Beginning chess players should study tactics more than any other aspect of chess.
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[Event "Golden Knights Corr. (Semi-Finals"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1996.05.10"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Pressnall, Wayne"]
[Black "Roper, Martin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Martin Roper"]
[BlackElo "2320"]
[ECO "A00"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "2025"]
{ Here is my best game, a crushing defeat for the Grob Attack. I believe my
opponent was influenced by one of the recent monographs on the Grob -- I just
followed a line recommended in BCO and MCO, my only sources on the opening. } 1. g4 { A00: Irregular Openings } 1... d5 2. h3 e5 3. Bg2 c6 4. d4 e4 5. c4 Bd6 6. Nc3 Ne7 7. Qb3 { 7. g5 Be6 8. h4 Nf5 9. Bh3 0-0 and bBlack is already better,
Basman - Keene, Manchester 1981, or 7. Bg5 f6 8. Bd2 0-0 9. Qb3 Kh8 10. Rc1
Na6 11. e3 f5 12. Nge2 Nb4 13. Nxe4 Nxa2!, Basman - Kudrin, Manchester 1981
(Basman must have taken a beating there). This system appears to constitute a
near refutation of the ironically named Attack. } 7... O-O 8. Bg5 f6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Nxd5 Be6 11. Nxe7+ Qxe7 12. d5 Bf7 { Perhaps even -+ already. Several
weeks later, ironically, as this game was nearly concluded, I came across
this very continuation in Watson and Schiller's, Big Book of Busts. White's
extra pawn is really a liability and the authors concluded that black was
practically winning here. } 13. Bd2 Na6 14. Qc4 Rfe8 15. f3 { This just opens
the floodgates. 15. e3 was not possible, either, because the knight just hops
to d3 with tempo and dominates the game. } 15... e3 16. Bc3 Rac8 17. Qb3 Rxc3 { The
Bishop was the protector of the dark squares, so its elimination enhances the
power of black's Queen and dark-squared Bishop. } 18. bxc3 Qe5 { The threat of
the black queen invading on the mortally weak dark squares (g3, f4, f2, c3)
decides the game. The white bishop, knight and rook are trapped like rats in
the hold of a sinking ship. By the following pawn sacrifice, white hoped to
reorganize his pieces, but his king will find no refuge in the center or the
queen side. In my working notes to the game I wrote down a large number of
variations all leading to a forced win for black. Rather than list them all
here, I leave it to the reader to discover them for himself. } 19. f4 Qxf4 20. O-O-O Nc5 21. Qb5 Na4 22. Rf1 { 22. Rd4 fails to 22...Qf2 } 22... Ba3+ 23. Kc2 { Mate
is avoided after 23. Kd1 or Kb1, but a white piece is missing after 23...
Qxf1+ 24. Bxf1 Nxc3+ } 23... Rc8 24. Qb3 Bg6+ { It's mate after 25. Kd1 Qd4+! (the
move white may have missed when choosing over 23. Kd1/Kb1) 26. cxd4 Rc1# or
26. Ke1 Qd2# } 0-1