Can Gold Come from Lead?

A Bolt from the Blue

Below is a position I had against a student of mine. Would you believe me if I said that checkmate would be on the board within eight moves? It seems like there's nothing going on, but Black has a way to create gold from lead.

Did my attack really come from nowhere? No, of course not! Despite the symmetry of the puzzle's starting position, Black has a huge advantage because most of White's pieces are inferior to their counterparts. The Bishop on d2 is in jail, the Knight on b6 is on holiday and the Queen on b3 is asleep, while Black's pieces are centralised and active. Let's see another example!

Travelling Back in Time

Here is a game played by the great champion Tigran Petrosian in 1961. Once again, we see a spectacular attack emerge from a calm-seeming position.

When grandmasters find incredible sacrifices, are they just lucky that such possibilities exist? Not at all! Look again at the starting position of this puzzle. Black's position is in shambles: his Queenside pieces are undeveloped and his dark squares are on their deathbed. This amazing Queen sac didn't fall into Petrosian's lap; he created the conditions for it by outplaying his opponent positionally.

"I can see the combinations as well as Alekhine, but I cannot get to the same positions" - Rudolf Spielmann

I've linked the full game below, as well as my game against my student, so you can see for yourself that there is no such thing as alchemy: as Fischer said, "tactics flow from a superior position".

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