Table Of Content·r. ~. ;. "
· Riley _-Sheffield
T~~lWfl
As r.~,ressure 1~ applied 1n a chess pos1t1on, tension
ts d'velope<t. '· Proper applh.at.ion and control of
ttflSif.\n 1•;~rqa;fal in the outcome of the struggle.
'TWt._& Jll(mt•ttfl9 stu~ analyzes the. types Qf cbe$$
~$1q,n «~d:··prov1 de~ carefully selected exaft1)le$
to. perm1trthe player to recognize these sit~at1o.ns
t"' J\11 ~ 9ca•J• lmpr~vements in the handling Qf
~tfttfwill'.f1nitely result in playing ~t~~f. . _
th~s s f 4_1 cornp le ~e g~mes a re i ne 1u ded to fllo~
trJ~., t~t! devel~p~_r.at of ten$1 on and 1 ts effact
tJPM' ~tt.:-tcnola. lr..s a;·o~·-tt~t gome.. The aL.tth()r poip~
put that· se,r.et" Qf Petros14" • s mysterious
-ijWJ_.1n9
1$ ~rQl.Y po~tent development ··of
SU,Pf~ ~p-1on~ ··The' tens ton tn the French Def,nse
11 a1$Q "sed ~P pro\11de full understanding of the
~~•pt. Jbt: pr~mat;uf"t release of· tension 1$
rtYtaled 14 a pri~ry Ci45t of the rapid deteriora-
ticsn· ,;f su.p~J''tcr PQ$f~t1Qns.~
CHESS ENTERPRISES. lNC.
107 CROSSTREE ROAD
PA 15108
C~POLIS.
ISBM 0-931462-10-X
TENSION
in the
CHESS POSITION
Riley Sheffield
"Chess is a struggle.u
Emanuel Lasker
1981
CHESS ENTERPRISES. INC.
CORAOPOLIS. PENNSYLVANIA
CS)
Copyright 1980 by Rlley Hack Sheffield
Editor: B. G. Dudley
I 1 1u s t r a t I on s : E rw I n F. WI ta 1 I s , J r .
ISBN 0-931462-10-X
Acknowledgements:
Andy Menown· for his Ideas of energy release and adding
dimensions to a combination;
Hark Glenn. George Thompson, and John Blalr for provid
Ing Information from ECO's. Informants, and other
materia 1s ;
Glorla Johnson for the use of her typewriter and Nina
Ross for typing help;
Jim Ottersbach. Dave Stennett, Andy Menown, and Hugh
Myers for crltlqulng the manuscript at various stages;
Marlene Sheffield for her Infinite patience and sup
port--all performed 11wlthout stint or calculation of
recanpense .••
Quotatior from lasker•s Manual of Chess by Emanuel
Lasker, Dover Publ !cations, Inc., 1960, by kind
permission of the publisher.
E:HRATA:
.t,J. ~), G::1.me 111-3~ 6 •.. Be7
p. 35 diae:ram Black rook o5
This book Is dedicated to my de•r friend
and training partner Mike Sarnoff (1963-1979).
11He was the best of us.11
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION:
TENSION AND DISTANT TENSION
The diagrammed position shows the two Kings in direct
opposition; lt also serves as a basic example of tension
In chess. In this very simple position, there is a strug
gle for systematic control of the squares on thee-file.
We can actually feel the tension between the two Kings.
Opposition--Tension
As explained in basic endgame texts, Black to move must
give ground--releasing tension--and allow the White King to
penetrate and escort the pawn to the queening square; White
to move must step aside and can make no progress. If the
pawn stood at e3, however, White to move could play e3-e4,
maintaining and actually Intensifying the tension In the
po~ition, and again Black would have to give ground.
The next position Is perhaps a more fami I iar example of
tension: after two moves of a French Defense (1 e4 e6 2 d4
d5) there is immediate pawn tension in the center, White's
e-pawn and Black's d-pawn under mutual attack; and White
perhaps feels more pressure from this situation because his
e-pawn Is undefended. Consequently, White must make a
major strategical choice at this point: 1) whether to re
lease this tension, by exchanging 3 exd or pushing 3 e5;
2) or maintain tension by 3 Nd2; 3) or increase tension by
3 Nc3. None of these moves gives White a bad game; each
has its merits and may suit various players in various sit
uations. (After all. White Is allowed some Inaccuracy
without severe punishment.) However, keeping pressure on
Black with 3 Nd2 or 3 Nc3 Is generally recognized as White's
strongest winning attempt and receives the most attention
In opening theory. By contrast. the tension-releasing
moves 3 exd and 3 e5 ease Black's game.
5
Tension
We will return to this position in Chapter 11. For now,
let us.say that it is governed by the principle that IN
GENERAL, IT IS PREFERABLE TO MAINTAIN OR INCREASE TENSION
UNTIL ANALYSIS INDICATES A DISTINCTLY BETTER CONTINUATION.
