Hello Chess lovers,
I have the real pleasure of sharing with you a game that did not reach the books as a masterpiece.
At least I have not seen a lot of writing on it. Sutovsky 2669 went into overdrive against Ivanchuk then rated at 2711 in a Sicillian. What was so wonderful about this game is how Ivanchuk withstood waves of Sutovsky attacks with a virtuoso performance in terms of the use of multitasking knights. Ivanchuk's knights performed both offensive and defensive roles in a way that is hard to find in the upper stratosphere of chess.
Now unto this superlative battle!!
Sutovsky vs Ivanchuk Aeroflot 2005/6
1.e4c5 2.Nf3 Sutovsky developed a reputation in the mid nineties as a very inspired and dynamic chess player. I saw him live in West Bromwich Albion as he brutalized Ivan Sokolov over the board. He is fierce and often accurate.
2....e6 Ivanchuk has done well with this move before. 3.d4cd4 4.Nd4a6 5.Nc3Qc6 6.Bd3Nf6
7.Qe2Bd6!? - Ivanchuk plays an idea that started with the trainer of Tal, Koblenz in 1958. After one game in that year it resurfaced in 1991!! It really is relatively virgin territory for creative players. It stops white from castling for a move but also contests the f4 square. Normally, it is played a move earlier. Ivanchuk first played
...Nf6 to stop Qg4.
8.Nf3Nc6 9.0-0b5 10.Re1Ng4! one idea is to play ...Nge5 and then capture on d3.This knight was to prove quite a thorn in white's flesh.
11.Nd5?! - Sutovsky goes for a typical knight sacrifice in the Sicillian. He sees that the king is in the center and he believes in provoking a crisis. When confronted by this Ivanchuk showed just how much resources there were in the position.
11....ed5! Testing the opponent. 12.ed5Ne7 13.Bf4Qc5! Ivanchuk defends e7 twice and the queen can multi task on the 5th rank.
14.Nh4!? attacking the knight on g4 and ready to swoop in on f5. 14....h5 15.b4Qb4! -Ice cold.
Ivanchuk has clearly worked out that black has sufficient resources to handle white's onslaught.
It takes great nerves to play like this.
16.Bd2Bh2! 17.Kh1Qc5! targeting f2.
18.f4?!trying to stop the bishop from returning to d6. 18...Bg3 19.Nf5 A curious moment. Both sides are preparing assaults on each other's king. A slugfest!!
19....Nf2 20.Kg1Nh3 21.Kh1Nf2 22.Kg1Nd3 23.Be3Nf4!!! Ivanchuk follows Fischer's main principle "blow for blow" the equal or stronger threat rules in tactical skirmishes.
24.Qf3Qd5 25.Qg3Nf5! and now knight number two comes out. It takes massive courage to allow a discovered attack on one's king. Now the other knight will show defensive multitasking.
26.Bf4Kf8 27.Qd3d6! The knight on f5 makes this possible. 28.Rad1Qc6 29.Re2Be6 30.Bd6Kg8
The king runs to an escape hatch-all in time!!
31.Be5Rh6 !! Ivanchuk proves how many resources there are in the position. 32.R2d2 Sutovsky is planning the second wave -assault on the back rank. 32...Rg6! From defense to offense! 33.g3Kh7 34.Rd8!Qb6!
Sutovsky's charge of the light brigade has been stopped with a double attack. It was a refreshingly barbaric encounter between these two.
What was fascinating was how Ivanchuk used centralized pieces to strike out and then a rook lift to create more protection for an escaping King.
Saturday 30 July 2011
Tuesday 26 July 2011
How the greatest players wield minor pieces as weapons of mass destruction Part One n.
Hello Chess lovers,
I would like to share with you a chess masterpiece by Vladimir Kramnik against Gary Kasparov.
Played in 1996 it was one of the few occasions where Kasparov was confronted with defensive tasks with the white pieces. Generally Kasparov would use the white pieces to break through. In this game he plays a novelty however Kramnik, divining what his opponent was up to took a high-risk high reward decision which paid off.
In this game the two bishops are used as a weapon of mass destruction:
Kasparov v Kramnik Dos Hermanas 1996
1.d4d5 2.c4c6 3.Nc3Nf6 4.Nf3e6 5.e3Nbd7 6.Bd3
With this move order, Kasparov gives his opponent information. He wishes to enter into t.he sharp
Meran lines.
