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Chess is a game of decisions. As well as deciding about which move to play and which
plan to adopt, players must also make practical decisions about how to use their clock
time and whether to use intuition rather than trying to calculate every line to a finish.

This is the first book devoted to this fundamental area of the chess struggle. Viacheslav
Eingorn draws upon his vast experience to provide guidance on how to weigh the
various factors in posillOns and decide on the best course of action. He examines many
practical examples and explains how the critical decisions were made, and investigates
whether they were correct. By following Eingorn on this voyage of discovery, the reader
will gain a greater understanding of decision-making and develop an enhanced feel for
the harmonious use of intuition and calculation.

Topics covered include:

• Individuality and Style • Incorrect Play
• Tactical Complications • Simple Positions
• Active Defence • In Search of an Idea
• A Feeling for Danger • Mindswap

Viacheslav Eingorn is an extremely experienced grandmaster from Ukraine He played

regularly and successfully in the Top League of the USSR Championship in the 1980s.
He has represented Ukraine many times in team events and plays frequently in the
German Bundesliga and open tournaments across Europe. This is his first chess book.

Other titles from Gambit PublicatIOns include'

Understanding Chess Move by Move Vishy Anand: My Best Games of Chess
John Nunn Vishy Anand
Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy Understanding Pawn Play in Chess
John Watson Draten Marovit
The Road to Chess Improvement The Seven Deadly Chess Sins
Alex Yermolinsky Jonathan Rowson
Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces Chess Recipes from the Grandmaster's
Igor Stohl Kitchen
Valeri Beim

£15.99 $24.95
Gambit Publications Ltd is:
Managmg Director: Murray Chandler GM
ISBN 1 9019B3 B7 0
Chess D,rector: Dr Jonn Nunn GM
Editonal Director Granam Burgess FM
For further ,nformalloll aboul Gembil Pub/ice/lOlls. wn'le 10 us a/
Gamblt Publications Ltd. PO Sox 32640. London W14 OJN England.
Or send an e-mallto .... fo@gambltbooks com
nnp:llwwN.gambltbooks.com
9
Decision-Making at
the Chessboard

Viacheslav Eingorn

Translated by John Sugden

[HAI~~IBIITI
First published in the UK by Gambit Publications Ltd 2003

Copyright © Viacheslav Eingorn 2003

English translation © John Sugden 2003

The right of Viacheslav Eingorn to be identified as the author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with the Copyright. Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by
way of trade or otherwi$e, be lent. re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in
any fonn of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a
similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent pur-
chaser.
A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication data is available from
the British Library.

ISBN I 901983 870

DISTRIBUTION:
Worldwide (except USA): Central Books Ltd, 99 Wallis Rd, London E9 5LN.
Tel +44 (0)20 89864854 Fax +44 (0)20 8533 5821.
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USA.

For all other enquiries (including a full list of all Gambit Chess titles) please con-
tact the publishers, Gambit Publications Ltd, P.O. Box 32640, London Wl4 OIN.
E-mail: [email protected]
Or visit the GAMBIT web site at http://www.gambitbooks.com

Edited by Graham Burgess

Typeset by Petra Nunn
Printed in Great Britain by The Cromwell Press, Trowbridge, Wilts.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Gambit Publications Ltd

Managing Director: GM Murray Chandler
Chess Director: GM John Nunn
Editorial Director: PM Graham Burgess
German Editor: WPM Petra Nunn
Contents

Symbols 4

1 Individuality and Style 5

2 Tactical Complications 24
3 Active Defence 49
4 A Feeling for Danger 70
5 Incorrect Play 91
6 Simple Positions 115
7 In Search of an Idea 137
8 Mindswap 157
9 Analyse This! 181

Index of Players 206

Index of Openings 208
Symbols

+ check
++ double check
# checkmate
!! brilliant move
I good move
",'
!? interesting move
?! dubious move
? bad move
?? blunder
Ch championship
1-0 the game ends in a win for White
lh-lh the game ends in a draw
0-1 the game ends in a win for Black
(1-0,34) (e.g.) shows the result and number of moves
(D) see next diagram
1 Individuality and Style

A large body of knowledge and tech- R6t1 - AJekhine

nique is familiar to us from chess Baden-Boden 1925
theory and practice, and is wholly, in-
dispensable; yet its function tends to be 113 e51 m e4 3llXi4d5
an auxiliary one. To decide on a line of There isri't much point in White
play in a position which remains fluid trying to copy one of Black's opening
in character, you can't make do with schemes, because, generally speaking,
just applying stereotyped precepts: such set-ups are devised for defensive
there will always be opponents who rather than aggressive purposes. That
can use them just as well as you. A is one ofR46ti's own arguments, and in
player's style is nothing other than a fact in the present game the fonnal sim-
policy for action, with the aid of which ilarity with Alekbine'J Defen,ce soon
he solves this type of problem. It all disappears. Alekhine himself proposed
starts from the very first moves of the the concrete variation 3...cS 4lbb3 c4
game, when you choose not so much a 5 ~4 Ad 6 e3(7) by way of refuting
specific system as a general direction his opponent's idea. Of course, 6 c3 in
for the play. This is where the balis for this line is considerably stronger for
the future conflict is laid. To begin White.
with, the situation that develops is one 4 d3 exd3 5 "'xd3!? (D)
which neither player objects to. Af- The capture with the queen gives
terwardseach of them erects his own the position an unusual character. The
logical structure using the building c-pawn stays where it is for now, ready
materials of chess thought. The more to strike a new counter·blow against
skilful architect achieves his end. the centre at at later moment. Instead,S
Naturally then, we attach a particu- cxd3 could lead to a standard position
lar interest to duels in which it is not with colours reversed, though it must
only the chessmen that are in conflict, be said that in 1925 that position too
but also the totally different opinions would have been fairly original.
of the players on the very question of S•••lLlf6 6 .tgl.tb4+
how chess ought to be played. While This check and the exchange of
examining games like this, I advise dark-squared bishops are rather in
that you do not take any side in ad- White's favour, as his development is
vance, but instead try to understand furthered.
why the winner achieves victory. 7 J.cU hdl+ slLlxcU 0.0 9 c4
6 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

of pawns. After 15 h3 .i.h5 and then

.....i.g6, he wants to take control of e4,
but White's chances are better even
so (16 llJc5). Objectively 14... Wb6,
curbing White's initiative, is stronger.
By playing that way, however, Black
would hardly have been able to achieve
a beautiful finish, or (even more im-
portant) to win the game at all.
15 l:dl WcS 16lbcS .i.h3 ~ 7 .i.f3
Taking on b7 is impossible: 17
.i.xh3 Wxh3 18lLlxb7lLlg4 obviously
leads to disaster for White. The pres-
White has realized his strategic aim, ence of his bishop is very important to
but has no advantage as yet. White, and in order to preserve it he
9 •••ltJa6 10 cxdS lLlb4?! will eventually be forced to withdraw
Alekhine considered that bringing it to hI - if he wishes to avoid an im-
his knight from b8 to d5 was the best mediate draw.
solution. In reality this manoeuvre is 17....i.g4 18 .i.g2 .i.h3 19 .i.f3 .i.g4
none too effective, since owing to the 20 .i.h1 hS! (D)
constant threat of White playing e4,
the knight always has to be thinking
about retreat. The simple 1O... lLlxd5 is
more suited to maintaining a roughly w
equal position.
11 Wc4lLlbxdS 12lLl2b3 c6 13 0-0
:e814:td1
In Tepponen-Rasanen, correspon-
dence game 1962, in which the moves
of the classic masters were repeated up
to this point, White continued with the
forthright 14 e4!? lLlb6 (or 14... ltJxe4
15lLlxc6 bxc616.i.xe4 Wb617 :fel)
15 'ii'c2 .i.e6 16ltJxe6 lhe6 17 :adl
with a clear plus. R6ti bypasses this A move with a twofold purpose,
possibility. useful both for creating counterplay
14.•..i.g4 and for solving Black's future defen-
This attempt at creating counter- sive problems. First and foremost, the
play is open to serious doubts. Pos- ensuing pawn exchange is intended
sessing virtually no strongpoints in the to weaken the white king's position.
centre, Black has to use pieces in place After this, Black will have scope for
 INDWIDUAlJIT AND STYLE 7

his own tactical undertakings, while culminate in the ~in of the c6-pawn
White's possible activities will lose and an endgame with 'three against
much of their impetus. Now or next two' (taking into account the result of
move, therefore, it was worth thinking Black's .:.h5-h4xg3). But it doesn't
about countering with h4. As for come to that, since factors of a more
White's overall strategic plan, he can urgent nature now intervene.
advance either on the queenside or in lS•..axbS 16 nbS :te3! (D)
the centre - although just at the mo-
ment 21 e4100ks premature in view of
the retort 21...b6.
21 b4 a6 II lIe1 w
Play in the centre (that is, 22 e4
now) would have been much more
effective than White's planned pawn
advance with a4 and b5. As a conse-
quence of opting for a flank attack,
White is generally reluctant to ob-
struct the long h l-a8 diagonal. Hence
he unintentionally gu~tees the se-
curity of the black knight on, d5, which
continues to play an important role as
the central vanguard of its entire army. This at once compels White to for-
Black is preparing to bring off an un- get about his positional acquisitions
expected counterstroke with the aid of and concentrate on finding ways to de-
this knight. fend his king. Having committed an
1l•••b413 84 bxgl14 bx&3 'fIc715 oversight, R6ti doesn't want to get in-
bS?! volved in complexities such as 27 ~h2
Consistent play, and precisely what :taa3 28 to:b3 'ii'eS 29 bxc6 bx-c6 (a
Black expected. In the event of 25 as, variation indicated by Alekhine), and
with the idea of playing 26 e4 after all, starts thinking only about safety and
it would be up to Black to demon- maintaining the balance - but the line
strate that his pieces are deployed in a he chooses is unsuitable. With the
se~sible way. He wouldn't want to same end in view, it would be interest-
withdraw his knight to e7, while an in- ing to examine 27 :td3!? :txe2 (not
vasion on e3 in these circumstances 27 ... .i.xe2 28 1Oxe2 :txe2 29 :txd5),
would simply fail in its aim. However, and now White can simply play 28
it is understandable that 25 as and 25 bxc6 bxc6 29 /l)xc6 'i'xc6 30 .i.xd5
e4 (the latter looks weaker in view of (30 :txd5 is weaker: 3O...:tae8 31 :te5
25 ...lOb6 and 26 ... lObd7) don't gener- 'W'xhl+ 32 ~xhl :t8xe5) 30... lOxd5
ally figure in White's plans. If his mi- 31 'W'xd5; alternatively he could try his
nority attack works, it could logically hand at combinations, for instance 28
8 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

lbxb7.xb7 29lbxe2 .he2 30 bxc6. In c-file; then with 20...h5 Black started
either case, the expected result would an interesting counter-attack - and
be a draw. with 26 ...::te3 he obtained the advan-
27 tOO? cxb5 28 "xb5 lbc3 29 tage. Apart from the overbearing self-
-.xb7 "xb7 30 tOxb7 tOxe2+ 31 ~h2 assurance of a famous world champion,
tOe4! (D) this commentary also shows a certain
limitation of thought belonging to a
chess-player with a pronounced indi-
viduality. Like it or not, a style of play
w reveals itself no less in its shortcom-
ings than in its merits.

Petrosian - Bannlk
USSR Ch. Riga 1958

1 c4 e5 2lbc3liJc6 3 00 tOt6 4 g3 d6
5d4g6
Just one mistake like this can be
enough to lose the game.
6 dxeS tOxeS 7 tOxe5 dxeS 8
This fresh surprise settles the out- -.xd8+ cbd8 9 .i.g5 .i.e7 10 0-0-0+
come of the fight. tOd7 (D)
32 ::lc4 .futl33 i.g2 i.e6!
Not slackening the pace of the con-
test. Black now wins by force.
34 ::lcc2 tOg4+ 35 ~h3 tOe5+ 36 w
~h2 ::lxf3! 37 he2 itlg4+ 38 ~b3
tOe3+ 39 ~h2 tOxa 40 .i.xf3 lbd4
0-1
White resigned in view of 41 ::lf2
llW'3+ 42 lbO .i.d5! winning a piece.
This game is well known as one of
Alekhine's best achievements. His tac-
tics are remarkable, but his strategy
occupies a worthy second place; it was
Reti's play that determined the unfold-
ing of events and the evaluation of the White now has to decide on his fur-
position. The winner, by the way. an- ther course of action while Black strug-
notated the game on something like gles to cope with the consequences of
the following lines: after the opening his 5th move. Considering the position
White developed some pressure on the of the black king, White could bring
 INDNIDUALlIY AND STYLE 9

about a clash of pawns in the centre Connecting the rooks is essential,

with 1l.*.xe7+ (1l.i.h6 ££812 h£8 although the knight occupies a bad
:x£8 13 .th3 fails to attain its end af- square in order to do it. Another risky
ter 13 ...c6 14 lbe4 ~c7 15 ~6 fS) litleis IS ...M 16,bcSl:txcSI7.i.xa7
11. ..~xe7 12 ~S+ ~d8 13 .*.h3 fS (White can also consider 17 l:td3!? or
14 e4 c6. Now 15 lOe3 achieves noth- :a8
17 .*.cS!?) 17... IS .*.cS.txc5 19
ing, but after 15 iOc3 :£8 Black's illxcs l:txa2. Stopping White's offen-
position is dubious, even though he sive presents an insoluble problem; on
still has defensive reso\U'Ces: 16 f4!? IS ...:eS. White has 16 cS iO£8 (or
exf4(l) 17 exfS gxfS, or 16 exfS gxf5 16...b6 17 iOd6) 17 ~6 .*.xd6 18
17 f3!? (17l:td6 is playable) 17...~c7 cxd6+ ~S 19 d7! .*.xd7 (19 ...lllxd7
18l:tbe1 b6. is wholly bad) 20 l:txd7+ lllxd7 21
The question as to what White :dl l:te7 22 .*.cS g4 23 .*.xg4!1 (23
should do with his lead in develop- .*.xe7+ ~xe7 24 .*.xg4 also gives an
ment in the diagram position depends obvious advantage) 23 ...:g7 24 h6.
very much on a chess-playeJ's tastes. with a very strong attack for the sacri-
Instead of variations with a tactical ficed exchange.
tendency, Petrosian pursues a quiet p0- 16.*.xcS:axca (D)
sitional agenda. His pressure steadily
increases - and yet you would hardly
expect simple methods alone to bring
decisive results. w
11 h4 16 12 .*.e3
Here again an alternative is 12 .*.h6
c613 hS (if 13ille4 ~c714 .*.h3, then
14...illcs 15 'OxcS .*.xcS 16 .*.g7 l:te8).
The threat of an attack from the flank
is quite unpleasant:
a) 13 ...~c7 14 .*.g7 :gS 15 bxg~
bxg616:h7.
b) 13 ...:g8 14.*.h3 fS 15 e4.
c) 13 ...gS 14 .*.g7 :gS 15 h6 ~eS
(or lS ...~c7) 16.*.g2(!)iOcS 17i0e4. 17b3(?)
d) 13 ...~e814 .*.e3 gS looks best, In his annotations Petrosian explains
although the new position of the black why he refrained from playing .*.xb6+:
king haS its drawbacks. "After a possible exchange of rooks on
12...c6 13 h5 gS the d-file Black could bring his king to
This is an obvious achievement for e6, cover his vulnerable points, and set
White. but not enough to make him up an impregnable position." That all
completely happy. sounds rather abstract, so let us exam-
14 .*.h3 ~c7 IS ille4illb6 ine a plausible variation: 17 .*.xb6+
10 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

axb6 (if17 ...~xb6. then IS Ad7) lSg4 issue tends to be confused by formal
l:hdS (or lS ...:aS 19 ~bl ':a4 20 b3 considerations about 'good' and 'bad'
.:as 21 l:h3) 19 ~c2 hd1 20 hd1 bishops. Repudiating the baneful in-
':d8? 21 lhd8 ~xd8 22 ~d3 ~d7 23 fluence of terminology. we should 0b-
lLlc3 ~e6 24 ~e4. Thanks to the ap- serve that in principle a piece fulfilling
pearance of an extra weakness on the a useful function cannot be bad. An
queenside. it is difficult for Black to exchange of bishop for knight would
hold the game. A sample continuation merely consolidate White's advantage.
would be 24... j,b4 25lbd1 j,e7 26 a3 whereas what he wants to do is in-
j,d6 27 b4 j,e7 28 tOb2 j,d6 29llxi3 crease it. There was an opportunity to
j,e7 (or 29... j,fB 30 a4 j,e7 31 b5 do so at once with 17 j,c5(!) (D).
j,dS 32 e3) 30 a4 j,d6 31 b5 j,e7 (if
31...j,a3. then 32 e3. while 31...j,c7
is met by 32 bxc6 bxc6 33 tOb4) 32
bxc6 bxc6 33 c5 j,dS (or 33...bxc5 34 B
li)b2) 34 cxb6 j,xb6 35 e3.
Now let us suppose that Black had
played 17 ... ~xb6 and White had re-
plied IS g4.:cdS 19 ~c2 ~c7 20 ~c3
lhd1 21 lhd1 ':dS?! 22 .:xd8 ~xd8
23 c5 ~d7 24 ~c4 ~e6 25 tOg3. Even
though there are no doubled pawns
this time. the defence is still not easy.
The best move is 25 ... a5(!). whereas
after 25 ... j,fB 26 b4 J.e7 27 a4 a6 28
a5 j,fB 29li)f5 j,e7 30 ~d3 j,fB 31 Black is practically forced to ex-
~e4 j,e7 32 h6 White is likely to win; change pieces (if 17... .:ce8. then 18
e.g .• 32.•. j,fB 33 tOg7+ j,xg7 34 bxg7 j,xe7.:xe7 19 tOxf6 ~c4 20 lbe4 h6
~ 35 ~5 ~xg7 36 ~e6. In any 21 b3 tOb6 22 ':d6). Mter 17... j,xc5
event Black's position is far from im- 18 tOxc5. he would lose quickly with
pregnable. On the other hand. he has 18...~c4 19 ':d7+ ~b6 20 b4 ':b8
no reason whatever to exchange off 21 ~2! (when 2l...a5 or 21...~b5
all the rooks voluntarily; during the fails to 22 ~b3). All that remains is
game. White probably didn't even se- 18....:ce8 (1S ....:he8 can be met by 19
riously consider 17 j,xb6+. lbe4). when White plays 19 b3. or
White wishes to exploit Black's simply 19 ':d2 to seize the open d-file.
kingside weaknesses. and to this end Then after 19...e4 20 ':d4 .:e5 21 b4
he ought to remove their principal the character of the combat changes.
defender - the e7-bishop. However. but White is perfectly happy with it -
when such simple logical reasoning the clearly superior placing of his
suggests a manoeuvre like j,c5. the pieces will now be the key factor.
 INDIVIDUALITY AND STYLE 11

