The Invisible MoveAntonio Gude looks at a book byYochanan Afek and Emmanuel Neiman

MANY YEARS ago I crossed théEnglish Channel from Ostend (notswimming, obviously) to play in

thé Folkestone Open, a coastal locality inthé south of England.

Folkestone has ils own page in chesshistory as thé 1933 Olympiad was heldthere. The town's most famous résident,though not born there, was thécelebrated writer HG Wells (or simply'HG' as people referred to him), théauthor of The Invisible Man. There canbe few who haven't read thé book, orseen thé film directed by James Whale,who also directed Frankenstein.

In Folkestone I was able to visit Wells'imposing mansion which had beenconverted into a muséum (although itdidn't contain much furniture ormemorabilia). It overlooks thé channelfrom a hill, with a stone staircase whichdescends from thé garden to a stonebeach which is typical of thé area.

Some fifty mètres from thé house itsurprised me to see thé tiny hut wherethé writer worked, which couldn't hâvebeen more than seven or eight squaremètres. But, on thé plus side, it had a bigpicture window facing thé sea and notéléphone: an austère but peacefulretreat, far from thé madding crowd.

But I digress. This article seeks to reviewan excellent book by thé Israeli IM andendgame study composer Yochanan Afekand French coach FM EmmanuelNeiman, Invisible Chess Moves (New inChess, 240 pages, £17.99).

The thesis of thé book is that there arecertain moves which, by virtue of theirparticular characteristics, are more thandifficult but almost invisible. And thisinvisibility is demonstrated by thé factthat thèse moves often go unnoticed byboth players and sometimes remainunseen even after thé subséquentanalysis by thé players.

"The notion of invisibility," say théauthors, "leads us to diverse notionswhich are more about philosophy than todo with chess... but, according to ourdéfinition of chess as a game consistingof perfect information, thé invisibility

raises thé idea of a blind spot, a zonewhich is not visible in a particularposition because of thé corporeal,structural and cinesthetic particulars ofthé human being."

One of thé introductory examples shedslight on thé difficulty of positions whichhidden gems in thé form of diabolicalmoves which are readily discoverablebut which our mental faculties preventus from seeing, for psychological orcompétitive reasons, or for otherreasons that are not so easilyclassified.

Swiss Championship 1991Zueger - Landenbergue

White to play

This position is undoubtedly complicated,with both kings exposed to severalthreats. In purely material terms, White isa pièce and two pawns up, but it is clearthat this fact doesn't carry much weightin thé given situation as, to begin, with,thé knight on f2 is lost and thé threatswhich Black has generated areconsidérable.

What should White play? Certainly not 1ffxgS??, as was played in thé game, asthé double pin of knight and bishop allow1...®h1 mate, as was played. What then?Does White hâve anything else? Thedifficult and paradoxical 1 Ig7+M solvesthé problem but he has to play precisely,for which reason it could be consideredan invisible move. For example: 1 ...âxg71...&h8 2 Sxg5+ &h7 3 Se7+ andmates. 2 ffxg7+M <&xg7 3 âxf8+ &xf8

We now hâve a strange position in whichthé black queen is shut in, which meansthat thé knight cannot capture itsopposite number, nor make any othermove, as it would allow £ïf3, winning théqueen. 4...&e7 The queen'spowerlessness also means thé passeda-pawn becomes a significant factor andthé black king has to take on thé task ofstopping it. If 4...ôxh3??, as we hâvealready said, there would follow 5 £if3.5 c5 &d7 6 d4 &c8 7 e4! The secondpassed pawn also reclaims its right toleadership. 7...&C7 8 e5 &à7 9 a4 Theking cannot stop both pawns. 9...&C710 e6 and Black is lost.

In this case thé authors consider that thédouble pin of thé two minor pièces is théinvisibility factor, which makes Whitethink that it is enough to défend g2.However, it is possible that time troubleplayed a décisive rôle hère (IfxgS wasthé 36th move of thé game). In any case,thé winning séquence was far fromvisible because it presupposed précisecalculation and an appréciation that thécapture on h3 led to thé imprisonment ofthé black queen.

THE ELUSIVE INTERMEZZO

One of thé thèmes which can make itdifficult to spot invisible moves is thé so-called intermezzo move, which is not sowell documented in chess literature.

The authors define an intermezzo moveas one which is interpolated in a forcedséquence, that is to say, dictated by logicin what is accustomed to be a séries ofexchanges. This brusque change to théséquence is like thé sudden appearance

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of eddies and rapids in thé gentle course However, Black's résignation wasof a river. Hère are two examples whichare easy enough but which wereoverlooked by three of thé four playersinvolved.