6...dc4 7.Bc4b5 8.Bd3Bb7
This sub variation goes by two names: the Wade or Wade-Larsen variation. It is popular because it
offers imbalances and asymmetry, often important for victory.
9.0-0 Kasparov was always an advocate of rapid development and decides not to play 9.e4 or 9.a3
9...a6 Preparing c6-c5-c4. 10.e4c5 11.d5 The usual line. Black has not castled yet and so white seeks to open central files. 11....c4 12.Bc2Qc7 13.Nd4Nc5 In Gelfand v Dreev Tilburg 1993 and Carlsen v Shirov 2011 13...e5?! was played.
14.b4 Harassing the defender of e6 and hoping to open lines. 14...cb3 15.ab3b4 16.Na4Nce4
Kramnik centralises the knight and leaves Kasparov's knight on a4 -where it will stay till the end of the game.
17.Be4!? At the time this was played this was a new move and the aim of it was to free the g4 square for the Queen. Kasparov gives up the bishop pair in order to open up the central lines faster. Kramnik's king is in the center and time is of the essence.
17...Ne4 18.de6Bd6!? A very brave move. There are a number of reasons why Kramnik will play this move. Time is also important and he saw that castling queen side would mean face 19.Qg4 right away with
the idea of e7+. One line given by Igor Stohl is 19....Nf6 20.Qh3Rd4 21.e7+Kb8 22.ef8Rf8 23.Be3Bc8
24.Nc5Qc5 25.Qg3+ followed by Qg7. Kramnik prepares for King side castling but also takes aim at the white king which is about to come under serious attack from the two bishops. If one looks on the left of the board for black, almost everything is aimed at white's king side. White has a rook on a1, bishop on c1 and a knight at a4.
19.ef7Qf7 20.f3Qh5! Kramnik gets an exclamation mark for this act of courage.Black is willing to sacrifice a piece for an attack against the white king.No less than four black pieces are trained on the white king.The two bishops are aimed at him like long range missiles or snipers.
21.g3 The only move. If 21.fe4?Qh2 22.Kf20-0 ! If 21.h3Qe5 22.f4Qf6 and in both cases black is better.
Psychologically it would have been difficult for Kasparov to cope with this turn of events. He created a new move then finds himself on the defensive with the white pieces-which is very rare.It would have been hard to make this adjustment.
21...0-0 The alternative was the hyper aggressive and accurate ...Ng3.Kramnik is human after all and he must have been anxious about leaving the king in the open.In addition the rook is on the f-file now and this gives rise to some more possibilities.
22.fe4 Kasparov challenges his opponent to prove his concept. He had another move :22.Ra2Nc3 23.Nc3bc3 24.Ne6Bc5 with and advantage for black. 22.Ne6?Ng3 23hg3Bg3 24.Ra2Rf3 and black has the two bishops.
22....Qh3 This is the move that pushes Kasparov towards his first blunder.He has five different moves and two of them are very bad :
A) 23.Nf5?Be4 24.Ra2Rf5 25.Rf5Qf5 26.Qd6Qf3 winning.
B) 23.Bf4Bf4 24.Rf4Rf4 25.gf4Qe3 26.Kf1Be4 27.Ne2Qf3+
C)23.Ra2!?Be4 I will challenge the reader to finish the analysis.
D)23.Rf8Rf8 24.Qe2
E)23.Qe2!Bg3
I have decided to leave the reader to figure out the remaining moves in order to promote active reading.
In lines c to e the motif is the same: lateral defense along the second rank.
23.Nf3? Bg3! Black's idea is brutally simple: Rf3 and take on h2 with the queen.
24.Nc5? This is possibly the decisive mistake. 24.Qe2 was available.
24....Rf3 25.Rf3?? 25.Ra2Rf1 26.Qf1Qf1 27.Kf1Rc8 28.Be3Bf4!? Allows white to stagger bleeding into
an endgame which is not so clear cut.
25...Qh2 26.Kf1Bc6!! Kramnik moves his second bishop in like a sniper who will hit the king from another angle. I really believe Kasparov missed this. He saw the direct threats and then he has to contend with this new idea.
27.Bg5 Kasparov sees another attack coming when his king tries to "run away" so he guards d8.
27...Bb5 28.Nd3Re8 ! With the idea of Qh1 and Re4. 29.Ra2Qh1 30.Ke2Re4 31.Kd2Qg2
32.Kc1Qa2 33.Rg3 Qa1 34.Kc2Qc3 35.Kb1Rd4 At this point Kasparov simply had enough.
