Wednesday, January 20, 2021

The Classic Bishop Sacrifice on g6

     Under the Nazis during WWII the General Government Chess Championships (Schachmeisterschaft des Generalgouvernements) were a series of five Nazi tournaments that took place in occupied central Poland. 
     The main participants in these events were Alekhine, Bogoljubow, Paul Schmidt, Klaus Junge, Karl Gilg, Josef Lokvenc, Hans Mueller, Fedir Bohatyrchuk and other German masters. 
     Hans Frank (May 23, 1900 – October 16, 1946), the Governor-General of General Government, was the patron of those tournaments because he was an avid chess player. He possessed an extensive library of chess literature but was also a good player and at one time Bogoljubow was a guest at Frank's castle.
     Frank, who became known as the Butcher of Poland, was a German lawyer who worked for the Nazi Party during the 1920s and 1930s and later became Adolf Hitler's personal lawyer. After the invasion of Poland, Frank became Nazi Germany's chief jurist in the occupied Poland. From 1939 to the end of the war he instituted a reign of terror against civilians and was directly involved in the mass murder of Jews, boasting that there were not enough trees in the General Government to cut down to make the paper required to list all of those people he had had killed. 
     The General Government tournaments began with a chess congress in November, 1940 that was held in Krakow, Krynica and Warsaw from which the following game was taken. 

     The player who tied with Bogoljubow for first was Anton Kohler (1907-1961) a German master from Munich. He participated in German tournaments from about the mid-1930s until the early 1950s. 
     The games feature a Bishop sacrifice on g6 which is a sacrifice that can be played in various setting if black's K is uncastled. It's a good pattern to remember!

Efim Bogoljubov - Ludwig Rellstab

Result: 1-0

Site: Kracow

Date: 1940

Torre Attack

[...] 1.♘f3 For other examples of a B sacrifice on g6 take a look at the following games.
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 ♕xd5 3.♘c3 ♕a5 4.d4 ♘f6 5.♘f3 c6 6.♗c4 ♗f5 7.♘e5 e6 8.g4 ♗g6 9.h4 ♘bd7 10.♘xd7 ♘xd7 11.h5 ♗e4 12.♖h3 ♗g2 13.♖e3 ♘b6 14.♗d3 ♘d5 15.f3 ♗b4 16.♔f2 ♗xc3 17.bxc3 ♕xc3 18.♖b1 ♕xd4 19.♖xb7 ♖d8 20.h6 gxh6 21.♗g6 ♘e7 22.♕xd4 ♖xd4 23.♖d3 ♖d8 24.♖xd8+ ♔xd8 25.♗d3 1-0 Viswanathan Anand-Joel Lautier/Biel 1997
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.♘c3 ♘f6 4.e5 ♘fd7 5.♘ce2 c5 6.c3 ♘c6 7.f4 cxd4 8.cxd4 ♗b4+ 9.♘c3 ♘b6 10.♘f3 ♗d7 11.♗d3 ♘e7 12.O-O ♖c8 13.♘b5 ♘c4 14.♘xa7 ♖a8 15.b3 ♘xe5 16.fxe5 ♖xa7 17.a3 ♘f5 18.g4 ♘h4 19.♘g5 ♖f8 20.♘xh7 ♖h8 21.♖a2 ♗c3 22.♗g5 ♗xd4+ 23.♔h1 ♕c7 24.♗xh4 ♗xe5 25.♗g6 1-0 Rudolf Spielmann-Paul Schmidt/Noordwijk 1938
1...♘f6 2.d4 b5 While unusual, this move is not bad in the sense that it has a direct refutation. In fact, in my database the games (around 750 of them) show 1/3 each for wins, losses and draws. 3.♗g5 ♗b7 4.e3 a6 5.♘bd2 e6 6.a4 White often plays 6.Bd3, but white has to play this move at some point soon. It is strategically correct because white takes control of c4.
6.♗d3 h6 Better was 6...c5 7.♗xf6 gxf6 8.a4 b4 9.c4 f5 10.e4 with the advantage. Megaranto,S (2512)-Lu,S (2636)/ Makati PHI 2018
6...b4
6...c6 trying to avoid surrendering c4 to white runs into 7.e4 h6 8.♗xf6 gxf6
8...♕xf6 9.♗d3 with an excellent position because black has no decent moves.
9.c3 ♖g8 10.g3 ♗e7 11.♗g2 with a good game.
7.♗d3 c5 8.O-O
8.e4 is also good. 8...cxd4 9.♘xd4 d6 10.O-O ♘bd7 11.♔h1 ♗e7 12.♕e2 O-O 13.f4 and white stands well. Vavrak,P (2397) -Obsivac,J (2344)/Czech Rep 2002
8...♗e7 9.dxc5 ♗xc5 10.e4 ♗e7 11.e5 ♘d5 12.♗xe7 ♘xe7 13.♘c4 The threat to occupy d6 must be met and so black has to retreat the N. 13...♘c8 14.♖e1 It's obvious that white's position is preferable, but after 14...O-O black at least has hopes of putting up some sort of defense. Instead with his next move he makes a bid for freedom, but in the process makes a classic mistake by opening up the position to a better developed opponent. 14...d5 15.exd6!+⁠− an unexpected blow 15...♘xd6 White's position is so strong that he has a multitude of winning moves here, but he chooses what is probably the most pleasing. 16.♗g6 Discovered attack: d3, d1-d6
16.♘g5 is crushing. 16...♘xc4 17.♘xe6 fxe6 18.♖xe6+ ♔f8 19.♕g4 is crushing. Just one example... 19...♘a5 20.♖ae1 ♘d7 21.♖d6 ♗c6 22.♕f4+ ♔g8 23.♖xc6 ♘xc6 24.♗c4#
16.♘d4 is equally forceful. 16...♗d5 17.♘xd6+ ♕xd6 18.♘f5 ♕d8 19.♕g4 g6 20.♕d4 ♖g8 21.♘e3 ♗b7 22.♕xb4 and white is winning easily.
16.♘xd6+ ♕xd6 17.♘g5 (17.♗b5+ ♔e7) 17...♕e7 18.♕h5 g6 19.♕h6 ♘c6 20.♗xg6 O-O-O 21.♗xf7 winning.
16...hxg6 This is the final mistake, not that it really matters. (16...O-O 17.♘xd6 hxg6 18.♘xb7) 17.♘xd6+ ♔e7 18.♘xb7 ♕c7
18...♕xd1 a fruitless try. 19.♖axd1 and black is simply a piece sown.
19.♕d5
19.♕d4 this pedestrian move also wins. 19...♘d7 20.♖xe6+ fxe6 21.♕xg7+
19...♖h5
19...♘d7 is no better. 20.♕d4 ♕xb7 21.♖xe6+ fxe6 22.♕xg7+ ♔d6 23.♖d1+ ♔c6 24.♕e7 ♔b6 25.♕xe6+ ♔a7 26.♖xd7
20.♕e4 ♘c6 21.g4 ♖h6 22.♘c5 Black resigned.
Powered by Aquarium

No comments:

Post a Comment