Spurning the morsel

by Jonathan Speelman
4/4/2021 – In the mid-nineteenth century, sacrifice was king, and it was supposedly considered “ungentlemanly” to disdain the tasty bait which the opponent proffered. In today’s column, Jon Speelman looks at three examples of the decision-making process behind accepting or not a sacrifice made by the opponent. | Pictured: Vasily Smyslov | Photo: Dutch National Archive
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To take or not to take?

[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]

Max LangeIn the infancy of modern chess, in the mid-nineteenth century, sacrifice was king, and it was supposedly considered “ungentlemanly” to disdain the tasty bait which the opponent proffered.

Later on, as standards rose, pragmatism asserted itself and sacrifices were judged on their merits: you accepted material when this seemed possible (or if there was no choice), but declined otherwise.

Personally, I err on the side of the latter, taking pieces when sacrifices look ridiculous, but otherwise, as a first reaction, striving to find a way to create my own threats and maybe take the bait later on, on my own terms.

Today we look at three examples of the decision-making process starting with a game from the heyday of sacrifice when, for once, its high priest Adolf Anderssen was hoist by his own petard.

[Pictured: Max Lange (1832-1889)]

 
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1.e41,173,50054%2421---
1.d4952,12655%2434---
1.Nf3283,50356%2440---
1.c4183,15556%2442---
1.g319,79656%2427---
1.b314,44254%2427---
1.f45,92148%2377---
1.Nc33,85150%2384---
1.b41,77148%2379---
1.a31,23454%2405---
1.e31,07549%2409---
1.d396150%2378---
1.g466846%2360---
1.h446554%2381---
1.c343651%2426---
1.h328356%2419---
1.a411660%2462---
1.f39947%2428---
1.Nh39267%2511---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4 4.Nxd4 exd4 5.Bc4 5.0-0 is the most common nowadays. 5...Nf6 6.e5 d5 7.Bb3 Bg4?! A very nice idea, but in fact unsound. I'd annotate it ?!! if I could. 7...Ng4 8.f3 Ne4! The idea behind the previous move 9.0-0 9.g3 is playable, but after Bh5 Black is a bit better. 9...h5 is what Black would like to play, but 10.fxg4 h4 11.Qf3 is winning. 9...d3
