Zwischenzug
Thezwischenzug(German:pronounced[ˈtsvɪʃənˌtsuːk],"intermediate move"; also called anin-between move) is achess tacticin which a player, instead of playing the expected move (commonly arecapture), first interposes another move posing an immediate threat that the opponent must answer, and only then plays the expected move.[1][2]It is a move that has a high degree of "initiative".Ideally, the zwischenzug changes the situation to the player's advantage, such as by gainingmaterialor avoiding what would otherwise be a strong continuation for the opponent.
Such a move is also called anintermezzo[3](lit. 'intermediate move')[4]orin-between move.[5][6]When the intermediate move is acheck,it is sometimes called anin-between check,[7]zwischenschach,[8]orzwischen-check.[9]
As with any fairly common chess tactic, it is impossible to pinpoint when the first zwischenzug was played. Three early examples are Lichtenhein–Morphy,New York1857;Rosenthal–De Vere,Paris 1867; andTartakower–José Raúl Capablanca,New York1924. The first known use of the term zwischenzug, however, did not occur until 1933, when the prolificAmericanchess authorsFred ReinfeldandIrving Chernevused it in their bookChess Strategy and Tactics.
History
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No one knows when the first zwischenzug was played, but it was evident long before the term itself existed.[10]One early example was Lichtenhein–Morphy, New York 1857.[11]In the diagram, White has just captured Black'sknighton e4 and surely expected the recapture 10...dxe4 11.0-0, when White's king is safe and he has the betterpawn structure.Morphy, the strongest player of the day, instead played the zwischenzug 10...Qh4! with the threat 11...Qxf2#,[12]so White cannot save the bishop (11.Bf3?? Qxf2#).[12]Moreover, 11.0-0 would be met by 11...Qxe4 12.Nc3 Qg6 (not 12...Qh4? 13.Nxd5!), when "Black has thetwo bishopsand a compact position without serious weakness ".[13]Instead, White correctly played 11.Qe2 (forcing Black to weaken hispawns), but then erred with 11...dxe4 12.Be3? (after 12.0-0!, Black has only a slight advantage)[14]Bg4! 13.Qc4? Bxe3!! and Morphy went on to win abrilliancy.[11][12][15][16]
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Rosenthal–De Vere, Paris 1867,[17]is another 19th-century example of a zwischenzug.[18]De Vere (Black) had earliersacrificedapiecefor two pawns. White has just played 16.Bxb4. Instead of recapturing with 16...Qxb4+, De Vere first played the zwischenzug (specifically, a zwischenschach) 16...Rc1+! After 17.Kd2 Rxf1 18.Qxf1 Qxb4+ 19.Ke2 Qxf4 20.Qg1 Nxe5, De Vere's zwischenzug had netted him two more pawns, leaving him with thematerial advantageoffour pawns for a knight.White resigned after twelve more moves.
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Another prominent example that brought the concept of zwischenzug, albeit not the term itself, to public attention was Tartakower–Capablanca, New York 1924.[19]This was a game won by the reigningWorld Championat one of the strongesttournamentsof the early 20th century.[20]In the position in the diagram, Tartakower (White) has just played 9.Bxb8, thinking he has caught Capablanca in a trap: if 9...Rxb8, 10.Qa4+ and 11.Qxb4 wins abishop.[21]However, Capablanca sprang the zwischenzug 9...Nd5!, protecting his bishop and also threatening 10...Ne3+,forkingWhite'skingandqueen.After Tartakower's 10.Kf2 Rxb8, Capablanca had regained his piece and went on to win in 20 more moves. Note that after 10.Bf4 (instead of 10.Kf2), Black would not play 10...Nxf4??, which would still allow 11.Qa4+, winning a piece. Instead, after 10.Bf4 Black would play a second zwischenzug, 10...Qf6!, attacking the bishop again, and also renewing the threat of 11...Ne3+.[22][23]After a move like 11.Qc1, Black could either take the bishop or consider yet a third zwischenzug with 11...Bd6.
