COLORADO CHESS: 'Immortal' struggle plays out
By Todd Bardwick, Special to the Rocky
Sunday, July 6, 2008
It is a rare situation in chess when you do not want it to be your move because any move you make will make your position worse. The German word zugzwang is the chess lingo for this situation, which is translated to "compulsion to move."
Zugzwang almost always occurs in the endgame, where there are fewer move choices.
Here is one of the most famous chess games of all time with a zugzwang in the middlegame, known as "The Immortal Zugzwang Game," from Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1923 between Friedrich Samisch and Aron Nimzovich.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 O-O 7.O-O d5 8.Ne5 c6 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Bf4 a6 11.Rc1 b5 12.Qb3 Nc6 13.Nxc6 Bxc6 14.h3 Qd7 15.Kh2 Nh5 16.Bd2 f5 17.Qd1 b4 18.Nb1 Bb5 19.Rg1 Bd6 20.e4 fxe4 21.Qxh5 Rxf2 22.Qg5 Raf8 23.Kh1 R8f5 24.Qe3 Bd3 25.Rce1
25...h6! 26.Resigns
Why would White resign here? Let's look at every move that White has in this incredible position, piece by piece, and see if each move makes White's position worse.
* 26.Kh2 allows 26...R5f3, winning the queen because the bishop on g2 is now pinned.
* 26.Bf1 or 26.Bf3 fail because the bishop would be attacked more times than it is defended.
* 26.Rgf1 would simply allow 26...Bxf1.
* The rook on e1 cannot move because it opens up the e2 square for 26...Re2, trapping the queen.
* White's queen has no moves where she won't be captured.
* 26.Bc3 and 26.Bxb4 lose the bishop. 26.Bc1 loses to the knight to 26...Bxb1.
* White's knight cannot move without being captured by a pawn.
Turning our attention to the pawn moves:
* 26.g4 loses to 26...R5f3 27.Bxf3 Rh2 mate.
* 26.h4, 26.b3, or 26.a4 don't gain anything as Black can move his king and White's predicament hasn't changed - he still has to find a move.
* 26.a3 a5 27.axb4 axb4 and White hasn't gained anything and will again run out of pawn moves soon.
Todd Bardwick is a National Chess Master and can be reached through his Web site, ColoradoMasterChess.com.
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