The critical position. Anderssen now calculated that he could take the bait, but he'd missed a very pretty refutation. Later it was discovered that White has a cold blooded way to refute Black's very enterprising attack. 10.fxg4? 10.Qe1! Prevents the threat of Ng3+ and has been played at least a couple of times over the years. Bc5+ 11.Kh1 Nf2+ 11...dxc2 12.Bxc2 Nf2+ 13.Rxf2 Bxf2 14.Qxf2 Bd7 15.d4 f6 16.Qh4 Kf7 17.exf6 Qxf6 18.Qxf6+ Kxf6 19.Nc3 c6 20.Bf4 Rae8 21.Be5+ Kf7 22.Kg1 Re7 23.Re1 Rhe8 24.Kf2 Of course White should win this easily, but he managed to mess it up. Kg8 25.Re2 b6 26.Bd6 Rxe2+ 27.Nxe2 Bc8 28.Nf4 Ba6 29.Nd3 Bxd3 30.Bxd3 g6 31.Bc2 Kf7 32.b4 Ke6 33.Bf4 Rc8 34.Be3 Ra8 35.Ba4 b5 36.Bb3 a5 37.bxa5 Rxa5 38.Bd2 Ra8 39.Bb4 Kf6 40.a3 Ke6 41.Bc2 Kf6 42.Bd3 Re8 43.g3 Ra8 44.Bf1 Ra7 45.Bc5 Rf7 46.Bh3 Kg7 47.Be6 Rb7 48.f4 Kf6 49.Bh3 h5 50.Ke2 g5 51.fxg5+ Kxg5 52.Kd3 Rg7 53.Kc3 Rf7 54.Kb4 Kf6 55.Ka5 Kg7 56.Kb6 Rf2 57.Kxc6 Rxh2 58.Be6 Rg2 59.Bxd5 1-0 (59) Breja, S (2230)-Oprea,E Bratislava 1993 12.Rxf2 Bxf2 13.Qxf2 Bf5 14.Nc3 c6 15.cxd3 0-0 16.d4 f6 17.d3 Qd7 18.Bf4 Rae8 19.Ne4 fxe5 20.Bxe5 Bg6 21.Qd2 Kh8 22.Ng3 Qe7 23.Rf1 Qh4 24.f4 Bf5 25.Nxf5 Rxf5 26.Bd1 c5 27.Bf3 Qh6 28.Qf2 Qa6 29.Qg3 Re7 30.Bxd5 cxd4 31.Re1 Qa5 32.Bxg7+! 1-0 (32) Zawadzka, J (2424)-Martinkus,R (2127) Katowice POL 2017 10.g3 is playable but not a refutation. Bh5 11.g4 Qh4 12.gxh5 Bc5+ 13.Kg2 Nf2 10...Bc5+ 11.Kh1
11...Ng3+! 12.hxg3 Qg5 13.Rf5 ->
This defence is why Andersseen and others after him have imagined that White can survive, but there is a very pretty move awakening the sleeping rook on h8. 13...h5! A beautiful way to smash the h-file open. 14.gxh5 Qxf5 15.g4 Rxh5+ Completely unnecessary but in the spirit of the nineteenth century. In a recent game I found, Black played the prosaic Qf2. 15...Qf2 16.g3 Qxg3 17.Qf1 Qxg4 0-1 (17) Kozlitin,O (2337)-Sokolovsky,V (2050) Voronezh RUS 2010 16.gxh5 Qe4!
The only move, but it leads to forced mate. 17.Qf3 Qh4+ 18.Qh3 Qe1+ 19.Kh2 Bg1+ 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Anderssen,A-Lange,M-0–11859C61Breslau m2

