chess player magazine

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 0

NEW JERSEY’S PREMIER CHESS MAGAZINE

Chess Players and Poker

PAGE 8

The Art Of Attacking

PAGE 15

400 Year Old

AttackPAGE 18

Krush Wins ChampionshipPAGE 4

For aDVErTisinG CaLL: 908.391.6635. on LinE: WWW.ChEsspLaYErmaGaZinE.Com

KRUSH WINSCHAMPIONSHIP

4

Krush wins her third us women’s championship Title

by ben masur

Irina Krush was born in the former SovietUnion and learned to play chess at the ageof five when she immi-grated with her par-ents to Brooklyn, NY in1989. Nine years later,Krush, just 14 yearsold, stormed theAmerican chess com-munity when sheswept the US Women’sChess Championshipwith an 8.5/9 to be-come the youngestever US champion.

Three years later, shewon the Mayor’s Cup,an International roundrobin held in New York,despite being the low-est-rated player invited to participate. Shethen won the 2007 US Championship forthe second time before losing the 2008title match in a controversial Armageddonplayoff against Anna Zatonskih, who thendominated the field in 2009 with an 8.5/9while Krush finished tied for third with ascore of 5.5/9.

But in July of 2010, Krush, got her re-venge.

Two rounds before the finish in the 2010US Women’s Championship, held in St.Louis, Krush trailed her rival, Zatonskih.Krush won in Round 8 while Zatonskih washeld to a draw and then after a Zatonskihdraw again in Round 9, Krush won a wild

one against WFM Abby Marshall to clinchthe title with a score of 8/9.

Krush earned $16,000 for her victory, herbiggest payday ever and the largest prizein the tournament’s history.

Despite struggling a little bit in her finalgame, Krush was ableto convert the full pointto clinch the win, oneshe wanted very badly.

“Last year was very dis-appointing,” Krush said.“I wasn’t thinking aboutwinning the title somuch in the beginning,but after a few roundsand I won some games,I wanted it a lot. AfterRounds 3 and 4, I reallygot focused on the goal.I tried to be aggressivewith Black and kind ofprincipled with White.So no one was just

going to get any easy points.”

Krush’s hard work paid off. She hadworked over the last 18 months with hercoach, Giorgi Kacheishvili, and a group ofother chess players including IM Dean Ip-polito to improve her calculating ability andplaying more dynamic positions. She feltthe latter really helped her capture the2010 US Women’s Chess title.

“I think actually in that tournament I wasa more dynamic player than I’ve ever beenbefore,” Krush said. “I played dynamicopenings I’ve never played before. I moreready to try these openings with white, butpreparation is so important.”

irina Krush

The 26-year-old changing her sTyle while focusing on becoming a grandmasTer

Her preparation before tournaments areusually the same; getting in a lot of open-ing work. Before big tournaments, she’llmake a list of the openings she wants tocover. And while ideally, she would wantto take a few days off before the tourna-ment, usually she crams as much as shecan. Krush works about four-to-five hoursa day a day so she feels she can keep

going over things up until the tourna-ment.

Before the US Women’s Championship,however, Krush did less opening work andfocused more on dynamic play. She spenta lot of her time looking at games withstrong attacking positions and combina-tions.

For aDVErTisinG CaLL: 908.391.6635. on LinE: WWW.ChEsspLaYErmaGaZinE.Com6

It was a gamble that paid off asKrush is in the process of focusingon playing a different kind of chess.

“I’m changing my style and I keepwanting to go in that direction,” shesaid. “It’s done a big service to meso far but they are still just babysteps.”

While some may be worried that achange in style could lead to speedbumps in the road and blunders,Krush isn’t too worried that it willaffect her play. She says that ifones chess game is in line with ones per-sonality, then it’s never a problem. It’swhen people try to make their chessgames into something they are not, theystruggle.

And now Krush, currently an InternationalMaster, is hoping her newly-styled chessgame will help her complete her centralgoal to becoming a Grandmaster.

To become a Grandmaster, Krush has toachieve a 2500 rating -- her current ratingis 2490, her highest ever -- and she al-ready has one of the three norms neededfor the title.

“It’s a big goal for me, number 1 right now,

and I think I can do it,” Krush said. “It’s thehighest title in chess.”

And that’s the highest title in chess, maleor female. Krush already owns the title ofWomen’s Grandmaster but prefers not touse it. In fact, Krush doesn’t see the pointin having women’s titles as men andwomen are playing chess at the samelevel. And when she does become a Grand-master, she will be the first Americanwoman to do so. Krush hopes to be a positive example forwomen and thinks it would be a good thingfor the development of chess in Americafor women and girls. It’s not just aboutKrush and what it will do for her, but howit will affect others and the game that sheloves and cherishes.

While chess is Krush’s focus and isher life, she has other interests.She takes hip hop dancing lessonsand is a big fan of rap, she likes toread, write and do amateur pho-tography. Recently, she has beendoing a lot of yoga as well to helpher when she is stressed andadmitted it helps her sleep at night.

