Author Archives: DrDave

About DrDave

Retired player, current chess coach, organises chess events in Devon with a group of like-minded elves.

How not to beat Andrew Greet

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An account of our Christmas simul

Genial Cornish giant Andrew Greet came to show us how it was done before Christmas, and I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to catch up and do some notes. Bob Jones was generous and prompt in his
transcription of the games to PGN, so please don’t blame him!

Having watched Gary Lane wipe the floor with us a few times, I thought I had a view about how it was done, but clearly personal style has a bearing too: Andrew seemed much less inclined to go for broke and played quite conservatively in the openings, content to go for a solid position with a bit of an edge and wait for us to self-destruct. In most cases, he didn’t have too long to wait!

It’s often thought that top players have a vast depth of opening theory and a capacity for lightning calculation. I’m sure they do, but you don’t need all that to beat us! I guess my game followed
established theory for the longest — 7 moves — after which Andrew produced a move I hadn’t seen before, but which has been seen recently among the elite. And as for calculation, there were rather few
tactics around, and Andrew generally let them go — except against Keith, when perhaps he wished he hadn’t! Keith made a determined effort to attack Andrew’s King, but it was White’s centralised and
active pieces who were best able to make use of the newly opened lines and spaces, a story that was repeated in my game. Other common faults by the home team were making unnecessary concessions (Richard,
Sean, Robin) and in particular making up new unsound moves in the opening (Brian, Bob) — there’s really no need to do this, and I expect if you wanted to play a main line of theory (like Simon) then Andrew would be the first to dodge. Freddie perhaps did best for longest, although Richard was last to finish.

Click on […] to see games list.

Queen against Pawn

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Not much of a contest? Well, this can be tricky if the Pawn is nearly a Queen itself – as might happen if you had a Pawn each and both were racing to promote. If your Pawn became a Queen, could you still win by stopping the opponent’s Pawn? This sheet tells you how – if it can be done at all.

Case 1. Centre Pawn on the Sixth

If White can blockade the Pawn by putting the Queen or the King in front of the Pawn (say, d1) White will win, of course.

Even if the Queen and the King are both distant, White still wins.

Bring the Queen in with checks and make the Black King blockade or lose the Pawn; then bring in the King.

1. Qd5 d2 2. Kd7 Kc2 3. Qc4+ Kb1 4. Qd3+ Kc1 5. Qc3+ Kd1

Now White can move the King:

6. Ke7 Ke1 7. Qe3+ Kd1 8. Ke6…

The King creeps forward until it gets within range (Case 2)…

Case 2. Centre Pawn on the seventh

With the White King close, White wins by attacking the Pawn with the King.

1. Qc3+ Kd1 2. Ke3 Ke1 3. Qxd2+ Kf8 4. Qf2#

Case 3. Rook’s Pawn on the seventh

With the White King distant, a Rook’s Pawn (a-Pawn or h-Pawn) draws:

1. Qb4+ Ka1

…and White has no time to move the King closer because of stalemate.

Case 4. Knight’s Pawn on the seventh

With the White King distant, b-Pawn (or g-Pawn) loses.

White wins as in case 2: there is no stalemate trap.

Case 5. Bishop’s Pawn on the seventh

With the White King distant, a c-Pawn (or f-Pawn) draws:

1. Qb3+ Ka1!

…BUT…

Case 5b. Bishop’s Pawn on the seventh

With White King not so distant, and on same side as the Black King, White wins (just!) by threatening mate:

1. Kc2 f1=Q 2. Qd2#

Other squares can also work: Kc1 and Ke3 in the diagram above.

Schematic thinking

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-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+jX-X
X-+-+-X-
nL-+-+p+
+-+-+p+p
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+k+-

Recently, I was analysing an endgame with Steve Webb and at one point just pushed a bishop from b4 to d4, obliterating the chances of the Knight at a4 which can now only move to leave a lost K+P ending. Steve was briefly outraged, as I recall, so what made me do that? Well, you have to have seen the pattern before, but obviously …Bb4-d4 is not a legal move. The point is that thinking in this way stops you getting bogged down in move orders, and focuses your attention on what must be done soon.

Schematic thinking 1: Bott and Morrison, The Chess Apprentice

Thomas,G-Monticelli 1933: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. d4 f6 7. Be3 Ne7 8. Qd2 Ng6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. h4

Thomas-Monticelli, 1933

 

t+lDj+-T
+-X-L-Xx
x+xX-Xs+
+-+-X-+-
-+-Pp+-P
+-N-Bn+-
pPpQ-Pp+
R-+-K-+r

There some lovely sections in The Chess Apprentice called ‘Winning Advantages’ and ‘The forces move into position’‘, which have lots of these schematic diagrams in. They genuinely changed the way I looked at a chessboard.

10…O-O 11. h5 Nh8 12. O-O-O Nf7 13. Rdg1 Bd7 14. g4 exd4 15. Nxd4 Ne5 16. Qe2 Qc8 17. Nf5 Re8 18. f4 Nf7 19. h6 Nxh6 20. Nxg7 Kxg7 21. Qh2 Nf7 22. Qxh7+ Kf8 23. f5 Bd8 24. Qg6 Ke7 25. Rh7 Rf8 26. Bh6 Be8 27. Qg7 1-0

Schematic Thinking 2: Capablanca

“Once in a lobby of the Hall of Columns of the Trade Union Centre in Moscow a group of masters were analysing an ending. They could not find the right way to go about things and there was a lot of arguing about it. Suddenly Capablanca came into the room. He was always find of walking about when it was his opponent’s turn to move. Learning the reason for the dispute the Cuban bent down to the position, said ‘Si, si,’ and suddenly redistributed the pieces all over the board to show what the correct formation was for the side trying to win. I haven’t exaggerated. Don Jose literally pushed the pieces around the board without making moves. He just put them in fresh positions where he thought they were needed.”

“Suddenly everything became clear. The correct scheme of things had been set up and now the win was easy. We were delighted by Capablanca’s mastery…”

KOTOV, Think like a Grandmaster, tr. Cafferty, pub. 1971 Batsford.

Capablanca – Ragozin (Moscow) [E22], 1936

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qb3 Nc6 5. e3 d5 6. Nf3 O-O 7. a3 dxc4 8. Bxc4 Bd6 9. Bb5 e5 10. Bxc6 exd4 11. Nxd4 bxc6 12. Nxc6

This gain of a pawn ultimately decides the game.

12… Qd7 13. Nd4 Qg4 14. O-O Ba6 15. h3 Qh4 16. Nf3 Qh5 17. Re1 Rab8 18. Qa4 Bb7 19. e4 h6 20. Be3

Black is struggling to hold the Queen’s-side.

20… Rfe8 21. Bd4 Nh7 22. Bxa7 Ra8 23. Qb5 Qxb5 24. Nxb5 Rxe4 25. Rxe4 Bxe4 26. Nd2 Bd3 27. Nxd6 Rxa7 28. N6e4 Nf8 29. Nc5 Bf5 30. Nf3 Ne6 31. Rc1 Kf8 32. Nxe6+ Bxe6

 

-+-+-J-+
T-X-+xX-
-+-+l+-X
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
P-+-+n+p
-P-+-Pp+
+-R-+-K-

“White’s plan is to prevent the advance of the enemy c-pawn which might make his own pawn at b2 weak, and to control the whole board as far as the fifth rank. This is achieved by playing the King to e3, the Rook to c3, the Knight to d4 and the pawns to b4 and f4. When this has been achieved White will advance his Q-side pawns”

CAPABLANCA, Moscow 1936 Tournament Bulletin, quoted by KOTOV in Play like a Grandmaster, tr. Cafferty, pub. 1978 Batsford.

(“Note – no variations!” KOTOV)

33. Nd4 Rb7 34. b4 Bd7 35. f4 Ke7 36. Kf2 Ra7 37. Rc3 Kd6 38. Rd3 Ke7 39. Ke3 Ra4 40. Rc3

 

-+-+-+-+
+-XlJxX-
-+-+-+-X
+-+-+-+-
tP-N-P-+
P-R-K-+p
-+-+-+p+
+-+-+-+-

mission accomplished

40… Kd6 41. Rd3 Ke7 42. Rb3 Kd6

 

-+-+-+-+
+-Xl+xX-
-+-J-+-X
+-+-+-+-
tP-N-P-+
Pr+-K-+p
-+-+-+p+
+-+-+-+-

the Knight is needed on c3 now to support the advance of the Q-side pawns, so we have a little shuffle

43. Ne2 g6 44. Rd3+ Ke6 45. Kd4 Ra6 46. Re3+ Kd6 47. Nc3 f5 48. b5 Ra8 49. Kc4 Be6+ 50. Kb4 c5+ 51. bxc6 Bg8 52. Nb5+ Kxc6 53. Rd3 g5

 

t+-+-+l+
+-+-+-+-
-+j+-+-X
+n+-+xX-
-K-+-P-+
P-+r+-+p
-+-+-+p+
+-+-+-+-

A slightly desparate-looking move. The Black pawns fall now and the win becomes straightforward.

54. Rd6+ Kb7 55. fxg5 hxg5 56. Rg6 Rf8 57. Rxg5 f4 58. Nd4 Rc8 59. Rg7+ Kb6 60. Rg6+ Kb7 61. Nb5 Rf8 62. Nd6+ Kb8 63. h4 1-0

 

 

P.S. “Silman Thinking Technique”, my foot.

Rooks on ranks and files

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Knights like outposts, bishops like clear diagonals: you could guess that rooks like clear ranks and files. The best rank to put your rook on is the seventh, particularly if the opponent’s king is trapped behind it. A rook on the seventh rank (or ‘on the seventh’ as people sometimes say) can threaten unmoved pawns and with assistance can create mate threats. To get to the seventh the rook will have to move along a file. You can see Znosko-Borovsky doing just that with the c-file in the Illustrative Games. The other use of rooks on files is to attack: we have seen some examples of rooks attacking down the central d- and e-files in the section above on Attacking the King, and in the other Illustrative Game we can see Tarrasch making good use of the g-file to attack a king which has castled.

Rooks can be moved into action along the third rank; I include a brisk wins by Keene and Miles. Beginners often develop their rooks by going a4 and Ra3; this is a manoeuvre that you may rediscover as you get on – for example, Petrosian has often used that development against the Benoni, when he has already played a4 to slow up …b5. This has good and bad points: for example, Miles-Clarke 1976 went 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 c5 5. Bxc4 e6 6. Nc3 a6 7. a4 cxd4 8. exd4 Be7 9. O-O Nc6 10. Re1 Nb4 11. Bg5 O-O 12. Ne5 Re8 13. Re3 Now, after playing 13.Re3 Miles spotted 13…Nfd5 14.Nxd5 Nxd5 15.Rh3 Bxg5 16.Qh5 but wasn’t convinced that it worked (16…Qf6!?) – Clarke also thought about it but avoided it. It does show clearly some of the risks and opportunities of the Re3-h3 idea.

Rs can also support knight outposts, so that – in a position like the diagram above in the section on outposts – if a knight on d5 is exchanged, a rook from d1 may recapture, still putting pressure on the pawn on d6.

Chess quotes

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“Chess is a sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe”
— INDIAN PROVERB
(Everyone’s favourite chess quote – Chernev, Knight, Reinfeld, me…)

I’ve just had a spring-clean, roughly grouping the quotes on: coaching and studying chess, chess and life (is there a difference?) the play of the game of chess, chess players, chess openings and just chess in general (mostly shorter quotes).
Mostly longer quotes giving advice on playing the game are kept in a separate page of Cool Tips, and I have started another index of Chess Stories. You can find more chess quotes collected by Steve Rowles. [There are even some quotes about me and my chess elsewhere…]

There is also separate page for Tactics Quotes, and another for the Best Excuses.

“If ‘even a bad plan is better than no plan’, does that mean that even a poor excuse is better than none? ;)”
–Duif
Contributions always welcome!
Quotes on: | Chess | Coaching | Life | Play | Players | Openings
Chess in general
”
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\////////////////////////////////
\\\ skaak = dacke = escachs = sachy = skak = sakoj = shakki //
\\\\ echecs = catur = chess = scacchi = sachmatai = sjakk ///
\\\\ schaakspel = szachy = xadrez = sah = ajedrez = schack ///
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ schachspiel = satranc = sakk //////////////////
”
— Mario VELUCCHI
“Of chess it has been said that life is not long enough for it, but that is the fault of life, not chess.”
— Irving Chernev
from Stanton Nesbit

“The essence of chess is thinking about what chess is.”
— (David Bronstein, quoted in NIC’s ad for J. H. Donner’s book: _The King, Chess Pieces_).
via Bill Magdalene

One quote that I have heard attributed to Pascal (but don’t know this for sure) is:
“Chess is the gymnasium of the mind.”
from Shawn Decker
“There are more adventures on a chessboard than on all the seas of the world”
— Pierre Mac ORLAN, via Jose Spaleniec, Paris
And a splendid collection courtesy of jcl@value.net:
“Chess is mental torture.” — KASPAROV
“When in doubt — play chess.” — TEVIS
“Life is too short for chess.” — BYRON
“The loser is always at fault.” — PANOV
“Chess is a curse upon a man.” — H.G.WELLS
“Chess is the art of analysis.” — BOTVINNIK
“I hate anyone who beats me.” — LISA LANE
“Chess was Capablanca’s mother tongue.” — RETI
“Let the perfectionist play postal.” — SEIRAWAN
“A good player is always lucky.” — CAPABLANCA
“There are no heroes in chess.” — CORY EVANS
“One bad move nullifies forty good ones.” — HOROWITZ
“The older I grow, the more I value Pawns.” — KERES
“If drink is the curse of the working classes and work is the curse of the drinking classes then chess is the curse of the thinking classes ”
— J. Ross
There is, of course, a very famous saying from Rueben Fine:
“I’d rather have a pawn than a finger.”
It’s often quoted during analysis.

One of my favorite sayings, though, came as a response to this.

About 40 players were watching an online broadcast of a major match.

One of the players was a pawn down, and there was some argument as to how much compensation the other had.

One of the masters present quoted Fine, “As Reuben Fine said, “I’d rather have a pawn than a finger.”

To which Grandmaster Roman Dzindzichashvili replied:
“It all depends: which pawn and which finger?” — Duif

jcl continues:
“A wood-pusher overlooks the ranks.” — RUSSIAN SAYING
“The hardest game to win is a won game.” — Em. LASKER
” Actually, the hardest game to win is a lost game.” — Dr.Dave
“There just isn’t enough televised chess.” — LETTERMAN
“Some part of a mistake is always correct.” — TARTAKOVER
“Pawn endings are to chess what putting is to golf.” — PURDY
“There is no remorse like the remorse of chess.” — H.G.WELLS
“You can’t play chess if you’re groggy from pills.” — KARPOV
“All chess masters can play one game blindfolded.” — KOLTANOWSKI
“When the going gets tactical, the computers get going.” — HYATT
“Morphy was probably the greatest genius of them all.” — FISCHER
“No price is too great for the scalp of the enemy King.” — KOBLENTZ
“There are two types of sacrifices: correct ones and mine.” — TAL
“You cannot play at chess if you are kind-hearted.” — FRENCH PROVERB
“The life of the American chess master is a `vale of tears’.” — FRIAS
“Fame, I have already. Now I need the money.” — an elderly STEINITZ
“It’s always better to sacrifice your opponent’s men.” — TARTAKOVER
“An isolated Pawn spreads gloom all over the chessboard.” — TARTAKOVER
“The first principle of attack–Don’t let the opponent develop!” — FINE
“When you see a good move–wait–look for a better one.” — Em. LASKER
“Chess is played with the mind and not with the hands!” — RENAUD and KAHN
“Creating an undesired stalemate is the height of stupidity.” — ANONYMOUS
“To avoid losing a piece, many a person has lost the game.” — TARTAKOVER
“The blunders are all there on the board, waiting to be made.” — TARTAKOVER
“On the chess-board lies and hypocrisy do not survive long.” — Em. LASKER
“I think it’s almost definite that the game is a draw theoretically.” — FISCHER
In article <473jk9$phu@condor.ic.net> rasor@mail.ic.net writes:
>An excerpt from Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan POE:
” Yet to calculate is not in itself to analyze. A chess-player, for example, does the one without effort at the other. It follows that the game of chess, in its effects upon mental character, is greatly misunderstood. I am not now writing a treatise, but simply prefacing a somewhat peculiar narrative by observations very much at random; I will, therefore, take occasion to assert that the higher powers of the reflective intellect are more decidedly and more usefully tasked by the unostentatious game of draughts than by all the elaborate frivolity of chess. In this latter, where the pieces have different and bizarre motions, with various and variable values, what is only complex is mistaken (a not unusual error) for what is profound. The attention is here called powerfully into play. If it flag for an instant, an oversight is committed, resulting in injury or defeat. The possible moves being not only manifold but involute, the chances of such oversights are multiplied; and in nine cases out of ten it is the more concentrative rather than the more acute player who conquers.”
Comment by DR
Quotes on: | Coaching | Life | Play | Players | Openings
Learning to play chess
“Chess rules and exercises – 5 hours
Elementary endings – 5 hours
Some openings – 10 hours
Combination – 20 hours
Positional play – 40 hours
Practical play with analysis – 120 hours
“Having spent 200 hours on the above, the young player, even if he possesses no special talent for chess, is likely to be among those two or three thousand chessplayers [who play on a par with a master]. There are, however, a quarter of a million chessplayers who annually spend no fewer than 200 hours on chess without making any progress. Without going into any further calculations, I can assert with a high degree of certainty that nowadays we achieve only a fraction of what we are capable of achieving.”

— Em. Lasker, Manual of Chess
(fortissimo) “Have you ever seen a monkey examining a watch?”
— STEINITZ, impatient with an enquirer.
“We perceive after a careful consideration of the evolution of the chess mind that such evolution has gone on, in general, in a way quite similar to that in which it goes on with the individual chess player, only with the latter more rapidly.”
— Richard RETI
“The delight in gambits is a sign of chess youth… In very much the same way as the young man, on reaching his manhood years, lays aside the Indian stories and stories of adventure, and turns to the psychological novel, we with maturing experience leave off gambit playing and become interested in the less vivacious but withal more forceful manoeuvres of the position player.”
— Emanuel LASKER
“A knowledge of tactics is the foundation of positional play. This is a rule which has stood its test in chess history and one which we cannot impress forcibly enough upon the young chess player. A beginner should avoid Queen’s Gambit and French Defence and play open games instead! While he may not win as many games at first, he will in the long run be amply compensated by acquiring a thorough knowledge of the game”
– RICHARD RETI
“Mikhail Gromov, the outstanding Soviet pilot, wrote that if one wants to become a good pilot one must learn the art of self-control. These words may apply equally to chess and to every chessplayer.”
— VB Malkin

“Nimzovitch became then for me more or less the author of the only book which could help me get away from these Euwe books, which, I admit, are very good for the ordinary club player. But once you’ve reached a certain strength you get the impression that everything that Euwe writes is a lie.”
— Bent LARSEN, in KEENE, Nimzowitsch: a reappraisal.
I still like them! – DrD

“Play your best chess by post…”
— BCCA

“…In some places words have been replaced by symbols which, like amulets from a witch’s bag, have the power to consume the living spirit of chess. The notorious “!!” can never approximate the human emotions which accompany an “excellent move” or a “great idea”.
…Oh, those exclamation points! How they erode the innocent soul of the amateur, removing all hope of allowing him to examine another player’s ideas critically!”

— Tigran PETROSIAN
“Most commentaries in chess magazines and books are superficial and sometimes just awful. Once a certain experienced master explained to me how he worked. You put two fingers to the page with text on it and see that there are only moves under them – in other words, it is time to make a comment. You write something like “The Ruy Lopez always leads to a tense, complicated struggle” – and your fee goes up by a rouble.
“The ability to distinguish between real feelings and thoughts and this kind of verbal facade will be of use to you, and not just in chess.

“Often you will find the opposite situation. The author seems to have interesting ideas, but he is not able to illustrate them with decent examples. If a grandmaster is commenting on one of his own games, then there is usually not any problem: his general thoughts are closely tied up with what is happening on the board. But as soon as he starts writing an article or book on a different theme the difficulties begin, as he may not have suitable material to hand.”

— Dvoretsky
THE ENGLISH SCHOOL OF ANALYSIS:
“The word “combination” means different things to different people.”
“… I bid farewell to my readers in the hope that they have formed their own opinion as to the meaning of the word “combination”.”
— Ray KEENE, The Chess Combination from Philidor to Karpov
“(3) ‘IS IT A SYSTEM…?’
… Ultimately, I suspect, this is a question about which the reader should form his own judgement by study of the original text.”
— Ray KEENE, Aron Nimzowitsch: A reappraisal
On advanced ideas:
“After giving a student the basic mating patterns and strategies you must begin giving them advanced concepts. At first these ideas will not make sense, many players will have a vague idea of what you are talking about but nothing more. Even a fragmented understanding of these concepts will prove useful though, and eventually they will improve as these lessons are assimilated by repetition and example.”
— Jeremy SILMAN, The Amateur’s Mind, 1995
cf.:

“We begin with the hypothesis that any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development. … (The “spiral curriculum”) … Is it not possible … to introduce them to some of the major … ideas earlier, in a spirit perhaps less exact and more intuitive?”
— Jerome BRUNER, The Process of Education, 1960
For a contrasting view:

“the spread of secondary and latterly of tertiary education has created a large population of people, often with well-developed literary and scholarly tastes, who have been educated far beyond their capacity to undertake analytic thought”.
— Peter MEDAWAR, The Art of the Soluble
“What distinguishes a Grandmaster from a master? Chess-lovers often ask questions like that. To many people it seems that Grandmasters simply calculate variations a little deeper. Or that they know their opening theory slightly better. But in fact the real difference is something else. You can pick out two essential qualities in which those with higher titles are superior to others: the ability to sense the critical moment in a game, and a finer understanding of various positional problems.”
— Yusupov, in Opening Preparation
” It is often supposed that, apart from their ‘extraordinary powers of memory’, expert players have phenomenal powers of calculation. The beginner believes that experts can calculate dozens of moves ahead and he will lose to them only because he cannot calculate ahead so far. Yet this is utter nonsense. From my own experience I can say that grandmasters do not do an inordinate amount of calculating. Tests (notably de Groot’s experiments) supports me in this claim. If anything, grandmasters often consider fewer alternatives; they tend not to look at as many possible moves as weaker players do. And so, perversely, chess skill often seems to reflect the ability to avoid calculations. It is, in truth, not clear that chess is a game of calculation. Of course there are times when intense calculation is called for, and often the master is better at dealing with these situations than the amateur. No wonder, he has had more practise than the amateur, but all the same his innate calculating ability need not be any greater. Most of the time it is something quite different that is required in chess, something more akin to ‘understanding’ or ‘insight’. ”
— David NORWOOD, Chess and Education
“A lot of the difference between an IM and GM is a seriousness to the game. The GM is willing to go through all this. He’s willing to put up with anything. This shows his dedication. One other thing is the GMs superiority in tactics. For example Christiansen can find tactics in any position. If you’re a GM you should be able to overpower the IM tactically. The GM will often blow out the IM in this area. ”
— Nick de FIRMIAN, in How To Get Better at Chess : Chess Masters on Their Art by GM Larry Evans, IM Jeremy B Silman and Betty Roberts
EDITORIAL NOTE: This of course contradicts David Norwood’s view. While David’s opinion is based on research, I think Nick’s is the correct one. I have a wonderful proof of this theorem, but unfortunately this page is too small to hold it. – Dr.Dave.