0-1
I hope you enjoyed that. Rarely has Kasparov been so roughly treated as white and it is so odd
to see his king being ripped like that. What was interesting was how Kramnik deployed his bishop straight away on d6 not bothering to recapture on e6. The big turning point came at move 20 when ...Qh5 brought another black piece to the party. At that moment the imbalance on the board was clear. White had three assets -rook bishop and knight stuck on the queen side. Black had a queen and two bishops trained on the white king.
Moves 23 to 25 decided the outcome with the bishops and the queen doing the damage. Kramnik proved in this game that he was more than a match for Kasparov's idea and built a fear factor around the way he used the two bishops.
Tuesday 19 July 2011
World Open Highlights and Delicacies Part One
Hello Chess Lovers
I would like to share with you the delightful attacking game played by Molnar and Smirin in the World Open USA. It was a fantastic advertisement for creative chess and involved some very attractive motifs.
Lets go!!
Molnar v Smirin World Open
1.e4c5 2.Nf3e6 3.d4cd4 4.Nd4a6 5.Bd3Bc5 This line of the Paulsen is popular. Interesting is 5....Ne7
6.0-0Nbc6 7.Nc6Nc6 8.Be3Be7 Shirov v Carlsen Linares 2008
6.Nb3Ba7 7.Qg4 The most aggressive try. This is one of those high risk, high return variations.
7...Nf6 8.Qg3d6 9.Nc3Nc6 10.0-0b5 11.Qg7?! A key moment in the struggle white seeks an imbalance
that will hopefully disrupt black's plans for harmonious development. Black gains vital open lines.
11...Rg8 12.Qh6Ne5! A knight is heading to g4. 13.Kh1Nfg4! 14.Qh7Kd7!! A highly creative concept.
Now the g and h files are open.Smirin has calculated that he has enough time to bring his guns to bear on the white king.
15.h3Bb7!! Knowing that 16.hg3Rh8 wins the white queen, Smirin lines up the bishop on the a8-h1 diagonal. 16.f4Qf6!! Smirin does what very strong GMs do. Since the time of Fischer they always look for the equal or stronger threat. If 17.fe5Nf2+ is coming. 17.Qh5Nd3 not wasting time. 18.cd3Nf2 19.Rf2Bf2
20.Na5 And right here Smirin sets up a brutal finish. 20...Rg3! In response to every threatening white move from move 15 onwards, Smirin finds active counter measures and this is the hallmark of the sharp tactician finding active moves but also the quiet ones. 21.Nb7Rh8 22.e5Qg7! 23.Ne4Rh3!!
And white had enough. 0-1 I hope this was a wonderful experience for you.A great advertisement for active attacking chess.
I would like to share with you the delightful attacking game played by Molnar and Smirin in the World Open USA. It was a fantastic advertisement for creative chess and involved some very attractive motifs.
Lets go!!
Molnar v Smirin World Open
1.e4c5 2.Nf3e6 3.d4cd4 4.Nd4a6 5.Bd3Bc5 This line of the Paulsen is popular. Interesting is 5....Ne7
6.0-0Nbc6 7.Nc6Nc6 8.Be3Be7 Shirov v Carlsen Linares 2008
6.Nb3Ba7 7.Qg4 The most aggressive try. This is one of those high risk, high return variations.
7...Nf6 8.Qg3d6 9.Nc3Nc6 10.0-0b5 11.Qg7?! A key moment in the struggle white seeks an imbalance
that will hopefully disrupt black's plans for harmonious development. Black gains vital open lines.
11...Rg8 12.Qh6Ne5! A knight is heading to g4. 13.Kh1Nfg4! 14.Qh7Kd7!! A highly creative concept.
Now the g and h files are open.Smirin has calculated that he has enough time to bring his guns to bear on the white king.
15.h3Bb7!! Knowing that 16.hg3Rh8 wins the white queen, Smirin lines up the bishop on the a8-h1 diagonal. 16.f4Qf6!! Smirin does what very strong GMs do. Since the time of Fischer they always look for the equal or stronger threat. If 17.fe5Nf2+ is coming. 17.Qh5Nd3 not wasting time. 18.cd3Nf2 19.Rf2Bf2
20.Na5 And right here Smirin sets up a brutal finish. 20...Rg3! In response to every threatening white move from move 15 onwards, Smirin finds active counter measures and this is the hallmark of the sharp tactician finding active moves but also the quiet ones. 21.Nb7Rh8 22.e5Qg7! 23.Ne4Rh3!!
