Chess and Checkers: The Way to Mastership by Edward Lasker (reading fiction .txt) 📖

of pieces has taken place, but now Black loses the Bishop which is attacked by White’s Rook, because White can remove the Knight which protects the Bishop.

 

(5) Bxf6 Pxf6

(6) Rxd7, etc.

Instead of playing (1) P-d4 and taking advantage of the fact that the Pawn e5 is pinned, White can direct his attack against the other Black man which is pinned, namely the Knight f6. He can play (1) Kt-d5 and thereby attack the Queen and at the same time the Knight f6 for the second time. It will not be evident to the beginner that White can derive any advantage from this double attack, as Black can answer either Q-d6 or Q-d8 keeping his Knight twice protected. Indeed, White does not gain anything on f6, the square itself upon which the pin is effected, but he uses the pin to force an opening into the chain of Pawns which protects Black’s King by exchanging on f6, compelling Black to retake with the Pawn g7. The advantage resulting from this break in Black’s Pawn position will be explained later on when discussing the strategy of the middle-game.

 

SACRIFICING

 

A player is said to SACRIFICE if he allows a certain amount of his forces to be captured without recapturing himself an equivalent amount of his opponent’s forces. He will not, of course, knowingly do so unless he expects to obtain some other advantage which will at least compensate for his loss of material. Such compensation can only be afforded by a superiority of the position. In as much as a position can only be considered superior if it enables the mating of the opposing King or the obtaining of an advantage in material which will secure a win in the ending, it is evident that in sacrificing a player really never intends to give up more than he gets, but that on the contrary he expects to gain more than he loses. In other words, a sacrifice, if correct, is a sacrifice only TEMPORARILY, and very soon yields either the same, if not more material, or an attack on the King to which the latter falls victim.

The less evident the way is in which a player recovers the material sacrificed or realizes an equivalent advantage the more beautiful the sacrifice is considered. If the effect of a sacrifice is a direct mating attack on the King, it is as a rule not difficult to foresee as long as the typical mating positions are known to the player, most of which have been discussed in the previous chapter. The following diagrams illustrate examples of such sacrifices which occur fairly often in actual games.

In Diagram 33, White on the move can play for a similar mate as the one explained in the discussion of Diagram 29 by placing his Rook on g3. The best protection against Rxg7 which Black has at his disposal is P-f6. But if he does not know the mating position illustrated in Diagram 29 he is liable to play P-g6, and then White forces the mate by sacrificing his Queen on h7.

 

(1) R-g3 P-g6

(2) Qxh7+ Kxh7

(3) R-h3+ K-g8

(4) R-h8+

Black could have prolonged the agony one move by interposing his Queen on h4 on the third move.

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8 | | | #R | | | | #K | |

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7 | #P | #P | #R | | #Q | #P | #P | #P |

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6 | | | #Kt| | #P | | | |

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5 | | | | #P | | | | ^Q |

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4 | | | | | | ^P | | |

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3 | | ^P | | | ^P | ^R | | |

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2 | ^P | ^B | ^P | | | | ^P | ^P |

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1 | ^R | | | | | | ^K | |

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DIAGRAM 33

In the position of Diagram 34 White institutes a mating attack by (1) P-f6. The only move to protect the mate on g7 is P-g6. It will then be White’s desire to enter with his Queen on h6 again threatening the checkmate on g7. He will, therefore, play either Q-f4 or Q-g5. Black has no other way to defend himself against White’s threat than by K-h8 followed by R-g8. But after K-h8; Q-h6, R-g8 White plays R-f3 and Black is unable to prevent White from sacrificing his Queen on h7 and mating by R-h3.

If Black’s Queen were standing on c5 instead of b5 he could avert the mate by moving the Rook f8 and playing the Queen to f8 thereby protecting g7.

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8 | #R | | | | | #R | #K | |

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7 | #P | #P | | | | #P | #P | #P |

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6 | | | #Kt| | | | | |

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5 | | #Q | | #P | ^P | ^P | | |

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4 | | | #P | | | | | |

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3 | | | | | | | ^Q | |

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2 | ^P | ^P | | ^B | | | ^P | ^P |

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1 | ^R | | | | | ^R | | ^K |

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DIAGRAM 34.

The mate with Rook and Knight demonstrated by the position of Diagram 28 is liable to occur in several variations of the play which might result from the following situation:

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8 | | | | #R | | #Kt| | #K |

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7 | #P | #B | #Q | | #R | #P | #P | |

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6 | | #P | | | #P | | | #P |

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5 | | | #P | | ^P | | | ^Q |

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4 | | | ^B | ^P | ^Kt| | ^R | |

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3 | | | ^P | ^R | | | | |

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2 | ^P | | | | | ^P | ^P | ^P |

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1 | | | | | | | ^K | |

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a b c d e f g h

DIAGRAM 35.