Having said all this, we will return 23 l:d3 ~7 24 ~c2 b6 25 :0

to the game continuation (17 b3). By ~d8 U; a3 c5 (D)
simply guarding his attacked c4-pawn,
Petrosian once again shies away from
immediate decisive action, giving his
opponent a much-needed respite. w
17••.:cd8?
Black in turn should have moved his
knight back to d7 at once, so that the
approacbes to his position would be
guarded again. The resulting sitUation,
though unpleasant, would still have
offered defensive chances. His strate-
gic error does irreparable damage.
18 .tc5 hdl +
The attempt to sacrifice a pawn
with lS ....txc5 19 ~xc5 :he8 20 It's now a mere matter of technique
lbdS ~dS 21lOxb7+ ~c7 22 ~5 e4 to convert White's advantage into a
would not alter matters, since White win.
could bring about a simple transposi- 27 ~c3 ~e7 28 l:d3 l:c6 29 l:d5
tion with 2ll:dl+. ~f8 30 ~ lOe6 31lbf5+ ~e8 32 e3
19 l:xdl .txc5 20 ~xc5 l:ea 21 roc7
lDe4 With the more stubborn 32...~S
White could also play 21 g4 at followed by ...m, Black could have
once, saving a tempo. But by this time held out a little longer.
he has no need to hurry, so this detail 33 l:dl lOe6 34 ~d3 l:c7 35 ~e4
hardly matters. l:c6 36ltJd6+
21 ••.l:e6 22 g4 as A rook exchange by 36l:d6 would
The continuation 22 ...lbcs 23 c5 have finished the game quickly.
(andif23...~7?, then 24l:d6) would 36...~7 37 ~f5+ ~e8 38 ~
make a comical impression. ~7 39 ~5+ N 40 a4?1ltJdS
The position· has now been stabi- White's following manoeuvres are
lized. All White's pieces are better basically aimed at restoring the posi-
placed, and moreover can keep on im- tion after the 35th move. This isn't all
proving their positions without hin- that complicated a task; it just takes a
drance. I:Ience Black's defence, though little time.
at present still sturdy, lacks any long- 41lbb6 ~ 42lbg8 lbfS 43 l:d2
term prospects. The only advice he can ~ 44lbh6+ ~e8 4S ~fS lDe6 (D)
be given is to try to avoid new weak- The goal is achieved. In the knight
nesses. The pawn move he has just endgame Black soon finds himself in
made would have been better omitted. zugzwang.
12 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

in the words of Kozma Prutkov, every

good tailor has his own view of art. As
w an example, let us see what different
grandmasters think about the position
arising from the following theoretical
variation:
1 e4 e5 2 00 f5 3 ttlxe5 9f6 4 d4
d6 5lbc4 fxe4 (D)

w
46 l:[d6 lhd6 47 ttlxd6+ ~d7 48
ttlb5 ttlg7
Or 48 ...ttlfS 49 ~f5 ~e7 50 llx:3
tDd7 5100+ ~f7 52 e4 h6 53 f3
(Petrosian).
49 h6 tDe8 50 ~cIS f5 51 ~xeS
and White won (1-0, 61).
Careful study of the legacy of dis-
tinguished masters from the past is
very useful for an understanding of
what we can or cannot do ourselves. Nlmzowitsch - 8ehtinl
There is a story that when Petrosian Riga 1919
was asked how he managed to beat
relatively weak opponents with no Here are Nirnzowitsch's comments
particular trouble, he replied that he on this position:
would arrange his own position and 6lOeJ!
then wait for them to start playing in "In conjunction with the following
'Chigorin style' .In such patent disdain bishop manoeuvre, this is in every re-
for the active tactical approach, an en- spect a master move. Even if all the
tire chess philosophy is expressed. On rest of the world should play 6 llx:3, I
somewhat similar lines, an adherent of still consider 6 tLle3 to be the best con-
the combinative style might say: 'I tinuation, having regard to the require-
start an attack and wait for them to let ments of my system."
me strike.' But then, differences of 6••. c6 7 .*.c4! cIS 8 .*.b3 .*.e6 9 c4
outlook in chess are not just a matter 'fIf7 10 'fIe2lhf6 11 0-0 .*.b4 12 .*.dl
of strategy as opposed to tactics; they i.xdl 13 tLlxdl 0·0 14 f4
are determined by plenty of other fac- with a clear advantage to White
tors too. This is only natural- after all, (1-0,27).
 INDNIDUALlTY AND STYLE 13

Bronstein - Mikenas appeared just recently with an intrigu-

USSR Ch semi-final. Rostov 1941 ing title: The Latvian Gambit lives!.
This involuntarily calls to mind a fur-
And here are Bronstein's comments: ther historical parallel: Rudolf Spiel-
6.i.e2! mann's article 'From the Sick-bed of
"The value of this game resides in the King's Gambit'. The analogy may
one sole move, namely 6 .*.e2. This or may not be fortuitous, but the liter-
novelty refutes not just a particular ary titles are above all distinguished
variation but an entire complex of by their emotional colouring, while
variations united by a general idea." the two openings differ only in the
6...~c6 7 dS lbe5 80-0 liBc4 9 placing of one knight.
hc4 "'16 10 .i.b5+ ~d8 11 .tf4 hS At the chessboard itself, two play-
12f3 ers may also follow an almost identi-
again with advantage to White (1-0, cal train of thought.
25).·
Dorfman - Dvoretsky
The two grandmasters (Bronstein's Vilnius 1978
commentary walt written in 1969) are
assessing the opening position in its 1 d4 M 1 W e6 3 c4 .i.b4+ 4 .i.dl
full context, and they approach this hcll+ 5 "'xdl d6 (D)
task in different ways. For Nirn.z<>.
witsch, after 6 lDe3, Black's possible
counter-measures are not of fundamen-
tal significance - his 'system' should w
work in any eventuality. Bronstein
sees the general idea of Black's set-up
in the specific manoeuvre ......g6, and
thinks that White's best strategy is to
prevent this. In other words, Nimz<>-
witsch at this moment is thinking
rather about the formation of his own
position, while the opponent's posi-
tion is what Bronstein is concentrating
on. In addition, no small role is played
by the two grandmasters' aesthetic im- The original idea of the author of
pressions of what is taking place. One this system was to push the pawn to d5
of them likes blockading; the variation (5 ...0-0610::3 d5), which seems to me
6 .i.e2 "'g6?? 7 .i.h5! appeals to the to suit the position better. Arranging
other. the pawns on dark squares is more log-
As to the opening they are com- ical in the variations with 4 ...15 or
menting on, a book by Tony Kosten 4 ...1i'e7. It is less good following the
14 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

immediate exchange of bishops, as Both sides have completed the mo-

Black will have great difficulty exert- bilization of their forces. There is no
ing enough pressure on the white cen- way for Black to improve his position
tre. by further regrouping. White, on the
6 M 0-07 g3We7 8 J.g2 eS 9 0-0 other hand, still has various possibili-
:e810e4 as ties for manoeuvre (for instance, 'fIb2,
At this point 10...i.g4, trying to hit :d2, :edl). There is no need at all for
the d4-point after all, must be consid- him to hurry, yet he prefers to go
ered the main line. If then 11 ~1 ~6 ahead at once with active operations of
12 ~2 lOxd4, Black has somewhat a more specific kind.
simplified the position without losing 16~b4(D)
any time. This is a modest achieve-
ment in terms of modem attitudes to-
wards the opening, but in the present
case it is acceptable, as there are no
other possibilities of active play.
11 b3 c6 12 lUel lOa6 13 :adl
'fIe7
The next few moves demonstrate
the basic difference between the situa-
tions of the two players. White has an
obvious spatial advantage and pro-
ceeds calmly and unhurriedly, whereas
for Black, the question of what to do
next is gradually becoming a serious
headache. The knight frees the path of the
14~b2i.e6 white f-pawn. This plan of action meets
An interesting picture: the bishop with fairly energetic resistance. In-
teases the d-pawn but is unable to stead of trying to ease his defence to a
make it advance further. After the more large extent by exchanging queens
natural 14... i.d7 , Black would need to (16... 'fIb6 17 f4 'fIxd4 18 'fIxd4 exd4
keep a watchful eye on the threat of a 19 :xd4 ~), Black wants to oppose
breakthrough with c5. Surrendering the White's intentions head-on. To this
centre in King's Indian style (... exd4, end he prepares a knight manoeuvre
... ~5, ...'fIb6) gives no counterplay to the edge of the board, mirroring
in the absence of a bishop on g7, and White's last move. Since, however, the
looks like a positional concession to immediate 16...~ is bad due to 17
the opponent. Eventually this course f4 exf4 18 gxf4 cIS 19 e5 'fIe7 20 'fin,
of action may be forced, but for the he finds a way to improve this idea
moment Black tries to avoid it. with the aid of a small diversion on the
IS b3:ad8 other flank.
 INDIVIDUALITY AND STYLE 15

16•••lDb4
The logical way to parry the new
threat of 17 .. ,exd4 is 17 :e2 (if 17 :n, B
then 17... exd4.1S .xd4 dS), upon
which Black should continue 17... m.
Then in the variation IS f4 exf4 19
gxf4 dS 20 eS "fIe7, White no I~mger
has "£2 available. On IS .tf3 the
knight goes back again, while against
other replies Black can strengthen his
position with ...g6and ...f6. Such is
Dvoretsky's reasoning, and it meets
with full comprehension on the part of
his opponent. In his notes in In/ornta- difference - this time the transforma-
tor (26/603), Dorfman gives 16...tLlb4 tion of the position favours White. Af-
two whole excl8lllation marks; in the ter IS ... .tcS 19lDfS .txf5 (19 ... g6 20
game, he selected a most innocuous dxc6!?) 20 exf5, or IS ... cxdS 19 exdS
reply. .tcS (19 ....td7 20 tl:le4 f5 21 • g5
17 a3?! would be worse still) 20 lDe4 f5 21
An inadequate reaction to the unex- .tf3, his advantage assumes firm po-
pected obstacle in White's path. As al- sitional contours. By concentrating
ready noted, in a situation like this he on solving one problem, Black could
has as much time as he needs. Even have been unwittingly creating an-
with the simple 17 tLlf3 he could other one for himself - which inciden-
preserve an advantage. The move he tally happens quite often when you are
plays is a different matter entirely; in the worse position.
changes are now inevitable. The idea 17... exd418 axb4
of Black's defence is interesting in it- A slightly better try is IS !De2
self; and yet in their approach to this (lS ... d3 19 axb4 dxe2 20 lhe2). On
position, both players are basically the other hand Islbbl tl:la6 19.xd4
confining themselves to the struggle a4 20 b4 c5 favours Black. Simplifica-
'for' and 'against' the advance f4. If tion is not to be avoided, hence both
we return to 17 :e2 lDhs and look players lose their interest in carrying
aside for a moment, we notice what is on the dispute.
wrong with the placing of the black 18...dxc3 19 "'xc3 ub4 20 1i'xb4
knights, which have lost control of the :e7 21 eS dxe5 22 :Xd8+ .xd8 23
points cS and e4. This specific circum- :Xe5.c7
stance at last gives White sufficient White's position is still a little more
grounds for playing IS dS (D). pleasant, but his outbreak of aggres-
This decision has something in sion has already been successfully ex-
common with 17 a3, but with a certain tinguished.
16 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

24 f4 :e8 m 2S h6 26 ~4 .i.c8
27 "'cS U8 28 lLibS ~ 29 lLic3
.i.e6 30 1i'e3 tt2_1/2 w
The unexpected congruence in the
train of thought of both players meant
that a localized conflict was the ·chief
event in this game. In practice, the op-
posite situation comes about much
more often: in their approach to judg-
ing the position and carrying on the
struggle, the players differ so greatly
that two games of chess are being
played on the same board. In such
cases, the player capable of thinking With the knight exchange Black
more originally will gain a definite ad- forfeits his initiative, but still retains
vantage. quite a good position. The bad news is
that events now begin to take a direc-
VItollnl- Elnlorn tion that he doesn't understand.
USSR Ch semi-final, 23b4
Daugavpils 1978 This may look like nothing more
than an attempt to avoid the opening
1 e4 cS 2 lLifJ d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lLixd4 of lines near the white king. In fact,
lM6 S lLic3 e6 6 .i.bS+ White aims to continue restricting the
Vitolin§'s pet line. A story by Evelyn activity of Black's pieces as far as he
Waugh provides a terminology that can, while in the meantime advancing
very well suits the present-day state of his own kings ide pawns. This strategic
chess openings. In that terminology, idea escapes Black's attention. Having
variations can be classified either as acquired the c4-point for his own use,
'unforgettable' or as 'awaiting their he considers 23 ... a3 24 :d3 "c4 25
time'. The line chosen here is still in c3, but assesses it as unclear and pre-
the latter category. fers a more placid continuation.
"e2
6 ...i.d7 7 "c7 8 .i.e3 lLic6 9
0-0-0 a6 10 .i.xc6 .i.xc6 11 lLixc6
23....:d8 24 a3 :ac8 25 h4
It's interesting to watch how con-
"xc612 fJ .i.e713 g4 0-0 14 ~bl bS sistently White carries out his plan. In
The outcome of the opening is what follows, his pieces (unlike Black's)
favourable to Black, but he doesn't ex- don't make a single superfluous move.
ploit all the possibilities of his posi- 2S.....c4 26 :d3 d5 27 eS
tion. Having basieally failed to compre-
IS 1i'dllLid7 16 lL:ie2lLies 17lLid4 hend White's 23 b4, Black is faced
'Wb7 18 b3 as 19 "e2 :fb8 20 .i.c1 with a new surprise. Instead of keep-
84 21 gS lL:ic6 22 lL:ixc6 "'xc6 (D) ing up the fight in the centre, White is
 INDNIDUAll1Y AND STYLE 17

quite happy to close both the d-file and

the a1-h8 diagonal. Black cannot as-
sess the consequences of the bishop
sacrifice 27 ....i.xb4 28 axb4 'ibb4+
29 .i.b2. His frame of mind, just as be-
fore, is not suited to taking critical de-
cisions.
27..':d718.cU :.sc719l:hl ..c6
The queen could have been left
where it was for the moment. It wasn't
threatened with anything, and White
would have had to maintain a careful
eye on its possible movements. Black
should have considered 29 ....td8 30 be assured of more than a draw (37
"e1 (or 30 .tb2 :'c6 31 .i.d4 .tb6) :'dcS "d7 38 :'c8+ .td8 39 :'b8).
30...:'c6 31 :'e2.i.b6 32 f4 :'6c7. 33(5
30 .i.b2 .td8 Various other lines come into con-
Disorderly thinking is more danger- sideration for White, but with the sim-
ous than mere loss of time. This move ple 33 "'d1 or 33 :.dh3 (not fearing
belongs to the variation in the last note. 33...:.xc2 34 "xc2 :.xc2 3S :.xc2
It was more logical, of course, to com- gxh5 36 .i.d4), he could start an attack
plete the queen manoeuvre (30...~7) on the h-file at once. Although Black
and then place a rook on c4 before wouldn't lose out of hand, it's hard to
anything else. The bishop would be say how long he would be able to hold
transferred to b6 only if need arose. out with passive defence along the 7th
31 h5"e8 rank. In the actual game this question
A further mistake. The queen, just doesn't arise, because White doesn't
like the bishop, occupies a bad posi- think for a moment of abandoning his
tion. It is only now that serious worries fonner plans. With amazing consis-
begin to arise about the solidity of tency of purpose he plays fS, regard-
Black's position. less of the obstacles his opponent has
32f4(D) created for him.
32•••g6 33...gxf5
This shows that Black bas already In this game Black completely fails
lost any realistic notion of the danger. to choose the right moment for captur-
He didn't like to continue 32 ... :'c4 ing on c2. At present, to be sure,
33 fS exfS (33 ...:.xc2 34 "xc2 :.xc2 33 ...:'xc2 is dangerous in view of 34
3S :.xc2 exfS {3S ....i.xgS 36 :'dc3} "xc2 :.xc2 3S :.xc2 gxfS (or3S ... exfS
36 :'dc3 would be hazardous), even 36 :'c8 "d7 37 :'a8) 36 h6 "d7 37
though after 34 :.xdS :.xc2 3S 'ii'xc2 .i.d4, while 33 ...exfS loses immedi-
:.xc2 36 :'xc2 .i.xgS White wouldn't ately to 34 bxg6 fxg6 3S e6.
18 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

34g6fxg6 38 e6 - that was meant to supply a fit-

Here 34...lIxc2 35 'ilb6 lIxb2+ 36 ting climax to the attack and to White's
~xb2 fxg637 ':g3 would be even long-term strategic plan.
more unpleasant. 37••..i.g5 38 "d4 exdS
35 bxg6l:.g7 In banal fashion. time-trouble inter-
This was Black's last chance - and venes. With 38 ...':c4 39 "'d3 exdS.
the only good one - to play 35 ...lIxc2. Black could have beaten off the attack:
After 36 gxh7+ (or 36 Wh6 l:.xh2 37 40 e6 d4 41 -'.xd4 lIxd4 42 "'xd4
gxh7+ ~h8 38 "xh2 ':c7) 36... ~h8
37 "xc2 lIxc2 38 lIxc2 (or 38 ~xc2
"dS. or 40 "xdS ':h4 (not 40 ..."d8
41 e6 "'xdS42hg7+~xg7 43 hS"+
"'g6) 38... f4. the black queen would ~g6 44 ~+ ~6 45 e7) 41 lIxh4
at last acquire the freedom of action -'.xh4 42 e6 ~xh7 43 -'.xg7 ~xg7 44
which it has been awaiting for so long; "'xf5-'.f6.
and White would at once face difficul- 39e6':c7
ties. for instance 39 ':g2 "h5 40 After 39 .....g6. White would have
':g8+ ~xh7 41 lIxd8 "'f5 42 ~c2f3. to struggle for equality: 40 ':g2 ~xh7
36gxh7+~h8 41 "'gl f4 (41...l:.cc7 42 .bg7 lIxg7
The turmoil on the board might 43 e7 lIxe7 44 lIxg5 ':el + 45 "xel
seem to have abated a little. The quiet "'xg5 46 Wh 1+) 42 hg7 f3 43 lIxg5
37 ':dh3 ':cc7 38 -'.d4 ':xh7 39 "'c3 "'xc2+44~l"'cl+45"'xcl lIxc1+
would leave White with some advan- 46 ~b2 t2 47 e7 ':bl + 4S ~a2 ':el 49
tage. However. it is with quite a differ- l:.f5 ~xg7 50 ':xt2 lIxe7.
ent intention that his rook has remained 4O"'e5"d8
on the d-file until now. The time-control is reached. and all
37lbd5(D) that remains is to take stock of the re~
suIts of the battle. Black is completely
helpless. The one thing he manages to
do now is make a new queen.
41 -'.d4 f4 42l:.hS f3 43lbg5t2
44 lbg7 n"'+ 45 ~b2 lbc2+ 46
hc2 "'c4+ 47 ~d21·0
In the notes to this game I deliber-
ately omitted exclamation and ques-
tion marks (although the mistakes were
there in plenty), and tried to avoid any
technical abstractions. Without them,
I believe the differences of thought
and play between the two combatants
stand out more clearly. Black was
It was this stroke - giving White merely trying to utilize the features of
domination of the board after 37 ... exdS the position, whereas White was going
 INDTVIDUAllTY AND STYLE 19

all-out to alter them in the way he felt A roughly balanced situation has
was necessary. Being willing and able emerged, highly appropriate for the
to act outside the confmes of received start of peace negotiations. The fur-
wisdom helps you to attain your end ther course of events now depends on
even when it seems practically impos- White. He can show some initiative
sible. with a move like 23 a4 or force a
drawn ending with 23 lIb3 "'xe4 24
Schlechter - Lasker "'xd6+ "'e7, but he remains disin-
World Ch match (game 5). clined to do either.
Vienna 1910 23"'&3 86 24 'iVb3 ':d8 25 c4
This isn't at all an attacking at-
1 e4 e5 2 00 lbc6 3 J..b5 ~ 4 0-0 tempt (b4, a4, etc.), seeing that White
d6 5 d4 J..d7 6 M .i.e7 7 .lgS 0-0 8 adopts a waiting policy again for sev-
dxe5 eral moves. His position doesn't give
The start of a long series of ex- the slightest cause for unease. Black;
changes, after which Black has hardly however, has no wish to wait, and
any more opening difficulties. intends to play for a win himself. At
8...lbxe5 9 .txd7 lbfxd7 10 .lxe7 the moment it's difficult even to imag-
lbxfJ+ 11 'ilxf3 'ilxe7 12 tbd5 .d8 ine how he can succeed. Theoretically
13 :adl ':e8 14 .:tellbb6 15 'ilc3 there might be some chances con-
White isn't even trying to preserve nected with the e-file and Black's
a minimal edge. more compact pawn-formation. But as
IS...fudS 16 l:.xdS l:.e6 17 ':d3 long as his queen and rook are occu-
.e7 18 ':g3 .:p 19 ':ee3 ':e8 20 h3 pied with basic defensive duties, there
<i>f8 21 l:.xp bxg6 22 'ifb4 c6 (D) is nothing for him to undertake any-
where; by the rules of military strat-
egy, to carry out an active operation
you first need to create a preponder-
ance of force. Black solves the problem
with the simplicity of genius, bringing
his king across to the future scene of
battle. In this way the grounds of a
new conflict are laid, in which White,
in spite of himself. will eventually
have to participate.
2S .• ..:d7 26 "'dl "'e5 27 "'g4
~e8(!)
Schlechter watches this manoeuvre
spellbound, and later wrote in his
Black's pawns are now arranged in notes: "By means of his king-march,
the way best suited to defending them. Black opens up a new phase of this
10 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

long game and obtains good winning 32 cxb5 nbS 33 g3(?)

