CHESMAYNE
Combination
A combination is
a sequence of moves which leads to the capture of material or even checkmate. Sometimes you may sacrifice one
of your own MPs/mps during the sequence of moves. A series of moves which achieve a specific
task, often involving a sacrifice. A forcing
sequence of moves with an advantageous goal, often involving the sacrifice of
material. Your MPs/mps are like a fleet
of warships and as such must not be exposed to danger. For example, while several of your opponents
MPs (KTs and BSs) are still on the board, it is usually a mistake to
bring QU1 or RO1 and
RO2 into the
open. A planned set of moves which are designed to force particular responses from your
opponent, and lead h/er into an undesirable board position. A sequence of moves whose underlying purpose
may be a checkmate attack, a positional advantage or the capture of mps or MPs.
The series of moves usually has a surprise element. An unguarded mp, MP or even the KI can be the target/objective.
The ability to be able to see three or more moves ahead is an
essential attribute to possess if you are to be able to play a combination. An essential feature of some combinations is
the ‘sacrifice’. French: combination - la
combinaison.
A forcing sequence involving threats (of capture, check and/or mate), probably
involving a sacrifice. There are examples in the Tactics and Attacking [link] sections of the Canon. Any
long series of moves that the average player cannot understand! A sequence of moves involving a
sacrifice played in order to gain a specific advantage, usually to win material or to force checkmate, sometimes to force a draw from an
inferior position. A series of moves which, unless the player has
miscalculated, will force an immediate win or an overwhelming advantage. A combination sometimes starts with a sacrifice
of material. A sacrifice and forced
sequence of moves to gain a certain advantage.
‘You can’t say civilization don’t
advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way’.
English:
Combination. French: Combinaison. German: Kombination.
Italian:
Combinazione. Spanish: Combinacion.
Combinations fall into four
general areas
01 Drawn combination (turning a lost game into a draw).
02 Checkmate attack combination (attacking the KI with more than one MP
and/or mp).
03 MP and/or
mp capture combination (often used to checkmate your opponents KI).
04 Positional combination (moving
your MPs/mps into better positions).
A move in chess falls into one of
three main areas
05 A forced move (:fm) ie, recapturing an opponents MP/mp. Moving out of +CH.
06 A tactical move (:tc) ie, usually a threatening move/moves, which your adversary
must reply to immediately.
A Moving a MP/mp to a cell that
blocks (:bl) one of your opponents MPs/mps.
B Moving a MP/mp to a cell that decoys (:dy) one of your opponents MPs/mps.
C Moving a BS from a file so that the file can be of use to one of your ROs or QU1.
D Moving a RO so that a diagonal can be of use to your BS or QU1.
E Sacrificing (:sa) one of your MPs/mps so that a more effective MP
can recapture on the same cell.
F Vacating a cell (:vc) so that a
more effective MP/mp can occupy the same cell.
07 Strategical moves ie, moving your MPs/mps into good
positions.
A Checkmate combination consists
of three parts
08 The checkmating pattern, which has
to be seen.
09 The checkmating path which has to
be found.
10 The obstacles which have to be
recognized and removed. At times you
will think you have every possibility covered, only to find to your cost
differently.
How to proceed
11 Make exchanges when they lead to material gain.
12 Exchange MPs not mps when you have
material advantage.
13 Exchange mps but not MPs when you
have material disadvantage.
14 Exchange when you are under severe
attack.
15 How many MPs/mps are left on the
board.
16 How few MPs/mps does your opponent have.
17 How many mps remain.
18 Does your opponent have h/er MPs/mps spread or
bunched.
19 Try to visualize the final position
involved in the combination.
20 Identify the MPs/mps involved in
the combination.
21 Start at the end of the sequence of
moves and work backwards in your mind.
22 Move your MPs/mps in the right order for the
combination to be successful.
