1 Bxh7+ Kxh7 2 Ng5+ Kg6
If 2 ... Kg8 3 Qh5 Re8, White should keep his eyes well open and stop himself from charging in with 4 Qxf7+?, since then Black has an adequate defence in 4 ... Kh8 5 Qh5+ Kg8 6 Qh7+ Kf8 7 Qh8+ Ng8 8 Nh7+ Kf7. The finesse lies in not taking the pawn on f7 but playing 4 Qh7+! Kf8 5 Qh8+ Ng8 6 Nh7+ Ke7 7 Bg5+ f6 8 Qxg7#!
3 Qg4! f5 4 Qg3 Qe8 5 h4!
Only now does White play this move and force ... Rh8; after the earlier 3 h4 Rh8 4 Qg4 f5 5 Qg3, Black could have countered with 5 ... Qg8.
5 ... Rh8 6 Nxe6+ Kf7 7 Qxg7+ Kxe6 8 Qf6+ Kd7 9 Qd6#
This is a characteristic outcome of the continuation ... Kg6; with the king on g6, the pawn on h4 is an assistance to White, as it usually is when Black adopts this defence.
In the next case White has no pawn on e5, but the presence of his rook on the open e-file ensures success against ... Kg8. In the variation with ... Kg6 White is made to work for victory.
1 Bxh7+ Kxh7 2 Ng5+ Kg6 3 Qg4 f5
If 3 ... Kf6, then 4 Qh4 Rh8 5 Qf4+, etc is strongest.
JN: Here 4 ... Kg6 is much stronger, when White has nothing better than to repeat moves. Thus White should instead meet 3 ... Kf6 by 4 Ne4+ Ke7 5 Qxg7 dxe4 (the only chance) 6 Bg5+ Ke8 7 Bxd8 Nxd8 8 Rxe4 with a winning position
4 Qg3 f4
4 ... Kf6 is answered by 5 Nxe6.
5 Bxf4 Kf5 6 h3!
White must be careful; on 6 Qd3+ Black has 6 ... Kf6.
6 ... Qe8
There is no future in 6 ... e5 because of 7 dxe5.
7 Nh7 Qh5 8 Qd3+ Kxf4 9 g3#
1 Bxh7+ Kxh7 2 Ng5+ Kg6
In this instance White has no dark-squared bishop, which is what usually rules out the continuation 2 ... Kh6 but even so White can win after 2 ... Kh6 by 3 Qg4, threatening an immediate Qh4+. However ... Kg8 is also a critical continuation, owing to the protection which Black’s queen gives to the focal-point f7. Nevertheless, after 2 ... Kg8 3 Qh5 Re8 4 Ndf3 Nd8 5 Nh4 Nd7 6 Qh7+ Kf8 7 Rae1 White’s attack is too strong and Black cannot extract his king, for example 7 ... Ke7 8 Ng6+ fxg6 9 Qxg7+ Nf7 10 Nxf7 Qb6 11 Nd6+ Kd8 12 Nxe8 Kxe8 13 Re3, etc.
3 Qg4 f5 4 Qh4
The absence of Black’s queen from d8 makes this move possible. Black is now obliged to sacrifice in return, since otherwise White will decide the issue with 5 Qh7+ and an eventual mate.
4 ... Nxe5 5 dxe5 Qxe5 6 Ndf3 Qc7 7 Rae1 and White wins.
This position differs fundamentally from those considered so far and touches on some new aspects of the sacrificial combination.
1 Bxh7+ Kxh7 2 Ng5+ Kg6
If 2 ... Kh6, both 3 Nxf7+ and 3 Qg4 Nf5 4 Nce4 lead to victory. Instead of the dark-squared bishop White has the knight on c3 as an active supporting piece, which proves its value in numerous variations. Consider, for example, 2 ... Kg8 3 Qh5 Qd3, where the fact that White has the move 4 Nce4 is decisive.
3 Qg4 f5 4 exf6
4 Qg3 is not so strong in this position.
4 ... Kxf6
An obviously important point here and in similar positions is that Black loses his queen after 4 ... gxf6 5 Nxe6+, etc.
5 Nce4+ Ke5 6 f4+ Kd5 7 Qd1+ Kc6 8 Rc1+ Kb5 9 Rc5+ mating quickly.
The variation with ... Kh6 is critical
This continuation is usually difficult for the attacker if he does not have a second bishop and has his h-pawn at h4, and is consequently without the possibility of Qg4 and Qh4+.
