Typical double attack scenarios in chess

Vasily Smyslov, a Russian Grandmaster and former World Chess Champion (from 1957 to 1958) used to say that in chess, we have four strong weapons. These are:

• The check,
• The double attack,
• The pin,
• The unprotected pieces.

I hope that the first weapon (the check) is a pretty straightforward idea. You should attack the King in order to checkmate him.

In many cases, the King or other pieces can run away from a threat. For example, we attack a Bishop and he moves away. We attack him once again and he escapes the threat one more time! Therefore, we need a stronger attack. This stronger technique is the double attack.

Double attack and its scenarios

When we attack two of our opponent’s pieces with one our piece, we call it a double attack. We have three possible scenarios.

Scenario 1
In the above diagram, we can see that White’s Queen is attacking both the Black’s Knights. Black can save only one of the Knights, but not both at the same time. The Black’s pieces are unprotected.

Suggestion: you may also like to learn about the tactical motif “Knight Fork”. 

Scenario 2

In the above diagram, Black’s Queen from the b6-square is threatening the White’s King on g1 and the White’s Bishop on b2. Please note that this scenario is a little different from the previous one because we are threatening the King. The attack on the King is a very powerful and forcing method.

In scenario 1, Black can choose which of the two Knights he would like to keep on the board. Probably he will choose to save the Knight that is closer to his King. In scenario 2, White should protect his King and, after that, Black can capture the Bishop.

Scenario 3

Scenario 3 is a combination of the first and second scenario. Here, we can see the idea. White’s Queen is threatening to checkmate on h7 and the unprotected Rook on a8. Black is forced to protect the h7 square, so he will lose the Rook on a8.

Note: usually it’s the Queen that performs the attack in this third scenario.

These are the three main scenarios of the double attack. If we are lucky, these may appear in our games and we can find them easily.  In most cases, however, the chess game is little more complicated. Perhaps 1-2 forcing moves will happen and then we should see the double attack. Or a double attack will be combined with another tactical motif.

Practical example 1

White to play

In the first practical example, we can spot the unprotected Rook on e7. If we attack this Rook with the move Knight to f5, then it will escape, for he can move somewhere else. As the great American player used to say, “Chess is time”. By this, he meant that we may have a plan but the opponent has his own plan, too.

Here is a practical tip for you. If you would like to win some time, then you should attack the King! So here White plays the best move – Queen to f6. This is a double attack on the King and the e7-Rook. Black moves his Queen to g7, what else does he have?

So we can see the updated position in the diagram below. It is White’s turn. Will White capture the rook as he had planned to one move ago?
Of course not! Do you remember the anti-blunder technique? Before making a move, we should ask ourselves: “What is my opponent’s threat?” With his last move, Black is threatening checkmate on g2. This happens accidentally. Black hasn’t planned it ahead, as he was forced to cover his King.

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When we play a chess game, and especially a blitz game, we have this passion – to make quick moves – and if we find a good idea, we feel great and are impatient to perform it as soon as possible.

Now we are in a relaxed mood because our clock is not ticking, so let’s think about this position once again. White would like to capture the rook on e7 but cannot do so right now. White should win time. How can we win time? Of course, this can happen by giving a check.

Therefore, White plays the best move, Queen to h4. Black is forced, once again, to cover his King, and then White captures the Rook on e7.

<<TO BE CONTINUED>>

P.S. Was this article useful for you? If you have some chess friends who are beginners, you may share this information with them – it can be very helpful for them. 

Unknown stories about ‘Viktor the Terrible!’ (Part-2)

This is the second part of the article about the four-time USSR chess champion, Viktor Korchnoi! If you missed the first part of this interesting feature, you can read it here.

Viktor vs King’s Indian Defense

Wohl Aleksandar and Viktor Korchnoi

In the Gibraltar Masters (2011, Round 9), Viktor played White against Wohl Aleksandar. Viktor won a beautiful game and said to his opponent: “No one in the world can play the King’s Indian Defense successfully against me.” Wohl’s reply was “Ok, thank you for the game.”

Subsequently, he came over to Wohl again, smiled and said, in English this time: “I thought that you spoke German. Do you speak German?” Wohl’s reply, also in English, was “Yes, I speak German.” Then Viktor continued his train of thought: “No one in the world can play the King’s Indian Defense successfully against me. I would just like to be sure that you understand me.  ”

Read to give a lesson

Viktor was very happy to ‘give a lesson’, especially to younger players. He was very happy if he managed to beat them on the board or teach them some manners off it.

