Volume 40, Number 1
Hunting the King
in the Center
ing against an uncastled king, you want to
quickly open up the center and attack him
before he can run away.
by NM Todd Bardwick
Kramnik thematically opened the center
and won more material with 15.e5! dxe5
16.Qxc5+ Qd6 (16...Ke8 17.Bb5+ Nd7
18.Bxd7+ Qxd7 19.Qxa5) 17.Qxa5 Rxb7
18.b3 Resigns (19.Ba3 is threatened.)
(Reprinted with permission of the Author,
the United States Chess Federation
& Chess Life magazine.)
January 2013
Colorado Chess Informant
material, White wouldn’t be interested in
trading bishops, but in this case he would
trade off Black’s only well-developed
piece and clears a path for the rook to
enter the attack). 18...Bxe3 19.fxe3 Qb6
20.Rd1 (Note how Fischer attacks with
all his pieces.) 20...Ra7 21.Rd6!
Miguel Najdorf
The main reason to castle early is to get
your king away from danger, out of the
center of the board.
A king in the center of the board is a target that can be attacked from all angles:
the center, kingside, or queenside.
Of course, the other benefit of castling is
to develop one of your rooks. Since you
are not allowed to castle to escape check,
your king may be forced to move and
block one of your rooks from entering the
game.
Tactics may seemingly appear out of nowhere to attack an uncastled king in the
center. When you can, attack with as
many pieces as possible. Sometimes the
king gets checkmated in the center and
often the defender must make material
concessions in order for his king to escape alive.
Bobby Fischer
Here is a classic example of attacking the
king in the center that occurred in the
1962 Varna Olympiad between Bobby
Fischer and Miguel Najdorf.
Miguel Najdorf
Here is a position between two of the
world’s best players from a blitz game in
1998 in Wijk aan Zee where Black failed
to castle in time.
21...Qd8 22.Qb3 Qc7 (22...Rf8 23.Ng7+
Ke7 24.Qa3! threatening powerful discovered checks like 25.Re6 mate and
25.Rxa6+.) 23.Bxf7+ Kd8 (23...Kf8
24.Bh5) 24.Be6 Resigns [24...Rb7
25.Qa4 Qc8 26.Qa5+ Ke8 27.Qxa6 Kd8
28.Bxd7 Rxd7 29.Rxd7+ Qxd7
(29...Kxd7 30.Qxd6+ Ke8 31.Qe7 mate)
30.Qxf6+ winning the rook.]
Fischer performed a masterful job of
attacking the uncastled king in the center
of the board!
Valery Salov
Todd Bardwick is the author of
“Chess Strategy Workbook: A Blueprint
for Developing the Best Plan”.
He can be reached at
www.ColoradoMasterChess.com
k
Bobby Fischer
Position after 13...Nd7
Vladimir Kramnik
Position after 14...Ke7
Black would like to have the time to
play ...Re8 and ...Kf8 to tuck his king
away safely on the kingside. When play-
White has a big lead in development.
Black’s king is uncastled in the center of
the board. Fischer masterfully attacks the
king by sacrificing the exchange with
14.Rxe4! dxe4 15.Nf5 Bc5 16.Ng7+!
Ke7 (16...Kf8 17.Bh6 Kg8 18.Qb3,
threatening 19.Bxf7+ and 19.Qg3.)
17.Nf5+ Ke8 18.Be3 (Normally with an
attack on the king and being behind in
www.colorado-chess.com
Page 27