Here is an example:
1 Bxh7+ Kxh7 2 Ng5+ Kh6
Against either of the other continuations White wins easily, but against the text move he has to work hard; victory cannot be forced here, though he has a promising attack.
3 f4!
This is probably White’s strongest move. After 3 Qd2 Qe7! White can re-establish material equality by 4 Nxe6+ and 5 Nxf8, but Black is then the better placed.
3 ... Ne7 4 h5 g6 5 hxg6 Nxg6 6 Qg4 Kg7 7 f5! exf5 8 Rxf5
White’s threats include 9 Rxf7+ and 9 e6, as well as 9 Qh5, so he should win. If 8 ... Bc8, then 9 Qh5 is decisive.
Declining the sacrifice
One of the necessary conditions for the success of the classic bishop sacrifice, as of any sacrifice at all, is the opponent’s inability to obtain an advantage by rejecting the sacrifice altogether. The attacker must therefore consider what will happen if his opponent plays ... Kh8 and does not take the bishop. The following diagram shows an example of this.
1 Bxh7+?
Instead of trying to sacrifice his bishop (which is incorrect in this position, since Black can successfully decline it) White should have played 1 Be2 with the intention of making use of his pair of bishops and centralizing his knight by Nd4.
1 ... Kh8! 2 Ng5
The bishop has nowhere to retreat to, while if 2 Qe2, then 2 ... Bxf3 3 Qxf3 Kxh7, i.e. Black accepts the sacrifice as soon as he has eliminated White’s knight, for without that White’s attack is worth nothing.
2 ... Qxd1 3 Rfxd1 g6!
White now has no satisfactory defence against the threat of ... Kg7 and ... Rh8, and this gives Black the better prospects.
A practical criterion for the sacrifice
We shall now attempt to establish a practical rule for positions of the type given earlier, a means by which players can orientate themselves quickly and fairly accurately. Positions similar to those here, i.e. with a rook on h1 and pawn on h4, will be left aside for the time being and will be dealt with in chapter 7. It should also be remarked that in the positions earlier the basic condition that the defender should not be able to reject the sacrifice unscathed was fulfilled. It should further be added that the arrangement of Black’s pieces in those positions did not depart greatly from the normal, while White, in addition to the essential light-squared bishop, the queen, and the knight on f3, had at his disposal a number of other supporting pieces to sustain his attack.
Listed in categories, these were:
Pawn at e5 and bishop at c1 see example, example and example;
Pawn at e5 and bishop at f4 see example;
Pawn at e5 and knight at d2 see example;
Pawn at e5 and knight at c3 see example;
Pawns at e5 and h4 see example;
Rook at e1 and bishop at f4 see example; and
Rook at e1 and bishop at c1 see example.
As can be seen, the principal supporting pieces are the pawn at e5 and the bishop on the diagonal c1-f4, followed by the knight on d2 or c3 and the rook on the open e-file. There may be a few other such supporting pieces (e.g. a rook on f1, if the f-file is open) which have not been provided with examples, but the reader will already have seen the basic idea – as a rule at least two active supporting pieces are necessary, if the classic bishop sacrifice is to bring the attacker success.
This is a simple practical criterion and should help the player to get his approximate bearings. To make this survey of the sacrifice and the structure of its necessary conditions as clear as possible, White has been made the attacker in all the examples; if Black carries out a sacrificial attack on h2, naturally all that has been said applies analogously.
To provide further material on the classic bishop sacrifice three master games will now be examined. The first belongs to the post-war era and provides an example where the sacrifice is quite correct. In the second the young Capablanca sacrifices on h7, but the analysis shows the existence of a loophole in the variation with ... Kg6 which his opponent failed to notice. In the third, Colle sacrifices and wins both the game and the Brilliancy Prize, even though in fact two of the variations are unsound!
Kottnauer - Kotov
Match, Prague vs Moscow, Moscow 1946
Queen’s Gambit Declined, Semi-Slav Defence
1 c4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 c6 4 Nf3 Nf6 5 e3 Nbd7 6 Bd3 dxc4 7 Bxc4 b5 8 Bd3 a6 9 e4 c5 10 e5 cxd4 11 Nxb5 axb5
Nowadays 11 ... Nxe5 is more commonly played and analysed. 11 ... Ng4 is not so good because of 12 Nbxd4 Ngxe5 13 Be4 when White has the advantage.
