A couple of members were struck by Simon’s discussion of
the [url=http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/ruy-lopez-exchange-variation-white-wins]Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation[/url]
during his talk about [url=http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/exchanging-king-endings]King and Pawn
endgames[/url]. That’s the best example of endgame thinking arising
in the opening, but it’s not the only one.
There are [url=http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/middlegame-endings-and-endgame-openings]endgame
openings[/url],
where the
queens come off early and the players forget about mating
attacks, as recommended by Edmar Mednis. There is one more opening
where we see an early queen swap:
Lasker’s Petroff exchange variation of the Petroff. Far from
choosing a
drawing variation, Lasker played it to win against selected opponents,
like Frank Marshall who might be expected to over-egg it. One
simple win from him was:
Example Game: Emanuel Lasker – Richard
Teichmann 1-0 [C42]
Much more commonly, we see endgame thinking arise in
games where there is a [url=http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/pawn-formations]pawn
structure[/url] which will definitely get
better and better for one side as we approach the endgame — a familiar
example is the [url=http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/queens-gambit-acceptedisolated-queens-pawn]Isolated Queen’s Pawn[/url].
[blockquote]”[em]Before the endgame,
the
gods have placed the middlegame.[/em]” — Tarrasch.
[/blockquote]
Couldn’t
agree more, but accepting a pawn weakness for attacking chances
immediately gives your opponent a winning plan, namely, survive, swap
and win the endgame …
Example Game: Emanuel Lasker – Siegbert
Tarrasch 1-0 [D34]
I’ve found a comparable example from the French Defence
…
Example Game: Hartman – Yanofsky 1-0
[C09]
, and was immediately reminded of the same sort of
issue
with the
Backward Pawn you get in the same opening …
Example Game: Hunt Harriet – Song Yi 1-0 [C03]
The [url=”http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/whos-afraid-big-bad-minority-attack”]minority attack[/url]
in
the Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange
Varation is all about saddling Black with a weakness that will persist
into the endgame:
Example Game: Evans – Opsahl 1-0 [D36]
In the games of Rubinstein and Capablanca we often see
opponents lured into losing endgames, lost because of weaknesses
acquired, if not in the opening, then certainly long ago; I gave a
couple of examples…
Example Game: Jose Capablanca – Abraham Kupchik 1-0 [C49]
Example Game: Jose Capablanca – Milan Vidmar sr [New York] 1-0 [C98]
…a couple of sessions ago, and offer today
another from Rubinstein …
Example Game: E. Cohn – A. Rubinstein
0-1 [D29]
Click on […] to see games list.
P.S. The famous Flohr-Capablanca game is here:
Example Game: flohr – moscow
capablanca 1/2 [D62]
Flohr did everything right – but couldn’t win!