“It’s a creative thing for me,” shesaid. “I definitely make the time to developmyself in more directions than just chess.”

While Krush’s chess career catapulted aftershe won her first US Women’s champi-onship in 1998, she gained a lot of fameboth inside and outside chess circles duringthe well-publicized “Kasparov vesus tehWorld” chess competition in 1999. Kas-parov played the white pieces and the In-ternet public, via a Microsoft host website,voted on moves for the black pieces,guided by the recommendations of Krushand three of her contemporaries, ÉtienneBacrot, Elisabeth Pähtz and Florin Felecan.

On the tenth move of the match, Krushsuggested a novelty, 10. ... Qe6 for whichthe World Team voted. Kasparov said laterthat he lost control of the game at thatpoint, and wasn't sure whether he was win-ning or losing.

“At the time, I didn’t even think Irealized how many people werefollowing that,” Krush said. “Yearslater, people still come up to metelling me they remember thematch. It was a joint effort.”

Krush was just 15 at the time and11 years later, she is on top of hergame.

She will take the game to Moscow in themiddle of September for the Women’sWorld Blitz Championship, her first time inthat event. She will then travel the follow-ing week to Khanty-Mansiysk, Russiawhere she will play Board 1 for the USWomen’s team at the Olympiad. Then amonth later, she will play in the Spice Cupin Texas and then will hopefully finish outthe year in December at the Marshall ChessClub Championship in New York.

No matter where she goes and who sheplays, Krush will be focusing on playing hernewly discovered style of chess. A stylethat emulates who she is.

“I want my game to harmonize with mypersonality,” she said. “I want the style inchess that I have in life; dynamic andexciting.”

For aDVErTisinG CaLL: 908.391.6635. on LinE: WWW.ChEsspLaYErmaGaZinE.Com

CHESS PLAYERS AND POKER

8

by ben masur

Every summer, anyone who decides topony up the $10,000 dollars has a chanceto compete in the World Series of Poker(WSOP). Playersare not ranked.You can be a totalnovice sitting nextto one of theworld’s best. Thesame isn’t true inchess. A playerwho is playing hisfirst chess tourna-ment won’t be sit-ting across fromMagnus Carlsson.Many people wholook at chess andpoker think thetwo are totally different, but in fact, theyhave never been more alike with playersfrom the chess world increasingly enter theworld of poker...and succeeding.

While chess is still working itself into themainstream of America, poker has alreadydone so thanks to ESPN. The sports net-work broadcasts the WSOP every weekand replays episodes on a consistentbases. In one of the recent shows, formerchess prodigy, Jeff Sarwer, was featured.

Sarwer, who the character Jonathan Poe (afoil of Josh Waitzkin) in Searching forBobby Fisher is based off of, won the Under10 section of the World Youth Champi-onship in 1986. And his sister, Julia, wonthe Girls Under 10 section in the sametournament. However, Jeff’ s chess careercame to a stop when he and his sister weresent to a foster home as the two spent therest of their childhoods on the run.

But when Jeff returned on the nationalscene, it wasn’t with chess pieces in frontof him. It was with cards and chips. Jeffcashed in his first ever live poker event in

2008 at the Euro-pean Poker Tourin Prague. A yearlater in an EPTevent in Poland,he took 10thplace out of 203players for a $30,943 cash prize.And less than amonth later inPortugal, Jeff gotthird place out of322 players, goodfor $224,028.Then in March of

2010, Jeff took home second place in aHigh Roller Event in Germany for$149,207. And at this summer’s WSOP, hecashed in three events; his best was a32nd place in a limit hold ‘em shootoutevent for $5,620.

“I’m aware of human beings and our ten-dencies and patterns,” Sarwer said in hisfeature on ESPN. “People hide their inten-tions and fears in life, but in poker, you getto see a glimpse into their soul a little bit.In chess, you can choose a route which isuncomfortable for your opponent. In poker,you can do the same thing.”

Sarwer isn’t the only chess name who issucceeding in the poker world.

Danish Grandmaster Sune Berg Hansen,winner of the 2010 Thailand Open ChessChampionship, is spending most of histime and energy on poker. A professional

ToP chess Players conTinue To succeed in PoKer

almira sKriPchenKo

poker player since 2005, he writes a dailychess column for the danish newspaperPolitiken and has a blog which can

be found on the poker websitewww.coinflip.com.

“I only play online,” he said in an interviewwith the Bangkok Chess Club. “I came torealize that there’s a lot more money inpoker than there is in chess.”

As far as how is chess background hastranslated to the virtual felt, Hansen saidthat he was able to improve fast becauseof his chess training. And as it turns out,his poker game has helped him think aboutnew ideas in chess. He changed his chessstyle after starting to play poker as Hansenno longer plays any openings on a regularbases but chooses the opening accordingto his opponent to make them feel uncom-fortable, echoing Sarwer’s point.