Combinatory problems
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White to play wins |
White to play wins |
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White to play wins |
White to play wins |
The paragraphs below go into the
finer details
1 Combinations. 2 The
heart of chess. 3 Three acts. 4 To embark on a combination. 5 Exchanges. 6 The
player with the advantage. 7 To reduce the force of an attack. 8 To win. 9 A
checkmating attack. 10 Level-1, 8 x 8 board. 11 Annotators comments. 12
Smothered checkmate. 13 Philidor's Legacy, ++SM. 14 ++SM. 15 BS sacrifice. 16
Double-Check (+DO). 17 Double RO sacrifice. 18 KI hunt. 19 Weak cells. 20 ++SM.
21 En Prise. 22 Diversionary Sacrifice. 23 Desperado mp. 24 Desperado mp. 25 KT
fork. 26 PA fork. 27 Pin on the KI. 28 Pin on the KI. 29 :pn-KI+
01 Combinations
The combinations that arise during
a game are of two basically different types.
Some are based on devices which have already occurred in other games and
you can easily see the possibility of a combination because you already know a
device of the same type. There is no
doubt, for example, that smothered
checkmate (++SM) was for several centuries held to be a small miracle of combinational
play. Today, however, this device is so
well understood that overlooking a smothered checkmate is considered a rarity,
a bad error. Incidentally, this also
goes for other typical combinations ie, a BS sacrifice at H07 or, F07.
Game
winning combinations are born from good positions: “By my good position I am
deposited - as all good chess players like to be - in the right place at the
right time”.
Device
The ‘Immortal Game’ is an example of a combination but, I do not wish to concern you with a
detailed analysis of the ‘Immortal game’, nor for the moment with the question
of how Anderssen got the idea in the game to sacrifice RO1 and RO2 so
daringly. We are chiefly interested in
the fact that as soon as this sacrificial combination had seen the light of day
similar ones occurred in a whole series of other games. Surpisingly, it is not even necessary to
have a GM classification to discover a combination which in the
19th century was regarded as a miraculous product of creative play. The decisive factor is
knowing the ‘device’ which has occurred repeatedly since then. The only problem in executing combinations
containing well-known devices is therefore the accurate calculation of specific
variations. The knowledge of the
typical devices thus leads directly to the discovery of a combination during
the game.
What is a combination?
A combination is a number of moves
played so that you gain an advantage or, neutralize a disadvantage. The total number of moves can be anywhere from
1 to over 10 during actual play. Some
players are afraid to get involved in situations where they have to look 3 or 4
moves ahead or, are nervous unless they are definitely sure that this series of
3 or 4 moves is guaranteed to bring success.
Combinations fall into four areas…
01 Drawn combination (turning a lost game into a draw)
02 Checkmate attack combination (attacking the KI with
more than one MP/mp)
03 MP and/or mp capture combination (often used to
checkmate your opponents KI)
04 Positional combination (moving your MPs/mps into
better positions)
02 Combinations are at the heart
of chess
It is not always
true to say the shorter the game the worse the mistakes. Sometimes the opposite is the case. Is it not more pleasant when playing chess
to give and win rather than to take and win.
What do you do when you have the chance of gaining either a MP or
mp? There is no question, naturally,
you take the MP. But this is not always
the right thing to do. Combinations are
the heart of chess. A combination is a
series of plays, worked out in advance, in which several moves are forced on
your opponent, who has no choice in the matter, and which leads to the
defenders loss of material or checkmate.
These combinations incur the sacrifice of MPs/mps by the attacker and
the defender does not realize that the end is closing in. Mature players are proficient in their use of
the combination and it is of course one of the essential ingredients in any
mature players arsenal.
To play a combination you have to
be able to see ahead, to plan several moves in advance and be able to sacrifice
MPs/mps for the purpose of winning the contest. This is the attribute that separates the
mature player from the average chess player.
Combinations do not lend themselves to systematic exposition because of
their variety and their unwillingness to follow certain rules. I have therefore restricted myself to
stimulating the imagination of the chess player and to guiding you along certain
paths in the examples given in this section.
But you must do your own thinking.
03 Three acts
The fascinating field of
combinations, so important for the study and conduct of the middle game, has
been all to rarely explored in the literature.
