Jon Speelman: A few patterns

by Jonathan Speelman
3/4/2025 – In his latest column, GM Jon Speelman explores the fascinating Novotny theme in chess problems, sharing two of his own recent compositions. With the aid of modern software, he crafted problems that highlight this striking interference motif. He also delves into the theme's history, tracing its origins to Antonin Novotny (pictured) and Henry Turton, and recalls brilliant missed Novotnys in practical play.

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A beautiful clean style

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

Firstly, I must add my voice to those mourning Boris Spassky. I didn't know him very well, but he was always very pleasant both at the board and analysing afterwards, and we played five games - one win for him and four draws.

A natural player in the line of Capablanca, Karpov and later Anand, Spassky had a beautiful clean style which somehow led to his pieces being on excellent squares but underlaid by considerable aggression when he got to attack.

I'm not going to annotate a game here in detail, but I am recycling one with an astounding move in which he sacrificed a whole knight for just a pawn against Yuri Averbakh to change the course of the battle - and also recycling the note to that move. One of the most amazing moves of all time, it showed great fighting spirit and his extreme positional sensibility, whereby he understood that proceeding normally would almost certainly have led to him being squashed and therefore punted the alternative.

Averbakh, Y. v. Spassky, B. - Leningrad (1956)

In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.

Sound proto-problems

I'm starting this time with a couple of problems which I composed last week to illustrate somewhat unusual aspects of a geometrical theme. I don't make any great claims for them - when you see what real problem composers can do, they are very slight - but they do illustrate how easy it is today with the help of modern software to create proto-problems which are at least sound.

As a codger, I prefer baths to showers and, on both Thursday and Friday, I had an idea in the bath. After getting out and turning on ChessBase and an engine, it didn't take more than half an hour to get a sound version of each - and, of course, for short direct mates you don't even need special software, just a normal engine is fine.

Mate in 3
Mate in 3

Both feature Novotnys, a geometrical theme whereby a piece is placed on the intersection of two lines in order to force one of two defensive pieces to interfere with the other. You can find the full solutions in the pgn file.

The first is unusual in that both pieces interfered with our working on diagonals - the most common instance involves a rook and bishop. And the key is 1.Ne4!, placing the knight on the intersection of a8-h1 and f5-b1. Meanwhile, in the second, two Novotnys in a row are necessary: 1.Nb7! Rcb7 2.Nd5!.

I meet chess players about once a month for lunch in central London, and took these two problems along. With some excellent googling, Matt Read, who is inter alia the manager of the Chess and Bridge shop on Baker Street, found a triple Novotny: a truly magnificent problem.

Trautner, R. - Schach Report (1996)
Mate in 4

Given that it is a triple Novotny, you might try to solve this.

The Novotny is named after the Czech composer and lawyer Antonin Novotny (1827-71), who used it in a problem in 1854, though in fact it had been premiered three years earlier by Englishman Henry Turton (1832-81).

However, the problem was thought to be "clumsy" so didn't receive the attention it should have done. It took a little work to track it down, which I eventually did at The Problemist.

Novotny, A. - Leipziger Illustrierte Zeitun (1854)
Mate in 3
Turton, H. - Illustrated London News (1851)
Mate in 3

While the Novotny tends to be a problem theme, it also appears in studies, and rarely but beautifully over the board. I was actually launched on this column by an example given recently on another site where, as often happens, a Novotny was missed.

Sharma, I. v. Turzo, A. - SixDays Budapest (2025)
White to play

If you look at the Wikipedia article on Novotnys it has a number of examples (including mention of Henry Turton's invention but not the actual problem). Another famous instance, though also missed at the time, was by the Swedish grandmaster Emanuel Berg.

Berg, E. v. Zezulkin, J. - Rowy Mainz (2000)
White to play

I was first introduced to Novotnys through studies, and one of the greatest of them - which I've definitely given here before - was by the great late Pal Benko. Given the theme, it perhaps looks rather obvious, but in fact first White has to manoeuvre first before playing the deadly Novotny.

Benko, P. (1977)
White to play and win
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1.Ne4 Qxe4 1...Bxe4 2.Rh1+ Bxh1 3.Rb1# 2.Rb1+ Qxb1 3.Rh1#
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Speelman,J--2025Novotny
Speelman,J--1–02025Double Novotny
Trautner,R-Mate in 4-1996Schach Report
Novotny,A-Leipziger Illustrierte Zeitun-1854Mate in 3
Turton,H--1851Mate in 3 Illustated London News
Sharma,I2230Turzo,A22480–12025B67SixDays Budapest Jan IM-C2.4
Berg,E-Zezulkin,J-1–02000Rowy2
Benko,P--1–019771.p tm05
Averbakh,Y-Spassky,B-½–½1956E74URS-ch23 Final playoff-1pl3

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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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Fritzpa Fritzpa 3/5/2025 11:01
Hi Frits,

Many thanks for your comment (I wasn't able to reply yesterday because the system seemed to he down).

Yes I had suspected that I had the wrong nomenclature and v good to have it corrected.

Jon
Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 3/4/2025 08:37
Also see a good definition by GM Luc Winants at https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/novotnyplachutta.html.
Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 3/4/2025 09:55
Your first problem isn't a novotny but a plachutta. In a novotny, a piece is sacrificed to be taken by one of two pieces which block eachother. In a plachutta the taking piece burdens itself with the task of another piece, getting overloaded. A famous example from practical play is Tarrasch vs. Marotti and allies, Naples 1914.
There is a wikipedia page on plachuttas, from which the first problem might ring a bell...
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