Hello Chess lovers
In the second part of this series I would like to go back in time to the year 1962. That was a year in which the Caribbean had a lot of historic moments. There was the Cuban missile crisis.Then there was the independence of Jamaica and in chess the controversial Curacao Interzonal tournament where Fischer went on to give a rant on Soviet cheating. Prior to that there was a magnificent performance by Robert Fischer in the Stockholm Interzonal which won in impressive style. In the following game taken from that tournament, we see how Fischer played across the entire board and then finish with an efficient attack.
Fischer v Bolbochan Stockholm 1962
1.e4c5 2.Nf3d6 3.d4cd4 4.Nd4Nf6 5.Nc3a6 6.h3Nc6 7.g4Nd4 8.Qd4e5 9.Qd3Be7 10.g5Nfd7 11.Be3
A slight inaccuracy. 11.h4Nc5 12.Qf3 was better.
11....Nc5 12.Qd2Be6 13.0-0-0 0-0? A nearly decisive mistake. Fischer now has the address of the opponent's king and starts to prepare an assault.Black had to try 13...Qa514.a3b5 15.Nb1Qd2 16.Nd20-0 with no problems.
14.f3Rac8 15.Kb1Nd7 16.h4b5 17.Bh3 as always white seeks to remove defenders in any Sicillian.Black makes the decisive mistake.
17...Bh3?? 17...Re8 18.Nd5Bf8 was called for.
18.Rh3Nb6 19.Bb6 Fischer removes the counterattacking threat of the knight. 19....Qb6 20.Nd5Qd8 21.f4ef4 22.Qf4Qd7 23.Qf5Rcd8 23...Qf5 24.Ne7 is a big mistake. 24.Ra3Qa7 25.Rc3! Fischer's play all across the board is an example of boardwide vision.
25...g6 26.Qg4Qd7 27.Qf3Qe6 28.Rc7Rde8 and Fischer is taking over more squares.
29.Nf4Qe5 30.Rd5 and the absence of black's light square bishop is keenly felt.
30...Qh8 31.a3h6 32.gh6Qh6 33.h5Bg5 34.hg6!!The way is forward 34...fg6 35.Qb3Rf4 36.Re5Kf8 and now Fischer finishes with an efficient move 37.Re8 after seeing that 37...Ke8 38.Qg8 was hopeless black resigned. 1-0
So what can be learnt from this game.
1) Black's castling was very wrong.In the Sicillian black needs to always consider what is the right moment to castle.It is an opening requiring immense accuracy.
2)17. Bh3 was a crucial part of white's strategy.Removal of key defenders is paramount in the Sicillian.
3)The use of d5 as a transit square for pieces.
4) The switching of pressure with the rook on the third rank and the infiltration on the c-file.Fabulous boardwide play by Fischer.
5) Finishing of the attack efficiently.Fischer was really interested in winning and never gave a lot of thought to beauty.
I hope you found it instructive.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Crisis Point in the Sicillian Defense: 6h3 in the Najdorf Variation#1
Hello Chess Lovers
Today I wanted to share with you a wonderful attacking game by the super talented Russian GM Nepomniatchi
who caused Carlsen serious problems from the black side of the Sicillian earlier this year. In this game we will look at the 6h3 line in the Najdorf which has been played by some of the giants of chess from the time of Fischer to Carlsen and Karjakin. The move 6h3 is intended to prepare g2-g4 and differs from the Keres attack in that the white rook on h1 is not committed to the g1 square and white preserves the option of castling.It has a similiar intention to the English attack and 6.f3.The advantage is that f3 is left for a piece and as we shall see the the f-pawn goes to f4 instead.
Lets take a deeper look.
Nepomniatchi vs Frolyanov Russian Team championship
1.e4c5 2.Nf3d6 3.d4cd4 4.Nd4Nf6 5.Nc3a6 6.h3e6 7.g4b5 8.Bg2Bb7 9.0-0Nfd7 this is quite new.
In Carlsen v Gelfand 9...h6 10.Re1 was played. In Carlsen v Dominguez 9...Nc6 10.Nc6 was played.
In Karjakin vs Van Wely 9....b4 10.Nd5!? was played. We will take a look at these games in the future.
