Excalibur 974, Operating Manual

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the final position, it's hopeless for Black
because White will either promote his pawn
to a queen or capture whatever Black uses to
block on d8.
15. Robert Fischer vs. Reuben Fine,
New York, 1963
Nine years before winning the world cham-
pionship, Bobby Fischer played this Evan's
Gambit (a variation of the Giuoco Piano)
against his famous elder. Bobby sacrifices
two pawns in order to get his pieces out
quickly. Then he plays 14. h2-h4!, sacrific-
ing another pawn to force the Black queen
away from the g7-square. After that, Black's
king will be stuck in the center and in danger
of the h4-d8 diagonal. Bobby's final move,
17. Qg3!, forces Fine to resign, because he
must move his queen from the critical black
diagonal h4-d8. Even on 17. … Qxg3, White
ignores the capture of his own queen and
plays 18. Bf6 mate!
16. Lajos Portisch vs. Johannessen,
Havana, 1966
During the first half of this game, a Queen's
Gambit Slav, the great Hungarian grandmas-
ter Lajos Portisch locks up the center with a
d4-e5 structure by move 14. This gives him
a "beachhead" on e5 and makes it hard for
Black to counterattack in the center, which is
the standard antidote for an attack on the
wing. The next stage starts with 16. h4.
Portisch announces his intention to attack on
the kingside. He refrains from castling his
own king into safety because he knows it’s
safe enough in the center, at least for the time
it will take him to break through with his
attack. When Black tries to trade off pieces
with 17. … Bxf3, Portisch sacrifices a knight
for an unstoppable attack with 18. Bxh6 and
then calmly moves his king to the second
rank to bring his other rook into the game.
His Rxh4 was another brilliant sacrifice that
crushes any hope of defense. In the final
position, Black resigns because White will
simply play 26. Rxh6+, winning the Black
queen. If 26. … Qxh6, then White plays 27.
Qxh6+ and will mate on h7.
Using Setup Mode
At any time during a game when
it is your move, you may change the
position on the board by adding a
piece, removing a piece, or chang-
ing any of the pieces—for example,
from a queen to a knight.
Removing a Piece
Press the 2nd key, then the
SETUP key. Use the
DIRECTION
keys to move the black shape over a
piece. Press GO to remove the
piece. Press CLEAR to continue
the game.
Adding or Changing a
Piece
Press the 2nd key, then repeated-
ly press the SETUP key to select
the correct piece. You will see the
piece flash on a square. Use the
DIRECTION
keys to move it to a
square. Then press GO to register
the piece. Press CLEAR to contin-
ue the game.
Setting Up Special
Positions
This is another terrific feature
that allows you to solve problems
that you see in magazines or news-
papers, or that you make up your-
self. It also allows you to enter
game positions you want to play, or
that you want Electronic Chess to
look at, perhaps using the Infinite
Search level.
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ENGLISH
Another French Defense. In this one, the
great Latvian player and writer Nimzovich
(after whom the Nimzo-Indian Opening is
named—see page 6) plays an opponent who
wastes time stealing a pawn with 9. … Qxg2.
"Nimzo" plays a punishing 12. O-O-O!, sac-
rificing his knight. He finishes up with a
convincing queen sacrifice that forces
checkmate.
10. Jose Capablanca vs. Herman Steiner,
Los Angeles, 1933
The handsome Cuban World Champion Jose
Capablanca had a deceptively simple style.
Here we see him playing the old-fashioned
Four Knights' game and opening up his
opponent's kingside pawn protection by
move 11! His first rook sacrifice, 17. Rxf6!,
can't be refused and forces Black's king into
a deadly crossfire. With 23. Qxb7!, Capa
offers a second rook, which can't be taken
immediately because of 23. … Qxf6? 24.
Qb4 checkmate. But Black is forced to take
the rook a move later and mate follows on
the same square.
11. Mikhail Botvinnik vs. Paul Keres,
The Hague, 1948
Botvinnik won the world championship a
record three times. His opponent here is pos-
sibly the strongest 20th-century chess player
who did not become world champion. The
opening is a Nimzo-Indian. White's
dou-
bled pawns
are potentially a long-term
weakness, but in the short term they control
a good many all-important central squares.
White plays cleverly to keep a grip on the
position and breaks through on the queen-
side with his pawn-push 17. c4-c5. This
gives him a chance to bring his queenside
rook into action. He swings it against the
kingside, sacrificing it on g7 to win. In the
final position, Black's king will be mated by
the White queen, supported by the bishop on
c1. Where did Black go wrong? Take a look
at his "unemployed" queen and rook on a8
and b8!
12. J. Banas vs. P. Lukacs, Trnava, 1986
In a Four Knights' Game, Black gets his king
into safety by castling and takes advantage
of White's awkward piece placement by sac-
rificing his knight with 9. … Nf3+. Then he
allows White to take his bishop on c5. But by
that time, White's king is surrounded. In the
final position, after 13. … Ng4, White's only
effective defender, his knight on e3, is forced
from its square, allowing … Qg2 mate.
13. Anatoly Karpov vs. Victor Kortchnoi,
Moscow, 1974
Twentieth-century chess perfected defense.
It is no longer typical to see top-level players
playing
only
for the attack. In fact,
Korchnoi at the time of this game was one of
the best in the world, and his
forte
was
defense. Many fine players would attack him
ingeniously, only to break up on his rock-
like fortifications. Still, World Champion
Karpov crushes him in only 27 moves with a
mating attack! In a classic manner against
Black's Sicilian Dragon defense (so named
probably because of the "tail" of control
Black's bishop makes from g7 to a1), Karpov
plays the St. George attack, castling queen-
side and prying open the h-file to slay the
dragon.
14. Boris Spassky vs. Tigran Petrosian,
Moscow, 1969
Spassky won the world championship from
Petrosian in the match that produced this
game. In this English Opening that becomes
a Queen's Gambit, you'll see that once again
White gets a
strong center
and quick
development
of his pieces. As early as 13.
Rd1, you can sense that Black is in danger.
His king has no piece defenders; his forces
seem passive while White's are aggressively
coordinated. As often happens in such situa-
tions, White breaks through with a pawn
push in the center, in this case 15. d4-d5!. It
clears the board for White's more active
forces. Petrosian, one of the best defenders
of all time, tries repeatedly to trade queens,
but White wisely rebuffs these offers, which
would take much of the power off the board.
White's d-pawn becomes a star, advancing
all the way to the 7th rank. Because of this
queening threat, White is able to sacrifice his
queen for one of Black's defending rooks. In
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