“The fortress” – excerpt from CBM #221
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In the second part of his new series, Dorian Rogozenco presents two closely related fortress patterns. In both cases, the attacker has an extra ♗. In the first example, the ♙♟ face each other on h6 and h7 (or a6 and a7):
In the second case, they are on column g (or b):
In both cases – provided the defender has reached one of the save squares with the ♚ – these are fortresses. In the second example, the defender needs to know some of the attacker’s tricks, especially if the ♗ has the option of sacrificing himself for the opponent’s ♟. The former German national team coach outlines the intricacies in his introductory video.
Fortress or not? Spassky-Fischer 1972
After the introduction, Rogozenco makes a little digression: would Bobby Fischer have had the opportunity to build a fortress during the first game of the 1972 World Championship against Boris Spassky?
Couldn’t he simply have taken his ♚ to c8 instead of playing 50…a5 and thus saved himself with a draw? It almost looks like it, because with a slightly different ♙♟ constellation – with the ♙ on a5 instead of a4 – we’d have one of the fortresses on the chessboard Rogozenco talks about in the introductory video.
But there’s only one small difference. With the ♙ on a4, White can create a zugzwang position in which Black is forced to advance his ♟a. White then plays ♚d6 or ♚d7, wins the ♟a, and then the game, by advancing his own ♙a.
Interactive training videos
If you really want to memorize the two fortress patterns, you should definitely watch the five interactive videos with which Dorian Rogozenco concludes his article. Here’s one of the more advanced training questions (interactive video 3):
Black trait – if you know the pattern of the fortress, the solution to the problem is almost obvious. Update your knowledge with Dorian Rogozenco’s new column!
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