Popular and successful chess players allover the world are trying their hand inpoker. Names such as International Chessmaster and organizer of the US ChessLeague Greg Shahade, rated chess expertRicky Grijalva (a 4th place finisher in the2004 WPT Championship), InternationalMaster Ivo Donev, International MasterAlmira Skripchenko and Grandmaster JosefKlinger have all made smooth transitionsfrom the board to the felt.

dan harringTon


But two of the biggest names in the pokerworld, Dan Harrington and Howard Led-erer, were two of the first to complete thecrossover successfully. In fact, the two arenow known more for their poker playingability than chess skills.

Harrington, a US Chess Master who wonthe 1971 Massachusetts State ChessChampionship, is one of only five people tohave won the World Series of Poker MainEvent and a World Poker Tour title. As of2009, Harrington’s livetournament winningsexceeded $6.6 milliondollars. And his book,Harrington on Hold’em,is one of the most pop-ular poker books on themarket today.

Lederer was a youngchess talent and afterhigh school, he movedto New York City wherehe attended Columbia University andhoned his chess skills at the Marshall ChessClub and Manhattan Chess Club. While atthe chess clubs, Lederer learned aboutpoker and began turning all of his focus tothe game. Now, Lederer is one of the

founders, co-owners and CEOs of “TiltwareInc,” the owners and creators of Full TiltPoker, one of the most popular onlinepoker sites in the world. As of 2010, histotal live tournament winnings exceeded$5.5 million dollars, including 41 cashes atthe WSOP.

Legendary grandmaster Gary Kasparov at-tributes part of the lure of poker to the factthat unlike chess, it has yet to be beatenby computers and perhaps never will be.

“While chess is a 100percent informationgame -- both playersare aware of all thedate all the time -- andtherefore directly sus-ceptible to computingpower, poker has hid-den cards and variablestakes, creating criticalroles for chance, bluff-ing and risk manage-ment,” he said in an

interview with the New York Times. “Thesemight seem to be aspects of poker basedentirely on human psychology and there-fore invulnerable to computer incursion.”

Ylon Schwartz, a FIDE Master, who reached

ylon schwarTZ

a peak rating of 2409 USCF and as of2008, his rankings stood at 2304 from theUSCF and 2259 from FIDE, finished fourthin the 2008 WSOP Main Event. Schwartz,who earned $3,774,974 for his finish, saidthat some of the skills he used to succeedat chess were also helpful in poker.

“All the patience I got in chess really helpedme out,” he said in an interview with theNew York Times. “Chess players are trainedto have excellent memories and in poker,you need to remember betting patterns.”

Schwartz also echoed the sentiments ofKasparov in that poker players do not knowwhat cards their opponents are holding andis thus a game of incomplete information.

One piece of information that is true is thatpoker is a more lucrative game. At the2010 London Chess Classic, which will takeplace in December, eight players (four ofthem in the world top 20), will compete fora first place of 50,000 euros ($63,400dollars).

First place at the 2010 WSOP Main Event,

which will finish in November, is $9.1million dollars.

"To be profitable in chess though, you needto be top five or six players in the worldand I wasn't good enough,” Harrington saidin an interview with ESPN.

For top chess players, tournaments don’tcome as often as poker tournaments andit’s harder for a top chess player to play inmoney games. A 1200 rated chess playerwould never play for $5,000 dollars a gameagainst a 2200 player. Chess is a skill gameand the masters are going to win against aweaker opponent almost 10 times out of10. But in poker, luck plays a major factor.Phil Ivey, for example, whom many con-sider to be the best in the world, has losingdays. Sometimes the cards just don’t goone’s way. There are things you don’t havecontrol over.

With poker now in the mainstream andmuch more opportunities to play and earnextra income, highly rated chess players allacross the world are trying their hand inpoker. And they aren’t just playing, theyare succeeding.

DIAMOND NATION, FLEMINGTON, NJ

WWW.DIAMONDNATIONMAGAZINE.COM


The transition from chess to poker is usu-ally a smooth one and in fact, many chessplayers have been so successful that theyend up as professional poker players andleave the chess world behind.

Skripchenko, a French FIDEInternational Master, hasturned most of her attentionto poker.

“I have stopped training forchess for almost threeyears,” she said in an inter-view with Chessbase.com.“I am definitely more con-centrating on poker.”

And she is finding the payoffrewarding as Skripchenkofinished seventh in the 2009WSOP Event No. 36 for apayday of $78,664 dollars.While the payday is nice, it’s

not first place, somethingmost top chess players areaccustomed to taking home.There are no draws in pokerthough as there are in chess,so part of the transition ischess players learning to dealwith losses.

“As a chess player, it’s almosta philosophical question, be-cause defeat becomes veryseldom,” Skripchenko said.“Poker teaches you philo-sophically how to accept itand how to go on.”