chances." For all that, the position on White intends to transfer his king
the board remains approximately even. from the first rank to the second. where
28 We2 "8 29 "112 Q;c7
Now the black pieces can acquire
it will only be worse placed. A line
that comes to niind is the immediate
scope for action. It isn't yet entirely 33 "dl followed by a4. If, for exam-
clear what sort of action this will be, ple, 33 ....:eS 34 a4 .:as, then 35 f4,
but there is something else which and Black comes under attack.
White understands: the initiative is 33•••g5 34 Q;g2 .:es 35 "dl f6 36
passing to his opponent. 1i'b3(?)
Reluctantly, therefore (and in two Here again, of course, the logical
steps), he pushes his queenside pawns continuation is 36 a4. Instead of this
after all, so as to have the possibility of White loses two more tempi, thanks to
unsettling the black king. his unwillingness to exchange queens.
30 a3 ':e7 31 b4 (D) 36.....e6 37 "dl ':h8(?)
Black in turn wastes some time. It's
pleasant to induce a further weakening
of the white pawns, but a stronger
move is 37 .....c4 at once, leaving the
rook on the file where it is at work.
38g4"c4
The recommendation of 3S ....:aS is
based on a certain misunderstanding.
White would simply reply 39 "c2.
Black has of course no wish to prevent
his opponent's next move. He would
have more reason to expect 39 "d2
.:os 40 f3, after which he can't achieve
anything detinite as yet, on account of
31 •••bS!? his unsafe king position.
A consistent and very bold deci- However, since Black's advantage
sion. The situation is already becom- here is not to be doubted, White is un-
ing quite tense. If one pair of pieces is willing on principle to make the move
exchanged, Black's preponderance in f3. This explains his decision (rather a
the centre should give him the advan- surprising one, considering his previ-
tage. On the other hand, the king on c7 ous quiet behavio\lC) to 'go for broke'.
can no longer feel at all secure. At- 39 84!? "xb4 40 nbS "xbS 41
tacking it ought to become White's ':b3
immediate priority, yet he is notice- For the sacrificed pawn White has
ably slow to react to the new change in obtained the initiative, but doesn't find
the position. a way to utilize it. The very first move
 INDIVIDUAlITY AND STYLE 21

of his offensive is dubious - he should This already shows serious under-

have considered 41 .al, leaving the estimation of the opponent's chances.
rook in its good position and trying to It would be better to place the rook on
activate his queen before anything else. cS, either now or on one of the follow-
41......&6 42 "'d4 :es 43 :bl :eS ing two moves.
44 ."..?
Particularly bad.
SO
~hld5
"&2 "eS+ 51 ~gl "'e1+ 52

44..:."545 "el .d3 46:b4 (D) After this new pawn advance the
king is fully exposed, and finally
comes under a direct attack. On top of
everything else, Black categorically
B renounciCS the possibility of giving
perpetual check.
53 :as WM. 54 ~g2 "'c5(?)
Black should have defended with
S4...:b7 (Schlechter).
55.a6! :b8
This move is equivalent to capitula-
tion. But then, Black's drawing pros-
pects would still be dubious after
SS ...c3!?, which Lasker suggested af-
terwards.
White's pieces have utterly failed to 56 :'7+ ~d8 57 :xg7 'ifb6 58
take up a good attacking position; more "'a3~c81-O
than that, they have had to switch to Black resigned without waiting to
defence again. You might expect that be mated.
the game would presently enter its
technical stage, and that Black's pro- People basically associate Lasker's
found strategy would be carried to its achievements with questions of chess
worthy and logical conclusion. Indeed. psychology - quite misguidedly, it
:as
46 ... 47 :b3 "'xb3 48 "'xv+ seems to me. His manner of play (like
would reduce the game to the problem that of Petrosian at a later date) simply
of exploiting the material advantage. didn't fit into the customary frame-
Black has other good moves too: work of standard chess thought: at-
46 ...:bS or even 46 ...~d7, starting a tack, defence, playing for position.
return king-march. However, as we all Anything not expressible in wholly
know, Homer sometimes nods. It is concrete and sufficiently graphic terms
the defenceless e4-pawn that now at- is very difficult to grasp. Conversely,
tracts Black's attention. vivid ideas, striking manoeuvres or
~ ••c5 47 :'4 e4 48 "'al "'xe4+ even individual moves implant them-
49 ~hl :b5(?) selves in your memory as soon as you
22 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

encounter them, and stay there more present game, the following continua-
or less for good. By an irony of fate, an tions suggested themselves: 62 'fIe7
idea of your own may become well :f2+ (if 62...f4, then 63 :c6) 63 <i>hl
known and serve as a direct prompt to :f4? 64 :xh6+ <i>xh6 65 'fId6+; alter-
your opponent. natively 62 'ilc7 :t2+ (or 62 ...f4 63
:xh6+ <i>xh6 64 'fIc6+) 63 <i>hl e2?
64l:txh6+ <i>xh6 65 ~+. I therefore
came to the conclusion that either of
w these echoing variations (62 'fIe7 or
62 'fIc7) would leave Black with no
choice but to force a draw, whereas af-
ter 62 'ild7?! :f2+ 63 <i>hl e2 64 Wd2
(the only move) or 62 :e5 :f2+ 63
<i>h3 e2, there might still be some
chess to be played.
62We8?
I was so bemused by the unex-
pected coincidence of ideas - involv-
ing one and the same player - that I
Bronstein - Eingorn failed to give due attention to the com-
USSR Ch semi-jinal, Tallinn 1980 pletely natural 62 :e8. Then the at-
tacking try with 62 ...:f2+ 63 <i>h3 f4?
With his last move, 61...:g4-g5, 64 Wg8+ <i>g6 65 :e6+ <i>h5 66 We8+
Black has set up the mechanism for his g6 wouldn't even lead to a draw (by 67
attack; he aims to play 62...:f2+ and :e5), but would land Black in dire
then either 63 ... f4 or 63 ...:f4, depend- trouble after 67 l:txe3! :fl (or 67...fxe3
ing on where the white king goes. The 68 We4!) 68 We4.
mate threat doesn't look particularly White's unfortunate choice of move
dangerous, but I couldn't think of any- is quite easy to explain: not perceiving
thing else (apart from giving an imme- his opponent's threat, he decides to set
diate perpetual check). At the same a trap for the rook on f3. Now in answer
time it was hard to get rid of the feel- to 62 .. .f4, White once again plays 63
ing that this same attacking set-up :xh6+, and if 63 ... <i>xh6 then 64
must have some tactical flaw. The Wc6+, or if 63 ...gxh6 then 64 We4+.
diagram position distinctly reminded But the rook immediately removes it-
me of a position from another game, self from the line of fire.
and eventually I recalled which one: a 62••.l:tf2+ 63 <i>h3 f4 64 l:txe3
Bronstein-Korchnoi encounter from A sad necessity.
1962. On the final move of that game, 64••.fxe3 65 Wxe3 :t6 66 We4+
Bronstein's rook captured a black :tg6 67 <i>h4 :xaS 68 Wd3 :tagS 69
pawn on h6. Applying this idea to the 'fIb1 :gl 70 We4 (D)
 INDNlDUAUIT AND STYLE 23

serve not to systematize chess itself.

but to give unified systematic form
B to the authors' own views about the
game. Style amounts to an entire com-
plex of such views. Style imposes lim-
itations on a player but permits him to
do what he likes doing, and what he
therefore succeeds best at. There is no
such thing as a universal style. If any-
thing comes closest to that definition,
it is when someone 'plays like a ma-
chine' - the phrase is associated with
the use of computer technology. This
This is just a little stunt before the manner of play demands unstinting
curtain comes down. hard work in the field of opening
70••':lg4+ 71 ~h5:g2 0-1 preparation. an excellent memory, and
good technique for realizing an ac-
No one has yet managed to tum quired advantage. With this approach,
chess into applied science - in other the names of the players on the score-
words, to demonstrate a method for sheet could just as well be swapped
discovering the best move in any po- round. However that may be, individ-
sition, with a sufficient degree of ac- uality is a quality on which any think-
curacy. When this happens, strictly ing person tends to place supreme
speaking, the game itself will lose its value. It is definitely no accident that
point. The adherents of various sys- when asked whether his games were
tems and methodologies should be characterized by anything specific,
reminded that, above all else. such in- Grandmaster Stein in one of his last
tellectual exercises splendidly express interviews simply replied: "I think I
the cast of mind of their authors; they have my own style of play."
2 Tactical Complications

The relation between strategy and Tal - Elngorn

tactics in the chess struggle has al- Sochi1986
ways been a notable topic of discus-
sion. Chess is a tactical game, but 1 e4 c5 2 ~f3 e6 3 d4 exd4 4lOxd4 a6
even in a relatively simple position 5 ~ "e7 6 .i.d3 llJf(t 7 0-0 liX6 8
you don't by any means always suc- .i.e3lDe5 9 h3 .i.c5 10 ~a4
ceed in working out the essential vari- Not a bad line, though it doesn't oc-
ations. It follows that the possibility cur all that often.
of initiating sharp play is itself a mat- 10••..h711 e4 d612 :c1.i.d713
ter of strategic choice. Chess strategy ~ 0-014 .i.e2 :te8 (D)
is concerned with identifying and in- A more natural move is 14... l:tacS.
terpreting the vital elements of the After 151Dc2, the variation l5 ... .i.xe3
position, such as 'an isolated pawn', 16 ~xe3 'ifb6 isn't too dangerous for
'a knight in the centre of the board', Black, while another interesting possi-
and all the rest. The generally ac- bility is 15 ... .i.bS 16 .i.d4!? ~g6 with
cepted treatment of these elements is complex play.
backed by the knowledge and experi-
ence of many generations of chess-
players, and can usually be relied on.
When it comes to assessing purely
tactical complications, the matter is a
good deal more involved. Here the
placing of some particular pawn or
piece may be of overriding signifi-
cance while general considerations
recede into the background. Tactics is
like a cat that likes to 'go its own
way' . Going for a walk with it is most
interesting, but a player doesn't al-
ways know where it is going to lead
him. Luck therefore becomes a major 15 b3 .i.c516 t4 ~g617 ~h1 eS 18
factor, and the result too often de- txeS dxeS 19 ~2 .i.xe3?!
pends on defensive or attacking re- Black felt that 19...~f4 20 i.xf4
sources that arise by chance. exf4 wasn't solid enough in view of
 TACTICAL COMPUCATIONS 25

21 b4, and yet 21.. ..tf8 22 00 liRdS White did of course look at 23 00
as
23 exdS would give him a good p<r and the exchange of knights, but can
sition (whereas 21.. ..td6 22 c5 .te5 hardly have spent much time on it. His
23 00 liJxdS 24 exdS is highly ob- attention was drawn to the idea of oc-
scure). His irresolution is punished at cupying dS unopposed. Since Black
once, for with the c2-knight coming wasn't prepared to concede this to
into the game, White seizes the initia- him, some complications were bound
tive. to arise.
20 1Oxe3 ~411 -*.g41 ~4 13g3
To ease the defence, Black pre- The direct confrontation begins. Be-
serves minor pieces of different types. fore going any further, it's interesting
A double exchange on g4 wouldn't to clarify how far White's strategic
suit him here. goal justifies the means he is using to
lllOxg4 :d8 (D) attain it. For instance in the case of
23 ...lDxh3, the c3-knight uses the key
dS-square only in transit: 24 00 "c5
2S lOdf6+ gxf6 26 liJxf6+ Wg7 27
w lDxd7 00+ 28 Wgt!. This move is in-
dicated by Tal, but the variation is
worth continuing: 28.....e7 29 Wxf2!?
(29lhf2 :Xd7 is equal) 29 .. .:xd7 30
"'g4+ Wh8 3t :edt :d4. It isn't en-
tirely clear whether White has achieved
anything here, while other attacking
tries on move 25 are unsuccessful.
Black can also consider the strictly
positional line 23 ...-*.xg4 24 .xg4
00, when 2S :edt is answered by
At this point, an immediate inva- 2S •••li)b4(!). The black knight again
sion of the centre by the white knight covers the dS-square, which is neces-
seems the most natural continuation, sary in order to bring about the useful
and would leave Black in difficulties. exchange of a pair of rooks. After 26
The game could go: 23 00 liRdS 24 a3 :Xdt 27 :Xdl liJc2 White's back
cxdS "'d6 25 liJe3 (stronger than 25 ranks are insecure, and he needs to at-
"'f3 f6 26lOe3 :ac8 and now 27liJf5
"f8 or 27 liJc4 "'c5) 25 ...:ac8 26
tend to the defects of his position
rather than think about developing an
liJc4. If now 26.....c7 27 "'d2, the initiative. If White varies with the pru-
pressure of the white pieces gradually dent 25 :e21?, then 2S ...:d4 26 00
increases, while an attempt to defend "d6 once again leads to unclear play.
tactically by means of 26... 'i'h6 27 Such, more or less, might have been
liJxe5 .txh3 would fail to 28 liJxf7. the results of White's campaign with
26 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

23 g3, a move that noticeably weakens exf4 29 "xf4 (29 ll)xf4 is met by
his king's position. 29 ...'iVh6+ 30 ~gl "gS+) 29.....xf4
The way the game goes, this weak- 30 l%xf4, and in this ending Black's
ening has an additional, directly tacti- disconnected rooks are a matter of
cal, effect. very grave concern.
23....1r5 (D) b12) 1be correct line appears to be
2S .....b6 26 l&dS! (not 26 ':fel?
.1xh3 27 gxf4 'iVh6) 26 ... ll)xdS 27
"xfS ~f6 (27 ... ~f4 doesn't work: 28
ll)dS 'iVh6 29 gxf4 'iVh4 30 ':c3) 28
ll)ds "d4, and White does not, after
all, succeed in gaining an advantage.
b2) It's also worth mentioning that
another reply is 24... .1xg4. This trans-
poses, after 2S "xg4, into the quiet
variation examined in the previous
note, and remains a perfectly accept-
able alternative for Black. A suitable
possibility for deviating is of crucial
significance, as there is no rule to tell
A minor surprise. The d-file is still you how complications of this sort
in Black's hands, and it's hard to say will tum out. Your assessment of the
who is doing the attacking. variations often has to be revised as
a) However that may be, the posi- you go along, and new variations have
tion at the end of the variation 24 "c2 to be selected. In the game, White is
.1xg4 2S bxg4 lbe6 26 00 "d6 27
cS "f8 is not at all what White wanted.
But then, capturing the other piece
the first to deviate from the lines we
have looked at - and yet he is the one
who shouldn't have done so.
with 2S gxf4 is quite risky: 2S ....1xh3 14 "e1? ttJd3
26':f3 .1g4 27 ':g3 hS 28 00 (or 28 This time 24... .1xg4 2S gxf4 .ixh3
fS ':d4) 28 ...l%xdS 29 cxdS "xc2 30 26':f3 wouldn't be so good for Black.
':xc2 exf4 31 ':d3 gS. He had a look at this line as a formal-
b) The strongest reply is 24 "f3!. ity, then made the move that was obvi-
Then:
bI) After 24...l%d3 2Slbe3, Black's
idea for counterplay would be put to a
ous.
2S "e3 .1xg4 26ll)dS lbd5?
Black too has some feelings for the
serious test: dS-square, but the right method is to
bll) 2S ... .1xh3(?) is not good: 26 keep his powerful bishop on the board
gxf4 .1xfl 27 l&dS "d6 (an even with 26.....d6 27 "xd3 .1xh3 - even
worse choice is 27 .....d8 28 ':xfl though, after White's only reply 28
"h4+ 29 ~gI exf4 30 "xf4) 28 ':xfl ':f2 (to meet 28 ....1g4 with 29 "e3, or
 TACl'ICAL COMPUCATIONS 27

28 ...Wh6 with 29 "d2), it wouldn't be The decision White took on move

so simple to exploit the material ad- 23 of this game was above all deter-
vantage. mined by his style and taste. Needless
27 adS ~xel 28':Xel (D) to say, a player with a different out-
look on chess would order his priori-
ties in another way. Nonetheless there
are always concrete features of the p0-
B sition which no one can ignore. The
simple exchange of knights would have
preserved White's initiative and might
have led to a small advantage, but by
playing 23 g3 he was definitely out to
achieve more. In this connection we
can only recall that the best is often the
enemy of the good.
Of course, complications are initi-
ated by one of the players. Yet it quite
often happens that neither player has
White's protected passed pawn and any objection to the abrupt change in
the open file for his rook give him the character of the game, since each
more reliable compensation than the of them is hoping to profit from it.
knight posted in the centre would have
done. Sveshnlkov - Elnlom
28.....d7 USSR Ch, Riga 1985
A rather better line appears to be
28 ....i.f3+ 29 ~gl (not 29 ~h2? "as) 1 e4 e6 2 d4 dS 3 e5 c5 4 c3 llJc6 5
29 .....d7 30"xf3 "xh3 31 :c7 :f8. W~6a3c4
Then 32 l:txb7? is bad due to 32...f5 The classical branch of this system.
with a winning attack, but White has To the right of the d-file White has
the strong move 32 "c3! available. quite good attacking prospects, but
The extra pawn in itself doesn't just now he has to attend to his queen-
mean much here, and even with his side which is rather boxed in. Overall,
queen on g4 Black doesn't manage to the play tends to develop in White's
create any real threats against the favour, which is why other variations
white king. are more popular today.
29 bxg4 "xg4 30 ~g2 hS 31 :c7 7 .i.e2 .i.d7 8 0-0 lDaS 9 ~bd1
:d8 ~710:bl
A very modest attempt to seize the Here 10 :el looks more precise.

