Tricks lead to chess treats as lost souls rise from the dead

In this week of Halloween and All Souls’ Day, we honor those who use tricks to get treats, who come back from the dead to save a lost position.

They’re called “swindles,” but in reality, games like the one offered here show true chess fighting spirit. Things may look hopeless, but play until the last clock button is pushed, and sometimes you’ll find an unexpected goody in your bag.

And it takes a certain panache to carry off a good swindle. You have to induce a certain overconfidence in your opponent. In his classic “Think Like a Grandmaster,” GM Alexander Kotov described a searing game he played against a junior player, where his position was so overwhelming, his opponent wrote “Resigns” on his scoresheet and folded it into his pocket. When Kotov made the obvious “winning” move, White slammed out a last-ditch combination that led to a fork of king and queen, and removed his scoresheet from his jacket pocket to cross out the word “Resigns.” It was Kotov who had to concede.

The trick is even more impressive when you can spring it on one of the world’s best players, as America GM Larry Christiansen did to save a half-point against Ukrainian star GM Alexander Beliavsky, a four-time USSR champion, from an Italian tournament in 1987.

Black gets into trouble in this Bogo-Indian on 22. Rb1 Ng4 23. Be2! (Black rules the a-file but White is building to a powerful pawn break with c4-c5, which now can go ahead as the bishop guards the knight on b5) Qe7 24. Rbc1 c6?! (allowing White to break open the game on his own terms) 25. dxc6 bxc6 26. c5! dxc5 (cxb5 27. cxb6 Ra3 28. Qd5 Nf6 29. Qxb5) 27. bxc5 d7 28. Nd6, when Christiansen could still hold things together with 28…Nf8 29. Bc4 Ra3 30. Bxf7+ Kh8 31. Qb2 Rf3.

But Black instead launches a wild, unsound attack on the game’s 28…Ndf6? 29. Bc4! Nxf2? 30. Kxf2 Ra3 31. Bxf7+ Kg7 32. Qe6, and Christiansen has only the vaguest prospects of an attack to compensate for the sacrificed knight. Beliavsky builds his winning edge in the ensuing play, though he opens himself up to trickery by refusing the simplest path to victory.

Thus: 32…Ra2+ 33. Kg1!? (White’s still winning, but 33. Qxa2! Rxa2+ 34. Bxa2 would have left Black with no legitimate counterplay) R8a3 34. Ne8+! (the first swindle, too basic for White to fall for, was 34. Qxe7?? Rxg3+ 35. Kh1 Rh3+, with a perpetual check) Kh6 (Nxe8?? 35. Qxg6+ Kh8 36. Qg8 mate) 35. Nxf6 Rxg3+ 36. Kh1 (see diagram), and now Black hits on a deception so diabolical that it fools a world-class grandmaster. As with so many swindles, the stalemate motif takes a starring role.

There followed: 36…Qxf7! 37. Rd7 (Qxf7 Rh3+ revives the perpetual check) Qxf6!! 38. Qxf6?? (White may have assumed Black had simply given up; had Beliavsky been alert, he’d have found 38. Rh7+! Kxh7 39. Qxf6 Rh2+ 40. Kxh2 Rg2+ 41. Kxg2 Kg8 and White wins) Rh2+!!, and Black’s trick pays off.

White’s win vanishes after 39. Kxh2 Rg2+! 40. Kh3 (Kxg2 is a stalemate) Rg3+! 41. Kh2 Rg2+ 42. Kh1 Rg1+ 43. Rxg1, and Black’s king is in a box, and his one unblocked pawn is pinned. Despite a material advantage of two rooks and a queen, White must agree to the draw.

—-

Agon/World Chess, the organizers of the 2018 world championship cycle, this week said Russian former world champ Vladimir Kramnik has been invited as a wild-card entry in the candidates’ tournament early next year for the right to challenge reigning world champ Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Kramnik joins Americans Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana as well as GMs Levon Aronian (Armenia), Ding Liren (China) and 2016 challenger Sergei Karjakin (Russia).

The final two slots will be determined by the last Grand Prix tournament that starts Nov. 16 in Spain.

Beliavsky-Christiansen, Reggio Emilia, December 1987

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. Bg2 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 d6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Nf3 e5 9. O-O Re8 10. e4 Bg4 11. d5 Bxf3 12. Bxf3 Nbd7 13. b4 a5 14. a3 Ra6 15. Nb5 Nb6 16. Rac1 axb4 17. axb4 Qd7 18. Qd3 Ra4 19. Qb3 Rea8 20. Rfd1 h5 21. h4 g6 22. Rb1 Ng4 23. Be2 Qe7 24. Rbc1 c6 25. dxc6 bxc6 26. c5 dxc5 27. bxc5 Nd7 28. Nd6 Ndf6 29. Bc4 Nxf2 30. Kxf2 Ra3 31. Bxf7+ Kg7 32. Qe6 Ra2+ 33. Kg1 R8a3 34. Ne8+ Kh6 35. Nxf6 Rxg3+ 36. Kh1 Qxf7 37. Rd7 Qxf6 38. Qxf6 Rh2+ Draw agreed.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email dsands@washingtontimes.com.