For instance, one day a young opponent came for a game after a 10-minute delay. He sat down, offered Viktor his hand and played his first move. Viktor, in a very serious tone, told him: “You should apologize for your actions. It is not polite to be late for a game. Never do that again.”

Suggestion: you might not want to miss “The greatest chess game everyone MUST know”. 

His character

Korchnoi and Kasparov

Korchnoi was a good person with a sense of humor, but sometimes he was caustic and made rude remarks. Yet, if we take a closer look at his life, we can understand that he endured difficult times. Similarly, we can recognize his great passion for the chess game. This passion sometimes creates strange behavior, especially when you lose a game.

If he lost a game

At the end of 2003, 18-year-old David Navara was facing Korchnoi for the first time. He sacrificed a pawn on h6 to get a strong attack and finally won the game. Of course, Korchnoi was upset and left the hall.

When David started to show variations to the fans, Viktor returned and suggested an improvement. David noticed that the position was unclear. In response, the famous Grandmaster replied: “Only to you!”

He died a few months ago, on 6 June 2016, and leaves behind a grieving chess community. This was Viktor the Terrible, a truly great chess player, a legend. Below, you can see some of his best combinations.

Korchnoi – Donner

White to play

Korchnoi – Hernandez

White to play

Nijboer – Korchnoi

Black to play

  

Korchnoi – Ye

White to play

After calculating all possible variations, you can check the complete games here.

What did people say about Viktor on social media?

Vishy Anand: The chess world loses its greatest fighter. R.I.P. Viktor Korchnoi. Every time I had a rook ending, I would look at Viktor following the game and think, “What would Viktor say?”

 Follow

Viswanathan Anand 

✔@vishy64theking

Miss Viktor. Personally I will miss his characteristic laughter & his love for chess.#Viktor Korchnoi

9:15 PM - 6 Jun 2016

 
•  6767 Retweets
 
•  101101 likes

Nigel Short:

 Follow

Nigel Short @nigelshortchess

Farewell Victor Lvovich - a cantankerous, old git, but a true#chess great nevertheless. Thanks for the many battles we had over 40 years.

9:46 PM - 6 Jun 2016

 
•  4343 Retweets
 
•  8484 likes

If you live in Germany, we may meet soon.  I plan to visit Bavaria, if you live nearby, feel free to send me an e-mail to gm.smirnov2014@gmail.com

For any other questions, please, use the support e-mail: support@chess-teacher.com

P.S. Brace yourselves, something cool and amazing is on the way – stay tuned! 

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Unknown stories about ‘Viktor the Terrible!’

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Viktor Korchnoi: if he won a game, he was very polite with you and would analyze it happily. If he lost, then … he would pull back his chair with venom and leave the room very angrily!

He was a four-time USSR chess champion, 10 times candidate for the World Championship and played in two World Championship matches. He was in the top 100 best players at the age of 75 and beat Fabiano Caruana at 79!

Suggestion: you may like to know how I defeated Fabiano Caruana in a blitz game here!

Even a stroke in 2012 did not prevent him from returning to competitive chess. The above achievements made him one of the strongest chess players in the world. Unfortunately, he never won the World title because he lost to Anatoly Karpov each time.

Korchnoi, born in 1931 in Leningrad, USSR, was nicknamed “Viktor the Terrible” for his legendary fighting spirit. There are hundreds of books and thousands of articles devoted to this extraordinary person, the legendary Grandmaster Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi, but let’s make a quick summary here.

Early life

He learned to play chess from his father at the age of five. He had the ability to defend with vigor and determination, even in the most difficult positions, and was always ready to unleash a deadly counter-attack.

J’adoube!

He was a really smart guy. Everybody knows that if you touch a piece, then you are forced to move it. From time to time, this happens even to the best players, like Kasparov (in his game against Judit Polgar in 1994) and Nakamura in 2016. So this is what happened to Viktor.

During a game, he grabbed his queen in order to place it somewhere. Suddenly, he realized that this move was a big mistake. What could he do? He already had the queen in his hand …

Instinctively, smart Viktor plunged it into his tea and started to stir it! He justified his action by claiming that he had mistaken the queen for his spoon, and so he was spared a fatal mistake. 