32 "f3
c-file after 32 :xb7 :c8.
"16 33 ~h3 :d6 34 lbb7
:t6 35 "el "g5 36 :c7 112.1/2
In turn, Black's next move (directed
against the manoeuvre ~g5-h3-f4) is
also not essential.
28 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

lO...h611:e1 (D) expending too much effort on bring-

ing his bishop to a4 - so he prefers to
do it immediately.
14"'ct 'fIb615lD3d2
B The b3-square needs defending
again, but the f2-pawn is gradually
preparing to go into battle. With the
help of his knight, Black starts an op-
eration to restrain it.
15...ltJg616 ~e3
16 ~g3 h5 17 h3 is an alternative.
16...lZ)b4 17 f4
Piece-play (17 ~g4 or 17 ltJg3)
would promise little, given the passive
position of the white queen. On the
11 •••~c6 other hand if 17 g4, Black is fully jus-
Perhaps the most enigmatic of the tified in answering 17 ...f6.
moves Black has played in this posi- 17...h5 18 ~flltJf5 19 ltJg3 lZ)xgJ
tion. If appropriate he can continue 20 hg3ltJb3?
with ...•c7-d7 and ... ~a4, but for the Regrettable carelessness. An ex-
moment he is essentially waiting. The change of knights is desirable, as the
point is to preserve as many possibili- white knight is preparing to move
ties for his pieces as he can. With away from d2 for good - leaving its
11...0-0-0 or 11...:c8 he would be de- opposite number on a5 doing nothing.
termining his Icing's position too soon. For example, 20... ~e7 21 ltJf1 h4 22
The e7-knight may be useful on the ~ ~b3 23 .d2 ~a2 24 :bdl ~b3
kingside, and the queen is keeping 25 :al ~a4 26 ~dl ~xdl 27 :axdl.
watch on the b3-square. Although to All Black needed to do was insert the
some extent the course of the game moves 20 ...h4 21 ~f2; then after
will vindicate Black's reasoning, his 21...ltJb3 22 ltJxb3 ~xb3 the posi-
policy remains a little dubious. At any tion would be equal, given that White
rate, he has plenty of time for his ma- could gain nothing from 23 f5 exf5 24
noeuvres; this is his chief asset in the .g5.
fight against White's rather ponderous In the game, the important h4-d8
strategic plan. diagonal falls into White's hands, and
12 00 'fIb3 13 ~f4 the problem of resisting the f5 ad-
The simple 13 .xb3lilltb3 14 ~f4 vance acquires a strategic importance
is also worth thinking about. for Black which it need not have had at
13...~a4 all.
By continuing 13 ...•xdl 14 ~xdl 21lZ)xbJ ~xb3 22 -*.h4 (D)
ltJc8 15 ltJe3 ltJb6, Black would be 22••••c7?!
 TACI'ICAL COMPUCATIONS 29

Very risky; it was worth considering

24... i.e7. Then the attack with 25 i.f6
B i.f8!? (2S ...(),,{)-0 26 hg7 :hg8 27
J.f6) 26 .g5 (26 Wf4 i.c2) 26 ...gxf6
27 exf6+ ~d8 wouldn't yield any clear
results. All the same, the simple 25
i.xe7 .xe7 26 i.xdS 0-0-0 27 i.f3
would preserve some advantage for
White.
The upshot of 24.. :.c6? could be
the same as that of the move actually
played. After 25 e6 fxe6 (if 25 .. .f6,
then 26 e7 he7 27 'l'e3) 26 .g5 Wf7
The advance of the white f-pawn (or 26 ... ~d7 27 :e2 :h6 28 :bel) 27
has to be halted one way or another, he6!, the reply 27 ....xe6 gives a po-
and it would be logical to attend to this sition considered in the next note. The
at once. However, I wasn't at all keen other capture, 27 ... ~, is no good. as
on the position after 22...g6. White 28 :el + ~d7 291i'xf5+ is crushing.
would place his bishop on g5, proba- 15:e2?
bly leading to its exchange- which This is too slow. The breakthrough
would be quite helpful to him. Then he with 25 e6 fxe6 26 .g5 Wf7 27 he6!
could calmly prepare g4, or (if an oc- .xe6 28 :el would leave Black with
casion arose) f5. no choice other than 28 ... i.e7. Then
Rather than conduct a forlorn de- after 29 .xe7+ .xe7 30 he7+ ~g6
fence without counter-chances, Black 31 i.xd5, his chances of organizing
is willing to accept any unclear posi- decent resistance would be slim.
tion, but the choice of that position is lS...1i'e6
up to White. Black therefore demon- Now Black's lines of defence look
stratively puts off any decision and thoroughly robust, yet after just one
makes a provocative queen move, chal- more move they face further severe or-
lenging his opponent to go into action deals.
without further ado. Unfortunately the 26.15 (D)
scale of the threat he will now be fac- 26...~d7
ing is very large, so his ingenious con- Black underestimates the danger
ception is not to be commended. just as before, and continues fighting
23 fS!? with a small force. A more sensible
On principle White assents. He too move is 26...i.a4, not minding 27 :n
would like to avoid the long-drawn-out i.c6 28 i.xh5 i.e7. Apart from any-
positional campaign resulting from 23 thing else, the black king would still
:f1 g6. have the right to castle, although cas-
23•••exf5 24 i.f3 "d1? tling might still be a long way off.
30 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

or to choose the more solid 30...:h6.

After that, 31 e6 f6 32 e7 i.xe7 33
B "e3 (or 33:re1 ~ 34 :Xe7:g6)
33 ... ~ 34 'It'xe7+ ~gS, 0., 31 :en
i.c6 32 'ii'xf7+ .xf7 33 :xn :to (if
33 .. ':hS?!, then 34 :c7) gives a posi-
tion with roughly equal chances.
3O••.J.c6 31 "xf7+
Black will still have difficulties in
the ending, but life without queens is a
little easier for him. Another possibil-
ity is 31 "c2 11'e4 32 'It'xe4 i.xe4 33
:xf7, when White has deflected the
27 i.xdS! black bishop from the defence of d7 . If
Not, of course, 27 i.xh5? :eS, af- instead 31 "g5, Black should answer
ter which problems would arise for 31 ... f6.
White (if 2S g4, then 2S ... g6 29 gxf5 31._"xl7 32 :xt7 :g8 33 e6?
gxf5). The bishop sacrifice secures This is premature and allows Black
him more than enough initiative. to coordinate his pieces. After 33 i.g5
27.....xdS 28 "xlS+ ~e8 :cS 34 h4 (and if 34... i.d5, then 35
Almost in Steinitz's styIe - the king e6), White remains in control of the
is an active piece, and risks its life try- situation.
ing to participate in the game. Black 33...i.d6 34 i.gS :c8 3S :1fS
doesn't succeed with 2S .....e6 29"f3 i.e4?!
~c7 30 :n (Sveshnikov); a slightly There is more promise in 35 ... g6.
better although still dubious option is From now on, the tactical resources of
2S ...~c6 29 :n i.a4. both sides are more or less balanced.
29 :n i.a4 30 :ef2!? 36:as a6 37 :d7 i.f8 (DJ
White's play is simple, and strong
enough. 30 "f4 is an alternative, and
sets up the threat of 31 e6; for exam-
ple: 30...i.c6 31 e6 f6 32 i.xf6 .i.d6 w
33 i.e5 i.xe5 (or 33 .....xe6 34 "g3
i.e7 35 :reI) 34 "f7+ ~dS 35 e7+
~cS 36 "xd5 i.xdS 37 :Xe5 'i.c6 3S
:f8+ ~c7 and here Sveshnikov's 39
:ef5 (intending 40 :xbS :xbS 41
:is) wins, but 39 eS" (or 39 eS~+) is
simpler. Black therefore does better to
defend with 30.....e6 31 :d2 "dS
(not 31...i.c6 32 dS i.xdS 33 :fd1),
 TACTICAL COMPliCATIONS 31

3S:eS All of the continuations in this clas-

The rooks and bishops are going sical variation have their minor de-
round in circles. A draw could also fects. In the present case, for instance,
have resulted from 38 d5 b6 39 lba6 the white bishop has abandoned the
.i.c5+ 40 ~fl :£'8+ 41 ~1 .i.xg242 a2-g8 diagonal somewhat prematurely,
d6. hence the exchange on d4 looks fully
3S•• ic6 39 :n .i.d6 40 d! :c71! justified in reply.
This senseless try merely exposes 7•••cxd4
Black to unnecessary risk. It is better to Another interesting possibility for
acquiesce to perpetual check at once, Black is 7 ...lObd7.
although even now, after 41 dxc6 S exd4.i.e7 (D)
.i.xe5 42 :d7 :C8 43 cxb7 :b8, there
is no win to be found for White.
41 :ers 112·1/,
The game is drawn due to 41...g6 w
42 lbc7 J..xc7 43 :n .i.b6+ 44 c;Phl
.i.xdS 45 :e7+ 'iPf8 46 :n+.
In this game the complications
arose in a somewhat artificial manner.
Usually they form the logical conse-
quence of some actions undertaken by
one of the players, or else, conversely,
they begin because the opponent is
trying vigorously to hinder such ac-
tions. Tactical complications are a
continuation of the strategic contest 9.i.gS
by other means. They may be occa- At a later date 9lOe5 was to become
sioned not only by concrete consider- fashionable, attempting to impede the
ations but also by a fairly abstract idea harmonious development of Black's
- such as White's aspiration to an pieces.
opening advantage. In any event their 9...b5
ultimate purpose is to bring about a A different type of position could
new state of affairs, which their insti- arise after 9...1Oc6 101Oc30-0 11 :Cl.
gator regards as better than the previ- 101Oc3
ous one. The logical move for White is 10
a4, aiming to derive some profit from
Eingom - Lin Ta his unusual move-order (9 J..g5 in-
Beijing 1991 stead of 9 1Oc3). This would have
given him more chance of obtaining a
1 d4 dS 2 c4 dxe4 3 e3 e6 4 J..xc4lDf6 plus.
5 iDo c5 6 0-0 .6 7 .i.d3 10... iDbd7!? (D)
32 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

This move is directed against the lOxg5+~g817 ~7?! .i.b7!. In these

exchange .i.xf6, which has occurred lines it isn't so simple to find a fitting
in practice in answer to 10... .i.b7 or use for White's active pieces. Curi-
10...0-0. ously enough, neither player devoted
much attention to 11 ...exdS: the move
in the game seemed more natural to
both of them.
w It only remains to add that the coun-
ter-attacking try 11...b4 12 dxe6 ~S
meets with the noteworthy rejoinder
13 .i.e4(!) ~xe4 14 ~e4 'W'xd1 (if
14... ~e4, then IS exf7+ ~xf7 16
tbe5+) 15 exf7+~xf716:axd1 ~e4
17 i.xe7~xe718:fe1,andWhitere­
gains his material with a small amount
of interest.
12.i.cl~cIS
If 12...h4, then 13 .i.xf6 and 14
If Black plays ... .i.b7 next move ~4 is none too pleasant for Black.
without hindrance, he will have no 13 .i.xe7 ~e7?
further opening difficulties. What then Clearly based on some oversight.
is White to do? A possibility is to The other two recaptures on e7 should
refrain from forcing a confrontation obviously have been considered first.
and simply play 11 :c 1 or 11 'ii'e2, After 13 ...~e7 14 'W'xd8+ ~xd8,
shelving his ambitions until a more White has 15 b4 ~7 16 a4, or 15
opportune moment. Such a strategy is :fdl + ~7 (alternatively 15 ... ~c7 16
admissible, and yet in the Queen's lbe4, or 15 ...~e8 16 b4 ~7 17 a4) 16
Gambit Accepted it is precisely in the lOgS, with good compensation for the
opening stage that Black's difficulties pawn minus.
arise if they arise at all. White there- There was some uncertainty about a
fore attempts to give his opponent line in which Black doesn't try to hold
some immediate problems - in accor- on to his extra material: 13.....xe7!?
dance with his view of this opening. 14lOxdS exd5 (D).
11 cIS!? lOc5 It isn't clear how anything more
Capturing with l1...exd5!? may ap- than approximate equality can be ex-
pear risky, but in fact is quite playable: tracted from this position. White was
12 ~4 .i.b7 13 lOfS 0-0, while 12 hoping that a way to develop his initia-
:e1 can be met by 12...0-0! (there is tive would exist. When thinking about
no need to insert 12...h6 13 .i.h4), be- 11 d5, players who like a more exact
cause 13 lOxd5?! fails to 13 ...lOxd5 prognosis might have taken their anal-
14 .i.xh7+ ~xh7 15 'W'xd5 .i.xg5 16 ysis further. For example:
 TACl1CAL COMPUCATIONS 33

Of course, when playing 1O...~bd7,

Black examined White's attempt to
w carry out the standard central break,
and concluded that ...lbcS was an ade-
quate retort. Strictly speaking this was
a perfectly correct judgement, albeit a
slightly superficial one. The results of
White's undertaking turned out to be
modest. but that was just his bad luck
- you can't always succeed in convert-
ing a tactical initiative into something
more tangible. Indeed he could hardly
have expected anything else when the
a) IS :el, and now: conflict was still at an early stage. It's
al) lS ...lOe6(?!) 16 "xdS i.b7 17 a different matter when the struggle is
'ii'hS g6 18 i.xg6! is good for White. intensified gradually, consciously, and
a2) However, Black bas IS ...i.e6, in conjunction with an overall strate-
when there can follow 16 ~4 0-017 gic plan. In such a case the stakes will
b4lLle4 18 f3 ~f6. be a good deal higher.
b) White can insert IS a4, with
these possibilities: Gaslunas - Artamonova
bl) IS ...b416:el i.e617"d40-0 USSR Women's Corr. Ch 1988
18 "xb4, with somewhat the better
position for White. 1 d4lbf6 2 c4 e6 3 ~f3 dS 4 ~c3 i.e7
b2) In turn, Black can improve with
IS ... bxa4. Then:
5 "'c2 0-0 6 i.g5 ~bd7
So as to answer 7 0-0-0 with 7 ...cS.
b21) 16 "xdS i.b7 17 Wh5 g6 18 On 6 ...h6 7 i.xf6 i.xf6 8 0-0-0, White
'ii'h6 i.xf3 19 gxf3 0-0-0 looks uncon- seizes the initiative.
vincing. 7 adS exdS 8 e3 h6
b22) The combination 16 :el i.e6 Black wants to find out at once
17 i.xa4+ ~xa4 18 "xa4+ "d7 19 where the white bishop is going.
'ifb4 "e7 20 lha6!? "xb4 (20 ...lha6 9i.f4
is met by 21"'S+) 21 lha8+ ~e7 22 After 9 i.h4 c6 10 i.d3 :e8 11 0-0
lhb8 b6 gives advantage to neither lOe4, it will be easier for Black to
player. equalize than it usually is in the Ex-
14 "d4 "'d6 15 b4 ~xc3 change Variation.
15 ... ~7 16 ~xdS+ "'xdS 17 i.e4 9...a6 (D)
"'xd4 18 ~xd4 is also bad for Black. Some games have continued with
16 "'xc3 ~a4 17 i.xa4 bxa4 18 an immediate 9 ... cS (10 i.d3 a6), but
:ad1 "'b619 "xg7 l:.f8 20 ~eS :a7 in the present case Black reserves the
21 :d3 ~e8 22 l:.fdl 1-0 right to reconsider if White replies 10
34 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

i.e2. Oddly enough, the same thing example Black is starting the
(... a6) frequently occurs a move ear- queenside counter-attack with no loss
lier - although with the white bishop of time. It's hard to guess in advance
on f4, Black's plan based on ...cS just how this extra tempo win affect
might seem even more appropriate the general verdict on the position;
than it would otherwise be. in some circumstances, the fact that
White's bishop is still on f1 may prove
to have its positive points.
10•••c5 11 O-O-O!?
There is no danger to Black in 11 h4
It:)xg4 12 It:)xdS lOdffi, while 11 i.d3
cxd4 (or 11...bS) 12 exd4 (transposing
into a game Kurajica-Bachtiar, Sura-
kartalDenpasar 1982) amounts to an
inferior version of Botvinnik's line.
White is keen to take on gS with the
knight, while at the same time retain-
ing control of d4 with a piece. After
this, major complications are virtually
inevitable.
Trying to detect the drawbacks of A different configuration of pieces
Black's early 8...h6, White naturally can be brought about by 11 gS hxgS 12
turns her attention to the possibility of i.xgS, avoiding an increase in White's
launching a fairly dangerous standard commitments for the time being. In
attack on the black king by playing g4. that case Black's best course seems to
Perhaps for this very reason, the dia- be 12... cxd4 13 It:)xd4 It:)cs 14 0-0-0
gram position remains fairly original :le8, intending ...It:)ce4.
to this day. Black's opening idea is l1 ...bS 12 g5 bxgS 13 It:)xgS i.b7
definitely worthy of attention. (D)
10 g4!? White answers 13 ... cxd4 with the
Can the course of the coming battle simple 14 %lxd4 (not 14lt:)xdS i.b7).
be predicted, even approximately? In In spite of the mounting tension,
an opening where precise analysis and the two sides' forces are not yet in di-
practical experience are lacking, it is rect contact. The imminent opening of
customary to resort to analogy. The the c-fi1e hampers any attempt to com-
position after 10 i.d3 c6(?) 11 g4 is bine threats against dS and h7; White
mentioned in the notes to the classic would come off badly from 14 i.g2
game Botvinnik-Alatortsev, Leningrad :lc8 (14... cxd4!?) IS i.xdS i.xdS 16
1934. In Botvinnik's opinion, White It:)xdS cxd4 17 i.c7 d3.
"has good attacking prospects". This On 14 dxc5, Black in turn should
is something to go by, but in our own avoid 14... d4 15 :lgl dxc3 16 .th3,
 TACTICAL COMPUCATIONS 35

i.c4 is of crucial importance for White.