Top chess players will con-tinue to make the move fromthe chess world to the pokerworld. Chess players are nat-urally skilled to become pokerplayers because there is a lotof strategic thinking, and oncethe other poker skills arelearned, there is no doubtthat there will plenty morechess champions turnedpoker champions.

It’s not only good for poker,but good for chess. The chess

community is hoping that the influx ofchess players being featured in the main-stream media thanks to poker will bepositive for garnering interest in chess,especially in the United States.

hansen

Jeffrey sarwer

attacking the f2/f7 squareby Pete Tamburro

There are three ways to win a game ofchess: checkmate your opponent beforehe castles, checkmate him after he castlesor capture more material and win in theendgame.

We are going to look at the first way be-cause it happens so often in beginner’schess that it’s worth knowing what to lookout for when the opportunity comes toyou. It’s also a good idea to know what notto do!

We will be talking about either the f2 orthe f7 square, because it is the same forboth sides. That square is a very weakpoint for the king until it castles.

For example, the first f7 attack most peo-ple run into is 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5? Nc6! 3.Bc4Nf6?? 4.Qxf7 mate. Black can avoid thisby playing 3…g6 4.Qf3 (still threateningmate!) Nf6! and then play moves like Bg7,0-0 and Be6 or Bg4.

In the early days of modern chess, backin the 1800s, the average player wasfrequently the victim of attacks on f7.

Here are some early games:

Taylor-amateurlondon, 1862

1.e4 e5 2.nf3 nf6 3.bc4 nxe4 4.nc3nc5? 5.nxe5 f6? 6.Qh5+ g6

7.bf7+ Ke7 8.nd5+ Kd6 9.nc4+ Kc610.nb4+ Kb5 11.a4+ Kxb4 12.c3+Kb3 13.Qd1 checkmate.

Wasn’t that fun! One of the things youlearn early is that you get to chase thatking. The successful players will keep forc-ing the king forward as one of the keystrategies to know.

Here’s a game from 1870 that should giveyou the most exaggerated idea of just howpowerful it is to get that king in the open.In this game, White didn’t even play withhis queen on the board at the start of thegame!

Potter-amateurlondon, 1870

(white without his Queen)

1.e4 e5 2.nf3 nc6 3.bc4 nf6 4.nc3na5? [4...nxe4! 5.nxe4 d5] 5.nxe5nxe4? 6.d3 nc5

7.bxf7+ Ke7 8.bg5+ Kd6 9.nb5+Kxe5 10.f4+ Kf5 11.nd4+ Kg4 12.h3+Kg3 13.ne2+ Kxg2 14.bd5+ ne415.bxe4 checkmate.

Black played very badly in those games.Let’s give White some credit, though. Bothplayers had to understand how to attackthe king by making sure it didn’t go backand hide behind its pawns and otherpieces.

For aDVErTisinG CaLL: 908.391.6635. on LinE: WWW.ChEsspLaYErmaGaZinE.Com 15

THE ART

OFATTACKINGfrom The award winning series ThaT originally aPPeared in chess life for Kids

In that last game, White started withouthis queen. This next game shows how togive one up! It’s one of the oldest and mostfamous opening traps in chess and namedafter the winner of this game.

legal-st. brieParis, 1750

1.e4 e5 2.nf3 d6 3.bc4 bg4 4.nc3 g65.nxe5! bxd1

6.bxf7+Ke7 7.nd5 checkmate.

You would think that by the 20th century,the average player would be looking outfor this sort of thing. Think again!

ed. hamlisch-amateurVienna, 1902

1.e4 d6 2.d4 nd7 3.bc4 g6 4.nf3bg7??

5.bxf7+! Kxf7 6.ng5+ Kf6

Black carefully avoids losing his queenafter both 6...Kf8 7.Ne6+; 6...Ke8 7.Ne6 ,but, oops,.... 7.Qf3 checkmate!

OK, so this was still a long time ago. Weknow better now. Or do we?

Let’s have some fun with grandmasters,who may not get mated, but manage toforget that f7 business:

GM Predrag Ostojic was a Yugoslavianchampion. Not only that, but oldtimers willremember the same trap from Reshevsky’sdisaster against Fischer a half-century ago.It shows that not only can anybody fall intothis, but that castling is not a guaranteeagainst an attack on f7.

Palac-ostojicbelgrade, 1988

1.e4 c5 2.nf3 g6 3.d4 bg7 4.nc3 cxd45.nxd4 nc6 6.be3 nf6 7.bc4 0–08.bb3 na5 9.e5 ne8 [9...Nxb3 10.exf6Nxa1 11.fxg7 Nxc2+ 12.Nxc2 Kxg713.Bxa7 Rxa7?? 14.Qd4+]

10.bxf7+ Kxf7 [10...Rxf7 11.Ne6 was Fis-cher-Reshevsky, US Championship, 1958-59.] 11.ne6! Kxe6 12.Qd5+ Kf5 13.g4+Kxg4 14.rg1+ Kh5 15.Qg2 1-0.

Mate is next move.

