Inspired defence

by Jonathan Speelman
3/6/2022 – In the opening rounds of the Belgrade Grand Prix there were two splendid instances of defensive queen sacrifices. These remarkable efforts set Jon Speelman thinking about defence in general. He thus turned to one of his favourite books, The Middlegame by Max Euwe and Hans Kramer, and cherry-picked a couple of games from the chapters on Steinitz and Lasker. | Pictured: Emanuel Lasker / Collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame

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Defensive brilliancies

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

Max Euwe, Hans KramerIn the opening rounds of the Belgrade FIDE Grand Prix there were two splendid instances of defensive queen sacrifices. (I’m writing on Friday — there may even have been more).

The first in Grischuk v Andreikin was the subject of Meriijn Van Delft’s Game of the Week and led to a brilliant win, while a couple of days later, in Harikrishna v Giri, the sacrifice defused the position and led to a draw.

I’ve reprised both of these fairly briefly, and they set me thinking about defence in general. So I turned to one of my favourite books, The Middlegame by Max Euwe and Hans Kramer.

One of the chess books on a shelf above my bed when I was a kid, this double hander — in which I presume that Kramer did the heavy lifting and Euwe some checking before adding his imprimatur — was originally published in twelve volumes in Dutch. The English edition was published by G Bell and Sons Ltd in two volumes in 1964 and 1965: the first, Static Features, comprising the first five books, and the second, Dynamic and Subjective, features the remaining seven. The translation was by WH Cozens, a well-known chess author in his own right whose lovely collection The King Hunt I particularly like.

Defence appears quite early in the second volume. It’s a difficult topic, and they chose to highlight the defensive talents of two great players — Wilhlem Steinitz and Emanuel Lasker — before going into a more general chapter. Today we could certainly add Tigran Petrosian and Ulf Andersson. And, indeed, many current players, including Sergey Karjakin, Magnus Carlsen himself and Hikaru Nakamura, are brilliant at defence when it’s required.

Today I’m going to cherry-pick a couple of games each from the chapters on Steinitz and Lasker, and I may well return to the topic soon.

 
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1.e4       c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.a3 d6 8.f4 Qc7 9.Bd3 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Kh1 Re8 12.Qf3 Bd7 13.Rae1 Rac8 14.Qg3 Nh5 15.Qf3 g6 15...Nf6 16.g4 Nxd4 17.Bxd4 e5 18.fxe5 dxe5 19.Nd5 Nxd5 20.Qxf7+ Kh8 21.exd5 exd4 22.Qh5 16.f5 Ne5 17.Qh3 Qd8 18.fxe6 fxe6 19.Nxe6 Qa5 20.Nd5 Bd8 21.Bh6?
Running into a glorious counter. 21.b4 was best when Qa4 looks odd but defends e8 in the main line. 21...Qxa3 22.Bh6 Kh8 and apparently - this is very far form obvious to the human eye - it's equal. 22.Bh6 Ng7 23.Nxg7 Bxh3 24.Nxe8 Bxg2+ 25.Kxg2 Qxe8 26.Rf8+ Qxf8 27.Bxf8 Kxf8 is about equal 21...Qxe1‼ 21...Bxe6?? 22.Qxe6+! Rxe6 23.Rf8# 22.Rxe1 Bxe6 23.Qe3 Ng4 24.Qd2 24.Qd4 Nxh6 25.Bc4 was the best White can do. At least, he's activated the d3 bishop, but Black's material advantage should surely tell in the end. 24...Nxh6 25.Be2 Ng7! 26.Rf1 26.Qxh6 Bxd5 27.exd5 Rxc2 28.g4 Rcxe2 29.Rxe2 Rxe2 30.Qc1 and the queen can make a little trouble, but of course the pieces should win, e.g.: Ne8 31.Qc8 Bf6 32.Qxb7 Rxb2 33.Qxa6 Be5 26...Nf7 27.Nf6+ Bxf6 28.Rxf6 Rc5 29.h3 Nh5 30.Bxh5 Rxh5 31.Qf2 Re5 32.Qb6 Re7 33.Rf4 g5 34.Rf2 Rxe4 35.b3 Bd5
The bishop can settle on c6 where it is defended and holds the whole queenside, and then Black will start to attack, so Grischuk resigned. A brillant game by Andreikin.
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Grischuk,A2764Andreikin,D27240–12022B46FIDE Grand Prix 2 Pool A1.1
Harikrishna,P2719Giri,A2772½–½2022C80FIDE Grand Prix 2 Pool B3.2
Chigorin/Ponce-Steinitz/Gavilan-0–11889C52Havana consultation3
Wilhelm Steinitz-Andres Clemente Vazquez-1–01888C11Havana2
Winawer,S-Lasker,E-0–11896C67Nuremberg14
Lasker,E-Janowski,D-1–01910D32World Championship 11th5

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Master Class Vol.5: Emanuel Lasker

The name Emanuel Lasker will always be linked with his incredible 27 years reign on the throne of world chess. In 1894, at the age of 25, he had already won the world title from Wilhelm Steinitz and his record number of years on the throne did not end till 1921 when Lasker had to accept the superiority of Jose Raul Capablanca. But not only had the only German world champion so far seen off all challengers for many years, he had also won the greatest tournaments of his age, sometimes with an enormous lead. The fascinating question is, how did he manage that?


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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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