by greenpawn34 on Mar 20 2013 02:30 | 8440 views | 1 edit | Last edit on Jul 16 2018 07:38
This book got a recent mention in the Chess Forum.
I mentioned it was one of the few books I kept when I sold
a few hundred chess books about 20 years ago.
(looking at the state of it, one reason was that nobody would buy it.)
I liked this book, it just seemed to click.
You get examples of every tactical trick in the backyard.
Ideas to put into action in your games from the sharpest of all openings.
(what else would you expect from an opening that has the Fried Liver,
The Wilkes Barre and Max Lange Attack as side lines.)
What you pick up theory wise is a bonus, what you are after is the ideas.
This book is full of trickery that can get used in any opening.
Infact it is a an opening I rarely played on either side despite having a head
full of Two Knights Traps.
Estrin was a great lover of the tactically beautiful and his flights of fancy are inspiring.
I get the impression he enjoyed doing this book choosing the juicy lines to investigate.
Often he would leave you with:
“White has a good or strong attack.”
“The position is equal.”
“White has an obvious advantage.”
It’s then your job to agree or disagree.
As always you must beware of the theory. It can get dated and the war cry
amongst those in the know is ‘Don’t Trust Estrin.’
So you have this book full of sharp tactical stuff and you know some of it is wrong.
But which bits?
That is for you to find out?
So you dig in and pull apart every line looking for possible errors or trying out
ideas not mentioned. It’s called ‘Studying Chess’.
Two examples. (page 41) A page covered in my notes.
Just this one page will unearth all kinds of fun.
Estrin takes us here. White to play his 16th move.
Following a line by Konstaninoplsky, Estrin gives.
16. Rxc7+ Kxc7 17. Bf4+ Kc8 18. Qxd4 b6 19. Re7
“With a decisive attack as confirmed in Corden v Rellstab Hasting 1968-69.”
What’s wrong with that?
Well Corden v Rellstab Hasting 1968-69 did not go that way. Rellstab did not
play 16…Kxc7 but 16…Kb8 and lost after 17.Bf4.
Also round about 1985 I found a hole in the Konstaninoplsky /Estrin line.
Unfortunately the Spanish lad Juan Cubas Pons as White followed and trusted Estrin.
(…or maybe he followed someone else who followed and trusted Estrin.)
Cubas Pons - Cruz Lopez Spanish Champs 1992 We shall play onto the position in question.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.Re1 d5 7.Bxd5 Qxd5 8.Nc3 Qa5 9.Nxe4 Be6 10.Bd2 Bb4 11.Nxd4 Nxd4 12.c3 0-0-0 13.cxb4 Qf5 14.Rc1 Bd5 15.Ng3 Qg6 {Here we are at the critical position.} 16. Rxc7+ Kxc7 17. Bf4+ Kc8 18. Qxd4 b6 19. Re7 {"With a decisive attack....."} 19...Qb1+ {The idea I saw which was missed by Estrin and others.} 20. Nf1 Qxf1+ 21. Kxf1 Bxg2+ 22. Kxg2 Rxd4 {Still a difficult (for me) game. But although White get a few pawns for the exchange the weak Queenside does him in. I'll show the whole game.} 23. Rxa7 Re8 24. Rc7+ Kd8 25. Rxf7 Rd7 26. Rf5 Re4 27. Bg5+ Kc7 28. a3 Re2 29. Bf4+ Kc6 30. b5+ Kb7 31. b4 Ra2 32. Re5 Rxa3 33. Re6 Rad3 34. Be3 R3d6 {Just in time. White has earmarked the b-pawn as a potential game winning passer.} 35. Re8 Rd5 36. Rh8 Rxb5 37. Rxh7 Rxb4 38. h4 Kc6 39. Kg3 b5 40. Bf4 {And Black in a lost position walks into a liquidating trick.} 40... Rxf4 41. Kxf4 g5+
Another example is Page 32. My Back Pocket Trap No.193. (my flight of fancy.)
A mainline position. As above the theoretical chosen move here is 9.Nxe4 etc…etc,
What happens on 9.Nxd4?!
There is a famous 1920 Euwe-Reti game with this line where Reti pulls off a stunning win.