And white had enough. 0-1 I hope this was a wonderful experience for you.A great advertisement for active attacking chess.
Saturday 16 July 2011
Asymmetrical warfare in chess: The Ultra Flexible 1...g6 Part Three
Hello chess lovers
In the final part of this trilogy I would like to share the brilliant game Ioseliani vs Svidler 1998 with you.
Aside from looking at the unorthodox nature of black's concept we can also explore the cross pollination of ideas in the Modern Defence and see how ideas from the Sicillian Dragon are quite similiar.
This game has some aesthetic qualities which will be backed up by variations.
Ioseliani v. Svidler 1998
1.e4g6 2.d4Bg7 3.Nc3d6 4.Be3a6 5.Qd2Nd7 6.f3b5 7.h4Ngf6 8.g4h6!? Svidler is using a lot of flexible moves here.He is ready for h4-h5 or g4-g5.
9.Nh3Nb6 10.0-0-0b4 11.Nb1?! A critical moment. White wants the bishop on f1 to guard c4 and so leaves the knight on this sad outpost.The problem is that it leads to a lot of mating ideas on the b2 square.Svidler develops a plan around this.
11....a5 12.Nf4Nfd7Svidler prepares for action on the queenside.Note that his king has a fixed address. 13.Bb5
(13.e5de5 14.de5Be5 15.Nfd5Bb7 16.Nb6cb6 17.Bb5Bd6)
13...Bb7 14.d5c5!! Beautiful concept.This is all based on the important square c4. Now we have a Sicillian type structure where c5 is played with loads of attractive variations.
15.dc6!? (15.Ne6fe6 16.de6Bc6!! 17.ed7 -17Bc6Nc4! 18.ed7Kf8- 17...Qd7 18.Bc6Qc6 19.Qe20-0)
15...Bc6 16.Qe2(16.Bc6Nc4 with the idea of Bb2#)Rc8 17.Bc6Rc6At this point black is virtually playing a form of Sicillian Dragon with the open c-file and white's king in his sights.
18.Nd50-0
Only now does Svidler castle in order to secure the king and get the other rook into action.
19.Bd4Bd4 20.Rd4e6 21.Ne3Nc5 At this point white goes quite wrong.However she was under some pressure and she also has to a
djust to the fact that she has no aggressive possibilities.
22.Nc4?
(22.Qb5Qf6 ; 22.b3e5!)
22...Nc4 23.Rc4d5 24.ed5ed5 25.Rhd1Nd3!! A lovely line clearance move with a check.
Svidler plays this part of the game extremely well. The white king has been a liability on c1 for many moves and Svidler cashes in.
26.Qd3Rc4 27.Nd2Rc6 now we reach the business end of the game where results are all important.
28.h5Qg5 29.hg6fg6 30.Kb1Sadly for white this did not improve the situation.
30...Rfc8 31.Nb3Rc2 32.f4Qf4 33.Qg6 Kh8 34.Rh1Rh2 And here white had enough. 0-1
Summary:
Svidler played for imbalances in the opening. He was playing fora win in this event and he chose
something that his opponent would be unfamiliar with.The opponent played well for 10 moves and then 11.Nb1?! allowed Svidler to develop a concept around the b2 square and the bad position of white's King which was stuck on the c-file.
In the final part of this trilogy I would like to share the brilliant game Ioseliani vs Svidler 1998 with you.
Aside from looking at the unorthodox nature of black's concept we can also explore the cross pollination of ideas in the Modern Defence and see how ideas from the Sicillian Dragon are quite similiar.
This game has some aesthetic qualities which will be backed up by variations.
Ioseliani v. Svidler 1998
1.e4g6 2.d4Bg7 3.Nc3d6 4.Be3a6 5.Qd2Nd7 6.f3b5 7.h4Ngf6 8.g4h6!? Svidler is using a lot of flexible moves here.He is ready for h4-h5 or g4-g5.
9.Nh3Nb6 10.0-0-0b4 11.Nb1?! A critical moment. White wants the bishop on f1 to guard c4 and so leaves the knight on this sad outpost.The problem is that it leads to a lot of mating ideas on the b2 square.Svidler develops a plan around this.
