Chessville Instruction - Teamwork - by FM Amatzia Avni - chess psychology, chess instruction

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Teamwork
by FM Amatzia Avni (Inside Avni's Mind)

The term teamwork seems to be alien to chess. The game is, basically, an individualistic pursuit. Even in a contest between teams there is no common or shared effort among the players and the overall score is calculated by adding the results on each board.

One instance where teamwork does play a role in a chess context is on the wooden board. The art of directing and coordinating large forces in a timely, harmonious manner is the topic of the present article.

Teichmann - O. Bernstein
Petersburg 1909

White to play

Amatzia Avni is an Israeli psychologist. He is a FIDE Master in both game and composition, a former editor of the Israeli magazine Schahmat and a regular contributor to Chess Monthly. His latest book "Devious Chess" was released by Batsford in 2006. Read Chessville reviews of two of his earlier works also: Practical Chess Psychology: Understanding the Human Factor (2001); and The Grandmaster's Mind (2004).

At first sight it is not clear what white should aim at. Nd5 is impressively placed, but his other pieces are not acting as a team.

30.Bf2! B:f2

30...Be5 31.f4, and 30...Bf6 31.N:f6 K:f6 32.Qc3+ are not inviting. The text move, exchanging the dark-squared bishops, weakens the a1-h8 diagonal and allows white to launch a promising kingside onslaught.

31.R:f2 Qa5 32.Qe2! f6 33.Qb2 Rf8 34.g4 h6

Against 35.N:f6 R:f6 36.g5.

35.h4 g5 36.f4!

During the last moves a team has emerged: all of white’s pieces are working together, coordinating their actions to attain a specific goal.

36...g:h4 37.N:f6! Rf7 38.g5 Bc6 39.Rg1 Qa3 40.g:h6++ K:h6 41.Rh2 B:e4+ 42.N:e4 Qf3+ 43.Qg2 and black resigned shortly.

Puig, Ardevol & Puntas - Capablanca
Barcelona 1920, consultation game

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Bd3 B:d3 5.Q:d3 e6 6.Ne2 Qb6 7.0-0 c5 8.c3 Nc6 9.f4 c:d4 10.c:d4 Nh6 11.Nd2 Nf5 12.Nf3 h5 13.Bd2 a5 14.a3 Qa6! 15.Q:a6 R:a6 16.Rac1 Kd7 17.Rc2 Be7 18.Rfc1 Bd8 19.Kf2 Bb6 20.Be3 a4 [diagram]

Notice how the black forces combine their mutual actions. The three light officers exert pressure on d4. The advanced rear pawns (h5, a4) assure that white would be unable to dislodge them from their entrenched outposts.

21.Rd1 Rc8 22.Nc3 Na5 23.Ke2 Nc4 24.Bc1 Bd8 25.Kd3 Rb8

Black reorganizes his troops in preparation for a breakthrough on the queenside.

26.Rg1 b5 27.g4 h:g4 28.R:g4 b4 29.a:b4 R:b4 30.Nd1 Rc6 31.h4 g6 32.Bd2 N:d2 33.R:d2 Rb3+ 34.Ke2 Ba5 0:1

Alekhine - Yates
London 1922

White to play

24.Kf2

Starting an integrated, combined action of white’s army against the black king. Black is helpless as liquidating rooks along the c-file will result in a losing bad bishop versus good knight endgame.

24...Kh7 25.h4 Rf8 26.Kg3 Rfb8 27.Rc7 Bb5 28.R1c5 Ba6 29.R5c6 Re8 30.Kf4 Kg8 31.h5!

Denying g6 to the enemy’s monarch.

31...Bf1 32.g3 Ba6 33.Rf7 Kh7 34.Rcc7 Rg8 35.Nd7 Kh8

Against 36.Nf6+, but white plays this move anyway.

36.Nf6 Rgf8 37.R:g7! R:f6 38.Ke5 1:0

Sometimes, in order to achieve a team success, some pieces sacrifice their life. In chess, as in real life, dying in battle for your comrades is a frequent occurrence.

Rubinstein - Tartakower
Warsaw, 1927

Black to play

Black’s position appears perilous, but he contrives to discover remarkable counter-chances.

24...Rb8! 25.Rf6 b5

With the threat 26...Bb7.

26.Qf4 b:c4 27.B:h7+ K:h7 28.Rf7 R:b2+ 29.Kg1 c3! 30.Qf6

White has won the fight but not the battle: 30.R:g7+ K:g7 31.Qf6+ Kh7 32.Qf7+ Kh8 33.Qf8+ Kh7 34.Q:c8 c2!.

30...Rb1+ 31.Kf2 Rb2+ 32.Ke1 Rb1+ 33.Kf2

33.Ke2?? Ba6+ 34.Kf2 Rf1+

33...Rb2+ ½:½

On occasions, though, a piece is not required to actually perish. Placing itself in an awkward position is sufficient to let its teammates fulfill their duties.

Anand - Adams
Madrid 1998

White to play

16.Ba3

This seems like a silly move, as the bishop has no future here.

