASSILIS ARISTOTELOUS CHESS LESSONS © 2014 3 CONTENTS Preface .............................................................................................................. 11 Chess Symbols ................................................................................................... 12 Introduction - The Benefits of Chess ................................................................ 15 Inspiring Tal ....................................................................................................... 19 Tactics Win Games ............................................................................................ 47 Tactical Exercises .............................................................................................. 49 Solutions to the Tactical Exercises..................................................................... 66 Great Sacrifices ................................................................................................. 77 Romantic Chess ............................................................................................... 102 ECO Chess Opening Codes ............................................................................ 116 Main Chess Openings ...................................................................................... 139 How to Analyse a Position............................................................................... 202 Chess Olympiads ............................................................................................. 206 Women in Chess .............................................................................................. 210 The Polgar's Experiment.................................................................................. 234 FIDE Titles....................................................................................................... 256 Caruana at Sinquefield ..................................................................................... 258 Tournament Tips .............................................................................................. 290 Chess Problems ............................................................................................... 294 One-Move Problems........................................................................................ 295 Solutions to One-Move Problems .................................................................... 305 The World Chess Solving Championship ......................................................... 310 Two-Move Problems ....................................................................................... 311 Solutions to Two-Move Problems .................................................................... 321 About the Author ............................................................................................. 329 World Chess Olympiad, Tromso 2014 .............................................................. 330 Andreas Kelires - A Star is Born! ................................................................... 339 Ikaria International Tournament 2014 .............................................................. 369 VASSILIS ARISTOTELOUS CHESS LESSONS © 2014 9 PREFACE My first book was received with great enthusiasm and was a great help in the classroom. It was the very first publication of its kind in Cyprus and with so many young students and chess academies around, I believe it was something very much needed. But there was a moment, after our beginners received their foundation course, when we needed some nice games to show the beauty of logic in chess and the great Masters in action. That's how the idea of this second book was born, a book full of interesting games. A chapter about the great Mikhail Tal is included with a selection of his games to make us all smile with his ingenuity, creativity and boldness of execution. He has been my great inspiration since I was a little boy and keeps inspiring me till now. Moreover, a whole chapter is devoted to the greatest sacrificial games of all times and to the romantic era of chess. Also the new kid of the block, Fabiano Caruana who wrote history in the recent Sinquefield Cup tournament, is presented with all his exciting games. Moreover, a report with games from the recent World Olympiad at Tromso, Norway, is included, together with games of our national hero, Andreas Kelires. All these fascinating games will give you much joy to play them but also entertain you with their imaginative ideas and original plans. The inclusion of all these games was made with the idea to inspire the young students of the game to imitate the great players, to catch a glimpse of their geniuses and elevate to the next level of play. Chess is not only for boys; girls can also enjoy and