But I’m not playing Reti.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3 Qa5 9. Nxd4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 f5 {End of Estrin's analysis. You cannot leave people in positions like this. OK let's go fish. White is a bit down but has a huge lead in development. Can we argue for the big D.} 11. Bd2 Qc5 12. Qa4+ {Now the obvious 12...Bd7 is answered by 13.Nxe4 (see the next very sad game).} 12... Kf7 13. Nxe4 fxe4 14. Rxe4 Qc6 {A bit up with a draughty King Black seeks the Queen's off. This is basic under 1800 thinking. Let us follow that plan.} 15. Rf4+ Kg8 16. Qd4 Qc5 {Queens Off!} 17. Bb4 {OK you can have my Queen, I’ll take the checkmate on f8. And if Black playes 17...Qxb4 then 18.Qd5+ mates.}
Not convinced? No neither am I really, but it is worth a shot on the lower boards.
Three times (and that is all) White has tried 9.Nxd4 on here.
2 White wins and 1 loss.
OTB my DB shows it as evens P.33 W.12. D9 L12
Do you want to see the one White loss on here. It’s a terrible blunder, worse than
leaving your Queen hanging. You can miss leaving your Queen hanging, it happens,
but in this blunder White thought about it, he knew what he was doing.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3 Qa5 9. Nxd4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 f5 11. Bd2 Qc5 12. Qa4+ Bd7 13. Nxe4 fxe4 14. Qxe4+ Be7 {And now White grabbed the lousy stupid poxy good-for-nothing QNP and played 15.Qxb7??? and Black, quite rightly so, went onto win. White missed......} 15. Bb4 {Which is very similiar to my mid 80's idea. I tell you these things work. That was an awful missed chance and would have made that line 3-0 on RHP.}
So I like the Two Knights book by Estrin it forces you to dig and look at things.
And of course with all these tactics flying about you get good at spotting shots.
Tell you what I hate in Chess books.
When the smug gums author mentions a game advising you to look at it
but never gives it,. even in the appendix.
I’ve just joined the smug gums set by mentioning and not showing the Euwe - Reti 1920 game.
OK I’ll show it but before we see the 1920 game, first we must see the 1919 game
from the Euwe - Kroone match.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3 Qa5 9. Nxd4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 f5 11. Bg5 Bc5 {The point being 12.Qd8+ is not to be feared....} 12. Qxg7 {...but this is.} 12... Bxf2+ 13. Kh1 Qb4 {To stop White from playing Qe7 checkmate.} 14. Nd5 {Hits the Queen with threats on c7 and f6. Black resigned.}
So Richard Reti being a bit of a clever Dicky has a look at this and in his lab and
discovers just below the surface some nice play for Black so when he met Euwe
the following year this happened.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3 Qa5 9. Nxd4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4 f5 11. Bg5 {Now not 11...Bc5 as in the above game but....} 11... Qc5 12. Qd8+ Kf7 13. Nxe4 fxe4 14. Rad1 {White is a piece down but look at the d1 and e1 Rooks compared to Black's Rooks. Watch Reti solves the problem of the undeveloped Rooks.} 14... Bd6 15. Qxh8 {That is one problem Rook solved.} 15... Qxg5 16. f4 {White tries open more files for his Rooks.} 16... Qh4 17. Rxe4 Bh3 18. Qxa8 {The problem of how to develop those Rooks has been solved. The rest is all forced.} 18... Bc5+ 19. Kh1 Bxg2+ 20. Kxg2 Qg4+ 21. Kf1 Qf3+ 22. Ke1 Qf2 {As delightful as it is instructive.}
Orfeo sent me a game with this wrap up.
flashland - orfeo RHP 2013.
