All of today’s examples are taken from the games of Ernst Gruenfeld (November 21, 1893 – April 3, 1962).  One of Europe’s strongest players and most important opening theoreticians, Gruenfeld had a hypermodern approach to the opening when Black, specializing in the Alekhine Defence and Gruenfeld (!) Defence. With the White pieces he was a thoroughly classical player.  Gruenfeld had an excellent tactical flair, though as we can see below, he was at times a victim of the tactical skill of his opponents!

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 Ritzen A

Gruenfeld E

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

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Steiner Lajos

Gruenfeld Ernst

HOW CAN WHITE GET A BIG EDGE?

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Kmoch Hans

Gruenfeld Ernst

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

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Steniezka J

Gruenfeld Ernst

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN MATERIAL!

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Weiss J

Gruenfeld Ernst

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

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Johner Paul

Gruenfeld Ernst

HOW SHOULD BLACK PROCEED?

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Reti Richard

Gruenfeld Ernst

BLACK TO PLAY AND CRUSH WHITE!

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Gruenfeld Ernst

Bogoljubow Efim

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

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Gruenfeld Ernst

Takacs Alexander

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

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Brinckmann Alfred

Gruenfeld Ernst

Rogatska Slatina 1929.  Position after 25 moves.  Queens and Rooks (without any minor pieces) almost always leads to sharp tactical struggles and is one of my favourite themes when I lecture or teach.  Someone should write a book about this theme…

SHOULD  WHITE CAPTURE THE C-PAWN?

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DRILLING THRU

Gruenfeld Ernst

Ritzen A

From a correspondence game played in 1916.  Position before Black’s 29th move.  Clearly Black is all over White and has a crushing advantage.  Probably the simplest route to victory is with the crude 29…Rh6, but in correspondence chess beauty and elegance often took precedence .  Gruenfeld saw a spectacular way to win…

 29…Bxf3! 30.Bxf3

31…QxB!!  32.Nd2!?

Of course, taking the Queen gets mated after 32…Rg6+

32…QxP+!!

0-1

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List Paul

Gruenfeld Ernst

Berlin 1926.  Position after 31 moves of play.  The endgame is very sharp and probably White is a bit better, even though Black has several threats.  White should now play 32.Nd4!  , but Gruenfeld thought he had an even better move:

32.Nc1?

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White  covers the e2-square (as would Nd4) but has the extra advantage that the Knight also attacks the Black pawn.  However, poor Gruenfeld failed to see that Black was also threatening something else…

BLACK TO PLAY AND WIN!

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SOLUTIONS

Cor.Game 1916 Gruenfeld E–Ritzen A: 19.Nd5! Bxd2 Otherwise he just loses material 20.Nxf6+ gxf6 21.Qg6+ 1-0 It is soon mate.
 

Merano 1924 Gruenfeld Ernst –Steiner Lajos : 12.Nxf7! Kxf7 13.Ng5+ Ke8 ( Worse is 13…Kg8 14.Nxe6 Qc8 15.Qb3 Nd5 16.e4 etc. ) 14.Nxe6 Qc8 (Qb6 is a better try) 15.Nxg7+ Kf7 16.Nf5 Nb6 17.Qb3+ Kf8 ( 17…Ke8 18.Ng7+ Kf8 19.Ne6+ Ke8 20.Bf5 Qb8 21.e4 ) 18.e4! Ke8 19.Bg5! Qd7 20.Nxe7 1-0
 

Semmering 1926 Gruenfeld Ernst –Kmoch Hans : 21.Rxh6! Bf5 ( Black had overlooked that after 21…gxh6 White has the winning 22.Qg6+ Kh8 23.Qxh6+ Kg8 24.Qg6+ Kh8 25.Qf6+ Kg8 26.Rd5 etc ) 22.Qxf5 Rfd8 23.Qh7+ Kf8 24.Qh8+ Ke7 25.Re6+ 1-0 It is forced mate
 

Vienna 1958 Gruenfeld Ernst–Steniezka J: 15.NxN! PxN 16.Ne5!! This cute move Black had overlooked. White wins a pawn with a crushing position. It is not surprising that Black soon lost: 16… dxe5 17.Bxe4 Qg4 18.dxe5 Nc5 19.Bxh7+ Kh8 20.exf6 gxf6 21.Rd4 1-0
 

Vienna 1914 Gruenfeld Ernst –Weiss J: 19.Bxd5! cxd5 20.Nxd5 Qd8 21.e6!! The whole point of White’s 19th move. Now the Black King will find it difficult to escape 21… Bxe6 22.Re1 Nc5 ( Slightly better, but also hopeless is 22…Nde5 23.Nb6! ) 23.dxc5 Bxc5+ 24.Kh1 Qd7 25.Rxe6+! Kd8 26.Ne3 Bd6 27.Ng5! 1-0
 

Gothenburg 1920 Gruenfeld Ernst–Johner Paul: 27… Nf4!! Principally with the idea of posting the Knight on the powerful d3 square. The Knight can not be taken as 28…Qe2! is immediately decisive. And if the greedy 28.Qxa7 Ne2+ 29.Kh1 Qf5! 30.Qa3 Qc2 with immediate consequences for White along his second rank. Relatively best is 28.Qa3 though after 28… Nd3! White’s defence is not easy. In the game continuation White blundered with 28.Be1? and after 28… Rxg2+ 0-1 (29.Kh1 Qh3! 30.PxN Qxf3 It is mate in a few moves)
 

Pistyan 1922 Gruenfeld Ernst –Reti Richard :16… Nxd5! Very well calculated. 17.exd5 Nd3+ 18.Kd2 Nf4! ( 18…Nxc1? ) 19.Qf3 Qc2+ 20.Ke1 Nd3+ 21.Kf1 Nxc1 and Black won in another 5 moves. 0-1
 

Moscow 1925 Bogoljubow Efim–Gruenfeld Ernst: 26.Rxe6! A neat simplification 26…Qxc3 27.Re7! Be8 ( Only a masochist would want to try 27…Rfe8 28.Qc7 Rbd8 29.Kh2! and Black soon gets zugged as he runs out of moves) 28.Qc7! White dominates on the 7th rank, and Black soon loses material or gets mated on g7. 28… Bh5 ( 28…Bf7 29.Rxf7 Rbc8 30.Qe5 Qxe5 31.Rxf8+ ) 29.R1e5 1-0
 

Trebitsch mem 11th Vienna 1927.3.30 Takacs Alexander–Gruenfeld Ernst: 21.d6! A cute deflection 21…Bxd6 22.Nxf6+! The whole point of the previous move. 22… gxf6 23.Bd5+ Kg7 24.Bxf6+ Kh6 25.Rxe8 Rxe8 26.Qd2+ 1-0
 

Rogatska Slatina 1929 Gruenfeld Ernst –Brinckmann Alfred: 26.Rxc5?? If I had a penny for everytime a strong player fell into this trap, then I would be a rich man! 26…Rxc5 27.Qxc5 Rd1+! 28.Kf2 Rxc1 0-1
 

Berlin 1926   Gruenfeld Ernst –List Paul: 32.Nc1?? Ng4+! 0-1 After 33.fxg4 Rf6+ 34.Rf5 ( 34.Kg1 Re1+ 35.Kh2 Rff1 ) Bxf5 35.Kg1 Bd7 the win is a simple tecnical process

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