The Attacking Genius Of Mikhail Chigorin

     Chess in Translation has an old article in 2010 titled The Forgotten Recollections of Chigorin’s Daughter that is fascinating reading. 
     Chessmetrics puts Chigorin's rating at a hefty 2797 in 1895 which places him right behind Lasker and Tarrasch. In 1889 and 1897 he is ranked number two behind Steinitz and Lasker respectively. In 1893 he tied Tarrasch 11-11 in a match in St. Petersburg. Both players score +9 -9 =4. The first player to win ten games would win the match, but if each player won nine games, the match would end without a winner. In Three Hundred Games, Tarrasch wrote that he received an invitation "couched in the most flattering terms" from St. Petersburg. However, Garry Kasparov stated in his On My Great Predecessors, Part I that Tarrasch challenged Chigorin. 
     In any case, Kasparov praised this match between the two who were among the best players in the world at the end of the Steinitz era for the richness of its content and noted that the contestants "fought literally to the to the last pawn: in the first nine games and the six final ones there was not a single draw!" The match was a battle between two different style: Tarrasch's classical style and Chigorin's creative style in which he frequently looked not for the rules but the exceptions. 

     The only book contining a collection of his games that I know of is Mikhail Chigorin: The Creative Genius by Jimmy Adams, but it has the rather hefty price tag of $34.00. I have never seen the book, but am familar with Adams writing which is superb. 

     Chigorin greatly influenced the development of chess in Russia because of his striking originality. He rebelled against the dogmatic principles of Steinitz and Tarrasch which he believed placed restrictions on creative thinking. Chigorin's claim was that it was necessary to take into account all the "concrete" features of the position and make a dynamic appraisal of each position, especially its tactical possibilities.  It was this thinking that lead him to infuse new life into many openings of the day and inspire those who came after him to delve more deeply into opening theory. 

House of Staunton St. Petersburg chess set...only $895

     Chigorin challenged Steinitz for the world championship twice, losing 10-6 and 10-8. In those matches Adams states "In the match came to light the weak side of Chigorin - the sportsman. He ought to have set himself the task, long before, of finding a correct system of play as Black against 1. d4. In 1889, as indeed also later, he placed too many hopes on improvisation at the board."
     While playing over the games from the book The Games of the St. Petersburg Tournament 1895-1896 by James Mason and WHK Pollock, the games of Chigorin were a source of fascination. 
     At the closing banquet of the Hastings 1895, Chigorin announced that the top prizewinners had been invited to St. Petersburg for a match-tournament to begin in December that year. The top finishers Pillsbury, Chigorin and Lasker, plus fifth-place finisher Steinitz agreed to play; fourth-place finisher Siegbert Tarrasch declined. They played six games against each other. The tournament was a disappointment for Pillsbury and Chigorin. 
     Pillsbury was in bad form in the second half and Chigorin in the first or the results might have been completely different. 

     In the following game Chigorin had lost the opening battle and was facing a sure defeat when at move 17 he decided on a R sacrifice that while not sound turned out to be more than Pillsbury could handle. He ended up in time pressure and wasn't able to find the correct defense. 

