An Enduring Attack

The Art of Attack in Chess by Vladimir Vukovic, Everyman Chess
1998, Softcover, Figurine Algebraic Notation, 352pp., $24.95

The last few years have seen many of out-of-print books re-issued
by a number of publishers. This trend is both evidence of the
dearth of good new chess manuscripts suitable for publishing and
tribute to the enduring value of the quality books, regardless of
when released. British publishers have led the way in the re-release
of these books, oftentimes employing the talent of GM John Nunn
to update material, convert notation and generally make other
additions that he deems appropriate. This time it is one of the great
books of chess literature, Art of Attack in Chess by Vladimir
Vukovic, first released in English in 1965.

This particular version appeared at the end of 1998 and is the
twelfth (!) edition of Vukovic's masterpiece. Nunn has done a
reasonably good job of preparing the material for today's
chessplayer. From his preface:

"As usual with classic books I have edited, I will take a little time
to explain exactly how I have prepared this new edition. First and
foremost is the conversion to algebraic notation. In addition to this,
I have added 128 extra diagrams and in some cases, where it
seemed appropriate, I have added further moves from the quoted
games (for example, by giving the actual finish instead of 'and
White won in another ten moves'). I have lightly edited the rather
ponderous English of the original translation, and brought the
method of displaying variations into line with current
practice...There are also a fair number of analytical footnotes
[added by Nunn]..."

The book is divided into twelve chapters: (1) The attack against the
uncastled king; (2) The attack on the king that has lost the right to
castle; (3) On castling and attacking the castled position in general;
(4) Mating patterns; (5) Focal-points; (6) The classic bishop
sacrifice; (7) Ranks, files, and diagonals in the attack on the castled
king; (8) Pieces and pawns in the attack on the castled king; (9)
The attack on the fianchettoed and queenside castling positions;
(10) Defending against the attack on the castled king; (11) The
phases of the attack on the castled king; and (12) The attack on the
king as an integral part of the game. 

This is supplemented not only by the author's original
Introduction, but also by Nunn's Preface. It should be noted that
for the most part, Nunn's work on this book complements the
original material nicely, improving and occasionally correcting,
without being overly intrusive.

If you think after perusing the Contents that this book represents a
complete treatment of the Attack, you would be correct. The
addition of more game moves and many more diagrams greatly
enhances the original work. From Chapter 6, The classic bishop
sacrifice...

Necessary conditions for the classic bishop sacrifice

White must firstly have a queen, a bishop and a knight. The light-
squared bishop must be able to reach h7 in order to force the tempo
of the attack, though it is not essential that it should put Black in
check or take a pawn in so doing. The knight should be within easy
and safe reach of the square g5, and the queen within reach of h5,
though in some cases it is enough for it to be able to get to some other
square on the h-file.

As far as Black's position is concerned, there should be two pawns
standing intact at f7 and g7 (g7 may on rare occasions be occupied by
a bishop instead of a pawn); the h-pawn should be on h7 (on h5 in
exceptional cases), but it may be that there is no h-pawn at all. The
position of Black's queen on d8 and a rook on f8 points to, but does
not absolutely guarantee, the correctness of the sacrifice. What is
more important is that Black's knight should not be able to reach f6
and that neither his queen nor bishop should be able to occupy the h7-
bl diagonal unharmed.

These are the basic conditions which need to be taken into account.
In the examples which follow we shall examine to what extent each
of these conditions is fulfilled; the positions are chosen in such a way
as to show which is the critical continuation in each example, i.e. the
one that is in doubt because a certain condition is apparently
unfulfilled.

The variation with ...Kg8 is critical

     In the following position (See Diagram) the sacrifice is correct:

White: Kg1, Qd1, Ra1, Re1, Nf3, Bf4, Bd3; pawns - a2, b2, c3, d4,
f2, g2, h2
Black: Kg8, Qd8, Ra8, Rf8, Nd7, Bc8, Bb6; pawns - a7, b7, c6, e6,
f7, g7, h7

1 Bxh7+ Kxh7 2 Ng5+ Kg8

The continuation 2...Kh6 obviously fails; while if 2...Kg6, then 3
Qd3+ Kf6 (3...f5 4 Qg3! wins, for Black cannot play 4...Kf6 because
of 5 Rxe6#) 4 Qe4 threatens both 5 Nh7+ and 5 Nxe6, and 4...Ke7
does not work because of 5
Qxe6+ fxe6 6 Rxe6#

3 Qh5 Nf6

An example of the defence of the focal-point h7 by the knight, but
in this case White's position is strong enough (thanks to the activity
of his bishop on f4 and rook on el) to withstand the loss of time.

4 Qh4 Re8 

If 4...g6, then 5 Qh6!, followed by 6 Be5 and Re3-h3, wins, while
4...Bc7 would be met by 5 Be5, etc.

5 Be5 Qe7

If 5...Kf8, then 6 Qh8+ and 7 Qxg7 is decisive.

6 Re3 Bd8 7 Rh3 and White mates.

While many books have their 15 minutes of fame and then fade
into oblivion, others endure, retaining their value and usefulness
from one generation of chessplayers to the next. Such is the case
with Vukovic's Art of Attack in Chess. Do not be fooled into
thinking that simply because the material in the book was written
over three decades ago it is not worthy of careful study. In fact, it is
difficult to imagine that this book would not help a player of
almost any strength. So, what more can one say about one of the
great chess books that has been reprinted a dozen times and that
now appears in an expanded, improved edition? Thank you.