“Games like this [Penrose-Botvinnik] (and there were plenty in this tournament) impressed on me that ‘wanting to win’ was perhaps more important than ‘playing good moves’.”
— KEENE, ‘Becoming a Grandmaster’.
“At that age (ten), the odd piece here or there often makes little difference. Rather, ingenuity and the will to win may prove decisive.”
— ZAK, Improve your chess results.
“Combinative vision manifests itself at an early age, and children are quick to notice and execute combinations which chance to turn up. Preparing combinations, however, is more difficult for them.”
— ZAK, Improve your chess results.
“Many players, even of a high calibre, will assert, half jokingly and half seriously, that a difficult labour of analysis can be replaced by intuition. ‘I played this move in a flash – it was obvious it couldn’t be bad’ is the sort of thing we often hear in a post-mortem.
“Criticising such a policy is not simple – not after it has just been successful! […] Instead of appraising the state of struggle on the basis of precise calculation, Black makes a move, which on general considerations, is wholly in the spirit of the position – a flank attack is countered by a break in the centre. Yet in chess there are no axioms.”
— ZAK, Improve your chess results.
“One of the main aims has been to highlight the differences in appraoch between a Grandmaster and a weaker player, and to try and narrow the gap. To some extent this comes down to technical matters – more accurate analysis, superior opening knowledge, better endgame technique and so forth; but in other respects the difference goes deeper and many readers will find that they need to rethink much of their basic attitude to the game. One example of this would be the tremendous emphasis which is placed on the dynamic use of the pieces, if necessary at the expense of the pawn structure, or even of material. This is no mere question of style; it is a characteristic of the games of all the great players.”
— Peter Griffiths, Introduction to Secrets of Grandmaster Chess.
“Openings teach you openings. Endgames teach you chess!”
— Stephan Gerzadowicz, US Postal Chess Master
“In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else, for whereas the the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame.”
— Jose Raul Capablanca, World Champion 1921-1927
[More endgame quotes?]

Quotes on: | Chess | Life | Play | Players | Openings
Playing a game of chess
“Chess is 99% tactics”
— Richard TEICHMANN
[More Tactics Quotes?]

“Those who say they understand chess, understand nothing”
— Robert HUBNER
“The most important feature of the chess position is the activity of the pieces. This is absolutely fundamental in all phases of the game (opening, middlegame and especially endgame). The primary constraint on a piece’s activity is the Pawn structure.”
— Michael STEAN, in Simple Chess.
“…only the player with the initiative has the right to attack”
— Wilhelm STEINITZ
“no one ever won a game by resigning”
(Unfortunately origin unknown)
“A good sacrifice is one that is not necessarily sound but leaves your opponent dazed and confused”
— Rudolph SPIELMANN
Remember Soltis’ immortal words:
“Pawns are born free, yet are everywhere in chains…”
— rkennedy@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Rick Kennedy)
“Modern chess is too much concerned with things like pawn structure. Forget it – checkmate ends the game”
— Nigel SHORT
“Only a good bishop can be sacrificed, a bad bishop can only be lost.”
— Yuri RAZUVAYEV. Source: Gennady Nesis, Tactical Chess Exchanges, foreword. [via Ari Makela]
“The great master places a Knight at e5; mate follows by itself.”
“Some Knights don’t leap – they limp.”

“A chess game is divided into three stages: the first, when you hope you have the advantage, the second when you believe you have an advantage, and the third… when you know you’re going to lose!”

— Savielly Tartakower
“Black is now in desparate need of a good idea. Or, to put it standard chess notation, +-”
— DVORETSKY and YUSUPOV, Opening Preparation
“Whereas the tactician knows what to do when there is something to do, it requires the strategian to know what to do when there is nothing to do”
— Gerald ABRAHAMS (this seems to be fairly free translation of one of TARTAKOVER’s aphorisms).
“It is not a move, even the best move, that you must seek, but a realisable plan”
— Eugene A. ZNOSKO-BOROVSKY.
I have formulated a rule for myself which I call the principle of the worst piece:
“In positions of strategic manoeuvring (where time is not of decisive importance) seek the worst-placed piece. Activating that piece is often the most reliable way of improving your position as a whole.”
— Mark DVORETSKY & Artur Yusupov, Positional Play [and see below!]
“In the eighteenth century they announced their first rule: “Sortez les pieces” – “Get the pieces out”. “It took a hundred years before a new rule was announced. Anderssen, the winner of the first International Tournament, that of London, 1851, said:
“Move that one of your pieces, which is in the worst plight, unless you can satisfy yourself that you can derive immediate advantage by an attack”

“A few decades went by […] the masters evolved a “public opinion”:

Avoid the moves of Pawns in the Opening as far as possible.

“I have added to these principles the law: Get the Knights into action before both Bishops are developed.”

— LASKER, Manual of Chess (second book)
“A draw can be obtained normally by repeating three moves, but also by one bad move.”
“The winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake”

— TARTAKOVER
” “There are no hopeless positions;
there are only inferior positions that can be saved.
There are no drawn positions;
there are only equal ones in which you can play for a win.

But at the same time, don’t forget that there is no such thing as a won position
in which it is impossible to lose.”

— Grigory SANAKOEV (via Peter Lane)
36. Ne1?
“Well, well. IM (and correspondence GM) Douglas Bryson once told me that he almost never plays a game that flows smoothly from start to finish; there is always a “moment” of sorts where someone misses a big defensive opportunity or the nature of the position changes more than one might reasonably expect. This was such a “moment”.”
— Jonathan Rowson British Chess Magazine October 1999 p.553
“I wasn’t sure what square to take the rook to. Because there were three alternatives (e8, d8 and c8), I decided to go for the middle one.”
— Timman, NIC 1998 No 2. (via Mark Brodie)
” I have also heard that GM Oscar Panno said that -whenever you have to make a rook move and both rooks are available for said move- you should evaluate which rook to move and, once you have made up your mind… MOVE THE OTHER ONE!!! ”
— Oscar PANNO (via PEDRO HEGOBURU)
“Those chess lovers who ask me how many moves I usually calculate in advance, when making a combination, are always astonished when I reply, quite truthfully, ‘as a rule not a single one’ ”
— Richard RETI.
[cool blue cat says:]

COOL TIP: What does Reti mean? He was one of the strongest players of his day, but surely grandmasters are superb calculators! Yes, they are, but often they do not need to calculate something from scratch, because they recognise the type of position they are in, and they know what to play in that sort of position. All the calculating has been done before by someone else, and once you are shown how it works, you can use it and apply it in your own games. It’s all about recognising and making judgements about patterns, so as you read the notes and ideas elsewhere on these pages, what you should be doing is seeing and remembering patterns. — Dr. Dave.
“The idea comes before the logical argument.”
— Gerald ABRAHAMS
Good positions don’t win games, good moves do.
[Gerald ABRAHAMS]
I’ve wasted a Black.
[ABRAHAMS, after drawing a game with the Black pieces]

You can retreat pieces… but not pawns. So always think twice about pawn moves.
[Michael STEAN, in Simple Chess]

Open files can be used by both players. The chess player, not being an unselfish advocate of equal opportunity, naturally prefers a one-way system.
[Michael STEAN, in Simple Chess, on half-open files]

all from Peter BALLARD
“The technician, whose vocabulary has been doubled by Dr. Euwe, will find that White could have saved his soul by a desperado combination. Had this failure anything to do with the fact that Dr. Euwe’s terminology was not yet existent at that time!?”
— Reinfeld, to Thomas-Euwe, Carlsbad 1929.
[The terminology is: Combinations

Mating
direct mate
break-up
penetrative
lateral
open-field
for material gain
focal-point
pinning
unmasking
overload
obstructive
desperado
cumulative
compound
endgame
forcing
advancing
promotion
]
To compare with Reinfeld’s observation:
” Muscular dystrophy … was never seen until Duchenne described it in the 1850s. By 1860, after his original description, many hundreds of cases had been recognised and described, so much so that Charcot said:
‘How is it that a disease so common, so widespread, and so recognisable at a glance – a disease which has doubtless always existed – how is it that it is recognised only now? Why did we need M. Duchenne to open our eyes?’
”
— Oliver Sachs, in The man who mistook his wife for a hat.
“The scheme of a game is played on positional lines, the decision of it is, as a rule, effected by combinations. This is how Lasker’s pronouncement that positional play is the preparation for combinations is to be understood.”
— Richard RETI
“It is the aim of the modern school, not to treat every position according to one general law, but according to the principle inherent in the position.”
— Richard RETI
“On a motif such as was indicated by Reti one cannot build the plan of a whole well contested game; it is too meagre, too thin, too puny for such an end. Reti’s explanations, wherever they are concerned with an analysis which covers a few moves, are correct and praiseworthy. But when he abandons the foundations of analysis in order to draw too bold, too general a conclusion, his arguments prove to be mistaken.”
— LASKER, Manual of Chess
(after 1 d4, Nf6; 2 c4, g6; 3 Nf3, Bg7; 4 g3, O-O; 5 Bg2, d6; 6 O-O, c5; 7 Nc3, Nc6; 8 d5, Na5)
“Many are of the opinion that the Knight on QR4(a5) does not participate fully in the struggle, while others hold that, on the contrary, in view of Black’s coming Q-side pawn advance and pressure against White’s QB4(c4), his position is quite satisfactory. These debates are futile. The important thing is to see clearly what is positive and what is negative in the position of the Knight, and act accordingly when choosing a strategic plan.”
— MAROVIC and SUSIC
“Chess is above all a fight”
— Emanuel LASKER.
“During a chess competition a chessmaster should be a combination of a beast of prey and a monk.”
— Alexander Alekhin
From: Dan Scoones
Moments when you should sense DANGER in chess:
There has been a change in the pawn structure. Your opponent has 8 and you don’t have any.
Your opponent begins to throw pawns at your eyes.
You have a postion won but your opponent has a gun.
The Director tells you not to bother turning in your scoresheet after the game.
Before game begins you notice your opponents 1st initials are ‘GM’.
After completing your development you sense your opponent playing the endgame.
Just as you make your opening move your opponent announces mate in 11.
You don’t control any squares at all.
Your draw offer sends all the people watching your game into uncontrollable laughter.
Your opponent has 3 bishops.
I don’t know the composer of this – anyone?
“Before the endgame, the Gods have placed the middle game. ”
— Siegbert TARRASCH
“Well, hmmm, endgames, yes, they are important, Yaaaaawwwwnnnnn!”
— Norbert FRIEDRICH
“If you have any doubt what to study, study endgames. Openings teach you openings. Endings teach you chess.”
— Stephan GERZADOWICZ, Thinker’s Chess.
“To play with correctness and skill the ends of games, is an important but a very rare accomplishment, expect among the magnates of the game.”
— Howard STAUNTON, The Chess-Players’ Handbook 1847 (Plus ca change…)
Quotes on: | Chess | Coaching | Life | Players | Openings
Chess players
“Who is your opponent tonight?”
“Tonight I am playing against the Black pieces”
— A. RUBINSTEIN (via ilias kastanas)
About the Deeper Blue-Kasparov match (1997):
” I just think we should look at this as a chess match,” he said, “between the world’s greatest chess player and Garry Kasparov. ”
— Louis GERSTNER, IBM Chairman (via Peter Lane)
” Reti studies mathematics although he is not a dry mathematician; represents Vienna without being Viennese; was born in old Hungary yet he does not know Hungarian; speaks uncommonly rapidly only in order to act all the more maturely and deliberately; and will become the best chessplayer without, however, becoming world champion. ”
— TARTAKOVER, Hypermodern Chess
“When Garri Kasparov wrestles with his conscience, he always wins. It’s what he’s best at.”
— Dominic LAWSON
“Excellence at chess is one mark of a scheming mind.”
— A. Conan Doyle (in the mouth of Sherlock Holmes)
from Stanton Nesbit

“Chess, like the tomb, levels all grades of conventional rank and distinction and reserves its high places for the best players.”
— GEORGE WALKER
“It has been said — and is probably not true — that every great man has been a chess player. But was there ever a chess player who was also a great man? Of course not and never will be. It is impossible. Great skill at chess is not a mark of greatness of intellect but of a great intellect gone wrong.”
— NEW YORK MORNING TELEGRAPH
“As one by one I mowed them down, my superiority soon became apparent.”
— CAPABLANCA, My Chess Career
(You could look at that statement as astounding egotism or the simple truth, and either way I guess you’d probably be right. – Timothy Hanke)

“Have you ever seen a chess article without a brilliant example of the author’s own play? ‘Silly question,’ you will say. Quite.”
— Razuvayev, introducing Razuvayev-Bagirov 1982
“As Olafsson showed me, White can win… It’s hard to believe. I stayed up all night analysing, finally convicing myself, and, incidentally, learning a lot about Rook and Pawn endings in the process.”
— FISCHER
When asked, “How many moves do you see ahead?”, CAPABLANCA replied:
“One move – the best one.” (*)
Similarly, when asked, “How is that you pick better moves than you opponents?”, Alekhin responded:
“I’m very glad you asked me that, because, as it happens, there is a very simple answer. I think up my own moves, and I make my opponent think up his.”
(*) According to Horowitz + Reinfield’s “How to think ahead in Chess” (published in the 1940’s I believe), it is attributed to someone who BEAT Capa. – Peter Ballard
I have also seen it attributed to Tarrasch! – DrD

“Deux fous gagnent toujours, mais trois fous, non!”
— Alexander Alekhin, on the advantage of the Two Bishops at amateur level
“Style, I’ve got no style.”
— Anatoly KARPOV.
“Tal doesn’t move the pieces by hand; he uses a magic wand.”
— RAGOZIN. Source: J. Hajtun: Selected Chess Games of Mikhail Tal, p. 9.
“Do you realize, Fischer almost never has any bad pieces. He exchanges them, and the bad pieces remain with his opponents. ”
— Yuri BALASHOV. Source: Gennady Nesis, Tactical Chess Exchanges, foreword.
all via Ari K. Makela, http://nic.funet.fi/~arimakel/

“My style is somewhere between that of Tal and Petrosian”
[made in all seriousness by RESHEVSKY in Great Chess Upsets]
“Why must I lose to this idiot?”
[‘Alekhin’, says Peter, but I heard it was NIMZOVITCH – DR]

“Winning isn’t everything… but losing is nothing”
[MEDNIS, on the importance of fighting for a draw]

In chess, at least, the brave inherit the earth.
[Edmar MEDNIS, commenting on Tal]

Normally we’d draw the curtain here, but I just wanted to see what he’d play next.
[FISCHER, on delaying resignation]

No game was ever won by resigning.
[TARTAKOVER?]

If your opponent offers you a draw, try to work out why he thinks he’s worse off.
[Nigel SHORT]

all from Peter BALLARD – Thanks, Peter!
“Later, … I began to succeed in decisive games. Perhaps because I realised a very simple truth: not only was I worried, but also my opponent.”
— Mikhail TAL
Here are some of the questions and answers to an examination paper in chess that was given some time ago by Dr. TARRASCH. (…)
“Q: What is the object of playing a gambit opening?
A: To acquire a reputation of being a dashing player at the cost of losing a game.
Q: Account briefly for the popularity of the Queen Pawn Opening in matches of a serious nature.
A: Laziness.

Q: What is the duty of an umpire where a player wilfully upsets the board?
A: Remove the bottle.

Q: What exceptional circumstances will justify the stopping of clocks during a tournament game?
A: Strangling a photographer. ”

— Chess Review, 1935.
“When it is so freely asserted that Morphy’s style was all genius and inspiration … Morphy possessed that most profound book knowledge of any master of his time, and never introduced a single novelty, whereas since his day the books have had to study the players…
We may all learn from Morphy and Anderssen how to conduct a King’s side attack, and perhaps I myself may not have learnt enough. But if you want to learn how to avoid such an attack, how to keep the balance of the position on the whole board and how to expose the King and invite a complicated attack that cannot be sustained in the long run, then you must go to the modern school for information…

The progress of age can no more be disputed than Morphy’s extraordinary genius.”

— Wilhelm STEINITZ
“The captain was a good chess player, and the games with him were always interesting. Yossarian had stopped playing chess with him because the games were so interesting that they were foolish.”
— Joseph HELLER, Catch-22
“No fool can play chess, and only fools do.”
— GERMAN
“You may knock your opponent down with the chessboard, but that does not prove that you are the better player.”
— ENGLISH
(from Marc Lowrance)

From: johnnymc@news.rio.com (John McMenamin)
Here’s my entry to this mess:

“Skeletons of mice are often to be found in coconuts, for it is easier to get in, slim and greedy, than to get out, appeased but fat.”
— Viktor KORCHNOI
I have a quote I would like to share by an average tournament player.
After 3 dismal rounds, losing to three lower-rated players, he withdraws from the January Swiss. He appears an hour later, I asked him what brings you back. He states:

“I not only lost my shirt at this tournament, but I left my coat as well.”
— David LENHART: dalen@delphi.com
“Henry won fo much at Cheffe of Louis the King’s eldest fon, as hee growing into Choller, called him the fonne of a Baftard, and threw the cheffe in his face. Henry takes vp the Cheffe-board, and ftrake Louis with that force as drew bloud.”
— DANIEL’s The Collection of the History of England, 1621
rook@islandnet.com (Dan Scoones)

from: The Psychology of the Chess Player — Reuben FINE (the man who put the ‘anal’ into analysis)
“Chess is a contest between two men in which there is considerable ego-involvement. In some way it certainly touches upon the conflicts surrounding aggression, homosexuality, masturbation and narcissism which become particularly prominent in the anal-phallic phases of development. From the standpoint of id psychology, Jones’ observations can therefore be confirmed, even enlarged upon. Genetically, chess is more often than not taught to the boy by his father, or a father-substitute, and thus becomes a means of working out the son-father rivalry.”
So now you know… It’s easy to be dismissive of this, but if you don’t think there’s anything in it, and are not easily offended, then I invite you to look at a few statements quoted in Dominic Lawson’s The Inner Game. The most obvious caution against a psychodynamic interpretation of chess is that Short’s anal rape fantasies here seem anything but “unconscious” or “repressed”!

> Does anybody know the etymology of skittles?
“Once in a Moscow chess club I saw how two first-category players knocked pieces off the board as they were exchanged, so that the pieces fell onto the floor.
It was as if they were playing skittles and not chess!”
— Think Like A Grandmaster by Alexander KOTOV
Michael Trent, michael@shogi.demon.co.uk

Quotes on: | Chess | Coaching | Life | Play | Openings
Chess openings
“Nothing excites jaded grandmasters more than a theoretical novelty”
— Dominic LAWSON
“Never go in against a Sicilian when *death* is on the line!”
— from The Princess Bride (via Christine Malcom)
“…the initial position is decisive Zugzwang.”
— Jon Speelman, The Observer Sunday 9 June 1996
“After black’s reply to 1.e4 with 1..e5 leaves him always trying to get into the game”
— Howard STAUNTON
“After white’s reply to 1.e4 e5 with 2.f4 the game is in its last throes”
— Howard STAUNTON
From: een6cmm@electeng.leeds.ac.uk (Michuk)
Subject: Re: Best Chess Sayings of them all

…which of course was superceded by the more famous:
“After 1.e2-e4 White’s game is in its last throes!”
— Julius BREYER
All openings are sound below master level.
[LOMBARDY?]
Choose an opening… which is sound, regardless of fluctuations in current theory.
[HOROWITZ and REINFIELD, in recommending the Sicilian Dragon(!)]

when I’m white I win because I am white, when I’m black I win because I am Bogulyubov”

all from Peter BALLARD
A quote from Richard RETI’s Masters of the Chessboard(p 395):
“In general, it can be established that there are two defenses against 1. e4, which make it absolutely impossible for the first player to take any initiative, and which give Black such an even game, without any difficulties at all, that it has now become useless in practice, since these defenses are generally known. They are the Caro-Kann Defense and the variation of the French Game: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4.”
Glad that’s settled! 🙂 — Randy Pals
“I have never in my life played the French Defence, which is the dullest of all openings”
— STEINITZ
From: arimakel@cc.Helsinki.FI (Ari Kalevi Makela)
“Like us as Black”, beg the chess pieces,” and you will anyway like us as White”
— Isaac BOLESLAVSKY
“Always deploy,” says Franklin K. Young, “so that the right oblique can be readily established in case the objective plane remains open or becomes permanently located on the centre or on the King’s wing, or that the crochet aligned may readily be established if the objective plane becomes permanently located otherwise than at the extremity of the strategic front.”
If this is somewhat obscure (and I see no reason to believe otherwise), the conclusion it reaches is stated in limpid prose by the same writer:

“The best initial move for white is 1. P-K4.”

— from Logical Chess by Irving CHERNEV
“I don’t know what I am going to play, so how can she know what I am going to play!”
— GM Arthur Bisguier, commenting on the virtues of opening preparation. (via Rachel Landry)
Quotes on: | Chess | Coaching | Life | Play | Players
Chess and life
“Luzhin, preparing an attack for which it was first necessary to explore a maze of variations, where his every step aroused a perilous echo, begain a long meditation: he needed, it seemed, to make one last prodigious effort and whe would find the secret move leading to victory. Suddenly, something occurred outside his being, a scorching pain – and he let out a loud cry, shaking his hand stung by the flame of a match, which he had lit and forgotten to apply to his cigarette. The pain immediately passed, but in the fiery gap he had seen something unbearably awesome, the full horror of the abysmal depths of chess. He glanced at the chessboard and his brain wilted from hitherto unprecedented weariness. But the chessmen were pitiless, they held and absorbed him. There was horror in this, but in this also was the sole harmony, for what else exists in the world besides chess?”
— Vladimir NABOKOV, The Defence.
“I find that chess is very useful when travelling alone in Turkey. …Take yourself to the nearest teahouse. Order a glass of tea, and another or Raki, and set up a chess problem. Within seconds Turks will appear. they won’t play chess with you, but it starts a conversation.
“I did this once and someone asked, “Can I practise my English with you?” His first question was: “How many princesses have you slept with?” So now you see the point of chess.”

— Bryan SEWELL
“At that time two opposing concepts of the Game called forth commentary and discussion. The foremost players distinguished two principal types of Game, the formal and the psychological.”
— Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game
“If chess is a science, it’s a most inexact one. If chess is an art, it’s too exacting to be seen as one. If chess is a sport, it’s too aesoteric. If chess is a game, it’s too demanding to be *just* a game. If chess is a mistress, she’s a demanding one. If chess is a passion, it’s a rewarding one. If chess is life, it’s a sad one. ”
— pinched from http://freedom.NMSU.Edu/~jdenman/
(another personal favourite)
” A combination composed of a sacrifice has more immediate effect upon the person playing over the game in which it occurs than another combination, because the apparent senselessness of the sacrifice is convincing proof of the design of the player offering it. Hence it comes that the risk of material, and the victory of the weaker material over the stronger material, gives the impression of a symbol of the mastery of mind over matter.
Now we see wherein lies the pleasure to be derived from a chess combination. It lies in the feeling that a human mind is behind the game dominating the inanimate pieces with which the game is carried on, and giving them the breath of life. We may regard it as an intellectual delight, equal to that afforded us by the knowledge that behind so many apparently disconnected and seemingly chance happenings in the physical world lies the one great ruling spirit – the law of Nature. ”

— Richard RETI, Modern Ideas in Chess.
“The chess-board is the world,
the pieces are the phenomena of the Universe,
the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature,
The player on the other side is hidden from us.”
— Thomas HUXLEY (1825-1895).
This issue’s Colemanballs selection:
“Football today, it’s like a game of chess. It’s all about money.”
NEWCASTLE UNITED FAN, Radio 5 Live
(R. Webb)
http://www.intervid.co.uk/intervid/eye/868/cmanball.html
“A discussion between the top management of the firm Audi and grandmasters Darga, Schmid and Pfleger dealt with the similarities and differences between chess-oriented thinking and the thinking processes required in business, and in particular whether one can benefit from the other. The question arose as to how a chess master actually discovers his moves. Dr. Pfleger was of the opinion that in the last analysis nobody fully knows the reasoning by which he arrives at a certain move. Schmid disagreed emphatically, stating that he knew very well why he played his moves!”
— PFLEGER and TREPPNER, Chess: the mechanics of the mind
“THE KING
The King himself is haughtie care,
Which ouerlooketh all his men,
And when he seeth how they fare,
He steps among them now and then,
Whom when his foe presumes to checke,
His seruants stand, to giue the necke.
THE QUEENE
The Queene is queint, and quicke conceit,
Which makes her walke which way she list,
Ans rootes them up, that lie in wait,
To worke hir treason ere she wist:
Hir force is such against her foes,
That whom she meets, she ouerthrowes…

THE PAWNES
The Rookes poore Pawnes, are sillie swaines,
Which seldom serue, except by hap,
and yet those Pawns, can lay their traines,
To catch a great man, in a trap:
So that I see, sometime a groome
May not be spared from his roome.

