Exchange of Fianchettoed Bishop
Tigran Petrosian - Florian Gheorghiu
Moskow, 1967
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Re8 7. d3 h6 8. Nd5 Bf8 9. Nxf6+ Qxf6 10. Nd2 d6 11. Ne4 Qd8 12. Nc3 Bd7 13. b4 Qc8
With his last move Black is intending to trade light-squared bishops on h3. Petrosian could have played 14. Re1 to avoid the trade but he has something else on his mind. The main point is that Black will lose couple of tempos Qc8-Bh3-Bg2 to complete the trade and White can use that time to fulfill his own plans.
14. Rb1 Bh3 15. e4
Closing the long diagonal but it doesn’t really matter anymore. Black has already lost too many moves and he can’t afford the luxury of not trading Bg2. If bishop retreats to e6 or d7, White can play f4 gaining big advantage.
White used his extra time to change the pawn structure. He is now flexible to combine play on both flanks.
15… Bg2 16. Kg2
16… g6
Having traded Bg2, Gheorghiu was hoping for “Kings Indian” like attack with f5. This plan will fail for couple of reasons. First of all, after trading two pairs of light pieces, potential of the attack will be reduced. Also note how Re8 and Bf8 are not placed on the ideal attacking squares and Black will lose additional tempos for Bg7 and Rf8. At last, Petrosian has good strategy of blocking opponent’s counterplay.
17. h4!
Crucial move for preventing f5. See also previous post “Methods Against Kings Indian“. 17… f5 18. h5 g5 19. Nd5 (fork on f6) Bg7 20. ef5 and Black’s pawn chain is ruined, Bg7 locked and counterplay stopped. Also risky is 17… h5 18. Nd5 Bg7 19. Bg5 Re6 20. f4 with next f5 and Black position is falling apart.
17… Bg7 18. h5 g5 19. Nd5 Nd4
Black dreams about King side attack are dissolved by the reality. Both d4 and d5 seems to be nice outposts, but the main difference is that Nd4 can be traded anytime after Bb2-Bd4 while Black Bg7 is useless against Nd5.
20. Ne3 f5 21. Bb2 fe4
21… f4 22. Bd4 was losing a pawn. Anyway, Black position is nearly lost because of bad pawn structure.
22. de4 Qe6 23. Bc3 and Petrosian won the game on move 41.
Studying these (see also “Methods Against Kings Indian“) and similar examples helped me gain self-confidence while playing White side of the Kings Indian Defence.
Hello world! « Chess Strategy said,
Wrote on February 7, 2007 @ 1:21 pm
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thedodge said,
Wrote on November 5, 2007 @ 8:05 pm
IF YOU LIKE SOMEONE BEING SLOWLY CONSTRICTED YOU
WILL LIKE PETROSIAN’S GAMES.MYSELF TACTICS COME
MUCH EASIER,LOOKING AT 23.BC3 (NOT MY KIND OF
POSTION)HOW WAS HE GOING TO PUSH HIS ADVANTAGE
ON THE QUEEN SIDE.I DIDN’T HAVE A CLUE SO I LOOKED
THE GAME UP.IN THE END HE BASICALLY HAD GOOD
KNIGHT VS BAD BISHOP AND STARTED PICKING PAWNS
OF.