Exceptions at every turn

Look out, it's the Alekhine!

Chess rules can be very confusing. I mean rules of thumb. In his book Art of Attack in Chess, Vladimir Vukovic goes to great lengths to establish the necessary conditions for different types of attack and to provide some general guiding principles for bewildered tacticians. Fortunately, he also has common sense.

“Some observations should be added to dissuade the reader from accepting the principles and maxims expounded as a rigid pattern. The game of chess is too complex and rich for it to be possible to reveal its finer points fully on the basis of a few formulae.

“The practical player comes up against exceptions at every turn. Consequently, Lasker is right when he recommends in his book Common Sense in Chess that players should follow the principles with a dash of humour.”

One of the principles we are taught is that in pawn captures, if given a choice, you should always capture towards the centre.

The Exchange Variation of Alekhine’s Defence is one such example where Black has a choice. After the moves 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 Black can capture with either the c-pawn towards the centre or the e-pawn away from the centre.

Taking towards the centre in this case, says Timothy Taylor in his book Alekhine Alert! “leads to a game where White’s position is very easy to play and Black’s is insanely difficult.” Instead, he recommends 5…exd6, which he gives an exclamation mark.

Taylor’s further recommendations are very easy to follow and can be savoured in several heroic encounters featuring Bent Larsen amongst others.

I like Timothy Taylor’s style. I have another book by him on Bird’s Opening, which I enjoy for its clarity and completeness.

I haven’t yet read much of Alekhine Alert. I don’t quite approve of the title. Pirc Alert (by Lev Alburt) is much more perky, unless you prounounce Pirc in an authentically Slovenian way, in which case it’s a bit awkward but at least it’s original.

One thing I particularly like about Alekhine Alert is that, although Timothy Taylor doesn’t recommend 5…cxd6, he gives a number of complete games to show why. One of them is Bobby Fischer’s win with this variation against Duncan Suttles in the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal from 1970.

D.Suttles – R.J.Fischer

Palma de Mallorca Interzonal (Game 10), 1970

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.Be3 g6 7.d5 Bg7 8.Bd4 Bxd4 9.Qxd4 0–0 10.Nc3 e5 11.Qd2 f5 12.Nf3 N8d7 13.0–0–0 Qf6 14.Qh6 Qe7 15.Re1 e4 16.Nd2 Ne5 17.h3 Nbd7 18.Qe3 Qh4 19.g3 Qf6 20.Kb1 Nc5 21.f4 exf3 22.Nxf3 f4 23.gxf4 Nxf3 24.Qxf3 Qh4 25.Be2 Bf5+ 26.Ka1 Rae8 27.Rc1 Be4 28.Nxe4 Rxe4 29.Rh2 Rfxf4 30.Qc3 Qe7 31.Bf1 Re3 32.Qd2 Ref3 33.Re2 Qf6 34.Bg2 Rf2 35.Rce1 Rxe2 36.Rxe2 Rxc4 37.Qe3 Qe5 38.Kb1 Qxe3 39.Rxe3 Rf4 40.Bf3 h5 41.Kc2 Kf7 42.Kd2 Rb4 43.Kc3 Rh4 44.b4 Nd7 45.Be2 Nf6 46.Rf3 Kg7 47.Rd3 g5 48.a3 g4 49.Bf1 Ne4+ 50.Kc2 Nf2 51.Re3 gxh3 52.Re7+ Kf8 0–1

You can download an ebook sample giving Taylor’s comments on this game at the Everyman website.

The upshot is that even the exceptions have exceptions. In this game, as it turned out, it was OK for Fischer to capture towards the centre.