12 exf6 Qb6 13 fxg7
The incisive quality of this va
riation is rapidly lost if White continues 13 0-0 gxf6 14 Be4 Bb7 15 Bxb7 Qxb7 16 Nxd4 Rg8 17 Qf3. Black can then simplify the position and reach an ending by 17 ... Qxf3 18 Nxf3 Rg4! in which the chances are approximately even.
13 ... Bxg7 14 0-0 0-0 15 Qe2 Nc5?
According to modern analysis the classic bishop sacrifice is correct at this point and therefore 15 ... Nc5? should be censured; instead, the correct continuation is 15 ... Bb7 16 Bxb5 (the sacrifice at 16 Bxh7+ does not work here because of the defence provided by ... Nf6 in the 16 ... Kxh7 17 Ng5+ Kg8 variation) 16 ... Bxf3 17 gxf3 Nc5 and if 18 a4 or 18 Bc4, then 18 ... e5 with good positional compensation for the pawn.
16 Bxh7+!
Here is an example of the classic bishop sacrifice on h7 in a position which differs from those examined hitherto. First of all, a bishop, and not a pawn, is on g7, while Black’s queen is on b6 and not on d8. Let us now look at the conditions for success in each of the variations. Clearly, ... Kh8 does not come into consideration at all; nor does moving the king to h6; but the variation with ... Kg8 gives rise to a few doubts, since the bishop’s presence on g7 prevents the well-known harrying of the king by Qh8+. We shall see later on how really critical this variation is and that White’s success hangs on a thread. The ... Kg6 variation presents an even harder prospect, for White has only one of the supporting pieces mentioned above (bishop at c1) at his disposal and still needs an extra tempo to make up the necessary pair with Re1. Furthermore, Black’s queen is not imperilled on b6 by the battery of queen on g4 and knight on g5, as is the case when it is on d8; moreover, Black’s considerable strength in the centre and on the queenside opens up the possibility of defending by returning the material and exploiting the positional compensation obtained for it. According to our scheme, then, the continuation ... Kg6 represents a danger to White, and we should have to doubt the success of the attack if it were not for one more factor which helps White: the fact that a bishop, and not a pawn, stands at g7 means that an attack on that square entails the loss of a piece and not of a pawn. While the bishop on g7 helps Black in the ... Kg8 variation, with ... Kg6 it acts as a drawback which compensates for the deficiencies in White’s position already referred to. These points will be best illuminated by further analysis.
16 ... Kxh7 17 Ng5+ Kg6
Let us now consider the alternative continuation, 17 ... Kg8. After 18 Qh5 Rd8 19 Qxf7+ Kh8 all the commentators (including the author in his Modem Opening Theory) have given a win for White by 20 f4 Qb7 21 Rf3?. However, there is a flaw in this in that Black can embark upon 21 ... Qxf7 22 Nxf7+ Kg8 23 Nxd8, obtaining excellent compensation for the exchange, e.g. 23 ... Bd7 24 b4 Na4 25 Nb7 Bc6 26 Nc5 (or 26 Na5) 26 ... Bxf3 27 gxf3 d3 28 Rb1 Nc3 and Black wins the c1-bishop at the very least. This scotches the idea of 21 Rf3?; a better move, therefore, is 21 Qg6, though after 21 ... Kg8 22 Rf3 Qe7 23 Rh3 Kf8 (otherwise 24 Rh8+!) White only has a draw by 24 Nh7+ Kg8 25 Ng5, etc. If he plays for a material advantage with 24 Rh8+? Bxh8 25 Nh7+ Qxh7 26 Qxh7, then 26 ... Bg7 brings his attack to a standstill, after which Black’s threats make themselves felt.
These variations, however, do not comprise a full coverage of 17 ... Kg8 18 Qh5 Rd8 19 Qxf7+ Kh8; instead of 20 f4 White has a better move, i.e. 20 Bf4!. Here is an analysis:
1) 20 ... Nd7 21 Nxe6 wins.
2) 20 ... Nd3 21 Qg6! picks up the knight.
3) 20 ... Qb7 fails against 21 Bc7.
