Two Examples of "Ablenkung" (Distraction / Deflection) in Chess

hirohurl(70)

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Yesterday, I blogged about a chess coaching session I ran earlier this week around the theme of "Ablenkung" or "distraction," also translated as "deflection."

The topic was based on a couple of examples taken from a German chess book by the Russian master, Jackow Neistadt (1923-2023), titled Zauberwelt Der Kombination ("Magic World of Combinations"), and published in East Berlin in 1987.

Deflection

The theme of the first chapter is "Ablenkung," which Neistadt explains like this:

Through the tactical method of deflection, a piece or pawn of the opponent is forced to leave its position in order to gain access to an important square (or file) or to remove the protection of another piece. The objectives of this operation can vary.

Without further ado he presents us with the first of eight examples in the art of "deflection" before presenting us with 38 deflection problems to work out.

Example 1: Popow v Jemeljanenko, Correspondence Chess Game, 1984-85

Black to move:

Scroll down for the solution.

Example 2: Bywschew v Tolusch, Leningrad, 1954

Black to move:

Scroll down for the solution.

Here's a look at the two problems as they are presented in the book. Judging from the pencilled check mark, it looks as if my younger self was able to solve the first problem but not the second one.

Solution to Example 1

Black to move...
White would like to sacrifice their knight for the c-pawn to force a draw. However, after the deflecting move 1... Nb6!, White was forced to resign, as the pawn can no longer be stopped.

Solution to Example 2

Black to move...
With the "quiet" move 1... Qa7, the white queen is deflected from covering the c3 square, after which the game is immediately decided. The position of the white rook on g1 prevents the queen from moving to b4 or anywhere along the c-file.