The Traxler Counter Attack – play 5.Bxf7!

Boris Alterman writes: After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5

the Czech chess player and problemist Karel Traxler discovered a daring move. Black completely ignores the threats against f7 and simply plays 4…Bc5! This looks like a horrible blunder, but is there a point that we are underestimating behind this move?

In last week's lecture we looked at the dubious White plan to attempt to win the game at once with 5.Nxf7. Rather he should opt for the second obvious option: 5.Bxf7+.

In the above position Black plays 5...Ke7! This is much better then Kf8. Black has to free the f-file for the king’s rook.

A critical position has arisen. At first sight White is supposed to be fine. He is a pawn up, and Black’s king has lost the right to castle. Many would think that White should have a better position, and it’s not so clear what kind of compensation Black has.

However achieving the above mentioned costs some important time. Black’s pieces could easily be regrouped to launch a kingside attack. White has to lose a few tempi to bring his errant pieces Bf7 and Ng5 back home. Only then can he complete his development.

So White is facing a dilemma: how to stop h6 but at the same way prevent Black pieces from being activated.

GM Boris Alterman is 34, and lives in Israel. He was born in Kharkov, Ukraine, where he started playing chess at the age of 7. His career highlights include earning the IM title in 1991 and the GM title in 1992.He is the winner of the following Open and GM tournaments: Haifa 1993; Bad Homburg 1996; Rishon LeZion 1996; Beijing 1995 and 1997; Munchen 1992. His hobbies include computers and swimming, his favourite food is Chinese, he speaks fluent Russian, Hebrew and English.

Boris has worked for and against Garry Kasparov. In 1999 he assisted the world champion in his spectacular Microsoft match Kasparov vs The World, and was also part of the team that built up the web portal Kasparov Chess. In 2003, on the other hand, he was part of the Deep Junior team that gave Kasparov a run for his money in the New York match.

Boris Alterman will hold his lectures on Sundays at 21:00h Server time and a simultaneous exhibition on Mondays at 21:00h server time (in the "Simultaneous Exhibitions" room).

Here are the world-wide starting times for Alterman's lectures.
The simuls are at the same times one day later.