4) 20 ... e5 21 Bxe5 Qh6 22 Qe7! Be6 23 Bxg7+ Qxg7 24 Qxc5 winning.
5) 20 ... Ra7 21 Qg6 Kg8 22 Be5 Qb7 (the queen must defend the bishop on g7, since otherwise White plays 23 Qh7+ followed by 23 ... Kf8 24 Bxg7+ and Qh8+) 23 Rac1 Na6 24 Rxc8! Qxc8 (or 24 ... Rxc8 25 Bd6! and there is no defence against 26 Qh7#) 25 Qh7+ Kf8 26 Bxg7+ Rxg7 27 Qh8+ Rg8 28 Qf6+ and 28 ... Ke8 29 Qf7#.
As can be seen, a considerable analytical effort was needed to overcome a defence built round the fianchetto, and more will be said about this in a separate chapter.
18 Qg4 f5 19 Qg3
At a critical stage of the game. It is now evident that the position of his bishop at g7 is an embarrassment to Black, since there is an immediate threat of 20 Nxe6+ with a double attack on g7 and f8.
In the actual game Black played 19 ... Kf6, but that move, like 19 ... Bf6, does not cause White as much difficulty as 19 ... Rf7!, as the following variations show:
1) 19 ... Bf6 20 Nxe6+ Kf7 21 Nxf8 Kxf8 22 Qg6 Ne4! (Black’s strongest defence; White cannot now play 23 f3 because of 23 ... d3+ 24 Kh1 d2 and Black has at least equal chances) 23 Bh6+ Ke7 24 f3 d3+ 25 Kh1 Nf2+ 26 Rxf2 Qxf2 27 Qh7+ Ke6 28 Qg8+ Ke5 29 Qe8+ Kd4 30 Qc6, with advantage to White.
JN: 27 ... Kd6 is a much better defence. After 28 Bf8+ Ke6 29 Qg8+ Ke5 White is deprived of the check on c8 and so the position remains unclear. However, in the bracket “Black has at least equal chances” is a considerable exaggeration. After 25 fxe4 dxc1Q 26 Raxc1 White has a material advantage and a strong attack – indeed this line seems clearer than 23 Bh6+.
2) 19 ... Rf7! (this move was suggested by Kovaliev, who considered that it saved Black’s game, but his analysis did not take into account the following important intermediate move) 20 b4! and now:
2a) 20 ... Nd7 21 Nxe6+ Kh7 (or 21 ... Kf6 22 Nc7! and White wins) 22 Re1 Nf6 23 Ng5+ Kg8 24 Nxf7 Kxf7 25 Re7+ Kxe7 26 Qxg7+ Ke6 27 Bg5 and White’s attack cannot be withstood.
2b) 20 ... Na4 21 h4! e5 22 h5+ Kf6 23 Re1 Re7 24 Bf4 exf4 25 Nh7+ Kf7 26 Rxe7+ Kxe7 27 Qxg7+. White’s attack is extremely strong and the advance of his h-pawn must be decisive. This analysis does not exhaust the position entirely but it does illustrate White’s excellent chances.
19 ... Kf6 20 Bf4!
Keres had already analysed 16 Bxh7+ and its consequences before this game took place. At this point he gave the continuation 20 Qh4? on which Black plays 20 ... Rh8 and White gets no more than perpetual check. Kotov knew of this analysis, which explains why he went in for 15 ... Nc5?. Now Kottnauer shows that White has a stronger move than 20 Qh4? and in doing so demonstrates that not even the analysis of great masters is always reliable.
20 ... Ke7
If 20 ... Nd7 White wins at once by 21 Nxe6 Qxe6 22 Rae1 Qd5 23 Qg5+ Kf7 24 Re7+.
21 Rac1 Ra7
If 21 ... b4, which rules out an attack by 22 b4, White plays 22 Nh7 Rf7 23 Qg6 with the decisive threat of 24 Ng5.
JN: Somewhat more convincing is 22 Bc7! Qc6 (forced, as the queen must defend both c5 and d6) 23 Nxe6! Bxe6 24 Qxg7+ Ke8 25 Qe5 with an easy win. The move 21 ... Ra7 is designed partly to prevent Bc7.
22 Rfe1 Bd7
If 22 ... Bf6 White wins by 23 Nh7 Rf7 (or 23 ... Ne4 24 Rxe4) 24 Nxf6 Rxf6 25 b4 etc.