THE KNIGHT
The Knight is knowledge how to fight
against his Princes enimies,
He neuer makes his walke outright,
But leaps and skips, in wilie wise,
To take by sleight a traitrous foe,
Might slilie seek their ouerthrowe.

THE BISHOP
The Bishop he is wittie braine,
That chooseth crossest pathes to pace,
And euermore he pries with paine,
To see who seekes him most disgrace:
Such straglers when he findes astaie,
He takes them up, and throws awaie.

THE ROOKES
The Rookes are reason on both sides,
Which keepe the corner houses still,
And warily stand to watch their tides,
By secret art to worke thier will,
To take sometime a theefe unseen,
Might mischiefe mean to King or Queene.”

— Nicholas BRETON (1542-1626), The Chesse Play.
“O life, what art thou? Life seldom answers this question. But her silence is of little consequence, for schoolmasters and other men of good will are well-qualified to answer for her. She is, they inform us, a game. Which game? Bagatelle? No, life is serious, so not bagatelle, but any game that — er — is not a game of chance; not Baccarat, but Chess; or, in moderation, Bridge; yes, or better still Football with its goals and healthy open-air atmosphere and its esprit de corps;…
“Let is therefore turn to games of skill, and in the first place to Chess.”

“I play the Evans.

“The invention of a naval officer, the Evans Gambit is noted for its liquidity. A heavy current rapidly sets in from the South-West and laps agains the foundations of Black’s King’s Bishop’s Pawn. The whole surface of the board breaks into whirlpools. But sooner or later out of this marine display there rises a familiar corpse. It is mine. Oh, what have I been doing, what have I been doing? The usual thing. Premature attack, followed by timidity. Oh, why didn’t I move out my Rook’s Pawn? Because as always I was misled by superficial emotion. No, not as always. It must be that the Evans doesn’t suit my style. Hence-forward I play Old Stodge.

“I do so. There is nothing liquid about Old Stodge. He smacks of the soil. On either side runs a dreary ridge of Knights and Bishops. Between them is a plain (whence the term of Giuoco Piano) where the Pawns butt one another like rams. The powers of earth move slowly to the shock, then topple over with alternate and uninspiring thuds. It’s supposed to be an exchange. But when the lines of the new landscape emerge from the dust, what familiar corpse is disclosed? Mine. Oh, what have I been doing? The usual thing. My character has come out. If I go down to the depths of the sea it is there, if I seek the heart of the hills it is there also. Chess, which severely eliminates accident, is a forcing house where the fruits of character can ripen more fully than in life. In Life we can always blame the unknowable for our failures, wave the hand to some horizon, shake the fist at some star. But surely when we make the same mistakes in the Evans, Old Stodge, the choice of a tie, a row in the office and a love affair, the same defect must be to blame — character; for which, the men of goodwill hasten to remind us, we are entirely and eternally responsible.

“Since there are two elements, in life, the uncontrollable and that which we are supposed to control; and since games of chance exaggerate the former and chess the latter — what game reflects their actual proportion?”

— E.M.FORSTER, Abinger Harvest, a collection of essays.
“There are two classes of men; those who are content to yield to circumstances and who play whist; those who aim to control circumstances, and who play chess.”
— Mortimer COLLINS.
XLVIX.
“‘Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days
Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:
Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays,
And one by one back in the Closet lays. ”
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Rendered into English Verse by Edward Fitzgerald, First Edition
http://www.teachersoft.com/Library/poetry/fitzgrld/chapt01.htm
“Impotent Pieces of the Game He plays
Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days;
Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays,
And one by one back in the Closet lays. ”
— Fifth edition, http://www.nmaa.si.edu/vedder/slide37p.html
There are other editions, and other translations, but none, I think, on the Web.

“She hung up and I set out the chess board. I filled a pipe, paraded the chessmen and inspected them for French shaves and loose buttons, and played a championship tournament game between Gortchakoff and Meninkin, seventy-two moves to a draw, a prize specimen of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object, a battle without armour, a war without blood, and as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you could find anywhere outside an advertising agency.”
— Raymond CHANDLER, The Long Goodbye, Chapter 24, final sentences.
“It was night. I went home and put my old house clothes on and set the chessmen out and mixed a drink and played over another Capablanca. It went fifty-nine moves. Beautiful, cold, remorseless chess, almost creepy in its silent implacability.
When it was done I listened at the open window for a while and smelled the night. Then I carried my glass out to the sink sipping it and looking at my face in the mirror.

‘You and Capablanca,’ I said.”

— Raymond CHANDLER, The High Window, final sentences.
Quotes on: | Chess in general | Coaching | Play | Players | Openings
XXX Note: By the way, I.M. George is distinguished local player! Ian isn’t actually an IM but he won the West of England Championship last year (1995).

Compensation for material?

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Mostly, situations of material imbalance are fairly clear. Typically extra material wins: even with an otherwise level position, the extra firepower can make an attack pay, or make the opponent’s defences overstretched.

  Occasionally, normal material values are overturned. This is most obvious in situations of sacrifice: the mutual possibilities of exchange sacrifices Rh1xNh5 and …Rc7xNc3 in the Sicilian Dragon are well-known, if not always easy to judge. The sacrifices remove a key defender and open lines against the King.

 

-+t+-+j+
+-TlXxL-
x+-X-+x+
Dx+-S-Ps
-+-Np+-+
+bN-Bp+-
pPpQ-+-+
+k+r+-+r

These attacking possibilities are not all we need to know. A while ago, I showed you one of my classier messes:

A tactic appears for you: you see it and analyse correctly, but wrongly assess the outcome.

-+-+tTj+
+xX-+-+-
x+-X-+-X
+-+pLsXd
p+p+nX-+
+-+-+p+p
-P-+qBp+
+r+-R-+k
Ward,D – Regis,D (1994)

26… Bd4 27. Bxd4 Rxe4 28. Qxe4 Ng3+ 29. Kg1 Nxe4 30. Rxe4 Re8 31. Rbe1 Rxe4 32. Rxe4 Qf7 33. Re6 Kh7 34. Rf6

[34. Kh2! …when it’s all a bit tricky!]

34… Qe8 35. Re6 Qxa4 36. Re7+ Kg6 37. Rxc7 Qd1+ 0-1

  The tactic was obvious enough, what I failed to assess was how good White’s pieces would be in the ending. Best was probably to recapture on d4 with the knight on #27.

  What is at issue here are situations which suit particular pieces. Here are some unusual exploitations of material imbalance. Some are exceptions to the usual material rules, but perhaps we should rather think of these as illustrations of some unbroken positional rules – Rooks always need open files.

  Several of these examples I got from Jan Timman’s recent and hugely enjoyable games collection Selected Games (cadogan), where I was struck by several games with a material imbalance. I don’t know if Jan gets these more often than other GMs or just enjoys them more! Anyhow, I hope you get something out of these examples.

The exchange

Compensation for the exchange: Bronstein,David – Boleslavsky,Isaak (Moskva ch_SU, 1961

t+-+-+j+
+-+-+x+-
-+-X-+x+
Px+p+-Bx
-P-+s+-P
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+-+-Rk+-
A simple case: an exchange for extra passed Pawns

35. Bxb5 Bxe1 36. Kxe1 Nxg5 37. hxg5 Kf8 38. Bc6 Ra7 39. Kd2 Ke7 40. Kc3 f6 41. gxf6+ Kxf6 42. Kc4 Ke5 43. Kb5 g5 44. Kb6 Rf7 45. a6 g4 46. a7 Rf8 47. Bd7 Kf4 48. b5 h4 49. Bxg4 Kxg4 50. Kc6 1-0

 

Compensation for the exchange (R v N) Lasker – Janowsky, 1909

-+-+-+j+
+-X-+-+d
x+pX-T-+
+x+pXp+x
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+-+r+-Pq
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+-+r+-+k
1. Rf1 Qf7

[1… Nxf5 2. Rdf3]

[1… Rxf5 2. Rxf5 Nxf5

[2… Qxf5 3. Qxf5 Nxf5 4. Rf3 Nd4 ? 5. Rf6 Kg7 6. Rxd6 cxd6 7. c7]

3. Rf3]

2. Qg2

  cooperative

[2. Kh2 e.g. 2… Qxd5 3. Qxh5]

2… Rxf5 3. Rxf5 Qxf5 4. Re3

[4. Ra3 e4 5. Rxa6 e3 6. Ra3 e2]

[4. Rd1 Nf3 5. Rf1 e4]

4… Qb1+ 5. Kh2 Qxb4 6. g4 h4

  limiting White’s counterplay

7. Kh3 Qc4 8. Qe4 Kg7 9. Kxh4 Qf1 10. a3

[10. Kg5 Qf6+ 11. Kh5 Qh6#]

10… a5 11. Kg3 Qg1+ 12. Kh3 Qf2 13. g5 b4 14. axb4 axb4 15. Kg4 Qg1+

[15… b3]

16. Kh5 Qh2+ 17. Kg4 b3 18. Re1 Qc2 19. Kh5

[19. Qxc2 bxc2 20. Rc1 Kg6 21. Kh4 e4 22. Kg4 e3 winning]

19… Qxe4 20. Rxe4 Nc2 21. Rxe5 b2

[21… dxe5 22. d6 also wins for Black (Tarrasch), but why bother?]

22. Re7+ Kf8 23. Rxc7 b1=Q 24. Rc8+ Ke7 25. Rc7+ Kd8 26. Rd7+ Ke8 27. Rxd6 Nd4 0-1

 

Compensation for the exchange: Ljublinsky Victor (RUS) – Botvinnik M (Moscow) [C77], 1943

25. Qc2

 

-T-T-+j+
+-L-Dx+x
l+x+-+x+
X-X-X-+-
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+pN-Bp+-
p+q+-+pP
R-+r+-K-
25… Rd4 26. Ne2?

[26. Bxd4 cxd4 27. Na4 c5 28. Nb2 and with Nd3 White achieves an ideal blockading position.]

26… Bc8 27. Nxd4 cxd4 28. Bf2 c5 29. Rf1 f5

 

-Tl+-+j+
+-L-D-+x
-+-+-+x+
X-X-Xx+-
-+pXp+-+
+p+-+p+-
p+q+-BpP
R-+-+rK-
The Rooks have no open files, while the Bishops give the King a Hard Stare. The d-Pawn is also a constant danger.

30. Bg3 Bd7 31. Rad1 f4 32. Bf2 g5 33. g4?

  perhaps White intends to seal the King’s-side, but of course Black does not permit this.

[33. a3 and opening a file on the Queen’s-side is essential]

33… fxg3 34. Bxg3 Bh3 35. Rf2 h5 36. Rfd2 h4 37. Bf2 Rf8 38. Rd3 Rf4 39. Kh1 Kh7 40. Rg1 Bd8 41. Qe2 Qf7 42. Qd1 Qh5

 

-+-L-+-+
+-+-+-+j
-+-+-+-+
X-X-X-Xd
-+pXpT-X
+p+r+p+l
p+-+-B-P
+-+q+-Rk
43. Be3 Qxf3+ 44. Qxf3 Rxf3 45. Bxg5 Rxd3 46. Bxd8 Re3 47. Bb6 Rxe4 48. Bxc5 Re2 49. Rd1 Bg4 50. h3 Bxh3 51. b4 Bf5 52. Bd6 d3 53. bxa5 h3 0-1

 

Compensation for the exchange: Selesniev Alexey – Alekhin Alexander (Triberg) [A47], 1921

20. Bd3

 

-T-+-Tj+
+-DsXxL-
l+-X-+xX
X-Xp+-+-
p+p+-+-+
+-+b+nP-
-+qBpP-P
+r+-+rK-
20… Rb4 21. Bxb4 cxb4 22. Nd2 Nc5?!

[22… Rc8]

23. Nb3 Nd7

 

-+-+-Tj+
+-DsXxL-
l+-X-+xX
X-+p+-+-
pXp+-+-+
+n+b+-P-
-+q+pP-P
+r+-+rK-
Black has great play on the dark squares, especially c5, and a protected passed Pawn. Additionally, the White Pawns at a4 and c4 are targets.

24. c5

  A good bid for counterplay: the Rooks need open lines and the Pawn was blocking the Bishop. However, the Black Queen’s-side Pawns now become very dangerous.

24… Bxd3 25. exd3 dxc5 26. Rfe1 Ne5 27. Re3

[27. Qxc5!?]

27… Rc8 28. Rc1 Qd7 29. d4 Ng4 30. Re4 c4 31. Nc5 Qf5 32. Qe2

 

-+t+-+j+
+-+-XxL-
-+-+-+xX
X-Np+d+-
pXxPr+s+
+-+-+-P-
-+-+qP-P
+-R-+-K-
32… b3 33. Rxg4 b2 34. Qxb2 Qxg4 35. Rxc4 h5 36. Qc2

 

-+t+-+j+
+-+-XxL-
-+-+-+x+
X-Np+-+x
p+rP-+d+
+-+-+-P-
-+q+-P-P
+-+-+-K-
The return of the exchange has given White some play…

36… h4

  …but this ushers in a new phase of the game: Alekhin has the initiative, and there is no more dangerous prospect for a player!

[…] 74. Nh3+ Kf1 0-1

 

A complex exchange sacrifice: Portisch L – Timman J (5, Antwerp) [B06], 1992

-T-T-+j+
X-+-+xLx
-+bP-+x+
+pX-P-+-
-+qX-P-+
+-+-+-+-
-Dn+-+pP
+-+-+rK-
An imbalance of the exchange is overlaid with a fascinating battle between passed d-Pawns.

26. Qxc5 d3 27. Nb4!

 

-T-T-+j+
X-+-+xLx
-+bP-+x+
+pQ-P-+-
-N-+-P-+
+-+x+-+-
-D-+-+pP
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27… d2 28. Nd3 Qb3 29. Nf2 Qa4 30. g3 a6 31. b6 Rdc8 32. b7! Rxc6 33. Qa7 Rxb7 34. Qxb7 Rc1 35. Qf3 Qd4 36. Kg2 Re1! 37. Nd1 Bf8 38. Qf2 Qd5+ 39. Kg1 Rxf1+ 40. Kxf1 f6 41. exf6 Bxd6 42. Qe3 Kf7 43. Ke2 Bc5! 44. Qc3 Qe4+ 45. Kf1 Qh1+ 46. Ke2 Qxh2+ 47. Kf3 Qh1+ 0-1

 

Queen for Rook and Minor Piece

This is usually a straightforward win. The Queen has problems if it is the only White piece left, and if the defender’s position can hold the Queen off.

The Queen in an open position: Euwe, M – Grunfeld,E (Zandvoort) Q vs. RB, 1936

t+-D-Tj+
+l+-LxXx
x+-+-+-+
+xSnPq+-
-+x+-+-+
+-+-+n+-
pP-+-PpP
R-Br+-K-
18. Nf6+ Bxf6 19. Rxd8 Bxd8

 

t+-L-Tj+
+l+-+xXx
x+-+-+-+
+xS-Pq+-
-+x+-+-+
+-+-+n+-
pP-+-PpP
R-B-+-K-
In this open position the Queen is boss and White wins quickly by direct attack.

20. Ng5 Bxg5 21. Bxg5 Rfe8 22. Re1 Re6 23. Re3 Rae8 24. h4 h6 25. Bf6 g6 26. Qf4

 

-+-+t+j+
+l+-+x+-
x+-+tBxX
+xS-P-+-
-+x+-Q-P
+-+-R-+-
pP-+-Pp+
+-+-+-K-
26… Kh7 27. Bg5 f5 28. exf6 0-1

 

Keres,Paul – Fischer,Robert (Yugoslavia ct Rd: 1 [B99] Q v RN, 1959

t+l+j+-T
+-D-LxXx
x+-XxS-+
+x+-+-+-
-+-NpP-+
+-N-+q+-
pPp+b+pP
+-Kr+-+r
12. e5 Bb7 13. exf6 Bxf3

“so I chopped it off!” – RJF

14. Bxf3 Bxf6 15. Bxa8 d5 16. Bxd5 Bxd4 17. Rxd4 exd5 18. Nxd5 Qc5 19. Re1+ Kf8

 

-+-+-J-T
+-+-+xXx
x+-+-+-+
+xDn+-+-
-+-R-P-+
+-+-+-+-
pPp+-+pP
+-K-R-+-
20. c3 h5 21. f5 Rh6 22. f6

  conceding (“throwing away” – RJF) a pawn in order to try and keep Black tied up

22… gxf6 23. Nf4 h4 24. Rd8+ Kg7 25. Ree8 Qg1+ 26. Kd2 Qf2+ 27. Ne2 Rg6 28. g3 f5

 

-+-Rr+-+
+-+-+xJ-
x+-+-+t+
+x+-+x+-
-+-+-+-X
+-P-+-P-
pP-KnD-P
+-+-+-+-
Keres may have been optimistic about this line but Black is sorted out and can plan the win. The Queen in an open position, with play on both wings, is a monster. Black soon obtains a passed Pawn and play against the exposed King.

29. Rg8+ Kf6 30. Rxg6+ fxg6 31. gxh4 Qxh2 32. Rd4 Qh1 33. Kc2 Ke5 34. a4 Qf1 35. Nc1 Qf2+ 36. Kb3 bxa4+ 37. Ka3 Qc2 38. Nd3+ Kf6 39. Nc5 Qc1 40. Rxa4 Qe3 41. Nxa6

 

-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
n+-+-Jx+
+-+-+x+-
r+-+-+-P
K-P-D-+-
-P-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
41… f4 42. Rd4 Kf5 43. Nb4 Qe7 44. Kb3 Qxh4 45. Nd3 g5 46. c4 Qg3 47. c5 f3 48. Kc4 f2

  “Bzzzt! Game over, thank you for playing…”

49. Nxf2 Qxf2 50. c6 Qxb2 51. Kc5 Qc3+ 52. Kd5 g4 53. Rc4 Qe5# 0-1

 

Timman J – Seirawan Yasser (10, Surakarta) [D29] Q v RB, 1983

19. Rd6

 

-+-T-Tj+
+-+s+x+x
xD-Rx+x+
+xL-Pp+s
-+-+-+-+
+bN-B-+-
pP-+qP-P
R-+-+-K-
19… Bxe3! 20. Rxb6 Bxb6 21. Rd1 Nc5 22. Qf3 Nxb3 23. axb3 Bd4

 

-+-T-Tj+
+-+-+x+x
x+-+x+x+
+x+-Pp+s
-+-L-+-+
+pN-+q+-
-P-+-P-P
+-+r+-K-
24. Rd3 exf5?! 25. Qd1 Bb6 26. Nd5 Rb8

 

-T-+-Tj+
+-+-+x+x
xL-+-+x+
+x+nPx+s
-+-+-+-+
+p+r+-+-
-P-+-P-P
+-+q+-K-
Where can White find a winning plan of campaign?

27. Rh3!

[27. Nxb6 Rxb6 28. Rd6 Rfb8 when neither a mating attack nor a passed Pawn seems likely.]

27… Bd8 28. Rxh5 gxh5 29. Qxh5 Kh8 30. Qxf5 Rg8+ 31. Kf1 Rg7 32. Nf4 Kg8 33. e6 Be7 34. Nh5 Rf8 35. Nxg7 Kxg7

 

-+-+-T-+
+-+-LxJx
x+-+p+-+
+x+-+q+-
-+-+-+-+
+p+-+-+-
-P-+-P-P
+-+-+k+-
White has regained his extra material and should be able to get a win on technique.

36. Qe5+

[36. b4! keeps the Queen’s-side Pawns vulnerable]

36… Kg6 37. Kg2 b4 38. f4 f5 39. Kf3 h5 40. Qe2 h4 41. Qxa6 Rd8 42. Qe2

 

-+-T-+-+
+-+-L-+-
-+-+p+j+
+-+-+x+-
-X-+-P-X
+p+-+k+-
-P-+q+-P
+-+-+-+-
(Adjourned: how can the White King effect an entry?)

42… Rd6 43. Qe3 Rd8 44. Ke2 Kf6 45. Qe5+ Kg6 46. Qe3 Kg7 47. Qg1+ Kf6 48. h3 Rf8 49. Kd3 Kxe6 50. Qe3+ Kd7 51. Kd4 Rf6

 

-+-+-+-+
+-+jL-+-
-+-+-T-+
+-+-+x+-
-X-K-P-X
+p+-Q-+p
-P-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
52. Qg1! Rf8 53. Kd5 Rf6 54. Qg8 Ra6 55. Qb8 Rh6 56. Qb7+ Kd8 57. Ke5 Rf6 58. Qb8+ Kd7 59. Qg8 Rc6 60. Kxf5 Rf6+ 61. Ke5 Rc6 62. Qd5+ Kc7 63. Qa5+ Kb7

 

-+-+-+-+
+j+-L-+-
-+t+-+-+
Q-+-K-+-
-X-+-P-X
+p+-+-+p
-P-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
Nearly zugzwang!

64. Qa4 Bf8 65. Qb5+ Kc7 66. Qa5+ Rb6 67. Qa7+ Rb7 68. Qa6 Bg7+ 69. Kd5 Rb6 70. Qa7+ Rb7 71. Qa5+ Kb8 72. Qd8+ Ka7 73. Qxh4 Ka6 74. Qd8 Bxb2 75. f5 Bc3 76. f6 Rh7 77. Kc6 1-0

Ivanchuk Vasily – Timman J [04, Hilversum] [E99] Q v RN, 1991

-T-D-Lj+
+-+l+-+t
xN-X-S-+
P-+pX-+-
-+-+p+p+
+-+-X-+-
-Pr+b+q+
+-Rn+-K-
“The game annotated below does not really come within the confines of what is commonly understood to be top chess.” — Timman

33… Nh5

[33… Bh6!]

34. gxh5+!

  else the Knight comes to f4, winning

34… Rg7 35. Nxd7 Rxg2+ 36. Kxg2 Qxd7 37. Nxe3

  White is getting sorted

37… Bh6!?

[37… Qa4 38. Bf3 Qxa5 39. Nf5 with a blockade]

38. Ng4 Bg5 39. Rc7 Qa4 40. R1c4 Qxa5 Time-control 41. Nf2?

[41. Rc8+ Rxc8 42. Rxc8+ Kg7 43. Rc2]

41… Qe1! 42. Rc8+ Rxc8 43. Rxc8+ Kg7 44. Rc2

 

-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-J-
x+-X-+-+
+-+pX-Lp
-+-+p+-+
+-+-+-+-
-Pr+bNk+
+-+-D-+-
now the Knight is passive

44… Bh4?

[44… Be3 45. Bf3 Bd4

[45… a5!]

46. Ng4]

45. Bf3 Kh6 46. Re2 Qc1 47. Ng4+ Kg5 48. Ne3 Kf4 49. h6! Qc8 50. Nf5 Qd8 51. Re3

 

-+-D-+-+
+-+-+-+-
x+-X-+-P
+-+pXn+-
-+-+pJ-L
+-+-Rb+-
-P-+-+k+
+-+-+-+-
51… Bg5?!

  “a groundless winning attempt”

52. h7 Bf6

[52… Qh8 was intended, but 53. Be2 Qxh7 54. Rf3+ Kxe4 55. Bd3+ Kxd5 56. Ne3+]

53. Be2 Bh8 54. Bd3 Qc7 55. Rf3+ Kg5 56. Rg3+ Kf6 57. Rh3 Qc1 58. Nxd6 Qxb2+ 59. Kf1 a5 60. Nc4 Qa1+ 61. Ke2 a4 62. d6 Qd4 63. Rh6+ Kg7 64. Re6 Kxh7 65. Re7+ Kg6 66. d7 Bf6 67. Re6 a3 68. Nd6 Qb6 69. Bc4 a2 70. Bxa2 Qb2+ 71. Kf3 Kh5!!

