Memorization: When Pawns Attack
In the spring of 1970, FIDE held a tournament in Belgrade between the Soviet Union's top ten players and the top ten players of the rest of the world. Bent Larsen, of Denmark, faced off against Boris Spassky in a game that would later be dubbed "When Pawns Attack." A video recorded by David Pruess and uploaded to YouTube by Chess Dojo was an invaluable resource in understanding the game for the purpose of this exercise.
1. Opening: Nimzo-Larsen Attack, Modern Variation
White opens with 1.b3, preparing a queenside fianchetto to control the a1-h8 diagonal. Black, seeking to spoil White's plan, replies 1...e5, the Modern Variation. (1...d5 is the Classical.)
2. White attacks, Black develops
White fianchettoes his dark-square bish with 2.Bb2, attacking Black's e5-pawn, and Black defends-develops with 2...Nc6. White continues 3.c4, denying 3...d5, and Black develops his other knight with 3...Nf6. White escalates the attack on e5 with 4.Nf3.
3. Black attacks, White exchanges
Rather than defend his e-5 pawn, Black relinquishes the a1-h8 diagonal and counterattacks White's knight with 4...e4. White relocates the knight with 5.Nd4, and Black attacks again with 5...Bc5. After an exchange of knights with 6.Nxc3 dxc3 where Black accepts doubled c-pawns, the situation on the board is that White's dark-square bish is his only developed piece while Black has two pieces developed, a light-square bish ready to deploy, and a king ready to castle.
4. Hotspot: e4
White, wary of possible pressure on f2 after a move like 7...Ng4, continues 7.e3, which also gives his light-square bish some scope. Black, anticipating that White will target his pawn on e4, perhaps in conjunction with 8.Bxf6, replies 7...Bf5. White indeed targets e4, with 8.Qc2, and Black adds a third defender with 8...Qe7.
◄ Halftime recap ►
Bent Larsen's game against Boris Spassky ended with the former resigning after move 17. Move 8 is therefore a convenient point in the game to check if the first half has been accurately absorbed into memory.
The game opened with a Nimzo-Larsen Attack: Modern Variation, so 1.b3 e5. Naturally, White fianchettoed with 2.Bb2, prompting 2...Nc6 to defend. White continued 3.c4 to deny 3...d5, and Black developed his other knight with 3...Nf6. White attacked e5 with 4.Nf3, and Black counterattacked with 4...e4. White moved the knight with 5.Nd4, and Black attacked it again with 5...Bc5. White exchanged knights with 6.Nxc6 dxc6 and continued 7.e3, whereupon Black developed his bish with 7...Bf5 to defend the e4-pawn. White escalated the attack on the pawn with 8.Qc2, and Black summoned a third defender with 8...Qe7.
✓ Success
5. You castle, I pyramid
By advancing to e3 on move 7, White basically committed to the awkward-looking 9.Be2 as the development move for his light-square bish. Black, meanwhile, by capturing on c6 with his d-pawn on move 6, basically committed to 9...0-0-0 since it teleports a rook directly to the semiopen d-file. When White, rather than catching up to Black in development, continued 10.f4, Spassky must have raised an eyebrow wondering why Larsen would weaken his kingside with His Majesty still in the center. 10...exf3 would fail to 11.Qxf5+, but anyway Black has more ambitious ideas than capturing pawns. After 10...Ng4, Black is threatening a devastating 11...Qh4+, so White plugs the e1-h4 diag with 11.g3 and hopes his d2-f4-h2 pawn pyramid will prove an impenetrable shield.
6. When Pawns Attack
What Black wants is to activate his rook on the h-file, and to that end he pushes 11...h5, with the threat of 12...h4 and White's pyramid falters. White, in an effort to repel Black's kingside invasion, pushes 12.h3, attacking Black's knight on g4; but Black's h-pawn, unwavering in its mission, advances with 12...h4. White captures Black's g4-knight with 13.hxg4 and a threat of 14.gxf5, to which Black replies 13...hxg3 -- not only opening the h-file but forcing White to deal with a passed pawn dangerously close to promoting.
7. Back rank misery
White, who cannot afford the loss of his h1-rook to 14.Rxh8 Rxh8 and certainly not to 14...Rxh1+, continues 14.Rg1, taking aim at Black's passer on g3. Black, who can afford the loss of a rook, since he has a backup on d8 and a queen ready to swoop into h4, sacs with 14...Rh1. Black's idea is that after 15.Rxh1, 15...g2 is crushing because Black has too many threats on White's back rank. 16.Rg1, blocking the g2-pawn's advance, would be met with 16...Qh4+ and White can stall but can't survive; so White tries 16.Rf1, but that is even worse. After 16...Qh4+ and 17.Kd1, Black promotes and checks with 17...gxf1=Q+, and White resigns.
◄ Blind recap ►
Here is an attempt to replay Larsen-Spassky 1970 from start to finish without looking at the board:
White opens with the Nimzo-Larsen Attack, 1.b3, and Black replies with the Modern Variation, 1.e5. White continues 2.Bb2, attacking, and Black defends with 2...Nc6. White plays 3.c4 to deny Black 3...d5, and Black develops with 3...Nf6. White develops and adds a second attacker to Black's e5-pawn with 4.Nf3, so Black counterattacks with 4...e4. White moves the knight with 5.Nd4, and Black attacks it again with 5...Bc5. White exchanges with 6.Nxc6, and Black recaptures with 6...dxc6 to activate his light-square bish. White doesn't like Black's bish looking at f2, so he pushes 7.e3. Black anticipates his e4-pawn coming under attack and defends it with 7...Bf5, and indeed White attacks with 8.Qc2. Black adds a defender with 8...Qe7, White develops his light-square bish with 9.Be2, and Black castles long with 9...0-0-0 to get a rook on the semiopen d-file. White has pawns on d2, e3, g2, and h2, and he pushes 10.f4. Black replies 10...Ng4, and White completes his pawn pyramid with 11.g3. Black begins a kingside advance with 11...h5, and White attacks Black's knight with 12.h3. Black disregards the attack and proceeds with 12...h4. White captures Black's knight with 13.hxg4, and Black captures a pawn with 13...hxg3. White could go on capturing with 14.gxf5 or 14.Rxh8, but Black's passed g3-pawn is too dangerous, so White continues 14.Rg1. Now comes the stunning 14...Rh1, which White chops with 15.Rxh1. Black attacks White's rook with 15...g2, White is low on options and tries 16.Rf1; but after 16...Qh4+ and 17.Kd1 gxf1=Q+, White resigns.
✓ Success
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