Defection

In 1974, the USSR started a campaign to promote Karpov over Korchnoi. The central authorities prevented him from playing international tournaments or even playing in Estonia which was part of the Soviet Union at that time.

Suggestion: you may like to learn about “Karpov’s Prophylaxis” here.

Tigran Petrosian made a public statement in the press stating that his generation, including Korchnoi, which been defeated by Fischer could no longer hope to compete successfully against him. So he agreed with the Soviet Federation, wishing to develop younger players like Karpov.

In 1976, the USSR authorities allowed Korchnoi to play in a tough 16-player round-robin tournament, IBM Amsterdam, probably in order to prove that he was not so strong any longer.

Korchnoi scored 9.5/15 points and shared first place with Britain’s Tony Miles. At the end of the tournament, he asked Miles to spell ‘political asylum’ for him. But he would have to leave his wife and son behind in the USSR.

So, in 1976, he defected from the Soviet Union and took up residence in Switzerland, becoming a Swiss citizen, and continued to be active in chess. Immediately after his defection, he became a public villain in the USSR. The newspapers and TV accused him of a deadly sin – betrayal of the Motherland.

Best combinations

Now let’s take a look at some of the best combinations from Korchnoi! 

Nataf – Korchnoi

Black to play

Korchnoi – Xie

White to play

Korchnoi – Kozul

White to play

Korchnoi – Shaked

White to play

After calculating all possible variations for each puzzle, you can find all the games here.

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Best game from the Baku Chess Olympiad

After a dramatic last round, the United States of America won their first Olympic gold medal since 1976. The Ukrainian team played a fantastic tournament and managed to beat Slovenia in the last round, but this was only good enough for the silver. Both teams scored 20 points but the USΑ had the better tie-break criteria. The Russian team managed to win bronze only, despite the fact that they were the favourites for gold.

The 42^nd Chess Olympiad started in Baku on 2 September and has been the biggest sporting event ever held in Azerbaijan. This competition brought together 181 teams in the Open section and 142 teams in the Women’s section, representing a total of 175 countries. This is a record figure in the history of all Olympiads.

Picture by Antreas Kontokanis

The semi-professional Greek team had a great Olympiad and, alongside the winners – the USA, remained the only other undefeated team in the tournament, The Greeks’ “secret” strategy was to draw with White and push hard with Black. Of course, this is half joking and half true. 

(photo from the official tournament site)

Suggestion: with the World Championship between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin coming up, you may like to see their past games and take a look at some interesting trivia here.

In the Women’s section, China won the gold medal with 20 points. First place was decided in the last round, where China faced Russia. The Chinese team won that match and the Olympiad. The Polish ladies won silver on a tie-break over the Ukraine. Both teams scored 17 points but Poland finished second and the Ukraine third.

(photo from the official site of the tournament)

In this picture, we can see GM Baadur Jobava from Georgia, who achieved a performance of 2926. He stands in the middle andwon gold in the first board. On the left is GM Leinier Dominguez from Cuba, who won the silver (performance of 2839), and on the right is GM Fabiano Caruana, representing USA, who won the bronze metal (performance of 2838).

These three played in the first board but GM Andrei Volokitin, from Ukraine, achieved the best overall performance in the Olympiad with an outstanding 2992 (!) in the fifth board.

The best game of the Olympiad took place in the 8^th round between Jobava and Ponomariov. White happily sacrifices his knight on the f5 square in order to capture the bishop on e7. Black accepts the temporary sacrifice because, after the moves15.Nf5 exf5 16.Rxe7 Be6, we reach the position seen below.

White to play

It seems that the rook is trapped on e7 and Black can threaten it in different ways, like Kf8, Qd8 or Nc6. So Black can be happy with this position.

What do you think? Is the rook on e7 trapped or does White have a specific tactical resource here? Can you work out the next move for White?

After calculating all possible variations, you may check the whole game here.

Thus, the 42^nd Chess Olympiad is complete. You may like to know about future Olympiads. Well, the 2018 Chess Olympiad will be held in Batumi, Georgia, and the 2020 Chess Olympiad will be held in the Russian city of Khanty-Mansiysk.

P.S. What was your favourite part of the Baku Chess Olympiad? Who is your favourite player or team?  Feel free to comment and discuss below.

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