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Pablo's
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An Introduction to Chess Strategy
for the Novice Player The Premature Attack
Premature attacks and early Queen forays tend to generate tactical
opportunities for the opponent.
– Bruce Moon I am spending a lot of time rummaging around
in my chess library, specifically looking at older titles. Two of the more
interesting titles that I have been reading include Richard Reti’s Modern
Ideas in Chess and Masters of the Chessboard. Modern Ideas in
Chess was written in the 1920’s to both document the development of
chess ideas and to explain the Hypermodern School of chess. The “Scientific”
school of chess, developed by Steinitz and Tarrasch, may have been a touch
dogmatic, but a lot of their ideas are quite helpful to new players or
intermediate players that are looking to improve.
One of the key ideas that Steinitz explored stated that an attack can only
be carried out when the position warrants it and not before. He also stated
that you must attack at that moment or your advantage will dissipate and the
attack will fail. In order to understand this principle, it helps to
understand the era in which Steinitz developed his theory. The Romantics, of
whom the greatest was probably Adolf Anderssen, lived and died by the art of
combination. Anderssen was the first “unofficial” World Champion and was
regarded as the strongest player in the world until Paul Morphy dismantled
him in a match in 1858. After Morphy retired from the field, Anderssen was
once again the dominant player until Steinitz took the unofficial title from
him in a match played in London in 1866.
Steinitz understood and spelled out the principles of defense, something
that the masters before him really did not grasp with the exception of Paul
Morphy. Morphy understood defense as it related to open games. The Romantic
School believed in attack at any cost and that sacrifices were at the heart
of the game, sound or otherwise. Steinitz preached against the premature
attack, one that was not justified by the position. He also believed in
accumulating small advantages and then playing for the attack when he felt
the position called for it.
"One of the hallmarks of very strong players is the ability to recognize when
they should try to do something and when it is better to play a move which
just simply improves their position. This is why top class games often give
the impression that nothing is really happening whilst in reality their
outwardly innocuous moves represent a cagey struggle to outmaneuver their
opponent. The two adversaries are working towards the right moment to
strike, knowing full well that a premature attempt to force matters could
simply lose the advantage or even totally rebound." – Nigel Davies
Below is one of the most famous premature attacks in the history of the
game. Note how Morphy defends against one of the most daring attackers of
the 19th century.
Adolf Anderssen – Paul Morphy, 4th Match Game Berlin 1858
[click here for
an interactive board]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 The "Morphy Defense" to
the Ruy Lopez 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 Bc5 6.c3 b5 7.Bc2
Anderssen is planning an attack at h7. Black has no
weaknesses, but this doesn't bother Anderssen in the least.
7...d5 Morphy challenges Anderssen for the center.
8.exd5 Nxd5 9.h3 White wants to play d4, but is
worried about the pin on g4. This creates a weakness but does prevent the
pin. Black continues to quietly develop, a Morphy trademark.
9...0–0 10.0–0 h6 Black wants to play Be6 and
doesn't want to be disturbed by Ng5 11.d4 exd4 12.cxd4
Bb6 13.Nc3 Ndb4 14.Bb1 Be6
Anderssen is a tactical genius, but Morphy declines the sacrifice since Nxd4
leads to the loss of a piece.
14...Bxd4 15.Ne2 Bb6 16.a3 Qxd1 17.Rxd1 Nd5 18.Rxd5;
14...Nxd4 15.Nxd4 Qxd4 16.Qf3 Be6 17.a3 Nd5 18.Rd1 Qe5 19.Nxd5 Bxd5 20.Qxd5
Qxd5 21.Rxd5;
14...Nxd4 15.Nxd4 Bxd4 16.Qf3 Be6 17.Be4 Rb8 18.a3 Bxc3 19.Rd1 Qf6 20.Qxc3
Qxc3 21.bxc3 Nd5 22.Bxd5 Bxd5 23.Rxd5
-- Reti-Modern Ideas in Chess 15.a3 Nd5 16.Be3
Nf6 17.Qd2 Re8 18.Rd1 Threatening d5 and forcing a
piece to that square. This has the effect of stripping a defender from the
Kingside. 18...Bd5 19.Ne5 Qd6
Still another trap that wins a piece if
Black grabs a pawn. Morphy declines and continues to develop with eye toward
weakening the White center.