White starts his mating attack with (1) Kt-f6. This threatens the sacrifice of the Queen on h6 followed by R-g8 mate. White’s Knight move can hardly be called a sacrifice as it is quite evident that Black cannot take the Knight on account of Qxh6+, Kt-h7; Q-g7 mate. The only way to parry White’s threat is (1) …, Kt-g6. However, this helps only momentarily as White continues (2) R-h3 threatening Q-g5, Rxh6+ and Qxh6 mate, a threat against which Black has no defense. White can very nearly force the mate by sacrificing his Queen on h6 instead of the Rook. But after (3) Qxh6, Pxh6; (4) Rxh6+, K-g7; (5) R-h7+, K-f8; (6) R-h8+ Black does not take the Rook as White would like him to do to enable the mate R-g8, but he goes back to g7 with the King and White could not do any better than draw by perpetual check on h7 and h8.

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8 | #R | | | #Q | | #R | #K | |

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7 | | #B | | | | #P | #P | #P |

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6 | #P | #Kt| #Kt| | #P | | | |

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5 | | #P | #P | #P | ^P | | | |

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4 | | | | ^P | | ^P | | |

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3 | | | ^P | ^B | | ^Kt| | |

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2 | ^P | ^P | | ^Kt| | | ^P | ^P |

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1 | ^R | | | ^Q | | ^R | ^K | |

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a b c d e f g h

DIAGRAM 36.

In the position of Diagram 36 White can make an attack which will recall somewhat the play shown in connection with Diagram 25. (1) Kt-g5 would not lead to anything, as Black could defend himself by P-g6 or P-h6. White has a much more direct way to attack the black King. This is by the sacrifice (1) Bxh7+. After Kxh7; (2) Kt-g5+, K-g8; (3) Q-h5 Black can protect the mate only by sacrificing his Queen for White’s Knight. For (3) …, R-e8 with the view to escape with the King to e7 via f8 if attacked by Q-h7 and Q-h8 would be rendered futile by White through (4) Qxf7+, K-h8; (5) Q-h5+, K-g8; (6) Q-h7+, K-f8; (7) Q-h8+, K-e7; (8) Qxg7 mate. Before making the sacrifice of the Bishop White will, of course, have to make sure that Black cannot save himself by evading altogether the attack which is threatened through Q-h5. Black could, indeed, avoid this variation by going with the King to g6 on the second move instead of g8. But in this case too White has a winning continuation. He would play (3) Q-g4 threatening to win Black’s Queen by the discovered check Ktxe6. If Black moves the Queen, then White gives the discovered check in any case forcing the King to h7 and leading over to the variation which was originally intended. If, on the other hand, Black tried (3) …, P-f5, attacking White’s Queen and thereby rendering the discovered check ineffective, White would first take the Pawn en passant and after (4) Pxf6, Kxf6 the Queen mates on e6.

Frequently a sacrifice is brought to maintain a pin which is bound to yield a piece in return sooner or later. The position of Diagram 37 is typical for cases of this kind.

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8 | #R | | #B | #Q | | #R | #K | |

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7 | #P | #P | #P | | | #P | #P | #P |

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6 | | | #Kt| #P | | #Kt| | |

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5 | | | | | #P | | ^B | |

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4 | | #B | ^B | | ^P | | | |

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3 | | | ^Kt| ^P | | ^Kt| | |

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2 | ^P | ^P | ^P | | | ^P | ^P | ^P |

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1 | ^R | | | ^Q | | ^R | ^K | |

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a b c d e f g h

DIAGRAM 37.

Supposing Black plays (1) …, P-h6; (2) B-h4, P-g5 to free himself of the pinning Bishop. Then White can sacrifice the Knight f3 for the two black Pawns and thereby maintain the pin with the threat to regain the Knight immediately through Kt-d5. The ensuing play could be the following: (3) Ktxg5, Pxg5; (4) Bxg5, Bxc3; (5) Pxc3. Now White threatens to play P-f4 and Pxe5 opening the line of his Rook and thereby attacking the pinned Knight for the second time. This threat cannot be effectively countered. Black could try to unpin the Knight by (5) …. K-g7; (6) P-f4, Q-e8. Indeed, Black saves his Knight in this way, but the exposed position of his King leads to a speedy disaster. For instance: (7) Pxe5, Kt-h7; (8) B-f6+, Ktxf6; (9) Pxf6+, K-h7; (10) Q-h5+, K-g8; (11) Q-g6+, K-h8; (12) Q-g7+/-. Black could not take White’s Queen on the 11th move because the Pawn f7 was pinned by the Bishop c4.

If Black had moved his King to g8 or g6 on the 8th move instead of taking the Bishop f6, White would have forced the mate by sacrificing his Rook on f5, thereby cutting off the Bishop c8 and giving his Queen access to the square g4.

Sacrifices with the view to utilizing a pin occur in various other