The Attacking Manual 2: Technique and Praxis

460 Pages·2010·24.961 MB·English

by  Jacob Aagaard

a c o
AAGAARD
QUALITY CH
€29.99
ISBN 978-9-197600-41-5
Manual
Attacking 2
By
Jacob Aagaard
Quality Chess
www.qualitychess.co.uk
Firsr English edition 20 l 0 by Quality Chess UK LLP,
Copyrigh r © 20 10 Jacob Aagaard
Attacking Manual2
All rights reserved. Nn pare of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a rerricva! sysrem or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
decuoscatic. rnagncdc rape, photocopying~ recording or othenvise, without prior
penn.ission of rhe publisher.
ISBN 978-9197600-41-5
All !ialcs or enquiries should be (lirecred to Qualig.' Chess UK LLP,
20 I3alvie Road, fvlilngavie, Glasgow G62 7TA, United Kingdom
OH1ce phone: [phone]
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.qualitychess.co.uk
Disrributed in US and C,m.ada by SCB Disrributors, Gardena, Cahfornia, US
www.scbdisrribmors.com
Disrriburcd in Resr of che World by Qualiry Chess UK LLP through
Sumisc H.mdicrafcs, Smynkowa 4/98, 20-844 Lublin, Poland
Typeset by AndJ'ew Greer and Jacob Aagaard
Proofreading: Colin .NicNab and Alan Beardsworch
Edited by Alldrew Greet
Cover design by Carole Dunlop
Printed in Estonia by Tallinna Raamamtn:ikikoja LLC
Acknowledgements
1l1e aurhor would like ro thank rhc following p~ople for their comribution
ro rhi~ book in big and small w.tys: Jonny Hecror, Krishnan Sasikiran,
Anne Madsen, Herman Herbolr, Mihail Marin, Arrur Yusupov, Allan
Beardsworrh, Colin McNab, and most of all Andrew Greer and John Shaw.
Contents
Key to Symbols used 4
Preface to rhe second edition 7
Bring it on ~an incroduccion 9
Chapter 1 - Undersranding Mating Arracks 9
Typical Mates & Focal Poinrs 11
Ihree Piece Attacks 25
insurance Policies 30
Transfonnations 31
Exercises 40
Solutions 43
Chapter 2 -Typical Piece Play 53
1he Assault Rario 57
Deflection 67
Overloading 76
Ternpo-gainers 81
Piece Sacrifices for cime 84
Transition squares 89
Lines of Communication 101
Vacating Squares 118
Outposts 127
Launching 135
TI1e pin 148
Improving the Circumstances 165
Prophylaxis 170
~Ihe f5/f4-squares 178
Chapter 3 -Typical Pawn Play 181
P-awn breaks 183
Pawns as valuable as pieces 193
Pawn stonns 208
Pawn sacrifices 237
Provoking weaknesses 243
Chapter 4- King Safety 251
Destroying the defensive structure 253
Line clearance 264
Cutting off the defences 275
\Xfeak kings 281
Drawing the king into the open 293
Kings on the run 300
Cuning off the escape route 311
~I11e king stuck in the centre 315
Breakthrough in the centre 321
T\vo rhematic sacrifices 346
Chapter 5- Intuitive Sacrifices and Enduring Initiative 353
Creative play 355
A sud den chance 358
Aggressive opening play 377
Intuitive sacrifices 391
Enduring initiative 399
Chapter 6 - Exercises 413
Solutions 423
Index of games and game fragments 457
Key to symbols used
? ;\ weak mo\'e
~? a blunder
a good move
!! an excellem move
!? :l move \'\'onh considering
?! ~\ move of doubtful vahLt
# mare
(n) 11111 march game
Bibliography
Jacob Aagaard: 1he PallofJ~Borvinuik Attack
Christian Bauer: Pia)' l ... b6!
Sabino Brunella: Attadting the .~j>tmi~·h
Ltrry Chrisriamen: Rorldng the Rampttrts & Stormiug the Barrimdes
Colin Crouch: Atttrcking Technique
lakov Damsky & Nlikhail Tal: Attack with JV!ikhaillitl
Fracn ik, Kopec & Browne: (:'bmupion.i oft he New lvfillmnium
Tibor Karolyi \virh Nick Aplin: (;enius in tbe Background
Han/) Kmoch: PtlW11 Powt'r in Cbe~·J
Vladimir Vukovic: Art ofA rtacl~ ilz Chess
Simon Webb: Chess }or Tigers
Periodicals
Chc~,') lnformanr, Che~s 'loday, New In Chess, Chess Monthly, Schad, 64, ChessVibcs.com,