10.f4Be7 11.f5 and now we see the concept of white: he assaults the focal point e6 as a result of the black bishop leaving c8.Its often a rule of thumb that when the black bishop goes to b7, white assaults the e6 point.
11....e5 A critical moment.The pawn structure has changed and d5 and f5 are now inviting squares for white.
At the same time black keeps the centre closed. 12.f6!! Nepomniatchi continues with an equal or stronger threat rather than retreating the d4 knight.Time is always of the essence in the Sicillian.It is also a square clearance move. f5 is now free for the knight.
12....Nf6 13.Nf50-0 14.g5 -g-force!! The defender is removed and white now invites everyone to the party.
14....Ne8 15.Qg4Nbd7 16.Be3Rc8 17.Rf2! very good as it anticipates ..b4 by black but also blocks annoying checks by black along the a7-g1 diagonal.
17.....d5!? A very committal move which is understandable.Black is cramped and would like to get some room for the pieces to breathe.Black wants the d6 square for a piece.
18.ed5Nd6 19.Nd6!Bd6 20.Ne4
Inviting the knight to the party.Removal of defenders will always be a theme for aggressive 1.e4 players no matter which opening they face.
20....Nc5?! The first crisis point for black.The knight on e4 is an influential piece and it really is understandable for black to get rid of such a piece. Black's only other decent move seemed to be
20...Qc7 21.Nf6Nf6 22.gf6g6 23.Qg5Rfe8 24.Be4Qc4 25.Qg2Red8 26.Rd2Bc5 27.Bc5Qc5 28.Kh2Qd6 29.Raf1Rc4 30.h4b4 31.h5Rd7 32hg6hg6 33.Kg1Qc5 34.Rff2)
21.Nf6Kh8 22.Qh5gf6 23.Rf6Rg8 black tries to defend h7. 24.Rf7Rg7 25.Rg7Kg7 26.g6!! A beautiful line clearance sacrifice. 26...hg6 27.Qh6Kg8 28.Qg6Kh8 29.Rf1Bf8 30.Rf7Qh4 black finds resources but to no avail. 31.Bg5! bringing up the last reserves and black had enough. 1-0
To summarize here are the main points:
A) 6.h3 allows the f2 pawn to go to f4. In this game it went all the way to f6!
B) After d6-d5 by black the game got easier for white as e4 was used as a transfer point for white's pieces.
C)From move 20 to move 31 black was put under enormous pressure with a long series of forcing moves where all the white pieces just went forward. Wonderful attacking game.
I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.
Today I wanted to share with you a wonderful attacking game by the super talented Russian GM Nepomniatchi
who caused Carlsen serious problems from the black side of the Sicillian earlier this year. In this game we will look at the 6h3 line in the Najdorf which has been played by some of the giants of chess from the time of Fischer to Carlsen and Karjakin. The move 6h3 is intended to prepare g2-g4 and differs from the Keres attack in that the white rook on h1 is not committed to the g1 square and white preserves the option of castling.It has a similiar intention to the English attack and 6.f3.The advantage is that f3 is left for a piece and as we shall see the the f-pawn goes to f4 instead.
Lets take a deeper look.
Nepomniatchi vs Frolyanov Russian Team championship
1.e4c5 2.Nf3d6 3.d4cd4 4.Nd4Nf6 5.Nc3a6 6.h3e6 7.g4b5 8.Bg2Bb7 9.0-0Nfd7 this is quite new.
In Carlsen v Gelfand 9...h6 10.Re1 was played. In Carlsen v Dominguez 9...Nc6 10.Nc6 was played.
In Karjakin vs Van Wely 9....b4 10.Nd5!? was played. We will take a look at these games in the future.
10.f4Be7 11.f5 and now we see the concept of white: he assaults the focal point e6 as a result of the black bishop leaving c8.Its often a rule of thumb that when the black bishop goes to b7, white assaults the e6 point.
11....e5 A critical moment.The pawn structure has changed and d5 and f5 are now inviting squares for white.
At the same time black keeps the centre closed. 12.f6!! Nepomniatchi continues with an equal or stronger threat rather than retreating the d4 knight.Time is always of the essence in the Sicillian.It is also a square clearance move. f5 is now free for the knight.
