Invisible Chess Moves Read online

  1. Kc2-d2??

  The saving move was the paradoxical 1.Kb2! Rg3 2.Kc2 Kd5 If 2…Rg2+ 3.Kd3 h2 4.Ke3=. 3.Kd2 Ra3 4.Ke2 h2 5.Kf2! and White will take the pawn in the end.

  1. … h3-h2!

  2. Kd2-e2

  2.Rxh2 Ra2+.

  1. … Ra3-a1!

  This type of mistake interests us: a strong grandmaster forgets about an immediate win (for his opponent) because he obeys the general rule ‘Centralize your king’ (see Chapter 3).

  This reminds us of the basic rule that states that when the rook of the stronger side protects its pawn from the front, the defending king must stay on b2/a2 to avoid the skewer.

  Theoretical position

  1. Kc2-b2

  draws, by keeping the black rook from the a-file, and giving check when the black king appears on g3/g2 to protect the pawn.

  1.Kd2? loses after 1…Ra1.

  Question 3:

  What do we call invisibility?

  The notion of invisibility is more a philosophical question than a chessic one. According to the classical definition that with chess all the information is there on the board, in our game the notion of invisibility can be seen as a blind spot, a zone that is not ‘see-able’ for reasons that are particular to either the position or certain human characteristics1.

  Overseeing a whole board is hardly possible (see the Notkin quotation in Chapter 2, on page 78) and since we don’t have eyes on the side of our heads we cannot easily anticipate horizontal moves, especially if they reach from kingside to queenside or vice versa. These problems are dealt with in Chapter 2, ‘Geometrical invisibility’. We will see that this type of invisibility (and blindness) does not affect only weak players, but also the very best. That is why we have made a categorization of the main cases of geometrical invisibility, and we hope that the study of them will enable the reader to improve his tactical vision.

  Another type of invisibility relates to blindness of a psychological order. In a given situation, a player will not see certain possible moves for a specific reason. Sometimes such possibilities will appear ‘forbidden’ to him (see Chapter 3, ‘Technical invisibility’) and he will refuse to take them into account. In other conditions a move may appear inapplicable to him (Chapter 4, ‘Psychological invisibility’). In such cases, the invisibility of a move is also the result of ‘keeping one’s eyes closed’. We should mention that there is a kind of nervous disease that can provoke temporary blindness. Woody Allen deals with this from a comical point of view in his movie ‘Hollywood Ending’, where a stressed movie director suddenly turns blind just before starting the shooting of a movie that is crucial for his career. In this book we have dedicated a special section to world championship matches, which are sources of extreme stress and, consequently, many mistakes.

  Invisible moves are relatively easy moves that are frequently missed by the best players, and generally also by their opponents, during the game. The invisibility of these moves is confirmed by numerous examples of the same type and by the quality of the players involved. In most cases such a move will even stay invisible during the joint analysis after the game. Often such an incident has no consequences for the logical result of the game – in some cases the result is even achieved ‘thanks to’ the invisibility of the move.

  The purpose of this book is to show the reader the mechanisms that can make a move invisible. We hope that the reader, duly warned, will be able to see them more often and even to anticipate them. That is why we advise you to look for the best move in the training exercises at the end of each chapter and in the ‘Test’ chapter in the back of the book, but also every time you see a diagram.

  Question 4:

  How did we select the examples?

  Invisible moves are by definition hard to detect. Once the authors discovered the concept of hard-to-see moves, they used all the chess resources available to them: books, especially collections of games commented by the players themselves, comments by the players in reviews, articles on the Internet and their own games. The assistance of powerful computer programs was invaluable in order to discover, but also to discard certain interesting positions.

  Here’s a small example:

  Benjamin,Joel

  Stripunsky,Alexander

  Philadelphia 2006 (7)

  This is a classical attacking position. White has sacrificed some material to destroy the black king’s pawn cover. In order to win, it is enough to bring a rook to the g-file. How can we achieve this?

  Benjamin played

  33. Nd4-f3

  with the idea Rd4-g4/h4, and regretted not having played:

  33.Nc6!! (his exclamation marks)

  Analysis diagram

  ‘This problem-like move wins a tempo to enable the rook to go to d4 quicker. It was keeping the advantage, but I could not find it during the game’, declared the American player.

  33.Nc6 is certainly a superb move, but we could not categorize it as ‘invisible’ since it is not the best move available in the position. In fact, many moves could be winning here.

