ELEGANCE IN CHESS #1
Автор: Юрий Авербах, на английском языке.

Elegance in chess-it was the name of the Manuscript which appeared exactly thousand years ago. Can you imagine it?

Soon after the game of chess had been born our ancestors have already understood its aesthetic bright qualities, the flashing beauty of combinations and spectacular sacrifices.
They already felt that the game of chess sometimes could be turned into a genuine work of art, which not only gladdens the mind, but also warms the heart. Just one example from the past:

Abu -Naim, IX- th century ( Diagram N1 ) Kg8,Re1,Rg1,Ng3,f4 Kf6,Rd7,Rh7,Ng6, f5, White to play and win

At first sight this position looks hopeless for White. His king is in mortal danger, checkmate is threatening from all sides. Nevertheless White is able to win, he can himself give checkmate in three moves. I believe you can easily to find it.

1.Nh5! R:h5 2.R:g6! K:g6 3.Re6 Mate. An unexpected and elegant final.

It is already a work of art, though rather primitive . The essence of the game of chess is the struggle but here we have not seen it. It was an execution. Now lets return to our time.

A.Selesniev, 1920 ( Diagram N2) Ka4,Rd8,a5,c4 - Ka6,Ng7,a7,c7,d6 White to play and win

It is impossible to imagine that the final of this study will be similar to the first one. Position on the board looks very quiet and it seems that Black is out of danger. But this tranquillity is deceptive.
1.c5! ...
After 1...dc 2.Rd7 Ne6 3.Re7 Nf4 4.R:c7 Nd3 5.Rc6 Kb7 6.Rd6 White wins without any complications. But Black intends to refute the opponents plan.

1 ...Ne6! To this move White has a worthy answer.
2.cd!N:d8 3.dc ...
It looks that the game is over. It is impossible to prevent the promotion of the pawn. But Black has trumps in his hands.
3...Nb7! An unpleasant surpise.
4.c8Q leads to stalemate.
4.c8R!...
At first sight looks foolish -after 4... N:a5 White loses his last pawn. Nevertheless he plays 5.Rc5! and wins, because on 5...Nb7 follows
6.Rc6 Mate.
How do you like this study? It is a masterpiece of modern art. The struggle on the chessboard full of suspence and tension was not clear till the last moves.With full right we can say that it was a wonderful performance which was given by the small wooden actors of the chess stage.
These performances may be tragedies, dramas, or as we can see later, even comedies. And now I intend to acquaint you with a few studies from the treasury of the modern chess art, the most striking masterpieces of chess creativity.

S.Kaminer,1935 ( Diagram N3) Kb1,Ng1,Ng6.a2,f2,h2,h6- Kf7,Ba3,Bd1,a5,c7,e6,g5 White to play and win

After natural 1. h7 Black finds an extremely strong answer 1...Bh5!.Now come to light that after 2.h8Q B:g6 3.Ka1 Be7 4.Nf3 Bf6+ 5.Ne5+ Ke7 White cannot save his newborn queen. Now lets return to the position after 1...Bh5
2.Nf4!! ...Mysterious move which is not easy to find.

2...gf 3.h8Q Bg6 4.Ka1 Be7 In the meanwhile we dont see any difference from previous line 5.Nf3 Bf6 6.Ne5 Ke7 Only now we understand White s second move. Diagonal h4-d6 should be open.
7.Qh4!!.... Decisive move! After 7...B:h4 8.N:g6 and 9.N:h4 the game is over. A spectacular final!

M.Liburkin,1940 (Diagram N4 ) Kal, Bd7, Nf1,d6 - Kh5, Bb1 , c2, h2 White to play and draw

To prevent the promotion of the opponent s pawns White plays 1.Ng3! Kh4 2.Kb2 thinking that after 2...K:g3 3.Bc6 he has nothing to fear. But Black has a much better answer. 2...c1Q! 3.K:c1 Be4! All of sudden White find himself in a critical position. Nevertheless there is way out. 4.Nh1! B:h1 5.Bh3 ... The aim of this move will be clear only in the final position. 5...Bc6 6.Bg2! B:g2 7.d7 hlQ+

Now Black has no less than an extra queen and a bishop but after 6.Kd2! he by no means cannon prevent queening of a White s pawn. May be you have noticed that the events in both the last studies were developing according to the laws of the classical drama. At first the plot, the growth of the tension, then the denouement,and after all the happy end.

Now the last position...

A. Herbstman ,1948 ( Diagram N5 ) Kh7,Rb6,Bh6, b3,c3 -Kf5,Bb2,a2,b4 White to play and draw

White has an extra rook but Black is threatening to queen his pawn a2, because a move 1.Ra6 is refuted by 1...Ba3.Still White can escape. 1.Rb5 Ke6 2.Ra5 Ba3 3.Bg7! ...
A very fine move which it is not easy to find. 3...a1Q 4.Re5 Kd6 5.Rd5! ... A nice surprice! The rook is untouchable. If 5...K:d5 then 6.c4 and 7.B:a1.
5...Kc6 6.Rc5! Kb6 7.Rb5! Ka6 8.Ra5! Draw by perpetual check! This ridiculous situation evokes a smile. Is it not a comedy? The black king by no means cannot run away from the unprotected opponents rook! It is all for today, my friends. After this lectury a doubtful Thomas can say: It is possible to invent everything.What about real games? To convince similar sceptics at the next lecture I will show you a few examples from the masters practice.
I hope to see you all there.Thank you.

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