For that very reason, a move like 14
w i.h3 would have been much weaker
than 14 :g1.
With the rook move to c8, Black is
preparing to make material gains - yet
the fact that nothing is immediately at-
tacked means a small gain of time for
White, which may be highly signifi-
cant in a position where the storm is
just about to break. Black is underrat-
ing her opponent's attacking chances.
From the defensive point of view, a
and play 14... lOxc5 or even 14...:c8!? sounder line appears to be 15 ...i.c5!?
(e.g., 15 b4 lOxc5 16 bxc5 :Xc5 17 16 :dl "fIe7, expelling the white rook
i.e5 d4). Seeing no reason to release from the 4th rank and trying to im-
the tension, White very sensibly pre- prove the placing of the black pieces.
fers bring up her remaining reserves. 16 i.b3 (D)
14 :gl(!) cxd4
One of the critical moments in the
game. Without any doubt, the straight-
forward 14... b4 is also worth consider- B
ing. Against this, White gave serious
attention to a new attacking stratagem:
15 i.h3 bxc3 16lOe6. White's threats
are quite dangerous, but the material
sacrificed counts for more, and in the
end Black beats off the attack (see
Chapter 9, position number 9). White
would therefore do better with the
simple retreat ISlOe2, sacrificing the
d4-pawn if necessary.
The decision Black has taken ap- 16...:c61
pears perfectly natural; she doesn't It is too late to consider 16... i.c5 17
want to let the white pieces evacuate i.xd7 "fIxd7 18 i.e5, but the time had
the c-file for such a small price. The now come for Black to play 16... b4 at
c3-knight must now remain at its post last. In this way she would be provok-
like a true soldier. ing an immediate crisis and at the
ISlbd4:c8 same time parrying the new threats to
The possibility of meeting 15 ... b4 her king (17 i.xd7 Wxd7 18 i.e5
with 16lOxdS i.xdS 17 :xdS :c8 18 bxc3). After 17 lOe6 fxe6 18 i.xe6+
36 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

:f7 19 "g6 "fS 20 ~h6. the tactical 19:h4

engagement would still not turn out in Setting up a new mate threat in the
either side's favour: shape of 20 i.xf6 .i.xf6 21 :b8+.
a) 20 ... lbe5 21 "xg7+ "xg7 22 19... liJe4
lhg7+ ~h8 23 .i.xf7 (or 23 .i.xc8) If Black plays 19 ...:c4. White re-
gives White the advantage. This and plies 20 :h8+ at once (20...~xb8 21
the next line are inferior defensive .i.xf6). On 19 ... g6 White would also
tries. be able to win in a few moves. with
b) 20...~h8 21 .i.g5 (not 21 .i.xf7 plenty of methods to choose from.
gxb6 22:b4 l'ilh7) 2l...iOe5 22 :h4+ 20!ile6! (D)
~g8. Now the spectacular 23 ~6 The knight has reached its goal af-
gxb6 24 .i.xf6+ l'ilg6 25 lbg6+ ~h7 ter all. The position deserves a dia-
ends in failure. but the simple retreat gram. even though 20 l'ilgxe4 i.xb4
23 "f5 is very good for White. 21 :xg7+ would also have worked.
c) 20... lbeS is the best move: 21
:dg4 i.f6! (Black would do badly
with 21...bxc3 22 i.xg7 cxb2+ 23
~xb2 or 21...lbe5 22 .i.xg7 !£lxg6 23
i.xfS ~xfS {23 ...i.xfS 24 :xg6+} 24
:xg6) 22 lhh4.
The move Black actually plays might
be called too bold. or on the contrary
too cautious - but the main thing is that
it proves completely pointless. The
temporary control of e6 has no rele-
vance at all. To be certain of prevent-
ing White's g5-knight from jumping
forward. Black would need to defend
the g7-point. but she is not in a posi- 2O...i.f8 21 i.Xf!J fxe6 22 i.e5+
tion to do that. As a result of her slow- 1-0
ness to act. not only does the other The foregoing battle presented a
white knight remain alive. but the picture that is familiar from many
black king perishes without any resis- other games: while the black pawns
tance. were on the march. the white pieces
17 i.xd7 "xd7 18 i.eS :reS were heading for the black king. The
Or 18 ... g6. when after 19 l'ile6. one thing that remained unclear for
Black has to play 19 .....e8(!). allow- quite a while was how it was all going
ing White to win the exchange with 20 to end this time. This is nothing to
!ilc7. White could also consider 19 wonder at; the very concept of 'com-
:h4. persisting in the aim of getting at plications' implies a fair degree of
the black king directly. uncertainty as to the future. Normal
 TACTICAL COMPUCATIONS 37

criteria often cease to work:, being ill- 18...lLlh7, putting paid to all White's
adapted to the dynamics of the events. illegitimate aspirations. Instead Black
New tacticiil possibilities will very parries the threat of 19 :g 1 with a
quickly crop up. For this to happen, no most incautious bishop move. One
cataclysm on the chessboard is needed; move later, he realizes the scale of the
it may be enough for a player to move problems he has created for himself.
just one piece ineptly. When the situa- 18•••.i.f4? 19 'fIh4 (D)
tion suddenly changes in this way, no
matter how good your position was to
begin with, it cannot guarantee a happy
outcome.

Reti - BOloljubow
Stockholm 1919

1 d4 lLlf6 2 e3 e6 3 .i.d3 c5 4 lLld2

lLlc6 5 c3 .i.e7 6 lLlgf3 0-0 7 li)eS b6
This duel from the old days bears a
strong resemblance to a game from a
present-day 'open' tournament. To all
appearances the white side is being
played by an amateur who enjoys at- Having made one rather careless
tacking the king. Black is an experi- move, Black needs to take a good think,
enced player. He is in no hurry to as at this point his king really does
wrest the initiative from his opponent need defending. This is an unpleasant
(7 ...'fIc7 8 f4 cxd4 9 exd4 d6), but task and may entail some complica-
calmly waits for his victim to fall into tions. However, as Polugaevsky wrote
his hands. in one of his own annotations, up to
8 'flO 'fIe7 9 0-0 .i.b7 10 lLlxc6 here Black "has committed no sin
.i.xc6 11 'fIh3 d5 12 g4 against chess principles such as to in-
White's expected offensive has be- cur a dangerous attack". White, con-
gun, and definitely ought to have ended versely, has come straight out with
in total disaster. some moves in the 'novice' category,
12•.•e5 13 0 b6 14 'fIg2 he8 15 the consequences of which are plain to
~bl exd4 16 exd4 .i.d6 see in the diagram position. Black isn't
With 16... c4 17 .i.c2 .i.d6, Black threatened with anything· immediate,
could indeed have curtailed the strug- his pieces are in play, and it is his
gle. move. Can he not find a way to liqui-
17 g5 bxg5 18 'fIxgS date the tactical possibilities that have
Here again, to tie the game up with- chanced to crop up for White, without
out trouble, Black only needs to play doing any particular damage to his
38 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

own good position? Let us look at the

following sample variations:
a) 19...c4 is the most natural con-
tinuation. Bogoljubow regards the re-
ply 20 ~?! dxe4 21 -txf4 exf3 22
~gl "d7 23 -txc4 "f5 as bad for
White, and recommends 20:g1, based
on 20 ...cxd3 21 "xf6 g6 22lbfl - but
this is no good either, as Black has the
zwischenzug 20...-te3. The correct
move is 20 lbxc4; then after 20... -txc 1
21 lbe5 -th6 22 :gl ~h8 23 J:txg7
Black is crushed, while in the case of
20... dxc4 21 .i.xf4 .i.xf3+ 22 ~gl decision. If we recall some of the vari-
"c6 23 -txc4 he has to find compen- ations from the previous note, the re-
sation for the pawn minus. ply 20 lbb3 automatically springs to
b) 19...-te3. White can't be beaten mind. There could follow, for instance,
by such simple means. The probable 20 ...c4 21 :gl "d6 22 .ixe3 -txe3
continuation is 20 lbb3 "d6 (or 20...c4 23 J:txg7+ ~g7 24 :gl+ hgl 25
21 -txe3 :xe3 22 :gl) 21-txe3 :xe3 "g5+ with perpetual check. Let us
22 :gl g6 23 'ii'h6 :xd3 24 J:txg6+, now quote another interesting pro-
with a draw. nouncement, this time by Tal on the
c) 19...:e6 is another try. Again subject of the complications in one of
there follows 20 ltJb3 (if 20 :gl, then his match games with Botvinnik: "A
20... h3 or 20 ...lbh5) 20... -txc1 21 revealing fact is that the continuations
:axcl, and now"in the event of 21...c4 are of one type. In my view this serves
22 .if5 cxb3 23 :gl Black could eas- as an indirect proof of the soundness
ily come under an extremely strong at- of the combination."
tack. It is time to take stock and pass final
d) 19.....d6!? is interesting; Black judgement on Bogoljubow's 18...-tf4.
hopes to repel his opponent's onslaught lbis move by itself was sufficient to
in the variation 20 lbb3 .ixc 1 21 throwaway the whole of Black's deci-
:axcl c4 22 :gl g6! 23 'ii'h6:e7, but sive positional advantage. As for the
White can also play differently. remainder of the game, the events un-
So far we have not seen any way for fold according to what has long been a
Black to keep an advantage. He has, classic pattern: both players go all-out
however, another continuation, which for victory. and the one who makes the
occurred in the game. last mistake loses.
19•.•:e3 (D)
Bogoljubow gives this move two ex-
20 :gl :Xd3 21 "xf6 g6 22 00
It's no good trying 22 J:txg6+ fxg6
clamation marks and calls it an 'heroic' 23 "xg6+ "g7 24 "xd3 'ii'h6, when
 TACTICAL COMPUCATIONS 39

Black wins. Even if White plays 22 notes to the game. The placing of
:g4 j,h6 first, and only then 23:Xg6+ White's king prevents him from strik-
fxg6 24 "xg6+ followed by 25 "xd3, ing a decisive blow, but he can't play
his position with two extra pawns 27 ~e20n account of 27 .....xe7+ 28
arouses very grave misgivings. "xe7 :e8. He has to make do with 27
22••.:xt3 23 ~g2! j,xc1 24 <hf3 :g4 j,xd4 28 :xd4 cxd4 29lDg3, try-
Since 24 'i'xf3 j,xb2 2S :bl cxd4! ing for perpetual check. Then after
wouldn't be to White's liking, he is
forced to take the rook with his king.
29 .....c8 30 :c7"e6 31 :xc6 "xf6+
32 :xf6, the white knight would be
24••• j,xb2? faced with a tough struggle against the
By retreating with 24 ... j,h6, Black black pawns. The way the game goes,
would keep enough compensation for White has a stronger extra piece which
the exchange in an unclear position. copes with this task with no particular
25 :el? problems.
After 25 lDg3 j,xc3 26 lDf5 j,xd4 27 hc7 j,xf6 28 hc6 j,d4 29
27lDxd4!, Black would have to reply :g2 :d8 30 :e2 ~ 31 :c7 J.f632
27 ... j,d7 28 lDf5 j,xf5 and carry on :07
the fight a rook down - for if instead and White won (1-0, 41).
27 ... cxd4 28 :ac 1 :c8 29 :g4, he True adherents of the 'active life-
could end up being mated. White style' in chess are not put off tactical
chooses a faulty attacking line, and complexities by the unpredictability
unwittingly puts himself in a danger- of the final outcome. In order to dis-
ous situation. turb the balance, they just need a plau-
25••• j,xc3 26 :e7 (D) sible reason, together with faith in
their own powers. Other players usu-
ally feel a little anxious about how it
will end, and therefore prefer to side-
step a fight with 'no holds barred'.
However, if this very manner of play-
ing is the most suited to attaining an
important strategic goal, it must be
considered before anything else. Re-
fraining on purely general grounds
from intensifying the struggle is wrong
by definition.

Ubllava - Elngom
POmplOM 1990/1
26••• j,xd4?
The correct reply 26..."d8! was in- 1 c4 e5 2lDc31Dc6 3 g3 f5 4 j,gllDf6
dicated afterwards by q'arrasch in his 5 e3 d6 6 d4 j,e7 7lDge2 0-0
40 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

This is very similar to a line of the During the game I felt this move
Dutch Defence: 1 d4 e6 2 c4 f5 3 g3 was dubious. White's king position is
llJf6 4 i.g2 i.e7 5 llJc3 0-0 6 e3 d6 7 noticeably weakened, and sometime
llJge2 c6 8 0-0 e5 (Botvinnik-Bron- in the future this circumstance is bound
stein, World Ch match (game 1), Mos- to tell. Right now, though, this kind of
cow 1951). By comparison, the black deduction seems all too abstract and
pawn has reached e5 in one go, but the without bearing on the present. At the
placing of the knight on c6 causes moment Black's action is blocked. He
problems. will soon have to think about how to
8&3 open a second front; White, for his
One move that has been played here part, can thoroughly prepare for such
is 8 b3. Another one that doesn't look an occurrence. To alter your assess-
bad is 8 tbd5, so as to impede the ma- ment of a position, it is sometimes
enough simply to tum the chessboard
noeuvre .....e8.
8... i.d7 9 b4 86 10 0-0"e8
A logical and lucid plan: White
11 f4 round and take a look at it from the
other side.
clears up the situation in the centre be- 14•••llJf7 15 as llJh6 16 ""3?!
fore continuing with his queenside Not an effective arrangement of the
pawn advance. But this also makes it
easier for Black to plan his coun-
terplay.
"f7
pieces. White should play 16 i.b2
17 "d2. In that case Black should
evidently refrain from 17 ... c6 18 dxc6
1l...e412 cIS lbd813 84 hS (D) bxc6 19l1Ja4, after which White could
bring his reserves to the intended bat-
tleground with 20 :rc 1 and retain
chances of an advantage.
16.....f717 i.dl c618llJd4
At this stage 18 dxc6 bxc6 19 llJa4
i.e6 20 llJb6llJd7 would fail in its ob-
ject, but 18 :ret at once is worth con-
sidering. Centralizing the white knight
is merely a hindrance. As Black is not
yet obliged to exchange on d5, he
calmly occupies the c-file with his
king's rook.
18••• lUeS 19 lUc1llJhg4 20 i.n
White's only possibility for improv-
Even if this does not yet create a ing his position is to aim for llJa4-b6.
threat, it is obviously a declaration of However, 20 dxc6 bxc6 21llJa4 would
intent. Nonetheless White's natural re- be met by 21...c5, while the immediate
ply was something of a surprise to me. 20 llJa4 cxd5 21 llJb6 dxc4 is wholly
14 h4!? bad. To make this line playable, White
 TACTICAL COMPllCATIONS 41

has to defend the c4-point. This in- bl) With 22 fxe5 "xg3+ 23 i.g2
deed is what he does, sinmltaneously llIg4 White doesn't lose outright, but
parrying the threat of a positional ex- playing this way cannot be to his lik-
change sacrifice by 20...cxdS 21 cxdS ing.
':'xc3 and 22 ... llIxdS. In the process b2) There remains 22 i.el, which
the defence of his king is weakened, is met by 22 ... llIf3+ 23 llIxf3 exf3. I
and his opponent watches this with considered that after 24 "d I i.d8! I
keen interest. could count on an adVanplge, and that
2O.....g6?! (D) White had no time for 24ll1b6 in view
After 20 ... cxd5 21 cxdS "g6 22 of the powerful threat of 24 ...llIe4. In
llIce2ll1e8 Black would hold the ini- actual fact Black's attack is very strong
tiative, but he fancies he is already en- in many variations, with just one ex-
titled to expect something more. ception: 25 'W'dl i llIxg3 (or 25 .. :"g4
26 ~h2) 26 "xf3ll1e2+ 27 ~h2 "gl +
28 ~h3lLlxcl 29ll1xd7! when White,
not Black, has a clear plus!
c) Black therefore has to back off
and try deviating with 21 ... c5. After
22 bxc5 i.xa4 (or 22 ... dxc5 23 llIe2)
23 l:lxa4 llId7 (if 23 ...llIe5, then 24
i.el) 24ll1e6ll1xc5 25ll1xc5 dxc5, he
stands worse. This could have been
the price to pay for his untimely tacti-
cal foray.
Yet White declines to go in for com-
plications. He prefers to carry out his
manoeuvre in quieter circumstances,
The text-move invites a tactical duel. and makes positional concessions in
Black takes aim at the g3-pawn, and order to do 'so. As a result, the whole
wants to induce 21 ~g2 or 21 llIce2 idea of his knight excursion loses its
without exchanging on dS. point.
However, White is now given the 21 dxc6?! bxc6 22 eS+?!
opportunity for 21lDa4, which has the An unnecessary precaution; it is
additional point of parrying the direct better to play 22ll1a4, allowing 22 ... c5
threat of 21...llIxe3. The question is 23 llIe2 i.xa4. Black now acquires
how dangerous Black's other attack- some excellent squares for his pieces.
ing tries are: 22•••~h8 23 llIa4llId5 24 i.g2
a) 2l...cxd5 22 llIb6llIe5 23 i.e! Meeting the new threat to capture
dxc4 24ll1xc8 favours White. on e3. Black's advantage is now obvi-
b) For that reason, Black intended ous.
to play 21...llIe5 at once. Now: 24•••dxeS 2S bxeS
41 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

The knight heads for b6 out of iner- 34••':dl 35 lbdl lbe2+ 36 cM1
tia, even though there is nothing at all ll)xg3+ 37 *e1 "xe7 38 *d2?
for it to do there. 25 ibxc5 is a better After 38 .*.h3! "'xh4 39 "'xg4
move. .xg4, there would still be a full-
25_•.U6 26 ~b6 :ab8 blooded struggle ahead. For this rea-
26...hd4 is also good, but the move son (discounting any highly dubious
played is stronger. White's position aesthetic considerations), it has to be
soon gets even worse.
27 :a4 ':d8 28 ':e1 "'e8
ltJc7 3O"'c3 ~b5 31 .al (D)
29.a3 admitted that Black's escapade (be-
ginning from the last diagram) was all
a serious mistake. This is not a question
of tactics .or strategy; it is a question
of technique. In severe time-trouble,
White allows a quick finish.
38•• ':d8+ 39 *e1 "xh4 40 lbd8
M+O-l
TIle evaluation of the position largely
hinged on White's possibility of play-
ing 21 ~a4 without a preliminary
pawn exchange, but he felt he had a
plausible alternative. If it's clear from
the very outset that the only alternative
to complicating is to accept an inferior
position, it becomes a good deal easier
to take the crucial decisions. This is
Black has achieved a won position. understandable - you haven't so much
After 3l...~6 32 *h2 "'e7 (for in- to lose if the complications backfire.
stance), he picks up the c5-pawn. If on In such a case, it is naturally much
the other hand he plays 3l ......e7 at more complex for the other player to
once, White has a desperate counter- weigh all the pros and cons.
attacking try in 32 ~xf5. Black's
choice might seem quite easy to make, KharitonoY - Einlorn
and yet a new tactical idea quite inap- USSR Cup. Moscow 1981
propriately entered his head.
31 ••..te7?! 32 lbxf5ll)xc3? 1 d4liJf6 2c4c5 3d5 e54~ d65
After 32...•xf5 33 "'xg7+ *g8 34 e4 i.e7 6 g3 ~bd7 7 "'12 a6 8 a4 b6 9
"'xe4 .xc5 (amongst other things), ~ge2 h510 h4 g6U"'d2 O-O? (D)
White has no serious compensation Black should play 1l...*t'8 followed
for the piece. by 12...*g7. Switching to the usual
33 ibxe7 .16 34 :aJ scheme of development is wholly il-
White loses with 34 ':c4l'Lle2+, or logical, as the insertion of h4 and ...h5
with 34 :d4 l:xd4 35 .xc3 :dl. is clearly not to Black's advantage.
 TACTICAL COMPliCATIONS 43

The situation has been transfonned.

