Zugzwang Helps The Defense
Based on Varga vs. Acs| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 | 8 | ||||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h |
Zugzwang usually works in favor of the stronger side, but sometimes it aids the defense. In this position based on a game between Zoltán Varga and Peter Acs, it saves the game for the defense:
- 1... Kc4!! Reciprocal zugzwang
- 2. Nc3 Kb4 Reciprocal zugzwang again
- 3. Kd3 Bg7 Reciprocal zugzwang again
- 4. Kc2 Bh6
- 5. Kd3 Bg7
- 6. Nd5+ Kxa4
- 7. Ke4 Kb5
- 8. Kf5 Kc5
- 9. Kg6 Bd4
- 10. Nf4 Kd6
- 11. h6 Ke7
- 12. h7 Bb2
This position is a draw and the players agreed to a draw a few moves later (Müller & Pajeken 2008:179–80).
Benko| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 | 8 | ||||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h |
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 | 8 | ||||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h |
In this position from Benko, White should win but he makes an error and gets into zugzwang which enables Black to draw.
- 1. Kd6? Bb7
- 2. Bd7 Bf3
- 3. Be6 Bb7!
and Black draws because White is in Zugzwang (Fine & Benko 2003:153–54).
Read more about this topic: Zugzwang
Famous quotes containing the words helps and/or defense:
“But the jingling of the guinea helps the hurt that Honour feels.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)
“... most Southerners of my parents’ era were raised to feel that it wasn’t respectable to be rich. We felt that all patriotic Southerners had lost everything in defense of the South, and sufficient time hadn’t elapsed for respectable rebuilding of financial security in a war- impoverished region.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 1 (1962)