 

-+-+-+-+
+-+p+-+-
-+-NrL-+
+-+-X-+j
-+-+p+-+
+-+-+k+-
bD-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
a miracle has occurred

72. Rxf6 Qc3+ 73. Kg2 Qd2+ 74. Rf2 Qxd6 75. Be6=

  …drawn on move 103!

 

Queen for two Rooks

Where the Rooks are connected and can cooperate in attacking Pawns, they are clearly stronger, and this is usually the case.

Janowski,D – Lasker,Emanuel (Paris) [C48] Q vs. 2 RR (Q with attack), 1909

-+-+tJ-+
+xXs+x+x
x+-X-P-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-P-+
+p+-+q+-
pBp+-KpP
+-+-T-+-
25. Qxb7

[25. Qh5 R1e2+

[25… R8e6 26. f5 R6e4 27. Bc3 R1e3 28. Qh6+ Ke8 29. Qxe3]

[25… R8e4 26. Bc3 R1e3 27. Qxh7 Ke8 28. h4]

[25… R8e3 26. Bc3]

26. Qxe2]

25… R1e2+ 26. Kf3 Rxc2 27. Bd4 a5 28. Qb5 Nc5 29. Qxa5 Nd3

[/\ …Ne1+ and …Rxg2]

30. Be3 d5

[/\ …Ne1+; Qxe1, d4]

31. Bd2 c5 32. Kg3 Nc1

[32… d4 33. f5 (/\ Bh6+ and Qb5) 33… Nc1

[33… Ne5 34. Bh6+ Kg8 35. Qb5 Rd8 36. Qf1 d3 37. Qe1 d2

[37… Nc6 38. Qe3]

38. Bxd2 Rcxd2 39. Qxe5]

34. Bh6+ Kg8 35. Qb5 Rd8 36. Qf1 Nxa2 37. Qf4]

33. Bxc1 1-0

[33. Bxc1 Rxc1 34. Qd2 when the d-pawn falls]

 

Ivanchuk V – Timman J [13, Tilburg] [A29] Q v RR, 1990

37. R1f7+

 

-+-+tR-+
+-Qs+rJx
-+-+-+-T
+p+-+-+d
-+-+-+-+
P-N-X-Pl
-+-+p+-X
+-B-+-+k
“White has no choice but to allow this liquidation, but the two Rooks are much stronger than the Queen.”

37… Qxf7 38. Rxf7+ Kxf7

 

-+-+t+-+
+-Qs+j+x
-+-+-+-T
+p+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
P-N-X-Pl
-+-+p+-X
+-B-+-+k
39. Qf4+ Kg6 40. Kxh2 Rh5 41. Qd6+ Nf6 42. Kg1 Rf5 43. Qd3

 

-+-+t+-+
+-+-+-+x
-+-+-Sj+
+p+-+t+-
-+-+-+-+
P-NqX-Pl
-+-+p+-+
+-B-+-K-
43… Kh5?

[43… Ree5!? just fails to mate]

[43… Kg7!]

44. g4+! Kxg4 45. Bxe3 Rg8 46. Kh2 Kh4 47. Bg5+

  (the move Timman had overlooked; the Black King is persistently misplaced)

47… Kxg5 48. Kxh3 Nh5?

“I was getting short of time at this point, and – worse – was still aiming to win.”

[48… Rg6!]

49. Nd5 Rg6 50. Qe3+ Nf4+ 51. Nxf4 Rxf4 52. b6 Kf5 53. Qc5+ Ke4 54. Qe7+ Kf5 55. Qxh7 Re4 56. b7 Re3+ 57. Kh4 1-0

 

A curiosity

Agust always says that you should teach chess backwards, like the Russians: learn how to mate with the King and two Queens against bare King, then King and Queen, then King and Rook…

  Agust also says he is glad he learned to mate with Bishop and Knight, and sorry he neglected the endgame of Bishop and Rook against Rook. Here’s another that many of us may have neglected…

 

Timman J – Speelman J (10, Linares) [D35] KBB v KN, 1992

66. Bxb5

 

-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-B
+b+k+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+jS-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
66… Nf5 67. Bf8 Ne3+ 68. Kd4 Ng2 69. Kd3 Nf4+ 70. Kd2 Ng2 71. Bc6+ Kf2 72. Bd6 Nh4 73. Bc5+ Kg3 74. Bb6 Ng2 75. Bd5 Nh4 76. Ke2 Kf4 77. Bb3 Nf5 78. Bc7+ Kg5 79. Be5 Kg4 80. Bc2 Ng3+ 81. Kf2 Nf5 82. Bd1+ Kg5 83. Kf3 Nh4+ 84. Ke4 Nf5 85. Ba4 Ne7 86. Bd7 Ng8 87. Bf4+ Kg6 88. Ke5 Nf6 89. Bb5 Kf7 90. Bc4+ Kg6 91. Ke6 1-0

  Timman in his notes regrets that the theory of this endgame indicates a win can be forced only after more than 50 moves, and so there is little incentive, under the restored 50-move rule, to study this type of endgame. He concludes:

“The chess world is becoming dull and superficial” — Timman

Just a half? Slav and Semi-Slav

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I’ve been discussing a choice of defence to 1.d4; defending classically with 1…d5 can’t be bad, but what to play after 2.c4?

The Slav (2…c6, ECO D10-D19) and Semi-Slav (…c6 with …e6, D43-D49) have a reputation for being solid, although the main lines of these systems are as sharp and bookish as any defence.  We’ve seen several lines contested in World Championship matches between Alekhin and Bogolyubow and Euwe; other lines have been examined in Kramnik’s matches (against Leko, Topalov and Anand) in recent years and, as you might imagine, the approaches have got quite sharp and sophisticated.

You can avoid all this lofty sophistication and go for solidity, but, as usual in chess, if Black declines to confront White in a theoretical line, Black must accept less than full dynamic equality.  There is no easy route to equality in chess; if there were, no-one would play the game!

This is a sort of bird’s-eye view of the Slav, with some hints for Black about some less common lines.  [See also How do you learn a new opening?, forthcoming]

ALL THE GAMES:

1 The ideas behind the Slav defence

1.1 Winning with the Slav

Both Slav/Semi-Slav: Grab the c-pawn

A rodeo variation… Grab something and try and hold on!

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(1000)” title=”QGD : Slav : Tolush-Geller Gambit”>Reefschlaeger H. – Huebner R. [D15]

Take the c-pawn…

…and, while White is recovering the material, get developed, maybe hit back with either …c5 or …e5.

This is a very important theme.  Black can often park their pieces on natural squares in the Slav and think themselves solid, but White’s centre can roll over the Black position.  So Black has to do something about White’s centre.  If you consider the pawn formation after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6, White can expand in the centre with e4.  Black can deter or defuse this advance by making their own assault on the centre with …e5 or …c5.  However, …e5 played now allows White to isolate the d-Pawn after 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.dxe5; a similar possibility exists after …e6 and …c5.  So, first Black plays ….dxc4 (Czech and Meran Variations), then hits back with …e5.  This is a delicate operation, since it leaves White with a dangerous central majority for a move or ten, so you will need to restrain White’s pawns in the manner of the hypermoderns.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10020)” title=”QGD : Slav : Carlsbad Variation”>Alekhin A – Euwe M [D17]

Here’s the other counterblow in a game where Black was happy, even a move behind:

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(1002)” title=”QGD : Slav : Soultanbeieff Variation”>Leko P. – Kramnik V. [D16]

[Not a bad surprise weapon, although probably a poor first choice for a defensive system.  Svidler, Kramnik’s second, got a couple of black eyes pushing his luck with it.]

Slav: early development of the Bc8

This is the main selling point of the pure Slav; we will solve the problem of where to place this wretched piece by developing it first, and then every other piece will fall into place (Nbd7 and Bd6 or Bb4).  A common post is f5, restraining the e-pawn which is liberated by …dxc4, or g4, pinning the Nf3.

1.2 Losing with the Slav (ideas for White):

[Gambit the c-pawn]

The brighter side of Black being tempted to grab it.  It was quite in Kasparov’s early style to sacrifice a pawn for the initiative:

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10021)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : Anti-Meran 4…dxc4″>Kasparov G. – Petursson M. [D44]

Current theory suggests this is better for Black, but at club level, the initiative is a more powerful weapon than “=+”.

Take over the centre

If Black is so good as to relinquish their stake in the centre, let White rejoice!

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10022)” title=”QGD : Slav : Soultanbeieff Variation”>Alekhin A – Bogoljubow E [D16]
  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10040)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : Meran, Reynold’s Variation”>Polugaevsky L. – Navarro [D48]

Harass the Black Queen’s Bishop

Similarly, if Black is so insistent on getting out the Bc8, then White can see it coming and work to take advantage of what may be a premature decision.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10018)” title=”QGD : Slav : 4.e3 Bf5″>Topalov V. – Kramnik V. [D12]

Semi-Slav: Gambit the d-pawn

Black has an option of delaying the development of the Ng8, and setting up a little triangle of pawns after 1…d5 followed by, in one order or another, 2…c6 and 3…e6.  This is a particularly handy move-order for Black if you think White might play an Exchange Variation, and essential if you want to play the Abrahams-Noteboom Variation. However, if White wishes to encourage Black to play …Nf6 (hoping perhaps to avoid the Noteboom) then 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 can be followed with 4.e4!?  Now 4…dxe4 5.Nxe4 will lead to a simple White plus unless Black grasps the nettle with 5…Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4.  Instead Black can dodge with 4…Bb4 5.e5 c5 (an old idea which I think is still holding up well enough, but maybe White will get on Black’s case before long).

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10041)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : Marshall Gambit”>Wood B. – Alexander C. [D31]

2 The Variations

2.1 The Big Four

The four big sharp main lines, all still in use at the top level, are:

Slav: Czech System (Krause Attack)

White tries to swamp the centre, Black may have to sacrifice to hold the balance.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10042)” title=”QGD : Slav : Wiesbaden Variation”>Kramnik V. – Lautier J. [D17]

Even if White plays less sharply, it’s by no means a calm game: take a look at this one!

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10049)” title=”QGD : Slav : Carlsbad Variation”>Kramnik V. – Morozevich A. [D17]

Someone commented ‘perhaps only Kramnik understands these positions’, but when asked the question about what is best for Black in 2006, he demurred:

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10011)” title=”QGD : Slav : Wiesbaden Variation”>Topalov V. – Kramnik V. [D17]

Semi-Slav: Noteboom Variation

In the Abrahams-Noteboom Variation, Black all but abandons the centre in favour of trying to score a try on the wing.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10027)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : Abrahams Variation”>Neverov V. – Kramnik V. [D31]

Semi-Slav: Meran Variation

A finely poised battle between central occupation and counterplay.  After the natural 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 a6 (Black can try instead 8…b4 or the uncommital 8…Bb7; there is also 8…Qc7) 9.e4 c5 White can play Reynold’s 10.d5 or 10.e5 cxd4 11.Nxb5…

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10012)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : Meran Variation”>Kramnik V. – Topalov V. [D47]

Semi-Slav: Botvinnik’s Anti-Meran Gambit

Even among GM theory, this is regarded as a poisonously complicated line, bewilderingly unbalanced.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10072)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : Anti-Meran, Denker”>Ponomariov R. – Shirov A. [D44]

All exhilarating stuff, but not for the faint-hearted and not to be undertaken lightly (i.e. only with a big book and a bigger database and preferably a team of seconds and perhaps a computer in the toilet).

 

I have seen top SW County players play all these lines (I’ve played one or two myself), but they can all draw you into a theoretical arms race where only the publishers win…   These variations have been around for a long while, I don’t suppose they’re likely to be refuted, but it seems the exact dance steps you need to stay upright change very often in some of these lines, even monthly.   So, rather than face the Botvinnik line, Black invented the Moscow Variation with 5…h6 (6.Bxf6), but now the Anti-Moscow (6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 9.h4!) is accreting layers of theory faster than a black hole in a galaxy centre…

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(1004)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : Hastings Variation”>Anand V. – Kramnik V. [D43]

2.2 Quieter play for White

Eschewing the arms race of theory, White has many quieter options, which a club player might prefer:

Slav: Czech system, Dutch Variation

White defers the attempt to take over the centre with e4 until development is complete.  I say ‘quieter’, but White can push the accelerator if they wish…  Nunn’s Chess Openings [NCO] says that after 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.O-O Nbd7 (discouraging Ne5), White can force a draw in some lines after 9.Qb3, so, if that’s an issue, then play 8…O-O to keep the three possible results alive.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(1009)” title=”QGD : Slav : Dutch Variation, Main Line”>Topalov V. – Kramnik V. [D19]

Slav: Slow Variation

I used to think of this as an unconvincing attempt by White to keep some play going in the Colle (1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bf5! 4.c4 c6); I’m tempted to name it the Colloid, in recognition of its gooey nature….  Now it turns out to be cutting-edge World Championship theory.   The continued interest by GMs in teasing out the subtleties of this line is lost on me, but let us put it down to the inexhaustible richness of the chessboard rather than a collective exercise in stodginess.  I guess while Black is solid, White is very flexible and has the two Bishops; Black must wait for White to reveal their plan.  Topalov stung Kramnik with an innovation in the middle of their 2006 match but neither side chose to repeat the line with either colour later in the match (Kramnik choosing the old 8.g3 and Topalov 8.Rb1: most cagey…).  4…Bf5 is natural but 4…Bg4 is OK and even 4…g6 is playable, although not a formation Slav players will be very familiar with.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10013)” title=”QGD : Slav : 4.e3 Bf5″>Topalov V. – Kramnik V. [D12]

Semi-Slav: Anti-Meran Stodge

White secures the centre but puts less pressure on Black.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10017)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : Stoltz Variation”>Kramnik V. – Topalov V. [D45]

White can be even more dull with 4.e3 e6 5.Nbd2, after which you can try 5…c5!?, hoping to sharpen the play.  As usual, it’s hard for Black to insist on active play if White wants a quiet game.

Having libelled this variation as ‘stodge’, I must mention that Shabalov came up with 7.g4!?, now known as the Latvian Bayonet after Shirov got hold of it.  Here’s an influential game:

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10054)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : Stoltz Variation”>Shirov A. – Fressinet L. [D45]

Since then, Shirov has been obliged to defend against his own weapon:

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10055)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : Stoltz Variation”>Radjabov T. – Shirov A. [D45]

It seems that, as White is likely to castle Queen’s-side, 7…Bb4 8.Bd2 c5! is also an effective antidote.

White has one last ‘slow’ option that is often seen as unspeakably dull:

Slav: Exchange Variation

Well there are still 30 bits on the board, you can still try and make something happen…

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(1005)” title=”QGD : Slav : Exchange, Trifunovic Variation”>Kramnik V. – Anand V. [D14]

These days there are some delicate negotiations about exactly when to exchange and whether Black can tease White by reserving options for the Bc8 with …a6:

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10048)” title=”QGD : Slav Defense : Exchange Variation”>Mozetic D. – Shirov A. [D10]

One example of the move order subtleties being negotiated is that after 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nc3, Black can play an improved version of the Winawer Counter-Gambit with 4…e5! [NCO]. So, White might prefer to play 3.Nc3 or 3.Nf3 before exchanging (but 3.Nc3 allows not just 3…e5?! but 3…dxc4!?).  Players of the Semi-Slav at least have the opportunity of recapturing with the e-pawn, which offers more unbalanced play.  Vigus says Black can chase the Bf4 with …Nh5, an idea played by Botvinnik and Basman…

2.3 Unconfrontational play by Black

Black can also avoid the sharpest lines.  For example, rather than face Botvinnik’s Anti-Meran Gambit, Black can dodge with 5…h6 (Moscow Variation) or slide out into the Queen’s Gambit Declined by 5…Nbd7, when, after 6.e3, 6…Qa5 is a Cambridge Springs and 6…Be7 is a true Orthodox.

Slav: Alternatives in the main line

James Vigus has built a repertoire book around the soild Sokolov Variation:  1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 Nb6 (rather than 7…Qc7), and that’s got to be worth a look.

There are other alternatives which are surely playable but perhaps not so dynamic.  I used be be a believer in the Bronstein (Steiner) variation with 5…Bg4; 6.e3 looks a bit limp, but after 6.e4 e5!? or 6…e6 and 7…Bb4 Black gets good play, and after 6.Ne5 Bh5 7.e3 or 7.g3 or 7.h3 Black can equalise.  This variation was recommended a long while ago in a repertoire book by Andy Soltis, and I’ve had a sort of avuncular interest in it over the years, but when I caught up with recent developments(*) it started to feel like too much of a struggle: too much theory for too little play.  NCO gives 5 rows for this variation, and lots of notes, the bottom line is +=… But you can always walk into a +=, it depends if you fancy it! Nikolic, Flear, Conquest  and Vigus have all dabbled in it over the years.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10028)” title=”QGD : Slav : Steiner Variation”>Schmidt W. – Stempin P. [D16]
  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10050)” title=”QGD : Slav : Steiner Variation”>Piket J. – Romanishin O. [D16]

(*) The current recommendation for White is to sharpen the game more, with 6.Ne5 Bh5 7.f3, after which there are complications and promising conclusions for White.  7…Nfd7!? has the bright idea of 8.Nxc4 e5! (9.dxe5? Qh4+) but even if, after 9.Ne4 Bb4+ 10.Bd2 Qe7 11.Bxb4 Qxb4+ 12.Qd2 Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 exd4 14.Ned6+ Ke7 15.Nf5, Black can hold with 15…Kd8, Sadler still reckons White has promising play after 9.g3, 9.Be3 and the bonkers 9.e4.

Cox suggests 9.g3 f6 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Qxd8 gives a small advantage, while 9.g3 Bb4 10.dxe5 O-O 11.Nh3 Qe7 12.f4!? (12.Bf4!?) is still up for grabs.

So perhaps Black should play the less common 7…e6 and hope either that White doesn’t have the bottle for 8.g4, or that it’s no worse a position to be in than many in the Slav.  White’s score from games at www.chesslive.de was pretty impressive, but GM Illescas managed to drop a game against it.  Cox reports the critical line is 8.g4 Nd5 9.e4 Qh4+ 10.Ke2 Nxc3+ 11.bxc3 Bxg6 which Burgess gives as unclear but Cox thinks is better for White.  Presumably people have pondered this over the years but the ChessBase site turned up exactly one Black win in that line, a correspondence encounter which continued instead 11…f6!?  Alternatively 8…Nfd7 was the line that Illescas lost to… Over to you!

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10064)” title=”QGD : Slav : Steiner Variation”>Tennant S. – Jacobs R. [D16]
  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10065)” title=”QGD : Slav : Steiner Variation”>Illescas Cordoba M. – Imanaliev T. [D16]

There are other choices here; 5…Na6 is a typically flexible try by Smyslov (with just one row of NCO) which has been played by other independent spirits like Ivanchuk and Nikolic and parochially Conquest, Speelman and Short (who beat Kramnik with it).  One point is 6.Ne5 Ng4! 7.Nxc4 e5!, so White normally submits to the …Bg4 pin with 6.e3 or the more characteristic 6.e4; after 6.e4 Bg4 7.Bxc4 Black can now or later double the f-pawns by 7…Bxf3, another theme typical of the variation.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10070)” title=”QGD : Slav : Smyslov Variation”>Kramnik V. – Ivanchuk V. [D16]
  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10073)” title=”QGD : Slav : Smyslov Variation”>Atalik S. – Nikolic P. [D16]

I’ve been watching local players get away with 5…a5 for years: it’s theoretically += but who knows the theory?  [6.e4 Bg4 7.Bxc4 e6 8.0-0 Bb4 9.Re1 Bxf3 10.gxf3 Nbd7 11.f4 0-0 12.Qf3+= (Sosonko)].  Bogolyubov’s 5…e6 is also probably ‘playable’ but abandons the main advantage of the Slav move order, namely, developing the Bc8.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10071)” title=”QGD : Slav Accepted : Alapin Variation”>Wheeler J. F. – Menadue J. F. S. [D16]

Semi-Slav: Alternatives to the Meran

Against the Tchigorin Variation with 6…Bd6, White often gets a space advantage which Black can patiently wrestle down.  As far as I understand it, White is currently recommended to play 7.e4 immediately, as 7.O-O O-O 8.e4 allows the familar counter-blow …dxc4 and …e5; with the Black King uncastled, this is riskier.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10029)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav (without Nc3)”>Polgar Z. – Donaldson J. [D46]

I wrote about the Tchigorin and Romih (6…Bb4) in a booklet many years ago. In these lines, you can write all the theory you need to know on the back of a postage stamp.  Maybe they’re short of full equality, but you can end up += in the main lines, too!  Perhaps a worse drawback is that you get less dynamic play.  The idea of the Romih is to deter e3-e4 and perhaps later return to the b8-h2 diagonal to support …e5.

Slav: Chebanenko Variation

The latest fashion in the Slav is the Chebanenko (Chamaeleon) variation with an early 4…a6, which is essentially a way of deferring a decision about any of those ideas and tempting White to make some sort of commitment first. I haven’t attempted to tackle any of this theory, but there are some recent books on it.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10034)” title=”QGD : Slav : 4…a6″>Gurevich D. – Hodgson J. [D15]

Early …a6s have been popping up all over the place, in fact. Here’s a line popular in the 1930s which has had renewed interest:

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10033)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : 6.Bd3″>Krainski A. – Popov V. [D46]

3 Playing Slav-style against hypermodern openings.

The main hypermodern systems are the Catalan, English and Réti openings.

Grabbing the c-pawn

The Closed Catalan with …c6 concedes space and initiative to White, but grabbing the c-pawn can be the usual rodeo ride.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10043)” title=”Catalan : Closed”>Butnorius A. – Pushkov N. [E06]
  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10036)” title=”English : Caro-Kann Defensive System”>Dzindzihashvili R. – Bagirov V. [A11]

Compare also:

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10026)” title=”Catalan : Open : 5.Nf3″>Lengyel – Karpov A. [E04]

…b5 against the Catalan.

Playing Semi-Slav with both …c6 and …e6 looks rather too modest against hypermodern systems; not exactly bad, but White can set up their position just as they wish then work out where to punch you.  There is a line with …c6 and …b5 which is easy enough to understand and might be worth a try:

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10039)” title=”Catalan : Closed (Qc2 & b3)”>Petrosian A. – Bischoff K. [E08]

Slav-style against the Réti with b3

The systems with …c6, …d5, …Nf6 and either …Bf5 or …Bg4 are well-respected tries against the Réti, with a long history:

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10025)” title=”English : Capablanca’s Variation”>Reti R. – Capablanca J. [A12]
  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10024)” title=”English : London Defensive System”>Reti R. – Lasker E. [A12]

Slav-style against the English and Réti without b3

The lines with an early development of the Bishop can run into trouble if White declines to defend the c-pawn and instead harasses the Bishop which has been developed to f5 or g4; the tempi saved by omitting b3 and d4 mean that White’s initiative is more difficult to contain.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10035)” title=”English : Caro-Kann Defensive System”>Romanishin O. – Suba M. [A11]
  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10037)” title=”Reti : King’s Indian Attack (…Bf5)”>Portisch L. – Smyslov V. [A07]

N.B. If White starts with 1.c4, you cannot guarantee to play a Slav system, because if 1…c6, perhaps 2.e4.  If Black goes ahead with  2…d5, the game can transpose into the Panov-Botvinnik Attack in the Caro-Kann 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4, or into a related variation with 4.cxd5.  Neither are bad for Black, but these are sharp lines which may be outside your repertoire.  If so, you may prefer to slide into a version of the Old Indian with 2…e5.

4 The Slav in club play

Club theory:

Many of us have a repertoire book on which we base our opening choices, so it would be worth checking out these lines too; working from the present to the past:

John Cox (2006) recommends playing proper grown-up chess against everything, so that means meeting the Slav with the Modern Ne5 and finding something against Morozevich’s fabulous 11…g5.  He then goes on to recommend the Botvinnik Anti-Meran Gambit and the Marshall Gambit.  [I honestly don’t know how suitable these lines are for people ‘starting out’; if your opponents allow you to enter such lines they may know enough to duff you up without ever playing a move of their own.]