Even though Black got to castle just beforethe roof fell in, it is often very important toget your man before he escapes into thecorner. In this game from 1998 (!) we seeWhite wait until the very last second beforelaunching his attack on f7:


Krakops-meijersriga, 1998:

1.e4 e5 2.bc4 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3 dxc35.nxc3 nd7 6.nf3 nb6 7.bb3 be7 8.a4nf6 9.a5 nbd7

10.bxf7+!! Kxf7 11.ng5+ Kg6 [11...Kf812.Ne6+; 11...Ke8 12.Ne6; 11...Kg812.Qb3+] 12.f4! ne5 13.f5+ bxf514.exf5+ Kxf5 15.Qc2+ black re-signed.

Black clearly saw the end. White couldhave had a cute mate with 15.g4+ Nfxg416.Qc2+ Nd3+ 17.Qxd3+ Kf6 18.Nd5+Ke5 19.Bf4 checkmate.

What have we learned from all this? The f7square (or f2) is very weak and open to at-tack if Black wastes time getting castled.The culprits here are moving pieces a sec-ond time (or third) without getting theother pieces out and also those unneces-sary pawn moves.

If you’re on the attacking side, you can seehow powerful the bishop on the a2-g8 canbe. Also, we’ve learned that once you getthe king out in the open, you should useall your pieces and pawns to make him goforward, farther away from the protectionof his own men.

Playing over chess games like these helpsmake you a better player because theideas will stay with you. The positions maybe a little different but the same types ofmoves still work. Go back and compare theKrakops game from 1998 and the Ham-lisch game from 1902: completely differentopenings, yet the same Bxf7+ sacrifice.

For those students who really want to seeother examples we leave you with gameswithout names and few annotations, butwith lots of excitement. The more gamesyou play over, the better you get.

a. 1.e4 e5 2.nf3 nc6 3.bc4 bc5 4.c3nf6 5.d4 bb6? 6.dxe5 nxe4 7.Qd5nxf2 8.Qxf7#

b. 1.e4 e5 2.bc4 nf6 3.d4 nxe4 4.dxe5c6 5.ne2 nxf2 6.0–0 [6.Kxf2 Qh4+ 7.Kf1Qxc4] 6...nxd1? [Greedy. Better was:6...d5 7.Rxf2 dxc4 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Rxf7Be6] 7.bxf7+! Ke7 8.bg5#

c. 1.e4 e5 2.nf3 nc6 3.bc4 be7 4.d4exd4 5.c3 dxc3 6.Qd5 d6 [Betteris6...Nh6 7.Bxh6 0–0 8.Bxg7 Kxg7 9.Nxc3though White's better.] 7.Qxf7+ Kd78.be6#

and, yes, black can do it, too!

d. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 nf6 3.c4 c6 4.dxc6[4.d4] 4....nxc6 5.d3 e5 6.nc3 bc57.bg5 0–0 8.ne4 nxe4 9.bxd8 bxf2+10.Ke2 nd4# Take a look at the“legal” mate above.

e. 1.d4 nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 ne4 4.a3 d65.exd6 bxd6 6.g3 nxf2! 7.Kxf2 bxg3+wins the queen!

f. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.e3bb4+ 5.bd2 dxe3 6.bxb4 exf2+ 7.Ke2[7.Kxf2 Qxd1] 7...fxg1n+! 8.rxg1 bg4+wins the queen anyhow!


a 400 year-old attack!by Pete Tamburro

We all know chess is an ancient game.One interesting aspect is that there is anattacking system we still use today thatwas introduced by Gioacchino Greco ofCalabria in Italy almost 400 years ago.

Every good chess player knows what to dowhen that “Greco” moment arises; how-ever, it is worth looking deeply into asthere are little byways and highways thatare critical to know.

That first game that Greco mentionedstarted out like this:

greco-"anonymous" 1619:1.e4 e6 2.d4 nf6? 3.bd3 nc6? 4.nf3be7 5.h4 0–0 6.e5 nd5

Of course, we hope Black might play bet-ter today! The above position introducedthe famed Greco sacrifice of BxP+.

What follows here is a guide to some ofthe lines that can happen:

7.bxh7+ Kxh7 8.ng5+ Kg6 [8...Bxg59.hxg5+ Kg6 10.Qh5+ Kf5 11.Qh3+ Kg612.Qh7#; 8...Kg8 9.Qh5 Bxg5 10.hxg5 f511.g6] 9.h5+ Kh6 [9...Kf5 10.g4#]10.nxf7+ Kh7 11.Qd3+ Kg8 12.nxd8bxd8 13.h6 rf5 14.hxg7 Kxg7

15.Qg3+ Kf8 16.rh8+ Ke7 17.Qg7+rf7 18.bg5+ nf6 19.bxf6#

So, what did Greco show us? He demon-strated that if certain conditions are pres-ent, you have a pretty good mating attackchance:1. There are no defending pieces in frontof the castled king position. 2. The attacker (we use White) shouldhave a bishop on the b1-h7 diagonal, aknight on f3 and a queen capable of goingto h5.3. The attacker is generally helped if thereis a pawn on h4 and/or e5.4. The most important defender to get ridof is the king knight, so often White will ei-ther chase it with e5 or use a bishop tocapture it on f6 in order to take away akey defense of h7. Generally, White willwant a pawn on h4 if he’s doing that.

