- Zugzwang in German means 'forced move'. It refers to a situation where you might be OK right now but if you move you lose -- and you have to lose.
- Lots of endgame examples
- In the Bronstein game, White will run out of pawn moves, then will have to move King or Rook -- then lose a whole Rook, and be a piece behind.
Click [...] to see list of games
[Event "Zugzwang"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3k4/3P4/4K3/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
{[#]} *
[Event "the Trebuchet"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/3pK3/2kP4/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]
{[#]} *
[Event "Christmas Congress 1975/76-51 Premier"]
[Site "Hastings"]
[Date "1975.12.29"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kaplan, J."]
[Black "Bronstein, DI."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C13"]
[Annotator "tactics: zugzwang"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "1975.12.29"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "10"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. Nf3 Nd7 (
7... b6) 8. Qd2 c5 9. d5 f5 10. dxe6 fxe4 11. exd7+ Qxd7 12. Qc3 O-O 13. Nd2
Qf5 (13... f5 14. Bc4+) (13... Qc6) 14. O-O-O Qxf2 15. Nxe4 {"White ties
himself up regaining an unimportant Pawn"} (15. Bc4) 15... Qf4+ 16. Nd2 {
'The rest of the game is all about this pin.'} Bg4 17. Re1 Bg5 18. Bd3 Rae8 19.
Ref1 Qe3 20. h3 Be2 21. Rf5 Bh6 (21... Bg4 22. Rxg5+) 22. Bxe2 Qxc3 23. bxc3
Rxe2 24. Rd5 Rxd2 25. Rxd2 Rd8 26. Rhd1 c4 {[#] Zugzwang! '[#] Zugzwang!'} 0-1