King in the Center

    Irving Chernev once warned his readers that if you delay castling and your King remains in the center, you can be sure that files will open up against it, Bishops will slash at it, eventually Rooks will dominate the seventh rank and Pawns will turn into Queens. 

    This situation arises when a player simply neglects or de;ays castling or the King is either no longer able to castle or has been driven by the opponent away from the castling area. When that happens,im general, problem involved are identical. 

    Of course there are exceptions and a King has lost the right to castle does not always justify undertaking a mating attack. For a mating attack to be feasible, the loss of castling must also involve the exposure of a King that is vulnerable. 

    In the case of an uncastled King other problems can also arise, e.g. communication between the Rooks is more difficult. In that case the struggle for control of an open file is made more difficult.

 

 

    Who was Tartaower’s opponent? Robert Frentz was sometimes listed as Maurice Frentz which may have been his middle name. Beyond that there seems to be no information on him. He was French and appears in a group photo at the bottom of the page HERE. 

    The following game is included in Chernev’s book, The Most Instructive Games Ever Played, and a good choice it is...Tartakower packs a lot of instruction into the game. 

 

[Event "Paris"] [Site "?"] [Date "1933.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Savielly Tartakower"] [Black "Robert Frentz"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A18"] [Annotator "Massie,Jasmes"] [PlyCount "69"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.09.10"] {A18: English Opening} 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. e5 d4 { This line is relatively unexplored and black has an interesting option in 5... Ne4.} 6. exf6 dxc3 7. fxg7 cxd2+ 8. Bxd2 Bxg7 9. Qc2 (9. Bc4 {This is a viable option. The position of black's K looks shaky, but his defensive resources are sufficient so it may be said the chances are equal.} O-O 10. Ne2 Nc6 11. O-O Ne5 12. Bb3 {Krysa,L (2538)-Zacarias,M (2182) Asuncion PAR 2023/ After 12... Bg4 the position would be equal.}) (9. Bb5+ {is another good option. After} c6 10. Qe2+ Be6 11. Bc4 Qe7 12. Bxe6 Qxe6 13. Qxe6+ fxe6 14. O-O-O {Neither side can claim any advantage. Batsiashvili,N (2477)-Antolak,J (2387) Bydgoszcz POL 2022}) 9... Nc6 {Other reasonable moves have been tried here: 9...Qe7+, 9... O-O and 9...B36. All of them are good for equality as is the text.} 10. Nf3 Bg4 {Black is neglecting the safety of his K. Chernev recommended 10...Bd7 intending to castle Q-side, but that does not seem to work out too well.} ( 10... Bd7 11. O-O-O Qe7 12. Re1 Be6 13. Ba6 {with slightly the better of it.}) (10... Be6 11. Ba6 bxa6 {Best} 12. Qxc6+ Bd7 13. Qc5 {Here, too, white is better.}) (10... Qe7+ {This is black's best as chances are fairly equal after} 11. Be2 O-O) 11. O-O-O Bxf3 {Correct was 11...Qf6! after which there are numerous possibilities, but all seem to lead to equality. Here is a line suggested by Komodo Human...} (11... Qf6 12. Bg5 Bh6 13. h4 Bxf3 14. gxf3 Bxg5+ 15. hxg5 Qxg5+ 16. Kb1 Kf8 17. Bh3 Rd8 {with equal chances.}) 12. gxf3 { White now has a distinct advantage.} Nd4 {Chernev claimed this attacking move is unjustified in view of the dangers facing his exposed K. However, it is the best black has.} 13. Qe4+ Qe7 14. Qxe7+ Kxe7 {Even after the exchange of Qs white remains with a strong initiative and black's K in the center is still in danger.} 15. Bb4+ Ke8 {This move is as good as any.} 16. Bb5+ {[%mdl 512]} c6 17. Rhe1+ {Every one of white's pieces are involved in the attack!} Ne6 (17... Kd8 {would have allowed black to keep fighting, but OTB the ramifications would be hard to calculate.} 18. Bxc6 bxc6 19. Bc5 Re8 20. Rxe8+ Kxe8 21. Bxd4 Bxd4 22. Rxd4) 18. Bc4 Rd8 19. Bxe6 {Very nice! Tartakower does not hold on to the two Bs. There is no mating attack, so he transposes into a won endgame.} Rxd1+ 20. Kxd1 fxe6 21. Rxe6+ {[%mdl 4096] Endgame KRB-KRB} Kd8 22. Re7 { White has a R on the 7thg rank, black's K in confined to the 8th rank and his R is pretty much useless. White's advantage is decisive.} Bxb2 23. Rxb7 Bd4 { An interesting position. Chernev sums up the situation very well when he pointed out that black's B protects the a-Pawn and the R protects the h-Pawn, so Tartakower solves the prblem with a problem-like move.} 24. Bc5 {[%mdl 512] A pretty move which wins the a-Pawn. It's obvious the B cannot be taken because of Rb8+ winning the R.} Kc8 (24... Be5 25. Rxa7 {Of course the h-Pawn is immune, so...} Bb8 26. Bd4 Rg8 27. Rxh7 {White wins. Note that black cannot move his R off the 8th rank...} Rg2 28. Rh8+ Kc7 29. Be5+) 25. Rxa7 (25. Bxd4 { is less effective, but it would still win.} Rd8 26. Rb4 c5 27. Rc4 Kb7 28. Rxc5 Rxd4+ 29. Ke2 Rh4 30. Ke3 Rxh2 31. f4 h5 32. f5 h4 33. f6 h3 34. f7) 25... Kb8 26. Bxd4 {Black will win the B back, but in the meantime white picks up the h-Pawn.} Rd8 27. Rxh7 Rxd4+ {There can be little doubt that this is an easy win for white and so black could resign in good conscience.} 28. Ke2 Ra4 29. h4 {[%mdl 32]} Rxa2+ 30. Ke3 Kc8 {The K is headed for the K-side in a futle effort to hold up the white Ps.} (30... c5 {is an equally useless try.} 31. h5 c4 32. h6 c3 (32... Ra6 33. Rh8+ Ka7 34. h7 Rh6 35. Kd4 Rh4+ 36. Kc3 Rh3 37. Kxc4 Rxf3 38. Rg8) 33. Rg7 c2 34. Kd2) 31. h5 Kd8 32. h6 Ke8 33. Rc7 Kf8 34. h7 Ra3+ 35. Kf4 {Black resigned} 1-0