Richard Palliser (2003) has recommended the Slow Slav with 4.e3 (against which I like to play 4…Bf5 while Vigus suggests 4…Bg4).  Palliser also honestly gives what may be an equalising line against his variation: Palliser,R (2455) – Houska,J (2386) [D12]
4NCL Telford ENG (4), 19.01.2003  1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Qb3 Qc7 7.Bd2 e6 8.Bb5+ Nbd7 (8…Nfd7!? DR) 9.0-0 a6 10.Bxd7+ Nxd7 11.Ne5 and now 11…Bc2 12.Qc3 Rc8

Angus Dunnington (2001) recommended the QGD Exchange Variation against the Semi-Slav while against the Slav itself chose the anti-theoretical 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 — not critical, but of course very playable.

Ray Keene and Byron Jacobs (1995) also recommended the QGD Exchange but also chose the Exchange against the Slav.

Like Cox, Graham Burgess and Steffen Pedersen,  recommend, in their thorough 1994 repertoire book, rather grown-up main lines across the board: 6.Ne5 against the Slav and the Marshall Gambit against the Semi-Slav, balking at the Botvinnik Anti-Meran but finding a promising early diversion (7.a4).

Glenn Flear suggested 5.Qb3 for White in 1988; I think 5…dxc4 6.Qxc4 b5 7.Qb3 Nbd7! is the recipe for Black.

So, be prepared for any of these… depending on when the most recent date that your opponent’s visit to a chess bookstall coincided with a rush of blood to the head.

Club practice:

I have a database of local games (see www.chessdevon.co.uk) and wondered what ordinary players adopted.  So, of 409 local games (with every standard of player from Minor to GMs), we had 270 Slavs and 112 Semis. White scores an absolutely average 55% against both defences (I believe White does a little better than this at GM level).

In the Slav, the single largest group was D10, a grab-bag of non-standard systems, followed by D13 (standard exchanges) and D15 (non-standard Czechs). In the Semi, the leading system was D45 (non-standard Semis).  I think the only conclusion we can draw is “so much for theory…”: our opponents are so busy fighting shy of whatever theory they think we know, that our inadequacies are unlikely to be exposed.  Just eight brave players negotiated with their opponents to play 4 examples  of the very main line of the Meran.

5 Heroes of the Slav

Capablanca played the Slav throughout his career, I think losing just one game.  [Avoiding loss doesn’t quite have the ‘heroic’ stamp about it, but is something many of us would settle for.] Contemporary supporters include Shirov, Anand and Kramnik of course, but if their stratospheric displays are more daunting than inspiring, it may be that we need to look elsewhere for a model to follow. Glenn Flear has played the Slav all his career, I think, and so his games and comments are always worth looking at.  Gurevich is a hero of the Semi-Slav, happy to play the sharpest lines of the Meran and Botvinnik.

  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10066)” title=”QGD : Slav : Dutch Variation, Main Line”>Ragozin V. – Capablanca J. [D19]
  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10067)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : 5…Nd7″>Stapfer J. – Capablanca J. [D45]
  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10068)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : Botvinnik Variation (…Nbd7)”>Johner P. – Capablanca J. [D46]
  • <ahref=”javascript:Gm(10069)” title=”QGD : Semi-Slav : 6.Bd3″>Saemisch F. – Capablanca J. [D46]

6 Slav variations

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 (or …e6 first, depending on how you feel about various versions of the Exchange)

3 4 5 6 7 8 Name (big four in heavy type)
cxd5 cxd5 Nf3 Nf6 Nc3 Nc6 Bf4 a6 Exchange Variation with …a6
… … Nc3 e5! Transposition to next row
Nc3 e5?! Winawer Counter-Gambit
dxc4!? (e4) Argentinian* Defence (Alekhin Variation)
Nf3 Nf6 Nc3 e6 Semi-Slav (transposes below)
dxc4 e3 (b5) Alekhin Gambit
e4 (b5) Tolush/Geller Gambit
Ne5 (b5) Bugadifino Gambit
a4 Bf5 e3 Czech System, Dutch Variation
Ne5 Czech System, Krause Attack
Bg4 Bronstein/Steiner Variation
Na6 Smyslov Variation
a5 Murey Variation
e6 Bogolyubov/Soultanbieff Variation
e3 Bf5 Slow Slav
Nc3 e6 e4 dxe4 Nxe4 Bb4+ Bd2 Qxd4 Bxb4 Qxe4 Marshall Gambit
Bb4 e4 c5 Anti-Marshall
Nf3 dxc4 a4 Bb4 Abrahams-Noteboom Variation
e6 e3 Nbd7 Qc2 Anti-Meran Stodge
(Qc2) Bd6 g4 Latvian Bayonet
Bd3 dxc4 Bxb4 b5 Bd3 Meran Variation
Bd6 Tchigorin Variation
Bb4 Romih Variation
a6 Alekhin Variation (yes, I know)
Bg5 dxc4 e4 b5 e5 Botvinnik Anti-Meran Gambit
a4 (Burgess-Pedersen)
h6 Moscow Variation
Nbd7 e3 Qa5 QGD Cambridge Springs Defence

* Vigus gives Argentinean, which is a spelling I’ve never seen before, so although Vigus has a PhD in spelling I will persist with this form. (Experts, what do they know, eh? I could live with Argentine Defence.)

7 So, Slav, or Semi-Slav?

  • If you prefer the main QGD Exchange to the Slav Exchange, or your previous defence was the QGD Orthodox, that’s a clear push for the Semi-Slav.
  • If you can’t bear to have a blocked Bc8, then play the Slav.
  • If you play the Caro-Kann or the Scandinavian with 2…Qxd5, then play the Slav; the French fits with the Semi-Slav.
  • If you play a lot of Colles, then the Semi is a natural partner.
  • If you’re happy attacking a big centre, try the Slav; the Semi-Slav seems to me to concede less ground.

8. Bibliography

As befits a player of my mature standing, all my books on the Slav are ancient and out of date (Harding, Flear, Silman & Donaldson…).  The Slav is pretty popular these days, and so are opening books, so I won’t recommend any of the books I actually own… Our younger readers might even prefer something databasey.  Depending on what depth of coverage you’re after:

CDs/DVDs

  • MARTIN: ABC of The Modern Slav
  • SHIROV: My Best Games in the Slav and Semi-Slav
  • ROGOZENKO: Slav Defence
  • [Chess Assistant]: Modern Chess Openings – Slav Defence
  • PLASKETT: …a6 Slav

Baby bear’s Porridge:

  • FLEAR: Starting out: Slav and Semi-Slav (ChessBase version available)
  • SADLER: The Slav
  • SADLER: The Semi-Slav
  • VIGORITO: Chess explained: Mainline Slav
  • VERA: Chess explained: Meran (Semi-Slav)

Mummy Bear’s Porridge:

  • PEDERSEN: Botvinnik Semi-Slav
  • FLEAR: Slav …a6
  • VIGORITO: Play the Semi-Slav
  • VIGUS: Play the Slav (ChessBase version available)
  • BOLOGAN: Chenanenko Slav

Daddy Bear’s Porridge:

  • BURGESS: The Slav
  • WELLS: The Complete Semi-Slav

9 Chess Book reviews:

After a soggy phase, it feels to me like the general standard of chess books has improved a lot, so I expect none of these books are bad, but in case you want to check the content and level suits you (specific books are listed before more inclusive sites with potentially several reviews):

The ideas behind the English Opening

Posted on by

I don’t like doing so many sessions on Openings, because we all
play different ones, but while Rex was asking me about the English
it occurred to me that I have played more English Opening games
than any other over the last 15-20 years, but I have never tried to
teach anybody about it. So I sat down and tried to put together
this session.

  I immediately realised why it wasn’t such a natural thing
to do, because the damn thing is so diffuse and complex. [I
wouldn’t dream of doing a session which I had narrowed down to
“1.d4”, even less so if there were vast transpositional
possibilities.] Anyhow, here’s tuppence-worth:

A1. Fools rush in…

The fundamental hypermodern insight is that White can afford to
delay occupation of the centre, since if Black tries to take
advantage of the delay by trying to sieze the centre then White’s
counterattack will be swift and effective. This is most
convincingly seen perhaps in the Grunfeld Reversed: not an English
variation I know, but shows what White can allow with confidence.
So, after 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6:

 

t+lDjLsT
Xx+-XxXx
-+s+-+-+
+-Xx+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+nP-
pPpPpPbP
RnBqK-+r

Korchnoi – Mecking, Augusta (Match), 1974: 4.
d4 e6 5. O-O cxd4 6. Nxd4 Bc5 7. Nb3 Bb68. c4 Nf6 9. cxd5 Nxd5
(…) 63. Be5 1-0
Korchnoi – Pomar, Stockholm, 1962: 4. d4 Nf6 5.
O-O Bf5 6. c4 e6 7. Nc3 Be7 8. cxd5 Nxd5(…) 41. Ke3 Ra3+
1-0

The English is a more balanced strategy combining early restraint
(of …d5) with later ambitions for expansion.

A2. An early break in the centre

The hypermodern movement has been most associated with the
fianchetto, but Reti’s interpretation of the English was a little
different. After 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 he would play
not 3. g3 but 3. Nf3, and after
3…Nc6, 4. d4!

EG: Reti,R – Rabinovich,I
[A28] Moscow-Wch, 1925

This may seem out of keeping with the hypermodern idea, but let’s
listen to Reti’s own account:

“Now I will propose a thesis, the proof of which the
reader and I can seek together. It is known that the significance
of a single tempo, and thus the significance of development, is
greatest in open positions. In closed positions it plays almost no
role. Consequently, it would seem to be in White’s interest to open
the game (without loss of tempo, of course). How can this be
achieved? Most likely by exposing and attacking the opponent’s
strong points. One would expect Black’s strongest point in the
center to be d5 since, unlike e5, it has natural protection by the
queen. Therefore, the ideal initial move is 1. c4, immediately
taking aim at d5. Should Black support d5 by l…Nf6, then White
reinforces the attack by 2. Nc3. Let’s assume that Black answers
2…e5. This weakens d5 and reveals his intention of building his
position around e5 by such moves as …Nc6 and …d6. (Even with
2…e6 he could not control d5 in the long run.) Now White need not
continue attacking d5, which Black abandoned without a fight, by 3.
g3 and 4. Bg2. Rather, following the logic given above, White
should strike the new bastion e5 by 3. Nf3 and (in reply to 3…d6
or …Nc6) 4. d4, and he thereby achieves an advantage.”

[reprinted in Virginia Chess,
Sept/Oct 1993][Jerry Lawson].

  It’s not much played any more (but may be worth a punt
now and then); we are more likely to see the same idea (of playing
for a central break and development advantage) in a different
setting in the English:

EG: Kasparov,Gary –
Beliavsky,A (9) Linares, 1991
EG: Kasparov,Gary – Korchnoi,
Viktor, Skelleftea, 1989

You will remember Chris showing a dozen miniatures from the English
Opening in a coaching session last month, when we saw how racy
attacks can be obtained even with this apparently slow opening.

A3. Delayed occupation of the centre

This is more how we play the English these days.

 

-+p+-+-+
+-N-P-P-
pP-PnPbP
R-Bq+rK-

My first experiments with the English opening had a distinguished
English pedigree: Howard Staunton often practiced the English with
the system 1. c4 2. Nc3 3. g3 4. Bg2 and
5. e3, with a break using d2-d4 in mind. I enjoyed
the following game where Black seems to be playing 100% according
to the guidelines for opening play:

Korchnoi-Szabo, 1963

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 Bc5 4.Bg2 O-O 5.e3 Re8 6.Nge2 Nc6
7.O-O d6

  Black has apparently posted his pieces and Pawns with
classical purity, but gets rapidly squashed.

8.d4 Bb6 9.h3 Bf5 {?} 10.d5 Nb8 11.g4 Bd7 12.Ng3
h6 13.Kh2 a5 14.f4 exf4 15.exf4 Nh7

 

tS-Dt+j+
+xXl+xXs
-L-X-+-X
X-+p+-+-
-+p+-Pp+
+-N-+-Np
pP-+-+bK
R-Bq+r+-

Nothing is left of Black’s early central occupation, and White
seems to have at least nine Pawns harrassing Black’s pieces…

16.g5 Na6 17.gxh6 Qh4 18.hxg7 Nf6 19.f5 Be3
20.Nce4 {!} 20…Nxe4 21.Nxe4 Bxc1 22.Rxc1 Nc5 23.Qg4 Rxe4 24.Bxe4
Qxg4 25.hxg4 Nxe4 26.Rce1 Nc5 27.f6 Re8 28.Rxe8+ Bxe8 29.Re1 Ba4
30.Re3 (threat Rh3) 1-0

  The light squares like d3 in the Staunton system are not
so very weak because Black cannot occupy or fix the Pawns. The most
obvious way to try is to get a Pawn to e4, but this cannot be
sustained:

  Shatskes gives:

Botvinnik M – Simagin Vladimir (RUS) [A25]
Ch URS, Moscow (Russia), 1952

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 f5 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. e3 Be7 6. d4 e4
7. f3 O-O! 8. Nge2

[8. fxe4 fxe4 9. Nxe4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Bb4+ 11. Bd2
Qe7]

8… Bb4 9. O-O Bxc3 10. Nxc3 exf3 11. Qxf3 d6
12. Bd2 Bd7 13. Rae1 Qe8

 

t+-+dTj+
XxXl+-Xx
-+sX-S-+
+-+-+x+-
-+pP-+-+
+-N-PqP-
pP-B-+bP
+-+-RrK-

14. Qd1! Qg6 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. cxd5 Ne7 17. Qb3 b6 18. Rc1
Rac8 19. Rc3!+/- (…) 43. Kd1 1/2-1/2

  I was able to implement these ideas many years ago
against Bob Richmond, when after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3
f5 4. d4 e4 5. Nh3 Nf6 6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Bg5 c6 9.
f3 White had good prospects: Black’s centre is under
pressure. See also the Keres system, B5a
below.

  This Staunton approach can lead to some interesting and
finely balanced positions. I once got into a real mess against
Richard Nash of Barnstable playing this approach…

1. c4 e5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Ne7 5. e3
Nbc6 6. Nge2 d6 7. d4

 

t+lDj+-T
XxX-SxLx
-+sX-+x+
+-+-X-+-
-+pP-+-+
+-N-P-P-
pP-+nPbP
R-BqK-+r

I immediately looked it up to see what I had done wrong. I have an
old book by Shatskes which quotes an analysis from Botvinnik, and a
new book by Ribli and Kallai. Are two heads better than one? They
both identified my mistake but then gave completely opposite
advice!

7… exd4 8. Nxd4?! An error.
8… O-O 9. O-O Re8

[9… Bd7 10. Nde2 Qc8 11.Nf4 Ne5 12. Qe2 Re8 13. Bd2
c6 14. Ne4 Qc7 15. Bc3 Rad8 16. h3 d5 += smyslov-radulovic
1964]

10. b3 ? 10… Nxd4 11. exd4 Nf5 =+ (…) 40.
1/2-1/2

[Better is

8. exd4! O-O 9. O-O

 

t+lD-Tj+
XxX-SxLx
-+sX-+x+
+-+-+-+-
-+pP-+-+
+-N-+-P-
pP-+nPbP
R-Bq+rK-

But what now?

9… Nf5 “?” botvinnik “!” ribli

(9 … Bg4″!” = botvinnik “?” ribli – although there
are probably still finesses to be found:

Now if 10. h3 Bxe2 11. Nxe2 Nf5 12. d5 Ne5 13. Qc2
Re8 ( “!” shatskes ) 14. Bd2 a5 15. Rad1 ( “!” ribli ) 15… Qb8
16. Bc1 Qa7 17. Be4 Ne7 18. Be3 Qa6 19. b3 a4 20. Nc3 axb3 21. axb3
b6 22. Nb5 Qc8 23. Kh2 Nd7 24. Rfe1 Nc5 25. Bf3 Nf5 26. Bg4 ! +=
uhlmann-taimanov 1984]

10. d5 Ne5 11. b3 a5 ?

(11 … a6; 12 Bb2, b5; 13 cxb5, axb5; 14 Qc2, b4; 15
Ne4, Ba6 botvinnik ; 11 …b5!? seirawan)

12. Bb2 Nd7 13. a3 Nc5 14. b4 Nd7 15. Qb3
botvinnik-reshevsky 1938]

  This is why the English is such a fine opening: there is
great flexibility and scope for creativity for each side, which is
why old foxes like Viktor Kortchnoi can win from either side.

  One last example of a delayed occupation proving
effective

EG: Speelman Jonathan – Xu Jun
[A35] Luzern 48/50, 1989

A4. The Queen’s-side attack

-Pp+-+-+
+-Np+nP-
p+-+pPbP
+rBq+rK-

The White set-up with g3 can also be seen in Black’s main system in
the Closed Sicilian, where a Queen’s-side attack can be pursued,
based on the fianchettoed Bishop.

EG: Miles-Belyavsky.

A5. Botvinnik system for White

-+p+p+-+
+-NpB-Pp
pP-+nPb+
R-+q+rK-

This is an interesting system pioneered by Nimzovitch and
Botvinnik, conceding an apparently permanent weak point at d4 but
gaining a firm grip on the centre and hoping to keep Black’s
activity to a minimum while seeking a break with b2-b4 or f2-f4. I
have played this on many occasions and have often won by direct
attack on the King’s-side. Perhaps the best advertisement for this
system at club level is the fact I always find it difficult to play
against, even if I know what’s coming!

EG: Botvinnik,Mikhail –
Scherbakov,Vitaly [A16] , Moscow ch-SU Round: 3 Year: 1955
EG: Benko,Pal – Botvinnik,Mikhail
[A10] , Monte Carlo Year: 1968
EG: Williams,SK (1990) – Regis,D.
(1935) [A36] 1994

A6. The Maroczy bind

One common positional theme against the symmetrical English is the
Maroczy Bind: Black found this difficult to play against for years
because of lack of prospects for active play, although recently the
‘hedgehog’ formation has proved its resilience.

EG: Fischer,R – Spassky,B (8)
[A39] Reykjavik-Wch, 1972
EG: Regis,D. – Richard Dixon
(Corr_92/93) [B36] Devon Vs. Glos.(Ward-Higgs I), 1993
EG: Vukic Milan – Suba Mihai
[A30]Vinkovci, 1977

There is an interesting formation where White immediately threatens
the Maroczy even when Black has not fianchettoed the Bf8:

EG: Korchnoi V – Spassky B
[A33] Beograd m/3, 1977

[…]

B. Playing
against the English opening.

There are three major branches after 1. c4: 1…e5, 1…c5, and
1…Nf6. (There are others, like 1…g6 and 1…e6, or 1…f5 or
1…c6 or 1…g5 …)

  It depends on what style you prefer to play, and how you
like to reply to 1. d4.

  1…e5 would suit a 1.e4 player who likes to attack,
especially if they play (as White) the Closed Sicilian or (as
Black) the Dutch or King’s Indian. I think this is the best
approach for beginners.

  1…c5 would suit a Sicilian player who has the patience
for a longer game but doesn’t mind drawing occasionally.

  1…Nf6 would suit a player who is angling for a version
of their favourite Indian defence.

  Of the others the most important is 1…e6 (or 1…Nf6,
2…e6), an invitation to transpose into the Queen’s Gambit; if
Black also plays the Tarrasch Defence it can be hard for White to
avoid transposing into it, since the main line of the Tarrasch
involves g2-g3!

  After 1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 I don’t often play 3.cd; rather,
after 1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. b3, we are in a position that is meat
and drink to the English/Reti player. It’s not easy for Black to
get organised without either taking on a space disadvantage, or
going for more space but exposing their centre to attack. It’s a
solid enough line but a little difficult to handle, and I would
push club players and juniors towards more active and
counter-attacking lines. The choice that each player has over their
set-up reminds me of the old Arabic version of chess, where
pre-determined formations (mansubat) could be chosen
separately by either side.

B1. An early break in the centre for
Black

tSlDjL-T
XxX-XxXx
-+-+-S-+
+-+x+-+-
-+p+-+-+
Black can play …Nf6 and …d5 immediately (Grunfeld reversed) or
try and combine it with an early …e5 or …c5. White cannot stop
…d5 on move 2 or 3 so all of these systems are playable:

 

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. g3

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 (now 4.
e4 Nb4 5. Bc4 is a fun line!)

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 (or 3. g3)
3…d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 (the Reversed Open
Sicilian)

  Provided Black is not too ambitious, this can’t be a bad
idea, but if you know how important a tempo can be to Black in the
normal Open Sicilian, it’s a good arena in which White can play for
a win.

EG: Karpov,Anatoly –
Hjartarson,Johann [A22] , Seattle m Round: 2 Year: 1989
EG: Botvinnik,Mikhail –
Portisch,Lajos [A22] , Monte Carlo Round: 7 Year: 1968
EG: Kasparov, Gary – Kortchnoi, V
(1) [A34] Skelleftea, 1989

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5
Nxd5

  This last line can lead to…

B2. An early occupation of the centre: the
Maroczy Bind for Black(!)

This system is named the Rubinstein system but is also associated
with Botvinnik.

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2
Nc7

  Black now can hope to arrange …e5 with a Maroczy
Bind.

EG: Goldberg, G – Botvinnik,
Mikhail M [A34] USSR, 1945
EG: Langeweg – Korchnoi,
Amsterdam, 1972

B3. An early occupation of the centre:
solid

tSlDjLsT
Xx+-+xXx
-+x+x+-+
+-+x+-+-
Of course, if Black is hoping to equalise first rather than play
for an ambitious centre, the systems with …d5 supported by the c-
or e-Pawn offer a serious challenge to White: can White do any
better than transpose to a normal Queen’s-Pawn opening? The usual
bids to retain separate lines of play involve

b2-b3, with variations that are usually classified as part of
Reti’s system.

EG: Kasparov,G (2740) –
Karpov,An (2700) (24) [A14] Wch34-KK4 Sevilla, 1987
EG: Fischer,Robert –
Filip,Miroslav [A14] Palma de Mallorca iz Rd: 4, 1970

B4. Symmetrical play by Black

After 1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 either side can try an
early break with the d-Pawn (e.g. 1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4
cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5!? 5. Nb5!?). However, the fundamental
position of the symmetrical English occurs after

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2
Bg7

  This is the Main Line Closed Symmetrical
English. In this position White has tried many plans:
Queen’s-side attack with 5. a3 or 5. Rb1, Staunton system with 5.
e3, Botvinnik system with 5. e4 are all common approaches, and
Black has tried each in defence (e.g. 5. e3 e5,
Staunton vs. Botvinnik!). Fischer often practiced the Staunton
system as Black:

EG: Smyslov,V – Fischer,R
[A36] Palma de Mallorca izt, 1970
EG: Petrosian,T – Fischer,R (2)
[A37] Belgrade URS-WORLD, 1970

This is undoubtedly a good defense for Black: its biggest defect is
that 5. e3 e6 (Staunton vs. Staunton) is often taken as an implicit
draw offer, since 6. Nge2 Nge7 7. O- O O- O 8. d4 cxd4 9.
Nxd4 Nxd4 10. exd5 d5 is hard to see as anything else. Ulf
Andersson has tried to find a way through here by delaying castling
(7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 d5 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 Nxd4 11. Nc3 Nc6
12. Qxd8+ Nxd8 13. Bd2 +=) and beat Tony Miles with it. The
same approach in a different line can be seen in Ulf’s game against
Tempone below.

  One of the most popular modern systems for Black is the
Hedgehog: allowing White the Maroczy bind while retaining a
flexible position and angling for a break with …d5 or …b5.
White’s Pawn formation seems to be well-placed to counter these
plans, and indeed it is – this is what gives the Maroczy Bind its
teeth – but it does not sit totally comfortably with the Bishop on
g3. On d3 it would inhibit …b5 and support f4-f5, while on g3 it
certainly discourages …d5 but White can not as easily find a
positive plan.