11....a5 12.Nf4Nfd7Svidler prepares for action on the queenside.Note that his king has a fixed address. 13.Bb5
(13.e5de5 14.de5Be5 15.Nfd5Bb7 16.Nb6cb6 17.Bb5Bd6)
13...Bb7 14.d5c5!! Beautiful concept.This is all based on the important square c4. Now we have a Sicillian type structure where c5 is played with loads of attractive variations.
15.dc6!? (15.Ne6fe6 16.de6Bc6!! 17.ed7 -17Bc6Nc4! 18.ed7Kf8- 17...Qd7 18.Bc6Qc6 19.Qe20-0)
15...Bc6 16.Qe2(16.Bc6Nc4 with the idea of Bb2#)Rc8 17.Bc6Rc6At this point black is virtually playing a form of Sicillian Dragon with the open c-file and white's king in his sights.
18.Nd50-0
Only now does Svidler castle in order to secure the king and get the other rook into action.
19.Bd4Bd4 20.Rd4e6 21.Ne3Nc5 At this point white goes quite wrong.However she was under some pressure and she also has to a
djust to the fact that she has no aggressive possibilities.
22.Nc4?
(22.Qb5Qf6 ; 22.b3e5!)
22...Nc4 23.Rc4d5 24.ed5ed5 25.Rhd1Nd3!! A lovely line clearance move with a check.
Svidler plays this part of the game extremely well. The white king has been a liability on c1 for many moves and Svidler cashes in.
26.Qd3Rc4 27.Nd2Rc6 now we reach the business end of the game where results are all important.
28.h5Qg5 29.hg6fg6 30.Kb1Sadly for white this did not improve the situation.
30...Rfc8 31.Nb3Rc2 32.f4Qf4 33.Qg6 Kh8 34.Rh1Rh2 And here white had enough. 0-1
Summary:
Svidler played for imbalances in the opening. He was playing fora win in this event and he chose
something that his opponent would be unfamiliar with.The opponent played well for 10 moves and then 11.Nb1?! allowed Svidler to develop a concept around the b2 square and the bad position of white's King which was stuck on the c-file.
Asymmetrical warfare in chess: The Ultra Flexible 1...g6 Part Two
Hello Chess Lovers
In Part One we saw a successful black strategy where white was encouraged to build a big center and then black chipped away at the center with moves like ...f6 and ...fe5. In this game we shall see how white reacts to this hyper modern build up by gradually grabbing squares and working on long term goals such as greater space and the inducement of weaknesses. This game features Swedish GM Emanuel Berg versus Koukufikis of greece.
Berg v Koukofik
1.e4g6 2.d4Bg7 3.Nc3d6 4.Be3a6 5.Qd2b5 Black has another option: 5...Nd7 6.h4Ngf6 7.f3b5 8.0-0-0Bb7.g4h5 10.g5Nh7 11.d5c5 12.dc6Bc6 13.Bd4! a key move taking away black's best piece. 13...Bd4 14.Qd40-0 15.Nge2Qb6 16.Bh3!Rfd8 17.Nd5Bd5 18.ed5Nhf8 19.f4 grabbing more squares. 19...Qd4 20.Nd4 and white's advantage is durable he has more space and can organize pressure against e7.
6.h4h6 This slightly weakens g6.White works on this later on.7.0-0-0 Bb7 8.Nh3Nd7 9.f3c6?! 10.Kb1Qc7 11.Nf4Ngf6 12.g4Its good to notice that the white bishop on f1 is left at home in this structure.
12...Nb6 13.Qf2! Berg is very patient. He anticipates black's pseudo-active moves with Nc4 and he is ready to play the bishop to c1.
13...b4 14.Nce2Nc4 15.Bc1Nd7 16.Ng3Ndb6 17.Bc4Nc4 18.Qe2!Nb6 Now we can take stock.
White has more space and he can organise play in the center and on the king side.Black cannot really generate more aggression on the queen side.
19.h5!g5 A big turning point in the game. The f5 square turns into good real estate for white and this will mean grave difficulties for black.
20.Nf5!Bf8 21.e50-0-0 22.Nd3!Nd5 23.f4!c5?! 24.ed6ed6 25.dc5dc5 26.fg5With each pawn exchange the game opens up for white's better placed pieces.A key skill in chess is to anticipate changes in pawn structure.
26....c4 27.Nf4! Nc3A committal move made by a player who must have felt the need to do something drastic. (27...Nf4 28.Rd8Kd8 29.Rd1Nd5 30.Ne3Qc5 31.Nd5Bd5 32.Qe5!)28.bc3Bh1 29.Rh1bc3 30.Qf3Bd6 31.Ne2Qb6 32.Ka1Be5 33.Ne7Kd7 34.Qf7Rhf8 35.Rd1+ 1-0
So its important to summarize the key points of this game:
1) White set out to grab space without generating threats early.
