Desperado piece - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

In chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

, a desperado piece is a piece

Chess piece

Chess pieces or chessmen are the pieces deployed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. The pieces vary in abilities, giving them different values in the game...

that seems determined to give itself up, typically either (1) to sell itself as dearly as possible in a situation where both sides have hanging pieces or (2) to bring about stalemate if it is captured (or in some instances, to force a draw

Draw (chess)

In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...

by threefold repetition

Threefold repetition

In chess and some other abstract strategy games, the threefold repetition rule states that a player can claim a draw if the same position occurs three times, or will occur after their next move, with the same player to move. The repeated positions need not occur in succession...

if it is not captured) . Andrew Soltis

Andrew Soltis

Andrew Eden Soltis is a chess Grandmaster, author and columnist.He won at Reggio Emilia 1971–72 and was equal first at New York 1977. He was awarded the International Master title in 1974 and became a Grandmaster in 1980...

describes the former type of desperado as "a tactical resource in which you use your doomed piece to eat as much material as possible before it dies" . Desperado pieces are often knights, perhaps because their ability to hop over other pieces makes them able to survive longer.

Petrosian versus Fischer

A simple example of the first definition comes from a 1958 game between future World Champions

World Chess Championship

The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....

Tigran Petrosian

Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...

and Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer

Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...

. In this position, White had just moved his knight

Knight (chess)

The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...

from the f3 square to capture a pawn

Pawn (chess)

The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...

on e5. The white knight can be captured, but the move also opened a discovered attack

Discovered attack

In chess, a discovered attack is an attack revealed when one piece moves out of the way of another. Discovered attacks can be extremely powerful, as the piece moved can make a threat independently of the piece it reveals. Like many chess tactics, they succeed because the opponent is unable to meet...

on the black knight on h5. If Black captures the knight he will lose his knight and be a pawn down. Black must sacrifice

Sacrifice (chess)

In chess, a sacrifice is a move giving up a piece in the hopes of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms. A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent's piece of lower value....

the knight for material to avoid becoming a pawn down.

12... Nxg3

13. hxg3 Bxe5 (Fischer said that 13... dxe5 would have been better) .

Bogolyubov versus Schmid

A classic example of the first definition is Bogolyubov–Schmid

Lothar Schmid

Lothar Maximilian Lorenz Schmid is a German chess grandmaster who was born in Dresden. He is best known as the arbiter of several World Chess Championship matches...

, West German

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

championship

Championship

Championship is a term used in sport to refer to various forms of competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.- Title match system :...

, Bad Pyrmont

Bad Pyrmont

-External links:* * -Multimedia:*...

1949. In the position at right, Schmid played the surprising novelty 5...Nxe4!?, with the point that 6.Nxe4 would be met by 6...Qe7 7.f3 d5, and Black

White and Black in chess

In chess, the player who moves first is referred to as "White" and the player who moves second is referred to as "Black". Similarly, the pieces that each conducts are called, respectively, "the white pieces" and "the black pieces". The pieces are often not literally white and black, but some...

will regain the sacrificed piece. According to the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, White can then gain a small advantage with 8.Bb5 Bd7 9.Bxc6 bxc6 10.0-0 dxe4 11.fxe4! g6 (or 11...0-0-0 12.Qf3) 12.Qf3 Bg7 13.c3 0-0 14.Bf4 c5 15.Nb3 Bc6 16.Qg3! Tartakower and DuMont recommend 7.Nb5 (instead of 7.f3) Qxe4+ 8.Be2 Kd8 9.0-0 "with compensations for the mislaid pawn." . Instead, play continued 6.Nxc6 Nxc3! initiating a sequence of desperado moves, where each player keeps capturing with his knight, rather than pausing to capture the opponent's knight. Black cannot pause for 6...bxc6?? 7.Nxe4 Qe7 8.Qe2, leaving White a piece up with a winning position. 7.Nxd8! White must also continue in desperado fashion, since 7.bxc3? bxc6 would leave Black a pawn

