The weak link

Most of us agree that Games can turn upside down with a single incisive move. Today, we’ll look at one such game from the Lasker era whose first six moves went as follows.

1.d4 c5 2.dxc5 Qa5+ 3.Nc3 Qxc5 4.e4 e5 5.Nf3 d6 6.Nd5 Ne7

All seems well…

Sometimes, the weakest link in your defence can prove to be the strongest link in your attack.

Looks very poised, doesn’t it? If I were playing black, I wouldn’t have seen the combo coming. Heck, if I were playing white, I wouldn’t have seen it either. I believe that even the guy who played it didn’t really plan this move in advance. Sometimes, just doing your job can produce fantastic results. Usually, in positions like these, white would be interested in developing and positioning his powers by chasing the early bird Queen across the board. Except for a weak Be3, which would leave the b-file pawn vulnerable, it really doesn’t look like White can do much.

The actual move, however, was 7. b4. Sometimes, the weakest link in your defence can prove to be the strongest link in your attack. b4 just destroys the game for Black. In the actual game, the player resigned. The only possible move for Black, without losing the queen, is 7. … Qc6, yes?

Wrong. White would follow it up with sacrificing a bishop, pinning the Queen. 8.Bb5. The Queen would be forced to hit back with Qxb5 and the fork 9.Nc7+ wins the Queen for White.

Only Paul Morphy can win this for Black from here.