The Chess Coach by Sunil Weeramantry The Hunt Many of you spent time searching for the Steinitz-Meitner game, and I received an incredible response. I would like to thank each and every one. I very much appreciate your efforts! This month I have chosen to focus on "the hunt", also known as a "sacrifice of pursuit". Often quite spectacular in character, these combinations never fail to thrill the audience. In his classic book, The Art Of Sacrifice, the brilliant tactician, Rudolf Spielmann, described this type of sacrifice as being "aimed at driving out the enemy king to expose him to attack on a board full of pieces." Once the initial breakthrough is made, the attacker should prevent the exposed king from retreating towards the safety of his camp. This is usually achieved by cutting off critical retreat squares. Then, in order to complete the operation, the attacker must have sufficient mating material remaining to execute mate or secure some other tangible advantage. Sacrifices of pursuit that feature a sequence of forced moves are easiest to calculate. There may be some minor deviations, but these are generally dealt with swiftly and decisively. Take, for instance, this position from the game Borik-Novak, Czechoslovakia 1969, where every move is a check and the final outcome is mate. (See Diagram) White: Ke2, Qg6, Bf4, Nc3, Nf7; pawns - a2, b2, c2, d4, f2, h2 Black: Ke8, Qa1, Ra8, Bc8, Be7, Nb8, Nf6; pawns - a7, b7, c6, d7, e4. White has already sacrificed a rook and a bishop for the attack. He must mate Black or will undoubtedly lose the game. Play continued as follows: 1. Nd6+ Kd8 2. Qe8+! Black cannot accept the queen with 2...Nxe8 because of the unusual smothered mate with 3. Nf7+. The black king must therefore start running for his life. 2...Kc7 3. Qxc8+ Kb6 4. Qxb7+ Ka5 5. b4 mate Once White had seen the potential smothered mate, the hunt was not difficult to calculate. Every move was forced and the queen and knight tandem worked together in harmony. Sometimes, a sacrifice of pursuit will drive the defending king into a mating net which may require a small adjustment before it becomes fully operational. In such instances, the attacker must ensure that the defender will not have time to escape. The game Teeriaho-Lundahl, Helsinki 1952 is a case in point: (See Diagram) White: Kg1, Qg5, Re7, Rc1, Bf6, Bh5; pawns - a2, b3, c4, d3,d5, f2, g2, h4. Black: Kh7, Qb6, Rc8, Rg8, Bf5, Bh6; pawns - a7, b5, c7, d6, d4, f7, g6. White has just played the clever Re7, leaving his queen en prise. Black cannot resist and walks right into a trap. 1...Bxg5? 2. Rxf7+ Kh6 3. hxg5+ Kxh5 4. f3! A quiet move that seals off the escape square on g4 and threatens Rh7 mate. Black has only one answer. 4...Rh8 But White's previous move turns out to have had more than one purpose. It helps the white king to vacate the back rank so that the second rook can move over to the other end of the 'h' file. 5. Kf2 Bh3 6. Rh1 Black resigns as mate will soon follow. It is not unusual to conduct a king hunt from one end of the board to the other before the final blow is delivered. In general, the deeper the fleeing king ventures into enemy territory, the more he becomes isolated and the less likely that his defenders can come to his rescue. Despite the long chase sequence in this example, there is no interference from the defense and the attacker can patiently set up the checkmate. (See Diagram) White: Kb1, Qd2, Rd1, Rh1, Bg5, Ne4, Ne1; pawns - a2, b2, d5, f3, g2, h2 Black: Kg8, Qa4, Ra8, Rf8, Ba6, Bg7, Nb8; pawns - c5, d6, e7, f7, g6, h7 This position was reached in the game, Stefanov-Andreyev, Bulgaria 1957. 1...Qxa2+! 2. Kxa2 Bd3+ 3. Kb3 c4+ 4. Kb4 Na6+ 5. Kb5 If White chooses to play 5. Ka4 instead, he will be lose to 5...Nc5+ 6. Kb5 Rfb8+ 7. Kc6 Ra6+ 8. Kc7 Rb7+ 9. Kc8 Ra8 mate. The game continued: 5...Rfb8+ 6. Kc6 Rc8+ 7. Kb7 Andreyev now finds the most efficient win. 7...Rc7+! 8. Kxa8 Bd4! The rook sacrifice is followed by the only move that is not a check in this long sequence. The white king is staring at an unstoppable mate while the rest of his army stands by helplessly. Judging whether sufficient mating material is present is a matter of experience. An effective way to destroy the fleeing king is to lure him towards a wall of enemy pawns like a shipwrecked sailor from ancient mythology whose hopes of reaching the shore are dashed against the rocks. The power of two pawns standing abreast is well illustrated in the following endgame position that I once reached against IM Calvin Blocker (who was White). (See Diagram) White: Ka4, Qe7; pawn - d7 Black: Kh7, Qc2; pawns - a7, b7, g7 White is about to queen his pawn on d7 but cannot avoid perpetual check. Indeed, the white king has spent the last twenty moves running all over the board in a futile attempt to avoid the draw. At this point, he takes one disastrous step towards the black pawns. 1.Ka5? Qc4! Suddenly, the king finds himself in imminent danger. White cannot save himself with his own perpetual checks because the black queen on c4 is guarding the critical e4 and h4 squares. 2. d8(Q) b6+ 3. Qxb6 White has avoided mate and is hoping to reach a queen vs. queen and pawn position with good practical drawing chances. However, two clever intermediate moves by Black make this an impossible dream. 