It is such an obtruce subject to explore and explain that, despite its
great interest, even the greatest aficionados have only lightly touched upon
it. It’s exposition demands a special
type of mind, a mind that can see clearly into all the profundities of the
complex middle game and portray all kinds of original aspects during its
execution. A combination can show fresh
shades of colour. Chess at its simplest
is a drama in three acts - opening, middle game and endgame. With experience you should be able to spot a
checkmate by two MPs and/or mps. You
should always leave a bolt-hole for your KI to escape. A checkmate combination consists generally
of three parts…
01 The
checkmating pattern, which has to be seen
02 The
checkmating path which has to be found
03 The
obstacles which have to be recognized and removed. At times you will think you have every
possibility covered, only to find to your cost differently.
04 To embark on a combination
Once in a while
you will successfully pull off a lengthy combination involving a simple set of
moves. Anyone who is incapable of
taking advantage of the great power of the mps will not aspire to be a mature
player. Sometimes as a result of a
sacrifice the KI is often enticed out of his castled refuge and has to set out
on a longish or shortish journey. There
is no need to add that this can often have fatal consequences in the middle
game as it is almost impossible to provide protection for His Majesty once he
is on his travels.
The basis of
every combination is the ability to recognize the checkmating patterns, which
are always fundamentally identical. In
an endgame involving the MPs an active position is all important. Like a virtuoso musician the chess artist
must be able to play h/er instrument and introduce the acciaccatura and the
glaciando to add to the overall performance.
Your mastery is measured by the refinement of your playing. The logician will insist on attacking only
when clearly recognizable weaknesses exist in the opposing camp. Even a won game must first be won but, this
is only rarely achieved by the final blow.
In chess, tactics and technique must work together. It is difficult to think of the one without
the other. The remote :pa-mp (passed)
is a dangerous weapon at any stage of the game and in the middle game provides
the springboard for many combinations.
To embark on a combination you must be able to visualize in your mind
the final position before commencing a series of moves.
Once a
strategic plan has been determined, the means by which this plan is to be
executed is a question of tactics.
Tactics is the method of executing a strategic plan by a series of
specific moves. It entails calculating
the moves required to attain the objective, taking into consideration the
reasonable replies of your opponent. One
of the specific types of tactical play is the combination, which is a short part
of the game, within which a certain purpose is attained by force. Its sequence of moves forms a logical chain
and cannot be divided up. When looked
at one by one, the moves may seem purposeless or even mistaken, yet together
they form a combination. After a series
of moves incomprehensible by themselves, the solution suddenly follows, and
their real purpose sees the light of day.
Combinations
are the heart of chess. A combination is
a series of plays, worked out in advance, in which several moves are forced on
your opponent, who has no choice in the matter, and which leads to the loss of
material or checkmate. These
combinations incur the sacrifice of MPs/mps by the attacker and the defender
does not realize that the end is closing in.
Mature players are proficient in their use of the combination as it is
one of the essential ingredients in a mature players arsenal. To play the combination you have to be able
to see ahead, to plan several moves in advance and be able to sacrifice MPs/mps
for the purpose of winning the contest.
This is the attribute that separates the mature player from the average
chess player.
05 Exchanges
You can often
‘force’ a number of exchanges in order to capture prisoners or alternately to
bring about a won ending. In all games
of chess progress is made in this manner right up to the very end of
battle. Exchanges made to effect a
polished endgame without thought of immediate gain in material are the key to
success in your campaigns. It pays to
keep an open mind in all situations on the chess board. As the attacker try to retain the initiative
and as a defender try to wrestle the initiative into your own court.
01 Make
exchanges when they lead to material gain
02
Exchange MPs not mps when you have material advantage
03
Exchange mps but not MPs when you have material disadvantage
04
Exchange when you are under severe attack
06 The player with the advantage
The reasons for
02 and 03 are as follows: the fewer MPs/mps on the board, the more difference
an extra MP/mp makes. You may hardly
notice an extra KT with many MPs on the board, but if you have a KT and mps and
your opponent just mps, you can easily capture your adversary’s mps, promote
your own, and win. However, if you have
a KT only and no mps, you cannot win, as this is insufficient material to
checkmate. The player with the
advantage should therefore try to exchange MPs, while the opponent should aim
to exchange mps.