This position could occur fr~~ the previous diagram after
the further moves (1 e~ e6 2 d4 d5) 3 Ne) Nf6 4 Bg5 Bb4:
Tension Increased
Struggling for the initiative, both sides have deployed
pieces to Increase the immediate tension, each side hoping
to limit his opponent's play, and to improve his own game
by Inducing his opponent to release the tension. In this
MacCutcheon Variation of the French Defense, as in the
Winawer Variation, Black parts with his good Bl~hop in or
der to finally provoke e4-e5 by White (via the intensified
threat of ••. dxe), closing the center and transferring
play to the flanks for an unbalanced fight. Play may con
tinue: 5 e5 h6 6 8d2 Bxc3 7 bxc Ne4 8 Qg4 Kf8 9 h4 c5.
In the diagram at the top pf the next page we see the
Kings in distant opposition. The pieces have not yet come
head to head; there is more freedom In selecting moves in
this position as there are no direct threats. Nevertheless
6
Distant Opposition--Distant Tension
White's prepared approach Is threatened, and in the fore
seeable future the Kings_ are expected to meet with a criti
cal square (say e5 or e6) between them, establishing imme
diate tension. For now, Black has some time and room to
triangulate and try to meet White's threatened advance with
a tricky maneuver (such as 1 Ke~- Kd6 2 e377 Ke6=); but if _
White plays correctly he will win but, regardless of who
moves first, White will win if he plays correctly, by keep
Ing a tempo in his pawn for the final pressure move when
the two Kings meet in immediate tension. The distant ten
sion in this example, then, can be described as White's
threat to advance and form immediate tension at a critical
meeting point of the opposing pieces--and Black's attempt
to prevent or otherwise answer this threat.
This position offers a second example of distant tension
--this time from a late opening/early middlegame situation.
Distant Tension
In this modern, closed approach to developing the game,
I ittle immediate tension has been established. lt is being
delayed in favor of a concentrated build-up behind flexible
pawn structures. White prepares an attack in his area of
Influence, the ~ingside, where he controls more space to
7
maneuver; his specific long-range threat is the thrust
f4-f5, probably fully prepared by moves such as h3. g4.
and Ng3, and this pawn break at f5 would occupy more space,
open lines for attack, and disrupt the Black King's pawn
shelter. Anticipating White's positional threat, Black
has set up his pieces to defend the square f5 four times,
and to allow htm to stop White's f4-f5 with f7-f5 If neces
sary.
Meanwhile, Black also prepares the counter-thrust b7-b5
and a general queenslde pawn advance, as he controls more
space In this area and his pieces and pawns are well posted
for an attack In this direction. The pawn strike would
drive back White's Queen Knight, which observes d5, and
would threaten to establIsh immediate pawn tension at b4
(after White plays the preventive a3) or at c4 or b3 or a3;
White--with his pieces being disrupted on the queen slde,
with less space to maneuver there, and with the base of his
pawn chain under attack--would probably be unable to answer
the tactical threats arising from this immediate tension in
his own queen side.
In addition ·to these thematic ideas, there are possibil
Ities of counter-attack on the same flank by the defender
if the attacker falls to prepare his pawn advances with
piece support, or if one player decides· to try to equalize
the position by shifting pieces to his defensive flank and
advancing pawns there to control equal space.
8
Finally, both sides must above all control the center
against the possible breaks d3-d4 or .•• d6-d5, since an
opening of the center and control of open lines there would
provide control of the game and the opponent's menacing
pawn advances on a flank would suddenly be turned into fa
tally weak pawns and squares.
We see, then, that the diagrammed position contains lit
tle Immediate tension, but distant tension is being main
tained or Increased at several critical squares--the modern
Idea being that when the distant tension is finally re
leased, as Immediate tension Is created, the preparatory
build-up will result In considerably more impact at the
point of energy release compared to , say, the position of
the second diagram, where Black chose to release distant
tension by establ lshlng Immediate tension with the mo~e
2 ••• d5.
For a final example of dist~nt_tenslon, we have a posi
tion from the beautiful game Janowski-Capablanca, New York
1916.
Janowski - Capablanca
Before Tension Release
Janowski releases tension, blocking the center with
21 e5 Be7 22 f4, qnd Capablanca Immediately begins pumping
up the queen side distant tension with 22 •.. b5 23 Kf2 Ra4
24 Ke3 R8a8 25 Rabl. Capablanca has Increased distant
tension as much as possible on the queen side by fully pre
paring the break b5-b4, which would establish fa~orable im
mediate tension for Black; this operation has tied down
White's pieces in a defensive posture on this flank. Capa
blanca now maintains this queen side distant tension as
much as possible, while turning to the other flank to build
tension there: 25 ••• h6 26 Nf3 g5; White is not ready to
meet this tension on his king side. 27 Nel Rg8 28 KfJ gxf;
Black releases immediate tension in order to infiltrate on
9
