Jakob Rosanes vs Adolf Anderssen - Breslau (1862)

Becoming a winning chess player requires the application of genius combination. Adolf Anderssen was the master of combination. Many would say that seeing combinations is a gift and cannot be learnt. Reti, however, believes that through continued study of winning combinations, we can learn to see them more readily. It is for this reason that the student of chess will do very well to study Anderssen’s remarkable combinations at great length.

In order to receive the maximum benefit from the study of the following combination, ensure you make a serious attempt at solving the puzzle before reviewing the clues. And once you begin reading each clue, do not read the next clue until you have made a serious attempt with the prior clue.

PUZZLE: How does Black deliver mate in 6 moves?

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Clue 1

Everything in this sequence is a forced move. If you try playing out this sequence in it’s most obvious form, you will find that at the end of the sequence (5 moves), White’s King has a route of escape. Once you have found this route of escape, you can remedy this situation by attacking this square in advance. By adding this one move early in your sequence, and thereby ensuring in advance that White’s King’s route of escape is blocked after your 5 moves, you have created a mate in 6. I have provided no answer for this clue. If you can’t work out the answer move to clue 2.

Clue 2

In 2 moves you could deliver check mate, if White does not block you after your 1st move. So firstly work out how to deliver mate in 2 if not blocked. The beginning of this sequence involves initiating this threat of mate in 2. White must then block. If you cannot find the answer, then or scroll down to find the answer to this clue. Make sure you only view Answer 2; then if you still cannot find the solution, read Clue 3 (directly below).

Clue 3

We will ignore black’s next move for now, since it is a preparatory move as mentioned in clue 1. We now move on to the next move. Currently, if the King were in check, there is one square onto which he could escape. What is this square? And how can you attack it and also deliver check in the following move? I have not provided an answer to this clue. If you can’t work out the answer move to clue 4.

Clue 4

The answer to clue 3 involves a sacrifice.

Clue 5

We have now discussed in our answer to clue 4 that Black threatened mate via Bb2#. However, after 19. Be1, White has created a route of escape. Consider how to block this route of escape. Once you have found this answer, you will immediately realise that this move can be parried. We must now return to our opening point in clue 1: we needed to move a piece earlier in the sequence in order stop White from parrying at this point. We will consider what this preparatory move could have been in Clue 6.

Clue 6

Should White now play Black’s Bishop

20. Qxe3

and should Black follow with

20...Rb2+

White can now parry via

21. Kd2

The key question now is: what move could Black have played earlier in the sequence in order to ensure that Black’s King could not move to d2 at this point?

Answer 2

This is a basic mate and should be known by all students. By moving your Rook to b8, you then threaten Qxb2, which would be Check Mate. White must parry, either by moving his b2 pawn.

15...Rb8

16. b3

Answer 4

We are typically very reticent to sacrifice our Queen: our most powerful piece. This is not the only time that Anderssen has sacrificed a Queen in a final mating combination. If by sacrificing our queen, we significantly improve our position, it should always be considered. The primary aim for the modern chess player, is improving our position.

17...Qxb3

18. axb3 Rxb3

In this instance White’s Queen is being sacrificed but then is simply replaced by his Rook. Black’s Rook now provides 2 benefits:

1) Black’s Rook attack’s the entire b file

2) Since b1 is defended by Black’s Bishop, Black now threatens Bb2#

In order to generate a route of escape from Bb2#, White’s only option is

19. Be1

Answer 5

19...Be3+

Black now attacks White’s route of escape should White play Bb2+. But of course, now the Queen can take White’s Bishop, thereby parrying check. In the next clue, we must consider how this situation could have been avoided.

Answer 6

Quite simply, Black needs to have attacked the d2 square, thereby ensuring that at this point, White’s King has no route of escape. This is exactly what Anderssen did on his 16th move in the actual game:

16...Red8!

I guess black thought that White was attempting to defend his Bishop on d4, and so in response, counter attacked d4 with his Knight:

17. Nf3

Alas, looks can be deceiving. In response to Black’s move, Reti comments:

“An apparently harmless move quite typical for Anderssen, and forshadowing a brilliant combination, which is completely overlooked by his opponent.”

From my perspective, the genius here is that Anderssen was able to think so many moves ahead in order to play this move in advance. But the art of such a skill, is to play out a sequence in one’s mind, and work out where the whole in the plan is. If that hole can be filled in advance, then, like Anderssen, you may be presented with the opportunity to also deliver a stunning combination.

