The Everything Chess Basics Book (46 page)

Black expects White to move his attacked queen.

But moving the queen causes trouble. For instance, 6. Qc3 loses to the
pin 6.
... Ng4. So, rather than defending the queen, White plays his own Zwischenzug.

6. exf6! Nxd4 7. fxe7.

And White gets the queen back after all. But just who profited the most from this series is not quite clear.

A Zwischenzug is simply carrying out the old sports adage “the best defense is a good attack.” Always remember to take a further look at whatever threats are looming after a Zwischenzug, or, as in the previous example, a series of Zwischenzugs. Just make sure you always are aware of each and every threat to check or capture at all times during a game.

Desperado

This tactic is named after the bad guys in the old Westerns. When you’re going to lose a piece in any case, take something out with it. When you think about it, this is nothing more than plain common sense.

1. e4 e5 2. f4 Bc5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 d6 5. c3 Bg4.

White spies a chance to win a pawn using a discovered attack. But has she looked far enough ahead?

6. Bxf7+ Kxf7 7. Ng5+.

Here is the discovered attack. The pin is broken and the Black king is in check. Therefore, White will get back her bishop. Except for the desperado.

7.
... Qxg5!

Black sees that moving the king will result in losing the bishop. If the bishop is going to be lost, why not take something out with it? Like a knight? If the queens get exchanged after 8. fxg5 Bxd1 9. Kxd1, Black winds up with an extra piece. The same thing happens if White tries a Zwischenzug with 8. Qb3+ Be6.

If White tries her own desperado with 9. Qxe6+ Kxe6 10. fxg5, Black always winds up with an extra piece.

The reason is that he started the combination up a piece to begin with, and captured a second piece right at the start. All White could do was recover one of her pieces here with 9. Qxb7 Qd8 10. Qxc6 Qe8.

No Retreat

When a piece has nowhere to move, simply threaten to capture it. This one is often the cause of a desperado. So make sure when you trap a piece that can’t move safely that it really can’t move safely!

A famous opening trap involves trapping a bishop that has no retreat. It goes like this:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0–0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7.
Bb3 d6 8. d4 exd4 9. Nxd4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 c5 11. Qc3 c4.

As you can see, the White bishop has nowhere safe to move. The desperado 12. Bxc4 bxc4 13. Qxc4 doesn’t give White enough for the piece.

This trap is so old it’s affectionately referred to as the
Noah’s Ark
trap
. So if you fall for it, you’re in good company.

No retreat means no forward moves as well. When the situation comes up, the piece in question simply has nowhere safe to move.

No retreat means a piece is all dressed up with nowhere to go. Any piece that has no safe moves is vulnerable to attack. Make sure your pieces have an emergency exit.

White to move. Where can the queen go safely?

Here is an example of a queen that has no retreat. She actually has lots of legal moves forward, backward, and sideways; it’s just that each and every one of them will get her captured. That’s no retreat.

Chapter 13
Putting It All
Together

As a review of what you have learned you will look at the following game, played between a master and an expert (the rating class just below master). Throughout the game there are many of the tactics you have learned. The players also make use of the strategy you have learned, developing pieces and playing to control the center.

Time or Force?

This game has as its main theme a rather continuous struggle between time and force. Time means what is happening right now: it refers to the immediate threats that have to be met one way or another immediately. Force refers to the amount and type of pieces and pawns the players have to deal with.

The Initiative

Each player sacrificed some material in order to gain the initiative. The key questions to ask when confronted with such possibilities are “How much material am I giving up?” (which is best answered by a detailed calculation of the forcing moves, to make sure you don’t lose more than you intend), and “How long will my initiative last?”