contribute to the game as I show here in the special section of "Women in Chess", where you can see the female side of the game, how girls are different from boys in chess, how they think, and what they have achieved, how FIDE has treated the gender differently and the various chess titles. The Polgar's experiment with Lazslo Polgar's legendary daughters could not be absent from such a survey. All the above plus many more interesting topics are included in this second book with the hope to offer insights into chess and to lead to a better understanding of the game. Vassilis Aristotelous, Palodia, Limassol September 2014 VASSILIS ARISTOTELOUS CHESS LESSONS © 2014 11 INSPIRING TAL ! Mikhail Tal (1936-1992) was a Soviet- Latvian chess Grandmaster and the eighth World Chess Champion (1960- 1961). Widely regarded as a creative genius and the best attacking player of all time, he played in a daring, sacrificial style. His play was known above all for crea- tivity and unpredictability. He was called "The magician from Riga". Tal was born in Riga, Latvia. He was an extremely clever boy as he learned to read at the age of three, and was allowed to start university studies when he was only fifteen. At the age of eight, Tal learned to play chess while watch- ing his father, a doctor and medical re- searcher. Shortly afterwards he joined the Riga Palace of Young Pioneers chess WORLD CHAMPIONS club. His play was not exceptional at the beginning but he worked hard to im- 1. Wilhelm Steinitz (1886-1894) prove. Alexander Koblents began train- 2. Emanuel Lasker (1894-1921) ing Tal in 1949, after which Tal's game 3. Jose R. Capablanca (1921-1927) rapidly improved, and by 1951 he quali- 4. Alexander Alekhine (1927-1935) fied for the Latvian Championship. In 5. Max Euwe (1935-1937) the 1952 Latvian Championship Tal fin- 6. Mikhail Botvinnik (1948-1957) ished ahead of his trainer. Tal won his 7. Vasily Smyslov (1957-1958) first Latvian title in 1953, and was 8. Mikhail Tal (1960-1961) awarded the title of Candidate Master. 9. Tigran Petrosian (1963-1969) He became a Soviet Master in 1954 by 10. Boris Spassky (1969-1972) defeating Vladimir Saigin in a qualify- 11. Bobby Fischer (1972-1975) ing match. That same year he also 12. Anatoly Karpov (1975-1985) scored his first win, over Grandmaster 13. Garry Kasparov (1985-2000) Yuri Averbakh. 14. Vladimir Kramnik (2000-2007) 15. Viswanathan Anand (2007-2013) Tal graduated in Literature from the 16. Magnus Carlsen (2013-present) University of Riga, and taught school in Riga for a time in his early twenties. He was a member of the Daugava VASSILIS ARISTOTELOUS CHESS LESSONS © 2014 19 TAL - PANNO, 1958, THE WILL TO WIN In this game, Tal, the Soviet Champion Rxd8 16.b4 Nac4 or 14.Nc3 Nac4 at the time, faced the Argentine Grand- 15.Bc1 cxd4 16.Nxd4 Bf6. But one master Panno and it was a big clash of thing is for sure, the move 14.b3 was different styles, Tal with his combina- shutting out the enemy Knights effec- tional and burning tactical play against tively. Panno with his positional and calm style. 14...dxe5! This game earned Tal the prize of the most interesting game played in the tour- Panno thought for a whole hour before nament. I knew that one cannot check- he made this move and it was the cor- mate with the Queen alone but after this rect one. If he played 14...Nac4 then game, I changed my opinion! after 15.exd6 Qxd6 (15...Nxe3? 16.dxe7!) 16.Bg5! or if he played 14...cxd4 then 15.Bxd4 with a dominant Tal Mikhail Bishop. Panno Oscar 15.Nxe5 Nbc4 16.Qd3?! Interzonal Tournament, Portoroz, 1958 Unfortunately the exciting continuation Ruy Lopez Opening 16.Qh5 g6 17.Nxg6 fxg6 18.Bxg6 hxg6 19.Qxg6+ Kh8 20.Qh6+ (20.Bh6 Rg8 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 21.Qh5 Qe8) 20...Kg8 21.Qg6+ leads Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 only to a draw. 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Nd7 10.d4 Nb6 11.Be3 Another possible continuation 11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 dxe5 doesn't seem to offer White much though, but 11.Nbd2 seems to be a good alternative. 11...exd4 12.cxd4 Na5 Much better than 12...d5 13.Nc3! dxe4 14.Nxe4 with a nice dynamic position for White, according to the game Tal- Antoshin, 1957. 13.Bc2 c5 If 13...Nbc4 then 14.Bc1 c5 15.b3 with 16.Bb2 to follow. 14.e5 Other lines do not offer anything more, for instance 14.dxc5 dxc5 15.Qxd8 34 VASSILIS ARISTOTELOUS CHESS LESSONS © 2014 Kd4 49.Qb6 Bf3 50.a5 Rc3 51.a6 Kd3 52.a7 c4 53.Qa5 and White wins again. 48.Kf2 Re2+ 49.Kf1 Ra2 50.Qa6+ Kd4 51.a5 c4 If 51...Be2+ 52.Qxe2 Rxe2 53.Kxe2 and the White Kingside pawns will win the game. 52.Qb6+ Kd5 If 52...Kd3 53.Qb1+ Rc2 54.a6 and White wins. 53.a6 Ra1+ 54.Kf2 c3 55.a7 c2 56.Qb3+ Kd6 57.Qd3+ 41.Qe1 Rxe3? The correct move