CHESS

Josef Hasek (1897-1976) was a witty Czech master and chess composer who loved chess, wine and meteorology. He composed nearly 300 studies. In 1927, he came up with this little gem (White: Ka6,Ra5,P:a2,e3,f2,g2; Black: Kg4,Rc4,P:a3,a7,g3): White wins with surprising tactics. Can you find how? (Solution next week)

Chess Brilliancy

By definition, the chess brilliancy does not need to be a perfect game, it may not be even sound, but it should include a moment when something astonishing, beautiful and inspiring happens on the chessboard. A daring combination, an out-of-the-blue sacrifice, an unusual maneuver. The first brilliancy prize was created by the owner of Cafe International in New York during a tournament played in the fall of 1876. The Englishman Henry Bird won it for his queen sacrifice against Irishman James Mason. It was designed to prevent boring chess and as such it was always dear to the hearts of chess fans.

Spoiling the Fun

In his peak, early in the 1980s, the Serbian grandmaster Ljubomir Ljubojevic was rated right behind Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov ¿ No. 3 on the official FIDE rating list. An excellent tactician with original mind, Ljubo, as we usually called him, was a bundle of nervous energy. He could create unexpected powerful storms on the chessboard. When he didn't play chess, he was constantly walking and talking in several languages, rarely seen sitting down.

I met Ljubojevic for the first time during the international tournament in Belgrade in 1965. He demonstrated our games for the public on huge chessboards. "I always wanted to work on your games because you sent me to buy cigarettes and left me with a generous tip," he confessed after his excellent result at the Chess World Cup in Barcelona in 1979, where he tied for first place with Kasparov. In 1973, we played for the first time in two tournaments in Canary Islands. I was awarded brilliance prizes for both games, in Las Palmas and in Lanzarote, but I was not sure I deserved them. In the fall, we met again in Manila, and this time after 10 moves I thought I could create a really brilliant game. And so did Ljubo. After sacrificing my two central pawns, I chased his queen out of play, hoping to finish him off with a rook sacrifice. In a critical moment, Ljubo looked at me and played an inferior move with his queen. It was a losing move, preventing not only my planned rook sacrifice, but also a chance to win the third brilliancy prize against him in a single year. Despite the loss, Ljubo edged me by a half point for the second place and finished one point behind the winner, the legendary Dane Bent Larsen. I have expanded my original notes to the game and included a few remarks from Colin Crouch's incisive book "Chess Secrets: Great Attackers."

Ljubojevic - Kavalek

1.b3 (The purpose of this opening move, as Larsen has said, is to avoid so-called book lines. The opening is named after him.) 1...e5 2.Bb2 d6 (After the logical 2...Nc6 white plays 3.e3, followed by 4.Bb5, putting a lot of pressure on black's pawn center.) 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nc3 g6 5.d4 (If white wants to open the game, now is the right time to do it. If he delays for just one move, e.g. 5.Nf3, black can find a better square for his queen knight by playing 5...Bg7 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 0-0!, followed by Nb8-d7-c5, controlling the e4 square.) 5...exd4 6.Qxd4 Nc6 7.Qe3+ (It only looks like white is gaining time with this move, but just the reverse is true ¿ white's queen will be forced to move again and again. Another retreat, 7.Qd2, was preferable.) 7...Be6 8.Nf3 Bg7 9.Ng5 0-0! ("Leonid Stein is not the only player who has a quick eye for an initiative! Kavalek sees that he can defend the bishop with 9...Qd7, which is playable, but also that he can sacrifice a pawn or two, and accelerate his development, by not defending it," wrote Crouch.) 10.Nxe6 fxe6 11.g3 (Ljubojevic told me after the game that he could not have calculated all consequences of 11.Qxe6+ Kh8. He saw that after 12.0-0-0 Ne5 13.f3 Neg4! black wins because of the threat 14...Re8; and after 12.Qh3 (the only move) and black has very good counterplay ¿ he can simply play 12...Ne4 or he can make waves with 12...Ne5 13.f3 Nh5. Crouch added: "Ljubojevic decides it is too dangerous to snatch the pawn. One possibility is 11.Qxe6+ Kh8 12.e3 Nd4! 13.exd4 Re8 with advantage to black.")

11...d5!! (With this move I made my bid for the brilliancy prize. It is a double pawn sacrifice, which may lead to further sacrifices. The threat now is 12...d4 and White must do something about it.) 12.Qxe6+ ("With full-blown acceptance. But otherwise the further...d5-d4 will force white to take the pawn in any case. For instance, 12.0-0-0 d4 13.Qxe6+ Kh8 14.Ba3 Re8 15.Qh3 a5 followed by a5-a4. Or 12.Rd1 d4! 13.Qxe6+ Kh8 14.Ba3 Re8 15.Qh3 Re5 followed by ...Qe8, with a strong initiative," Crouch noted.) 12...Kh8 (Black is threatening 13...Nd4.) 13.Nxd5?! (We can call it a mistake, but it is hard to decide what should be played here. After 13.0-0-0 Re8! 14.Qh3 d4 [threatening 15...dxc3!] 15.Nb5 Ne4 16.Qg2 a6 17.Na3 [on 17.Nxd4? Nxd4 18.e3 Nxb3+! wins] 17...Nb4! 18.Kb1 d3! and black's attack breaks through. After 13.Rd1 d4 14.Nb5 Re8 15.Qh3 Qe7, threatening 15...Qb4+, white is in dire straits with his king in the middle.) 13...Nxd5 14.Bxg7+ Kxg7 15.cxd5 Re8 (Forcing the white queen out of play, black is free to storm the white king.)

16.Qg4? (The white queen will be soon in trouble. Ljubojevic confessed after the game that he did not want me to win another brilliancy prize and blundered on purpose. The logical 16.Qh3 Qxd5 17.Bg2 allows a decisive rook sacrifice 17...Rxe2+!, for example, 18.Kf1 Qd4 [or 18...Rxf2+!] 19.Kxe2 Re8+ wins. After accepting the rook 18.Kxe2 black mates either after 18...Qb5+ 19.Kd2 [19.Ke3 Qe5+ 20.Be4 Qd4+ 21.Kf3 Rf8+ wins] 19...Rd8+ 20.Kc1 Qe5 21.Kb1 Rd2!; or after 18...Qe5+ 19.Kd2 Rd8+ 20.Kc2 Nb4+ 21.Kb1 Nd3!) 16...Qxd5 17.f3 Ne5 18.Rd1 (White can't save the queen: After 18.Qb4 or 18.Qf4 comes 18...Nd3+; after 18.Qe4 or 18.Qh4 Nxf3+ wins; after 18.Qh3 Nd3+ 19.Kd2 Nf2+ decides; and after 18.Qa4 Nd3+ 19.Kd2 Nb2+ nets the queen. After the rook move, white is going to lose not only the exchange ¿ his king is in a mating net.) 18...Nxf3+ 19.Kf2 Qxd1 20.exf3 (After 20.Kxf3 Rxe2! wins.) 20...Qd2+ 21.Kg1 Re1 22.Qc4 Rae8 (Black's threat of 23...Rxf1+ cannot be satisfactorily met.) White resigned.

Solution to Last Week's Puzzle

May 25: White mates with the pawn by Luis Ramirez Lucena (White: Ke5,Ra1,Rf1,P:e6; Black: Kh8, P:f2): 1.Ra7 Kg8 2.Rf7 Kh8 3.Kd6 Kg8 4.Kd7 Kh8 5.Rh1+ Kg8 6.Rhh7 f1Q 7.Rfg7+ Kf8 8.e7 mate.