Pawn (chess)

up. Nxd1 Again the desperado move is forced, since 7...Kxd8?? 8.bxc3 would leave Black a queen down. 8.Nxf7 Since 8.Kxd1 Kxd8 would leave White a pawn down, the knight continues capturing. Nxf2 Still continuing in desperado fashion, in preference to 8...Kxf7 9.Kxd1 with material equality. 9.Nxh8 Nxh1. Between them, the desperado knights have captured thus far two queen

Queen (chess)

The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...

s, two rook

Rook (chess)

A rook is a piece in the strategy board game of chess. Formerly the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes...

s, two knights, and three pawns. The complete score of the game is below:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Nxe4!? 6.Nxc6 Nxc3 7.Nxd8 Nxd1 8.Nxf7 Nxf2 9.Nxh8 Nxh1 10.Bd3 Bc5 11.Bxh7 Nf2 12.Bf4 d6 13.Bg6+ Kf8 14.Bg3 Ng4 15.Nf7? Better is 15.Bd3 followed by Ng6+ "with a probable draw" . Ne3 16.Kd2 Bf5! 17.Ng5 Desperation. 17.Bxf5 Nxf5 18.Ng5 Be3+ wins. Bxg6 18.Ne6+ Ke7 19.Nxc5 Nxc2! The desperado knight strikes again, this time with deadly effect. Not 19...dxc5? 20.Kxe3 with equality. 20.Bh4+ Ke8 21.Ne6 Kd7 22.Nf4 Nxa1 23.Nxg6 Re8 24.Bf2 Nc2! 25.Nf4 If 25.Kxc2, Re2+ followed by ...Rxf2 wins. Nb4 The knight departs, having captured in its 13 moves White's queen, both rooks, a knight and three pawns. Its White counterpart captured the queen, a rook, both bishops, a knight, and two pawns in its 14 moves. 0-1

Tal versus Keres

Another example of this type of desperado is Tal

Mikhail Tal

Mikhail Tal was a Soviet–Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion.Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability....

-Keres

Paul Keres

Paul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....

, Candidates Tournament

Candidates Tournament

The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...

, Curaçao

Curaçao

Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

1962 (see diagram at left).http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1072954 Seeing that White's knight on d4 is unprotected, Keres offered to simplify the position with 18...Nd3!, when 19.Bxd3 Bxd4 20.Rb1? would allow 20...Qf6! forking White's b and f-pawns. Instead, Tal went in for complications with 19.Nc6? Nxf2!, when either 20.Kxf2 Qb6+ or 20.Nxd8 Nxd1 21.Nxf7 Nxb2 22.Nxd6 Nc4! 23.Nxc4 Bxa1 would leave with a material advantage. Tal tried 20.Qf3? Nxh3+! 21.Kh2 If White captures the knight, 21...Qb6+ regains the piece and leaves Black with a won game. 21...Be5+! 22.Nxe5 dxe5 23.Rad1 If 23.gxh3, Qxd2. 23...Nf4! Now 24.Bxf4 is met by 24...Qh4+. Black won .

Pilnick versus Reshevsky

One of the best known examples of sacrificing a desperado piece to achieve stalemate is the game between Carl Pilnick and Sammy Reshevsky

Samuel Reshevsky

Samuel "Sammy" Herman Reshevsky was a famous chess prodigy and later a leading American chess Grandmaster...

, U.S. Championship 1942 (see diagram at right).http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1441025 After 1... g4?? 2. Qf2! the white queen is a desperado piece: Black will lose if he doesn't capture it, but its capture results in stalemate.

