Bondage (chess)
A tie in chess is the restriction of the movement possibilities of a piece by placing it between an opposing bishop, an opposing rook or an opposing queen and your own king, your own valuable piece or another important square (e.g. a mating square). is located. This is a significant disadvantage for the tied figure and often makes it a target.
There are three types of bondage:
- Real bondage: the tied piece may not move, otherwise the king standing behind it would come into check.
- Line shackling: The shackled figure can only move within the line of action of the opposing figure or possibly capture the captivating figure.
- Unreal bondage: Although the tied piece may move according to the rules of the game, this leads to a disadvantage (e.g. mate or loss of material).
Shackles are one of the most complicated basic elements of chess tactics because they always involve at least three pieces.
Basic representations
Real bondage
In a real bondage, the tied piece may not move at all because of chess.
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Here the black knight on c6 is tied up by the white bishop on b5. The Nc6 cannot move.
In the next move White threatens to move the d4 pawn to d5 and to conquer the knight.
Black could break the peg by either moving the bishop to d7 or taking the king out of the white bishop's line of action, for example to d8. The peg would also be lifted with Nb8 – d7, but this would be a weak move since a knight would then be lost because of Bb5xc6.
Line restraint
With a line peg, the tied figure can only move within the line of action of the opposing figure. It must not leave the line of action of the opposing piece, otherwise it would expose the king to a check.
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In this position black b5 bishop is tied up by white bishop a4. Nevertheless, he has the option to move: He can move to c6 or d7 or he can capture the bishop on a4. Other moves are not possible for the black bishop.
False bondage
A fake bondage does not restrict the tied figure by the rules of the game, but pulling the tied figure away usually leads to a disadvantage (e.g. loss of the figure behind it). In this case, the figure is not tied to the king, but to another point.
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In the diagram the black knight c6 is tied up by the white rook c1. If the knight moves, the rook could beat the black queen.
Black can break the peg by pulling his queen away from the c-file.
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Black on the train in
front of an important field
In this position the black queen is attacked by the white rook. There is no figure behind it. Nevertheless, the queen shouldn't leave the b-file, otherwise Rb8 will checkmate . Black should therefore give the queen for the rook in order not to lose immediately.
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Unsuccessful fake bondage
In this position the bondage is no good. The tied black knight moves to d3 with a check bid. Then White loses the rook on c1 (see also section Ignoring pegs ).
Examples
From tournament practice
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Position after Black's 21st move
In the diagram on the left, the white bishop on b3 ties the black pawn on f7. Therefore this pawn cannot fulfill its cover task for the g6 pawn. The pawn on g6 is attacked twice, namely by the queen on g4 and - hidden - by the rook on d6, on the other hand it is only covered once, namely by the black queen (but not by the pawn on f7). This was followed by 22. Qxg6 + Qxg6 23.Rxg6 + Ng7 .
Now the black knight is also tied on g7 (right diagram). After 24. Rh1 – g1 Black gave up because he lost the knight.
Further examples
Interesting contributions to the topic:
- Manfred Zucker , Der Tagesspiegel, September 30, 1990 Unleashed and restrained
- Hans-Peter Rehm , Probleemblad, 1959 Avoiding restraint
- Emanuel Lasker , German weekly chess, 1890 The Lasker maneuver, an endgame technique in rook endgame
- Hermanis Matisons , Wiener newest Nachrichten, 1931 Forced unleashing and counter-restraint
- Wolfgang Weber , Schach, 1959 accumulation of bondage in self-matte
- Willy Popp , Middle Franconian Chess Association, 1940 semi-bondage
Cross bondage
In some cases, you can defend yourself from being tied up by tying the captivating figure itself.
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Plaskett - Hempson Championship of the British Chess Federation, 1988
Position after Black's 22nd move |
In the diagram on the left, the white rook on e3 has been attacked and tied up by the black queen. It followed: 23. Tae1 (covers the attacked rook on e3) Nc3! now the tied rook is attacked again, namely by the black rook on e5 24. Qg3 covers the rook again Rxe3 25. Qxe3 Re8! This is a cross bondage. The white queen is tied up both by the black queen (line bondage) and by the black rook (false bondage, because the white rook e1 hangs when the queen moves away).
Plaskett gave up the game at this point. On 26 Dxb6 follows Txe1 + 27 Kf2 Te2 + besides axb6 . After 29. Bxc3 Rxa2 Black has a winning position. |
Plaskett - Hempson Championship of the British Chess Federation, 1988
Position after Black's 25th move |
Unleashing
It is almost always advisable to remove a bondage as soon as possible so that the tied figure can move again. This can be done as follows:
- Attack or exchange the captivating figure,
- Removal of the reason for being tied up (usually this is the movement of the figure standing behind the tied figure from the line of action, is tied to an important field, such as a mating field, then the reason for the bondage can be omitted by covering this field),
- Place another figure in between in the line of action. This creates a semi-bondage, which does not guarantee the full mobility of both figures and after deducting one of the two figures can be disadvantageous again due to the bondage of the other.
Example variant from the Chigorin defense : 1. d2 – d4 d7 – d5 2. c2 – c4 Nb8 – c6 3. c4xd5 Qd8xd5 4. e2 – e3 e7 – e5 5. Nb1 – c3 Bf8 – b4 (pin) 6. Bc1– d2 (unleashing) Bb4xc3 7. Bd2xc3 e5xd4 8. Ng1 – e2 (maintaining the restraint) Bc8 – g4 (restraint) 9. f2 – f3 (unleashing)
Ignore bondage
In some cases you can ignore a fake bondage, namely if you succeed in raising counter threats. An example of this is the légal trap in the game Kermuy Sire de Legal - St. Brie, Paris 1750 . White ignores the bondage, sacrifices his queen and in return mates.
6th international championship U8
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Position after Black's 10th move
A very similar motif occurs in the following example. Both players were eight years old or less.
1. e4 c5
2. d4 cxd4
3. c3 dxc3
4. Nxc3 Nc6
5. Bc4 Nf6 6. Nf3
d6
7. Be3 Bg4 ?
8. h3 Bh5
9. 0–0 a6
10. De2 Ne5? (see diagram)
11. Nxe5 Bxe2?
12. Bxf7 mate
If the figure “to be protected” is a line figure (like the lady here), ignoring the bondage can also represent a trigger attack , as in the midshipman's mat, where the white lady attacks the (uncovered) black bishop by triggering the jumper. Another example of a withdrawal attack is the game Popiel - Marco (see chess psychology ).
literature
- David Hooper and Ken Whyld: The Oxford Companion to Chess . Oxford University Press, 2nd edition 1992, ISBN 0-19-866164-9 , p. 308.