  Here are some possibilities:

  33.Nb3 with the same idea fails to 33…Ne4!;

  33.Nf5 is to White’s advantage after 33…exf5 34.Rxd5 Ne4 35.f3 (if 35.Bf4, 35…Qc6 defends) 35…Be6 36.Bf4 Qe7 37.Rdd1;

  33.Re1 wins easily, threatening to chase Black’s knight with 34.b4, in order to let the rook enter the party: 33…Qd8 34.Bg5 f6 35.Qg6+ Kh8 36.Qh5+ Kg8 37.Bh6 Qe7 38.Qxd5+−;

  The best move is the trivial 33.Qg5+, see:

  A) 33…Kh7 34.Nb5 34.Nb3 is also winning 34…Bxb5 After 34…Qd8 White uses an elegant staircase manoeuvre: 35.Qh5+ Kg8 36.Qg4+ Kh7 37.Qh3+ Kg8 38.Qg3+ Kh8 39.Rd4. 35.Rd4;

  B) 33…Kh8 34.Nb3 But not 34.Nb5 because of the hard-to-see defence 34…Bxb5 35.Rd4 and now:

  Analysis diagram

  35…Bd3!! 36.Rh4+ Bh7. The flight of the bishop from d7 to h7 looks like a helicopter’s. Now White has to content himself with a draw after 37.Rxh7+ Kxh7 38.Qh6+ Kg8 39.Qg5+=. 34…Bb5 On 34…Ne4 the most accurate is 35.Qh5+ Kg8 36.Qg4+ Kh8 37.Qxe4+−. 35.Nxc5 35.Rd4+−. 35…Qxc5 36.Qe5+Kh7 37.Rd4;

  33.Nc6 Threatening to bring in the rook via d4 and forcing 33…f5, after which several moves give White an advantage, e.g. 34.Qg6+ and here the logical follow-up is 34…Kh8 35.Rd4 f4 36.Rxd5 exd5 37.Qh6+ Kg8 38.Ne7+ Kf7 39.Bxf4 Qb6 40.Bd6!+− With the threat of mate on g6. 40…Ke8 41.Nxd5

  Interestingly, all these complicated variations went unnoticed by Benjamin both during the game and later in the post-mortem analysis.

  33. … Nc5-e4

  34. Nf3-g5 Ne4-f6

  35. Rd1xd5 e6xd5

  36. Qh6xf6 Qc7-c2

  37. Bc1-e3

  With an unclear game, won by White in the end.

  The moves we are looking for must be the best, and must also constitute a clear improvement compared to the moves actually played. Here is a comparable example.

  Afek,Yochanan

  Blom,Vincent

  Haarlem 2008 (2)

  White is in danger here. The rook is attacked, and there is a threat of pinning the queen along the long diagonal by 1…Bd5. Another possible problem lies in the defence of the bishop, in case the rook moves from the a-file. Nevertheless, two moves are clearly winning for White. Can you spot them?

  One of the two was played in the actual game, and is quite sufficient to win:

  37. Ra1-d1! Qd4xa4

  38. Rd1-d8!

  38.Qf2+ was played in the game, which Black won in the end.

  38. … Qa4-c4

  If 38…Qa1+ 39.Qg1+ Qxg1+ 40.Kxg1 Kb7 41.Rxh8+−;

  If 38…Bc8 39.Rxh8 Bb1 (on 39…Qd7 40.Qc2 wins eventually), of course 40.Qxb7+!.

  39. Qg2-a8+ Ka7-b6

  40. Qa8-b8+ Kb6-a5

  41. Qb8-a7++−

  There was an even stronger and prettier opportunity: 37.Bd1+!!.

  Analysis diagram

  A) On 37…Kb6 White goes after the king along the open lines with queen, rook and bishop, winning easily: 38.Rc1! Bd7 38…Bd5
39.Bf3+−. 39.Bf3 Rc8 40.Qc2 Bb5 41.Qb3 Rxc7 42.Qe6+;

  B) After 37…Qxa1, the brilliant 38.Qg1+!! is the key. The king has to move to a light square, allowing White to win the queen with a discovered attack: 38…Kb7 39.Bf3+ or 38…Ka6 39.Be2+.