12....Nf6 13.Nf50-0 14.g5 -g-force!! The defender is removed and white now invites everyone to the party.
14....Ne8 15.Qg4Nbd7 16.Be3Rc8 17.Rf2! very good as it anticipates ..b4 by black but also blocks annoying checks by black along the a7-g1 diagonal.
17.....d5!? A very committal move which is understandable.Black is cramped and would like to get some room for the pieces to breathe.Black wants the d6 square for a piece.
18.ed5Nd6 19.Nd6!Bd6 20.Ne4
Inviting the knight to the party.Removal of defenders will always be a theme for aggressive 1.e4 players no matter which opening they face.
20....Nc5?! The first crisis point for black.The knight on e4 is an influential piece and it really is understandable for black to get rid of such a piece. Black's only other decent move seemed to be
20...Qc7 21.Nf6Nf6 22.gf6g6 23.Qg5Rfe8 24.Be4Qc4 25.Qg2Red8 26.Rd2Bc5 27.Bc5Qc5 28.Kh2Qd6 29.Raf1Rc4 30.h4b4 31.h5Rd7 32hg6hg6 33.Kg1Qc5 34.Rff2)
21.Nf6Kh8 22.Qh5gf6 23.Rf6Rg8 black tries to defend h7. 24.Rf7Rg7 25.Rg7Kg7 26.g6!! A beautiful line clearance sacrifice. 26...hg6 27.Qh6Kg8 28.Qg6Kh8 29.Rf1Bf8 30.Rf7Qh4 black finds resources but to no avail. 31.Bg5! bringing up the last reserves and black had enough. 1-0
To summarize here are the main points:
A) 6.h3 allows the f2 pawn to go to f4. In this game it went all the way to f6!
B) After d6-d5 by black the game got easier for white as e4 was used as a transfer point for white's pieces.
C)From move 20 to move 31 black was put under enormous pressure with a long series of forcing moves where all the white pieces just went forward. Wonderful attacking game.
I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.
Friday, 29 April 2011
Kasparov's Art of War broken down into chunks Part Three
Hello Chess Lovers
I wanted to look at another example of Kasparov's warcraft. In this game Kasparov uses an old Gambit against Anand, his almost perpetual #2. What is fascinating is the way in which Kasparov causes so many problems in the opening that by move 18 Anand was in survival mode.Kasparov, more than any other GM was able to provoke a crisis and find momentum in certain positions. This was clearly a fruit of his labours off the board and then on it.
Lets go to the game:
Kasparov v Anand Tal Memorial Riga 1995.
1.e4e5 2.Nf3Nc6 3.Bc4Bc5 4.b4!?-The Evans Gambit.No doubt Kasparov was thinking of the occasion-playing the Tal memorial but also that he would play Anand for the World Championships pretty soon.
4...Bb4 (A few months later Piket tried declining it against Kasparov with awful consequences: 4...Bb6 5.a4a5 6.b5Nd4 7.Nd4Bd4 8.c3Bb6 9.d4ed4 10.0-0Ne7 11.Bg5h6 and Kasparov won after fighting for the initiative) 5.c3Be7 6.d4Na5 7.Be2!?-Kasparov got this from correspondence games where the idea is to leave the knight on a5 but also to be able to recapture on d4 with the queen.
7...ed4 8.Qd4Nf6 -Anand goes for a natural move. However this proves to be insufficient.The alternatives were Bf6,f6,Kf8,d6 -None of these would appeal to a player like Anand who is very direct when it comes to development.
9.e5Nc6 10.Qh4Nd5 11.Qg3g6 Kasparov has achieved a lot.He has induced Anand into weakening the king side. 12.0-0 Before taking on any more operartions Kasparov castles.As a rule Kasparov would secure his king and then ensure he could hunt the opponent's king in safety.Kasparov does not discurage Anand from castling as he knows he has enough pieces to storm Anand's king.
12....Nb6?! This removes a piece from the king side and it also enables Kasparov to stop it from returning.
13.c4!? There are different ideas with this.It stops a knight return to d5 and anticipates ...d5 by black.