As a matter of fact, games with h4 haveappeared over the centuries:

dyckhoff-Trimborn, munich, 1900:1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.nc3 nf6 4.bg5 be75.e3 0–0 6.bd3 dxc4 7.bxc4 b6 8.Qf3c6 9.bxf6 bxf6 10.h4 Qe7 11.bd3 na612.nh3 nb4

13.bxh7+ Kxh7 [13...Kh8 14.Qh5 Rd815.Bg6+ Kg8 16.Qh7+ Kf8 17.Qh8#]


from The award winning series ThaT originally aPPeared in chess life for Kids

400 YEAR

OLDATTACK

14.Qh5+ Kg8 15.ng5 bxg5 16.hxg5 f517.g6 Black Resigns.

It’s not necessary to have a pawn on h4before you start this BxP+ business:

gundersen-faul, melbourne, 1929:1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 cxd45.cxd4 bb4+ 6.nc3 nc6 7.nf3 nge78.bd3 0–0

9.bxh7+ Kxh7 10.ng5+ Kg6 11.h4nxd4 12.Qg4 f5 13.h5+ Kh6 14.nxe6+g5 15.hxg6#

As you can see, the h4 move can come inpretty handy later, just as it does in thisimaginative game:

bueno-subiza, larache, 1943:1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.nc3 nf6 4.e5 nfd75.nf3 b6 [5...c5 6.dxc5 Nc6 7.Bf4 Bxc58.Bd3 0–0 9.Bxh7+ Kxh7 10.Ng5+ Kg611.Qd3+ f5 12.Nxe6 Ndxe5 13.Qg3+ Ng414.Nxd8 Bxf2+ 15.Qxf2 Nxf2 16.Kxf2Rxd8 17.Rad1 d4 18.Nb5 a6 19.Nd6]6.bd3 be7 7.be3 0–0 8.h4 f6

Here, Black anticipated the bishop sacrifice

and thought that by playing f6 he wouldstop the Ng5+; however, he was wrong, allbecause that pawn is on h4 and a rook islurking behind it!

9.bxh7+ Kxh7 10.ng5+ fxg5 [10...Kg811.Nxe6 Qe8 12.Nxc7 Qd8 13.Nxa8 Bb714.e6 Bxa8 15.exd7] 11.hxg5+ Kg8[11...Kg6 12.Qh5+ Kf5 13.g4#]12.rh8+!! Kxh8 13.Qh5+ Kg8 14.g6Black Resigns.

The discovered check with the rook waskey as was the ability for White to use thepawn to prevent the king from escaping tof7.

Before we think only White can do this,play through this imaginative game:

Valdes-hernandez, cuba, 1992: 1.e4 e5 2.nf3 nc6 3.bb5 f5 4.bxc6dxc6 5.0–0 fxe4 6.nxe5 nf6 7.d3 bd68.nc4

Here, it’s a little tougher, but you learn animportant lesson. You can’t be sure every-thing is going to work just because the po-sition looks the same.

Black plays the very alert 10…0-0!! be-cause if he plays 10…Qh4 right away,White gets to defend with 11.Bf4.

In this attacking pattern it is very impor-tant to check everything to make suresome little detail doesn’t spoil your attack:

8...bxh2+ 9.Kxh2 ng4+ 10.Kg1 0–0!!11.g3 [11.Ne3 Qh4 12.Nxg4 Bxg4 13.Qd2Rf5 14.dxe4 Rh5 15.f4 (15.f3 Rf8 16.f4Rd8) 15...Rd8 16.Qe1 Qh2+ 17.Kf2 Rh3]11...Qd5 12.Kg2 [12.Qe2 Qh5 13.f3 exf3


14.Rxf3 Rxf3 15.Qxf3 Qh2+ 16.Kf1 Qxc217.Nc3 Nh2+ 18.Ke1 Nxf3+ 19.Kf1 Bh3#]12...Qh5 White Resigns

To make a point about this, two all-timegreat grandmasters, Frank Marshall andAmos Burn both assumed the BxP+ ideawould work.

Marshall was so sure it worked that he sac-rificed the exchange to get the position!

marshall-burn, ostend, 1907:1.d4 nf6 2.nf3 d6 3.bf4 nbd7 4.e3 g65.bd3 bg7 6.nbd2 0–0 7.h4 re8 8.h5nxh5

9.rxh5 gxh5 10.bxh7+ Kxh711.ng5+ Kg6 12.ndf3 e5 13.nh4+ Kf614.nh7+ Ke7 15.nf5+ Ke6 16.nxg7+Ke7 17.nf5+ Ke6 18.d5+ Could havedone this on move 16...probably trying topick up some time while checking every-thing out. 18...Kxf5 19.Qxh5+ Ke4 20.0–0–0 Black Resigns.