2) At move 19 white showed his major card-h4-h5 inducing a weakness on f5.
3) With e4-e5 and f3-f4 white opened up the position with well placed pieces.
White showed patience in this game and at the right time, opened the game up.Also he showed an understanding of structural changes.
In Part One we saw a successful black strategy where white was encouraged to build a big center and then black chipped away at the center with moves like ...f6 and ...fe5. In this game we shall see how white reacts to this hyper modern build up by gradually grabbing squares and working on long term goals such as greater space and the inducement of weaknesses. This game features Swedish GM Emanuel Berg versus Koukufikis of greece.
Berg v Koukofik
1.e4g6 2.d4Bg7 3.Nc3d6 4.Be3a6 5.Qd2b5 Black has another option: 5...Nd7 6.h4Ngf6 7.f3b5 8.0-0-0Bb7.g4h5 10.g5Nh7 11.d5c5 12.dc6Bc6 13.Bd4! a key move taking away black's best piece. 13...Bd4 14.Qd40-0 15.Nge2Qb6 16.Bh3!Rfd8 17.Nd5Bd5 18.ed5Nhf8 19.f4 grabbing more squares. 19...Qd4 20.Nd4 and white's advantage is durable he has more space and can organize pressure against e7.
6.h4h6 This slightly weakens g6.White works on this later on.7.0-0-0 Bb7 8.Nh3Nd7 9.f3c6?! 10.Kb1Qc7 11.Nf4Ngf6 12.g4Its good to notice that the white bishop on f1 is left at home in this structure.
12...Nb6 13.Qf2! Berg is very patient. He anticipates black's pseudo-active moves with Nc4 and he is ready to play the bishop to c1.
13...b4 14.Nce2Nc4 15.Bc1Nd7 16.Ng3Ndb6 17.Bc4Nc4 18.Qe2!Nb6 Now we can take stock.
White has more space and he can organise play in the center and on the king side.Black cannot really generate more aggression on the queen side.
19.h5!g5 A big turning point in the game. The f5 square turns into good real estate for white and this will mean grave difficulties for black.
20.Nf5!Bf8 21.e50-0-0 22.Nd3!Nd5 23.f4!c5?! 24.ed6ed6 25.dc5dc5 26.fg5With each pawn exchange the game opens up for white's better placed pieces.A key skill in chess is to anticipate changes in pawn structure.
26....c4 27.Nf4! Nc3A committal move made by a player who must have felt the need to do something drastic. (27...Nf4 28.Rd8Kd8 29.Rd1Nd5 30.Ne3Qc5 31.Nd5Bd5 32.Qe5!)28.bc3Bh1 29.Rh1bc3 30.Qf3Bd6 31.Ne2Qb6 32.Ka1Be5 33.Ne7Kd7 34.Qf7Rhf8 35.Rd1+ 1-0
So its important to summarize the key points of this game:
1) White set out to grab space without generating threats early.
2) At move 19 white showed his major card-h4-h5 inducing a weakness on f5.
3) With e4-e5 and f3-f4 white opened up the position with well placed pieces.
White showed patience in this game and at the right time, opened the game up.Also he showed an understanding of structural changes.
Friday 15 July 2011
Asymmetrical warfare in chess: The Ultra Flexible 1...g6 Part One
Hello Chess lovers
I wanted to explore with you hypermodern concepts that can arise out of 1.e4g6. The move order is amazing flexible for a number of reasons:
1) The knight has not been committed to f6 which means the bishop on g7 is not obstructed-like a sniper on the flanks ready to take aim at d4 and the b2 square.
2) Black is not compelled to play ...d6 and so he can also play ...c6 and d5.
3) Black can also get into Sicillian like positions with the inclusion of Bg7/Nd7/d6/c5
I have very pleasant memories of Tiger Hillarp Persson explaining his version of the Modern Defense.
He wanted to have a kind of Accelerated Dragon but the the knight not obstructing the the bishop on g7 for some moves. Petr Svidler seemed to find this attractive along with a number of other players. Kramnik played the ultra flexible move order against Grischuk this year. So this now leads to white's strategy. Often the strategy is one of containment of the wings with a2-a4 and h2-h4. We will look at black and white's strategy and I hope this will be exciting for you.