13...d6 Anand delays castling.He clearly has developed a fear of Kasparov's attacking prowess.Calculating castling against Kasparov must have been a daunting task.
14.Rd1Nd7 the knight has moved so much. 15.Bh6! Nce5 16.Ne5Ne5 17.Nc3!? Kasparov never attacked without moving out all of his pieces. 17...f6?!18.c5!Nf7?! Its sad to see Anand reduced to defending different pressure points.
19.cd6cd6 20.Qe3Nh6 21.Qh6 Anand is now without a good defender and Kasparov has an attacker near to his king. 21....Bf8 Anand cannot allow Qg7.22.Qe3+Kf7 (22...Qe7 23.Ne4) 23.Nd5Be6?! 24.Nf4Qe7 25.Re1 and Anand simply had enough.The threat is Bf3. if 25...Qd7 then 26.Bb5. If 25...Bh6 then 26.Bc4!
So what can be learned from this game:
1) The impact of an early crisis caused by the Kings Gambit.
2) The way in which Kasparov forced his opponent to make unpleasant choices. Anand never got to develop properly.
3) The creation of threats on different points for example the threat to get to g7 and then the decisive threats on the e-file.
4) The psychological pressure of playing an opponent with aggressively placed pieces.
5) The way in which Anand was forced to move his pieces to and fro without being able to make a coherent plan.
I wanted to look at another example of Kasparov's warcraft. In this game Kasparov uses an old Gambit against Anand, his almost perpetual #2. What is fascinating is the way in which Kasparov causes so many problems in the opening that by move 18 Anand was in survival mode.Kasparov, more than any other GM was able to provoke a crisis and find momentum in certain positions. This was clearly a fruit of his labours off the board and then on it.
Lets go to the game:
Kasparov v Anand Tal Memorial Riga 1995.
1.e4e5 2.Nf3Nc6 3.Bc4Bc5 4.b4!?-The Evans Gambit.No doubt Kasparov was thinking of the occasion-playing the Tal memorial but also that he would play Anand for the World Championships pretty soon.
4...Bb4 (A few months later Piket tried declining it against Kasparov with awful consequences: 4...Bb6 5.a4a5 6.b5Nd4 7.Nd4Bd4 8.c3Bb6 9.d4ed4 10.0-0Ne7 11.Bg5h6 and Kasparov won after fighting for the initiative) 5.c3Be7 6.d4Na5 7.Be2!?-Kasparov got this from correspondence games where the idea is to leave the knight on a5 but also to be able to recapture on d4 with the queen.
7...ed4 8.Qd4Nf6 -Anand goes for a natural move. However this proves to be insufficient.The alternatives were Bf6,f6,Kf8,d6 -None of these would appeal to a player like Anand who is very direct when it comes to development.
9.e5Nc6 10.Qh4Nd5 11.Qg3g6 Kasparov has achieved a lot.He has induced Anand into weakening the king side. 12.0-0 Before taking on any more operartions Kasparov castles.As a rule Kasparov would secure his king and then ensure he could hunt the opponent's king in safety.Kasparov does not discurage Anand from castling as he knows he has enough pieces to storm Anand's king.
12....Nb6?! This removes a piece from the king side and it also enables Kasparov to stop it from returning.
13.c4!? There are different ideas with this.It stops a knight return to d5 and anticipates ...d5 by black.
13...d6 Anand delays castling.He clearly has developed a fear of Kasparov's attacking prowess.Calculating castling against Kasparov must have been a daunting task.
14.Rd1Nd7 the knight has moved so much. 15.Bh6! Nce5 16.Ne5Ne5 17.Nc3!? Kasparov never attacked without moving out all of his pieces. 17...f6?!18.c5!Nf7?! Its sad to see Anand reduced to defending different pressure points.
19.cd6cd6 20.Qe3Nh6 21.Qh6 Anand is now without a good defender and Kasparov has an attacker near to his king. 21....Bf8 Anand cannot allow Qg7.22.Qe3+Kf7 (22...Qe7 23.Ne4) 23.Nd5Be6?! 24.Nf4Qe7 25.Re1 and Anand simply had enough.The threat is Bf3. if 25...Qd7 then 26.Bb5. If 25...Bh6 then 26.Bc4!
