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.
Friday, 29 April 2011
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.
Thursday, 31 March 2011
If it ain't the Dutch, it ain't much (Below 2500 of course)
Hello Chess Lovers
I have decided to indulge myself a bit and discuss a game of mine.I have had some success with a line of the Dutch and I believe some lighthearted chess is also so here is my game played tonight against Richmond Chess Club.
Kuhn vs Tobisch
1.d4e6 2.c4f5 3.Nc3Nf6 4.Nf3Bb4 5.Qc2b6 6.e3Bb7 7.Be20-0 8.0-0Bc3 9.Qc3Ne4 10.Qd3Qe8!?
Ever since I saw Botvinnik use this idea in a game I have come to like it. My opponent started to look worried here as he played 8.0-0
11.Nd2Nd2 12.Bd2Qg6 - I decided to make opponent feel a bit defensive. 13.f3d6 14.g4?h5 15.h3Nbd7
16.Kh2hg4 17.Rg1Qh7 18.fg4Be4! I think my opponent did not see this. 19.Qc3fg4 20.Bg4 forced Rf2
It took me some time to calculate sacrificing the e6 pawn and the d7 knight for a mating attack.
21.Kg3Raf8! Rooks are doubled. Now 21.Be6Kh8 22.Bd7Rf3 23.Kg4Qg6 24.Kh4Qh6 and Qh3+ is curtains for white.
22.Raf1?Rf1 23.Rf1Rf1 24.Be6Kf8 25.Bd7g5! And Qh4+ cannot be stopped so 0-1
I have decided to indulge myself a bit and discuss a game of mine.I have had some success with a line of the Dutch and I believe some lighthearted chess is also so here is my game played tonight against Richmond Chess Club.
Kuhn vs Tobisch
1.d4e6 2.c4f5 3.Nc3Nf6 4.Nf3Bb4 5.Qc2b6 6.e3Bb7 7.Be20-0 8.0-0Bc3 9.Qc3Ne4 10.Qd3Qe8!?
Ever since I saw Botvinnik use this idea in a game I have come to like it. My opponent started to look worried here as he played 8.0-0
11.Nd2Nd2 12.Bd2Qg6 - I decided to make opponent feel a bit defensive. 13.f3d6 14.g4?h5 15.h3Nbd7
16.Kh2hg4 17.Rg1Qh7 18.fg4Be4! I think my opponent did not see this. 19.Qc3fg4 20.Bg4 forced Rf2
It took me some time to calculate sacrificing the e6 pawn and the d7 knight for a mating attack.
21.Kg3Raf8! Rooks are doubled. Now 21.Be6Kh8 22.Bd7Rf3 23.Kg4Qg6 24.Kh4Qh6 and Qh3+ is curtains for white.
22.Raf1?Rf1 23.Rf1Rf1 24.Be6Kf8 25.Bd7g5! And Qh4+ cannot be stopped so 0-1
Monday, 28 March 2011
Taoism and the Art of Playing Black: Karpov the Feng Shui artist
Hello Chess lovers,
In the the third part of this series it gives me deep satisfaction to present a game of the highest quality
by Karpov who I liken to a feng shui artist because he places pieces the way a feng shui expert would arrange furniture: in search of the ultimate harmony. Karpov faced Shirov, the ultimate "yang style" player and simply waited patiently for the game to evolve.Shirov has shown a tendency to make very committal pawn moves in this variation.
Karpov beautifully optimized his pieces and then proceeded to stretch white between the defense of pawns on the queen side and the kingside. Lets see this exhibition of Taoism on the board.
Shirov v Karpov Las Palmas 1994
1.e4c6 2.d4d5 3.e5Bf5 4.Nf3e6 5.Be2c5 6.0-0Nc6 7.c3cd4 8.cd4Nge7 9.a3?! A yang move intending b2-b4. 9...Nc8! This solves the problem of the e7 square in this variation. The knight and the bishop like the square.Also if white plays b2-b4 black will then embark on a light square strategy with the well timed moves Nb6-c4.
10.Nbd2Be7 11.b3?! This involves a slight weakening of a3.Its this type of move which gives black the information he needs to implement an appropriate and workable plan.
11...a5! Simple. The a7 square is freed for the knight which will head to b5 and leave c8 for a rook.Also the white b-pawn is restrained.So Karpov has let the game evolve and mostly moved his pieces on his first two ranks. He adjusts himself according to his opponent's plans and so it appears as if Shirov is doing the work and Karpov shows it up!
12.Bb2Na7 13.Re10-0 14.Nf1Rc8 -Simple useful moves. 15.Ng3Bg6 16.Qd2Qb6! -A reminder to white.
17.Bd1 this move must have been annoying to Shirov. 17..Rc7 18.h4?! Another committal pawn move by Shirov.This pawn will later become a target. 18...h6 19.Re2Rfc8 20.Qf4Nb8! now for the next stage. Black wants his queen at f8 where it will pressure a3.The c7 rook will go to c6 the queen to f8 via d8.This is an amazing demonstration of using pieces in limited space.