Adolf Anderssen

Adolf Anderssen | Photo: German Chess Federation

I actually began thinking about famous examples of refusing — or failing to refuse — sacrifices when analysing a recent game from the online European Club Cup, and we’ll look at it next before finishing with a very famous example from the mid-twentieth century.

 
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1.d4       d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 3.Nc3 Nf6 3...Be7 was often played by people including Rafael Vaganian. There's then loads of theory after 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.e3 Bf5 7.g4 4.cxd5 exd5 4...Nxd5 is the semi-Tarrasch revived a few years ago by Vladimir Kramnik. 5.Bg5 is the Exchange Variation itself. 3...Be7 The point of moving the bishop first is to avoid the Queen's Gambit Exchange variation, but it's normally played after Nc3 rather than Nf3. 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Bf4 5.Bg5 0-0 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 b6 is the main line Tartakower 8.Be2 Bb7 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.b4 was contested in a number of games between Karpov and Kasparov in their first world championship match - the "Moscow Marathon". 5...0-0 6.a3 6.e3 is the usual move. 6...b6 6...c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.b4 Be7 9.e3 a5 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.b5 Nd7 13.Be2 Nc5 14.0-0 a4 15.Be5 Nb3 16.Ra2 Be6 17.Nd4 Bd6 18.Nxe6 fxe6 19.Bb2 Rc8 20.g3 Qd7 21.Bd3 Qf7 22.e4 Bc5 23.exd5 exd5 24.Be5 Rce8 25.Bf4 h6 26.Qg4 Re6 27.h4 h5 28.Qd1 Rf6 29.Kg2 g6 30.Bh6 Re8 31.Bg5 Rfe6 32.Bc2
This was the famous internet game Carlsen v Nakamura, where after outplaying Carlsen for most of the game, Nakamura tricked himself with 32...Re1?? a blunder which chimes with our theme of when to accept sacrifices. Here an intermezzo completely refutes it. 33.Bxg6 1-0 (33) Carlsen,M (2862) -Nakamura,H (2736) chess24.com INT 2021 6...dxc4 7.e3 seems to be better than e4 b5 7.e4 b5 8.Nxb5 Nxe4 9.Bxc4 Nd6 10.Bd3 Nxb5 11.Bxb5 Bb7 12.0-0 Nd7 13.Rc1 Bd6 14.Bg3 Rb8 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Be7 17.Qxd8 Bxd8 18.Bc4 Be7 19.Rfd1 Rfd8 20.Bf4 Rxd1+ 21.Rxd1 Bc6 22.Rd2 a5 23.Kf1 Kf8 24.Be3 Ke8 25.f4 a4 26.Ba7 Ra8 27.Be3 Rb8 28.Ba7 Ra8 29.Be3 1/2-1/2 (29) Gelfand,B (2744)-Anand,V (2811) Moscow RUS 2011 7.e3 Bb7 8.cxd5 Nxd5 8...exd5 is a pawn structure which White tends to be quite pleased about. In the main lines of what we call the Tartakower Variation - and Russians the Makagonov-Bondarevsky - White has played Bg5 and there are lines in which he exchanges Bxf6 Bxf6 and then captures on d5 to force Black to recapture with the pawn (see the note to move 5 above). 9.Nxd5 exd5 9...Bxd5 10.Bd3 c5 Must be at least a bit better for White. I'm immediately interested in whether 11.dxc5 Bxc5 11...Nd7! 12.cxb6 12.c6 Bxc6 13.Bxh7+ Kxh7 14.Qc2+ Kg8 15.Qxc6 Nc5 s += according to engines 12...Qxb6 Houdini tells me that Black has enough here which without investigating more deeply seems very plausible. 12.Bxh7+ works - and my engine tells me it does. Kxh7 13.Ng5+ Kg6 14.Qg4 Kf6 14...f5 15.Qg3 Kf6 16.b4 15.b4 Bd6 16.Ne4+! 10.Bd3 10.b4 is perfectly playable of course, if White likes. 10...c5 11.h4 This sets up a Greek gift sacrifice if Black isn't careful or, rather, is willfully inattentive. Nd7 11...c4? 12.Bxh7+ Kxh7 13.Ng5+ Kg6 14.h5+ Kf6 15.Qf3! and the only way to fight at all is 15.Qg4 Bd6 15...Bb4+ 16.axb4 Ke7 but White has at least 17.Nh7 when with Bg5+ coming next he wins the exchange. 17.h6 is actually even stronger than Nh7. I wondered for a moment whether Black could try cxd4 since it might matter that the d4 pwn controlls e5 in the line above, but 11...cxd4 12.Bxh7+ Kxh7 13.Ng5+ Kg6 14.h5+ Kf6 15.Qf3 is equally good. 12.Ng5 h6 12...Nf6 13.Be5 h6 14.Qf3 is presumably what White would have played, though engines aren't especially impressed. 13.Nh7 Re8
