40 Lessons for the Club Player ALEKSANDER KOSTYEV Translated by Ken Neat B.T.Batsford Ltd, London First published 1986 Repnnted 1990, 1999 ©Aleksander Kostyev 1986 ISBN 07134 5281 1 (limp) Photoset by Andek Printing, London and printed in Great Britain by Creative Print and Design (Wales), Ebbw Vale, Wales for the publishers B.T.Batsford Ltd. 583 Fulham Road, London SW6 5BY A BATSFORD CHESS BOOK Advisors: Raymond Keene OBE, Mark Dvoretsky, 10n Speelman, Daniel King General Manager: Nigel Davies Contents LESSON I Chaturanga and shalranj When the king has not castled Can a schoolboy win against a grandmaster? LESSON 2 5 An assenion by shatranj theorists The 'double mujannah' How to prepare an auack LESSON 3 9 The confession of Caliph ai-Ma'am un The penetration of chess to Europe The classic bishop sacrifice at h7 LESSON 4 14 When the kings have castled on the short side LESSON 5 22 The first chess treatises Damiano's advice - is it obsolete? When both players have castled long LESSON 6 27 The books by Ruy Lopez and Giulio Polerio Storming the king's fo rtress Eight concluding blows LESSON 7 32 Kings castled on opposite sides Pioneers on the allack Pawn storm or piece pressure? LESSON 8 37 The early Italian School What is meant by chess romanticism? Basic principles of pawn endings LESSON 9 44 The deceptive simplicity of pawn endings LESSON 10 49 A study by Philidor How to mate with bishop and knight Problems in chess education LESSON II 54 Crilics of the new theory General Deschapelles plays 3t odds Bishop in combat with pawns LESSON 12 59 Can a knight cope with connected pawns? LESSON 13 63 The rivalry between France and England The La Bourdonnais·McDonnell match An extra pawn in a bishop ending LESSON 14 69 Staunton's style and the Orthodox School Outward features in the assessment of the position An extra pawn in a knight ending LESSON 15 75 Which is stronger in the endgame: bishop or knight? LESSON 16 81 Rook against infantry How to draw a pawn down in a rook ending LESSON 17 88 Kempelen's invention A plan and its realization Grandmaster Kotov's fo rmula LESSON 18 92 The Cafe de la Regence Pardoning a convicted man A strategic gem by Akiba Rubinstein LESSON 19 96 A World Champion's advice Pressurizing in chess LESSON 20 101 La Palamede the first chess magazine The seven evaluation principles LESSON 21 lOS The first evaluation principle; material balance Max Euwe annotates LESSON 22 109 From Bilguer's Handbuch to the Encyclopaedia The Berlin Chess School The second evaluation principle; "What is threatening me?" LESSON 23 113 The first international chess tournament The third evaluation principle: king safety LESSON 24 118 Creator of combinations The immortal game of Adolf Anderssen Victories in chess tournaments LESSON 25 122 The fourth evaluation principle: the centre Grandmaster Razuvayev's thesis LESSON 26 127 Paul Morphy - the uncrowned World Champion The match with Anderssen Morphy in the eyes of his successors LESSON 27 132 Boris Spassky's way to the top The fifth evaluation principle: open lines LESSON 28 138 The sixth evaluation principle: active pieces LESSON 29 143 Anatoly Karpov's Stockholm triumph The World Champion's progress chart The seventh evaluation principle: pawn structure defects LESSON 30 151 A competition on evaluations Five minutes per position Who can score 25 points? LESSON 31 156 The Lvov School of grandmasters Alexander Belyavsky defeats his rivals The centre - the soul of the opening LESSON 32 162 Open and closed centres Typical plans and games LESSON 33 167 The uncompromising Valery Chekhov Transformation of the centre Nona Gaprindashvili LESSON 34 173 Artur Yusupov becomes a member of the USSR team How to parry a flank attack Innovations in an old variation LESSON 3S 179 The formation of outposts LESSON 36 185 The persistence of Sergey Dolmatov Heavy pieces on open files and ranks Tactics defeat strategy LESSON 37 193 The invasion of the 7th rank with a rook Fine technique sees Portisch defeat Andersson Smyslov and Belyavsky show their mettle LESSON 38 199 An appeal against an adjudication Gary Kasparov's gold medals A model commentary LESSON 39 206 How to play the opening Plans. the initiative. and pawn sacrifices in the opening Games by young players LESSON 40 213 A plan for improvement Chess and life A word of praise for the ancient game Index of Complete Games 215 Index of Openings 216 LESSON 1 Chaturanga and shatranj When the king