The first game features
Bonev v Chatalbashev
1.e4g6 2.d4Bg7 3.Nc3c6 4.f4d5 Chatelbashev wants an imbalance against the lower rated player so he plays in an asymmetrical way. 5.e5Nh6 and now one can determine black's idea. He will use the white center as a target and post his pieces from the flank.
6.Nf3f6 Phase two -black begins to hit at the center. 7.Be2Bg4 8.0-00-0 9.Be3Nd7 10.Qd2e6 11.Nd1White wants to free the c-pawn for action and black prepares for an assault on the center.
11...Nf5Black reaps one of the benefits of encouraging white to build his center.He gets a nice square for his knight.
12.Nf2Bf3 13.Bf3fe5 14.fe5Qb6! A key move, black pins the d pawn and puts pressure on b2.
15.c3Ne5! 16.Qe2Ne3 17.Qe3Nf3 18.gf3e5! Strategically black has done everything right.The computer gives black a massive advantage with one type of software and a win on others.
19.Rfd1ed4 20.cd4Rae8 21.Qd3Bd4!! Out of nowhere black finds a lovely tactical blow. White had enough and resigned. If he went on he would have faced : 22.Qd4Re1!! 23.Kg2Qd4 24.Rd4Ra1 with a win.
That was a good advertisement for the strategy of encouraging white to build a big center then undermining it.
This can be compared with Aikido in the martial arts!!
Key Moments:
6...f6 - Undermining the center.
14...Qb6 setting up tactical possibilities
I wanted to explore with you hypermodern concepts that can arise out of 1.e4g6. The move order is amazing flexible for a number of reasons:
1) The knight has not been committed to f6 which means the bishop on g7 is not obstructed-like a sniper on the flanks ready to take aim at d4 and the b2 square.
2) Black is not compelled to play ...d6 and so he can also play ...c6 and d5.
3) Black can also get into Sicillian like positions with the inclusion of Bg7/Nd7/d6/c5
I have very pleasant memories of Tiger Hillarp Persson explaining his version of the Modern Defense.
He wanted to have a kind of Accelerated Dragon but the the knight not obstructing the the bishop on g7 for some moves. Petr Svidler seemed to find this attractive along with a number of other players. Kramnik played the ultra flexible move order against Grischuk this year. So this now leads to white's strategy. Often the strategy is one of containment of the wings with a2-a4 and h2-h4. We will look at black and white's strategy and I hope this will be exciting for you.
The first game features
Bonev v Chatalbashev
1.e4g6 2.d4Bg7 3.Nc3c6 4.f4d5 Chatelbashev wants an imbalance against the lower rated player so he plays in an asymmetrical way. 5.e5Nh6 and now one can determine black's idea. He will use the white center as a target and post his pieces from the flank.
6.Nf3f6 Phase two -black begins to hit at the center. 7.Be2Bg4 8.0-00-0 9.Be3Nd7 10.Qd2e6 11.Nd1White wants to free the c-pawn for action and black prepares for an assault on the center.
11...Nf5Black reaps one of the benefits of encouraging white to build his center.He gets a nice square for his knight.
12.Nf2Bf3 13.Bf3fe5 14.fe5Qb6! A key move, black pins the d pawn and puts pressure on b2.
15.c3Ne5! 16.Qe2Ne3 17.Qe3Nf3 18.gf3e5! Strategically black has done everything right.The computer gives black a massive advantage with one type of software and a win on others.
19.Rfd1ed4 20.cd4Rae8 21.Qd3Bd4!! Out of nowhere black finds a lovely tactical blow. White had enough and resigned. If he went on he would have faced : 22.Qd4Re1!! 23.Kg2Qd4 24.Rd4Ra1 with a win.
That was a good advertisement for the strategy of encouraging white to build a big center then undermining it.
This can be compared with Aikido in the martial arts!!
Key Moments:
6...f6 - Undermining the center.
14...Qb6 setting up tactical possibilities
Thursday 14 July 2011
In the spirit of Paul Keres 4.Bg5 vs. the Pirc Part Two
Hello Chess lovers,
I will be sharing with you an unusual treatment of 4Bg5 in the Pirc by Svidler who was once a great e2-e4 expert. In the following game he encounters an unusual strategy from Sunil Weeramanty and then gradually takes over the game.Lets see:
Svidler v Weeramanty
1.e4d6 2.d4Nf6 3.Nc3g6 4.Bg5Nbd7 5.f4h6 6.Bh4c5 7.d5Bg7 8.Nf3Qb6 Black's move order resembles a Dragon set up with the pawn at c5 and the Bishop on g7 ready for action. Svidler appears to play passively inviting the opponent to premature aggression.