21...Re3Nb5! 22.Ne2Nd7 23.Nh2 -Four knight moves in a row. Regrouping is the name of the game now.
23...Rc6 24.Ng4Qd8 25.Rh3Qf8! Mission accomplished. A3 is under serious threat.
26.a4Na3! 27.Ba3 Shirov wants to divert the e7 bishop. 27...Ba3 28.Rg3h5 29.Ne3Bb2 30.Ra2Bc1 ! Now the bishop slows down white's momentum on the king side-Just in time.
31.Qf4Qb4 32.Nf4Be3 33.fe3Rc1 penetration in a way similiar to Nimzovitch v Capablanca. Karpov
is now to counter attack on the back rank.
34.Ng6Rd1 35.Kh2fg6 36.Qg6Qe7 -hitting h4. 37.Rf2Qh4 38.Rh3?Qf2 and Shirov had enough 0-1
So what can we take from this game.
1) Karpov developed while Shirov played committal pawn moves.
2)Shirov strove for "yang" type moves where he sought to build momentum on the Kingside.
3) Karpov switched attacks from b3 to a3 to h4 in the game.Each time Shirov had to misplace his pieces.
4)Karpov played within the confines of his position by skillfully moving on the first three ranks.
5) In most of Karpov's games regrouping occurs as he seeks the optimal places for the pieces.This is not a matter of linear calculation but schematic thinking.
Hopefully you found this blog entertaining.
John
In the the third part of this series it gives me deep satisfaction to present a game of the highest quality
by Karpov who I liken to a feng shui artist because he places pieces the way a feng shui expert would arrange furniture: in search of the ultimate harmony. Karpov faced Shirov, the ultimate "yang style" player and simply waited patiently for the game to evolve.Shirov has shown a tendency to make very committal pawn moves in this variation.
Karpov beautifully optimized his pieces and then proceeded to stretch white between the defense of pawns on the queen side and the kingside. Lets see this exhibition of Taoism on the board.
Shirov v Karpov Las Palmas 1994
1.e4c6 2.d4d5 3.e5Bf5 4.Nf3e6 5.Be2c5 6.0-0Nc6 7.c3cd4 8.cd4Nge7 9.a3?! A yang move intending b2-b4. 9...Nc8! This solves the problem of the e7 square in this variation. The knight and the bishop like the square.Also if white plays b2-b4 black will then embark on a light square strategy with the well timed moves Nb6-c4.
10.Nbd2Be7 11.b3?! This involves a slight weakening of a3.Its this type of move which gives black the information he needs to implement an appropriate and workable plan.
11...a5! Simple. The a7 square is freed for the knight which will head to b5 and leave c8 for a rook.Also the white b-pawn is restrained.So Karpov has let the game evolve and mostly moved his pieces on his first two ranks. He adjusts himself according to his opponent's plans and so it appears as if Shirov is doing the work and Karpov shows it up!
12.Bb2Na7 13.Re10-0 14.Nf1Rc8 -Simple useful moves. 15.Ng3Bg6 16.Qd2Qb6! -A reminder to white.
17.Bd1 this move must have been annoying to Shirov. 17..Rc7 18.h4?! Another committal pawn move by Shirov.This pawn will later become a target. 18...h6 19.Re2Rfc8 20.Qf4Nb8! now for the next stage. Black wants his queen at f8 where it will pressure a3.The c7 rook will go to c6 the queen to f8 via d8.This is an amazing demonstration of using pieces in limited space.
21...Re3Nb5! 22.Ne2Nd7 23.Nh2 -Four knight moves in a row. Regrouping is the name of the game now.
23...Rc6 24.Ng4Qd8 25.Rh3Qf8! Mission accomplished. A3 is under serious threat.
26.a4Na3! 27.Ba3 Shirov wants to divert the e7 bishop. 27...Ba3 28.Rg3h5 29.Ne3Bb2 30.Ra2Bc1 ! Now the bishop slows down white's momentum on the king side-Just in time.
31.Qf4Qb4 32.Nf4Be3 33.fe3Rc1 penetration in a way similiar to Nimzovitch v Capablanca. Karpov
is now to counter attack on the back rank.
34.Ng6Rd1 35.Kh2fg6 36.Qg6Qe7 -hitting h4. 37.Rf2Qh4 38.Rh3?Qf2 and Shirov had enough 0-1
So what can we take from this game.
1) Karpov developed while Shirov played committal pawn moves.
2)Shirov strove for "yang" type moves where he sought to build momentum on the Kingside.
3) Karpov switched attacks from b3 to a3 to h4 in the game.Each time Shirov had to misplace his pieces.
4)Karpov played within the confines of his position by skillfully moving on the first three ranks.
5) In most of Karpov's games regrouping occurs as he seeks the optimal places for the pieces.This is not a matter of linear calculation but schematic thinking.
Hopefully you found this blog entertaining.
John
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