has not castled Can a schoolboy win against a grandmaster? Everyone knows that chess origin­ century. ated in India. But does everyone Between the 6th and 7th centuries know how long, and by what chaturanga changed into shalranj stages, il took chess to reach its (or chatrang) - a game for two modern form? players which was outwardly similar to modern-day chess, but had different rules. In shatranj there was no castling: a pawn could move only one square and could be promoted only to a queen. The queen itself was a weak piece and moved only to one of the adjacent diagonal squares. The bishop did not yet possess its long range. and moved This unfamiliar position IS only two squares. with the ability called chaturanga (four-part army); to jump over a piece standing in its this is what ancient chess looked path. Only the king. rook. and like. knight had the same moves as in The aim of the game was not to modern chess. In shatranj not checkmate the king, but to eliminate only checkmate, but also stalemate. all the forces of one of the was regarded as a win. In opponents, who made moves in addition, a player could win by turn depending on the throw of a capturing all his opponent's men, dice. Thus if the number 2 came even if at this point he himself had Up, the rook was moved. if 3 - the only one piece or pawn remaining. knight. if 4 - the bishop, and so By the 9th century there was even on. Chaturanga arose in Northern some specialist literature on the India not later than the 5th theory of shatranj. ] Lesson One Among the many problems in I 'ttc7 chess, one of the most central is 2 lUx17! the attack on the king, for which The leap by the knight from f3 there exists a whole series of to n decides the game. typical procedures. If the oppo­ 2 .;pxn nent has castled, certain attacking The knight has to be taken: 2 ... methods are employed; if he has 0-0 3 'ttxh7+ 'it'xh7 4 lUf6 mate, not castled. others come into fo rce. or 3 ,.. 'l!;xl7 4 lUd6+ and 5 1.g6 Our two examples show pupils mate. from special chess schools demon­ 3 Ilhfl+ ¢leS strating the art of attacking the If 3 ... ¢1gB. then 4 lUxcS 'ttxcS uncastled king. (4 lVxc5 5 "1'2) 5 1.e4 lOc6 6 Wf4. 1 w 4 "h5+ g6 5 lUd6+ 1.xd6 6 'tIIxg6+ Resigns This example displays fairly graphically the methods of con­ ducting an attack on the uncastled king. At the cost of a pawn or even a piece. the attacker normally creates a large superiority in force This position arose in a junior in the central battle sector. He tournament (Savchenko-Altman, then strikes a blow, exposing the 1979). Black is pawn up, but he opponent's king or eliminating its has acquired it at a high price - his defenders. king has not managed to castle. Strictly speaking, it was to detain Piskov-Panchenko the opponent's king in the centre Baku 1981 that White sacrificed a pawn. His Sicilian Defence pieces are fully mobilized, and This was judged to be the best they now begin a direct attack on game played in the USSR Team the king. Tournament of Pioneers Palaces. I �e5! In a simultaneous display with The knight cannot b'e taken. clocks, seven Muscovites were since Black is catastrophically tested by the Chelyabinsk grand­ weak at his d8 square: I ... lUxe52 master Panchenko (while alongside, .i.xb5 ab 3 IldS male. Chelyabinsk pupils battled against Lesson Onf' j the Moscow captain, grandmaster by II ,*hS with the threats of Yusupov). 12 g6 and 12 .tc4. 1 ,4 ,5 II 'tIff3 d4 2 <1>13 ,. For the moment all is gomg J d4 '" according to White's plan. One of 4 tOxd4 <1>[6 the games played with this variation 5 tOd d6 (Perenyi-Schneider. 1978) went 6 �e3 a6 II . .. �e4 12 ltlxe4 de 13 ,*xe4 , g4 ltlc6 14 .tc4 1.d7 IS 0-0-0 "-c7 16 In the given position this move IIhel f6 (better 16 ... 0-0-0 17 is rarely played, and indeed it .tx(7) 17 IIxd7 Wxd7 IK gf .id6 looks rather too forceful. The 19 .ie6 "'c7 20 f7+ ¢IdS 21 IIdl grandmaster decides to punish his IIcS 22 "xeS and Black resigned schoolboy opponent for his ex­ in view of 22 . ltlxe5 23 1.g5+ cessive activity, and ...falls intoa 't!te7 24 IIxd6 ¢lc7 25 .ixe7.This well-masked trap. It turns out that game was known to Piskov. who Yuri Piskov had analysed this therefore had something 10 guide entire variation at a training him. whereas Panchenko was session b(:fore the tournament. meeting this variation for the first , ,5 time. Black falls in with his opponent's 12 O-O-O! plans. 7 ... tOc6 or 7 ... h6 was 13 gf b(:uer.