Alekhine, Reinfeld, and Tartakower and du Mont do not call 9...Nd5! a "zwischenzug" in their books (originally published in 1925, 1942, and 1952, respectively). Instead, they refer to it as, respectively, "a bit of finesse", a "sly interpolation", and an "intermediary manoeuvre".[24][25][26]
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The earliest known use of the term zwischenzug did not occur until after all of these games. According to chess historianEdward Winter,the first known use was in 1933.[27]Fred Reinfeld and Irving Chernev, annotating the gameMax Euwe–Gyula Breyer,Vienna 1921, called Breyer's 27th move, 27...Nge3!, "an importantZwischenzug".[28]The game can be played overhere.
Additional examples
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The diagram shows another example. Black, on move, plays
- 1... Rxh4?
expecting White to play 2.Qxh4, when Black retains a material advantage. However, White has a zwischenzug:
- 2. Qd8+!
which is followed by
- 2... Kh7
- 3. Qxh4+ Kg8
- 4. Qxg3
and White has won arook,leaving him with a winning position.[29]
Mieses vs. Reshevsky
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A zwischenzug occurred inMieses–Reshevsky,Margate 1935.[30]From the position in the diagram, play continued:
- 29. Nd4 Bxd4
- 30. cxd4
White must have expected 30...Qxd4 31.Qxc4 Re1+ and then 32.Kg2 gets him out of trouble, but Black has a zwischenzug:
- 30... Re4!
Making adouble attackon the d-pawnand preventing the capture of his own pawn. Now if 31.Qxc4, 31...Re1+ forces 32.Rxe1 and White loses his queen.[31]
L. Steiner vs. Helling
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L. Steiner–Helling, Berlin 1928,[32]provides another example of the zwischenschach (in-between check). Black has just captured White'spawnon f2 with his knight (see diagram). White responded with
- 16. Qxf2
expecting theskewer16...Bg3??, which he would refute with 17.Qxf7+! Rxf7 18.Re8#. Instead, Black first played the zwischenschach
- 16... Bh2+!
Now 17.Kxh2 Qxf2 loses White's queen. The game continued
- 17.Kf1 Bg3!
Not seeing the point, White blithely continued with his plan:
- 18. Qxf7+?? Rxf7+
Now White realized that he is in check (that was the point of 16...Bh2+!), so his intended 19.Re8# is illegal. The forced 19.Bxf7+ Kxf7 would leave Black with queen for rook, an easily winning material advantage, so White resigned.[33][34]
Kerchev vs. Karastoichev
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In the game Zlatozar Kerchev–Emil Stefanov Karastoichev,1965 (diagram), Black moved
- 1... Ng5
discovering an attack on White's queen.
- 2. Qxg6
If White moves the queen to another square, Black's knight captures White's rook on f3, winningthe exchange.Instead of immediately recapturing the queen, Black played
- 2... Nxf3+
and White must get out of check. After
- 3. Bxf3 hxg6
Black had won the exchange.[35]
Carlsen vs. Anand
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Ingame 5of the2013 World Chess Championshipmatch,Carlsenhad captured a bishop with 20.cxb6, andAnandmaintained material balance by capturing a knight with 20...fxe4, also attacking White's bishop (see diagram). Instead of immediately taking the pawn with 21.Bxe4, which would have given Anand the opportunity to fix his queenside pawn weaknesses with 21...axb6, Carlsen played the zwischenzug
- 21. b7
After the necessary
- 21... Rab8
- 22. Bxe4 Rxb7
Anand's a- and c-pawns remainedisolated.Black's weaker pawn structure was an important factor to Carlsen's initiative in this first decisive game of the match.
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^(Hooper & Whyld 1992:460)
- ^(Golombek 1977:354)
- ^(Cox 2007:216)
- ^(Kasparov 2008:208)
- ^(Burgess 1997:494)
- ^(Horowitz & Reinfeld 1954:180–97)
- ^(Horowitz & Reinfeld 1954:183–85)
- ^(van Perlo 2006:479)
- ^(Mednis 1997:270)
- ^National MasterDennis Monokroussos observes that "just because authors didn't use theword'zwischenzug' doesn't mean they didn't use theconcept– perhaps they simply used 'in-between move' instead ".Fred Reinfeld and the ZwischenzugArchivedAugust 7, 2007, at theWayback Machine
- ^ab"Lichtenhein vs. Morphy, New York 1857".Chessgames.com.