The h6-bishop has changed from an
w attacking piece into a target, and with
21...e4 Black can win a piece for two
pawns. With his last move White ap-
peared to ignore this threat. The point
is, though, that after 21 .i.g5 .i.xg5
(21...e4 22 .i.xf6 "xf6 23 ~f4 ~5 is
also playable) 22 "xg5 "xg5 23 hxg5
e4 24 ~f4 ltb7 (24 ...~5 isn't so
good due to 25 ltebl) the initiative
would pass to Black. White is there-
fore prepared to play in gambit style
12llXl ~e8 13 ~d3 ~tT 140-0 f5 without too many qualms.
15 exfS 21 •••e4
Another good line is the simple 15 At this point the simple 21.. ..i.d8
f4 .i.f6 16 exfS gxf5 17 fxe5 ~xe5 18 would have given Black a good posi-
~xe5 .i.xe5 19 ~2, with an obvious tion without any fuss, but after some
plus. reflection I came to the conclusion
IS•••pt'S 16 .i.h6 "e817 ltel lta7 that the piece sacrifice ought to be ac-
18 b4? cepted. A chess-player has to have
Played at quite the wrong moment; faith in his own calculations and posi-
18 .i.g5 is indicated, intensifying the tionaljudgement. As a well-known lit-
pressure. erary personage might say, Black did
18.....g619 ..ell .i.f6lO bxc5 bxc5 what he had to do but may still have
(D) been making a mistake.
22lill:e4 fxe4 23 .i.xe4 "f7
This and Black's next move enable
him to draw up his battle lines effec-
tively. A worse choice seems to be
23 .....g4 24 .i.f4 (threatening 25 f3)
24 ...~e8 25 *h2.
Now, however, Black can answer
24 .i.f4 with 24...i.e7, freeing a square
for the d7 -knight. Then the continua-
tion 25 .i.g6 "xg6 26 ltxe7 would fail
t026 ... ~5.
24~f4.i.d4
Taking advantage of the fact that 25
i..g6 "f6 26 .i.g5 ~5 27 ltb3 (or 27
21 ltab1!? :Xe5 "xe5 28 lte1 .i.c3) 27 .....xg6
44 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

28 li)xg6 lDxg6 29 .te3 lDf5 would moment with 28 ...:td8. After 29 :te2
not suit White at all. (29 :tebl) 29 ... lDe5, he would have
The immediate 24... lDe5 is weaker, lost two tempi, and the struggle would
as the black pieces would clearly be in flare up again with new force. Now,
each other's way. however, Black loses the game. A di-
2.5 'il'c2 lDe5 rect attack ensues, and he has not fore-
Black has carried out his mobiliza- seen its concluding quiet move.
tion plan. At this critical moment 29lDg6+ hh7 30 lDxf8+ ~g8 31
White finds a remarkable possibility 'il'h7+ ~ 32 1i'h8+ ~e7 33 .tgS+
for continuing the attack. First of all i.f6 34 :txcS :td7 35 :tgS!
he prevents Black's ... .tf5. This is the point! There is no satis-
26 .th7+! ~hS 27 :tb8! factory defence for the black king.
An extremely involved situation 35•••:tdS 36 .txf6+ ~xf6 371i'h6+
has arisen. To parry the threat of 28 'il'g63S'iI'xg6+
:txe5, Black should play 27 ...:td8 or White's pieces have already accom-
27 ...:te8. In this manner, the correct- plished such feats that you would not
ness of 21...e4 could most probably wish to dwell on a rather simple com-
have been confinned (see Chapter 9, bination that he overlooked in time-
position number 5). Above all else, trouble: 38 :txd8 'il'xh6 39 :txd6+
however, Black was naturally inter- lDe6 40 :txe6+ ~g7 41 :txh6 ~xh6
ested in the possibility of ... lDf3+. Not 42d6.
seeing a refutation, he narvely decided 3S...~xg6 39 lbdS lDf5 40 :as
to pick up the white rook. lDd3 41 ~g2
27•••lDf3+?! 2S ~hl (D) The immediate 41 :txa6 is stronger
still. But then, the black knights are
powerless to fight the a-pawn anyway.
41 ...lDb2 42 :txa6 lDxc4 43 ~f3
lDe5+ 44 ~e2 lDd4+ 45 ~d2 ~f5 46
f4lDg4 47 ':xd6 1-0
White himself invited Black to over-
step the boundary with 21...e4, which
was tantamount to a formal declara-
tion of war. Often a major battle be-
gins almost imperceptibly, and it is
very important not to miss this historic
moment. That usually happens out of
carelessness; a case in point is 18....tf4
in the R6ti-Bogoljubow game, only on
28•••lDxe1? that occasion Black pulled himself
Black could still have tried to es- together on the very next move. If on
cape his fate by deviating at the last the other hand you calmly carry on
 TACl'ICAL COMPLICATIONS 45

thinking about the position in terms of 8 :bl, White is trying to modernize

the 'peacetime' laws, the danger con- this line a little; after 8 ... i.b7 9 i.xf6
siderably grows and will later descend i.xf6 10 cxdS exdS 11 b4, Black's
on you without warning. ... c5 is temporarily unplayable and the
white bishop can be brought out to d3.
Einlorn - Fochtler There is nothing in this to frighten
Schwiibisch Gmund 1998 Black unduly, but he would nonethe-
less like to do something to exploit the
IlDf3 cIS 2 d4lDr6 3 c4 e6 4lDc3 h7 somewhat bizarre move of the white
5 i.g5 0-0 6 e3 h6 rook. The possible replies 8 ...lile4 and
The start of what is virtually the 8...c6 steer the game towards other
only classical Queen's GaJilbit system systems, which amounts to a sort of
not to have lost its popularity over the strategic compromise. Finally, after
years. White just cannot find a way to 8 ... lDbd7 9 cxdSlDxdS 10 i.xe7 "xe7
get the better of this system, which IllDxdS exdS 12 .te2 (12 b4 c5), the
does much to explain why the com- situation is once again rather uncon-
panion variations such as 7 i.xf6 and ventional for this system. This little ex-
even 7 i.f4 have had a long life too. cursion into the field of opening the-
7 i.h4 b6(D) ory shows that up until now Black has
been using strictly positional methods
in his attempt to solve the minor stra-
tegic problems arising from 8 :b 1.
S•••CS
In the present game White's idea
undergoes a tactical test. Black sacri-
fices a pawn for the initiative. Al-
though ultimately he is only fighting
for equality, from the point of view of
opening theory his attempt is of defi-
nite interest.
9 dxcS bxcS 10 cxdS exclS 11 i.xf6
i.xf6 12lDxclS i.f5
This attack looks perfectly natural,
In this position the most varied con- but Black could also try 12 ...lDc6, con-
tinuations have been tried out. The fol- tinuing with development and leaving
lowing extravagant move is relatively the white rook alone for the moment.
new. 13:c1
S:bl The play develops almost on forced
One currently quite popular way of lines. The variation 13 lDxf6+ "xf6
handling the position is 8 i.e2 i.b7 9 14 :c 1 "xb2 promises White no ad-
i.xf6 i.xf6 10 cxdS exdS 11 b4. With vantage, quite apart from the fact that
46 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

Black can also continue actively with 15 ...lLlc6 is weaker due to 16 .i.e2) 16
14...l:td8!? 15 Wb3lLlc616 .c3 ~4. l:tb 1 .i.e6 17 .i.c4 (if 17 e4, then
13....i.xb114 :XeS 17 ...lLlc6 or 17 ...ibd7) 17...lLlc6. Now
The position of the white king in 18 0-0 is a mistake in view of 18...tZJa5
the centre is a cause for some concern. 19 .i.b3 .i.f5, winning the exchange.
The extra pawn has yet to be properly A try that looks too artificial is 18
earned; White now has to draw up his .d3(?!) lOa5 19 .xa3 ~c4 20 tDe7+
plan for the coming battle. A peculiar ~h8 21 .c5. On the other hand, after
feature of the position is that both something like 18 e4 .a5+ 19 ~ (if
sides find new objects of attack by di- 19 .d2, then 19 ....a4) 19 ...l:tab8 20
rectly targeting each other's pieces 0-0 l:txb1 21 lLlxb1 l:tb8, the activity
rather than pawns or weak points. of Black's pieces provides adequate
14....ta3! (D) positional compensation for his small
sacrifice in the opening. By retreating
his rook to a different square in the di-
agram position, White can try to ob-
tain more - but this is a step in a
dangerous direction.
15 l:tc3!1
White's rook occupies an awkward
square, where together with the king
and the d5-knight it forms an entire
complex of 'precariously' positioned
pieces. White does not regard this fact
as all that significant for the moment.
By attacking the black bishop again
next move, he aims to gain a tempo
Although some concrete variations for bringing his own bishop out. This
already need to be calculated and as- bland train of thought is ill-suited to
sessed, there are no major complica- the critical nature of the play, and soon
tions on the board as yet; the situation leads to an outright error.
is under control. The rook is attacked 15••••85 16 ""'311
again, and the logical reply seems to Again White had an alternative -
be either 15 l:tc3 - attacking the black 16 .d2, when an attempt to stir up
bishop in tum - or 15 l:tb5. In the latter complications with 16...l:td8 turns out
case it isn't at all simple for Black to badly for Black after 17 l:txa3 (17 l:td3
sustain the initiative; he has to go to is also good) 17....xa3 18lDf6+ gxf6
considerable lengths to obtain counter- 19 .xd8+ ~g7 20 .i.e2. As in the case
play. The following continuation sug- of 15 l:tb5, White was more worried
gests itself as best: 15 l:tb5 .i.d7!? about a different turn of events, such
(forcing the rook to return to bl; as 16... .i.e417 l:tb3 (or 17l:td3 .xd2+
 TACTICAL COMPUCATIONS 47

18 lhd2 :C8) 17......xdS 18 "'xdS

hdS 19 lha3llJc6, when the activity
of the black pieces is unpleasant. By B
his last two moves, without being
aware of it, White has made a major
commitment which is wholly at odds
with the quiet plan of development he
has in mind.
16•••.i.d6 (D)

w
b 1) The exposure of the black king
is immediately useful in the case of
19... .i.b4 20 "'g4+.
b2) Astonishing though this may
seem, White has difficulty achieving
any tangible results against 19......a1 +
20 ~d2 ':d8. This line appears very
dangerous for Black, but only at first
sight:
b21) A direct attack with 21 .i.c4
17.i.c4? .i.b4+ 22 ~e2 "'xc3 23 "'g6+ fails to
At last intending to castle, but in- achieve its object after 23 .. .'~h8 24
stead of evacuating the king, White "'xh6+ ~g8 25 "'g6+ ~h8 26 'ft5+
needs to solve his problems of security ~g7 27 "'xf7+ ~h6 (Black would lose
in a radically different fashion. Rather at once with 27 ... ~h8? 28 lDd4) 28
than preserving his a2-pawn, he should 1Dd4 l:xd4 29 "'xf6+ ~h7 30 "'f7+
try to use it as a bargaining chip. ~h6 31 exd4 "'c2+ 32 ~ 1Dc6.
The correct move is 17 ~5: b22) The more restrained 21 .td3
a) Then 17 ......xb5 18 .i.xb5 .i.e4 is worth considering; Black replies
19 .i.c4 is good for White; for in- 2l......xh1, and now:
stance: 19....:c8 200-0 (clearly stron- b221) 22 "'g4+ ~f8 23 ':c1 h5 is
ger than 20, llli6+ gxf6 21 .i.xf7+ bad for White.
~xf7 22 ':xc8) 20... lhc4 21 ':xc4 b222) 22':c1 "'xg2 23 ':gl "'xg1
.i.xd5 22 ':d4 .i.xf3 23 ':xd6. 24lDxg1 gives an unclear position .
b) Black would have to take the b223) 22 ':c8 secures White a
loose pawn with 17......xa2, where- small plus after all, in view of varia-
upon White has 18 lDf6+ gxf6 19 tions such as 22 ...1Dc6 (if 22 ...l:xc8,
"'xf5 (D). Then: then 23 "'g4+ ~ 24 "'xc8+ ~g7 25
48 DECISION-MAKING AT THE CHESSBOARD

t&4, while 22...1.b4+ 23 'i>e2 Lcs is However, if Black calmly continues

also bad) 23 LaS "xg2 (or 23 ...:xaS with 20...:fdS, the question 'Where
24 ~7+ <i1'8 25 ~S+ 'i>e7 26 "xaS) do we go from here?' confronts White
24 LdS+ lDxdS 25 'i>e2. with added force. Therefore a sudden
b3) It only remains to add that if helping hand from the opponent at this
Black thinks his opponent's attack will critical juncture could not be more
give him too much trouble, he can play welcome.
19...~2!? and afterwards start check- 19•. .:td8? 20 lLld4lDxd4 21 "xd4
ing: 20 :c2 "a1+ 21 'i>e2 "a6+. In Now White's pieces are cooperat-
this case, however, he has to be pre- ing well, and he has an extra pawn into
pared for the possibility of going into the bargain. On top of this, Black car-
an inferior ending. ries on making weak moves.
17•••lLlc618 0-0 l:ab819 "dl (D) 21 •••1.e6 22 e4 1.c5(?) 23 'ii'eS 1-0
Black resigned a little prematurely;
in severe time-trouble, he didn't find
the defence 23 ... 'i>hS.

The notes to the games in this chap-

ter contain a large quantity of varia-
tions, since these are essential to back
up the conclusions. Variations are lia-
ble to contain errors; many of them
could be taken further than they are
taken. Nonetheless, when it comes to
tactical complexities, general consid-
erations are best put aside. A sharpen-
ing of the play is always linked to an
The white king has made its es- attempt to shatter the status quo that
cape after throwing its army onto the was initially present. Why and whether
battlefield. Now after 19...1.e4! White this is necessary is a question for the
would land in a most unpleasant situa- player to decide in each specific case.
tion. Bravely playing 20 :d3 would With the rise of the school of posi-
go very much against the grain, yet the tional chess it became the tradition to
impression is that there is no way of regard tactics, first and foremost, as an
avoiding losses; for example 20 :Cl essential instrument for the logical im-
i.a3, or 20 :b3 :fdS. A notable try is plementation of strategic ideas. This
20 "cl, with a view to 20...:bl 21 being so, tactical complications with
'ii'xbl 1.xbl 22 Lbl or 20...lLle5 21 their often unpredictable outcome are
lLlxe5 1.xe5 22 :a3 'li'dS 23 lLlc3(!). a peculiar 'black hole' in chess theory.
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 “Mother died just before the outbreak of the World War,” she
went on. “It was necessary for me to find employment and I decided
to become a nurse. I trained at St. Luke’s Hospital and went
overseas at once upon graduation. It would be too long to tell you of
my experiences, but finally I reached Russia and saw service in the
hospitals there. Then came the revolution.” She drew in her breath
sharply. “God! The horrors that we lived through—the Bolsheviki
were fiends in human form!”
“And the Paltoff diamond?” he asked.
“Oh, the diamond.” She collected herself. “My uncle was for years
Grand Master of the Imperial Court and trusted absolutely by the
Czar. Just before he was made prisoner, the Czar took from the hilt
of his dress sword, worn only on state occasions, the Paltoff
diamond, and charged Uncle Dmitri, on his fealty to the Crown, to
smuggle it out of Russia, and raise money upon it so that, should
the Imperial family have to flee, something might be saved for
them.”
“What happened next?” demanded Trenholm as she paused.
Miriam sighed. “My uncle saw his gallant son crucified before his
eyes; his daughters, taken prisoners with other ladies of the Court,
were transported by steamer to a loathsome prison. Before the
vessel docked they threw themselves into the sea, oh, gladly”—she
added, seeing Trenholm’s expression—“for the captain and his crew
forced them to leave their cabin doors unlocked at night.” She
paused and put her hands before her eyes. When she looked up,
Trenholm saw tragedy mirrored in their dark depths.
“With other refugees Uncle Dmitri and I finally reached
Vladivostok, in rags and our money gone. Oh, Mr. Trenholm, pray
God that you may never know what starvation is!” She stopped to
control her voice. “We lived in a hovel in the filthiest part of the city.
I had lost my passport or it had been stolen from me. I applied to
the American consul—he promised help but none came.”
 “Poor girl!” Trenholm took her hand and pressed it warmly.
“Would you rather stop?”
“No. Uncle Dmitri still had the Paltoff diamond and despite our
agony would not part with it. When we dared to talk, for spies were
all around us, we tried to plan to get the jewel safely out of Russia,
even if we ourselves failed to reach the United States.” Miriam
stopped to clear her throat, for her voice had grown husky with
emotion.
“One morning I was half delirious from hunger and privation,
when Uncle Dmitri came inside the hovel followed by a man,” she
continued. “He crawled over to the straw on which I lay and told me
that his companion was an American soldier who had saved his life
in a brawl with drunken peasants. He feared that he had been
recognized as Paltoff, the trusted friend of the Czar.”
“I see,” broke in Trenholm. “What next?”
“Our plight was desperate and my uncle took the American into
his confidence, and the latter agreed to carry the diamond to the
United States, provided he could smuggle it aboard the transport.”
She sighed deeply. “I was too ill to follow all that was said, but uncle
took the diamond from its hiding place and the American sat down
near me and unwound a bandage from about a wound in the calf of
his leg. At his direction I opened the wound, placed the diamond
inside it, and, having a surgeon’s field service kit which a doctor, like
ourselves a refugee, had left in the hovel the day before, I sutured
the wound and replaced the bandages.”
Trenholm stared at her. “American brains and pluck!” he
exclaimed, and the admiration in his voice brought the swift color to
her white cheeks.
“The American had not been gone five minutes before Boris
Zybinn came in, followed by a swarm of the Bolsheviki,” she went
on, keeping her voice steady by an effort of will only, as the tragic
scene rose vividly before her. “A whisper had gotten around that
Uncle Dmitri had the Paltoff diamond. They put him to torture and
he died as a brave man should, without fear and without betraying
the Czar’s trust.”
“And you? What did they do to you?” demanded Trenholm, his
usually calm tones betraying interest at fever heat.
“The American consul came in time to save me from all but this.”
Drawing back her sleeve she showed a brand burned into the soft
white flesh. “Thank God! I had the strength to tell Boris nothing of
the diamond.”
Trenholm leaned forward impulsively. “I’d like to shake hands
with you,” he said, and the strong clasp of his fingers made her
wince. There was a brief pause before he asked: “And the name of
the American soldier?”
Miriam drew from around her neck a gold chain from which hung
a locket. Opening it she took out a tiny soiled paper.
“The soldier wrote down his name and address and handed it to
Uncle Dmitri,” she explained. “But Boris got there before he could
give it to me and it was torn up—all but this.”
Trenholm looked long and carefully at the one letter on the
paper.
“‘M’,” he repeated. “‘M’—it is Paul Abbott’s peculiar formation of
his middle initial. I have seen it too often to be mistaken. And Paul
Abbott, I know, saw service with the A.E.F. in Vladivostok.”
 CHAPTER XVI
THE THIRTEENTH LETTER

