Lubomir Kavalek on Chess

Lars Bo Hansen's new book "How Chess Games Are Won and Lost," published last year by Gambit Publications, is a delightful modern chess manual. The Danish grandmaster splits the chess game into five stages. To the usual three stages -- the opening, the middlegame and the endgame -- he adds the transition to the early middlegame and the transition from middlegame to endgame. This breakdown helps the student to understand the flow of the game better.

A Shocking Miniature

Hansen writes that the knowledge and memory of opening variations are important skills for competitive players. "There is no way around it," he says. He gives his 13-move victory against the former U.S. champion Nick de Firmian in the English opening as a good example of how a harmless-looking move can turn into a nightmare. It was played in the Danish League in 1998.

Hansen-de Firmian

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.g3 Qb6 (IM John Watson covers this line well in the third volume of his epic work "Mastering the Chess Openings." It is another outstanding Gambit book on Watson's favorite topic, the English opening.) 7.Ndb5 Ne5 (Black's last two moves create threats on the diagonals g1-a7 and h1-a8, since the black queen can shift to the square c6. The immediate attack of the pawn f2 with 7...Bc5 can be ignored with 8.Bg2!, when accepting the sacrifice 8...Bxf2+ leaves black pieces scattered and vulnerable, for example 9.Kf1 Ng4 [On 9...Bc5 comes 10.Na4!] 10.Qd6! Kd8 11.Qf4! [11.Bg5+, played before, is also good.] 11...Nce5 12.Nd1 a6 13.h3 axb5 14.hxg4 Bd4 15.e3 winning a piece.)

8.Bf4!? (Hansen calls this aggressive move "a sound gamble." It leads to a complicated game.) 8...d6? (It is hard to believe that after this innocent-looking defense black is in dire straits. The discovery of the year in this line came after 8...Nfg4, when instead of 9.e3, Levon Aronian ignored the threat to his f-pawn with the astonishing 9.Qa4!? against Peter Leko in the Mexican town of Morelia last February. Leko played 9...g5, but after 10.Bxe5 Nxe5 11.0-0-0 a6 12.e3 Rb8 13.Nd4, Aronian was better. White was later doing well after 9...a6 10.f3; or after 9...Bc5 10.0-0-0. Nobody dared to take the f-pawn, although after 9...Qxf2+ 10.Kd2 Qc5 or 10...Qb6 11.h3 g5, black seems to survive.) 9.Bg2 a6? (Speeds up the end. Black is also in trouble after 9...Be7? 10.c5!, for example 10..Qxc5 11.Be3 Qc4 and now the simple 12.Nxd6+! Bxd6 13.Qxd6 Ned7 14.Rc1, threatening to win with 15.Nd5, gives white a decisive advantage. In the game Wells-Jakovenko, Warsaw 2005, black tried 9...Nfg4, but after 10.0-0 a6 11.Na4 Qd8 12.Na3 Ng6 13.Bd2 Rb8 14.c5! dxc5, instead of 15.Nc4 or 15.Qc2, white should have played 15.Bc3!, for example 15...Be7 [or 15...Qxd1 16.Rfxd1 b5 17.Bc6+ Ke7 18.Nxc5 with white's advantage.] 16.Qxd8+ Bxd8 17.Nxc5 Be7 18.Nd3 0-0 19.Nc4 and white has a favorable Catalan-like endgame.) 10.Qa4! Nfd7? (Overlooking a winning jolt, but after 10...Bd7 11.Be3 Qd8 12.Bxb7, white is clearly better.)

11.c5! (A pretty pawn sacrifice, winning outright.) 11...Nxc5 (After11...Qxc5 comes 12.Be3, for example 12...axb5 13.Qxa8 Qc4 14.Rc1 and white wins; and 11...dxc5 is met with 12.Bxe5 Nxe5 13.Nc7+ Ke7 14.Nxa8 winning.) 12.Nxd6+! Ke7 (After 12...Kd8 13.Qe8+ Kc7 14.Ndb5+ axb5 15.Bxe5+ Bd6 16.Qe7+! wins.) 13.Nd5+! (Black is now mated either after13...exd5 14.Qe8+ Kf6 [Or 14...Kxd6 15.Bxe5 mate.] 15.Qxe5+ Kg6 16.Qg5 mate; or after 13...Kxd6 14.Bxe5+ Kxe5 15.Qf4 mate.) Black resigned.

Solution to today's three-mover by W. Greenwood (White: Kf6,Re2,Re4,Bf3,Nd5; Black: Kd3,P:d7): 1.Bh1 d6 2.Rg2 Kxe4 3.Rd2 mate.