Leipzig Olympiad 1960Prins - Lehmann

Black to play

In this position Black is two pawns upwith a passed f-pawn, and thé resuit isnot in much doubt. Black would hâve woneasily with thé prosaic 1...<è>e7 2 §f3 (2Sf4) 2...Sg6+ 3 <èxb7 Sf6. However, heallowed himself to be tempted by théapparently décisive 1...§g6?? How canthé exchange of rooks be prevented? Alittle invisible détail arose, which changesthé resuit of thé endgame: 2 c6+! bxc62...&e7 3 Sxf2 leads to thé same resuit.3 Sxf2 &d6 4 Ed2+ &e5 5 Sc2 and theyagreed a draw because White can winthé two pawns: after 5...&d5 6 Sc5+ &d47gxc6or5...c5+6&xc5.

In thé position in thé following diagram,White had just played Sxd6, and Blackresigned immediately, after establishingthat 1 ...exd6 would be answered 2 âc6+and mate on e8. The only refuge for théqueen is b5, but then there would follow2 ic6+.

Correspondance 1974/75Krasilnikov - Beckmann

44J.44

à

prématuré because he had a veryeffective intermezzo at his disposai:1...â,c3+!! with thé idea of giving thé kingthé escape route f8-g7. If now 2 bxc3 2

Ifxd6 2...exd6 3 ic6+ &f8 4 Hfe8+and nothing has happened. That is

to say, quite a lot has happened - Blackis winning.

SAO PINS AND HAPPY PINS

It is always surprising when a piècevoluntarily goes somewhere where itwill be pinned. In thé following positionthere is an interesting séquencewhich illustrâtes thé difficult thème ofthé self-pin.

World Championship, 4th Game 1984Karpov - Kasparov

f tfto9v

4 W4 4â.ï.

ditBB»

41A

câ

1à

4

à

White to play

Black had just played 57...1fb7+ and hisopponent replied 58 8e4+!! If now58...ge6 there would follow 59 ffc4! Sxe460 Sg8+ &e7 61 ffxg7+ and 62 Ifxb7.The actual game continued 58...éf7 and,after 59 Ifc4+ <&f8 60 âh7 Sf7 61 Se6Ifd7 62 Ife5, Black resigned.

In thé following position, by contrast, théfinal move of thé combination stressesthé optimal exploitation of a pin.

Brissago 2003Karjakin - Kosteniuk

4 44&

à4.44

Black had just taken a pawn on d5(29...jbcd5) and now encountered asurprise: 30 ®xa6! 30 Sxc8+ Sxc8 31®xa6 was simpler but Karjakin chancedhis arm on an aesthetic effect, and hisdétermination was rewarded.30...Sxc1+? Black could hâve defendedwith 30...Scb8. 31 §xc1 §xa6? 31...Sf8was more précise, avoiding immédiatedefeat. For example, 32 âa4 We6 33â,c6. Now géométrie motifs corne intoplay: 32 §c8+ Sîe8 33 §xe8+

4± 4 4

4 4

34 Sa8!! 1-0 A counter-pin or cross-pin.Black resigned because, if 34...Sxa835 âxd5+ and 36 ixa8, and if 34...ixb335 Sxa6.

The authors wondered whether Karjakin'scombination had been inspired by théfamous game Tal - Brinck Claussen,Havana Olympiad, 1966.

Black to play White to play

Black had just played 32...£\f8-g6, afterwhich there followed 33 &xd5!! âxdS34 Sa8!, a cross-pin with thé samepièces and thé queens taking part in théaction. Tal won with a précise attack.

GEOMETRIC MYSTERIES:ALIGNAIENT AND REVERSE

It is curious that géométrie componentswhich ought to be thé most visible to théhuman eye (given that we are speakingof horizontal, vertical or diagonal straightlines) sometimes don't allow us to findmoves as a resuit of some strangemental mechanism.