Gsafe?”
T
uy raised his head. “May I keep this little paper in my
renholm
he asked, taking it up. “I will return it at any time should
you require it.”
Miriam snapped her locket shut and slipped it inside her gown.
“The paper is far safer with you than with me,” she replied, and
sat quietly in her chair until Trenholm returned from placing it in a
compartment of his safe. “It is incredible that Paul Abbott should
have been the American soldier to whom Uncle Dmitri intrusted the
diamond.”
“But not impossible,” retorted Trenholm. “And the law of chance
brought you to his bedside just before his death. How was it you
failed to recognize him?”
“I never really saw the American soldier’s face.” She sat back in a
more comfortable position, conscious, for the first time, of complete
fatigue. Recounting the tragic death of her Russian relatives and her
own suffering, even to Trenholm’s sympathetic ears, was a severe
strain. “We had no window in our hovel; only the faint light from a
candle. I believe he wore a beard, but I was too ill to care, at the
moment, what he looked like. My uncle trusted him and that was
enough. Five years have passed since then.”
“I understand,” exclaimed Trenholm sympathetically, then with a
tenaciousness which was part of the man, he added: “Was there
nothing familiar about Paul’s appearance?”
She shook her head. “No. I have no doubt that illness had
changed his appearance, Mr. Trenholm, to some extent. But with the
Paltoff diamond far from my thoughts, and looking upon Mr. Abbott
simply as a patient, if he had seemed even vaguely familiar I would
have attributed it to the same feeling one has in passing a stranger
in the street whom one might have met somewhere. You know the
sensation.”
Trenholm nodded in agreement. “Have you made no effort to
trace the Paltoff diamond?”
“I was desperately ill for months, Mr. Trenholm; and it was fully a
year before I regained anything like my old strength. There was no
one I could rely upon—no one in whom I had confidence. I tried,
however, to interest one man, a lawyer,” her lips tightened, “that
experience taught me a lesson I shall never forget.” She turned
scarlet and for the first time dropped her eyes before Trenholm’s
glance. She missed the sudden hot wrath which kindled in his eyes;
a second later and he had himself in hand again.
“Can you describe the diamond, Miss Ward?” he asked. “And tell
me its value?”
“It is a diamond of astonishing purity, of about forty-nine carats,
and has an extraordinary play and brilliance,” answered Miriam.
“Though much smaller in size than other world-famous diamonds, it
is claimed by experts to be an absolutely flawless gem. I believe it is
worth in the neighborhood of $200,000 and possibly more.”
A low whistle escaped Trenholm. “A frightful invitation to crime!”
he ejaculated.
“And Boris Zybinn was in Canada and in communication with Paul
Abbott,” pointed out Miriam slowly. “Mr. Trenholm, I know a little of
the evil accomplished by that renegade Russian. There is some
significance in those letters of his to Mr. Abbott, innocent as they
may appear. I will never believe otherwise!”
Trenholm leaned forward and, picking up the letters, laid them in
Miriam’s hands. “Read them over carefully,” he begged. “I am open
to conviction. But look here, Miss Ward, why didn’t Zybinn come
down to Abbott’s Lodge and visit Paul and then steal the diamond?
He might have done that without arousing suspicion. Why write
letters about it?”
“Possibly he feared arrest and extradition for a former crime if he
came into the United States,” suggested Miriam, and Trenholm
straightened up abruptly.
“There may be something in that idea,” he admitted. “Read the
letters aloud, Miss Ward.”
Obediently Miriam opened first one and then another. Except for
the precision of the language used, none were out of the ordinary.
Each letter began: “My dear Abbott,” and closed with the
conventional, “Yours sincerely,” and the signature, “Boris Zybinn.”
The contents of each referred only to agriculture. Miriam dropped
the last one in her lap with a despondent gesture; then her
expression brightened.
“You haven’t looked at the unopened letter,” she exclaimed. “See,
you have left it there on the table.”
Trenholm picked up the envelope and examined it carefully. “It is
just like the others in appearance,” he declared. “It must have come
several days before Paul’s murder,” examining the postmark. “Corbin,
however, can answer that question.”
“I wonder why Mr. Abbott did not read it?”
“Too ill, perhaps—especially if he judged the letter unimportant.”
Trenholm hunted about on his table until he found a letter
opener and, using it dextrously, succeeded in raising the flap without
breaking the seal. Taking care not to crease or otherwise mar the
envelope, he drew out the folded sheet and read aloud the brief
message it contained:
Sunnymeade Farm
Toronto, Canada
January 22,
1923
Dear Abbott:
Sorry to learn that you are not well. Perhaps a change may do
you good. Why not run up here for a week or two? I will be very
happy to put you up if the Nashs are not at their place.
Chisholm says the two grays are seventeen hands and entirely
sound. Would advise offer of a thousand for the pair.
Yours in haste,
Boris Zybinn.
Trenholm tossed down the letter in disgust. “Nothing to that!” he
exclaimed. “They have fine horses in Canada, and Paul purchased
several last year, and sold them at a good figure to one of our
neighbors. What is it, Miss Ward?” observing her changed
expression.
Without answering, Miriam pulled her chair around so that she
sat facing the table. Picking up the letters she spread each one, with
its envelope, before her, and slowly counted them.
“Eleven,” she explained, “and this burnt envelope is twelve, and
this last letter makes a total of thirteen unimportant letters.”
“What then?” asked Trenholm, struck by her manner. Going
around the table he stood looking over her shoulder.
“Have you noticed the postage?” she queried.
“Surely. They are Canadian stamps.”
“Isn’t postage from Canada three cents for first-class mail?”
“Yes.”
“Then why does each letter bear five one-cent stamps?” glancing
swiftly upward. “Boris Zybinn must have known the correct postage
required.”
“Perhaps he thought that his letters weighed more than one
ounce.”
 “If so, the postage would have been double, or six cents,” she
remarked quickly. “Five cents would not have covered it. Besides, I
don’t believe that one of these letters weighs over an ounce.”
Trenholm reached over and picked up his letter scales. “Try one,”
he suggested, and, as she did so, “Not quite one ounce. Try the
next.”
Miriam laid each letter on the scales, first putting it back in its
proper envelope; not one was above one ounce in weight!
“They all come under the three-cent postage rate,” she
exclaimed. “Any one writing as many as thirteen letters to one
correspondent would have found out that fact, especially a person
living in Canada.”
Trenholm considered Miriam and then the letters in silence for a
minute. Picking up the thirteenth letter, which Miriam had brought to
him unopened that afternoon, he took out the sheet of paper and
held the envelope up to the light and studied it intently. As he
lowered it, Miriam caught sight of his face and sprang to her feet.
“You have found something?”
“Yes, thanks to your persistency!” And she colored warmly at the
enthusiasm in his voice and manner. “See here!” and Trenholm again
held the envelope up to the light and at an angle so that she could
see it as well as he. “The edges of the stamps appear cut in a wedge
shape in certain places, and there are several pinholes through two
of the stamps. The cuts do not appear to result from the careless
tearing off of the stamps from the sheet, and consequent damage to
the perforations, but are apparently made with scissors.”
“You are right,” agreed Miriam. “And when the letter has no light
behind it, they do not show at all against the white ground of the
envelope. Is it a code?”
Trenholm twirled his mustache in perplexity. “The cuts appear at
irregular intervals,” he replied. “They seem to be hastily made and
are not absolutely uniform. I wonder—” he broke off abruptly, stood
in thought for several seconds, then going over to the book shelves
which lined one of the walls, searched about until he located several
books and carried them back to the table where Miriam stood
examining the thirteenth envelope.
“Strangely enough,” he explained, “Paul’s father gave me his
stamp collection—a fine one—as Paul never had the craze for
collecting stamps even as a boy, and being a human magpie I keep
everything bestowed upon me,” with a quick boyish smile which
softened wonderfully his usually self-repressed expression. “I hope
luck is with me and I still have tucked inside one of these albums a
perforation gauge.”
“A what?”
“Perforations, Miss Ward, have a definite position on each stamp
with relation to one another, though they may be irregular on two
separate stamps,” went on Trenholm. “In other words, the distance
between perforations is always the same, though they may vary a
fractional part of a line in their position at the corners.”
“And the gauge,” she prompted, as he paused.
“Is used to measure the number of perforations to the inch,”
Trenholm spoke slowly, to be sure that she understood his meaning.
“By applying a perforation gauge to the edge of a stamp, if the
position of one perforation is known, that of all the others will be
indicated.”
Trenholm paused and opened one of the stamp albums. He
turned the pages rapidly, and found the stamp he wanted, but no
gauge. Taking up the other album he shook it over the table. A small
shower of loose stamps, several odd envelopes and a piece of bristol
board fell on the table. With a relieved exclamation, Trenholm
clutched the perforation gauge, brushing the stamps aside.
“Here is a Canadian stamp of the same issue,” he said. “Paul
wrote me when he was last in Canada, and I kept the stamp. Let’s
see—”
 Miriam waited with absorbed attention while he applied the
gauge to the stamp. When he looked up his eyes were shining.
“The stamp has exactly fifty-two perforations,” he announced.
“Can it be a coincidence or a—”
“A what?”
He looked at her without speaking for a moment. “The number is
just twice that of the letters of the alphabet.” Trenholm drew in his
breath. “I have come to your way of thinking, Miss Ward. It must be
a code, and it may be that two alphabets are registered on each
stamp, the cuts corresponding to the letters according to the
number of the particular perforation affected, counting from one
corner of the stamp.”
Miriam, who had been following his explanation with close
attention, nodded her head wisely.
“I see,” she broke in. “That would explain any irregularity in the
cuts, because for coding it would be sufficient to indicate the
perforation intended to be cut, without making a mark of a definite
character, and with this gauge of yours the number of the
perforation which has been cut would be recognized at once.”
“Exactly,” he answered. “Without a gauge there would be great
difficulty in determining the number of the perforation, because the
cut might seem to create new indentations if carelessly made.”
Trenholm stopped and took up the envelope of the thirteenth letter
and applied his gauge to the left-hand stamp, and Miriam, pencil in
hand, assisted him.
Trenholm counted clockwise. “Five perforations are damaged,” he
declared, “numbers 8, 20, 23, 27, 30. Now, if the code is based on a
double alphabet, these would become 8, 20, 23, 1, 3, or the letters
H, T, W, A, C. How are the letters to be arranged, Miss Ward?”
She looked at her pad, where she had jotted down the letters as
well as the figures. “There is only one vowel,” she said. “It must be
one word. Then why use two alphabets?”
 “Possibly because of the accidental chance that the stamp
perforations count up to fifty-two,” replied Trenholm. “It would be
convenient, in case of a word with many letters, to prevent
destroying the appearance of the stamp by cutting too many
indentations close to one another. Have you solved the first word?”
as she checked an exclamation.
“Yes—‘watch.’”
“Good!” Trenholm’s eyes were bright with excitement. Looking
again at the first stamp, he noticed that the first, third, and fifth
letters of the words “watch” were indicated on the first alphabet,
and the remaining letters on the second one.
Trenholm held up the envelope to the light again. “See, Miss
Ward!” he exclaimed. “The stamp on the extreme right has only four
indentations, though the left-hand corner has been cut off.”
She studied the envelope in silence for a few seconds. “The
letters are G and E in the first alphabet,” she pointed out. “They
must be the odd letters of the word coded, and R and V in the
second alphabet, corresponding to the even letters, but I can’t make
any word out of them.”
“Suppose we call the cut of the left-hand corner of the stamp an
A,” suggested Trenholm. “It may be a quick way to mark an
indentation when a corner square was involved; though better care
was used in the A of the second alphabet in the first stamp
examined. What word have you now, Miss Ward?”
“Grave.”
Trenholm stared at her. “Grave,” he repeated, then, suppressing
comment, went ahead decoding the message. “This center one
appears the simplest,” he said. “Here the perforations cut are
numbers 5, 12, 20, 5, 18, 20—odd letters, E, L, T; even letters, E, R,
T. Got them down, Miss Ward?”
“They make the word—letter,” briefly, not glancing up. “Go
ahead.”
 “The next letters are E, I, T, for the odd, and E, H, N, R, for the
even.” Trenholm laid down his perforation gauge and frowned. “The
code seems to fail here,” he grumbled. “It has given four even letters
and only three odd. The other way around would be all right, but it
is impossible to make a word with more even than odd letters.”
“Let me see the envelope.” Miriam put aside her pencil and
carefully examined the stamps against the light. “Look, Mr.
Trenholm, here are pinholes opposite some of the letters—two
opposite the odd T, and one opposite the even H.”
“Probably they stand for repetitions of the same letters, in which
case the letters would be: odd—E, I, T, T, T; even—E, H, H, N, R,”
declared Trenholm. “But they don’t make sense.” He paused and
looked at the stamps already decoded. “See here, the first letter in
each word we have deciphered is on the side of the stamp which
faces the left side of the envelope.”
“Oh, then that accounts for the apparently careless manner in
which the stamps are stuck on the envelope,” said Miriam. “The only
letter on the second stamp, which is indicated by a cut in the way
you have just described, is T.”
“So our next word begins with T.” Trenholm took up a pencil and
did some figuring on Miriam’s pad. “With so many T’s and H’s to use,
suppose we start off with Th,” he began, “and the next letter is
either E, I, or T. It must be one of the vowels. No, E is no good.”
Trenholm ran his fingers through his hair until it stood upright. “We’ll
take I, and here is an R available—by Jove—thirteenth!”
“So it is!” Miriam’s excitement was rising. “The words we have so
far are, ‘watch thirteenth letter——grave.’”
“Now for the last stamp!” Trenholm took up gauge and pencil.
“The odd letters are E, two I’s, one indicated by another pinhole,
and S. The even letters are C, D, S, U. The position of the stamp
shows that the first letter is S. Of the four even letters available for
the next position, only the vowel can be used, making Su.” Trenholm
paused and wrote rapidly several combinations of the available
letters, then looked up with a low exclamation—“Suicides.”
“And the completed message then stands—‘Watch thirteenth
letter suicides grave,’” repeated Miriam. “What do you make of it, Mr.
Trenholm?”
“Nothing—now,” he admitted frankly. “We know the code. Help
me decipher these other eleven envelopes and the burnt one.
Fortunately the stamps on it are intact.”
Half an hour later Miriam and Trenholm sat back in their chairs
and looked at each other. The latter took up one of the pads they
had used.
“Here are the thirteen decoded messages, of five words each,
concealed in the stamps on the thirteen envelopes,” he stated.
“Listen carefully, Miss Ward, and tell me what you make of them.”
Fear Paul suspicious of Betty.
Unwise to trust her judgment.
Judge her influence is waning.
Is there any other woman?
Last interview with Paul disastrous.
He declines to return jewel.
Do not lose your nerve.
Believe he can prove nothing.
Does not guess your motive.
Situation growing tense; money required.
Learned hiding place changed often.
Next time can tell definitely.
Watch thirteenth letter; suicides grave.
Miriam wrinkled her forehead in deep thought. “For whom were
those messages intended, Mr. Trenholm?” she asked.
“For the man who later killed Paul Abbott,” he replied quietly.
“And he—”
 “Is some one who was with Paul and had access to his mail, and
so could read the code on these apparently innocent letters.”
Trenholm rose suddenly and looked down at her. “It was a devilish
scheme and devilishly carried out.”
“By Boris Zybinn’s confederate.” Miriam also rose. “Have you any
idea who that confederate is?”
Absently Trenholm took up his pipe and fingered it. “Some one
who knew Paul intimately,” he said. “And who has been with him
during the past few months, for the dates on these letters cover that
period of time. But as to his identity—the coded messages give no
clue.”
“That is true,” agreed Miriam. “Another question—When he
murdered Paul Abbott did he secure the Paltoff diamond?”
Trenholm had located his tobacco pouch and filled his pipe
mechanically, his thoughts elsewhere.
“Frankly,” he said slowly, “I am inclined to think he didn’t.”
 CHAPTER XVII
CHERCHEZ LA FEMME