Che~~Basc.com, Mega Database 2009
Foreword by the author
\\'hen I decided co write rhis double-volume book on arrack back in 2002, I had very clear ideas
for Volume One, such as specific phra!Jc3, posirions, srrucrures, while all T had for Volume T"vo
was a clear no £ion of what it should cove:r, in absrracr. \Xfhere Volume One was about the laws of
d~·namics, the font of all attacks, and to some !imircd extenr an original work, Volume Two was
,tlway-s me<UH ro be il pcrfcclion of existing work on rhc attack
Over che years I have rc:.Ki dozens of books on attacking chess, and they were all abour knocking
rhe king's posicion open, once t"he attack had been established. Some authors even disguised
their puzzle books as books on arrack- or was it their publishers? Although some book<> on the
middleg~unc would mention parts of the positional basis for the attad:, I was unable to refer my
-.rudents ro any book ns r!Je ...v ork on anacking chess. Simply put, none of them explained well
how rbe arrack came ro be, bur concerned rhcmsclves mainly with the sacrif1ce. This is whar I
rried ro do in Volume One, and with son1e success, 1 thinl-::.
-il1is volume is intended ro cover aH of arracking technique, by which I mean what to do once the
.mack is up and running. Obviom.ly this cannot be done in 464 pages, bur: a decem attempt can
be made, and 1 think I have managed ro do so. In this book I will discuss such concrete items a~
Dl'Stroyiug the dejhuit)e stmcture (page 253), The pin (page 148), Overloading (page 78), as well
.1~ more abstract concepts such as Creatioe play (page 355) and Intuitive srtcrificej (page 391 ).
Hopefully whar I h~1ve found \vorrhwhilc co say about these concepts will be useful for the reader.
_\.lrhough 1 ;Hn a writer by nature, and place a high value on aesthetics, I am deeply aware that
most reader~ will hnvc picked up chis book wirh the hope ofimproving their chess. My experiences
.tnd conversariom wirh some of the besr players in the World have strengthened my belief that it
i-> very useful to solve exercises regularly ify ou want to improve your play. Although a well-written
hook can at1~cr your play positively, it ..w ill do so much more if you are involved, rather than just
re'ading ir. For chis t·e.\son f have included a diagram preview in chis book. I invire you to use up
ro 10 minurcs on c~teh position before reading the subsequent chapter. For Chapre1·s 1, 3, 4 & 5
1 have selected H posirions T find inreresting, while Chapter 2 has 26 positions, as it is a rather big
(hapter. 1 kno\v rhar not everyone will wane to spend chis amounc of cime on rhese exercises, but
for those who have rhe discipline, rhe o~nion ls there. It is for che same reason that I have included
10 exercises rowards rhe end of this book and 24 exercises ar rhe end of Chapter 1.
This double~volumc work has been seven years in rhe making; with rhe publication of the revised
and expanded Volume One and chi~ volume, I have fulfilled a major person<.tl ambition. Quality
Chess was founded to supporT the publication of The Berlin 1\la!l, Questions of lv!odern Chess
Theory and rhis work. Seven year:. afrer rhc first thoughts and conversations about these works, l
am proud ro s:l)' that it was all worth it, and rhar all four books \vcrc wonh fighring for.
Jacob Aagaard
Glasgow, 22nd December 2009
Chapter 1
Understanding Mating Attacks
T!t!J~t~ tk thFU ;ieee- ~u.fe- tit ;~aetlee-. Tk bt~M! ha~ ~ae~ifieult~e-~~
1f
tk ilf(fht ~~ a~~~~tiHJ' tk 1u.ee-"' tit t!U~ ea~e- c!efolflrlrj k~ aJtd b(f
llftJmma
e~e-ate.f telfe~al de-v-a~tatiolf.