Going Postal, Part 2

Hi!

Today we are going to see the second part of the Estonian grandmaster Paul Keres' game against M. Feilitzsch. As you can see, a picture of Keres was actually put on Estonian money! In the United States, we have pictures of presidents like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Jackson on our money, but in Estonia there is a bill with a picture of a chess player on it! How cool is that?!?! That just shows how famous he was (and how popular chess was there).

We left off where Keres had taken a clear advantage with the black pieces and was about to start his attack:

Black has more space, better development, and better piece coordination. He has also weakened White's king's position. A major thing is that the white queen has been chased far away from its king!

When you have an advantage, you should start an attack. That is what the first world champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, taught. Where will Black attack? White's king, of course! That is where the weaknesses are, and where Black has an advantage in force.

 

White is probably hoping to run his king to the kingside and finally develop his rook from h1, so it can defend the queenside. But just at this moment, Keres noticed that the white queen is overworked - it is guarding both g2 and d3 at once:

Black basically threw all of his pieces at White's weakened position, and it fell down! This game, one of Paul Kere's first published games, shows his great style. It also shows how a well built up positional game can lead to a beautiful attack.