  37.Bd1 is a magnificent move, and it is the best one. Still, a simple win was also available, and that is why we have not selected this position as a pure example of invisibility. It does illustrate many geometrical themes that we will meet further on in Chapter 2, like backward bishop moves, backward queen moves, and the self-pin.

  The above example inspired the white player to compose the following study.

  Afek,Yochanan

  2008

  White to play and win

  The first move is straightforward.

  1. h6-h7!

  Black’s answer is forced.

  1. … Be8-g6+

  And now the king has to go to the only square that does not obstruct any useful line. You have to play through the entire variation to see that the best square is:

  2. Kd3-c4!! Bg6xh7

  3. d6-d7 h3-h2

  4. d7-d8Q h2-h1Q

  We now reach a position that has a lot in common with the previous game, with a similar theme.

  5. Qd8-d1+!

  Setting up the same battery.

  5. … Kh5-g6

  The black king has to stay on the light squares, as did White’s on move 2, the main tactical idea being a discovered attack on the black queen with a bishop check.

  6. Qd1-b1+! Kg6-f7

  Black has escaped the discovered attack, but he has landed on another mined square:

  7. Qb1-b7+! Qh1xb7

  8. a6xb7 1-0

  We have selected those examples which appeared to us the clearest, irrespective of how old or how ‘new’ they may be. There are a lot of hitherto unpublished positions in this book, and we give special thanks to the friends who helped us to find them: Amatzia Avni, who kindly allowed us to make use of his collection and books, Alexander Baburin and his team of the daily ‘Chess Today’, Artur Yusupov, Artur Kogan, Olivier Pucher, Nicolas Giffard, Jacques Bernard, and Romain Picard.

  Top players are reluctant to speak about their missed opportunities, both because they are not linked with positive feelings and because their inability to find good moves are, you might say, professional ‘secrets’. However, Boris Gelfand and Peter Svidler agreed to speak with us about certain episodes – often unhappy ones. Thanks to both of them.

  Thanks to French editor Christophe Bouton for his confidence and his friendship. Thanks to Justin Beplate, who kindly helped us polish the English version. Last but not least, big thanks to Stephanie Menase, who gave us some insights about invisibility and what it means from a philosophical point of view.

  We wish you all the best in exploring the kingdom of invisible moves!

  The authors

  About the second edition

  The first edition of Invisible Chess Moves was well received and even won the ChessCafe Book of the Year Award.

  For this second edition, we have made use of a number of corrections and other suggestions by readers, of whom we’d like to especially mention John Bleau and grandmasters Karsten Müller and Frank Holzke.

  The editors

  Footnote

  1 After a catastrophic 5.5-0.5 loss in a match against Garry Kasparov, Anthony Miles, then ranked 6th in the world, declared: ‘I thought I was playing the world champion, not a monster with a hundred eyes, who sees all!’. With one hundred eyes fixed all over our body, perhaps certain moves would become more clearly visible for us.

  Part I – Objective Invisibility

  In this part we will study moves that are difficult to find and hard to predict (Chapter 1) and moves that are invisible for geometrical reasons (Chapter 2).

  Obviously such ‘objective’ cases, where the right move is difficult to find regardless of the player’s personality or the specific conditions of the game, can sometimes be linked to circumstances belonging to the subjective aspects of invisibility (see Part II); this will only make them more difficult to find.

  Chapter 1 – Hard-to-see moves

  This chapter is a necessary preliminary to the study of invisible moves. We distinguish several types of invisibility, but there may be other obstacles for finding the best moves, in various circumstances; these difficulties are dealt with here.

  Hard-to-see moves are objectively difficult to find, and even harder to anticipate. Quiet moves (Section A) and intermediate moves (Section B) in particular are very difficult to foresee. In certain cases, hard-to-see moves are very similar to invisible moves. For example, the line geometry in Section C is very close to the Geometrical invisibility we will deal with in Chapter 2. A player who forgets about certain chess rules (Section D) is not far removed from Technical invisibility (Chapter 3); and the change of rhythm investigated in Section E is very near to Psychological invisibility (Chapter 4).

  A – Quiet moves

  The more ‘brutal’ a move is (a check, a capture, a direct threat), the easier it is for a player to find it. A serious player begins his analysis by checking forced sequences – that is, series of moves that are the most compelling for the opponent and, in a way, the easiest to calculate1. It also happens that in a favourable position, there is no direct move that is satisfactory.

  Take this position from the rapid game Kramnik-Leko. At this speed of play, the best move for White is virtually invisible2.