Anand explains:

White’s bishop has no obvious good square to go to, and I thought it would be best to get it out of the way.

It is as if white tells his bishop: if you cannot bring benefit, at least do not interfere with the collaboration of your confreres.

Jansa - Bilek
Polanica Zdroj 1968

White to play

1.Na1

1.h:g6 R:c2; 1.Nd4 Q:d5; and 1.Rc1 a5, are inferior alternatives. So the white knight places itself on a miserable square to enable his friends to do their job on the kingside without worrying about the queenside.

1...e6? 2.h:g6 h:g6 3.Qh2 e:d5 4.Qh7+ Kf8 5.Bh6 B:h6 6.Q:h6+ Ke8 7.Qh8+ Ke7 8.Qh4+ f6

8...Ke8 9.Rde1+ Be6 10.R:e6+! f:e6 11.Qh8+ Kd7 12.Rh7+ and white wins.

9.Rhe1+ Kd8 10.Q:f6+ and white won.

I. Caspi - Smirin
Kfar-Sava 2007

White to play

24.Qh1

Providing Be4 with flight squares against ...f5, and supporting the advance h2-h4-h5, while keeping an eye on Nd5. In this particular position, placing the strongest piece on such a humble square is hardly detrimental.

24...Bg7 25.Re2 f5? 26.Bf3 f4 27.g4 h5 28.g:h5 g:h5 29.Rae1 Rf5 30.h4 Kh8 31.Be4 Rff8 32.Qf3 Qf7 33.Kh2 Bf6 34.Rg1 Rg8 35.R:g8+ K:g8 36.Re1 Kf8 37.Rg1

White has an overwhelming position. He won on the 72^nd move.

Pein - Dorfman
Cannes 1992

White to play

With his last two moves (...Kg8-h8, ...Rf8-g8), Black defended his king without weakening his own position. White appears to be in trouble, as c4 is attacked.

19.Rb4! c5 20.Ra4

20.N:d6? Qf8. White imprisons his own rook, but lets his other pieces operate freely on the other wing.

20...Qf8 21.Qh3 Bc8 22.f4 Nb7 23.Rf3 Nf6 24.f:e5 d:e5 25.Qh4 Nd6 26.Nh6 Nfe8 27.N:g8 K:g8 28.g4 Bd7 29.Bc2

After a complex struggle, the game was eventually drawn on the 55^th turn.

In the next example we witness continuous interplay between the team members. Black’s pieces repeatedly step aside to let their colleagues join the fray.

Summerscale - Ehlvest
Philadelphia 2002

Black to play

15...Nb8

By retracting his knight, black vacates the path for his Bc8.

16.Nf4 Bd7 17.Be2 Rc8 18.0-0 Be8

Returning the favour; now it is the bishop’s duty to allow his friend Nb8, to reenter the battlefield.

19.Rfb1 Nd7 20.Bb5 Ne5 21.Qc1 Rd8 22.Ra2 Qe7 23.Be2 h6 24.Bd4 Qc7 25.Qf1 Nd7 26.Nd3 f6 27.Bf2 Rac8 28.Qc1 Bf7 29.Rab2 e5 30.Rb4 Nb8

Yet another echo of the ‘give and take’ theme: “...This knight has no business on b8, but he is making way for his colleagues...” - GM Rowson. Time and again, the black pieces extend a helping hand to each other.

31.Ne1 Be6 32.Bb5 Qf7 33.Nc2 Nb3 34.Qa3 Nd2 35.Re1 Nb3 36.Rb1 N:c5 37.a5 Rd2 38.Ne1? Ra2 39.Qc1 R:a5 40.Bf1 b6 0:1

In our last example, a white rook contributes selflessly to assist his other half.

Ivanchuk - Timman
Linares 1989

White to play

25.Rb2!

By controlling white’s second rank, particularly f2, this move enables Rf1 to dedicate itself to attacking missions.

25...Nf5 26.Bg5 Qf7 27.Rh1 h6 28.h5! g:h5 29.Qd1 Ra3 30.Q:h5 Kg8 31.Q:f7+ R:f7 32.Bd2 Rf6 33.Rbb1!

Switching back: a theme common in problems and studies. The queen exchange freed white from the need to guard f2. He now exploits the fact that black’s king’s rook is tied to the defence of his knight to gain control over the a-file.

33...Ra2 34.Rhd1 Nd4 35.Ra1 R:a1 36.R:a1 Nb3 37.Ra8+ Rf8 38.R:f8+ B:f8 39.Be3

The endgame holds no prospects for black.

39...Nd4 40.b5 Nb3 41.Kh3 Nc5 42.Bf5 Na4 43.Kg4 1:0

In view of 43...Nb2 44.Kh5 N:c4 45.B:h6 B:h6 (45...Be7? 46.Kg6) 46.K:h6, followed by the victorious march of the g-pawn.

*** The author is grateful to Raaphy Persitz for his assistance in clarifying the text.

Inside Avni's Mind

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