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    Chess Movies 2: The Means and Ends
    Chess Movies 2: The Means and Ends
    Chess Movies 2: The Means and Ends
    Ebook746 pages1 hour

    Chess Movies 2: The Means and Ends

    By Bruce Pandolfini

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    About this ebook

    The Pandolfini Chess Library Chess Movies represents a new idea in the Pandolfini Chess Library series. It offers instructional material with every single move diagrammed and explained. Thus a chessboard and pieces are not needed to follow through. This makes it possible to rely solely on the book itself, as one would with a text on tactics and problems, without having to set up the positions. It’s almost as if one is sitting in a movie theater, watching the film roll by, with the narrative carried along by subtitles. But whereas a film seen in the theater just keeps going, here you can “stop-the action and take time thinking about what you’re seeing and what’s being explained to you, as if you were home watching on your own DVD. In this second volume of the Chess Movies series, The Means and Ends, the enthusiast is presented with an assortment of 64 precisely finessed and well-executed endgames from the oeuvres of the world’s foremost chess gladiators. Lasker, Rubinstein, Capablanca, Karpov, Fischer, Anand and other chess gods, offered in stratagem, maneuver, and insightful simplification, provide the subject matter for this newest collection of chess cinema. Taking off from volume 1 of the Chess Movies series, the present volume shows the other end of successful chess play, the actual final moves of winning endgames. Read and watch on, and may all of you play happily ever after.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRussell Enterprises, Inc.
    Release dateMar 4, 2015
    ISBN9781936490080
    Chess Movies 2: The Means and Ends
    Author

    Bruce Pandolfini

    Bruce Pandolfini is one of the world’s most sought-after chess teachers and one of the most widely read chess writers working today. His role as analyst for PBS’s coverage of the 1972 match between chess superstars Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky first launched him into the public eye. His coaching of chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin was portrayed in the book and film Searching for Bobby Fischer. He is a regular columnist for Chess Life, the bible of the chess world, and continues to coach young players professionally and consults for CEOs from numerous Fortune 500 companies. Pandolfini also created over 300 hypothetical games as a consultant for Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit. He lives in New York City.

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      Book preview

      Chess Movies 2 - Bruce Pandolfini

      2011

      (1) Philidor vs. Wilson, 1789

      White is up a knight

      When up a piece, normally the winning strategy would be to simplify. This is easy enough, assuming White can stop the lusting d-pawn. Let’s assume that White can’t stop the advancing pawn. What then? Well, if you can’t stop them, or join them, maybe you can mate them. Yes, having reached the above position, that’s apparently what Philidor had in mind, either that or an opera score he was working on.

      1.f6!

      So, Philidor was thinking about chess. The biggest threat is mate at g7.

      1...gxf6

      This capture temporarily stops the mate.

      2.exf6

      Once again there’s a mate threat at g7. White’s rook dominates the seventh rank.

      2...Rd4+

      If 3.Kxd4??, then the pawn promotes with check, 3...d1/Q+.

      3.Ke5

      White is looking for a way to escape the checks.

      3...Rd5+

      Again, the rook shouldn’t be captured.

      4.Kf4

      White sees an end to these annoying checks. The king will hide at g2 or h2.

      4...Rd4+

      Black is still hoping.

      5.Kg3

      But not 5.Kf3??, when the pawn queens with check.

      5...Rg4+!

      A last ditch try: taking the rook allows Black to queen with check.

      6.Kh3

      Any check leads to the rook’s capture. Otherwise, White’s rook soon mates. (1–0)

      (2) LaBourdonnais vs. McDonnell, 1834

      Black is down the Exchange for a pawn

      In this wild transitional position, before endgame features have become clear, having the move could be practically everything. Here, Black is down a queen, but not for long. And after winning it back, a new threat emerges, and this time it centers on the white king. In the end, White’s position can’t be saved. Black’s knights are simply too murderous.

      1...Rxe1+

      This forces White to cede his own queen.

      2.Qxe1

      With the queens gone, perhaps White thought he would now be okay.

      2...Nxe1

      Not so fast. The lowly knight at e1 is menacing mate at c2.

      3.Rh7+

      This saves the rook, for now.

      3...Kg8

      Quite frustratingly, White’s knight prevents the rook from defending at h2.

      4.gxf7+

      So White keeps the checks going.

      4...Kxh7

      It’s a free rook, since 5.f8/Q loses to 5...Nc2 mate.

      5.f8N+

      White hopes that Caissa fatefully permits 5...Kg7? 6.Ne6+ and 7.Nd4.

      5...Kh6

      This puts an end to such hopes.

      6.Nb1

      One last hope — that Black plays anything but 6...Nc2 mate.

      6...Nc2 mate

      The final position is rather comical, even for these two stalwarts. (0–1)

      (3) McDonnell vs. LaBourdonnais, 1834

      Black is down the Exchange for a pawn

      Here’s another wild position, courtesy of those early romantics. Like its predecessor, the situation is in a transitional stage to the endgame, so tactics might still predominate. Overall, White has a rook for a bishop, and both sides have dangerous passed pawns. But Black has more of them. This juggernaut is ready to roll. If only all three black pawns could reach the seventh rank. Wait, they do!

      1...Qe1!

      Black wastes no time. The threat is mate and the queen is immune.

      2.Rc1

      Not much choice here. The rook at f1 had to be defended.

      2...d2!

      This keeps the queen defended. Now, two black pawns are on the seventh.

      3.Qc5

      White doesn’t know which way to go. So he aims at f8 and f2.

      3...Rg8

      Better safe than sorry. Black secures this rook for good.

      4.Rd1

      This ensures that White’s rooks are safe in turn.

      4...e3!

      The position is getting symmetrically funnier. There’s beauty in pattern.

      5.Qc3

      Finally, White is threatening to take Black’s queen.

      5...Qxd1!

      Another bolt from the dark side: White has no practical choice.

      6.Rxd1

      If only White had two moves in a row.

      6...e2!

      When was the last time you saw three pawns on the seventh? White will soon be mated. (0–1)

      (4) Staunton vs. Cochrane, 1842

      White has a knight for a bishop

      In this even ending, Black’s pieces seem adequately placed for aggression. His rook is attacking a pawn and his protected bishop cuts through White’s position. But things can happen. Maybe the knight could somehow wend to d5. Possibly White’s rook could secure the seventh rank. And, who knows, perhaps Black might walk right into a surprise mating net. Such things have happened before. Why not in this game?

      1.Rh7+

      White decides to seize the seventh rank.

      1...Kc6

      Black chooses a more active square for his king.

      2.Rg7

      This stops 2...d5 because of the counter 3.e5!.

      2...Rc1

      Black looks to take a seventh rank of his own.

      3.Ne3

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