Chesscafe Puzzle Book: Test And Improve Your Defensive Skill! (Chesscafe Puzzle Books)

218 Pages·2010·17.949 MB·English

by  Karsten Müller, Merijn Van Delft

The
ChessCafe
Puzzle Book 3
Test and Improve
Your Defensive Skill
by
Karsten Muller
and
Merijn van Delft
2010
Russell Enterprises, Inc.
Milford, CT USA
The ChessCafe Puzzle Book 3
Test and Improve Your Defensive Skill
by
Karsten M tiller
Merijn van Delft
ISBN: 978-1-888690-66-8
© Copyright 20 10
Karsten MUller, Merijn van Delft
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any manner or form whatsoever or by any means, elec
tronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the express written permission from the publisher except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Published by:
Russell Enterprises, Inc.
P.O. Box 5460
Milford, CT 06460 USA
http://www.russell-enterprises.com
[email protected]
Cover design by Janel Lowrance
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
Signs and Symbols 6
Introduction 7
1. Principles and Methods of the Defender
la) Chess is not Checkers 9
1b ) Intennediate Moves 10
1c ) Calculate to the End 12
1d ) The Elimination Method 13
1e ) Prophylaxis 14
If) Structural Weaknesses 16
Ig) Do Not Panic 17
Ih) "Being" instead of "Doing" 19
2. Defending against an Attack on the King
2a) Counterattack 26
2b) Exchange Attacking Potential 29
2c) Bringing in More Defenders 33
2d) A Spanner in the Works 36
2e) Evacuating the King from the Danger Zone 38
2f) Destroying the Hannony of the Attacking Army 39
2g) Closing Inroads 42
2h) The King as an Important Defender 44
3. Fighting against the Initiative
3a) Counterplay 46
3b) Tactical Defense 48
3c) Wresting the Initiative from the Opponent 51
3d) Neutralizing the Initiative 54
The ChessC~fe Puzzle Book 3
4. Perpetual Check 57
5. Stalemate
5a) In the Endgame 60
5al) Second-rank Defense: Rook+Bishop vs. Rook 60
5a2) Bishop versus Rook 61
5a3) Queen versus Rook 63
5b) In the Middlegame 64
6. The Right Exchange
6a) A Very Problematic Rule of Thumb 66
6b) Exchanging Pieces and Changing the Character
of the Position 68
6c) An Active Rook Should Be Exchanged 70
6d) A Rook Fighting a Minor Piece
Welcomes Exchanges 70
7. Exchange Sacrifices
7a) Russian Exchange Sacrifices 76
7b)B\ockade 79
7c) Opposite-color Bishops 80
7d) A Strong Unopposed Bishop 83
7e) The Initiative 86
7f) Typical Exchange Sacrifices
7fl) The Sicilian Exchange Sacrifice 89
7f2) The French Exchange Sacrifice 91
8. Defense against a Minority Attack
8a) White's Objectives 95
8b) Defensive Motifs against the Minority Attack 97
4
9. Defending Inferior Endgames
9a) Activate the Rook lO3
9b) The Defender Exchanges Pawns lO7
9c) The Mighty Passed Pawn lO9
9d) Fortresses 112
10. The Great Tigran Petrosian 117
11. Easy Exercises 124
12. Tests 131
Solutions
Chapter Exercises 164
Easy Exercises 186
Test Solutions 190
Bibliography 216
5
The ChessCafe Puzzle Book 3
Signs and Symbols
1-0 White wins
0-1 Black wins
Y2-Y2 Draw agreed
+ check
mate
""
a strong move
!! a bril1iant or unobvious move
a weak move, an error
7) a grave error
!? a move worth consideration
an equal position
;!; White stands slightly better
± White has a clear advantage
+- White has a winning position
:j: Black stands slightly better
Black has a clear advantage
=+=
-+ Black has a winning position
00 an unclear position
with compensation
00
01 Olympiad
m match
ch championship
wch world championship
corr correspondence game
[W] White to move
[B] Black to move
(D) see the next diagram
6
Introduction
I just tried not to make my position worse - and. more importantly, not to make it
better. World Champion Contender David Bronstein
The book is finally ready! What you are holding in your hands is Part 3 of the
ChessCafe Puzzle Book series. Originally this book was planned to come out a bit
earlier; but since both authors have been involved with a multitude of chess projects,
things have been somewhat delayed. In this regard (and at the risk of being viewed
as immodest) we would like to take particular note of Karsten's bestseller, Bobby
Fischer: The Career and Complete Games oft he American World Champion, and
Merijn's new book (co-authored with his father), Developing Chess Talent. Chess
enthusiasts will find both of considerable interest and they should both be available
at chess dealers worldwide.
Both authors you say? The ChessCafe Puzzle Books I and 2 were written by
Karsten Muller alone. But fans of the ChessCafe Puzzle Book series need not be
worried: basically nothing has changed - you are still looking at a good old Karsten
Muller product, since he was responsible for the selection of at least 90% of the
positions and came up with the basic concept. The expected "who did what"
question is easy to answer: Karsten focused on the variations and Merijn on the
text. This should not be taken too literally, however. We both checked every move
and every word in the book, and even switched roles at times, so it really was a co
production. The underlying concept was that Karsten's mathematical background
and Merijn's psychological background would complement each other nicely.
While this should not be taken out of perspective either, we think it worked out
well. That we both live in Hamburg, Germany was not essential, in view of modern
communication options, but it also did not hurt.
So what is this book about? As you may know the first book in this series was
about tactics, and the second about strategy. This third book is about defense. It
is in fact an area in which Karsten himself felt he could use some improvement. One
of the best reasons for writing a book is because you would like to read it yourself.
Defense is a special subject. Of course, we all like to attack and win. Who wants to
