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9. Aaron Nimzovich vs. S. Alapin,
Riga, 1913
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!, sacrificing
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 champi-
onship a record three times. His
opponent here is possibly the
strongest 20th-century chess play-
er who did not become world
champion. The opening is a
Nimzo-Indian. White's doubled
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
queenside 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 sacri-
ficing 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
11