23 b4 Na6 24 Nxe6 Bxe6 25 Qxg7+ Rf7 26 Bg5+ Kd7 27 Qh8 Qb8 28 Qxd4+ 1-0
Capablanca - Molina Carranza
Buenos Aires, 1911
Queen’s Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defence
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Nbd7 5 e3 c6 6 Nf3 Be7 7 cxd5 Nxd5 8 Bxe7 Nxe7
Black’s opening play is not to be taken as a model; on 7 cxd5 the reply 7 ... exd5 would have been better, and at this point he should certainly have played 8 ... Qxe7 instead of recalling his knight.
9 Bd3 c5 10 0-0 0-0 11 dxc5?!
This move only has a point if the sacrifice on h7 is correct, otherwise it makes it easier for Black to equalize. Since the sacrifice is unsound, 11 Rc1 would have been the right course.
11 ... Nxc5 12 Bxh7+?!
The young victor from San Sebastian naturally does not consent to make a peaceful move like 12 Be2 against an Argentine amateur. However unsound the sacrifice is, his opponent will see to it for himself that his own position is spoilt.
12 ... Kxh7 13 Ng5+ Kg6
Black is correct to choose the ... Kg6 variation and the reader – armed with the guidance given a few pages back – will notice that White’s chances of success in this case are dubious, since he does not have the two necessary supporting pieces, but only one, and a fairly weak one at that (the knight on c3).
14 Qg4 f5
As a lover of fine
combinations from his earliest youth, Capablanca here quotes the following continuation: 14 ... e5? 15 Ne6+ Kf6 16 f4! e4 (or 16 ... Nc6 17 Qg5+ Kxe6 18 f5+ Kd7 19 Rfd1+ Nd4 20 Qxg7 when White will get one piece back and have three pawns for his knight plus a winning attack against Black’s exposed king) 17 Qg5+ Kxe6 18 Qe5+ Kd7 19 Rfd1+ Nd3 20 Nxe4 Kc6 21 Rxd3 Qxd3 22 Rc1+ and mate in a few moves.
15 Qg3 Kh6?
This game has entered the anthologies as one of Capablanca’s famous feats because commentators have passed this obviously incorrect move by in silence. By 15 ... Kf6! Black could have shown that the bishop sacrifice was unsound. White can then still exert some pressure (after 16 Rad1 Bd7 or 16 b4 Na6), but he has not got the time to strengthen his attack decisively, since Black threatens to consolidate his position (e.g. 16 e4 g6 or 16 f4 Rh8). White must therefore take the exchange by 16 Nh7+ with the result that his attack comes to a halt, leaving him without sufficient compensation for Black’s material advantage.
JN: This comment is unjustified, since after 15 ... Kf6 16 Rad1 Bd7 White wins by 17 b4 Na6 18 e4.
In addition to 15 ... Kf6!, another move which is better than the one played is 15 ... f4, which would force White to play for a draw, i.e. 16 exf4 Nf5 17 Qg4 Nh6 18 Qg3 Nf5, etc.
JN: This comment is correct, so both 15 ... Kh6 and 15 ... f4 should lead to a draw.
16 Qh4+ Kg6 17 Qh7+ Kf6
If 17 ... Kxg5 then 18 Qxg7+ Kh5 (or 18 ... Ng6 19 f4+) and White obtains a mating attack by 19 f4 or 19 Ne2.
18 e4! Ng6
In order, on 18 ... Rh8, to have the reply 19 e5+ Kxg5 20 f4+, etc. If 18 ... e5, then 19 Rad1 Qe8 20 Rd6+ is strong.
19 exf5?
This makes it easier for Black to defend himself and throws away the opportunity of e5+; it is uncertain whether White now has the advantage or not. Capablanca in his commentary correctly notes that 19 exf5 was not the best move, but he recommends instead 19 f4?, which would not have been good either; Black replies 19 ... Qd4+ (Capablanca only gives 19 ... fxe4? 20 Rad1 Qb6, when White wins with 21 Rd6) 20 Kh1 Nxe4 21 Ncxe4+ fxe4 22 Rad1 Qa4, and White’s attack begins to wane; moreover, Black threatens 23 ... Rh8.
Art of Attack in Chess Page 11