What the two masters discovered after thegame was that Black could have defendedby playing:10...Kf8! 11.Ne4 (11.Ng5 Nf6)11...Nf6 12.Nxf6 Bxf6 13.Qd3 (13.Ng5Bg4!) 13...e5 14.Bh6+ Bg7 15.Bxg7+Kxg7 16.0–0–0 exd4 17.Nxd4 Qf6].

Sometimes defenders get really brave andbring the king out to g6 in order not to betrapped on the back row.

If you’re going to learn this attack, youhave to know how to win no matter whichway your opponent chooses:

forzan-Kemp, albuquerque, 1982:1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.nc3 bb4 4.e5 ne75.nf3 0–0 6.bd3 c5 7.bxh7+ Kxh78.ng5+ Kg6 [8...Kg8 9.Qh5 Re8 10.Qh7+Kf8 11.Qh8+ Ng8 12.Nh7+ Ke7 13.Bg5+f6 14.Qxg7#]

9.h4 Qa5 10.Qd3+ nf5 11.h5+ Kh612.nxe6+ Kh7 13.Qxf5+! Kg8 14.h6bxc3+ [14...Bxe6 15.Qg5] 15.Kd1! Qd816.hxg7 fxe6 17.rh8+ Kxg7 18.Qh7#

All of the above games have used h4 insome way. If conditions are right, you don’tneed the pawn there:

yates-marin, hamburg, 1930: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.nc3 nf6 4.bg5 be75.e5 ne4 6.bxe7 Qxe7 7.bd3 nxc38.bxc3 c5 9.Qg4 0–0 10.nf3 c4??

11.bxh7+ Black Resigns.

As after 11…Kxh7 (11…Kh8 12.Qh5 g613.Bxg6+) 12.Ng5+ Black is doomedwhether Kg8, Kg6 or Kh6. See if you canfigure it out yourself.


There is one little trick you should beshown about now:

Pestalozzi-duhm, bern, 1908:1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.nc3 nf6 4.bg5 be75.bxf6 bxf6 6.e5 be7 7.bd3 c5 8.dxc5bxc5 9.Qg4 0–0 10.nf3 nc6 11.bxh7+Kxh7 12.Qh5+ Kg8 13.ng5 re8

14.Qxf7+! You must do this first! After14.Qh7+ Black escapes: [14.Qh7+ Kf815.Qh8+ Ke7 16.Qxg7 Rf8] 14...Kh815.Qh5+ Kg8 16.Qh7+ Kf8 17.Qh8+Ke7 18.Qxg7#

You now know the basic pattern of the old-est attack in chess. Remember the Grecorules at the beginning of this article.

You should also make sure that you famil-iarize yourself with the different roads thissacrifice can go down. Playing over thesegames on a chess board will be of im-mense help to your becoming a betterchess player.

And, if you skipped the chess movie in thisissue, you shouldn’t! It’s probably the mostfamous game with Bxh7+ there is!

For the really hard working students thatwant to get better, take out a board, achess clock and a notepad and pencil. Setup the two following positions (the first isthe easier one).

Set your clock on twenty minutes and takenotes on what you think you would do. Atleast you know the first move!

Quiz diagram one:white to Play

Quiz diagram Two:white to Play

Quiz diagram one solution:

Hort-Radulov, Albania, 1974: 1.bxh7+Kxh7 [1...Kh8 2.Bd3 g6 3.h4 Kg7 4.h5!Qc5 5.Qe1 Rh8 6.Qg3 b4 7.hxg6 bxc38.Rh7+ Kf8 9.g7+] 2.ng5+ Kg6 [2...Kg83.Qh3] 3.Qh3 ndxe5 4.Qh7+ Black Re-signs. Because: 4...Kf6 5.nce4+ dxe46.nxe4#

Quiz diagram Two solution:

Pirc-Porreca; Yugoslavia-Italy, 1953:1.bxh7+ Kxh7 [1...Kh8 2.Be4 Be7 3.Bd2Bd7 4.Bg5 Bd8 5.Be3 b6 6.Ng5 g6 7.Qf3Kg7 8.Bxc6] 2.ng5+ Kg6 [2...Kh6 3.Qg4Rh8 4.Qh4+; 2...Kg8 3.Qh5 Rd8 4.Qxf7+Kh8 5.Qh5+ Kg8 6.Qh7+ Kf8 7.Qh8+ Ke78.Qxg7+ Ke8 9.Qf7#] 3.Qg4 f5 4.Qh4nxe5 [4...f4 5.Qh7+ Kxg5 6.h4+ Kg47.f3+ Kg3 8.Be1#] 5.dxe5 b5 6.Qh7+Kxg5 7.bd2+ Black Resigns.