14.Bxh6! The obvious sacrifice. Bacrot now had to decide whether to accept, and I'm a bit surprised that he did, though I can see why. gxh6? Falling in with White's plans. In order for an attack to work, you need to identify and menace a target, and after gxh White's play crystallises. Instead 14...Nf6 was perfectly playable 15.Nxf6+ Bxf6 16.Bg5 16.Qh5? gxh6 17.Rh3 17.Qxh6 Bg7 17...Bg7 18.Rg3 Kf8 16.Bf4 Bxd4 Black will be able to open the centre after moving the bishop, and indeed my engine already slightly prefers Black. 16...Bxg5 17.hxg5 Qxg5
If Black refuses the sacrifice. If the rook were still on f8 then Rh5 would be strong here because of Qxg2 Rh8+, but of course this is just losing when the king can run to d7. 18.Qf3 18.Rh5? Qxg2 19.Rh8+ Kxh8 20.Qh5+ Kg8 21.Qh7+ is mate with the rook on f8, but useless here. 18.Kf1 g6 18...cxd4 19.0-0-0 dxe3 20.Rh5 Qf6 21.Rdh1 Kf8 Obviously this is scary for Black, but he should be reasonably okay. When I consulted my engine further it gave me 22.Rf5 Qe6 23.Kb1 e2 24.Re1 Bc6 25.Rxe2 Qd7 which it assesses as totally equal. 15.Qg4+ Kh8
16.Ng5! Smashing the file open. This fine move provides something of an echo backwards to our first game today. Instead Bacrot had presumably analysed 16.Qf5 Rg8! The only move, but a good one. 17.Ng5 Rg7 18.Nxf7+ Rxf7 19.Qxf7 Nf6 When Black has enoguh defenders and could not unreasonably start to play for a win with the good minor pieces. 20.Rh3 Qe8 16...Bxg5 16...hxg5 17.hxg5+ Kg8 18.Rh8+ Kg7 18...Kxh8 19.Qh5+ Kg7 20.Qh7+ Kf8 21.Qh8# 19.Rh7+ Kg8 20.Qh5 and mate soon follows. 16...Rf8 17.Qh5 Kg7
Black refuses the g5 knight, but now gets mated 17...Nf6 18.Qxh6+ Kg8 19.Rh3 18.Ne6+! The only winning move, but pretty easy to find. fxe6 19.Qg6+ Kh8 20.Qh7# 17.hxg5 Nf8 17...Re6 18.Rxh6+ Rxh6 19.gxh6 Qf6 20.Qxd7 Bc6 21.Qf5 Qxh6
Black tries 17...Re6 and returns the piece. White is a pawn up with the safer king. The engine now recommends Qxf7, which wouldn't have been muy first thoguht because it does give Black a tempo. But after 22.Qxf7 cxd4 22...Rf8 23.Qc7 cxd4 24.Qe5+ Qg7 25.Qxg7+ Kxg7 26.exd4 is very easy, for instance after Rf4 27.Ke2 Rxd4 28.Rc1 23.Qf4 18.Rxh6+ Kg7 19.Qh5
19...cxd4? Losing immediately. But while Re6 is a stauncher defence it isn't sufficient to hold. 19...Re6 20.Kd2! Rg6 21.Rh1 Qxg5 21...Qe7 22.Rh7+ Nxh7 23.Qxh7+ Kf8 24.Bxg6 21...Rxg5 22.Rh7+ Nxh7 23.Qh6+! 22.Rxg6+ 20.Rh7+ Nxh7
21.Qh6+! It's quite easy to start analysing after the obvious recapture on h7, but by first preventing Kf8 White forces mate immediately. 21.Qh6+ Kg8 22.Bxh7+ Kh8 23.Bg6+ Kg8 24.Qh7+ Kf8 25.Qxf7# is the standard mating pattern. A very nice game by Esipenko. The main question is whether it was "reasonable" for Bacrot to fall in with his plans by accepting the sacrifice on h6. He trusted his calculation, but presumably missed the power of Ng5 or maybe missed the move altogether. My instinct would have been to look for an alternative to gxh6, and Nf6 doesn't "look too bad". But I must say that when I analysed the try Qf5 I initially thought it might be winning for White too and ended up lazily asking the engine to find a defence - Rg8-g7! If I'd gone through that thought process during a game (and of course this was just an online rapidplay game), then I might have been tempted to take on h6 myself so as to try to to outsmart him - or, as it turned out, in this case myself. 1–0
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Esipenko,A2701Bacrot,E26781–02021D37European Online CC PlayC1.1