Evans versus Reshevsky

Another of the best-known examples involves a swindle

Swindle (chess)

In chess, a swindle is a ruse by which a player in a losing position tricks his opponent, and thereby achieves a win or draw instead of the expected loss. It may also refer more generally to obtaining a win or draw from a clearly losing position. I. A. Horowitz and Fred Reinfeld distinguish among...

in a game by Larry Evans

Larry Evans

For the football player of the same name, see Larry Evans .Larry Melvyn Evans was an American chess grandmaster, author, and journalist. He won or shared the U.S. Chess Championship five times and the U.S. Open Chess Championship four times...

versus Reshevsky. http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1252040 Evans sacrificed his queen on move 49 and offered his rook on move 50. White's rook has been called the eternal rook. Capturing it results in stalemate, but otherwise it stays on the seventh rank and checks Black's king ad infinitum
Ad infinitum
Ad infinitum is a Latin phrase meaning "to infinity."In context, it usually means "continue forever, without limit" and thus can be used to describe a non-terminating process, a non-terminating repeating process, or a set of instructions to be repeated "forever," among other uses...

. Either a draw by agreement

Draw by agreement

In chess, a draw by agreement is the outcome of a game due to the agreement of both players to a draw. A player may offer a draw to his opponent at any stage of a game; if the opponent accepts, the game is a draw. The relevant portion of the FIDE laws of chess is article 9.1...

will occur or a draw by threefold repetition

Threefold repetition

or the fifty-move rule can eventually be claimed , .

47. h4! Re2+
48. Kh1 Qxg3??
49. Qg8+! Kxg8
50. Rxg7+

Reshevsky versus Geller

Reshevsky also fell into a stalemating trap against Efim Geller

Efim Geller

Efim Petrovich Geller was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Championship twice and was a Candidate for the World Championship on six occasions...

in the 1953 Candidates Tournament

Candidates Tournament

The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...

.http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1048629 In the diagram at right, after 53... Rf3+!, 54. Kxf3 would be stalemate. If 54.Kg2, then 54... Rxg3+!, winning a crucial pawn; again, White couldn't take the rook without resulting in stalemate. The game continued 54.Ke2 Rxg3 55.Rxf5+ Kxh4 and the players agreed to a draw a few moves later. In light of these three games, the Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n analyst Verkhovsky observed that Reshevsky apparently suffered from stalemate blindness

Blindness

Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...

every 11 years.http://www.michess.org/webzine_199907/okeefe.shtml

Keres versus Fischer

Another famous game saved by the possibility of stalemate is Keres-Fischer, Curacao 1962, although Fischer

Bobby Fischer

avoided the stalemating lines and allowed Keres

Paul Keres

Paul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....

to draw by perpetual check

Perpetual check

In the game of chess, perpetual check is a situation in which one player can force a draw by an unending series of checks. Such a situation typically arises when the player who is checking cannot deliver checkmate; while failing to continue the series of checks gives the opponent at least a chance...

instead. In the position shown on the left, Keres played the centralizing 72. Qe5!! Fischer commented:

What's this? He makes no attempt to stop me from queening
Promotion (chess)
Promotion is a chess rule describing the transformation of a pawn that reaches its eighth rank into the player's choice of a queen, knight, rook, or bishop of the same color . The new piece replaces the pawn on the same square and is part of the move. Promotion is not limited to pieces that have...

!? Gradually my excitement subsided. The more I studied the situation, the more I realized that Black had no win.

Now if 72. ... g1(Q), 73. Bf5+ Kg8 (73. ... Kh6?? 74.Qh8#) 74.Qe8+ Kg7 75. Qe7+ Kg8 (75...Kh8?? 76.Qh7#) 76.Qe8+ draws by repetition; if 72. ... Qf2+, 73.Kh3 g1(Q) 74.Bf5+ Kh6 75. Qf6+ Kh5 76. Bg6+! Qxg6 77. Qg5+!! and either capture is stalemate. The game continued 72... Qh1+ 73. Bh3. Now if 73... g1=Q, 74. Qh5+ Kg7 75. Qg6+! and either capture of the queen results in stalemate (see the diagram on the right) – otherwise the white queen keeps checking the black king: 75...Kh8 76. Qh6+ Kg8 77. Qg6+! Kf8 78. Qf6+ Ke8 79. Qe6+, and Black must repeat moves with 79...Kf8, since 79...Kd8?? runs into 80.Qd7# . The game continued 73... Qxh3 74. Kxh3 g1Q 75. Qe7+ Kh8 76. Qf8+ Kh7 77. Qf7+ ½-½ .