B5. Unbalanced play by Black: the King’s
English with …Nf6

1. c4 e5 is the most radical and least
transpositional of Black’s replies. It is of course at least as
rich as the Sicilian, although most players of Black are more
bashful about taking on the White position. This is really worth a
book but I’ll outline a few of the most common ideas for Black. One
way of looking at the systems are whether Black aims to keep things
closed with …Nc6 (and often …Nge7), or instead tries to develop
the King’s-side starting with …Nf6.

 

B5a. Seeking early central control with
…c6 and …d5

This system bears the name of Keres. It is perhaps the most
successful implementation of Black’s plan to occupy the centre.

EG: Hartston W R – Basman M J
[A23] It, Hastings, 1967

There is even an evil gambit for Black in this line…

EG: Baker,C – Birnboim,N
[A20] London, 1987

B5b. Seeking rapid flexible
development

tSlDj+-T
XxXx+xXx
-+-+-S-+
+-+-X-+-
-Lp+-+-+
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Bb4

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bb4

 

…In each case enabling an early King’s-side castling. This and
related systems have been featured in World Championship matches.

  That subtle player Smyslov developed a system 1.
c4 e5 2. Nc6 d6 which seeks a useful early development of
the other Bishop with …Bg4 or
…Be6.

EG: Olafsson,Fridrik –
Smyslov,Vasily V (2) [A21] Yugoslavia ct, 1959
EG: Petrosian T – Smyslov V (03)
[A21] JUG ct, 1959

B6. Unbalanced play by Black: the King’s
English with …Nc6

t+lDjLsT
XxXx+xXx
-+s+-+-+
+-+-X-+-
The equivalent fundamental positions of the King’s English occur
after:

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7
(The main line Closed King’s English) or

 

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6 (English Four
Knights’ Game)

 

B6a. The main line Closed King’s
English

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7

  Again White has a choice of systems. The Staunton
approach has a little more sting here than in the Symmetrical. This
is of course similar to the Closed Sicilian…

EG: Psakhis – Kasparov [A10]
La Manga, 1990.

B6b. English Four Knights’ Game

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6

  This rich position has many possibilities for each side.
We have seen 4. d4 above, which is OK for Black these days…

EG: Knee – Povah N [A28]
Hereford, 1978

After 4. g3 Black has been fairly successful with
another Smyslov system, 4…Bb4, when Black
fancies the Nimzo approach of doubling the c-Pawns and blockading
the position against the Bishops. So successful, in fact, that
White had tried a variety of ways of avoiding it, most notably with
4. e3. Now here 4…Bb4 is of
course still a perfectly reasonable idea, but White can now sidle
the Queen across with 5. Qc2 to avoid the doubled
Pawns.

  This and related systems have been featured in World
Championship matches.

EG: Kasparov,G (2740) –
Karpov,An (2700) (04) [A29 ] Wch34-KK4 Sevilla, 1987
EG: Kasparov,G (2740) – Karpov,An
(2700) (16) [A29] Wch34-KK4 Sevilla, 1987
EG: Kasparov,G (2740) – Karpov,An
(2700) (02) [A29] Wch34-KK4 Sevilla, 1987

B7. Indian-style defences:

B7a. Grunfeld style

See above (early break in the centre for Black): if Black plays
…c5 or …e5 we will transpose; there are ways for White to avoid
the transposition with an early e2-e4.

EG: Andersson Ulf – Tempone
Marcelo [A16] 04, Buenos Aires, 1979

B7b. King’s Indian style

This is a very resilient and flexible system which invites
transposition to the Fianchetto system of the King’s Indian. This
may be the best idea for White; I have found it hard to play
standard English plans against the King’s Indian. The Staunton
approach in particular does not present Black with many problems,
and playing for a Queen’s-side attack always gives White anxious
moments when the counter-attack sets in.

EG: Petrosian,T – Vasiukov,E
Moscow ch, 1956

I have enjoyed the Botvinnik system against the King’s Indian, and
Black Kings, if they cannot see f2-f4-f5 coming, can be equally
brutally dismissed.

 

B7c. Nimzo-Indian style

Given the flexibility and solidity of the Nimzo, it makes a lot of
sense to apply the same strategy against the English. The play is
significantly different in that White can play d2-d3, and if White
avoids the doubled Pawns with a Queen move, there is no Pawn on d4
to counterattack. Korchnoi had this to say:

“Nearly five years ago I started to use the opening
system 1. c4 e5. This is quite a good system with which to reach an
equal position, but when it had been analysed to death by other GMs
I became bored with it and adopted a different system using my own
move order. The play has some delicate features I don’t fully
understand…”

EG: Langeweg-Korchnoi,
1976

B7d. Queen’s Indian style

Karpov refined many of the ideas in this system in early matches
against Korchnoi. It seems Black can achieve equality.

EG: Kortschnoj,V – Karpov,An
(03) [A17] Moscow cf (Wch), 1974

B7e. Dutch style

It is also possible to play the 1…e5 line with an early …f5,
rather like the White system against the Sicilian developed by
Vincken and often known as the Grand Prix Attack.

EG: Saidy,Anthony –
Fischer,Robert [A25] New York, 1969
EG: Kool – Hodgson [A21] London,
1989
EG: Smart – Hodgson [A21]
England, 1984

This presents many of the same challenges as the King’s
Indian-style system: if White will not occupy the centre and
transpose into the main lines of the Dutch, Black may have a freer
hand to play the King’s-side attack. White must pursue the attack
on the Queen’s-side with extra vigour…

EG: Miles,T – Chaves,J [A27]
Sao Paulo, 1977

However, I believe that White’s extra move and Black’s early
commitment will probably allow White to absorb the aggression and
attack the Black Pawns, as I described in the section on the
Staunton System, and it is better to play without such a fixed idea
of a King’s-side attack.

  There are several interesting early deviations by Black
after 1. c4 e5, including the evil Bellon Gambit, as we see in the
example games:

EG: Uhlmann W – Dobosz H
(0.17) [A22] DDR-Polska, 1974
EG: Plaskett J – Hempson P W
[A22] It, ENG, 1988
EG: Reshevsky,S – Bellon Lopez,J
[A22] Palma, 1971
EG: Karpov,Anatoly –
Anand,Viswanathan (2) Linares, 1991

Example Games

An early break in the centre (A2)

Reti,R – Rabinovich,I [A28] Moscow-Wch,
1925

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. d4

 

t+lDjL-T
XxXx+xXx
-+s+-S-+
+-+-X-+-
-+pP-+-+
+-N-+n+-
pP-+pPpP
R-BqKb+r

4… exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. g3 O-O 7. Bg2 d5 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9.
O-O Bxc3 10. bxc3 Ba6 11. Qa4 Bxc4 12. Qxc6 Qd7 13. Qxd7 Nxd7 14.
Rd1 Nb6 15. Bf4

 

t+-+-Tj+
X-X-+xXx
-S-+-+-+
+-+x+-+-
-+l+-B-+
+-P-+-P-
p+-+pPbP
R-+r+-K-

15… c6 16. Rd2 Rfe8 17. Kf1 Bb5 18. Rb1 Re7 19. Bf3 Rae8
20. Ke1 Re6 21. e3 Ba6 22. Bg4 Re4 23. Rd4 c5 24. Rd2 g5 25. f3 Rc4
26. Bxg5 Rxc3 27. Kf2 f6 28. Bh6 Bd3 29. Rb3 Rxb3 30. axb3 c4 31.
bxc4 dxc4 32. e4 Re7 33. Ra2 Kf7 34. Bf5 Ke8 35. g4 Rb7 36. Be3 c3
37. Ra3 Nc4 38. Rxc3 Rb2+ 39. Kg3 Nxe3 40. Rxd3 Nf1+ 41. Kf4 Rxh2
42. Rd1 Nd2 43. Be6 Re2 44. Rh1 Ke7 45. Bd5 Kd6 46. Rxh7 Rf2 47.
Ke3 Rg2 48. Rxa7 Nf1+ 49. Kf4 Ng3 1-0

Kasparov,Gary – Beliavsky,A (9) Linares,
1991

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 c5 4. e5 Ng8 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. d4
cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nxe5 8. Ndb5

 

t+lDjLsT
Xx+x+xXx
-+-+x+-+
+n+-S-+-
-+p+-+-+
+-N-+-+-
pP-+-PpP
R-BqKb+r

This gambit, pioneered by Tony Miles, has also been taken up by
Kasparov.

8… a6 9. Nd6+ Bxd6 10. Qxd6 f6 11. Be3 Ne7 12.
Bb6 Nf5 13. Qc5 d6 14. Qa5 Qd7 15. f4 Nc6 16. Qa3 e5 17. Bd3 O-O
18. O-O exf4 19. Rxf4 Nfe7 20. Rd1

 

t+l+-Tj+
+x+dS-Xx
xBsX-X-+
+-+-+-+-
-+p+-R-+
Q-Nb+-+-
pP-+-+pP
+-+r+-K-

Classic Kasparov: complex, dynamic, penetrating.

20… Ng6 21. Rff1 Nge5 22. Be4 Qf7 23. b3 Be6
24. Qxd6 Kh8 25. Qc7 Qxc7 26. Bxc7 Rf7 27. Bb6 Re8 28. h3 Rd7 29.
Nd5 Rc8 30. g4 Ng6 31. Kh2 Nce5 32. a4 Rd6 33. a5 Nd7 34. Nc7
1-0

Delayed occupation of the centre
(A3)

Speelman Jonathan – Xu Jun [A35] Luzern
48/50, 1989

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6?!

 

t+lDjLsT
Xx+xXx+x
-+s+-+x+
+-X-+-+-
-+p+-+-+
+-N-+n+-
pP-PpPpP
R-BqKb+r

4. e3! d6 5. d4 cxd4 6. exd4 Bg4 7. Be2 Bg7 8. O-O Nh6 9.
d5 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 Ne5 11. Be4 f5 12. Bc2

 

t+-Dj+-T
Xx+-X-Lx
-+-X-+xS
+-+pSx+-
-+p+-+-+
+-N-+-+-
pPb+-PpP
R-Bq+rK-

12… O-O 13. Ne2 Nxc4 14. Nd4 Rf6 15. Bb3 Rc8 16. Re1 Ng4
17. h3 Nge5 18. Re2 Rc5 19. Bg5 Qa5 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21. Rc1 Kh8 22.
Bxc4 Rxc4 23. Ne6 Kg8 24. Rxe5 1-0

The Queen’s-side attack (A4)

Miles – Beliavsky [A26] Hastings_1974-5,
1974

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Nf3 Nf6
7. O-O O-O 8. Rb1 h6 9. b4 Be6

 

t+-D-Tj+
XxX-+xL-
-+sXlSxX
+-+-X-+-
-Pp+-+-+
+-Np+nP-
p+-+pPbP
+rBq+rK-

10. b5 Ne7 11. a4 Qc8 12. Ba3 Nd7 13. Nd2 Rb8 14. Nd5
Re8

 

-Td+t+j+
XxXsSxL-
-+-Xl+xX
+p+nX-+-
p+p+-+-+
B-+p+-P-
-+-NpPbP
+r+q+rK-

15. Ne4! f5 16. Nec3 Kh7 17. a5 Bf7 18. Nxe7 Rxe7

 

-Td+-+-+
XxXsTlLj
-+-X-+xX
Pp+-Xx+-
-+p+-+-+
B-Np+-P-
-+-+pPbP
+r+q+rK-

19. b6! axb6 20. axb6 Ra8 21. Nb5 Nxb6 22. Nxd6

 

t+d+-+-+
+xX-TlLj
-S-N-+xX
+-+-Xx+-
-+p+-+-+
B-+p+-P-
-+-+pPbP
+r+q+rK-

22… Qe6? 23. Qc1 cxd6 24. Rxb6 e4 25. Rxd6 Qe5 26. Rb6
Qa5 27. Rb3 Qa4 28. Bxe7 Qxb3 29. Qb1

 

t+-+-+-+
+x+-BlLj
-+-+-+xX
+-+-+x+-
-+p+x+-+
+d+p+-P-
-+-+pPbP
+q+-+rK-

29… Qa4? 30. Qxb7 Ra7 31. Qb4 Qd7 32. Bd6 Ra2 33. dxe4
Rb2 34. Qc5 fxe4 35. Bxe4 Rxe2

 

-+-+-+-+
+-+d+lLj
-+-B-+xX
+-Q-+-+-
-+p+b+-+
+-+-+-P-
-+-+tP-P
+-+-+rK-

36. Bd5! Rc2 37. Bf4 Bxd5 38. Qxd5 Qa7 39. Be3 Qa2 40. Rc1
Rxc1+ 41. Bxc1 Qb1 42. Qd2 Bf8 43. Qb2 Qe4 44. Qc3 Bg7 45. Qb4! Bd4
46. Ba3 Qd3 47. Qb7+ Kh8 48. Qc8+ Kh7 49. Qd7+ Kh8 50. Qe8+ Kh7 51.
Qf7+ Kh8 52. Be7 Bg7 53. Qd5 Qb3 54. h4 Kh7 55. Bc5 h5 56. Be3 Qb1+
57. Kg2 Qb3 58. Qc6 1-0

Botvinnik system for White (A5)

Botvinnik,Mikhail – Scherbakov,Vitaly [A16]
EO 14.2, Moscow ch-SU Round: 3 Year: 1955

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Nge2
e5 7. O-O Nbd7 8. d3 Nc5 9. f4 c6 10. h3 Ne6

 

t+lD-Tj+
Xx+-+xLx
-+xXsSx+
+-+-X-+-
-+p+pP-+
+-Np+-Pp
pP-+n+b+
R-Bq+rK-

11. f5 Nd4 12. g4 Ne8 13. Be3 a6 14. Qd2 b5 15. Bg5 Bf6 16.
Bxf6 Nxf6 17. Nxd4 exd4 18. Ne2 Qb6 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Qh6 Bd7 21.
g5

 

t+-+-Tj+
+-+l+x+x
-DxX-SxQ
+x+-+pP-
-+-Xp+-+
+-+p+-+p
pP-+n+b+
R-+-+rK-

21… Nh5 22. Nf4 Ng7 23. f6 1-0

Benko,Pal – Botvinnik,Mikhail [A10] EO 18.4,
Monte Carlo Year: 1968

1. c4 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 e5 4. Nc3 Ne7 5. e4 d6 6. Nge2
Nbc6 7. d3 f5 8. Nd5 O-O 9. Be3 Be6 10. Qd2 Qd7 11. O-O

 

t+-+-Tj+
XxXdS-Lx
-+sXl+x+
+-+nXx+-
-+p+p+-+
+-+pB-P-
pP-QnPbP
R-+-+rK-

11… Rf7 12. Rac1 Raf8 13. f4 fxe4 14. dxe4 Nc8 15. c5 Bh3
16. b4 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 exf4 18. gxf4 Re8 19. Ng3 h5 20. b5 N6e7 21.
f5 h4 22. fxg6 Rxf1 23. Rxf1 hxg3 24. Rf7 Be5 25. Bd4 Qg4 26. Rf4
Qh5 27. Bxe5 Qxh2+ 28. Kf3 Qxd2 29. Nf6+ Kg7 30. Nxe8+ Kxg6 31.
Rf6+ Kh7 32. Bxg3 Qd3+ 33. Kf2 Qxb5 34. cxd6 Qxe8 0-1

Williams,SK (1990) – Regis,D. (1935) [A36]
1994

1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. e4 d6 6. Nge2
Nf6 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 Ne8

[8… Bd7]

9. Be3 Nd4 10. Rb1 a5 11. a3 Nc7 12. b4 axb4 13.
axb4 Nxe2+ 14. Nxe2 Ne6 15. Qd2 Nd4 16. Nxd4 cxd4 17. Bh6 e5 18.
Bxg7 Kxg7 19. f4 f5

 

t+lD-T-+
+x+-+-Jx
-+-X-+x+
+-+-Xx+-
-PpXpP-+
+-+p+-P-
-+-Q-+bP
+r+-+rK-

Black’s textbook occupation of d4 has only led to hobbled Pawns

…1-0 (38)

The Maroczy bind (A6)

Fischer,R – Spassky,B (8) [A39]
Reykjavik-Wch, 1972

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. O-O
O-O 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 d6 10. Bg5 Be6 11. Qf4 Qa5 12.
Rac1 Rab8 13. b3 Rfc8 14. Qd2 a6 15. Be3

 

-Tt+-+j+
+x+-XxLx
x+-XlSx+
D-+-+-+-
-+p+-+-+
+pN-B-P-
p+-QpPbP
+-R-+rK-

15… b5 16. Ba7 bxc4 17. Bxb8 Rxb8 18. bxc4 Bxc4 19. Rfd1
Nd7 20. Nd5 Qxd2 21. Nxe7+ Kf8 22. Rxd2 Kxe7 23. Rxc4 Rb1+ 24. Bf1
Nc5 25. Kg2 a5 26. e4 Ba1 27. f4 f6 28. Re2 Ke6 29. Rec2 Bb2 30.
Be2 h5 31. Rd2 Ba3 32. f5+ gxf5 33. exf5+ Ke5 34. Rcd4 Kxf5 35.
Rd5+ Ke6 36. Rxd6+ Ke7 37. Rc6 1-0

Regis,D. – Richard Dixon (Corr_92/93) [B36]
Devon Vs. Glos. (Ward-Higgs I), 1993

1. c4 g6

  ( I knew a game of Portisch’s which I had in mind
throughout: it went…)

[1… c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. e4 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6
6. Nc3 Nxd4 7. Qxd4 d6 8. Bg5 Bg7 9. Qd2 O-O 10. Bd3 a5 11. O-O a4
12. Rac1 Be6 13. Qc2 Nd7 14. f4 Rc8 15. b3 axb3 16. axb3 Nf6 17.
Kh1 Qa5 18. f5 Bd7 19. Nd5+/- Portisch-Reshevsky]

2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nc3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Nge2
c5

[6… c5 7. a3 a5 8. O-O Nc6 9. d3 Ne8 10. Be3 Nd4
11. Bxd4 cxd4 12. Nb5 Qb6 13. a4 Nc7 14. f4 Na6 15. h3 e5 16. f5
Bh6 ! 17. h4 Bd7 18. Kh2 Nc5 19. Bh3 was Seirawan-Vukic 1979 given
in Povah’s book: best play for both sides?]

7. O-O Nc6 8. d3 Ne8 9. Be3

[9. Be3 Nd4]

9… Nc7 ( ?! in the books )

[9… Nd4 10. Rb1 b6 ?! ( 10…Nc7 is natural;
10…a5 invites 11. Bxd4, cxd4; 12 Nb5 ) 11. e5 Nxe2+ 12. Qxe2 Rb8
13. d4 cxd4 14. Bxd4 dxe5 15. Bxe5 Bg4 16. Qe3 Bxe5 17. Qxe5 Qd6
18. Qe3 Nf6 (Gurevich-Sturua 1981) 19. h3 Be6 20. Rbd1 Qc5 ( or
…Qc7,b3 with Nb5/Nd5 ) 21. Qxc5 bxc5 22. b3 with weak pawns to go
at – Povah]

10. d4 “!” ( in the books )
10… cxd4 11. Nxd4 Ne6 12. Nde2 Ne5

 

t+lD-Tj+
Xx+-XxLx
-+-Xs+x+
+-+-S-+-
-+p+p+-+
+-N-B-P-
pP-+nPbP
R-+q+rK-

! TN – threatens c4 and e3 via g4

  A long manoeuvring game is in prospect… (1-0, 45)

Vukic Milan – Suba Mihai [A30]Vinkovci,
1977

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b6 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O e6 5. c4 c5 6. d4
cxd4 7. Qxd4 d6 8. Nc3 a6 9. Rd1 Qc7 10. b3 Nbd7 11. Bb2 Be7 12. e4
O-O 13. Qe3 Rfe8 14. Nd4 Bf8 15. Rac1

 

t+-+tLj+
+lDs+xXx
xX-XxS-+
+-+-+-+-
-+pNp+-+
+pN-Q-P-
pB-+-PbP
+-Rr+-K-

“A frequent picture in the Hedgehog. White’s position looks
ideal. That’s the naked truth about it, but the ‘ideal’ has by
definition one drawback – it cannot be improved.” — SUBA

  Suba is quite mysterious about ‘potential’. But as
evidence, his book Dynamic Chess Strategy contains
many practical examples of this Hedgehog Sicilian-style opening
against the English (1. c4), where Black’s flexible position
threatens to erupt on …b5 or …d5. White finds it difficult to
threaten anything on his own part without allowing Black’s game to
unfold suddenly

15… Rad8 16. h3 g6 17. Kh2 Bg7 18. Qe2 Qb8 19.
Qc2 Rc8 20. Qd2 Nc5 21. Re1 Qa8 22. f3 Qb8 23. Rcd1 Ba8 24. Nde2
Red8 25. Nd4 Ncd7 26. Qf2 Ne5 27. Qe2 Nc6 28. Nc2 Nh5 29. f4 b5 30.
cxb5 axb5 31. Bf3 Ne7 32. Nd4 b4 33. Na4 Nf6 34. e5 dxe5 35. fxe5
Bxf3 36. Nxf3 Nfd5 37. Rc1 Bh6 38. Rc4 Ne3 39. Rcc1 N7d5 40. Rxc8
Rxc8 41. Qf2 Nf5 42. Re2 Be3 43. Qe1 Qb5 44. Nd2 Qd3 45. Nf1 Rc2
46. Rg2 Rxg2+ 47. Kxg2 Qe4+ 0-1

 

Korchnoi V – Spassky B [A33] Beograd m/3,
1977

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4
e6

 

t+lDjL-T
Xx+x+xXx
-+s+xS-+
+-+-+-+-
-+pN-+-+
+-N-+-+-
pP-+pPpP
R-BqKb+r

This is a very rich and deeply studied position. The line seen here
is out of fashion because of 6…Bb4.

6. g3 Qb6!? 7. Nb3 Ne5!? 8. e4 Bb4

 

t+l+j+-T
Xx+x+xXx
-D-+xS-+
+-+-S-+-
-Lp+p+-+
+nN-+-P-
pP-+-P-P
R-BqKb+r

No respite! If White consolidates Black will have a tough time.

9. Qe2 O-O

[9… a5!? was recommended by Nunn a year or two
before… did Spassky know this? 10. f4 a4!?]

10. f4 Nc6 11. Be3 Qc7 12. Bg2 d5 13. e5 Ne4 14.
O-O Bxc3 15. cxd5 exd5 16. bxc3 b6 17. Rac1 f5 18. exf6 Nxf6 19.
Nd4 Re8 20. Qd3 Na5 21. Nb5 Qc6 22. Bd4 Ne4 23. Be5 Ba6 24. a4 Nc4
25. Qd4 Nxe5 26. fxe5 Bxb5 27. axb5 Qxb5 28. c4 Qc5 29. Qxc5 Nxc5
30. Bxd5+ Ne6 31. Ra1 a5 32. Bxa8 Rxa8 33. Rab1 a4 34. Rxb6 Nd4 35.
Rd6 1-0

Playing against
the English opening.

An early break in the centre for Black
(B1)

Karpov,Anatoly – Hjartarson,Johann [A22] EO
3.4, Seattle m Round: 2 Year: 1989

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Nb6 6. Nf3
Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. a3 Be6 9. b4

 

t+-Dj+-T
XxX-LxXx
-Ss+l+-+
+-+-X-+-
-P-+-+-+
P-N-+nP-
-+-PpPbP
R-Bq+rK-

This is the modern approach with the White pieces; analogous to the
Sicilian, White seeks pressure on the c-file.