So what can be learned from this game:
1) The impact of an early crisis caused by the Kings Gambit.
2) The way in which Kasparov forced his opponent to make unpleasant choices. Anand never got to develop properly.
3) The creation of threats on different points for example the threat to get to g7 and then the decisive threats on the e-file.
4) The psychological pressure of playing an opponent with aggressively placed pieces.
5) The way in which Anand was forced to move his pieces to and fro without being able to make a coherent plan.
Friday, 22 April 2011
Kasparov's Art of War broken down into chunks Part Two
Hello Chess Lovers
Today I would like to take a look at another Kasparov gem which features some of Kasparov's most outstanding attributes as a player: enormous preparation off the board and really enormous pressure on the board with the white pieces. We will look at how his attacking philosophy worked in the 1980s.
Kasparov v Nunn
Lucerne Olympiad 1982
1.d4Nf6 2.c4e6 3.Nc3c5 4.d5ed5 5.cd5d6 6.e4g6 7.f4The Taimanov attack. This had a good score in the 1980s. White wants to breakthrough in the center with an eventual e4-e5 push. He also believes his space advantage will be lasting.
7....Bg7 8.Bb5+Nfd7 9.a4! This allows the bishop to retreat after ...a6 but also restricts the black queen side.
9....Na6 Nunn wants to solve his opening issues and move on to castling later.He also wants to get more information about Kasparov's intentions. 10.Nf3Nb4 11.0-0a6? 12.Bd7Bd7 13.f5 very direct.
Kasparov wishes to play Bg5.Its interesting to note that Kasparov his using his minor pieces in a classical way.The knights are on the most active posts and the bishops go to their most active posts. Now that the knight on d7 is exchanged Kasparov embarks on the strategy where he will have more pieces on the king side.
13....0-0 14.Bg5f6 Kasparov was threatening f6. Kasparov had this other method of preparing an attack: provoking weaknesses. He did the same against the Queen's Indian defence when he played his bishop to b5 to attract the move...c6.Now the e6 square is weakened.
15.Bf4gf5? 16.Bd6! Kasparov goes into a variation where black exchanges his light square bishop for the dark square bishop which then weakens e6 considerably.
16...Ba4 17.Ra4Qd6 18.Nh4!fe4 19.Nf5 -Big mission accomplished. On many occasions Kasparov expressed his fascination with having a knight on f5. 19...Qd7 20.Ne4Kh8 white his threatening Rf3 and Rg3.
21.Nc5 1-0 Brutal. Nunn is a strong GM and a good writer of many books but here he faced some really good preparation by Kasparov. Here are some key points:
1) The choice of variation.This line forces the opponent to be very accurate. Work of the highest calibre is called for.
2)The move ...Na6 and ...Nb4 meant that black was outnumbered on the king side.
3)The moves of Kasparov's dark square bishop were all decisive- Bg5 provoked ...f6, then Bf4 targeted d6
and then Bd6 got rid of the light square bishop.
4)Getting the knight to f5 was the killer move.
I hope you enjoyed that demonstration of power. John
Today I would like to take a look at another Kasparov gem which features some of Kasparov's most outstanding attributes as a player: enormous preparation off the board and really enormous pressure on the board with the white pieces. We will look at how his attacking philosophy worked in the 1980s.
Kasparov v Nunn
Lucerne Olympiad 1982
1.d4Nf6 2.c4e6 3.Nc3c5 4.d5ed5 5.cd5d6 6.e4g6 7.f4The Taimanov attack. This had a good score in the 1980s. White wants to breakthrough in the center with an eventual e4-e5 push. He also believes his space advantage will be lasting.
7....Bg7 8.Bb5+Nfd7 9.a4! This allows the bishop to retreat after ...a6 but also restricts the black queen side.
9....Na6 Nunn wants to solve his opening issues and move on to castling later.He also wants to get more information about Kasparov's intentions. 10.Nf3Nb4 11.0-0a6? 12.Bd7Bd7 13.f5 very direct.
Kasparov wishes to play Bg5.Its interesting to note that Kasparov his using his minor pieces in a classical way.The knights are on the most active posts and the bishops go to their most active posts. Now that the knight on d7 is exchanged Kasparov embarks on the strategy where he will have more pieces on the king side.
