Lasker's Combination: The Tactician's Handbook

Lasker's Combination is the sacrifice of both Bishops, a destructive assault upon the enemy King's castled position. Few tactical motifs impress so powerfully as this legacy of the 2nd world champion. Indeed, when Lasker used his Bishops like a wrecking-ball to demolish Bauer's Kingside in their famous encounter, this stunning double sacrifice was thought to be a magical accident, or one-of-a-kind wizardry only gods might perform. Yet here, in volume four of The Tactician's Handbook, we discover that the Aunlucky- Bauer merely succumbed to the iron laws of chess. Here Charushin demonstrates that Lasker's Combination is simply another technique, an element of tactical play - and one that can be mastered! Game after game reveal the inner workings of this remarkable attacking method, classified and richly annotated in Charushin's inimitable style.

The Tactician's Handbook offers a solid foundation of knowledge about the tactics of chess, the basis for a higher understanding of chess combinations. Now players can examine the separate building blocks of combinational play (the mechanics of attack!) in short, focused steps. Each volume is devoted to a single and memorable pattern, illustrated by hundreds of real-world examples. Readers can immediately apply the skills learned here, mixing and matching these A tactical templates into their own games. For example, note how often Alekhine's Block (volume one) is seen as part of Lasker's two-Bishop sacrifice! Lasker's Combination establishes Charushin as an original and thought-provoking teacher, and The Tactician's Handbook as a practical, common sense battle plan for the middlegame in chess.

The Tactician's Handbook Series:

Alekhine's Block, Combination Cross, Mitrofanov's Deflection, Lasker's Combination