FEN
r6r/ppkn1Q2/2p5/8/1B1P1P2/P5q1/1P5P/2R1R2K w - - 0 33
1. e4 Nf6 {The Alekhine Defence. A refreshing opening alternative. White lures the pawns forward with the idea of attacking them and exploiting the weak squares they leave behind. For instance....} 2. e5 {The central squares d5 and f5 are no longer hit and a tempo has been blown.} 2... Nd5 {We can argue that the tempo has been won back because the Knight has also moved But Black can argue the e5 pawn no longer has the cramping effect it had on e4.} 3. c4 Nb6 4. d4 {Quite an impressive pawn centre. Black nibbles at it.} 4... d6 5. exd6 exd6 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Bd3 Nc6 8. Be3 Be7 9. O-O Bf6 10. Re1 O-O {Both sides have castled so let's have a look. Black has pressure on the White centre, nothing too serious the d-pawn is being held tactically because White has Bxh7+ up his sleeve if Black takes twice on d4.} 11. Nc3 {I prefer White simply because I don't like Knights on b6 (or b3) but this must be even. First one to have an idea will be open to a counter idea. Let us see what happens.} 11... Nb4 12. Be4 {That just looks wrong. 12,.Be2 breaking the pin on f3 looks more flexible. Black can ignore the attack on b7 and nick the c4 pawn bringing the b6 Knight into the game.} 12... d5 {OK it's a move with a strategic idea. White ends up with an IQP but often that is not as serious a defect as the books would have us believe, especially at this level.} 13. cxd5 N4xd5 14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. Rc1 c6 16. Qc2 Re8 {Whoops. What's this? Black is tossing his h-pawn with a check. He has attacking ideas. Watch.} 17. Bxh7+ Kh8 18. Bf5 Bxf3 19. gxf3 {The pawn was sacced to shatter the White King's position. Game on.} 19... Bg5 20. Bxg5 Qxg5+ 21. Kh1 {OK......Now what?} 21... g6 {Aha....the old g6, Kg7 Rh8 and Rxh2+ trick. So that is why the h7 pawn was sacced. Let us see it unfold.} 22. Be4 Kg7 23. Rg1 Qh5 24. Qd2 {I wonder if White saw Black's next move coming....} 24... Rxe4 25. fxe4 Qf3+ 26. Rg2 Nf4 27. Rg1 Rh8 {The g6,Kg7, Rh8 and Rxh2+ trick appears to be on. Black threatens 28...Rxh2+ and Qh3 mate.} 28. Qc3 {Stopping the Qh3 mate idea and threatening discovered checks hoping to distract the Black attack. Good thinking but it losses. 28.Qe3 stops the coming mate see the next note.} 28... Rxh2+ 29. Kxh2 Qh5+ 30. Kg3 Ne2 {A family fork and checkmate. Brilliant. If White had played 28.Qe3 he would have here 31.Qxe2 Qxe2 and after 32,f3 the two Rooks keep the Black at bay.}
The Red Hot Pawn 1000-1 shot. (this works once in every 1,000 games)
cheeky (1162) - Fremen (1355) RHP.2011 Game 8492304
First we sneak in Overloaded Queen lesson No.887.
When ever you have a Queen defending anything you must look to see if you
can expose the Queen’s greatest weakness. She must give way to any attack.
Never depend on a Queen to defend anything. Think of her as the laziest chess piece
on the board. She will attack for you but never carry a defensive burden.
Black to play.
The White Queen is the sole defender of the attacked c4 Bishop.
12…c5 hits the Queen and protects the a5 Knight. The Queen has to move and if
she stays protecting the Bishop 13.Qa4 then 13…Bd7 or 13…b5 wins the c4 Bishop.
Black missed this allowing us to see the once in a thousand game..
63. d7 {Black has the easy draw here with Nf6 and Nxd7.} 63... f5 {This too draws. Infact it is fairly difficult for either side to lose this game.} 64. Nd5 Ng5 65. Nc7 f4 66. Nd5 f3 67. Kd6 f2 {White crosses his fingers, kisses a rabbit's foot, picks a four leaf clover and sacrifices a chicken to that great god of misfortune, Chuckawunga (Chuckawunga hates chess but he loves a good laugh.)} 68. Ne7 {All Black need do is to slip in Nf7+ and there is no mate. Instead....} 68... f1=Q 69. Nc6 {...and Chuckawunga laughed}
I wake up some days and there it is.
You should have said in the Blog.
He's been to two places in America. But we shall see
what happens.
PS; My offer to take the Duck to Arizona in September still stands!