In the following game played at the ICC, White has just played Bishop to a3 attacking the Black Rook at f8. When I was growing up and playing in the dorms at McMurry University(Go War Hawks) in Abilene,TX, the chess "wiz" on our floor preached(yes he was actually a seminary student) that a Rook was worth 5 points and a Bishop was worth 3 points. Conclusion: according to the Jesus Freak Baptist bible thumper, thou shalt always move 5 pointer that is being attacked by a 3 pointer. Even then, I knew that the game of all games could not be amenable to such a crass general truth.
I got tired of this guy and started reading the instructive chess columns of the Bulgarian master Nikolay Minev who wrote for Yasser Seirawan in the bi-monthly periodical Inside Chess. Minev wrote simple declarative sentences and was easy to understand.
In the diagrammed position back in 1985, I would have instinctively moved the Rook to the e8 square. After reading Minev's column on the zig-zag rampaging pawn capturing tactical sequence, I would have immediately played e4 attacking the White Steed at f3.
Let me please tell you why Minev referred to this tactic as zig-zag. The path of the pawn captures from e4-f3-g2-f1(promoting to rook/queen with check) wins a piece for the second player even though White captured first! Actually with accurate play by White he would stand a little worse after giving up a Knight and a Bishop for a Rook
I never met GM Minev, but feel like I know the gentleman and wish him the best. If you want to know more about this excellent chess player and teacher, read through this interview at Derrick's Blog
My God!! what a small world!!! Cliff Bunch never told me he was good at chess. He helped my jack ass of an ex husband with an odd acoustic issue, that I never understood at a construction site not far from Houston proper. Something about the compostion of the soil as I recall.
ReplyDelete