Tilberger versus Drelikiewicz

Sometimes it is possible for the inferior side to sacrifice two or three pieces in rapid succession to achieve a stalemate. An example is seen in the diagram at left. Black saved the draw with 1...h3+! 2.Kxh3 Qf5+! 3.Qxf5 not 3.Kg2? Qxd7 Rxg3+! 4.Kh4 Rg4+!

Korchnoi versus Vaganian

In Korchnoi

Viktor Korchnoi

Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...

-Vaganian

Rafael Vaganian

Rafael Artemovich Vaganian, also transliterated Vahanyan is an Armenian chess grandmaster known for his sharp tactical style of play...

, Skellefteå

Skellefteå

-Industry:*Boliden AB, a big mining and smelting company*Alimak*Natural User Interface Technologies AB - NUITEQ, a promising emerging technology start-up company-Sports:*Skellefteå AIK, an ice hockey team in the highest Swedish league, Elitserien....

1989 http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1083387, a similar three-piece sacrifice might have enabled Vaganian to save the game. From the position at left, Vaganian played 35...Qxc2+? 36.Kh3 Qa4 37.Kh4. Jacob Aagaard

Jacob Aagaard

Jacob Aagaard is a Danish-born Scottish Grandmaster of chess who won the 94th British Championship in 2007. He is Scotland's second highest ranked player as of January 2010, with an Elo rating of 2538. In 2004, he took second place in the Scottish Chess Championship. In 2005, he took first place...

notes that now "White had a winning endgame, which Korchnoi indeed won." Aagaard instead recommends 35...b6!!, when the natural 36.Qxc6 would be met by 36...Ne3+! 37.Rxe3 Qf1+! (diagram at right) 38.Kxf1 stalemate .

Korn versus Pitschak

In Korn

Walter Korn

Walter Korn was an author of books and magazine articles about chess. Despite his status as a writer, there is no known record of him playing tournament chess, and few chess players ever met him...

-Pitschak, Brno

Brno

Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...

1936, White's desperado queen and rook saved the draw despite White's apparently mobile e-pawns. After 1...dxe2!, Black appeared to be winning in light of 2.Qxd4 exf1(Q)+ or 2.Qxe2 Qh4+ 3.Kg1 Qh2#. Instead, Korn played 2.Rf8+! Kxf8 3.Qf5+ Ke8 2...Kg8? 3.Qf7+ Kh8 4.Qf8# 4.Qf7+ Kd8 5.Qf8+! Ne8 6.Qe7+! Now 6...Kxe7 is stalemate, while 6...Kc8 7.Qb7+! Kd8 8.Qe7+! repeats the position .

Hegde versus Palatnik

This endgame position is from a game between Ravi Gopal Hegde and Semon Palatnik

Sam Palatnik

Semon Alexandrovich Palatnik is a Ukrainian-American chess Grandmaster, born in Odessa.He won four team and individual gold medals at the 20th World Student Team Chess Championship at Teesside 1974, and 21st World Student Team Championship at Caracas 1976.Some of his tournament results include...

, Calicut 1988. The position appeared in the endgame section of Chess Informant

Chess Informant

Chess Informant is a publishing company from Belgrade that periodically produces a book of the same name, as well as the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings, Encyclopaedia of Chess Endings, Opening Monographs, other print publications, and software Chess Informant (Šahovski Informator) is a...

45. Black resigned in this position, but he has an easy draw:

1... Bg7!
2. Rh4 Bd4! (threatening 3...Bxa7), etc. . Capturing the bishop results in stalemate, otherwise the bishop keeps the rook from checking on the eighth rank.

Vasilevich versus Kosteniuk

Now the game ended with 56. Qg4+!. If Black captures the queen, it will be stalemate. If Black instead plays 56... Kh6, 57. Qg6+! forces Black to capture the queen. 55... Qc3+ followed by 56... Nf3 would have allowed Black to keep her decisive advantage.