19...Nxe5 20.dxe5 Rxe5 21.Bxb6 cxb6 22.Ba2 Qe8 23.Nxd5 Nxd5 24.f4
20.Qc2 Nxd4 21.Bxd4 Bxd4 22.Nxd5 Qxe5 Morphy dodges
the last trap. Anderssen wins material if Black plays Qxd5
22...Qxd5 23.Nc6 Re4 24.Rxd4 Rxd4 25.Ne7+ 23.Nxf6+
Qxf6 24.Qh7+ Kf8 25.Be4 Rad8 26.Kh1 Bxb2 27.Rab1 Rxd1+ 28.Rxd1 Qxf2 29.Qh8+
Ke7 30.Qh7 Be5 31.Bf3 Qg3 32.Kg1 Qg6 33.Qxg6 fxg6
34.Bb7 Rb8 35.Bxa6 c6 36.Kf2 Bd6
37.Rd3 Kd7 38.Ke2 Ra8 39.Bb7 Rxa3 40.Rd1 Kc7 41.Bc8 Ra2+ 42.Kf3 Bc5 43.Be6
Rf2+ 44.Kg3 Rf6 45.Rd7+ Kb6 46.Bg4 Bd6+ 47.Kh4 c5 48.Bf3 c4 49.Rxg7 Rf4+
50.Bg4 c3 51.g3 Rxg4+ 0–1
Meek,Alexander - Morphy,Paul, Mobile, 1855
[click here for an
interactive board]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Ng5 Nh6 6.Nxf7 Nxf7 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7
8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qxc5 d6 10.Qb5 Re8 11.Qb3+ d5 12.f3 Na5 13.Qd3 dxe4 14.fxe4 Qh4+
15.g3 Rxe4+ 16.Kf2 Qe7 17.Nd2 Re3 18.Qb5 c6 19.Qf1 Bh3 20.Qd1 Rf8 21.Nf3 Ke8
0–1
Marache,Napoleon - Morphy,Paul, New York, 1857
[click here for
an interactive board]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.e5 d5 8.exd6 Qxd6
9.0–0 Nge7 10.Ng5 0–0 11.Bd3 Bf5 12.Bxf5 Nxf5 13.Ba3 Qg6 14.Bxf8 Qxg5 15.Ba3
dxc3 16.Bc1 Qg6 17.Bf4 Rd8 18.Qc2 Ncd4 19.Qe4 Ng3 20.Qxg6 Nde2# 0–1
Alekhine,Alexander - Von Balla, Budapest, 1921
[click here for
an interactive board]
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 cxd4 7.exd4 Ne4 8.Bd3 Bb4
9.Rc1 Qa5 10.Qb3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 g5 12.Be3 g4 13.Ne5 Nxe5 14.dxe5 Bxc3+ 15.bxc3
b6 16.0–0 Bd7 17.Rfd1 Ba4 18.Qb1 Nxc3 19.Rxc3 Qxc3 20.Bb5+ Bxb5 21.Qxb5+ Kf8
22.Bh6+ Kg8 23.Qd7 1–0
Alekhine,Alexander - Maroczy,Geza, Carlsbad, 1923
[click here for
an interactive board]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 0–0 6.e3 Ne4 7.Bxe7 Qxe7 8.Qb3
Nxc3 9.Qxc3 c6 10.Bd3 Nd7 11.0–0 f5 12.Rac1 g5 13.Nd2 Rf7 14.f3 e5 15.cxd5
cxd5 16.e4 fxe4 17.fxe4 Rxf1+ 18.Rxf1 exd4 19.Qc7 Kg7 20.Rf5 dxe4 21.Nxe4
Qb4 22.Rxg5+ 1–0
Larsen,Bent - Portisch,Lajos Amsterdam, Interzonal, 1964
[click here for
an interactive board]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.exd5 exd5 5.Qf3 Nc6 6.Bb5 Nge7 7.Bf4 0–0 8.0–0–0
Na5 9.Nge2 c6 10.Bd3 b5 11.h4 Nc4 12.h5 f6 13.g4 Qa5 14.Bxc4 dxc4 15.a3 Bxc3
16.Nxc3 Qd8 17.Rhe1 a5 18.Qg3 Ra7 19.h6 g6 20.Bd6 Re8 21.Qf4 Kf7 22.Be5 f5
23.Bb8 Rb7 24.Qe5 Rg8 25.g5 b4 26.Qf6+ Ke8 27.Qxc6+ Kf7 28.Qf6+ Ke8 29.d5
Rf8 30.Qc6+ Qd7 31.Bd6 Rf7 32.Bxe7 bxc3 33.Bb4+ 1–0
Next: Exploiting
the Open and Half-Open File, Part I |
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