Yasser Seirawan’s Secrets From the Vault (Part Three)

This week sees the release of another fine course by Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan.

Following hard on the heels of Winning Chess Strategies and Winning Chess Tactics we now have Winning Chess Combinations.

To celebrate the release we are delving into the Seirawan vault once more and this time we are heading all the way back to 1978. Seirawan is on the receiving end of an astonishing combinative finish.

Unusual Position

How would you assess this position?

Larry Christiansen – Yasser Seirawan
San Francisco, 1978

White to play

White’s major pieces occupy strange squares and his rook on h4 is under attack. Black is pawn ahead and has pressure on the d5-pawn. On the other hand, the black king may be feeling a shade exposed. Although how is White going to start a serious attack with his queen stuck in the corner?

Extraordinary Continuation

What happens next is extraordinary.

29 Rxh6 Kxh6

30 Rh4+

An extremely rare kind of double rook sacrifice. If Black captures the second gift with 30 …gxh4 then the white queen walks over the finish the job, as in these sample lines.

31 Qc1+ Kg7 32 Qg5+ Kh8 33 Qh6+ Kg8 34 Qh7+ Kf8 35 Qh8 checkmate.

31 Qc1+ Kh5 32 Qd1+ Kg5 33 Qd2+ Kh5 34 Qe2+ Kh6 35 Qe3+ Kh5 36 Qf3+ with checkmate to follow shortly.

Seirawan declines the second sacrifice but his king will still not enjoy the rest of the game.

30 …Kg7

31 Rh7+ Kf6

32 Rh6+ Kg7

33 Rh7+ Kf6

Stick or Twist?

One can imagine the tension here. Does White have enough power to continue the attack, or is time to take a draw by repeating moves? Christiansen was never one to duck a challenge…

34 Ne4+ Kg6

35 Qd1

Here comes the queen. It is a recurring theme in many lines after the first sacrifice that the queen emerges from a1 and is able to spend several moves on her way to the black king. Once again, the second rook is offered as a sacrifice.

35 … g4

Trying to throw a spanner in the works by denying White’s queen access to h5. 35 …Kxh7 36 Qh5+ would see White crash through again. Now the white queen makes one small move and aims for h6.

36 Qd2 Rxd5

37 Qh6+ Kf5

38 Rxf7+ Ke5

39 Qg7+ Ke6

40 Rf6+ Ke5

Now 42 Rxe7+ checkmates on the next move (42 …Kd4 43 Qe3 checkmate). Not all of the moves by players are the best and this is not the only moment where there is a faster way to win.

Christiansen was in time-trouble and his brave play still brings home the full point.

42 Rxd6+ Kf4

43 g3+

Black has a choice: 43 …Kf3 42 Nd2 checkmate, 43 …Kf5 hxg4 checkmate or what he did in the game.