be under pressure, defending, suffering and then lose? Nobody, naturally, but the
first step is to realize that defending has many faces. If your opponent has played
a desperate, incorrect piece sacrifice for instance, you may have no choice but to
defend. And the reward is usually fitting: not just a draw, but a win. There are many
more scenarios when coldblooded defense is rewarded with a full point. The world's
strongest players are, without exception, phenomenal defenders and legendary
fighters.
That brings us to our next point: it is all about choosing the right mindset. You
need to learn to enjoy defense, to take pleasure from putting up the most stubborn
resistance possible. Chess is a game of mistakes; don't worry if something goes
7
The ChessCafe Puzzle Book 3
wrong, just keep on fighting. A positive attitude is essential. Throughout this
book, you will encounter positions that appear difficult to solve unless you have
an optimistic approach. And that difficulty gets turned up a notch in a real game
situation, as there is nobody tapping on your shoulder during the game motivating
you to find an unexpected brilliant defensive move!
There are two types of defenses - (a) "Heroic," i.e., saving lost positions; and (b)
"Casual," i.e., basic defensive technique. Both are of vital importance. For the
former you should have enough energy and mental strength to fight hard at the
board to make the conversion of the winning advantage as difficult as possible for
your opponent, while still enjoying yourself. We hope to give you reasons for this
in the present volume by showing how tenacious defense is often rewarded. To be
able to master this difficult art fully, you should know the basic defensive techniques
and themes, and that is where we start.
Principles like "Do not panic" and "unforced thinking" (sometimes also described
by the phrase "Chess is not Checkers") playa significant role. If you violate them,
then you may pay the price. Instead, you should keep a clear head, try to put the
pressure on your opponent and try to enjoy the defensive task at hand. This does
not mean, for example, trying to draw by making mass exchanges just for the sake
of exchanging. This is not the way the game works. You end up assisting your
opponent, and your opponent may sense that you are scared. The art of defense
is connected more to concepts like prophylaxis, calm calculation, maintaining
confidence and a clear head, as well as elimination (or removal) methods,
counterattacking at the right moment and the exchange of attacking or winning
potential.
Because of the strong influence of computers, chess has become much more
concrete and now players are willing to take higher risks when grabbing material.
You should participate in this trend and improve your defensive skills and your
confidence when playing passive positions. Of course, we all want to win attractive
attacking games, but when this approach does not work or is not available, then
adjust to the circumstances and defend.
The best way to train your defensive skills is to play inferior positions against
strong opponents and to analyze the games later. The next best is probably to
study the concepts of defense and to solve a lot of exercises. And that is what this
book is all about. A final word about the difficulty of the exercises: different readers
will experience different degrees of difficulty for the same problems. Not to worry.
Do not be concerned if you cannot solve an exercise, if you make mistakes or
generally suffer through the solving process. It is not the test results but the
training effort that counts and that will help you to become a stronger player. Good
luck!
Karsten Muller
Merijn van Delft
Hamburg, April 20 10
8
Chapter 1
Principles and Methods of the Defender
la) Chess is not Checkers 28.~e3 .llf4! and after 29.Axf4 ~xc5
30.~a4 a5 31..lld6 ~c3 32.~xa5 and
The first important principle of the the opposite-color bishops give White
defender is that you are not forced to excellent chances for a draw.
take pieces as in checkers. Always have 25. .. ~xh2+ 26. 'it'fl Ac6! The bishop
a fresh look at the position and consider switches diagonals with deadly effect.
your options. In the example below the
legendary Garry Kasparov found
himself in the unusual role of defender,
as he is of course known for his
irresistible attacks. He either
miscalculated something, or maybe
forgot about the "chess is not
checkers" principle?
01.01 GKasparov (2775)
V.Kramnik (2775)
Dos Hermanas 1996 [BI
27.Ag5 The most stubborn defense
would have been 27.~a5! forcing Black
to find 27 ... Ac7!. 27. .. Ab5+ 28.~d3
~e8! While Black brings his last piece
into play, White is completely helpless
although a rook up. 29.~a2 ~hl +
There was even a forced mate available:
29 ... ~xd3+! 30.~xd3 (30:i!fxd3 '{;;1hl +
31.~e2 'liYel#) 30 ... '{;;1hl+ 31.~e2
'{;;1g2+ 32.'i&e3 ~xe4#. 30.~e2 Etxe4+
31.~d2 ~g2+ 32.~cl ~xa2
33.Etxg3 ~al+ 34.~c2 ~c3+
24. .. ~xf3! 25.~xf3? This automatic 35.~bl ~d4 0-1 White resigned
recapture is surprisingly a mistake. because of 36.Af6 Axd3+ 37.~a2
Kasparov had to think in an unforcing Abl +! and mate follows.
way and bring new forces to the
defense: 25.~a2!! would have been a In line with the "chess is not checkers"
fantastic second rank defense. The principle, you have to free yourself from
prototype of this defense is a black stereotypical thinking. In the following
queen on c7 in the Sicilian, taking care example White was in a somewhat
of defending the soft spots on g7 and dogmatic positional thinking mode,
h7. Black now has nothing better than whereas the position was asking for
25 ... ~xfl + 26.~xfl 'liYxfl + 27.~xfl ~c8 highly dynamic solutions.
9