07 To reduce the force of an
attack
When you are on
the defensive, especially when you have little room for manoeuvring, exchanges
will often reduce the force of the attack and give you room to breathe, hence
04 above. In addition there may be
special circumstances ie, getting rid of an important defender when you are
yourself attacking - where exchanges pay.
What you must not do is to exchange because you are afraid of a
complicated position. Practice in such
positions will improve your play more than anything else. You will find that a stronger player will
beat you even if you do try to make things easier by exchange. So you might as well play a game with some
interest in it!
08 To win
Victory is an
inexhaustible topic. Does it mean that
chess is a game of chance? No - the
blame must be laid on human inadequacy.
You should never make the same mistake twice - it is better to make a
new one! Stalemate as victory is a
contradiction in terms, surely, yet there are times when a stalemate seems like
a gift from heaven and you are as pleased about it as if you had won. A player is always learning, but can it be
said that you get anywhere? Certainly,
but you never attain the goal of perfection.
The study of chess is a sort of labor of Hercules, which always has to
begin again at the beginning. When you
meet with misfortune you must not despair.
Sometimes you may
be justified in accepting considerable exposure of your MPs/mps in an effort to
create a blockade. Brain-to-brain combat
of championship calibre is difficult to attain.
Chess is warfare on a grand scale.
The manoeuvre that is basic to chess is capture and calls for attack
which in turn provokes responses in the form of counter attack and
capture. At all levels of play it
becomes a matter of who is firing at whom in a given area and this is repeated
everywhere on the board - a complex pattern of intermingled cells and
MPs/mps. Time is a vital factor as
indeed one might expect in an occidental game.
Early plays are usually swift, there being a call to hurry into battle. Chess is essentially a struggle for new
cells and their occupants - a fight to build a strong defense while keeping the
enemy MPs/mps weak so that they are bound to be defensive. We can summarize the decisive factors
involved in the combination as follows…
01 How
many MPs/mps are left on the board.
02 How few
MPs/mps does your opponent have.
03 Does
your opponent have his MPs/mps spread or bunched.
09 A checkmating attack
A checkmating attack can be brought
about by…
1.
++SM (smothered
checkmate),
2.
A back rank
(++BR: usually with two ROs or QU and RO),
3.
Hunting the
opponents KI,
4.
Sacrificing one
of your BSs,
5.
+DO (double
check) and +DC (discovered check),
6.
Sacrificing RO1
and RO2, sacrificing BS1 and BS2, and lastly,
7.
By attacking a
cell that is protected only by your opponents KI.
Positional combinations
can be brought about by…
01 Placing RO1 and RO2 on rank-7,
02 Controlling the center of the board (B$A),
03 Creating a :pa-mp (passed),
04 Exchanging QUs at the right moment,
05 Smashing your opponents mp position,
06 Capturing BS1 and BS2,
07 Capturing KT1 and KT2, and lastly,
08 Reducing
the position into a won endgame.
Capturing MPs/mps (gaining
material) can be brought about by…
01 A KT
:fk (fork), pinning MPs/mps,
02
capturing en prise MPs/mps,
03
Using the :sk (skewer) and other types of :fk (fork),
04
Overworking an opponents MP/mp,
05
Sacrificing one of your own MPs/mps (the desperado, :dy),
06
Promoting a mp and finally,
07
Setting-up a discovered attack.
What you should do…
01 Try to
visualise the final position involved in the combination.
02
Identify the MPs/mps involved in the combination.
03
Start at the end of the sequence of moves and work backwards in your mind.
04 Move
your MPs/mps in the right order for the combination to be successful.
10 Level-1 ISP (8 x 8 board)
On Level-1 :A
has 20 possible moves that can be made from the ISP (moving each mp either one
or two cells forward or, moving KT1 or KT2).