9.Qc1Nh5 10.Nd1g5 Black is trying to assume the initiative and I believe that the last two moves in particular prompted this pseudo active continuation.The problem is that it all runs out.
11.fg5Ne5!? 12.gh6The trend of the game has changed. Black has surrendered material for active pieces and the hope of landing a blow somewhere.The problem is that there is no concrete forcing variation here.Black's position looks optically interesting but there is a point beyond which he cannot improve his position.
12....Qb4 13.Nc3Bh6?! (13...Nf3 14.gf3Bc3 15.bc3Qc3 16.Kf2f5!? would be more interesting)
14.Bg5Nf3 15.gf3Bg5 16.Qg5Qb2 17.Kd2Qb4 18.Qe3a6! 19.Rb1Qa5 20.e5!? This is the turning point.
Svidler points out the flaw of black's concept: The address of his king is fixed and white mounts an attack on the King.
20....de5 21.Qe5Nf6 22.d6 Svidler uses every resource. 22...Qd8 23.Nd5Qa5Lashing out. 24.Kd1Nd5 25.Qh8Kd7 26.Rb3Kd6 27.Bc4Be6 28.Qa8 The Queen is the star of this game.From c1 it has travelled all the way to a8!
28...Nc3 29.Kd2Nb5 30.Kc1Bc4 31.Rd1Ke6 32.Re3Kf6 33.Qh8 And black is out of business.
1-0 I hope that was a lot of fun and excitement. For a while it appeared that white was defensive as black took an extremely active stance early on. By move 20, the game was turning against black.Usually players have difficulty adapting to changes in the game if they were active and then they have to go on the defensive.
Svidler managed to handle to aspects very well-mounting an attack in the center and fending of black's counter attacks. This takes a certain cold blooded attitude.
I will be sharing with you an unusual treatment of 4Bg5 in the Pirc by Svidler who was once a great e2-e4 expert. In the following game he encounters an unusual strategy from Sunil Weeramanty and then gradually takes over the game.Lets see:
Svidler v Weeramanty
1.e4d6 2.d4Nf6 3.Nc3g6 4.Bg5Nbd7 5.f4h6 6.Bh4c5 7.d5Bg7 8.Nf3Qb6 Black's move order resembles a Dragon set up with the pawn at c5 and the Bishop on g7 ready for action. Svidler appears to play passively inviting the opponent to premature aggression.
9.Qc1Nh5 10.Nd1g5 Black is trying to assume the initiative and I believe that the last two moves in particular prompted this pseudo active continuation.The problem is that it all runs out.
11.fg5Ne5!? 12.gh6The trend of the game has changed. Black has surrendered material for active pieces and the hope of landing a blow somewhere.The problem is that there is no concrete forcing variation here.Black's position looks optically interesting but there is a point beyond which he cannot improve his position.
12....Qb4 13.Nc3Bh6?! (13...Nf3 14.gf3Bc3 15.bc3Qc3 16.Kf2f5!? would be more interesting)
14.Bg5Nf3 15.gf3Bg5 16.Qg5Qb2 17.Kd2Qb4 18.Qe3a6! 19.Rb1Qa5 20.e5!? This is the turning point.
Svidler points out the flaw of black's concept: The address of his king is fixed and white mounts an attack on the King.
20....de5 21.Qe5Nf6 22.d6 Svidler uses every resource. 22...Qd8 23.Nd5Qa5Lashing out. 24.Kd1Nd5 25.Qh8Kd7 26.Rb3Kd6 27.Bc4Be6 28.Qa8 The Queen is the star of this game.From c1 it has travelled all the way to a8!
28...Nc3 29.Kd2Nb5 30.Kc1Bc4 31.Rd1Ke6 32.Re3Kf6 33.Qh8 And black is out of business.
1-0 I hope that was a lot of fun and excitement. For a while it appeared that white was defensive as black took an extremely active stance early on. By move 20, the game was turning against black.Usually players have difficulty adapting to changes in the game if they were active and then they have to go on the defensive.
Svidler managed to handle to aspects very well-mounting an attack in the center and fending of black's counter attacks. This takes a certain cold blooded attitude.
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