  Kramnik,Vladimir

  Leko,Peter

  Budapest rapid 2001 (3)

  White is a pawn down, but the position is extremely favourable for him, with the advantage of the bishop pair and the great position of his rooks: one on the seventh rank and the other one on the open file, pinning Black’s minor pieces. It is precisely in this type of position that we should look for a forced win. Let’s analyse some moves. The main idea is to take on d5 with the bishop and take back with the rook in order to win the pinned knight.

  A) The simplest option is to take on d5 first. But after 20.Bxd5 exd5 21.Rxd5 Black has 21…Qb6! attacking queen and rook, enabling him to unpin with tempo. This is the basic variation;

  B) 20.Bd6 Re8 21.Bxd5 21.Qb5 Nf6. 21…exd5 22.Qb7 (22.Qb5 Ne5) looks strong, but Black can save himself with the surprising 22…Qf6! 23.Qxd7 Rcd8;

  C) In case of 20.Qb5 the same counterattack on the a7 rook and the queen does the job: 20…Qb6! 21.Qxd7 Bxg2 and in case of the erroneous 22.Kxg2? the lack of protection of the other rook on d1 tells after 22…Rcd8 and suddenly Black is much better;

  D) In the game White played 20.e4 Bc6 21.Rd6 Ra8! Attacking the a7 rook. 22.Qa3 Rxa7 23.Qxa7 and now simplest was to attack the queen by 23…Qb8!=.

  The key is the splendid

  20. Qb2-a1!±

  Simultaneously protecting his three major pieces while maintaining the threat of taking on d5. After this prophylactic, harmonious move, Black is left without an adequate defence against White’s threats and will lose at least an exchange.

  20. … Qd8-e8

  20…Ra8 21.Bxd5 Rxa7 22.Qxa7 exd5 23.Rxd5+−.

  21. e2-e4

  21.Bd6±.

  21. … Bd5-c6

  22. Bf4-d6±

  20.Qa1 is a very ‘Kramnikian’ move, typical of his style; he would probably have found it with a ‘normal’ time-control. Still it is a remarkably difficult move to find, because in order to take it into account one must check all possible forced variations, then find all the defensive resources of the opponent, and only then look for other possibilities.

  In such a position, if 1.e4 or 1.Bxd5 were winning by force, it would be a mistake to play a ‘quiet’ move instead of the forcing one, and playing like this would only reduce White’s winning chances. We showed this game to many amateur players, and not a small number of them claimed that the solution was very logical and natural in fact almost self-evident. Of course, once explained logically, the move Qb2-a1 is easily understandable. But neither Kramnik nor any of the players to whom we prese
nted the position as a puzzle, was able to solve it. A paradoxical aspect of invisible moves is that they are difficult to find, and obvious once you see them. In Edgar Allan Poe’s famous story ‘The Purloined Letter’ (1844), the best detectives in Paris are unable to find a stolen letter in a hotel room. The amateur detective discovers the half-torn letter hanging in a cheap card rack, clearly visible for everyone.

  Here’s another classical example, where the solution was found over-the-board by a great talent of the 20th century.

  Maroczy,Geza

  Romi,Massimiliano

  San Remo 1930 (8)

  A piece down, White looks lost: his queen is en prise and the h3 pawn can be taken if she moves, with mating threats. From a position where he is attacked from all directions, Maroczy managed to mount a relentless attack with one quiet move:

  1. Qh6-h5!!

  This little backward move enables White to repel the enemy’s attacks while preparing a deadly discovered check.

  1. … Rd2xg2+

  If Black takes the queen, her daughter on e8 gives White a winning initiative: 1…Rxh5 2.Rg8+ Kd7 3.e8Q+ Kc7 4.Qxh5+−. With a pawn and an exchange up, this is an easy win.

  2. Rg6xg2+

  Protecting his own king while giving check to the enemy monarch.

  2. … Rh8xh5

  3. Rg2xb2

  White has won an exchange, while keeping his pawn on the seventh rank. The rest is routine.

  3. … Rh5xh3+

  4. Kh2-g1 Rh3-h7

  5. Rb2-h2 Rh7-g7+

  6. Kg1-f2 Rg7-g8

  7. Rh2-h6 Ke8-f7

  8. e7-e8Q+ Rg8xe8

  9. Rh6-h7+ 1-0