Chess Strategy

In unbalanced positions when one of the players has a Queen, simple evaluation by counting material is mostly useless. Factors that are more important are Queen’s activity and how well can other player coordinate his Rooks and/or pieces.

Chiburdanidze - Dudkova, USSR 1976

Material units are giving slight advantage to White. On the other hand, Black has passed pawn threatening to promote soon and active King - something that would be counted as very important in dynamic evaluation. Some authors even tend to count active King in the endgame as 5 units, or equal to the Rook!

Still, White Rook and minor pieces are coordinating extremely well. Not only that this coordination is dramatically increasing their battle power, but follow-up will prove that seemingly active Black King and Queen and actually very clumsy.

Offtopic: Unrelated to this example, but it can be useful in different situations - Knight is King’s best defender when it comes to declining direct attacks. Nf1-Kg1 (or Nf8-Kg8) is strong resisting setup where Knight is controlling large number of important squares.

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We have mentioned zugzwang as one of three methods for winning problem endings (according to GM Nikolai Krogius). Let’s see some examples.

Flohr - Loevenfish

In Bishop vs Knight endings, Bishop can be used for both protecting our own weaknesses and support King’s breach by controlling large number of key squares. The diagram sees pawns on both flanks, which usually favors Bishop. One of the important advantages in this position is that Black King or Knight will be tied for f6 pawn. Straightforward elimination of the weakness with 1. Ke3 f5 2. Kd4 Kd6 3. Bb4 is letting White King in.

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Chess for Zebras: Thinking Differently about Black and White by GM Jonathan Rowson

Zebra Clan is the name of the unofficial “Chess For Zebras” fan club, consisting of my friends whom I have persuaded to buy this book. After seeing the reviews, some will be quoted bellow, I decided to “see what’s this all about”. While still in the reading, my friend GM-elect Mihajlo Stojanovic visited me for training session and we discussed the book. Mihajlo actually played Jonathan Rowson few months earlier at Verona Open (and won), and I was happy to hear some first-hand impressions about my already-favorite author. We have agreed in the conclusion that Jonathan offers new and refreshing (I added “shocking” too, but Mihajlo is already too strong to feel that way) ideas for average player’s improvement.

For me, this is not just a chess book; it is a literature that I enjoy reading, repeatedly going back through the pages and giving a lot of thought on what I have seen. I don’t know how to write an review, so I will quote smarter people bellow.

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This is a thread for readers to post questions, feedback and suggestions. Don’t be shy, ask about anything you want and I will try to answer as soon as possible.

Please be advised that comment moderation is “on” for the first time posters. There is couple of spamming bots around trying to leave messages you really wouldn’t like to see. I will approve all human comments, thank you for understanding.

Happy Holidays,

Goran

Rubinstein - Miezis

Black’s last move was 14… Qe7. He has clear plan of attacking against e4 pawn while White pieces are still undeveloped. The problem is that Black underestimates importance of “time” as factor. Rubinstein will not only complete the development while Black is busy taking that pawn, but he will also gain other positional advantages.

15. Nc3 Nh5

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To keep the continuity with the 2nd video lesson and More on Flexibility, we will examine another game of Anatoly Karpov. This time he started fight for open a-file and then suddenly struck on the other flank to win the game.

Anatoly Karpov - Wolfgang Unziker

After the Ruy Lopez was played in the opening, both players are fighting for the open a-file. For now, Nb7 and Bc2 are bad pieces being blocked by their own pawns, but Black has bigger problem. Nb7 is obstructing Black from doubling/tripling heavy pieces on the a-file. On the other hand, White can simply move Bd3 and proceed with Qd2-Ra1-Rea1.

19. Qd2 Rfc8

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