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[Event "St. Petersburg 1895/96"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1896.1.14"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Mikhail Chigorin"]
[Black "Harry N. Pillsbury"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Ruy Lopez} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 {In the Ruy Lopez variations in
which black does not play ...a6 are generally thought to give black fewer
chances but they do have their points. This game Pillsbury played 3...g6
which today is known as the Smyslov Defence, Fianchetto Defence, Barnes
Defence, or Pillsbury Defence. It's a quiet positional system that was played
occasionally by Vasily Smyslov and Boris Spassky, becoming popular in the
1980s when it was shown that 4.c3 a6! gives Black a good game. During the
period in which this game was played Pillsbury did a great deal to revive this
move.} 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. d3 {With this move, instead of 5.d4, white hopes to limit
the scope of black's B on g7.} 5... Nge7 6. Bg5 f6 7. Be3 a6 8. Ba4 b5 9. Bb3
Na5 10. Qd2 Nxb3 11. axb3 Bb7 12. Bh6 O-O {Now white has several reasonable
options, but the adventurous move he chooses coupled with castling Q-side
guarantees an exciting game.} 13. h4 {Pillsbury's next moves adds additional
support to the e-Pawn. In the tournament book Pollock claimed this was
necessary and assigned the alternative 13...d5 a question mark, but his
analysis is faulty. In fact, black can safely play the more aggressive 13...
d5. Pollock's suggestion of meeting 13...d5 with 14.h5 g4 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.
Nxg6 nets white three Ps for the piece, but the position is in black's favor,
not white's as Pollock hints. The correct line after 13...d5 is 14.Bxg7 Kxg7
15.h5 g5 with equal chances.} 13... d6 14. O-O-O {Rather than this move white
might have done better with the straightforward 14.h5.} 14... c5 15. g4 b4
{Pollock points out that white's next move is necessary because 16.Na4 results
in the loss of a P after 16...Bc6 and ...Qa5. White could, if he chose,
probably look at it as a sacrifice and try to get compensation by pushing his
K-side Ps.} 16. Nb1 a5 {White's next move, which prepares the advance of the
g-Pawn was a waste of time. He should have tried 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.g5 and push
the h-Pawn.} 17. Rdg1 { White prepares the advance g5} 17... a4 18. bxa4 Rxa4
19. Qe3 {The idea of this move is to make d2 available for either his N or K
in the event of an invasion on the a-file.} 19... Nc6 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. g5
Nd4 22. h5 {By this point Pillsbury has gained the upper hand and if white
does nothing he is going to lose. So, with his next move Chigorin prepares to
sacrifice a whole R.} 22... Nxf3 23. hxg6 {By annotating based on the result
Pollack wrote that black must accept the sacrifice and gave the faulty
23...Nxg5 as proof. In fact, there is absolutely no reason not to accept the
sacrifice which eaves black with a won game. If, for some reason black did
not want to take the R, he could play 23.. .hxg6 24.Qxf3 fxg5 25.Qh3 Rh8 with
an unclear position.} 23... Nxg1 24. gxf6+ Kxf6 25. gxh7 {At this point
Pillsbury was very short of time.} 25... Ke6 {Heading for safety on the
Q-side.} 26. Rxg1 Kd7 27. Qh3+ Kc6 28. Qe6 Ra8 29. Rg7 {A seemingly safe
neutral move in time pressure, but it tosses away black's advantage. The
correct move was 29...Qc8 and there is no way for white to utilize his P on h7
or sustain an attack on the K and he dare not trade Qs.} 29... Kb6 30. Na3
{Brilliant!! This offer of a N is the only way to get to black's K. If black
take the N he will lose. 30...bxa3?? 31.Qb3+ followed by Qxb7.} 30... Ba6 {
Pillsbury's time presure is becoming acute.} 31. Rd7 Qxd7 32. Qxd7 Rad8 33.
Qg7 bxa3 34. bxa3 {Black has managed to survive and his two Rs and B are
sufficient to hold off the Q a P on h7. The simple 34...Rh8 was good.
Either 34...Rh8 or a neutral B move was better.} 34... c4 {Contrary to
Pollack's exclamation mark in the tournament book, this move is not so great
because it allows white to utilize his center Ps.} 35. d4 {Now the capture of
the f-Pawn loses the game. After 35...Rfe8 36.c3 Bb5 37.f3 Bc6 it's hard to
see how white can make any progress.} 35... Rxf2 36. (35 Rfe8 37. c3 Bb5 38.
f3 Bc6) 39. h8=Q Rxh8 40. Qxh8 Rf1+ 41. Kb2 exd4 42. Qxd4+ Kc7 43. a4 Rf7 44.
a5 Kc8 45. Qxd6 Rb7+ 46. Kc3 Bb5 47. a6 Rc7 48. a7 {This flashy move mates in
17 moves and is prettier that the quicker 45.e5 which mates in 15 moves.} 1-0