FINDING LINKchess, baseball, and Performance:


by chris michaels, Ph.d. & nick molinaro, ed.d.

If you read this title and found yourselfwondering how these three entities couldbe combined in an article – we’ve met ourinitial goal. You’re reading this column.But in fact, there is a perfect connectionamong these topics and it’s an importantconnection. How you might ask? After all,one is played on a diamond – the other ona board, one is a team competition– theother an individual competition, and one isarguably the most popular sport in thecountry – the other one could argue is nota sport.

So where is the connection? The connec-tion lies in the essence of performance.Both games require skill acquisition, bothrequire strong mental focus, both gamesrequire competitive mindsets, and each re-quires a mental toughness. But becauseall that we do in life begins with the brain– we will start there.

The brain game

You must be thinking this section is goingto address chess. Yes, but not exclusively.Baseball and chess are very similar in skillacquisition.

Everything we do, everything we think,and everything we feel is governed by ourmind. As we repeat these actions,thoughts, and feelings the increasedlikelihood of their reoccurrence is madepossible through a concept known asneuorplasticity. Neuorplasticity basicallymeans that each time we perform anaction; we increase the signal strength,speed, and accuracy of our neural connec-tions from the brain and throughout ourbody. This occurs by way of increasedmyelination around our nerve fibers. Thisworks the same for the action in an open-ing move in chess and a shortstop’s pivoton second base to complete a double play.These skills are progressively built throughthis myelination process as a result of con-tinued practice. Practice does not makeperfect but it does make permanent. Howmuch practice?

The 10,000 – hour rule

Don’t be frightened by this number. Skillacquisition and this myelination are aprocess, not an all or nothing concept. The10,000 hours comes from a Swedish psy-chologist, Anders Ericsson, who as it turnsout was much better at chess than he wasat likes of soccer and basketball. DanielCoyle, in his book The Talent Code writesof Ericsson’s studies of short-term memoryand how he began to understand talentand skill as a process of deliberate practicerather than innate ability. Deliberate prac-tice does not mean playing the gamebut practicing the skills associated withsuccess in the game. This is the same foran all-star pitcher or a world-class chessplayer who would practice a particularpitch or a particular strategy respectively.Coyle cites that even a prodigy like BobbyFischer dedicated nine years of practicebefore becoming a grandmaster at the ageof 17 years.

The importance of this information, whichhas been cited in multiple other sources(Gladwell, Outliers, 2008; Colvin, Talent isOverrated, 2008), is that many people inbaseball, chess, and other performanceendeavors give up their goals because theybelieve that others have reached theirpositions by luck of genetics or special cir-cumstance as opposed to dedicated effort.

imagery and Visualization

The use of imagery and visualization haslong been a mental skill practice utilized insport. A baseball player, when off the field,may train off the field by imagining numer-ous situations that could present them-selves in a game. When a player usesvisualization, it has been shown that areasof the brain that are activated during thephysical execution of the skill are activatedin the mental rehearsal. In NormanDoidge’s book, The Brain That ChangesItself, he discusses the concept of mentalpractice or mental rehearsing as it pertainsto chess. He notes that one of the mostadvanced forms of mental practice is called“mental chess”, played without a boardand without pieces.

the

attention

The chess player, like the baseball playerrequires the ability to attend to appropriateevents, avoid distraction, and makechanges in their broad and narrow atten-tion as required by circumstances of thegame. The chess player, like the catcherin a baseball game must be able to see andcommand the field. In both endeavors,there is a combination of staying in themoment with composure as well as strate-gizing possible circumstances that willarise with the next pitch or next move.

The Tough-minded Player

There is perhaps no better corollary be-tween the baseball and chess player thantough-mindedness. Tough-mindedness isa mindset that involves a mission (goal), aplan to execute, and a perseverance andresilience to continue to strive toward thegoal in the face of adversity or setbacks.Virtually all of the great successes incivilization have come after setbacks andfailures. Coming back from an error in thefield or an error on the board require thesame skill-sets, the ability to re-establishbelief, confidence, composure, and drive.The tough-minded player is able to execute

when it matters in the game – be it the lastinning in a close game or closing out agame of chess. Eliminating your oppo-nent’s pieces makes little difference if youare not able to put the game away. Playerswho excel at this do so by practicing simu-lation drills in practice, game situationsthat place you under pressure. Thisspecific rehearsal will feel more familiar inactual game situations.

Chess may not be as physical a game asbaseball but it is certainly as taxing.Speaking of which, ask someone which ismore tiresome – working four hours onyard work or four hours on their taxes.Checkmate!

chris michaels, Ph.d. and nick molinaro, ed.d. are licensedpsychologists and sport psychologists. They are the officialsport Psychologists of diamondnation.

Please contact dr. michaels(973-984-7510) or dr. molinaro(973-543-0808) for furtherinformation about the use ofPerformance Psychology for chessor baseball and softball.

Documents

chess player magazine