- ^abcLichtenhein–Morphy, First American Chess Congress, 1857
- ^(Reinfeld & Soltis 1974:53)
- ^Encyclopedia of Chess Openings,Volume C, Third Edition, Šahovski Informator, 1997, p. 301 n.72.
- ^(Réti 1976:32–36)
- ^(Reinfeld & Soltis 1974:51–54)
- ^"Rosenthal vs. De Vere, Paris 1867".Chessgames.com.
- ^(Hooper & Whyld 1992:107–8)
- ^"Tartakower vs. Capablanca, New York 1924".Chessgames.com.
- ^Chessmetricsranks New York 1924 as the ninth strongest tournament between 1900 and 1930.Strongest Tournaments 1900–1930ArchivedMay 30, 2012, at theWayback Machine
- ^(Tartakower & du Mont 1975:295)
- ^(Alekhine 1961:208 note h)
- ^(Reinfeld 1974:230)
- ^(Alekhine 1961:208 note e)
- ^(Reinfeld 1974:230)
- ^(Tartakower & du Mont 1975:296)
- ^Edward Winter, Earliest Occurrences of Chess Terms.Retrieved on 2009-04-27.
- ^(Reinfeld & Chernev 1933:48)
- ^Tutorial
- ^"Mieses vs. Reshevsky, Margate 1935".Chessgames.com.
- ^(Chernev 1965:211)
- ^"L. Steiner vs. Helling, Berlin 1928".Chessgames.com.
- ^(Horowitz & Reinfeld 1954:178–80)
- ^(Golombek 1977:354)
- ^(Burgess 2000:47)
References
[edit]- Alekhine, Alexander(1961),The Book of the New York International Chess Tournament 1924,Dover,ISBN978-0-486-20752-0
- Burgess, Graham(1997),The Mammoth Book of Chess(1st ed.), Carroll & Graf,ISBN0-7867-0431-4
- Burgess, Graham (2000),The Mammoth Book of Chess(2nd ed.), Carroll & Graf,ISBN978-0-7867-0725-6
- Chernev, Irving(1965),The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy,Dover,ISBN0-486-27302-4
- Cox, John (2007),Starting Out: Sicilian Sveshnikov,Gloucester Publishers,ISBN978-1-85744-431-5
- Golombek, Harry(1977),Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess,Crown Publishing,ISBN0-517-53146-1
- Hooper, David;Whyld, Kenneth(1992),The Oxford Companion to Chess(second ed.),Oxford University Press,ISBN0-19-866164-9
- Horowitz, I.A.;Reinfeld, Fred(1954),Chess Traps, Pitfalls, and Swindles,Simon and Schuster,ISBN0-671-21041-6
- Mednis, Edmar(1997),How to Beat Bobby Fischer,Dover,ISBN0-486-29844-2
- Kasparov, Garry(2008),Modern Chess:Part 2, Kasparov vs Karpov 1975–1985,Everyman Chess,ISBN978-1-85744-433-9
- Reinfeld, Fred (1974),The Immortal Capablanca,Dover,ISBN0-02-029690-8
- Reinfeld, Fred; Chernev, Irving (1933),Chess Strategy and Tactics
- Reinfeld, Fred;Soltis, Andrew(1974),Morphy Chess Masterpieces,Collier Books, ASIN B0011U1746
- Réti, Richard(1976),Masters of the Chessboard,Dover,ISBN0-486-23384-7
- Tartakower, Savielly;du Mont, Julius(1975),500 Master Games of Chess,Dover,ISBN0-486-23208-5
- van Perlo, Gerardus C. (2006),Van Perlo's Endgame Tactics,New In Chess,ISBN978-90-5691-168-3