In practice you will find that there are only 7 realistic moves from the
initial starting position (ISP)…
01 PA2-B02/B03
02 PA3-C02/C04
03 PA4-D02/D04
04 PA5-E02/E04
05 PA7-G02/G03
06 KT1-B01/C03
07 KT2-G01/F03
11 Annotators Comments
To play a game
of chess you need to know the main elements that make up the moves of a game. Some commentators comments are as follows:
Please see 'Index by Category' for a complete list.
01 Fork
:fk
02 Pin
:pn
03
Doubled mps :do-mps, :do-PAs
04
Tripled mps :tr-mps, :tr-PAs
05 Open
file :of
06 Open
diagonal :od
07 Half
open file :
08 Half
open diagonal :hod
09
Skewer :sk
10
Forced sequence :fs
11
Forced capture :fc
12
Double attack :da
13
Masked attack :ma
14
Intermezzo :imz
15
Turning point :tp
16
Central control :cc
17
Recapture :rc
18 Bad
Bishop :bd-BS
19
Threat :th
20
Counter threat :ct
21
Locked MP :lo-MP
22
Locked mp :lo-mp, :lo-PA
23
Connected Rooks :co-ROs
24
Disconnected ROs :di-ROs
25
Weakened KI-side :we-KI
26
Weakened QU-side :we-QU
27
Expansion KI-side :ex-KI
28
Expansion QU-side :ex-QU
29
Trapped MP :td-MP
30
Trapped mp :td-mp
31
Blockade :bl
32
Sacrifice :sa
33
Unguarded :ug
34 A
(d)ead (d)raw :dd (nothing that either player can do to avert a ++DR).
35 A
(b)alanced (p)osition :bp
36 A
(c)omplicated (p)osition :cp
37 :A
has a (s)light (a)dvantage :sa
38 :A has
a decisive advantage :da
39 A
(c)ertain (w)in for :cw
40 A
(d)ifficult (p)osition for :dp
41 An
inaccurate move - (w)eakens the (p)osition :wp
42 :A
(s)trengthens the (p)osition :sp
43 A
(mi)stake :mi
44 A
(bl)under :bl
45 A
(s)trong (m)ove :sm
46 A very
strong or (b)rilliant (m)ove :vs
47 A
brilliant but (u)nsound (m)ove :bum
48 Best
move :bm
49 Best
move in difficult circumstances :bmdc
50 A
safe move :sm
51 :A
should (p)ress (h)ome the (a)dvantage :pha
52 :B
should (p)lay for (t)ime :pt
40 ++WN, ++DR, ++LS
You will also
have to consider what you want from a game.
Do you have to win or draw? Maybe
your sole ambition is to have an interesting contest and the result is of
secondary importance. In a team game the
ambitions of an individual may be subordinated by the overall team
requirement. Emotional issues will also
influence a player. Health, tiredness,
mood and so on will also have their effect.
An amalagram of all these factors affect a player when s/he sits down to
play. The human mind can overcome many
handicaps - but not always. What is
important is to avoid incompatible objectives such as deliberately provoking a
complex game when tired, when a draw is sufficient!
41 To gain material
What kind of
situations can a player expect to force the gain of material against any
defense? Basically, there are only two
types of manoeuvre that can accomplish this.
The first is an attack on more than one MP and/or mp at a time or, by
the 'double attack' (a :fk by two MPs).
The second is an attack on an immobile target with more MPs/mps than
your opponent can muster for defense.
How your MPs/mps cooperate with each other to achieve these objectives
is explained elsewhere in the text.
Their study is an indispensible preperation for the higher levels of
chess, which deal with the proper conduct of the opening, middle game and
endgame - the three distinct subjects with which you must acquaint yourself
before you can play an intelligent game of chess.
42 Skill and ingenuity
Sometimes the
chess players fancy takes h/er along unusual paths. In a game of chess you must be active and
not subscribe to the fatalistic principle of allowing yourself to be surprised. The player who decides what is going to
happen is the one who sees one move farther than the opponent. The harder matched, the greater the
victory! The finest games of chess are
those which are contested on both sides with skill and ingenuity and where the
final victory goes to the player who holds the remaining ace move. In this game where both sides are actively
fighting the 'zwischenzug' and 'intermediate' check are used in an original
way. A MP or mp suffers an absolute pin
only when the MP/mp protected is the KI.
