3743 PDF
3743 PDF
3743 PDF
Mark Dvoretsky
2019
Russell Enterprises, Inc.
Milford, CT USA
1
Chess Tests
by Mark Dvoretsky
© Copyright 2019
Leonid Dvoretsky and Inna Dvoretsky
All Rights Reserved
Published by:
Russell Enterprises, Inc.
P.O. Box 3131
Milford, CT 06460 USA
http://www.russell-enterprises.com
[email protected]
Solutions 63
Signs & Symbols
! a strong move
!! a brilliant or unobvious move
? a weak move, an error
?? a grave error
!? a move worth consideration
?! a dubious move
= an equal position
r White stands slightly better
y White has a clear advantage
i White has a winning position
t Black stands slightly better
u Black has a clear advantage
o Black has a winning position
q an unclear position
# mate
w with compensation
m with counterplay
$ followed by
(D) See the next diagram
W White to move
B Black to move
m match
wm match for the world championship
zt zonal tournament
izt interzonal tournament
ct candidates’ tournament
cm candidates’ match
ch championship
ch(1) championship, 1st league
wch world championship
ech European championship
f final
sf semifinal
qf quarterfinal
ol Olympiad
tt team tournament
jr junior competitions
corr correspondence game
simul simultaneous display
5
Foreword
Mark Dvoretsky managed to prepare this book for publication, but did not get a
chance to write a foreword to it, so I had to assume this sad duty. Fortunately, he
had time to talk about his concept with his friends and colleagues.
The diversity of subjects in the book is not accidental: the author’s aim was to give
his readers a chance to get acquainted with fascinating positions from various
genres. Possibly you will find some themes more interesting and easy to
understand; others will make you do some hard thinking. After having solved
several test exercises, you should understand how good you are in this particular
branch of chess. It might well happen that you would find your weak spot, but do
not get upset, as this will be good news too. Consistent work with this book is
going to help you strengthen your weaknesses and your play.
Independent solving of exercises has always been one of the most important
components of our training sessions with Dvoretsky. Our regular studies began in
1975, and I well remember getting a new batch of positions to solve every week.
Some tasks turned out to to be very difficult to solve and required great effort from
me. Then every solution (or, sometimes, attempt at a solution) would be analyzed
carefully. As far as I understand, such an approach allowed my coach to
understand my chess abilities relatively quickly and concentrate on the most
effective directions of our work together.
A book format does not allow individual answers to all questions, but Dvoretsky’s
comments to the solutions will let you understand the nuances of these positions
better.
(3) Carefully analyze all the variations of a solution from the book at the board;
(4) If you are unable to solve a position, put it aside for a time and then make a
second go at it; and
(5) Do not be upset if your answer turns out to be worse than the one given in the
book; the very attempt at solving may push you further.
6
Of course, those are only recommendations; experienced players do not need to
be told what is the best way to work for them.
This book offers to our chess coaching colleagues material of very high quality
for working at various themes, from training of combinative vision to techniques
of realizing advantages. Dvoretsky left behind a great chess heritage of many
books and publications. I recommend using those materials for in-depth work in
the directions mentioned in the book. If you follow this advice, then this volume
will become a valuable addition to your chess studies, and will help you reinforce
skills and knowledge you have already obtained.
And here is probably the most important point. Dvoretsky wanted to write a book
that would not only teach some intricacies of chess, but would also be simply a
pleasure to read for aficionados of the game, so he tried to amass the “tastiest” of
examples here. I hope that this last book by him is going to achieve this,
presenting its readers with many chess discoveries and joy of communication with
the great coach and author.
Artur Yusupov
Weissenhorn, December 20, 2016
Editor’s note. Some of Mark Dvoretsky’s explanations and helpful hints from his
introductions to his books Recognizing Your Opponent’s Resources and
Maneuvering: the Art of Piece Play are also applicable (with minor amendments)
to the present book.
Among the exercises, you are going to find opening, middlegame and endgame
positions taken from practical games and chess studies. You can also solve
positions in the diagrams in the “Answers” section yourself when there is a question
mark and an indication whose move it is to the left side of a diagram.
Comments in the “Answers” are rather detailed; they are not limited to quoting
the only correct sequence of moves and side variations. My goal has been to
reproduce the logic of the search for solutions to show how a player has probably
made a correct decision over the board. However, reasoning and calculations which
I offer here are not at all obligatory for everyone. Quite possibly, in many cases
you would be able to reach the goal by other means, and this is perfectly normal
as every one of us has a mind of his own and an individual approach to decision
making.
As in all my books and articles, quotations included in the text are italicized. In
the answers to exercises, moves of a main line of a solution are put in bold, whether
or not those may have occurred during the game.
7
Chess Tests
Studies are sometimes not given from their original positions; in those cases the
name of an author is provided with an asterisk (*). The same symbol is used for
practical positions that did not happen during the game but arose during analysis.
The solution to each set of tests is indicated at the bottom of the page on which
the test appears.
Most examples are taken from my “card index” which I have been working on for
several decades. Quite understandably, I have already used many successful
examples in my previous books, so is it really so rewarding to offer them once
again here? A compromise decision was made: I included some examples again,
in many cases after having refined a number of variations.
I would also like to note that very often in the “Answers,” not only are the solutions
annotated, but also the following course of the game. In order to appreciate the
positional advantages of a decision more deeply, it is useful to get acquainted with
future developments. Apart from that, in the process of analyzing you will
encounter new interesting and instructive situations, both positional and tactical.
8
Chapter 4
However, I have few tests on those subjects, and even those few that I do have are
employed only rarely – mainly because both attack and defense are not one-time
events; both are a process that requires skillful and precise activity on every move.
