Developing a Winning Combination

Chess combinations can be exceedingly beautiful and are a source of great pride for players. Non-chess players may never understand the deep satisfaction gained from executing a brilliant sacrifice!

The famous trainer Romanovsky systematized combinations into ideas and themes. Every chess player uses specific tools to construct these masterpieces.

The Keys to Combinations

• Forcing Moves: Checks, captures, and threats (e.g., Mate in 1).
• Tactical Motifs: Decoy, Deflection, Discovered Attack.
• The Sacrifice: As Botvinnik defined it: "A forced variation with a sacrifice."
• Quiet Moves: Waiting moves, Pins ("Pin and Win"), Interference, Line Opening.

The Result (Blow Your Trumpet!)

A successful combination must lead to a clear advantage:

• Checkmate: Or an unstoppable mating attack.
• Material Gain: Winning a piece, trapping a Queen, or promoting a pawn.

Forcing Moves

Forcing moves gain critical tempos. The opponent's Queen is often a "threat-sensitive" target—attacking it forces a response, allowing you to develop an attack while the opponent is busy retreating.

Fischer vs Benko (1959)

Pawn Sacrifice & Tempo Gain

e5!
Fischer attacks the Queen to gain time for a crushing attack. After 15.Bxf6, White dominated. (1-0)

Tal vs Larsen (1957)

Trapping the Queen

b4! followed by Qa4 and Ra3.
Two forcing moves trapped Larsen's Queen completely.

Tal vs Larsen (1958)

Material Gain

e5!
Tal unleashed a series of forcing moves ending in a Knight fork: 24.Nxd7+. (1-0)

Tal vs Tringov (1958)

Queen Sacrifice / Knight Fork

Qxd7+!
A forcing Queen sacrifice. After Kxd7, Nc5+ forks the King and Queen.

Decoys & Deflections

Decoys lure a piece to a bad square (often a "poisoned" square). Deflections force a key defender away from its critical task.

Tal vs Veder (1951)

Decoy (Rook Sacrifice)

Re1!!
Luring the Rook away from defending g7. If Rxe1, then Nf6+ leads to forced mate.

Tal vs Benko (1964)

Deflection

Rd8+!
Deflecting the Queen to d8, allowing Nxf7+ which forks King and Queen.

Line Opening

Opening lines against the opponent's King is like building new highways for your heavy pieces to invade.

Spassky vs Fischer (1992)

Opening Diagonals

e5!
Opens the long diagonal for the Bishop on b7. After dxe6, Bc6! creates irresistible pressure.

Tal vs Teslenko (1964)

Pawn Sacrifice

g4!
Intent on opening the long diagonal against the King. (1-0)

Pins & Discovered Attacks

Fischer vs Reshevsky (1958)

Pin Exploitation

Bxf7+!!
Exploiting the subtle pin on the d-file. After Kxf7, Ne6 traps the Queen!

Huebner vs Kasparov (1992)

Discovered Attack

f5!
Huebner missed this deadly pawn push. After Qxf5 Nf6, the White Queen is trapped. (0-1)