"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
-- PROVERB"This (move) reduces all of White's attacking prospects. Petrosian has a knack of snuffing out such dreams twenty moves before they even enter his opponent's head!"
-- Bobby FISCHER
- Prophylaxis is a fancy way of saying prevention. It's another idea popularised by Nimzowitsch in his book, My System.
- If you know what your opponent is planning, you might be able to prevent it.
- The simplest example is: if you fear a Bishop coming to pin your Knight on f6, you might play ...h6
- ...h6 has some disadvantages of course. Another proverb: the cure may be worse than the disease.
- More complicated ideas include:
- Preventing your opponent from freeing their position (Bernstein-Mieses)
- Preventing Black's idea of a King's-side attack by blockading the King's-side. (Kramnik-Kasparov)
- Deterring White's planned f4-f5 break by threatening to make use of the opening of the e-file (Karpov-Kasparov)
Click [...] to see list of games
[Event "Top 10 endgames:"]
[Site "weak pawns: weak colour compl"]
[Date "1921.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bernstein, Ossip"]
[Black "Mieses, Jacques"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B45"]
[Annotator "Top 10: endgames"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "1921.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
{like New Orleans jazz, a theme to build a solo around.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8. Ne4 f5 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. Nd6+ Bxd6 11. Qxd6 Ne4 12. Qd4 Nf6 13. Qd6 Ne4 14. Qb4 d5 15. Bd3 Qd6 16. Qxd6 Nxd6 17. f4 {[#] ! A key move, preventing the advance e6-e5 when Black's position is fine; Bf4 was not played because White plans Be3, which prevents ...c5. The rest of the game features an iron determination to prevent any freeing move by Black, and a gradual invasion on the dark squares.} a5 18. Be3 Ba6 19. Kd2 Nc4+ 20. Bxc4 Bxc4 {[#] It is sometimes assumed that the presence of opposite-coloured bishops is a powerful drawing factor. This is true of some simple or blocked positions, but here all Black's pieces stand badly because of the weak dark squares.} 21. a4 Kd7 22. b3 Ba6 23. Bb6 Bc8 24. Ke3 Ra6 25. Bc5 Kc7 26. Kd4 Bd7 27. Rhe1 h5 28. Re5 g6 29. Rg5 Rg8 30. Ke5 Be8 31. Re1 Ra8 32. Kf6 Bd7 33. g3 Rae8 34. Ree5 Rh8 35. Rxg6 Rh7 36. Rg7 Reh8 37. Rxh7 Rxh7 38. Kg6 Rh8 {[#] While there's life...} 39. Kg7 {!} (39. Rxh5 Be8+) 39... Rd8 40. Rxh5 Be8 {White needs to be sure of his ground here, as he has an alternative plan of advancing the h-pawn.} 41. Rh7 Rd7+ 42. Kh6 Rxh7+ 43. Kxh7 {How many moves will it take White to Queen a Pawn? How many for Black?} Bh5 44. h4 Bd1 45. c3 Bxb3 46. g4 Kd7 47. g5 e5 48. f5 Bxa4 49. f6 {1-0 bernstein-meises} 1-0
[Event "Linares 12th"]
[Site "Linares"]
[Date "1994.??.??"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E93"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "1994.02.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 040"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1994.06.01"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "1994.06.01"]
[SourceQuality "1"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. d5 Nbd7 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Nh5 11. h4 g4 12. Nh2 Nxg3 13. fxg3 h5 14. O-O f5 15. exf5 Nc5 16. b4 e4 17. Rc1 Nd3 18. Bxd3 exd3 19. f6 Rxf6 20. Qxd3 Qf8 21. Nb5 Bf5 22. Rxf5 Rxf5 23. Nxc7 Rc8 24. Ne6 Qf6 25. Nf1 Re5 26. Rd1 Qf5 27. Qxf5 Rxf5 28. c5 Bf8 29. Ne3 Rf6 30. Nc4 dxc5 31. b5 Bh6 32. Re1 Re8 33. Re5 Re7 34. Rxh5 Ref7 35. Kh2 Bc1 36. Re5 Rf1 37. Re4 Rd1 38. Rxg4+ Kh7 39. Ne5 Re7 40. Nf8+ 1-0
[Event "Karpov - Kasparov World Championship Match"]
[Site "Moscow URS"]
[Date "1985.11.09"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "24"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Anatoly Karpov"]
[Black "Garry Kasparov"]
[ECO "B84"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "84"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O
Be7 8.f4 O-O 9.Kh1 Qc7 10.a4 Nc6 11.Be3 Re8 {Here Black cannot reasonably expect to open the e-file, so why this move? Kasparov anticipates a White pawn break with f4-f5, which will open up the e-file for the Black Rook on e8, and so White never quite gets around to it. In their 1984/85 match, Kasparov had often played Re8, but in this game he takes the idea a stage further.}
12.Bf3 Rb8 13.Qd2
Bd7 14.Nb3 b6 15.g4 Bc8 16.g5 Nd7 17.Qf2 Bf8 18.Bg2 Bb7
19.Rad1 g6 20.Bc1 Rbc8 21.Rd3 Nb4 22.Rh3 Bg7 23.Be3 Re7 24.Kg1
Rce8 {Remarkable} 25.Rd1 f5 26.gxf6 Nxf6 27.Rg3 Rf7 28.Bxb6 Qb8 29.Be3 Nh5
30.Rg4 Nf6 31.Rh4 g5 32.fxg5 Ng4 33.Qd2 Nxe3 34.Qxe3 Nxc2
35.Qb6 Ba8 36.Rxd6 Rb7 37.Qxa6 Rxb3 38.Rxe6 Rxb2 39.Qc4 Kh8
40.e5 Qa7+ 41.Kh1 Bxg2+ 42.Kxg2 Nd4+ 0-1