[Event "World Championship 4th"]
[Site "Havana"]
[Date "1892.01.07"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Steinitz, William"]
[Black "Chigorin, Mikhail"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2590"]
[BlackElo "2600"]
[Annotator "Pritchett"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "1892.01.01"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "23"]
[EventCountry "CUB"]
[SourceTitle ""]
[Source ""]
[SourceDate ""]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate ""]
[SourceQuality "1"]
{[%evp 13,55,-13,29,-21,11,-50,6,-19,24,-32,34,23,75,66,113,75,130,126,108,80,
137,85,142,61,159,132,182,27,232,243,236,214,242,223,29993,29994,29994,29995,
29996,29997,29997,29998,29998,29999] C65: Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defence (3...Nf6),
unusual lines and 4 0-0 Bc5} {The Players Wilhelm Steinitz (1836–1900) was
the first official World Champion, a title he received after defeating
Zukertort in New Orleans in 1886. Despite actually being one year older than
Paul Morphy, Steinitz really belonged to the next generation of chess players.
By the time Steinitz was beginning to dedicate himself seriously to the game,
in 1862, Morphy’s chess career was already finished. After a few years
living in Vienna, Steinitz came to England, and it was there that he developed
his positional style, which contrasted with Anderssen’s wholly combinative
play. Steinitz’s importance was not just as a player of the game. He was
also a profound thinker and teacher and became the most prolific chess writer
of the nineteenth century. Unlike Philidor, who also advocated a positional
approach to chess, Steinitz was able to persuade the world of its absolute
importance. He was undoubtedly helped in this respect by his excellent results
using his deep concepts of positional play. Mikhail Chigorin (1850–1908)
was one of the world’s leading players towards the end of the nineteenth
century. He twice challenged Steinitz for the world championship, in 1889 and
1892, but lost on both occasions, although the second match (+8 =5 –10) was
close. Like many of his contemporaries, he was an exceptional tactician and he
was also renowned for his imaginative approach to the opening, which is shown
in his surprising invention against the Queen’s Gambit (1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6).
At Vienna in 1903, where everyone was forced to play the King’s Gambit
Accepted, Chigorin won with ease, ahead of Pillsbury, Maroczy and Marshall. He
also did much to develop chess activity in Russia, forming a chess club in St
Petersburg and lecturing in many other cities. The Game After some peaceful
opening play, Steinitz totally bewilders his distinguished opponent with some
high-class manoeuvring. Not realizing the danger, Chigorin procrastinates over
the right plan and is punished when Steinitz suddenly lashes out on the
kingside with his h-pawn. Facing a sudden change in tempo, Chigorin is unable
to cope and he finally falls prey to an irresistible attack on his king.
Steinitz finishes with quite a flourish as an exquisite rook sacrifice rounds
off some extremely subtle play.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. c3
g6 {Black can either fianchetto his king's bishop or play it to e7. Steinitz,
however, noted that whether the bishop stands on g7 or e7, it will still
remain a little more restricted by Black's own d6/e5 pawn centre than its
white counterpart, which remains outside its own pawns.} 6. Nbd2 Bg7 7. Nf1 {
By delaying castling, White is able to execute the classic Lopez knight
manoeuvre. This knight can now emerge at either g3 or, on this occasion, e3
where it has a substantial influence over the centre. That said, Steinitz’s
plan is a little bit too elaborate to give hope of a real advantage.} O-O {
LiveBook: 46 Games} (7... a6 $142 8. Bxc6+ bxc6) 8. Ba4 {Chigorin probably
scratched his head at this novelty. Why retreat the bishop unprovoked? In fact
the move plays a key part in White's middlegame plans. White's main aim is to
retain this bishop, which has excellent attacking potential. By retreating the
bishop, Steinitz anticipates threats to force its exchange by ...Bd7 and ...
Na5. From a4, White's bishop can easily slip back to useful posts – on b3, or
possibly c2 – to avoid this.} (8. Ng3 $142 Bd7 9. Ba4 Re8 (9... Qe8 10. O-O Kh8
11. Re1 Ng8 12. Bc2 Nge7 13. d4 Bg4 14. d5 Nb8 15. h3 Bd7 16. Nh2 Na6 17. f4 f5
18. exf5 exf4 19. Bxf4 Qf7 20. Nf3 Nxf5 21. Ng5 Qg8 22. Ne6 Bxe6 23. dxe6 Nd4
24. Bxd6 {Stany,G (2485)-Anurag,M (2423) Roquetas de Mar 2017 1/2-1/2 (42)})
10. O-O a5 11. Bg5 h6 12. Bd2 d5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Ne4 Nce7 15. Re1 Bxa4 16.
Qxa4 Nb6 17. Qc2 Nc6 18. Rad1 Nd5 19. Bc1 b6 20. Ng3 Qd7 21. h4 Rad8 22. h5 g5
23. d4 {Gobet,F (2355)-Spassky,B (2605) Fribourg 1987 0-1 (46)}) 8... Nd7 $146
{Had Chigorin spotted White's surprise 11th move, which rudely pulls the
positional rug away from Black, but was hard to foresee, he might not have
played this way. Black plans ...Nc5-e6, with good central control, and ...