9… O-O 10. Rb1 f6 11. d3 Qd7 12. Ne4 Nd5 13.
Qc2 b6 14. Bb2 Rac8 15. Rbc1 Nd4 16. Bxd4 exd4 17. Qc6 Qxc6 18.
Rxc6 Bd7

 

-+t+-Tj+
X-XlL-Xx
-Xr+-X-+
+-+s+-+-
-P-Xn+-+
P-+p+nP-
-+-+pPbP
+-+-+rK-

19. Nxd4 Bxc6 20. Nxc6 Rce8 21. Rc1 f5 22. Nd2 Nf6 23. Nxa7
Bd6 24. e3 c5 25. Nc4 Bb8 26. Nc6 b5 27. N4a5 cxb4 28. axb4 Nd7 29.
d4 g5 30. Nxb8 Rxb8 31. Rc7 Nf6 32. Nc6 Rb6 33. Ne7+ Kh8 34. Nxf5
Ra6 35. Rc1 Ra2 36. h3 Rb2 37. e4 Rxb4 38. g4 h5 39. e5 hxg4 40.
exf6 gxh3 41. Bxh3 Rxf6 42. Rc8+ Kh7 43. Rc7+ Kg6 44. Rg7+ Kh5 45.
f3 1-0

Botvinnik,Mikhail – Portisch,Lajos [A22] EO
3.5, Monte Carlo Round: 7 Year: 1968

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Be6 6. Nf3
Nc6 7. O-O Nb6 8. d3 Be7 9. a3 a5 10. Be3 O-O

 

t+-D-Tj+
+xX-LxXx
-Ss+l+-+
X-+-X-+-
-+-+-+-+
P-NpBnP-
-P-+pPbP
R-+q+rK-

Black’s position is not bad and club players may be attracted to
the easy development, but it is sometimes hard for Black to come up
with a plan.

11. Na4 Nxa4 12. Qxa4 Bd5 13. Rfc1 Re8 14. Rc2
Bf8 15. Rac1 Nb8

 

tS-DtLj+
+xX-+xXx
-+-+-+-+
X-+lX-+-
q+-+-+-+
P-+pBnP-
-Pr+pPbP
+-R-+-K-

Egging White on to take the c7 Pawn. Botvinnik conceives a
brilliant refutation.

16. Rxc7 Bc6 17. R1xc6 bxc6 18. Rxf7 h6 19. Rb7
Qc8 20. Qc4+ Kh8 21. Nh4 Qxb7 22. Ng6+ Kh7 23. Be4 Bd6 24. Nxe5+ g6
25. Bxg6+ Kg7 26. Bxh6+ 1-0

Kasparov, Gary – Kortchnoi, V (1) [A34]
Skelleftea, 1989

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4
Nb4

 

tSlDjL-T
Xx+-XxXx
-+-+-+-+
+-X-+-+-
-S-+p+-+
+-N-+n+-
pP-P-PpP
R-BqKb+r

White plays for fast development and open lines.

6. Bb5+ N8c6 7. d4 cxd4 8. a3 dxc3 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8
10. axb4 cxb2 11. Bxb2 f6 12. e5 Bg4 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. Nd4 fxe5 15.
Nxc6+ Kc7 16. Nxe5 Bh5 17. O-O Be8 18. Rfc1+ Kb7 19. Nc4 e5 20.
Bxe5 h5 21. Na5+ Kb6 22. Bc7+ Ka6 23. Nc6+ 1-0

An early occupation of the centre: the
Maroczy Bind for Black(!) (B2)

Goldberg, G – Botvinnik, Mikhail M [A34]
USSR, 1945

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Nc7 6. Nf3
Nc6 7. O-O e5 8. b3 Be7 9. Bb2 O-O 10. Rc1 f6 11. Ne1 Bf5 12. Na4
Na6

 

t+-D-Tj+
Xx+-L-Xx
s+s+-X-+
+-X-Xl+-
n+-+-+-+
+p+-+-P-
pB-PpPbP
+-RqNrK-

Black has adopted the Maroczy Bind as Black(!).

  In 1945 Botvinnik commented that the exchange Bxc6 was
evidently not good for White in this type of position, but Suetin
suspects later he changed his mind.

13. Nc2 Qd7 14. Ne3 Be6 15. d3 Nd4 16. Qd2 Rad8
17. Nc3 Nb4 18. Ba1 f5

 

-+-T-Tj+
Xx+dL-Xx
-+-+l+-+
+-X-Xx+-
-S-S-+-+
+pNpN-P-
p+-QpPbP
B-R-+rK-

Black moves from his strong base to a more aggressive posture.

19. Nc4 Bf6 20. Rfd1 b5 21. Nb2 e4 22. e3 Nf3+
23. Bxf3 exf3 24. Qe1 Rc8 25. d4 cxd4 26. exd4 Bg5 27. d5 Bf7 28.
a3 Rfe8 29. Qf1 Bxc1 30. Rxc1 Nxd5 31. Nd3 Nxc3 32. Bxc3 Bxb3 33.
Nf4 Bc4 0-1

Langeweg – Korchnoi, Amsterdam,
1972

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2
Nc7 7. a3 g6 8. d3 Bg7

 

t+lDj+-T
XxS-XxLx
-+s+-+x+
+-X-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
P-Np+nP-
-P-+pPbP
R-BqK-+r

Black does not insist on the Bind but develops his King’s-side.

9. O-O O-O 10. Qa4 Nd4 11. Nxd4 cxd4 12. Ne4 Bd7
13. Qb3 b6 14. Ng5 Rc8 15. Bd2 h6 16. Nf3 Ne6 17. a4 Nc5 18. Qd1
Qe8 19. b3 Be6 20. Ra3 Na6 21. b4 Qd7 22. Re1 Nc7 23.
Qa1

 

-+t+-Tj+
X-SdXxL-
-X-+l+xX
+-+-+-+-
pP-X-+-+
R-+p+nP-
-+-BpPbP
Q-+-R-K-

23… Nd5 24. Nxd4 Nxb4 25. Bxb4 Bxd4 26. Bc3 Bxc3 27. Rxc3
Rxc3 28. Qxc3 Qxa4 29. Ra1 Qd7 30. Ra6 Rc8 31. Qa3 Rc2 0-1

An early occupation of the centre: solid
(B3)

Kasparov,G (2740) – Karpov,An (2700) (24)
[A14] Wch34-KK4 Sevilla, 1987

1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. b3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6.
O-O

 

tSlD-Tj+
XxX-LxXx
-+-+xS-+
+-+x+-+-
-+p+-+-+
+p+-+nP-
p+-PpPbP
RnBq+rK-

The English and the Reti share a garden wall here.

6… b6 7. Bb2 Bb7 8. e3 Nbd7 9. Nc3 Ne4 10.
Ne2!? N

10.cd5; 10.Qe2; 10.Qc2

10… a5

[10… Bf6 11. d4!? c5 12. Nf4]

11. d3 Bf6 12. Qc2 Bxb2 13. Qxb2 Nd6 14.
cxd5

 

t+-D-Tj+
+lXs+xXx
-X-Sx+-+
X-+p+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+p+pPnP-
pQ-+nPbP
R-+-+rK-

14… Bxd5

[14… exd5!? 15. d4 c5 16. dxc5 bxc5and ]

15. d4! … 1-0

Fischer,Robert – Filip,Miroslav [A14] Palma
de Mallorca iz Rd: 4, 1970

1. b3 d5 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. Nf3 e6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O
c5 7. c4 Nc6 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Nc3 Bf6 10. Qc1 b6 11. Nxd5 exd5 12.
d4 Ba6 13. Re1 Nxd4 14. Bxd4 cxd4 15. Qa3

 

t+-D-Tj+
X-+-+xXx
lX-+-L-+
+-+x+-+-
-+-X-+-+
Qp+-+nP-
p+-+pPbP
R-+-R-K-

15… Bb7 16. Rad1 Be7 17. Qa4 Qe8 18. Qxd4 Rc8 19. Qf4 Bf6
20. Nd4 Be5 21. Qe3 g6 22. Nb5 Qxb5 23. Qxe5 Rfe8 24. Qb2 Rc5 25.
h4 Rec8 26. Rd2 Rc3 27. Red1 Qc5 28. b4 Qe7 29. e3 h5 30. a3
Kh7

 

-+t+-+-+
Xl+-Dx+j
-X-+-+x+
+-+x+-+x
-P-+-+-P
P-T-P-P-
-Q-R-Pb+
+-+r+-K-

31. Bxd5 Bxd5 32. Rxd5 Qe4 33. Rd8 Qf3 34. Kh2 R8c4 35.
R1d7 g5 36. Rf8 Kg6 37. Rg8+ Kh7 38. Rxg5 Rc8 39. Rdd5 Kh6 40. Rdf5
1-0

Symmetrical play by Black (B4)

The classically-minded Fischer often played the Staunton system as
Black, preferring 1…g6 to reserve the options of the Ng8.

Smyslov,V – Fischer,R [A36] Palma de
Mallorca izt, 1970

1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. b3 e6 6. Bb2
Nge7

 

t+lDj+-T
Xx+xSxLx
-+s+x+x+
+-X-+-+-
-+p+-+-+
+pN-+-P-
pB-PpPbP
R-+qK-Nr

7. Na4 Bxb2 8. Nxb2 O-O 9. e3 d5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Ne2 b6
12. d4

 

t+lD-Tj+
X-+-+x+x
-Xs+x+x+
+-Xs+-+-
-+-P-+-+
+p+-P-P-
pN-+nPbP
R-+qK-+r

12… Ba6!

  “A brilliant Pawn sacrifice in the style of the young …
Smyslov!” — LEVY

13. dxc5 Qf6 14. Nc4 Nc3 15. Nxc3 Qxc3+ 16. Kf1
Rfd8 17. Qc1 Bxc4+ 18. bxc4 Qd3+ 19. Kg1 Rac8 20. cxb6 axb6 21. Qb2
Na5 22. h4 Nxc4 23. Qf6 Qf5 24. Qxf5 gxf5 25. h5 Rd2 26. Rc1 Rc5
27. Rh4 Ne5 28. Rxc5 bxc5 29. Ra4 c4 30. h6 Kf8 31. Ra8+ Ke7 32.
Rc8 Rxa2 33. Bf1 Rc2 34. Kg2 Ng4 35. Kg1 Rxf2 36. Bxc4 Rf3 37. Kg2
Rxe3 38. Rh8 Nxh6 39. Rxh7 Ng4 40. Bb5 Rb3 41. Bc6 Rb2+ 42. Kg1 Ne5
43. Ba8 Rb8 44. Bh1 0-1

Petrosian,T – Fischer,R (2) [A37] Belgrade
URS-WORLD, 1970

1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. O-O
Nge7 7. d3 O-O 8. Bd2

 

t+lD-Tj+
Xx+xSxLx
-+s+x+x+
+-X-+-+-
-+p+-+-+
+-Np+nP-
pP-BpPbP
R-+q+rK-

8… d5 9. a3 b6 10. Rb1 Bb7 11. b4 cxb4 12. axb4 dxc4 13.
dxc4 Rc8

 

-+tD-Tj+
Xl+-SxLx
-Xs+x+x+
+-+-+-+-
-Pp+-+-+
+-N-+nP-
-+-BpPbP
+r+q+rK-

Black’s pieces have good scope and the c-Pawn is as much of a
liability as an asset. White lunges forward with it…

14. c5 bxc5 15. bxc5 Na5 16. Na4 Bc6 17. Qc2 Nb7
18. Rfc1 Qd7 19. Ne1 Nd5 20. Nb2 Bb5 21. Ned3 Bd4 22.
Qb3

 

-+t+-Tj+
Xs+d+x+x
-+-+x+x+
+lPs+-+-
-+-L-+-+
+q+n+-P-
-N-BpPbP
+rR-+-K-

22… Nxc5 23. Nxc5 Rxc5 24. Rxc5 Bxc5 25. Nd3 Bxd3 26.
Qxd3

 

-+-+-Tj+
X-+d+x+x
-+-+x+x+
+-Ls+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+q+-P-
-+-BpPbP
+r+-+-K-

Black is a Pawn up and can hope to convert in the teeth of the two
Bishops.

26… Rd8 27. Bf3 Qc7 28. Bg5 Be7 29. Bxe7
Qxe7

  One Bishop only, now. White is in trouble.

30. Qd4 e5 31. Qc4 Nb6 32. Qc2 Rc8 33. Qd3 Rc4
34. Bg2 Qc7 35. Qa3 Rc3 36. Qa5 Rc5 37. Qa3 a5 38. h4 Nc4 39. Qd3
Nd6 40. Kh2 Kg7 41. Rd1 Ne8 42. Qd7 Qxd7 43. Rxd7 Nf6 44. Ra7 Ng4+
45. Kg1 Rc1+ 46. Bf1 Ra1 47. e4 a4 48. Kg2 Ra2 49. Rxf7+ Kxf7 50.
Bc4+ Ke7 51. Bxa2 a3 52. Kf3 Nf6 53. Ke3 Kd6 54. f4 Nd7 55. Bb1 Nc5
56. f5 Na6 57. g4 Nb4 58. fxg6 hxg6 59. h5 gxh5 60. gxh5 Ke6 61.
Kd2 Kf6 62. Kc3 a2 63. Bxa2 Nxa2+ 64. Kb2 Nb4 65. Kc3 Nc6 66. Kc4
Nd4 0-1

Unbalanced play by Black: the King’s
English with …Nf6 (B5)

Seeking early central control with …c6
and …d5 (B5a)

Hartston W R – Basman M J [A23] It,
Hastings, 1967

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 c6 4. Nf3 e4 5. Nd4 d5 6.
cxd5

 

tSlDjL-T
Xx+-+xXx
-+x+-S-+
+-+p+-+-
-+-Nx+-+
+-N-+-P-
pP-PpP-P
R-BqKb+r

Black is going for it!

6… Qb6 7. Nb3 Ng4 8. d4 cxd5 9. Bg2 Bb4 10. O-O
Bxc3 11. bxc3 O-O 12. h3 Nf6 13. Rb1 Qc6 14. Qc2 b6 15. Be3 Ba6 16.
Rfc1 Nbd7 17. Bf1 h6

 

t+-+-Tj+
X-+s+xX-
lXd+-S-X
+-+x+-+-
-+-Px+-+
+nP-B-Pp
p+q+pP-+
+rR-+bK-

I prefer White here, but what do I know?

18. Nd2 Rac8 19. Rb4 Bc4 20. Nxc4 dxc4 21. Bg2
Rfe8 22. Rb2 Qe6 23. Bd2 Nd5 24. e3 f5 25. Re1 N7f6 26. a4 a5 27.
Kh2 Rc7 28. Qb1 Kh8 29. Qa2 g5 30. Rb5 h5 31. Qb1 Qd6 32. Kh1 Rg8
33. Rg1 h4 34. gxh4 gxh4 35. f4 Rcg7 36. Qe1 Rg3 37. Qe2 Qc7 38.
Rbb1 Qf7 39. Qf2 Nh5 40. Rb5 Kh7 41. Kh2 Kh6 42. Qe2 Qg6 43.
Rbb1

 

-+-+-+t+
+-+-+-+-
-X-+-+dJ
X-+s+x+s
p+xPxP-X
+-P-P-Tp
-+-Bq+bK
+r+-+-R-

But I prefer Black here!

43… Nhxf4 44. exf4 e3 45. Bxd5 Rxg1 46. Qxe3
Qg2+ 0-1

 

Seeking rapid flexible development
(B5b)

Unbalanced play by Black: the King’s
English with …Nc6 (B6)

The main line Closed King’s English
(B6a)

Psakhis – Kasparov [A10] La Manga,
1990

1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 d6 5. Nf3 e5 6. d3 f5
7. O-O Nf6

 

t+lDj+-T
XxX-+-Lx
-+sX-Sx+
+-+-Xx+-
-+p+-+-+
+-Np+nP-
pP-+pPbP
R-Bq+rK-

8. Rb1 h6 9. b4 O-O 10. b5 Ne7 11. a4 Be6 12. Ba3
Rc8

 

-+tD-Tj+
XxX-S-L-
-+-XlSxX
+p+-Xx+-
p+p+-+-+
B-Np+nP-
-+-+pPbP
+r+q+rK-

13. Nd2 b6 14. e3 g5 15. d4 exd4 16. exd4 f4

 

-+tD-Tj+
X-X-S-L-
-X-XlS-X
+p+-+-X-
p+pP-X-+
B-N-+-P-
-+-N-PbP
+r+q+rK-

17. Re1 Bg4 18. Nf3 Qd7 19. c5 Rce8 20. Rc1 Nf5 21. Qd3 Kh8
22. cxd6 cxd6 23. Rxe8 Qxe8 24. Rf1 Qh5

 

-+-+-T-J
X-+-+-L-
-X-X-S-X
+p+-+sXd
p+-P-Xl+
B-Nq+nP-
-+-+-PbP
+-+-+rK-

25. Ne4 Nxe4 26. Qxe4 Bh3 27. Ne5 Bxg2 28. Kxg2 g4 29. Bxd6
Rf6 30. Bb8 Qh3+

 

-B-+-+-J
X-+-+-L-
-X-+-T-X
+p+-Ns+-
p+-PqXx+
+-+-+-Pd
-+-+-PkP
+-+-+r+-

0-1 psakhis-kasparov/la manga 1990 0-1

Olafsson,Fridrik – Smyslov,Vasily V (2)
[A21] Yugoslavia ct, 1959

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 Be6 4. Bg2 c6

 

tS-DjLsT
Xx+-+xXx
-+xXl+-+
+-+-X-+-
-+p+-+-+
+-N-+-P-
pP-PpPbP
R-BqK-Nr

This system is one of Smyslov’s many contributions to the
development of the theory in the English Opening.

5. d3 Nf6 6. Nf3 h6 7. O-O Be7 8. b3 O-O 9. e4 c5
10. Nh4 Nc6 11. f4 exf4 12. gxf4 Nh7 13. Nf3 f5 14. Nd5 Bf6 15. Rb1
fxe4 16. dxe4 Bg4 17. Qd3 Qd7 18. Bd2 Rae8 19. Rbe1 Bd8 20. Bc3 Rf7
21. Kh1 Nf6 22. a3 Nh5 23. Qd2 Ne7 24. f5 Nxd5 25. Qxd5 Qc6 26. Qd2
Qb6 27. b4 cxb4 28. axb4 Qc7 29. c5 dxc5 30. bxc5 Rd7 31. Qa2+ Kh7
32. Qa4 Rde7 33. e5 Bxf5 34. Ng5+ hxg5 35. Rxf5 Re6 36. Qe4 Kh8 37.
Qxb7 Ng3+ 38. hxg3 Rh6+ 39. Kg1 Qxc5+ 40. Kf1 Qxc3 41. Qf3 Qc4+ 42.
Re2 Be7 43. Qd5 Qc1+ 44. Re1 Qc8 45. Qe4 a5 46. Rf3 Bb4 47. Rd1
Qa6+ 48. Rdd3 Rc8 49. Rfe3 Bc5 50. Rf3 a4 51. Qe2 a3 52. Rd2 Qe6
53. g4 Rb8 54. Qd1 Qa6+ 55. Ke1 Bb4 56. Kf2 Bxd2 57. Qxd2 a2
0-1

Petrosian T – Smyslov V (03) [A21] JUG ct,
1959

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. Nf3 Bg4

 

tS-DjLsT
XxX-+xXx
-+-X-+-+
+-+-X-+-
-+p+-+l+
+-N-+n+-
pP-PpPpP
R-BqKb+r

This is the other idea: now g2-g3 is inhibited.

4. e3 Nf6 5. Be2 c6 6. h3 Bh5 7. O-O Be7 8. d3
O-O 9. b3 Nbd7 10. Nh4 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 d5 12. Nf5 Bb4 13. Bb2 Re8 14.
cxd5 cxd5 15. d4 e4 16. Rfc1 Nb6 17. Nb5 Qd7 18. Ng3 Rec8 19. Rxc8+
Nxc8 20. Rc1 a6 21. Ba3 Bxa3 22. Nxa3 Ne7 23. Nb1 Rc8 24. Rxc8+
Qxc8 25. Qd2 g6 26. Qc3 Qxc3 27. Nxc3 Nd7 28. Nge2 b5 29. Nf4 Nb6
30. a4 bxa4 31. bxa4 a5 32. f3 f5 33. Kf2 Kf7 34. h4 h6 35. Nfe2
Nc6 36. Nc1 Nb4 37. Nb3 Nc4 38. f4 Nc2 39. Nd1 Ke7 40. Ke2 Kd6 41.
Kf2 Kc6 42. Ke2 Kd6 43. Kf2 Nb4 44. Ke2 Nc6 45. Nc3 Na7 46. Nc5 Nc8
47. Nb7+ Kc7 48. Nc5 N8b6 49. Kf2 Kd6 50. Ke2 Ke7 51. Kf2 Kf6 52.
Ke2 g5 53. hxg5+ hxg5 54. g3 Kg6 55. Kf2 Kh5 56. Ne6 Nb2 57. fxg5
Kg6 58. Kf1 Kf7 59. Nc5 Kg6 60. Ne6 Kf7 Q

 

English Four Knights’ Game (B6b)

Knee – Povah N [A28] Hereford,
1978

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 e4 5. Nd2 Nxd4 6.
Ndxe4 Nxe4 7. Qxd4 Nxc3 8. Qxc3 d5!

 

t+lDjL-T
XxX-+xXx
-+-+-+-+
+-+x+-+-
-+p+-+-+
+-Q-+-+-
pP-+pPpP
R-B-Kb+r

9. cxd5? Qxd5 10. Bf4 Be6 11. Rd1 Qxa2 12. Bxc7 Rc8 13. e3
a6 14. Qd4 Be7 15. Qxg7

 

-+t+j+-T
+xB-LxQx
x+-+l+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-P-+-
dP-+-PpP
+-+rKb+r

In these open positions, activity and development are the most
important features.

15… Bb4+ 16. Ke2 Rf8 17. Be5 Bd5 18. Qxh7
Qb3!

 

-+t+jT-+
+x+-+x+q
x+-+-+-+
+-+lB-+-
-L-+-+-+
+d+-P-+-
-P-+kPpP
+-+r+b+r

19. Bc3 Bxc3 20. bxc3 Rxc3 21. Ke1 Qb4! 22. Be2 Bxg2
0-1

Kasparov,G (2740) – Karpov,An (2700) (04)
[A29 ] Wch34-KK4 Sevilla, 1987

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O
e4

 

t+lD-Tj+
XxXx+xXx
-+s+-S-+
+-+-+-+-
-Lp+x+-+
+-N-+nP-
pP-PpPbP
R-Bq+rK-

The aggressive line.

7. Ng5

[7. Ne1 was often played.]

7… Bxc3 8. bxc3 Re8 9. f3 exf3

[9… e3!? 10. d3! d5 11. Qb3!+/= ]

10. Nxf3

 

t+lDt+j+
XxXx+xXx
-+s+-S-+
+-+-+-+-
-+p+-+-+
+-P-+nP-
p+-Pp+bP
R-Bq+rK-

10… Qe7?!

[10… d5 11. cxd5 Qxd5 12. Nd4 Qh5 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14.
e3 unclear ]

11. e3 Ne5 N; 11…d6+/= – 16/47 12.
Nd4!

[12. Nxe5 Qxe5 13. Rb1

…1-0

Kasparov,G (2740) – Karpov,An (2700) (16)
[A29] Wch34-KK4 Sevilla, 1987

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O
Re8

 

t+lDt+j+
XxXx+xXx
-+s+-S-+
+-+-X-+-
-Lp+-+-+
+-N-+nP-
pP-PpPbP
R-Bq+rK-

The solid move.

7. d3 Bxc3 8. bxc3 e4 9. Nd4 h6 10. dxe4!
N

  10.Qc2 – 36/39

[10. c5]

[10. Nxc6]

10… Nxe4 11. Qc2 d5!

 

t+lDt+j+
XxX-+xX-
-+s+-+-X
+-+x+-+-
-+pNs+-+
+-P-+-P-
p+q+pPbP
R-B-+rK-

Podgaets,M

12. cxd5

[12. Nb5 Bf5 13. cxd5 Nxg3 14. e4 Nxf1 15.
exf5

[15.dxc6 Bxe4 16. Bxe4 Qh4]

15… Re1 16. Bxf1 Qxd5 ^ /\ 17. Nxc7 Qc4-+
]

12… Qxd5 13. e3

[13. Rd1 Bf5 14. Nxf5

[14. f3 Nf2]

14… Qxf5 15. f3 Nxg3 unclear ]

13… Na5!?=

 

t+l+t+j+
XxX-+xX-
-+-+-+-X
S-+d+-+-
-+-Ns+-+
+-P-P-P-
p+q+-PbP
R-B-+rK-

[13… Nxd4!? 14. cxd4 c6 15. Bb2 Bf5 16. f3?! Nxg3 17. e4 Nxe4
18. fxe4 Bxe4]

… 0-1

Kasparov,G (2740) – Karpov,An (2700) (02)
[A29] Wch34-KK4 Sevilla, 1987

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O
e4 7. Ng5 Bxc3 8. bxc3 Re8 9. f3 e3!?