All other types of pin are more or less relative and can at any time
lose their effectiveness as a result of tactical measures. Every situation on the board requires
handling differently.
43 Escape
You should
endeavor to block every escape of your opponent, but you should avoid opening
the window to your opponent and making your own escape impossible. The occassional mistake makes excellence
bearable. Everyone can on occasions
suffer from chess blindness, sometimes caused by time trouble, poor physical
health, tiredness and temperature.
These can all be contributory factors, but what would chess be without
silly mistakes!
:Level-1, Smothered checkmate
(++SM)
Example-1
01 A
checkmate by a KT (the KI being locked by MPs/mps of either :A or :B).
02 Smothered
checkmate can only be achieved by KT1 or KT2 (Level-1).
03
Burke: to murder by smothering.
RO2 KT2 BS2 QU1 -KI BS1 KT1 RO1 Rank-8
PA8 PA7 PA6 PA5 PA4 PA3 PA2 PA1 Rank-7
PA1 PA2 PA3 PA4 PA5 PA6 PA7 PA8 Rank-2
RO1 KT1 BS1 QU1 -KI BS2 KT2 RO2 Rank-1
Set-up the ISP for Level-1 and play through the moves
as shown below
A-PA5
cannot capture B-KT1 because B-QU1 would give +CH to B-KI
01A PA4-D02/D04 PA4-C03/A01
01B KT1-G08/F06 KT1-D16/B08
02A PA3-C02/C04 PA3-C02/B12
02B PA4-E07/E05 PA4-C13/A03
03A PA4-D04*E05-PA4 PA4-A01*A03-PA4
03B KT1-F06/G04 KT1-B07/C08
04A BS1-C01/F04 BS1-D03/B05
04B BS1-G01/B04+CH BS1-D17/C19+CH
05A KT1-B01/D02 KT1-D02/C03
05B KT2-B08/C06 KT2-D21/B10
06A KT2-G01/F03 KT2-D07/B04
06B QU1-D08/E07 QU1-D19/C13
07A PA1-A02/A03 PA1-D28/D27
07B KT1-G04*E05-PA4 KT1-C08*A03-PA4
08A PA1-A03*B04-BS1 PA1-D27/C19-BS1
08B KT1-E05/D03++SM KT1-A03/B02++SM
++LS for :A ++SM (++WN for :B)
Set-up the ISP for Level-1 and play
through the moves as shown above
A-PA5 cannot capture B-KT1 because
B-QU1 would give +CH to B-KI
Links
below…….
Some
good and many bad ideas that occurred in my games.
They may be not very brilliant, but were instructive, at least to me
- J. Schlenker - A. Engelhart, 1990
- A. Engelhart - U. Braeuner, 1993
- A. Engelhart - H. Namyslo, 1995
- A. Engelhart - M. Wagner, 1995
- H. Löw - A. Engelhart, 1995
- A. Engelhart - M. Zieger, 1996
- S. Strathmann - A. Engelhart, 1996
- A. Bemmer - A. Engelhart, 1996
- H. Namyslo - A. Engelhart, 1997
- A. Engelhart - W. Mack, 1997
- A. Engelhart - O. Weiß, 1997
- Th. Fricker - A. Engelhart, 1997
- “xxavi” - A. Engelhart, 1997
- A. Engelhart - J. Straub, 1997
- A. Engelhart - Dr. K. Steudel (1), 1998
- A. Engelhart - Dr. K. Steudel (2), 1998
- A. Engelhart - Dr. J. Schröder, 1998 (1)
- A. Engelhart - U. Dirr, 1998
- A. Engelhart - Dr. J. Schröder, 1998 (2)
- M. Thevessen - A. Engelhart, 2000
- “Frei” - A. Engelhart, 2000