As for exercises included in the tests, each of them presents only a separate
fragment out of this process, and, as a rule, a tactical one which requires finding
an offensive or a defensive combination. An ability to solve such tasks is certainly
a very important one. However, it is but an element of a theme that we examine.
Both attack and defense are broad, extensive concepts that embrace various aspects,
including those that are impossible to reflect adequately in a short series of training
positions. Then again, the exercises are rather diversified, and the games they are
taken from contain many instructive moments that will be discussed in the
comments.
It seems reasonable for me to warn you that the tests Attack #2 and Defense #2
are very difficult, and even strong players should allow at least an hour and a half
for solving them. The test Attack and Defense is also difficult – and also rather
unusual. In every exercise of this test, you will have to determine the best way of
attacking the opponent’s position first, and then change color of your pieces in
your mind and find the best antidote. While examining such situations, I noticed
that if one of the players manages to the solve secrets of the position and chooses
an obscure path, the other usually fails to cope with his problems of finding an
optimal solution to his tasks and loses. But very often such a solution does exist!
31
Chess Tests
Attack #1
MKKKKKKKKN MKKKKKKKKN
1 I?@?@?@7@J 2 I/@?@?@/@J
B? I@?@?@#@?J B? I$#@?,7@#J
I?$?@?@?0J I?@?@#$?@J
I$?@!$)@#J I@?@3@?@?J
I!@?4!,?@J I?"?(?@?&J
I@!@?@?@5J I@?@?*?@?J
I?@1@-@?@J I!@?@?"!"J
I@?@?@?@?J I@-@1.?6?J
PLLLLLLLLO PLLLLLLLLO
MKKKKKKKKN MKKKKKKKKN
3 I?@/@?@7@J 4 I?@?@?@?@J
W? I@?@?@#$?J B? I@?@?@?@/J
I?(?@?"?$J I?@?$?@7@J
I@?4?$?@!J I@?,!@?"#J
I#.?@)@?@J I?@?@#$?@J
I@?@1@?@?J I@?@3@!@?J
I?"!@?@?@J I!@?@-@?2J
I@5@?@?@?J I@?6)@?@-J
PLLLLLLLLO PLLLLLLLLO
MKKKKKKKKN MKKKKKKKKN
5 I?@/0?@7@J 6 I/@+@?@/@J
W? I$#@?4#@#J W? I$#@?@#@7J
I?@+@#(#2J I?@?@#@?@J
I@?@?@?@?J I@?$#"#*3J
I?@?"?@%@J I?@?@?2?@J
I@?@)@?@-J I@?@?@!@!J
I!"?@?"!"J I!@!6?@?@J
I.?@?@?6?J I@?@?@?.-J
PLLLLLLLLO PLLLLLLLLO
32
Chess Tests
104
Solutions
105
Chess Tests
Ke6 38.Bf5+ Kd6, with roughly even stops, he cannot defend the d4-pawn,
chances. and his opponent’s pieces are placed
much more harmoniously.
36.Be4-f5!!i
The combination 22.Bxg6? fg 23.Nxf6+
It is important to cut off escape routes Qxf6 24.Qxh7+ Kf8o is incorrect, but
for the enemy king in advance. There is such ideas must surely be taken into
no adequate defense to 37.gf+. consideration as they may well come in
handy, should circumstances change
4. Alburt-Mestel, Olympiad, Salonika even slightly.
1984
If 22.Qg5?, then 22...Nd5 23.Nh6+
Another illustration of the theme in the (23.Qh6 f5q) 23...Kg7, and White has
previous example: precise quiet moves to force a draw with 24.Nf5+ ef
often turn out to be much more effective 25.Qh6+ Kf6 26.Qh4+ Kg7, since
than straightforward checks. 24.Nxf7? Qxf7 25.Qh6+ Kg8 (or
25...Kh8) 26.Bxg6 Qg7! is not good as
After 60...Qc3+? 61.Kb1, Black has to White is left down a piece.
force a draw with 61...Qd3+ 62.Ka1!
Qc3+, since 61...Bd4? 62.Rb2 loses. On 22.Qh4, Black replies with 22...Kg7.
And after 60...Ba3+? 61.Rb2 Rc7+ However, after that, the powerful counter
62.Bc2 (the h5-pawn is under attack) that Mikhail Podgaets played
62...Qxf3 63.Kb1 Bxb2 64.Kxb2, he immediately may also be played here.
also has to be content with perpetual
check. 22.d4-d5!!
MKKKKKKKKN
60...h5-h4!! I?@/0?@7@J
Jonаthan Mestel has turned his rook I$#@?4#@#J
loose for the attack, and this can be seen I?@+@#(#2J
in the variation 61.Bb3 Ba3+ 62.Rb2 I@?@!@?@?J
Rc7+ 63.Bc2 Qd4!o. I?@?@?@%@J
61.Kb2 (61.Rb2 Be3+; 61.Bc2 Ba3+
I@?@)@?@-J
62.Kb1 Rb7+) 61...Rc7 and White I!"?@?"!"J
resigned in view of the irrefutable I.?@?@?6?J
threats 62...Bd4# and 62...Ba3+. PLLLLLLLLO
Another way is 61...Bd4+ 62.Kc1
Qc3+ 63.Bc2 Rb7! with the idea of Attacking the Strong Point! is the title
64...Rb1+!. of a book written by the superb coach
and analyst Igor Zaitsev. From the time
of Steinitz, it has been thought that an
5. Podgaets-Novak, Bratislava 1967
attack should be directed against the
most vulnerable point in an opponent’s
The primitive win of a pawn, 22.Nxf6+?
camp, as the chances to break the enemy
Qxf6 23.Qxh7+ Kf8, does not bring
defense are the best there. In most cases
any advantage to White: his attack
106
Solutions
107