Andrey Esipenko

Andrey Esipenko | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit

One of the most famous examples ever of refusing a sacrifice is this wonderful game from the 1953 Candidates Tournament in Zurich.

 
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1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 c5 3...d5 4.e3 Be7 5.b3 0-0 6.Bb2 b6 7.d4 Bb7 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.bxc4 c5 10.0-0 cxd4 11.exd4 Nc6 12.Qe2 Re8 13.Rfd1 Rc8 14.Rac1
A couple of years before Zurich, Keres had won a famous game against Mark Taimanov. Here it was discovered in analysis after that game that Nb4 was a good idea when 14...Qd6 14...Nb4 15.Bb1 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Rxc4 17.d5 exd5 18.a3 Nc6 19.Ba2 Nd4 20.Qd3 20.Qh3 Rxc3 20...Bc5!
This forced exchange sacrifice gives Black a powerful attack. 21.Bxc4 dxc4 22.Qxc4 Ng4 23.h3 Qh4 24.hxg4 Ne2+ 25.Nxe2 Qxf2+ 26.Kh2 Qh4# 15.Bb1 Qf4 16.d5 exd5 17.cxd5 Nb8 18.Rd4 Qd6 19.Rcd1 Bf8 20.Ne4 Nxe4 21.Rxe4 Rxe4 22.Qxe4 Qh6 23.Ng5 Bd6 24.h4 Nd7 25.Qf5 Nf6 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.Nxf7 Qc1 28.Qxh7+ Kf8 29.Nxd6 Qxd1+ 30.Kh2 Qxd5 31.Nxb7 Qe5+ 32.g3 Rc7 33.Qh8+ Kf7 34.h5 Rxb7 35.Qh7+ Ke6 36.Qxb7 Qxh5+ 37.Kg2 1-0 (37) Keres,P-Taimanov,M Moscow 1951 URS-ch [Speelman,Jonathan] 4.e3 Be7 5.b3 0-0 6.Bb2 b6 7.d4 cxd4 8.exd4 d5 9.Bd3 Nc6 10.0-0 Bb7 11.Rc1 Rc8 12.Re1 Nb4 13.Bf1 Necessary to kepe c4 defended. Ne4 14.a3 Nxc3 15.Rxc3 Nc6 16.Ne5 16.c5 is reasonable, but Ne5 was very tempting. 16...Nxe5 17.Rxe5 Bf6 18.Rh5 g6 19.Rch3
This is the famous position in which Smyslov had to decide whether to accept the rook. At the board, it would have been totally impossible to be confident that you'd analysed the consequences of capturing it accurately, but since refusing it is relatively easy to calculate and turns out to be safe then it can't have been that hard a decision. 19...dxc4! 19...gxh5 20.Qxh5 Re8 was analysed by David Bronstein in his famous book on the Candidates . It turns out that a4, preparing Ba3 to cut off the king's escape route, is good for White: 21.a4‼ Bronstein Qd6 21...dxc4 22.Qxh7+ Kf8 23.Ba3+ Re7 24.Rg3 Ke8 25.Rg8+ Kd7 26.Rxd8+ Rxd8 27.Bxc4 22.Qh6 22.c5? Qf4 22...Bg7 23.Qxh7+ Kf8 24.Rg3 Bf6 25.c5! bxc5 26.Qh6+ Ke7 27.dxc5 Qxc5 28.Qxf6+ Kd7 29.Qxf7+ Re7 30.Qf4
This is the main line if Black accepts the sacrifice on h5 and White finds a4. With the black king all over the place, White should win. 20.Rxh7?! The consequent move but losing. There was no good way to bail out, but Qg4 was the least bad option. 20.Qg4 c3 21.Bxc3 Qd6! with all his pieces working, Black easily avoids getting mated. 21...Rxc3 Bronstein 22.Rxc3 Qxd4 23.Qxd4 Bxd4 24.Rc7 gxh5 25.Rxb7 Rc8= 22.Bb4 Qxd4 23.Qxd4 Bxd4 24.Bxf8
and engines point out that the intermezzo Rc2 is even stronger than gxh5, though of course that should win too. 24.Rxh7 Rc1 24.Rd3 gxh5 25.Rxd4 Rc1 26.Rd3 Rxf1+ 27.Kxf1 Ba6 24...Rc2 25.Rxh7 Kxf8 26.Re3 Rc1 27.Rf3 Bxf3 28.gxf3 Rc2 20.bxc4 gxh5 21.Qxh5 21.Bd3 is definitely scarier for Black than Qxh5, but apparently also loses. Re8 22.Qxh5 Kf8 23.a4 Rc5 is more forcing than Qd6, which also apparently wins. 21...Be4! is winnng for Black. Fairly simply. It's not nice to have the open file in front of your king when attacked by the queen and rook, but it can be calculated without too much difficulty. Bd3 is the only sensible try, but after 22.Bd3 Bxd3 23.Rxd3 Bg7 24.Rg3 Qf6 White obviously doesn't have nearly enough. 20...c3 21.Qc1 threatening Qh6 Rh8+ and Qh7 mate Qxd4! 22.Qh6
22...Rfd8 Evacuating f8 in the nick of time before White can play Rh8+ and Qh7 mate. Black is now totally winning. 23.Bc1 Bg7 24.Qg5 Qf6 25.Qg4 c2 26.Be2 Rd4 27.f4
27...Rd1+! 28.Bxd1 Qd4+ And Keres resigned. A brilliant game by Smyslov who kept his nerve in the face of an attack which could easily have seemed terrifying at the board. 0–1
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Keres,P-Smyslov,V-0–11953E14Zuerich24

The aim of these Dvd's is to build a repertoire after 1.c4 and 2.g3 for White. The first DVD includes the systems 1...e5, the Dutch and Indian setups. The second DVD includes the systems with 1...c5, 1...c6 and 1...e6.

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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

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