Invisible Chess Movesby Emmanuel Neiman and Yochanan Afek

RRP £17.99 Subscribers'£16.19

Pièces in a line, especially queen and king,constitute a motif that may be exploited, asmuch in attack as in defence. Let's look ata particularly good example:

Européen Junior Championship 1996Gelbmann - Gyimesi

l ia

White to play

White enjoys a healthy materialadvantage but thé absence of thé h-pawn leaves his king in seriousdifficulties, threatened with mate on h3and h4. Is there any defence? 1 jlxh7+doesn't work because of 1...'è'xh7 2Wc2+ âe4, etc, and rook moves don'twork because of mate on g2. However...1 Ifh6!! The queen covers thé h-file andis ready to take advantage of an openingof thé g-file. If 1 ...gxh6 2 gxf3 andrecaptures thé queen. If 1...âe4 2 ffh2®xh2+ 3 &xh2 ixc2 4 ^xd8, with adécisive advantage.

The authors speak in a convincingmanner about thé difficulties of finding"backwards" (or reverse) moves, andalso, though it may appear paradoxical,that horizontal moves (of queen or rook

along a rank) are harder to visualise thanvertical ones (along a file). As are alsoother types of elusive moves: thosewhich are intended as défensive movesbut going forward, or attacking movesgoing backwards. This is not simplespéculation: for a player who is sufferinga strong attack it is hard to imagine thathe can hâve recourse to an aggressiveseeming move (as in thé previousexample), as it can be hard for someonewho is attacking to imagine that his bestpossibility is to move a pièce backwards.

Russian Championship 2006Sitnikov - Kornev

là W

à i

I!••n

White to play

The situation is very tense, with bothkings in danger. The very strong threatsof thé major pièces along thé secondrank made up White's mind to force adraw: 41 Wf6+ &h6 42 ®g5+. However,ne could hâve won with 41 âf6+ &h6(41...£>xf6?? 42 exf6+ &h6 43 fff8 mate)42 âg5+ &h5 (not 42...<èg7? because of43 fff6+ Ôxf6 44 exf6+ <&g8 45 Sc8mate). But in order to play it he wouldhâve to hâve seen thé extraordinarybishop retreat 43 â,d2!! which interceptsthé black rook's attack on g2 and makesthé mating squares g5 and h4 availableto thé queen. There is no defence as, if43...f6, 44 ffh8 is curtains.

PERIPHERAL VISION

The idea that thé totality of thé board is"perceptible with difficulty" is another ofthé reasons which prevent us seeingparticularly difficult moves, which arecharacterised precisely by their géométrieinvisibility. However, I am not soconvinced by GM Maxim Notkin'sobservation, quoted by thé authors, tothé effect that "if we had thé capacity tobe able to see several sectors of théboard simultaneously, we would bestronger players." It seems that atprésent it is not impossible. Agreed, oureyes don't allow us complète peripheralvision of a conventional chessboard, butwe can see a virtual board in its totality

(game programs, databases,cyberspace). Perhaps we play better incyberspace than on a wooden board, inthé physical présence of our opponent?

BLINDNESS AND LAMENESS

Dr. Tarrasch spoke in his own time aboutamaurosis scacchistica (or chessblindness) and at thé same time there isa form of pseudo-physical blindness(which is genuine but temporaryblindness, brought on by anxiety ornervous tension); there is also thépossibility that thé player, in spécifiesituations, doesn't want to see, but burieshis head in thé sand like an ostrich.

This could be thé case in numeroussituations in which thé basic principleswhich were drummed into thé player andwhich he has assimilated and followedover thé years create a wall, or at least abarrier to thé perception of possibilitieswhich apparently break thé rules. It is notdifficult to imagine thé réticence (or evenrépugnance) of many players when itcornes to pawn advances which weakentheir king's position, or knight moves tothé edge of thé board, or pièces beingmoving away from active squares: this isnot what they hâve learnt nor whatcompétitive expérience has taught them.Transgressing thèse rules takes a gréâtforce of will to free themselves ofpréjudices and confront a given positionwith an open mind.

Prior expectation of a particular resuit isa powerful conditioning factor for aplayer. For example, if you face a betterplayer against whom so much as a drawwould come as a blessing and a winwould be beyond your wildest dreams,what happens is that your subconsciousdiscounts thé very possibility of a victory.

The causes of technical invisibilitybecome mixed up at times withpsychological invisibility. Such is thécase, for example, with some stalematesituations in which thé stronger playerdoesn't appreciate thé possibilitybecause he has been seeking to gainspace throughout thé entire game whenhe suddenly needs to be able to face thésad évidence that it is thé very shortageof space that saves his opponent.

Thus we must counter thé spectre ofinvisibility in order to free ourselves ofour technical préjudices and face thégame whilst stripping thé subconsciousof its useless clothing. Such was thépriée that thé Invisible Man had to pay:he had to walk around naked and put upwith thé cold, because his bandagesremained perfectly visible.

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