Richter’s Double Rook Sacrifice

    A major advantage of the fianchettoed King’s position is its ability to resist an attack. However, if the fianchettoed Bishop is exchanged the King’s position is seriously weakened. And, without the fianchettoed Bishop, the opening of the g-file and the weakness of f6 and g6 (or f3 and g3) can be significant. 

    Also, remember that the position of the g-Pawn can make the attacker's task of opening up the h-file by the advance of his h-Pawn a dangerous possibility. 

    Short version...without the Bishop the castled position becomes weak and vulnerable and the squares that the missing Bishop covered result in a serious weakness. 

    An attack against the fianchettoed position is typically carried out by a Pawn advance and, hopefully, the elimination of the Bishop and the breaking up of the Pawn structure in front of the King. 

Kurt Richter

    The following ame by the great attacking genius Kurt Richter shows him sacrifices both Rooks for the fianchettoed Bishop in order to finish the game by an attack on the weakened dark-squares around the King. The game is not only a delight to play over, but it’s also very instructive. Note: some sources give slight opening transpositionm but they do not affect the game. 

    Kurt Richter (1900-1969) was born in Berlin in 1900 and was awarded the IM title in 1950 on the first designation of titleholders. He was a sharp attacking player and theoretician. 

    His opponent, Leonhard Abramavisius (1900 (?) -1960) was a Lithuanian master. In 1950, he tied for 1st in the Lithuanian championship. 

ChessBase

Kurt Richter (Germany)–Leonardas Abramavicius (Lith)1–0C11Hamburg Olympiad8Hamburg GER18.07.1930Stockfish 15

Vereson Attack 1.d4 d5 2.c3 f6 3.g5 In the Veresov white plays for fast development. He will often play e2-e4. And, frequently players castle on opposides making for some interesting play. Here the game reached a what appears to be a rather benign position from the French Defense. As will be seemn, appearances can be deceptive. e6 4.e4 dxe4 5.xe4 e7 6.xf6 xf6 7.f3 d7 8.d3 0-0 9.e2 c5 10.0-0-0 cxd4 11.g4 11.h4 e7 12.eg5 12.b1 b6 13.a1 c5 14.xc5 xc5 15.g5 g6 16.f4 as in Negi,P (2634)-Ghane, S (2375) Dubai UAE 2010. Whie has a promising position. 12...f6 13.e5 c7 14.g4 d6 15.f4 b6 16.hf1 b7 17.c4 with equal chances. Sutovsky,E (2660)-Ivanchuk,V (2711) Moscow 2002 11.xf6+ is playable' it results in equality. xf6 11...xf6 12.xd4 d7 12.e4 h6+ 13.b1 f6 14.xd4 11...g6 11...e7 12.h4 12.g5 a5 13.b1 c5 14.xc5 xc5 15.hg1 Philippe,C (2392)-De Val,D (2149) Pula 2005. White's position us the more active. 12...c7 13.b1 b6 14.fg5 b7 15.xh7 xh7 16.f6+ White is considerably better. Sutovsky,E (2661)-Kovacevic,A (2559) Neum 2004 12.h4 Black's position is quite solid and his next move looks plausible. But, it is, in fact, a seriuous mistake. g7 12...b6 An odd looking way to defend against the K-side attacck, but what ot does is allow black to escange off some attacking minor pieces. 13.h5 c5 14.hxg6 14.xc5 bxc5 15.hxg6 hxg6 14...xd3+ 15.xd3 fxg6 The position is equal. 13.h5 Black is now facing a dangerous attack. e8 14.hxg6 hxg6 15.g5 It's hard to imagine the lurking danger on the h-file thanks to the defending B on g7. e5 16.h4 f8 16...b6 is still his best defensive chance. 17.c4 c5 18.f6+ xf6 19.gxf6 xf6 20.dh1 f5 and black can probably survive. 17.dh1 f5 18.f1 Planning toi sacrifice on h8 c8 Poor Abranavicius! He doesn't suspect a thing. 18...d7 had to be played. 19.h8+ 19.fd2 f8 leaves white clearly better, but there is no forced win. 19...xh8 20.xh8+ xh8 21.h1+ g8 as in the game does not work because the N on d7 covers f6. 19.h8+ Brilliant! xh8 20.xh8+ This is the only followup that does not leave black winning! xh8 21.h1+ h7? 21...g8 is a better defense. 22.f6+ xf6 23.gxf6 c6 24.xf5 xf6 Black is lost here, too, but he can at least make white work for the point. Here's how a Shootout variation went... 25.d3 g7 26.g5 e7 27.d5 c6 28.f4 exf4 29.xd4+ f6 30.f3 g5 31.xa7 d6 32.c5 ed7 33.f5 e7 34.b4 e3 35.d2 d4 36.c4 e7 37.b2 c7 38.b3 cd7 39.a4 7d5 40.c8 d7 41.e8 xd3+ 42.cxd3 xd3+ 43.c2 d7 44.d6 b6 45.f5+ g8 46.c3 c7+ 47.d2 h7 48.e1 d7 49.a5 bxa5 50.bxa5 a7 51.d8 f7 52.b6 d7 53.a6 g6 54.d6 g4 55.b1+ g7 56.f5+ f7 57.h6+ g7 58.xg4 g6 59.b6 f3 60.a7 xa7 61.xa7+ f8 62.d4 f2+ 63.xf2 e5 64.d8+ f7 65.xf6+ e8 66.e6+ d8 67.xe5 c7 68.c6+ b8 69.d7+ a7 70.b6+ a8 71.a6# 22.f6 g7 23.h6+ It's mate next move so black resigned. 1–0

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