GwithT
uy helped Miriam into his powerful roadster and then,
renholm
a murmured word of apology, slipped back into his
bungalow. Miriam waited patiently, unmindful of his prolonged
absence and thankful for the opportunity of rest undisturbed. Her
ideas were confused—chaotic. The thirteen messages which she and
Trenholm had just decoded were ringing in her head, but, try as she
would, she could think of no solution to the enigma. The Law of
Chance had indeed plunged her into an impenetrable mystery.
Trenholm’s voice at her elbow caused her to start slightly.
“I am extremely sorry to have been so long,” he said, taking his
place behind the steering wheel. “Pablo,” to the Filipino, who had
followed him from the front door and was clinging frantically to the
collars of the police dogs in his endeavor to keep them out of the
car, “let no one enter the house. If any one calls on the telephone,
tell them I am at Abbott’s Lodge.”
The next instant the roadster had glided into the highway, and
with Trenholm’s impatient foot on the accelerator, was making record
time in its dash for Abbott’s Lodge.
Pablo was busy going about his work, whistling shrilly, when a
heavy knock on the side door interrupted him. Answering it, he
found a man in chauffeur’s livery just about to implant a heavy kick
on the panels by way of emphasis.
“Your mastair, where is he?” demanded Pierre, and Pablo’s back
stiffened at his insolent manner.
“None of your business,” he retorted, and slammed the door. The
heavy bombardment of knocks which followed was stopped by
Alexander Nash’s appearance on the scene. He had waited in the
Nash limousine, but the sound of conflict stirred him to action. His
voice, raised in anger, caused Pablo to glance through the pantry
window, and at sight of the clergyman, he at once opened the side
door.
“What is eet?” he asked blandly, ignoring Pierre utterly. “Did
some one knock?”
“I wish to see Sheriff Trenholm at once,” stated the clergyman.
“Tell him that Doctor Nash is here.”
“He is away.”
“Oh!” Nash looked a trifle nonplussed, then asked briskly, “Where
will I find him?”
Pablo paused, in his turn, for reflection. Trenholm had stated very
clearly that should any one call him by telephone he, Pablo, was to
say that he was to be found at Abbott’s Lodge. Trenholm, however,
had specified a telephone call only, and not a caller in person,
therefore, according to Pablo’s reasoning, he could not divulge the
whereabouts of his master to Nash.
“He gone out,” he replied, assuming a stupid air and lack of
English, which he spoke remarkably well, except for a distinct
accent. “No tell where go.”
Nash’s disappointment was obvious. “Think again!” he begged,
and jingled some loose coins in his pocket suggestively. But Pablo’s
total lack of expression proved more exasperating than enlightening.
“Come, where is the sheriff?”
“I dunno,” Pablo shrugged. “Maybe he come back to dinner,
maybe not. Want to wait in your car?”
“No, certainly not.” Nash frowned thoughtfully. “Let me use your
telephone a moment,” and he held out a bank note.
Pablo backed away. “Sorry, can’t use—” He got no further.
 Pierre, with a dexterity which Pablo had not anticipated, had
slipped between the Filipino and the open door, and, with a vigorous
push, sent Pablo sprawling. But the latter was too quick for him.
With a spring like a panther, Pablo was on his back and Pierre
measured his length on the ground.
“Stop this unseemly brawling,” commanded Nash, looking
genuinely shocked. “Pierre, go at once to my car. As for you,” turning
to Pablo, who rose with reluctance and one final kick which sent the
chauffeur’s headgear down the path, “I shall report your conduct to
Mr. Trenholm.” And he stalked away.
Without giving a thought to Pablo’s habit of taking everything he
said literally, Trenholm slackened the roadster’s speed when they got
within a mile of Abbott’s Lodge.
“Do you see very much of Miss Carter?” he asked.
“No. She is never with Mrs. Nash at night and I am not around
the house in the daytime,” replied Miriam. She hesitated perceptibly.
“Betty is the only name given in the messages we decoded. Does it
refer to Miss Carter?”
“To whom else could it refer?” and Miriam was silenced by his
tone. She stole a look at Trenholm. She dared not admit, even to
herself, how frequently her thoughts were centered on the self-
contained man by her side.
“Miss Ward”—Trenholm drove the car to the side of the road and
stopped—“did you catch sight of the man in Mrs. Nash’s bedroom
early this morning?”
Her answer was disappointing. “No. I was halfway up the
staircase when I heard her cry out, but when I reached her she was
alone in the room,” she explained. “I had left the hall door partly
open and found it practically in the same position upon my return.”
Trenholm considered her answer for a second. When he
addressed her again she was struck by the gravity of his tone.
 “Exactly what is the matter with Mrs. Nash?” he inquired. “I am
not asking from idle curiosity, Miss Ward,” observing her hesitation,
“but as an officer of the law.”
Miriam eyed him in startled wonder. What did his question
portend?
“Doctor Roberts told me he felt that he had not located the real
trouble,” she replied. “Nor can I give a reason for her, at times,
alarming symptoms.”
“Can you not venture an opinion?”
“Mr. Trenholm!”
He turned and his rare smile gave her a ray of comfort and a
sense of security.
“It’s unethical, I know,” he said. “But you must realize, Miss
Ward, that we are confronted with a dastardly conspiracy, the
tentacles of which reach from Russia to Abbott’s Lodge. Can I not
count upon your aid to expose Zybinn’s plot?”
“You can.” Her voice rang out clearly, and again Trenholm smiled,
well pleased. “I have sometimes thought that Mrs. Nash’s condition
is due to a heart depressant—”
“A coal-tar poison,” quietly. “And by whom administered?”
Miriam moved unhappily. “I am not in the sickroom at all hours,”
she observed dryly. “Miss Carter is there during the day, and Doctor
Nash spends much time with his wife.”
Trenholm contemplated her, a gleam of something besides
admiration in his eyes; then shifting his gears and releasing his
brake, he drove onward.
“Do you recall the exact wording of the coded message in the
thirteenth letter?” he asked, after a brief silence.
“Yes. It was: ‘Watch thirteenth letter suicides grave,’” she looked
at him inquiringly. “Does the word ‘suicide’ take the possessive ‘s’, or
is its meaning plural?”
“That remains to be seen.” He turned the car into the driveway to
Abbott’s Lodge, and before stopping under the porte cochère,
addressed her in a voice carefully lowered to reach her ear alone.
“Say nothing of the thirteen letters to any one.”
“Of course not!”
He was quick to detect her hurt tone. “Forgive me,” he begged,
and his low, earnest voice impressed her. “I depend on your aid
absolutely and trust you implicitly,” then as she flashed a glance
upward of glad relief, he added, “Don’t forget those five words, for I
firmly believe that the solution to Paul’s mysterious murder rests in
the thirteenth letter.” Their approach had been seen from inside the
Lodge and Corbin swung open the door. Trenholm had opportunity
for only one hurried sentence, “The thirteenth letter,” he repeated,
under his breath, “of the alphabet is ‘M.’”
Corbin favored Miriam with an unpleasant glance as she sped by
him into the house, but touched his forehead, with some show of
respect, to Trenholm.
“Mrs. Nash wishes to see ye,” he stated. His shifty eyes fell
before the sheriff’s steady gaze. “Can I have a word with ye, sir; me
and Martha—”
“Yes?” inquiringly, as the caretaker paused in uncertainty. “Well?”
Corbin licked his lips. Talking to the sheriff was not quite so easy
a task as he had represented to Martha, and he instantly shifted the
responsibility.
“Martha’s dressin’ now, sir; but she’ll be down d’reckly,” he
mumbled. “An’ before ye go, sir, please ask for her.”
Trenholm took silent note of the man’s twitching facial muscles
and his unhealthy pallor.
“Very well,” he said. “I will send for Martha. Wait—no, go on,” as
Corbin stopped reluctantly at the first injunction, and, giving
Trenholm no time to reconsider his second order, he disappeared in
the direction of the kitchen.
Trenholm hung up his hat and overcoat in the closet off the living
room in deep thought. He had intended questioning Corbin as to the
hours of receiving mail at Abbott’s Lodge, but he shrewdly suspected
that Martha would prove a more reliable source of information, and
so dismissed the caretaker with the question unasked.
Trenholm’s low tap on Mrs. Nash’s bedroom door brought Somers
in response. On recognizing the sheriff she drew back and held the
door more widely open.
“My mistress is expecting you,” she said. “Come in, sir.”
It was the first time Mrs. Nash had met Guy Trenholm face to
face, though each had had glimpses of the other during Mrs. Nash’s
occasional visits to Abbott’s Lodge in the past. Under pretense of
much languor, she was slow in offering him her hand and equally
slow in releasing his. Trenholm’s pressure on her icy fingers forced
her rings into her flesh, but aside from a slight, very slight, intake of
her breath, she gave no sign of how much he hurt her.
“Please take that chair,” she said, as Somers, obedient to
previous instructions, pushed forward the chair Miriam had occupied
the night before and in which she had found the thirteenth letter.
“You will fill it nicely, Mr. Trenholm; it is made for such big frames as
you and my husband. I feel,” she added as he kept a discreet
silence, waiting for her to open the interview, “that you and I should
be old acquaintances; I have heard so many nice things about you
from both Paul and his father.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Nash!” Trenholm sat back and eyed her gravely.
Her rouge was cleverly applied and her hair was becomingly
dressed. But to his critical mind there was something unnatural in
the high notes of her voice, in the constant tremble of her hand,
which, strive as she did, she could not control. “I have frequently
hoped to meet you, and frankly”—with a disarming smile
—“particularly after your experiences last night.”
 “You come directly to the point,” she remarked. “I can only tell
you that, after Miss Ward left me, I closed my eyes—for a few
minutes only—and opened them to find the room in darkness, to feel
some one creeping to my bedside, the touch of the beard on my
hand—” The shrug of her shoulders was eloquent. “Have you, Sheriff
Trenholm, discovered the identity of the intruder?”
He shook his head. “I must admit failure,” he said. “Give me a
little more time.”
She frowned, then smiled, and Trenholm decided that a fiery
temper was kept under iron control. “My husband has gone to
employ a celebrated detective agency to solve the mystery,” she
stated. “I thought that you should know and so sent for you.”
“Thank you,” simply, and settling himself more comfortably in the
big chair Trenholm awaited her next remark.
“You are not exactly loquacious,” she commented dryly. “Have
you been told the terms of Paul Abbott’s will?”
“Yes. Your niece will inherit a very handsome fortune.”
“Provided she remains single the rest of her natural life.” Mrs.
Nash’s laugh smote unpleasantly on his ear. “Betty is so very young
—not yet out of her twenties. Does wealth compensate, Mr.
Trenholm, for a lonely old age?”
“To some natures it does.” Trenholm’s voice was softly modulated
to suit a sick room, and Mrs. Nash had to listen attentively to catch
every word he said. “It seems a pity that Paul and Miss Carter were
not married before his death.”
Mrs. Nash’s eyelids flickered slightly; otherwise she regarded him
with unchanged expression. “It is a pity,” she agreed, “in a way. But
I have no doubt that certain terms in Paul’s ridiculous will can be set
aside.”
“Ah, on what grounds?”
 “That he was not of sound mind when it was drawn up,” quietly.
“In view of the mystery surrounding Paul’s shocking murder, Mr.
Trenholm, I feel that you should be informed on certain matters.”
“And what are they, Mrs. Nash?” as she paused. Trenholm was
giving her flattering attention and she smiled shrewdly.
“My father had given his consent to Betty’s engagement to Paul,”
she went on, “when, shortly after, we noticed a change in Paul. His
morbid tendencies became more pronounced and he suffered from
the delusion that people were pursuing him.” She looked at
Trenholm. “You know the unfortunate story of his mother?”
“That she died insane, yes.”
“My father grew more and more distressed, for Betty is his only
grandchild. At last my husband went to Doctor Roberts and asked
him to join my father’s party on our yachting trip to Bermuda, so
that he might have Paul under mental observation.” Mrs. Nash
paused to clear her throat. “That was only two months ago.”
“And what conclusion did Roberts come to regarding Paul’s
mental condition?” questioned Trenholm swiftly.
“Roberts is an old fogy!” For once Mrs. Nash’s self-control slipped.
She had herself in hand again before Trenholm could guess the
cause of her emotion. “And his affection for Paul biased his
judgment. My husband would have done better had he employed
another physician.”
Trenholm scrutinized her intently for several minutes. “And what
connection is there between Paul’s mental condition and his
murder?” he asked finally.
“Suicide—”
Trenholm laughed outright. “An utterly unpractical theory, Mrs.
Nash,” he remarked, and the dryness of his tone brought the
carmine to her cheeks under her rouge. “It was physically impossible
for Paul to have stabbed himself.” He rose without ceremony and
stared openly about the big bedroom. “I’ve been in here often when
Mr. Abbott, Sr., used it as a sitting room,” he said, “and these are the
hunting prints which Paul left me.” He looked down at Mrs. Nash, a
faint smile still lingering about his lips. “I want these prints awfully.
Please don’t contest Paul’s will,” and turning his back upon her, he
walked leisurely across the room and examined them.
Mrs. Nash’s emotions were too great to permit her clear vision
and she failed to detect Trenholm when he quietly took down the
sketch of neglected graves which hung where Miriam had seen it
during her first vigil in the sick room. Slipping the small picture
inside his pocket, he strolled back to the bed.
“Good-by, Mrs. Nash,” he bowed courteously, then bent further
down until his lips nearly touched her right ear. “I am not much of a
doctor, but I am of the opinion that you can get up.”
When Mrs. Nash recovered her breath only Somers was in the
bedroom.
 CHAPTER XVIII
THE DEATH CLUTCH

Min thedidhallnotofstay
iriam long in her bedroom after leaving Guy Trenholm
Abbott’s Lodge talking to Corbin. She had thought
at first of lying down for a little while, but she was too restless. A
walk would quiet her nerves, and, if Mrs. Nash had a good night, she
might have an opportunity of relaxing and thereby gain some rest
before morning.
It took Miriam only a few minutes to put on her coat and hat
again and, not bothering to take gloves, she went down the
staircase. Mrs. Nash’s door was closed as she passed it and she
wondered if Guy Trenholm was still with her patient. She would have
given much to have been present at the interview. Her thoughts
veered back to Trenholm. She must see him before he left. There
was something she must tell him, an idea which had come to her.
Should she stay in? Miriam wavered. If she waited it would be too
late to go out. Ah, she had it! Martha would give Trenholm a
message for her.
Knowing that Martha usually sat in a window nook just between
the pantry and the dining room, Miriam went in that direction but
paused near the dining room table at sight of Betty Carter standing
in the doorway leading to the sunparlor. She doubted if Betty had
heard her approach, for the young girl’s attention was riveted on
Alan Mason, who lay asleep in one of the long wicker lounging chairs
standing directly at the entrance to the dining room.
Alan’s comely features were free of the haggard lines which had
aged him in the past few days, and his graceful pose in the abandon
of sleep resembled that of a tired boy after a day of play. Evidently
his dreams were happy, for a smile trembled on his lips and he
murmured softly, “Betty!”
Betty Carter’s eyes were dimmed with tears and Miriam, glancing
at her, read the carefully guarded secret of her heart. Alan Mason,
and not his dead cousin, was the man she loved. With a swift,
graceful movement Betty stooped down and kissed him on the
forehead with a touch so delicate that it did not awaken the sleeping
man. Then, with a gesture of utter despair, she dropped on her
knees in front of a chair and buried her face in her arms.
Miriam stole softly away, her desire to see Martha forgotten in
the scene she had inadvertently witnessed. It had all happened in a
second of time. There had been no opportunity for her to withdraw,
but Miriam felt self-reproached. Walking rapidly, head down, hands
in pockets, she took no note of her direction, save that she was on a
footpath leading away from Abbott’s Lodge, and she honestly tried
to banish Betty and Alan from her thoughts. But one idea persisted
and would not down. If Betty loved Alan, why had she married Paul
on Monday night?
A high wind had sprung up and Miriam had forgotten to use
hatpins. The next second she was bareheaded. Her hat, a chic affair
of the mushroom variety, sailed gracefully ahead of her around a
curve and then another and stronger gust of wind carried it into a
field on her left. With a disgusted ejaculation over her stupidity in
omitting the pins, Miriam followed her hat as best she could. She
had just retrieved it and slapped it vigorously on her head,
regardless of the angle, when she espied a couple of cows in the
corner of the field. Miriam stopped not on the order of her going and
when she halted she had reached the edge of a wood. Having a
good bump of locality, she recognized, after a careful glance around,
the wood as the one she and Trenholm had walked through when
returning from Hills Bridge.
It was growing dark and Miriam faced in the direction she judged
Abbott’s Lodge to be and hurried along the path. In making the next
turn she paused abruptly. To her left lay the graveyard which she
had remarked upon to Trenholm. Its air of desolation was
emphasized by the fading light, and Miriam did not plan to linger as
she had done when Trenholm was with her. But her intention to
hurry past the old Mason burying plot was checked at sight of a man
kneeling by a grave and digging in it with a trowel. Miriam stopped
short as the man looked up. The recognition was mutual.
Corbin rose stiffly to his knees and, bending over, brushed off
some dirt and dry leaves which clung to his trousers.
“How come ye here, Miss?” he demanded suspiciously.
Miriam’s first impulse was to decline to answer, but Corbin had
stepped back from the grave and stood almost directly in front of
her, blocking the footpath.
“I am out for a walk,” she replied, “and by chance came this
way.”
“It’s lonesome like, for a lady.” Corbin hitched himself a trifle
closer, a beam of admiration in his watery eyes, which Miriam found
more objectionable than a glare of rage.
“What are you doing here, Corbin?” she asked, coolly taking the
situation into her hands. “What interests you in these old graves?”
Corbin shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. “Getting some
ivy,” he explained. “I wanted to plant some around the garage.”
“So you rob a grave—”
Corbin’s complexion turned an even more unhealthy color.
“Oh, the old suicide won’t miss it,” he said coarsely, and hastily
changed the subject. “Funny, weren’t it, that Mr. Paul should ha’ left
in his will this here graveyard to Mr. Alan, ’cause it belonged to his
ancestors, and never given him nothin’ else, ’cept five hundred
dollars.”
Miriam was not following closely Corbin’s jumbled accounts of the
provisions of Paul’s will, which Mr. Corcoran had explained to Martha
and to him at the close of the reading of the will.
 “Who lies in this suicide’s grave?” she asked suddenly, and the
question took Corbin by surprise.
“Mr. Alan’s grandfather.”
“And his name?” with a persistence which surprised herself as
well as Corbin.
“’Cordin’ to the headstone his name was Mason, too.” Talking to
an extremely pretty woman was a novel sensation and Corbin was
commencing to enjoy himself. “There’s a saying in these parts that
he stole some money when he was ’zecutor to a friend’s will and
killed heself when found out. The niggers buried him, as you see. Mr.
Alan ain’t got much call to be proud of his gran’-dad.”
“But I don’t think he will approve of your digging into his grave,”
Miriam stated quietly, “for ivy.”
Corbin’s lips curled back viciously over his yellow teeth. “He ain’t
goin’ to hear of it,” his voice grew low and menacing. “Not from you,
anyway.”
“Why not?”
He came a step nearer and his breath was unpleasantly close. “I
gave the bloodstained sheet to Sheriff Trenholm,” he whispered.
Miriam stared at him, open-eyed. “The bloodstained sheet!” she
echoed. “What are you talking about?”
“The sheet off Mr. Paul’s bed after he was murdered,” with a
slow, knowing wink, which sent the hot blood to her cheeks. Her
color ebbed as quickly as it had come, leaving her deadly pale. “The
sheriff was mighty curious to know if I had shown you where to get
clean linen for the bed when you fust come. Don’t worry,” observing
her expression and misinterpreting it. “I didn’t give him no direct
answer.”
“What!” Corbin drew back at the force of her exclamation. “Why
didn’t you tell him at once that you showed me the linen closet?”
 He leered at her. “There wasn’t any call for me to give you away
—then”—he supplemented.
Miriam missed the last word. Her eyes were blazing with
indignation.
“And so you let Mr. Trenholm infer—”
“What he pleased—yes, Miss!”
Miriam’s small hands were clenched. “You contemptible cur!” she
cried, and would have added more but wrath choked her utterance.
“Here, Miss, don’t you be so handy with misnamin’ me,”
protested Corbin. “I’ve got feelin’s like other fellows and I done ye a
good turn.”
“By concealing the truth!” scornfully. “You are not only a knave,
Corbin, but a fool!”
“Am I?” Corbin’s slow smile sent a shiver down her back in spite
of her hot anger. “Come, Miss, there ain’t no use o’ you an’ me
fussin’. I’ll stand yer friend, if ye’ll just give me a little snow”—he
came nearer and brushed her shoulder with his hand—“just a little
snow.”
Miriam stared at Corbin. Was the man demented? Her eyes left
his face and fell on his hand as he stood stroking her coat. It was a
remarkably small hand for a man, well-shaped, the long, creeping
fingers stained with soil from the grave. The seal ring on his third
finger caught on a button as she sprang back.
“Don’t touch me!”
Corbin paid not the slightest attention to her command. His eyes
aflame with desire, he stepped after Miriam and caught her hand,
fawning upon her—
“You’re a nurse, Miss,” he whined. “Gimme a deck to-night.” He
saw her expression of dawning comprehension and clung to her
hand more tightly than before.
 Miriam wrenched her hand free. At last she understood—Corbin
was a cocaine addict. For the first time she felt a twinge of fear as
her glance swept the lonely countryside. Of all the demoralizing
drugs, cocaine was the worst—whisky raised to its nth power was
pap compared to it.
“I have none, Corbin,” she said, hiding her abhorrence of the
man under a brusque manner. “We nurses are no longer permitted
to keep a supply of narcotics on hand.”
“Doctor Roberts will let ye have a shot,” eagerly. “Ye need never
tell him it’s for me.”
“Go to him yourself.”
Corbin stared at her for a long moment, his bloodshot eyes
taking in her beauty appraisingly. The collar of her coat had turned
back and he caught a glimpse of a gold chain. Martha had told him
of rubies which she had seen around the nurse’s neck.
“I’ll take care o’ Roberts,” he said thickly. “But me an’ you are
goin’ to come to an understandin’ right now. Hand over that gold
chain. Ye won’t!—then, by God—”
Miriam had read the look in his eyes in time to spring aside and
avoid his clutching fingers. Far more agile than her adversary, she
eluded his attempt to trip her and, fear lending wings to her feet,
she raced madly toward Abbott’s Lodge.
Corbin’s heart hammered and thumped as he strove to overtake
her. He was in no physical trim and, as Miriam left the footpath and
took to the fields, he sank down by the roadside, panting from his
exertions. As he rested his brain cleared and he cursed aloud as he
realized the folly of his act. In his mad craving for cocaine he had
betrayed his precious secret to Miriam. And she would tell. Corbin
ground his teeth in rage, then his face cleared. Only Miriam knew—
so far. When he got up and limped toward Abbott’s Lodge, his lips
wrinkled in a low and vicious smile.
 Finally convinced that she had outdistanced Corbin, Miriam
dropped back to a walk. Considerably shaken by the fright he had
given her, it took her some little time to stop looking over her
shoulder to see if the caretaker was still following her. Then her
thoughts switched around to Guy Trenholm and the bloodstained
sheet, and her recent terror was forgotten. Had Corbin, by his
evasive answers to the sheriff’s question about the sheet, made
Trenholm believe that she was implicated in Paul Abbott’s murder?
She recalled vividly his persistent questions at his bungalow that
afternoon as to whether or not she had recognized Paul as the
American soldier to whom her uncle had intrusted the Paltoff
diamond.
Could it be that Trenholm suspected her of having recognized
Paul and seized the opportunity of being alone with her patient to kill
him and recover the Paltoff diamond?
The thought was torment! Miriam brushed her hair back from her
forehead. She was suddenly blinded by tears, and paused in
uncertainty, unable to go on. In that moment she realized what Guy
Trenholm had grown to be to her. Love—had she given her love to a
man unasked—unsought? Her face flamed scarlet. Had romance
come into her life only to be bitter-sweet? She bowed her head in
her hands and the old, familiar prayer, which had sustained her
through the horrors of war and Russian revolution, again passed her
lips: “God, give me strength!”
When Miriam approached the entrance of Abbott’s Lodge she was
once more calm and collected. As she stepped inside the house she
was met by Martha.
“You are wanted upstairs in Mr. Paul’s old bedroom,” the
housekeeper stated. “They are waitin’ for ye,” and giving Miriam no
chance to find out who “they” were, she retreated to her kitchen, in
time to meet her husband slinking in the back door.
Considerably mystified by the message, Miriam went first to her
bedroom, tossed off her hat and coat, and then paused long enough