N; Zaitsev,I; 9…ef3 – 35/44

10. d3!

…0-1

 

Baker,C – Birnboim,N [A20] London,
1987

1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 c6 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 xd5 6. Qb3
Nc6 7. Nxd5 Nd4 8. Nxf6+ Qxf6

  8…gxf6 was a game Regis-Menadue, where I first met this
line (0-1, 20-odd).

9. Qd1

 

t+l+jL-T
Xx+-+xXx
-+-+-D-+
+-+-X-+-
-+-S-+-+
+-+-+-P-
pP-PpPbP
R-BqK-Nr

I believe Tal was behind this evil gambit.

9… Bf5 10. d3 Rc8 11. Kf1 Be7 12. Bxb7 Rc7 13.
Bd5 O-O 14. Kg2 Rd8 15. e4 Rxd5 16. exd5 Qd6 17. f3 Rc2+ 18. Kf1
Qa6 19. Bd2 Qxd3+ 20. Ke1 Bb4 21. Bxb4 Qe3+ 22. Ne2 Nxf3+
0-1

 

Polugaevsky,L – Estevez,G [A22] Sochi,
1976

see other handout

Uhlmann W – Dobosz H (0.17) [A22]
DDR-Polska, 1974

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 e4 4. Ng5 b5

 

tSlDjL-T
X-Xx+xXx
-+-+-S-+
+x+-+-N-
-+p+x+-+
+-N-+-+-
pP-PpPpP
R-BqKb+r

Bellon’s gambit is designed to intimidate the (presumed) dull
player of the English Opening.

5. b3? b4 6. Nb1 h6 7. Nh3 Bc5=/+

  It sometimes works that way!

8. d4 exd3 9. Qxd3 O-O 10. Bb2 Bb7 11. Nd2 d6 12.
e3 Nbd7 13. Nf4 Ne5 14. Qc2 Nfg4 15. Be2 Bxe3 16. fxe3 Nxe3 17. Qc1
Qg5 18. Nf1 Nxg2+ 19. Nxg2 Qxg2 20. Bxe5 Rfe8 21. Ng3 Rxe5 22. Kd2
Qf2 23. Qg1 Qf4+ 24. Kc2 Rae8 25. Re1 Re3 26. Qf1 Qe5 27. Rg1 Qc3+
28. Kb1 Rxg3 0-1

Plaskett J – Hempson P W [A22] It, ENG,
1988

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 e4 4. Ng5 b5 5. d3 exd3 6. cxb5
h6 7. Nf3 dxe2 8. Bxe2 Bb7 9. O-O Bc5 10. Nd4 Bxd4 11. Qxd4 O-O 12.
b4 d6 13. Bb2 Nbd7 14. f4 Re8 15. Bf3 Bxf3 16. Rxf3 Qb8 17. Nd5 Qb7
18. Nxf6+ Nxf6 19. Rg3 Re6 20. f5

 

t+-+-+j+
XdX-+xX-
-+-XtS-X
+p+-+p+-
-P-Q-+-+
+-+-+-R-
pB-+-+pP
R-+-+-K-

Plaskett characteristically goes for the throat…

20… Re5 21. Qh4 Ne4 22. Re3 Qb6

 

t+-+-+j+
X-X-+xX-
-D-X-+-X
+p+-Tp+-
-P-+s+-Q
+-+-R-+-
pB-+-+pP
R-+-+-K-

…but finds he has put his foot in a pin.

23. Rae1 Nc3 24. Qg3 Rxe3 25. Qxe3 Re8
0-1

Reshevsky,S – Bellon Lopez,J [A22] Palma,
1971

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 e4 4. Ng5 b5

 

tSlDjL-T
X-Xx+xXx
-+-+-S-+
+x+-+-N-
-+p+x+-+
+-N-+-+-
pP-PpPpP
R-BqKb+r

The original game in this line, I think.

5. Nxb5 h6 6. Nh3 c6 7. Nc3 d5 8. cxd5 cxd5 9. e3
Bd6 10. Bb5+ Kf8 11. d3 Bg4 12. Qd2 Qa5 13. a3 Na6 14. O-O Rd8 15.
d4 Bb8 16. Be2 Qc7 17. Nf4 g5 18. Bxa6 gxf4 19. exf4 Rg8 20. g3 Qd7
21. Be2 Bf3 22. Bxf3 exf3 23. Qd3 Qg4 24. Re1 Nh5 25. Re5 Bxe5 26.
fxe5 Ng7 27. Nb5 Rh8 28. Nd6 h5 29. h3 Qxh3 30. Qxf3 Rxd6 31. exd6
Nf5 32. d7 Kg7 33. Bg5 f6 34. Re1 Rd8 35. Re5 Kg6 36. Qxd5 Nxd4 37.
Qxd4 fxe5 38. Qd6+ Kxg5 39. Qe7+ Kg4 40. Qxd8 Kf3 41. Qf6+
1-0

Karpov,Anatoly – Anand,Viswanathan (2)
Linares, 1991

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nd4

 

t+lDjLsT
Xx+xXxXx
-+-+-+-+
+-X-+-+-
-+pS-+-+
+-N-+n+-
pP-PpPpP
R-BqKb+r

Outrageous! – but watch…

4. e3 Nxf3+ 5. Qxf3 g6 6. b3 Bg7 7. Bb2 d6 8. g3
Rb8 9. Bg2 Nf6 10. h3 O-O 11. O-O a6 12. Qe2 b5 13. d3 b4 14. Nd1
a5 15. a4 e5 16. e4 h5 17. h4 Ne8 18. Ne3 Nc7 19. Kh2 Ne6 20. Bh3
Bh6 21. Ng2 Bg7 22. Rae1 Rb7 23. Bxe6 Bxe6 24. f4 Bg4 25. Qd2 Re7
26. Ne3 f5 27. exf5 gxf5 28. Nd5 Re6 29. Qf2 Rfe8 30. Bc1 e4 31.
dxe4 Rxe4 32. Rxe4 Rxe4 33. Re1 Rxe1 34. Qxe1 Kf7 35. Qd2 Bf3 36.
Ne3 Be4 37. Bb2 Bxb2 38. Qxb2 Qf6 39. Qxf6+ Kxf6 40. Kg1 Bb1 41.
Nf1 Bc2 42. Nd2 Ke6 43. Kf2 d5 44. cxd5+ Kxd5 45. Ke3 Bd1 46. Kd3
Bxb3 0-1

Indian-style defences (B7):

Grunfeld style (B7a)

Andersson Ulf – Tempone Marcelo [A16] 04,
Buenos Aires, 1979

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. Nf3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6.
dxc3 Qxd1+ 7. Kxd1

 

tSl+jL-T
XxX-Xx+x
-+-+-+x+
+-+-+-+-
-+-+p+-+
+-P-+n+-
pP-+-PpP
R-Bk+b+r

White has a whisper of a plus: a tempo, a little more space…

7… c5 8. Be3 b6 9. a4 Nc6 10. Bb5 Bd7 11. Kc2
Bg7 12. Rhd1 a6 13. Bc4 Bg4 14. h3 Bxf3 15. gxf3 O-O 16. f4 Ra7 17.
e5 a5 18. Rd2 e6 19. Rad1 Rc8 20. Kb3 Bf8 21. Bb5 Rcc7 22. Bxc6
Rxc6 23. Kc4 Be7 24. Rd7 Rcc7 25. Rxc7 Rxc7 26. Kb5

 

-+-+-+j+
+-T-Lx+x
-X-+x+x+
XkX-P-+-
p+-+-P-+
+-P-B-+p
-P-+-P-+
+-+r+-+-

But now, the contrast in King activity could not be more
pronounced.

26… Rc8 27. Rd7 Kf8 28. Kxb6 Ke8 29. Rb7 Bd8+
30. Kb5 c4 31. Bc5 1-0

King’s Indian style (B7b)

Petrosian,T – Vasiukov,E Moscow ch,
1956

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. c4 d6 6. Nc3
Nc6 7. d3 Nh5 8. Rb1 f5 9. Qc2 a5 10. a3 f4

 

t+lD-Tj+
+xX-X-Lx
-+sX-+x+
X-+-+-+s
-+p+-X-+
P-Np+nP-
-Pq+pPbP
+rB-+rK-

“…I was impressed by this game as Petrosian must have been, as he
got crushed.” — FISCHER.

11. b4 axb4 12. axb4 Bg4 13. e3 e5 14. b5 Ne7 15.
Ne4 Qd7 16. Bd2 h6 17. Bc3 g5 18. exf4 gxf4 19. Qe2 Ng6 20. Ra1
Rxa1 21. Bxa1 b6 22. Bc3 Qf5 23. Bd2 Kh8 24. Bc1 Bf6 25. Kh1 Ng7
26. Bb2 Ne6 27. Qc2 Qh5 28. Ned2 Ng5 29. Nxg5 Bxg5 30. Be4 Be2 31.
Kg1 f3 32. Re1 Bxd2 33. Rxe2 Bg5 34. Re1 Qh3 35. Bxf3 Rxf3 36. d4
Nf4 37. gxf4 Bxf4 0-1

 

Nimzo-Indian style (B7c)

Langeweg – Korchnoi, Amsterdam,
1976

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3 6.Qxc3 b6
7.g3 Bb7 8.Bg2 d5 9.d4 dxc4 10.Qxc4 Bd5 11.Qc3 Nbd7

“The game had several critical points.

At move 11 I was threatening to equalise by …c5 so
my opponent played the ambitious b2-b4. It caused White
difficulties because of his under-development and gave the Black
pieces space for active play.”

12.b4 a5 13.b5?! c6 14.bxc6 Rc8 15.0-0 Rxc6
16.Qe3 Qa8 17.Bd2 b5?!

“Imprecise: now the b-Pawn is a weakness.

I had to exchange one of White’s Bishops in order to
obtain chances of advancing the Queen’s-side Pawns and give myself
the better chances in the ending. For the moment the position had
become unclear.”

18.Rfb1 Rb8 19.Ne1?! Bxg2 20.Nxg2
Ne4!

“Siezing the initiative: White is taken
aback.”

21.Qd3 Rd6 22.Be3?! Ne5 23.Qc2? Rc8 24.Qb3 Nc4
25.Rc1 Rdc6 26.Qxb5 Nxa3 27.Qa4 Nc2 28.Rab1 Rc4 0-1

[Notes by Korchnoi.]

 

Queen’s Indian style (B7d)

Kortschnoj,V – Karpov,An (03) [A17] Moscow
cf (Wch), 1974

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 b6

 

tSlDjL-T
X-Xx+xXx
-X-+xS-+
+-+-+-+-
-+p+-+-+
+-N-+n+-
pP-PpPpP
R-BqKb+r

4. e4 Bb7 5. Qe2 Bb4 6. e5 Ng8 7. d4 Ne7 N

 

tS-Dj+-T
XlXxSxXx
-X-+x+-+
+-+-P-+-
-LpP-+-+
+-N-+n+-
pP-+qPpP
R-B-Kb+r

8. Bd2 O-O 9. O-O-O d5 10. h4 Bxc3 11. Bxc3 dxc4 12. Qxc4
Ba6 13. Qa4 Bxf1 14. Rhxf1 Qd5 15. Kb1 a5 16. Qc2 h6 17. Rfe1 Na6
18. Qe4 Rfd8 19. Qxd5 Rxd5 20. Rd2 Rad8

 

-+-T-+j+
+-X-SxX-
sX-+x+-X
X-+tP-+-
-+-P-+-P
+-B-+n+-
pP-R-Pp+
+k+-R-+-

21. Red1 h5 22. Kc2 Nf5 23. g3 f6 24. exf6 gxf6 25. Ng1 Ne7
26. Ne2 Ng6 27. Rd3 Nb4+ 28. Bxb4 axb4 29. a3 bxa3 30. Rxa3 R8d7
31. Re1 Kf7 32. Rd3 Rf5 33. f3 c5 34. f4 Ne7 35. dxc5 Rxc5+ 36. Nc3
Rdc7 37. Kd2 Nf5 38. Ra1 Rc4 39. Ra6 b5 40. b3 Rb4 41. Ne2 Ke7 42.
Ra8 Rd7 43. Rxd7+ Kxd7 44. Rh8 Rxb3 45. Rxh5 Nxg3 46. Nxg3 Rxg3 47.
Rxb5 f5 48. Ke2 Rg4 49. Kf3 Rxh4 50. Rb6 Rh1 51. Ra6 Rc1 52. Kg3
Rc4 53. Kf3 Rc3+ 54. Kf2 Rc6 55. Ra1 Rc4 56. Kf3 Kd6 57. Re1 Rc3+
Q

 

Dutch style (B7e)

Miles,T – Chaves,J [A27] Sao Paulo,
1977

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 f5 4. d4 e4 5. Nd2 Nf6 6. e3 g6
7. Be2 Bg7 8. Rb1 a5 9. a3 O-O 10. b4 axb4 11. axb4 Ne7 12. Qb3 d6
13. b5 Kh8 14. Ba3

 

t+lD-T-J
+xX-S-Lx
-+-X-Sx+
+p+-+x+-
-+pPx+-+
BqN-P-+-
-+-NbPpP
+r+-K-+r

14… f4 15. Ncxe4 fxe3 16. fxe3 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Bf5 18. Bd3
Nd5 19. O-O Nxe3 20. Rf3 Qh4 21. g3 Qg4 22. Rxe3 Rxa3 23. Qxa3 Bxd4
24. Kg2 Qh3+ 25. Kh1 Bxe4+

 

-+-+-T-J
+xX-+-+x
-+-X-+x+
+p+-+-+-
-+pLl+-+
Q-+bR-Pd
-+-+-+-P
+r+-+-+k

0-1

Saidy,Anthony – Fischer,Robert [A25] New
York, 1969

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 f5 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. d3 Bc5 6. e3
f4

 

t+lDj+-T
XxXx+-Xx
-+s+-S-+
+-L-X-+-
-+p+-X-+
+-NpP-P-
pP-+-PbP
R-BqK-Nr

Audacious, even arrogant. Gik had published some analysis on this
line … for White against the Sicilian, but mostly people weren’t
convinced even in that situation. Nowadays of course the theme has
become well-known.

7. exf4 O-O 8. Nge2 Qe8 9. O-O d6 10. Na4 Bd4 11.
Nxd4 exd4 12. h3 h5 13. a3 a5 14. b3 Qg6 15. Nb2 Bf5 16. Qc2 Nd7
17. Re1 Nc5

 

t+-+-Tj+
+xX-+-X-
-+sX-+d+
X-S-+l+x
-+pX-P-+
Pp+p+-Pp
-Nq+-Pb+
R-B-R-K-

Black has a grip on both sides of the board.

18. Bf1 Ra6 19. Bd2 Rb6 20. Bxa5 Rxb3 21. Bd2 Ra8
22. a4 Ra6 23. a5 Kh7 24. Red1 b6 25. Be1 bxa5 26. Na4 Rxd3 27.
Bxd3 Bxd3 28. Qa2 Nb4 29. Qa3 Nc2 30. Qb2 Nxa1 31. Rxa1 Nxa4 32.
Rxa4 Qe4 33. Bxa5 Rxa5 34. Rxa5 Qe1+ 35. Kh2 Qxa5 0-1

Kool – Hodgson [A21] London, 1989

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4

 

tSlDj+sT
XxXx+xXx
-+-+-+-+
+-+-X-+-
-Lp+-+-+
+-N-+-+-
pP-PpPpP
R-BqKbNr

Hodgson’s fondness for the Grand Prix Attack makes this line an
obvious choice. 3. g3 Bxc3 4. bxc3 Ne7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. d3
Nbc6 7. Nh3 d6 8. O-O f5 9. f4 Qe8 10. Rb1 Rb8 11. d4 e4 12. e3 Na5
13. Qe2 c5 14. Nf2 b6 15. Nd1 Ba6

 

-T-+dTj+
X-+-S-Xx
lX-X-+-+
S-X-+x+-
-+pPxP-+
+-P-P-P-
p+-+q+bP
+rBn+rK-

Of course, Black is not forced to win on the King’s-side; he has a
very good version of the Nimzo-Indian!

16. Nb2 Qf7 17. Rd1 Nxc4 0-1

Smart – Hodgson [A21] England,
1984

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Nd5

  White need not submit to the doubling of the c-Pawns in
this line.

3… Ba5 4. b4 c6 5. bxa5 cxd5 6. e3 Nf6 7. Qa4
dxc4 8. Bxc4 Nc6 9. Nf3 e4 10. Ng5 d5 11. Bb5 Bd7 12. O-O h6 13.
a6! hxg5 14. axb7 Rb8 15. Bxc6 Qc7 16. Bxd7+ Nxd7 17. f4! exf3 18.
g3 Rxb7 19. Ba3 Qc4? 20. Rac1 1-0

What you see with your mind

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“Sight is what you see with your eyes, Vision is what you see with your mind.” http://lessons.chessvision. net/

There is a gap between what is under your nose and what you actually notice. It’s the gap between what is obvious once your opponent lands a punch and what you did failed to see beforehand…

Chess uses a big board and it’s hard to see how things join up sometimes. How can we see things coming before the accident happens?  Can we somehow look ahead better? This is sometimes called sight of the board, or chess visualisation, or chess vision… Shall we call it boardsight, rather than eyesight?

I was putting together a set of mixed exercises (below), and came across several exercises for developing your boardsight… Here’s a selection.

There’s a great free online exercise from the Chess Drum with items like:

  • Without looking at a board: what colour is the square … b3?
  • Complete the sequence… a7-b8-h2, a5-d8-h4, a3-f8-h6, d1-a4-?
  • On which square can you put a knight to attack …. the g7 and e3 squares?
  • Where would you place a Queen so that it attacks h6, e4 and a3?
  • With a knight, you can attack the d2 and a5 squares from both c4 and…which square?
  • After the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nbd2 d5 4.g3 c5 5.dxc5 Bxc5 6.Bg2… What should black play here?

Chessboard tasks (Martin Gardner)

  • Place eight queens on a chessboard so no queen attacks or defends another (you can use 8 pawns to stand for Queens).
  • How many Bishops can you place on a chessboard so that no Bishop attacks or defends another?
  • …And how many knights?
  • Arrange five queens on the board so that every single square is attacked.
  • How many Knights does it take to do the same thing?

Knight Dance The famous Czech IQ test:

-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
-+x+-X-+
+-+-----
-+-+-+-+
+-X-+x+-
-----+-+
N-+-+-+-

Visit in turn the squares a1, b1, c1…h1, then h2-a2, a3-h3, etc. WITHOUT ever moving to a square occupied or attacked by a Black Pawn. Not too difficult, but can you beat 5 minutes against the clock? Blindfold chess Play chess without the pieces, calling moves out to each other.  If you play an illegal move, you lose!  You need a referee for this, who does have the pieces! (There’s software too.)  Or try it when only one player plays blindfold…

Commercial:

Chess Eye A demo offline/online chess visualisation trainer

Chess Vision trainer You play against the computer on the screen, but the board shows the position two ply behind…  If you can manage that, it will hide one quarter of the board!

Professor Chess (Jim Mitch)

Jim offers a sample homework set, with questions like:

In this position:

  • How many possible White captures?
  • How many possible White checks?
  • How many possible Black captures?
  • How many possible Black checks?

Count again, picturing the board two moves hence!

What’s the fastest way for a [Knight] to move from [a7] to [a6]?

Which squares are attacked by both [Qd3] and [Nd2]?

Alex Bartashnikov’s chess software A superb suite that includes some try-before-you-buy visualisation training (including blindfold chess).  Excellent for youngsters!

Detective Chess (Gerry Quinn) There are White pieces KQRBN at b7,c3,d4,g8 and g5. The squares a4 and e1 are attacked once each, the square g1 is attacked twice, and the square g7 three times. Where is each White piece?

I dunno about playing blindfold or with a partly hidden board: I find playing blindfold a zillion times easier if I have an empty board to look at, and you will never be without a board during a game.

Maybe the simplest idea is: load up a complete game from a database, or open a book of chess games, pick a position half-way through, then imagine the position two moves hence, and count all the possible White checks and captures for each side. Then make the two moves, and check to see if you were right.  Slap yourself once for every one you missed.  Then pick more complicated positions.  Then look further ahead.  Then slap harder.

Mopping up

Posted on by

There were three issues
raised at the start of the summer that I haven’t dealt with yet, and
thought I’d offer some reflection.  It turned out that the people
who wanted to work on these issues aren’t around at the moment, so I
might come back to these!


  1. Making practice (at club and at
    home) really helpful
    in terms
    of improvement


    That would be a good thing to solve!  Well, in many ways I’ve
    tried to promote and model this over the last few years, so I will be
    brief here.

    I think most have us have come across some variation or other of the

    experiential
    learning
    cycle
    , which Kolb and colleagues have developed over many
    years, originally in connection with adult education.  A chess
    version of this might look like:

    PLAY

    		 ==> REVIEW
    /\

    /\

    		\/
    \/
    STUDY/PRACTICE <== REPORT

    The idea is to learn from experience, and focus on what actually is
    holding you back, and not what
    you enjoy studying.  Simon Webb (and Ish) have provided good
    models for how to look at your own game and identify weaknesses; Rowson
    and Dvoretsky have provided some good ideas about how to study.
    It is possible to improve at chess just by playing, because of course
    each exchange of moves allows for your current thinking to be
    challenged, each game gives you new experience to interpret.  But
    playing without reflection might just rehearse bad habits…
    It’s hard to talk in general terms: it’s also not clear what it is
    reasonable to expect from your study.  If you’re a tennis player
    and work on your backhand, you might reasonably expect to be able to
    play a few backhands in your next match.  But if you study IQP
    positions, you may not see one for months.

  2. Too narrow an opening repertoire
    I wonder what sort of problem that is.  I would have thought for
    most of us, we could do with getting into a groove with our openings,
    getting to know them better.  So, I’ve been trying to get
    Brian to stick to one opening system as White and two as Black, so he
    can get familiar with and eventually expert in those formations. 
    I think he’s doing well with White but keeps making it up as he goes
    along as Black.  You branch out later, once you’ve got something
    solid to base it
    on.  When you do branch out, you can take on related systems,
    similar formations, and broaden your expertise in that way.  It’s
    a good goal to be able to play any opening well, any type of position
    well, but be realistic about what you want to take on as an amateur
    with limited study time.

    It’s possible to play any opening at amateur level, I think, and play
    it well and with your own ideas.  There is the Tony Dempsey IQP
    repertoire:
    White:
    Scotch Four Knights’ Game
    Tarrasch Variation vs. French
    Panov-Botvinnik vs. Caro-Kann
    Alapin vs. Sicilian
    Black:
    Swiss Defence vs. QGD (although the Tarrasch also makes sense to me:
    you get into it a lot earlier so you’re more likely to end up playing
    it!)
    Petroff’s Defence vs. 1.e4


  3. Calculating all the tactics out
    (relying too much on
    intuition
    i.e. Laziness)
    The penalty for doing that is of course missing things and
    losing.  If that doesn’t hurt enough to make you change your
    ways…
    As for a cure, perhaps take on sharp positions against a
    computer, when you will surely be punished for being lazy. 
    Dvoretsky
    recommended a couple of deeply-analysed games from John Nunn to be used
    for
    playing-out against an opponent, (see the Canon) but by all means pick
    positions from
    an anthology of games by your favourite attacking player. 
    A similar technique is: play a series of games against your computer in
    open games (1.e4 e5), and re-start the game after any oversights. 
    Aim to extend the average length of the games!