Lessons from Tartakower

Savielly Tartakower was the wittiest of masters, and, it was said, "too in love with chess to ever become world champion". According to his translator, Golombek, he would reject a simple advantageous line in the hope of creating something more worthwhile with a more complex line. This is undoubtedly an expression of Tartakower's taste: less for him could mean only less, and Capablanca's trademark efficiency and elegance had no personal appeal for SGT.

He was regarded as world champion journalist, and his best games collections from Bell (published as a single volume by Dover, superb value as long as you speak descriptive) are peppered with anecdotes, bon mots , and provocative observations. For example, he throws away in a footnote one of the best definitions I have seen of a game that would qualify for a beauty prize. His epigrams, or Tartakowerisms, as they were called, are a splendid source of entertainment for the armchair player.

The chessplayer's proof of existence: " Erro ergo sum " (I err, therefore I am).

"Some part of a mistake is always correct."

"The blunders are all there on the board, waiting to be made."

"An isolated Pawn spreads gloom over the whole chessboard"

"A chess game is divided into three stages: the first, when you hope you have the advantage, the second when you believe you have an advantage, and the third... when you know you're going to lose!"

"A draw can be obtained normally by repeating three moves, but also by one bad move."

"The winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake."

The Dover book also records some of his favourite quips: he was once scolded by Capablanca: " You have no solidity That is my saving grace ," he replied.

In these volumes, and his famous annotated collection of games edited with duMont, he emphasises the didactic qualities of each game, pointing out which chess concepts the games exemplify.

But the chess is superb too. He was a tireless experimenter in the openings, a true hypermodern, a fearless attacker and a man regarded by Nimzovitch as one of the top endgame players in the world at the time (in the rather teasing statement "the third best endgame artist of all the living masters"). His style matured, from early heroics and later love of complexity ('a system consisting in the lack of system"), into a player who could really play any sort of position well - a hallmark of all the great masters.

Opening

Tartakower Saviely - Mieses Jacques [A82], Baden-Baden, 1925

SGT titles this game, "The miniature blockade". Before this game had drawn five games in a row, and his opponent teased him: "Have you had sufficient preparation for obtaining your 6th draw?".

1.d4 f5 2.e4 fxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g4 A hypermodern touch, considered by modern theory as over-doing things a bit. 4...d5 5.g5 Ng8 6.f3 exf3 7.Qxf3 e6 8.Bd3 g6

+-----------------+
|rhb1kgn4|
|0p0.+.+p|
|.+.+p+p+|
|+.+p+.).|
|.+.).+.+|
|+.HB+Q+.|
|P)P+.+.)|
|$.G.I.HR|
+-----------------+
After just eight moves, Black is riddled with dark-square holes. 9.Nge2 Qe7 10.Bf4 c6 11.Be5 Bg7 12.Qg3 Na6 13.0-0 Bd7 A gesture towards development. 14.Bd6 Qd8 15.Qf4

+-----------------+
|r+.1k+n4|
|0p+b+.gp|
|n+pGp+p+|
|+.+p+.).|
|.+.).!.+|
|+.HB+.+.|
|P)P+N+.)|
|$.+.+RI.|
+-----------------+
A fine example of a weak colour-complex. 1-0

Tartakower Saviely - Przepiorka Dawid [B12] Budapest (Hungary), 1929

"Blitzkrieg"

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 "New and good", claimed SGT; this offshoot is enjoying a current fashion among English GMs. 3...dxe4 4.fxe4 e5 5.Nf3 "Stimulates the game to fresh activity" SGT 5...exd4 6.Bc4 Be6

+-----------------+
|rh.1kgn4|
|0p+.+p0p|
|.+p+b+.+|
|+.+.+.+.|
|.+B0P+.+|
|+.+.+N+.|
|P)P+.+P)|
|$NGQI.+R|
+-----------------+
Offering an exchange, of which GM Tartakower is not too shy. 7.Bxe6 fxe6 8.0-0 Be7 9.Nxd4 Qd7 10.Qh5+ Kd8 11.Be3 c5 12.Rd1! A sacrifice! 12...cxd4 13.Rxd4 Bd6 14.e5 Nf6 15.exf6 gxf6 16.Nc3 This game, says SGT, with its varied motifs, gives him the most pleasure of all his creations. 1-0

Middlegame

Maroczy,G - Tartakower,S Teplitz-Schonau, 1922

1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5

+-----------------+
|rhb1kgn4|
|0p0p+.0p|
|.+.+p+.+|
|+.+.+p+.|
|.+P).+.+|
|+.+.+.+.|
|P).+P)P)|
|$NGQIBHR|
+-----------------+
This is an important bit of move-order: the option of ...Bb4(+) gives Black several nice ways of avoiding the main lines of the Dutch. 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.a3 Be7 5.e3 0-0 6.Bd3 d5 7.Nf3 c6 8.0-0 Ne4 9.Qc2 Bd6 10.b3 Nd7 11.Bb2 Rf6 12.Rfe1 Rh6 13.g3 Qf6 14.Bf1 g5 15.Rad1 g4 16.Nxe4 fxe4 17.Nd2

+-----------------+
|r+b+.+k+|
|0p+n+.+p|
|.+pgp1.4|
|+.+p+.+.|
|.+P)p+p+|
|)P+.).).|
|.GQH.).)|
|+.+R$BI.|
+-----------------+

17...Rxh2

Spielmann remarked that when you see a player make a sacrifice of a Rook, you can also see the immediate concrete threats that motivated it. The only exception to this he knew was this extraordinary sacrifice of Tartakower, where tactical threats manifest themselves only later.

18.Kxh2 Qxf2+ 19.Kh1 Nf6 20.Re2 Qxg3 21.Nb1 Nh5 22.Qd2 Bd7 23.Rf2 Qh4+ 24.Kg1 Bg3 25.Bc3 Bxf2+ 26.Qxf2 g3 27.Qg2 Rf8 28.Be1 Rxf1+ 29.Kxf1 e5 30.Kg1 Bg4 31.Bxg3 Nxg3 32.Re1 Nh5 33.Qf2 Qg5 34.dxe5 Bf3+ 35.Kf1 Ng3+

+-----------------+
|.+.+.+k+|
|0p+.+.+p|
|.+p+.+.+|
|+.+p).1.|
|.+P+p+