Below, I will now run over the opening parts of the game in order to see how Rosanes and Anderssen arrived at move 15.

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Analysis of the opening of the game

1. e4 e5

2.f4 d5

3.exd5 e4

This is the Falkbeer Gambit – see my article on this.

4.Bb5+ (70 games vs d3 - 800 games- Click Here to See Stats)

4...c6 (50 games vs Bd7 – 25)

5. dxc6 (all 49 games)

6. Nxc6 (20 games vs bxc6 30)

Instead of concentrating on developing his position, White has instead attempted to equalise materially. Concerned about the redundant d5 pawn, he has instigated this series of 3 moves in order to generate a pawn exchange, thereby at least taking down one of Black’s pawns rather than losing his pawn later without an exchange. However, a regular theme in these games will be that development is more important than material gain – here just one pawn. A move has been lost here which could have been used for development. Black has also now cleared more lines on which he can now attack using his higher value pieces.

6. Nc6 (all moves down to around 5 games now)

Once again, instead of dealing with the oppressive e4 pawn quickly, black looks to try and end the exchange one piece up. He therefore threatens e4 with his Knight.

6...Nf6 (all 5 games)

White responds by defending e4 with his Knight. At the same time this is development for Black.

7. Qe2

Again, White is trying to win the e5 pawn.

7...Bc5

Black ignores the threat and instead concentrates on development. This move makes White Kingside Castle tricky.

8. Nxe4

White finally has his pawn, but possibly at the expense of the whole game. After the next move Black has achieved significant pace.

8...O-O

9. Bxc6 bxc6

Not sure why Black decided to do this. He has kindly now cleared the b file for Black, on which he will be able to place his Rook.

10. d3

White is now preparing for Queenside castle. Kingside is looking very problematic now that Black has his Bishop on c6. But in fact, Black has too many files open on the Queenside.

10...Re8

11. Bd2 Nxe4

12. dxe4 Nf5

13. e5

This series of exchanges proves to be crucial to the final winning of the game – a remarkable combination that should be considered at length. The setup is Black’s move of his Rook onto the e file. Black makes a seemingly innocent Knight exchange – nothing remarkable here. But the the genius is that it ends with a PIN: White’s pawn on e5 is protecting his Queen from being taken by Black’s Rook. Now comes the decisive move: Black moves his Bishop into direct line of attack of White’s e4 pawn. But alas – White can do nothing – his pawn is pinned in order to protect his Queen! He then moves it forward so that it is not taken by the Bishop, wasting yet another move since this move is not being used for development. The end result is Black’s Bishop now controls the diagonal f5-c2. This will significantly weaken White’s imminent Queenside Castle.

It should also be considered how important is the Bishop’s control of this line when White Queenside Castles, as will be seen later in the game. The same is the case for a c5 Bishop (the mirror opposite) if White Kingside Castles.

13...Qb6

This is a classic Queen attack which should be committed to memory. Since White’s King is about to Castle Queenside, this Queen is poised to move to Qxb2. If the Queen is defended by another piece, then this will be Check Mate, since after Castling, the King is blocked from escape by his Bishop.

14. O-O-O

Bearing in mind what has just been outlined (the imminence of Check Mate after Queenside Castle by Qxb2), this Queenside seems like a very bad idea to me.

14...Bd4

Black now sets up the aforementioned Check Mate via Qxb2. He could also have defended the Queen on b2 via 14...Rb8, which is a classic setup. But Bb4 ends up creating DEFLECTION, one of the core chess Tactics.

15. c3

White attempts to block the imminent Check Mate via Qxb2, by blocking Black’s d4 Bishop from defending the b2 square. However, in so doing, he has fallen into White’s DEFLECTION trap: c2 had also been blocking Black’s f5 Bishop from attacking the b1 square. Now that White’s pawn has moved to c3 in order to defend b2, Black’s f5 Bishop is covering the entire f5-b1 line. Together with White’s own pieces, this blocks the King from moving onto ANY square if attacked by one of Black's pieces. So if White can manage to attack the King it will result in Check Mate. I think b3 would have been a better defence, defending against Qb2 rather than simply trying to block White’s d4 Bishop. This would have at the same time left his defense of the b1 square from Black's f5 Bishop (although probably simply delaying White's inevitable demise).

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