The Everything Chess Basics Book (40 page)

8. Nxe5 dxe5 9. Bxf7+ Kxf7 10. Qxd8.

Exposing the King

This is always a good plan to have, provided you have a means of carrying it out. An exposed king can easily get checkmated, while one well shielded is harder to get at.

Consider this famous example. (White: Edward Lasker; Black: Sir George Thomas; London Chess Club, 1912.)

White to play. Notice before we begin the final assault that White controls the center and has four pieces in play pointed at the Black king. Winning combinations do not spring out of random positions.

1. Qxh7+!! Kxh7.

The king comes out into the open. Of course, he has no choice in the matter.

2. Nxf6+ Kh6.

Or 2. ... Kh8 3. Ng6 mate. White continues to play forcing moves, keeping the Black king in check. While flying from each check, Black never has time to protect his king or win the game with his extra queen.

3. Neg4+ Kg5 4. h4+ Kf4 5. g3+ Kf3 6. Be2+ Kg2 7. Rh2+ Kg1
8. Kd2 mate!

The Black king has taken a strange journey to meet his demise.

The chess world is filled with combinations in which one player sacrifices his pieces in order to bring the opponent’s king out into the open, where he will be vulnerable to an early checkmate. Those that work are often very beautiful and make the archives. Those that fall short serve as warnings that such attacks need to be accurately calculated.

Planning Defense

Defense is often harder to plan that an attack because it requires you to find a potential attack to defend against. And nobody wants to contemplate the various ways in which an opponent can destroy your position.

Nevertheless, it pays off to sniff out potential attacks on your position. If you make ready for the enemy attack, it probably won’t overwhelm you. So here are three good defensive plans you can use when weathering a storm.

• Trade pieces.

• Bring up extra defenders.

• Have a good attack.

Trade Pieces

When there are too many enemy pieces swarming about your king, get rid of some of them. Trading your opponent’s attacking pieces is one of the best ways to stop her attack. Here is an example:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4.

White has given up a pawn to get more pieces into play.

4.
... Bc5 5. Ng5.

White now attacks the f7-square, but fails to get a new piece into play.

5.
... Nh6 6. Qh5 Qe7.

White now recovers his pawn, but he has to trade two pieces in order to do it, and that breaks the attack.

7. Bxf7+ Nxf7 8. Nxf7 Qxf7 9. Qxc5 d6.

White has no attack. In fact, Black is attacking the lone White piece that’s in play and is getting ready to bring still more pieces into play himself.

The greatest defenders could also wield powerful attacks. How could it be otherwise? In order to be able to put up a good defense, you have to be able to see the opponent’s attack coming many moves in advance, perhaps before your opponent spies it! And if you can see attacks developing that far in advance, you will certainly be able to produce a few good attacks yourself.

Bring up Extra Defenders

This is often a good way to put down a building attack. It stands to reason: You don’t try to make a basket in basketball with a two-on-five break. That’s backward. So if you surround your king with many defenders, he will be very difficult to get at.

Here is an example:

Black to move. White threatens checkmate on h7.

Black needs extra defenders, so he looks at 1. ... Be4. Since this loses the bishop, he has to try something else. Then he finds
1.
... Qd3!
, which adds an extra defender to h7 while threatening checkmate on f1.

2. Kg1 Qg6.

Black is ready to trade White’s attacking queen for his own defender.

Have a Good Attack

An old sports saying that has a lot to recommend it is “The best defense is a good attack.” This often applies in chess as well. Take a look at the following famous combination played by Adolf Anderssen against Lionel Kieseritzky in 1851 (ever since dubbed the immortal game).

White to move. White controls the center and has more pieces in play—by a lot! So instead of defending the en prise rook he builds up the attack.

18. Bd6! Qxa1+ 19. Ke2 Bxg1.

Now White is out of rooks, but still has four pieces on the attack while Black didn’t bring out any more pieces or bring more defenders to his king.

20. e5 Na6 21. Nxg7+ Kd8.