3...Qa2+ 4. Kb4 Qb2+ Faced with a two pawn deficit, Blocker resigned. The next example shows the same pattern in a more complex middle game setting. It is drawn from a most unusual and exciting game that I played against an experimental version of the Fidelity Chess Challenger (White) at the 1986 U.S. Open in Somerset, NJ. Here is the position after White's 29th move. (See Diagram) White: Kf3, Qe6, Rh1, Nc6; pawns - a3, d5, d4, f2, g2, h2 Black: Kh6, Qc2, Rh8, Bf4; pawns - a5, f6, g6, h7 The white king is already on the run but could reach safety if given time to create an escape square on g2 or h2. At first, it does appear that White can buy the time needed because the attack on the f4 bishop could gain a critical tempo. It is now or never! 29...Re8! Black seizes the initiative by attacking the white queen and moving his rook into attacking position. The immediate tactical point is that the rook sacrifice cannot be accepted as 30. Qxe8 is refuted by 30...Qd3+. After 31. Kxf4, Black's wall of pawns advances with deadly force. 31...g5+ 32. Kg4 f5 mate. Notice that this mate could not have been executed had the white queen not been decoyed off the sixth rank. The game continued: 30. Qh3+ Kg7 31. Kxf4 White has nothing better. The dual threats of ...Qe4+ and ...Qd3+ are too strong. Black must still be careful not to let the white king escape and needs to conduct the rest of the attack with precision. For instance, the plausible 32...Re4+ fails to 33. Kg3 when any further check along the third rank can be parried with f3. 31...Qxf2+ 32. Qf3 Qh4+ 33. g4 g5+ 34. Kf5 The white king has now been drawn so deep into enemy territory that black has the time to play a "quiet" move threatening mate. 34...Qh6 35. Resigns I must admit that the computer's resignation came as a bitter disappointment as I had been looking forward to an elegant finish with 35. Ne5 Qg6+ 36. Nxg6 hxg6 mate. After all, how many times does a chess player get to build a wall of pawns around his opponent's king! The question whether a strong player analyzes a combination through to the end or whether he reaches a certain point in his calculation and determines that he will work out the remaining moves once he gets there is not clear. Not all players are willing to admit that they might not have calculated a variation to the end. One example of a player who was prepared to admit that he relied on his intuition was IM Rashid Nezhmetdinov, whose premature death in 1974 prevented him from taking his place among the world's elite. The game Polugayevsky-Nezhmetdinov, Sochi 1958, certainly ranks among the most brilliant games ever played. It features an inspired queen sacrifice by Nezhmetdinov. The game is analyzed in The Modern Chess Sacrifice (McKay, 1978) by GM Shamkovich who bases his comments on Nezhmetdinov's own observations about this game. (See Diagram) White: Kg1, Qd1, Ra1, Rf1, Bb2, Bc2, Nd5, Ne2; pawns - a2, b3, c4, e4, f4, g3 Black: Kg8, Qh3, Ra8, Rf7, Be6, Bh6, Nc6, Ne5; pawns - a7, b7, c7, d6, g4, h7 Black has established a powerful kingside attack and has already invaded White's position. Polugayevsky decides to seek safety on the other side of the board and abandon his castled position. 21. Kf2 Qh2+ 22. Ke3 Bxd5 23. cxd5 Nb4 24. Rh1 White has relied on this defense because to skewer the "h" file will win the bishop on h6 should the black queen move away with 24...Qg2. Unfortunately for Polugaevsky, his opponent has a daring sacrifice in mind. 24...Rxf4!! The double exclamation marks are most certainly deserved. The next few moves are forced. 25. Rxh2 Rf3+ 26. Kd4 What made Nezhmetdinov decide that the queen sacrifice was justified? It appears to me that all the conditions discussed above that are required for a successful king hunt are present: the white king's retreat is cut off by the black rook on the third rank; there are sufficient attacking forces in play after the queen sacrifice; and, defensive forces are in no position to stop Black's attack or to launch a counter attack. Even if the attacker had not seen beyond this point, it is reasonable to reach this position and search for a win after getting there. Nevertheless, this position is difficult to judge because none of the forcing moves appear to work. For instance, 26...c5+ 27. dxc6 e.p. bxc6 28. Bd3 is not conclusive. In fact, the possibility of blocking the third rank with Bd3, thereby creating an escape square on c3, poses a real threat to the successful completion of the attack. It is to Nezhmetdinov's credit that he realized the need to transfer his bishop to g7, not so much for the discovered check, but in order to keep an eye on c3. 26...Bg7! This threatens 27...b5 taking away the escape square on c4 and threatening mate on the move with 28...Nec6. 27. a4 c5+ 28. dxc6 e.p. bxc6 29. Bd3 Nexd3+ 30. Kc4 Black has succeeded in keeping the white king in the center. The final phase now begins as Black forces the white king to move further into enemy territory. 30...d5+ 31. exd5 cxd5+ 32. Kb5 Rb8+ 33. Ka5 Nc6+ 34. Resigns Mate cannot be avoided. With experience, you will also be able to judge whether a king hunt is likely to succeed. As a player, I can assure you that one successful hunt will bring you much pleasure and enjoyment. Happy Holidays!