13....0-0 14.Bg5f6 Kasparov was threatening f6. Kasparov had this other method of preparing an attack: provoking weaknesses. He did the same against the Queen's Indian defence when he played his bishop to b5 to attract the move...c6.Now the e6 square is weakened.
15.Bf4gf5? 16.Bd6! Kasparov goes into a variation where black exchanges his light square bishop for the dark square bishop which then weakens e6 considerably.
16...Ba4 17.Ra4Qd6 18.Nh4!fe4 19.Nf5 -Big mission accomplished. On many occasions Kasparov expressed his fascination with having a knight on f5. 19...Qd7 20.Ne4Kh8 white his threatening Rf3 and Rg3.
21.Nc5 1-0 Brutal. Nunn is a strong GM and a good writer of many books but here he faced some really good preparation by Kasparov. Here are some key points:
1) The choice of variation.This line forces the opponent to be very accurate. Work of the highest calibre is called for.
2)The move ...Na6 and ...Nb4 meant that black was outnumbered on the king side.
3)The moves of Kasparov's dark square bishop were all decisive- Bg5 provoked ...f6, then Bf4 targeted d6
and then Bd6 got rid of the light square bishop.
4)Getting the knight to f5 was the killer move.
I hope you enjoyed that demonstration of power. John
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Saturday, 2 April 2011
Breaking down Kasparov's Art of War into Chunks Part One
Hello Chess Lovers
I was hesitant in addressing the games of Kasparov because so much has been written about him.
However I found a lacuna or "black hole" in the writing where authors addressed the moves and the
variations but not the man's own concept of how the game should be played. After reading Kasparov's book
how Life Imitates Chess, I started to connect the dots in how he worked off the board and over the board.So here I will try and condense my reading into simple blogs.
Kasparov took opening research in the 1980s to new levels.He was not satisfied with playable positions.
He wrote candidly that he loved finding the unclear positions in books.With a Sun in Aries, Kasparov was the archetypal warrior.He clearly read a lot on the history of warfare and applied it.For example he emphasised opponent research.This was not just a matter of looking at the opponent's opening choices.He followed Sun Tzu's Art of War to its logical extreme: learning what made the opposition uncomfortable.
He was also guided by the MTQ formula- Material,Time and Quality.Time was an essential component of his opening choices.He sought temporary advantages in time with pawn sacrifices and breakthrough moves which were based on the efforts of past masters.He also developed the concept of cutting the board in 2. He tried to get into positions where he would dominate the important side of the board-left or right-depending on the opening and the occasion.
Having mentioned all of that, lets see how it worked in action:
Kasparov v Marjanovic 1979 Banja Luka
1.d4Nf6 2.c4e6 3.Nf3b6 4.a3 This move became quite a lethal part of Kasparov's weaponry.He never allowed his opponent active possibilities.Bb7 5.Nc3d5 6.cd5Nd5 7.e3Be7?! 8.Bb5! provoking ..c6c6
Now black's bishop is not so influential.Kasparov always looked for ways to induce weaknesses.9.Bd30-0 10.e4Nc3 11.bc3c5 12.0-0h6 a slight weakening of the g6 square which will become worse later on.
These are the types of moves that alert aggressive players.
13.Bf4cd4 14.cd4Nc6 Having studied hundreds of Kasparov's games I found that quality of development was vital to him.He never embarked on committal attacks before development. Here developed and then starts with a breakthrough:
15.d5! Breakthrough. Kasparov sends the black knight to a5.This creates and imbalance on the board.
15...Na5 now black has 4 pieces on the Queen side which are not really achieving anything practical in the next 4-5 moves. 16.de6fe6 Now g6 is gravely weakened. 17.Bg3Rc8 18.Ne5! Pouncing on the g6 square and freeing g4 for the Queen. 18...Bf6 19.Qg4 Black still has 4 pieces on the queen side and white has 4 pieces which can assault the black king.
19...Qe8 20.Ng6Ba1 21.Nf8Bb2 22.Ne6and now g7 is in danger 22...h5?! Black tries to unseat the white queen from a superb outpost.