f7-f5 or ...d6-d5 to follow, after suitable preparation in the middlegame.The
position is equal.} (8... d5 9. Qe2 Qd6 10. Bb3 (10. Bc2 b6 11. Ng3 Ba6 12. O-O
dxe4 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Qxe4 Bb7 15. Qh4 Ne7 16. Ng5 h6 17. Ne4 Qd7 18. Bxh6 Nf5
19. Qh3 Bxe4 20. dxe4 Bxh6 21. Rad1 Qc8 22. exf5 Kg7 23. f6+ Kh7 24. Rd7 Qe8 {
Steinitz,W-Chigorin,M Havana 1892 1-0 (33)}) 10... Be6 11. Ng3 Nd7 12. Ng5 d4
13. O-O Nc5 14. f4 exf4 15. Bxf4 Qe7 16. Bd2 dxc3 17. bxc3 Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Qxg5
19. Bf6 Qh6 20. Rf4 Qxf4 21. Rf1 Qd6 22. Qd2 Nd7 23. Nh5 {Crane,B-Wallace,A
Sydney 1893 0-1}) 9. Ne3 (9. h4 $11) 9... Nc5 (9... f5 $15) 10. Bc2 $11 Ne6 (
10... a5 {should be considered.}) 11. h4 $1 {Steinitz's sharp h-file thrust
completely undermines Black's intended strategy. With his subtle feel for any
sort of time and structural weakness, Steinitz exploits a momentary
opportunity to get h4-h5 in and open the h-file. Nowadays we are much more
used to such attacking ideas, but in Steinitz's day he blazed new paths. This
is no "indiscriminate" attack against the king. White "attacks" to weaken and
diminish the potential of Black's kingside pawns.} (11. O-O $11) {Commenting
after the game on his aggressive 11th move, Steinitz is said to have
good-humouredly replied, "I'm not usually a dangerous attacker early in the
game, but I spotted a weakness on my opponent's kingside, and no one should
provoke me, even at my age, or I'll bite."} 11... Ne7 (11... h5 $15) 12. h5 $1
$14 d5 (12... c6 $1 $11 {remains equal.}) 13. hxg6 fxg6 $2 {No doubt at least
partly in shock at the unexpected turn of events in the last few moves,
Chigorin fails to readjust and turns a poor position into one that is critical.
By recapturing away from the centre, he allows White to isolate his e-pawn and
dominate the central light squares with considerable long-term attacking
potential, not least on the vulnerable a2-g8 diagonal.} (13... hxg6 $14 {
is more appropriate.} 14. Ng4 dxe4 15. dxe4 Qxd1+ 16. Bxd1 Nc6) 14. exd5 $1 $16
Nxd5 (14... Nf4 $142) 15. Nxd5 Qxd5 16. Bb3 Qc6 17. Qe2 (17. d4 $142 {Black
must now prevent d5.} exd4 18. cxd4) 17... Bd7 $5 {Chigorin may have expected
to obtain more counterplay than is actually in the position. Even though
Black's pieces are all apparently well developed, he is hamstrung by his own
structural weaknesses. White's king is clearly heading for the queenside, but
it remains remarkably hard for Black to make anything other than gestures on
that flank without his own game collapsing elsewhere.} (17... a5 $142) 18. Be3
{White's bishop is very well placed on e3 to support an eventual d3-d4 pawn
break and to ensure that d3 is well protected after queenside castling. Note
that Black can rarely hope to achieve anything by playing ...Nf4 in these
positions, as White can simply retreat his queen to f1 and then eventually
eject Black's knight by preparing a suitably well-timed g2-g3.} (18. Nxe5 $16
Qxg2 19. Rf1) 18... Kh8 ({Black should try} 18... a5 $1 $14) 19. O-O-O $1 Rae8
{[#]} 20. Qf1 $1 {We can sympathize with Chigorin to the extent that it
couldn't have been easy to foresee that such a modest retreat by White's queen
could prove so decisive. But it is! Black's development still has a
deceptively active look about it, but by quietly removing the queen from the
indirect fire of Black's rook on e8, White threatens mayhem, not just in the
centre by playing d3-d4, but also, as we shall see, on the h-file. It must
indeed have seemed quite extraordinary to many in the 1890s that White should
be able to build up such devastating attacking force with all of his pieces
and pawns developed no further forward than on his first three ranks. But
after exchanges on d4, White's pressure on the a2-g8 diagonal, dominance on
the h- and d-files, and opportunity to exploit the weakened dark squares
around Black's king, all come together in a riotous king-hunt.} ({Worse is} 20.
Bxa7 Nd4 $15) (20. Qd2 $1 $18) 20... a5 $2 {[#]} (20... h5 $11) 21. d4 $1 $18 {
[%cal Rd4d5]} exd4 22. Nxd4 Bxd4 23. Rxd4 ({Not} 23. Bxd4+ Nxd4 24. Rxd4 Re7
$11) 23... Nxd4 $2 {[#] Chigorin presumably allowed Steinitz to cap his
strategic masterpiece with its justly famous sacrificial finish.} (23... Rf7
$18 24. Rh6 Rg7) 24. Rxh7+ $1 {[%mdl 512] White mates.} Kxh7 25. Qh1+ Kg7 26.
Bh6+ Kf6 27. Qh4+ Ke5 28. Qxd4+ {Accuracy: White = 45%, Black = 8%.} 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment