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. 

[Event "Hamburg Olympiad"] [Site "Hamburg GER"] [Date "1930.07.18"] [Round "8"] [White "Kurt Richter (Germany)"] [Black "Leonardas Abramavicius (Lith)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C11"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "1930.07.13"] {Vereson Attack} 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 {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. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. Bd3 O-O 9. Qe2 c5 10. O-O-O cxd4 11. g4 (11. h4 Be7 12. Neg5 (12. Kb1 Qb6 13. Ka1 Nc5 14. Nxc5 Qxc5 15. Ng5 g6 16. f4 {as in Negi,P (2634)-Ghane, S (2375) Dubai UAE 2010. Whie has a promising position.}) 12... Nf6 13. Ne5 Qc7 14. g4 Bd6 15. f4 b6 16. Rhf1 Bb7 17. Bc4 {with equal chances. Sutovsky,E (2660)-Ivanchuk,V (2711) Moscow 2002}) (11. Nxf6+ {is playable' it results in equality.} Qxf6 (11... Nxf6 12. Nxd4 Bd7) 12. Qe4 Qh6+ 13. Kb1 Nf6 14. Qxd4) 11... g6 (11... Be7 12. h4 (12. g5 Qa5 13. Kb1 Nc5 14. Nxc5 Qxc5 15. Rhg1 { Philippe,C (2392)-De Val,D (2149) Pula 2005. White's position us the more active.}) 12... Qc7 13. Kb1 b6 14. Nfg5 Bb7 15. Nxh7 Kxh7 16. Nf6+ {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.} Bg7 (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 Nc5 14. hxg6 (14. Nxc5 bxc5 15. hxg6 hxg6) 14... Nxd3+ 15. Qxd3 fxg6 {The position is equal.}) 13. h5 {Black is now facing a dangerous attack.} Re8 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. Rh4 Nf8 ( 16... b6 {is still his best defensive chance.} 17. Bc4 Nc5 18. Nf6+ Bxf6 19. gxf6 Qxf6 20. Rdh1 Bf5 {and black can probably survive.}) 17. Rdh1 Bf5 18. Qf1 {Planning toi sacrifice on h8} Rc8 {[%mdl 8192] Poor Abranavicius! He doesn't suspect a thing.} (18... Nd7 {had to be played.} 19. Rh8+ (19. Nfd2 Kf8 { leaves white clearly better, but there is no forced win.}) 19... Bxh8 20. Rxh8+ Kxh8 21. Qh1+ Kg8 {as in the game does not work because the N on d7 covers f6.} ) 19. Rh8+ {[%mdl 512] Brilliant!} Bxh8 20. Rxh8+ {[%mdl 512] This is the only followup that does not leave black winning!} Kxh8 21. Qh1+ Nh7 $2 (21... Kg8 { is a better defense.} 22. Nf6+ Qxf6 23. gxf6 Rc6 24. Bxf5 Rxf6 {Black is lost here, too, but he can at least make white work for the point. Here's how a Shootout variation went...} 25. Bd3 Kg7 26. Ng5 Re7 27. Qd5 Rc6 28. f4 exf4 29. Qxd4+ f6 30. Nf3 g5 31. Qxa7 Rd6 32. Qc5 Red7 33. Qf5 Re7 34. b4 Re3 35. Nd2 Rd4 36. Nc4 Re7 37. Kb2 Rc7 38. Kb3 Rcd7 39. a4 R7d5 40. Qc8 Rd7 41. Qe8 Rxd3+ 42. cxd3 Rxd3+ 43. Kc2 {[%eval 375,28] [%wdl 1000,0,0]} Rd7 44. Nd6 b6 45. Nf5+ Kg8 46. Kc3 Rc7+ 47. Kd2 Rh7 48. Ke1 Rd7 49. a5 bxa5 50. bxa5 Ra7 51. Qd8 Kf7 52. Qb6 Rd7 53. a6 Kg6 54. Nd6 g4 55. Qb1+ Kg7 56. Nf5+ Kf7 57. Nh6+ Kg7 58. Nxg4 Ng6 59. Qb6 f3 60. a7 Rxa7 61. Qxa7+ Kf8 62. Qd4 f2+ 63. Kxf2 Ne5 64. Qd8+ Kf7 65. Qxf6+ Ke8 66. Qe6+ Kd8 67. Nxe5 Kc7 68. Qc6+ Kb8 69. Nd7+ Ka7 70. Qb6+ Ka8 71. Qa6#) 22. Nf6 Kg7 23. Qh6+ {It's mate next move so black resigned.} 1-0