23.Qe2Bf6 24.Nc7Qf7 25.e5! Opening the b1-h7 diagonal.Qc7 26.Qh5 once again Kasparov goes for the imbalance he achieves a favourable attacking ratio.
26...Qc6 27.f3Be7 28.Bh7The queen and bishop hit black on the white squares.Kf8 29.Qf5Ke8 30.Bg6Kd8 31.Rd1Qd5 32.Rd5Rd5 33.Qd3Rc1 34.Kf2 1-0 Its important to note Kasparov always made sure that his king was secure before launching an attack.
The crucial moves were :
15.d5! -The battering ram
16.de6- weakening g6
25.e5! Opening the b1 -h7 diagonal.
The way the young Kasparov conducted this offensive game was a sign of things to come.
I was hesitant in addressing the games of Kasparov because so much has been written about him.
However I found a lacuna or "black hole" in the writing where authors addressed the moves and the
variations but not the man's own concept of how the game should be played. After reading Kasparov's book
how Life Imitates Chess, I started to connect the dots in how he worked off the board and over the board.So here I will try and condense my reading into simple blogs.
Kasparov took opening research in the 1980s to new levels.He was not satisfied with playable positions.
He wrote candidly that he loved finding the unclear positions in books.With a Sun in Aries, Kasparov was the archetypal warrior.He clearly read a lot on the history of warfare and applied it.For example he emphasised opponent research.This was not just a matter of looking at the opponent's opening choices.He followed Sun Tzu's Art of War to its logical extreme: learning what made the opposition uncomfortable.
He was also guided by the MTQ formula- Material,Time and Quality.Time was an essential component of his opening choices.He sought temporary advantages in time with pawn sacrifices and breakthrough moves which were based on the efforts of past masters.He also developed the concept of cutting the board in 2. He tried to get into positions where he would dominate the important side of the board-left or right-depending on the opening and the occasion.
Having mentioned all of that, lets see how it worked in action:
Kasparov v Marjanovic 1979 Banja Luka
1.d4Nf6 2.c4e6 3.Nf3b6 4.a3 This move became quite a lethal part of Kasparov's weaponry.He never allowed his opponent active possibilities.Bb7 5.Nc3d5 6.cd5Nd5 7.e3Be7?! 8.Bb5! provoking ..c6c6
Now black's bishop is not so influential.Kasparov always looked for ways to induce weaknesses.9.Bd30-0 10.e4Nc3 11.bc3c5 12.0-0h6 a slight weakening of the g6 square which will become worse later on.
These are the types of moves that alert aggressive players.
13.Bf4cd4 14.cd4Nc6 Having studied hundreds of Kasparov's games I found that quality of development was vital to him.He never embarked on committal attacks before development. Here developed and then starts with a breakthrough:
15.d5! Breakthrough. Kasparov sends the black knight to a5.This creates and imbalance on the board.
15...Na5 now black has 4 pieces on the Queen side which are not really achieving anything practical in the next 4-5 moves. 16.de6fe6 Now g6 is gravely weakened. 17.Bg3Rc8 18.Ne5! Pouncing on the g6 square and freeing g4 for the Queen. 18...Bf6 19.Qg4 Black still has 4 pieces on the queen side and white has 4 pieces which can assault the black king.
19...Qe8 20.Ng6Ba1 21.Nf8Bb2 22.Ne6and now g7 is in danger 22...h5?! Black tries to unseat the white queen from a superb outpost.
23.Qe2Bf6 24.Nc7Qf7 25.e5! Opening the b1-h7 diagonal.Qc7 26.Qh5 once again Kasparov goes for the imbalance he achieves a favourable attacking ratio.
26...Qc6 27.f3Be7 28.Bh7The queen and bishop hit black on the white squares.Kf8 29.Qf5Ke8 30.Bg6Kd8 31.Rd1Qd5 32.Rd5Rd5 33.Qd3Rc1 34.Kf2 1-0 Its important to note Kasparov always made sure that his king was secure before launching an attack.
The crucial moves were :
15.d5! -The battering ram
16.de6- weakening g6
25.e5! Opening the b1 -h7 diagonal.
The way the young Kasparov conducted this offensive game was a sign of things to come.
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