Chess Strategy

Intro: I’m afraid the readership will have to bare with my obsession for pawn structures. I realised I had problem with my openings because I tend to mistreat and compromise pawn chains. Last couple of weeks, as time allows, I’m trying to examine them closer, the first result being series on hanging pawns. Nowadays I’m researching Accelerated Dragon. At the same time, my good friend IM Miodrag Perunovic sent me couple of articles on Sicilian Dragon sidelines and I decided to share some of them. First comes the Nde2 retreat in Fianchetto, please be aware the article is “cheering” for Black

Article by IM Miodrag Perunovic

Download PGN file for your game viewer. If you don’t have any, use ChessBase Light (free).

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.g3 Nc6 7.Nde2
This retreat is the most promising continuation after White enrolled with g3 against Dragon. White’s main idea is to play in the center with moves like Bg2, 0-0, Nd5 and Bg5; or Be3, Qd2 in some lines. Of course, White will remain flexible to switch between the setups depending on Black’s reaction. So, lets see…

7…Bg7
An early 7…Rb8!? might be possible, but there aren’t many games were it was actually played. The continuation enjoyed brief popularity when Veselin Topalov employed it some 5-6 years ago, but German Grandmaster Kristofer Lutz suggested correct setup where White gets slight positional advantage. 8.Bg2 b5 9.0-0 Bg7 10.Nd5 Nd7 11.c3 a5 12.Nd4! Nxd4 13.cxd4 When White has built a strong center… 13…e6 14.Nf4 b4 15.Be3 Ba6 16.Re1 0-0 17.Qd2 Nb6 18.b3 Lutz - Topalov 1994;

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It took us a bit over 9 months to reach the 50,000 visits on Chess Strategy blog. A big thanks to all the loyal readers and fellow webmasters for your support. In the future, I hope to fulfill some of the promises given back in January, and beyond that, to improve the content and navigation.

Top priority for now is to complete the Hanging Pawns E-Book. It will be available in PGN and PDF formats and I really want to hear your feedback.

There is also possibility to publish theoretical material on Sicilian Dragon. That would be some detour, since this blog is mostly dealing with middlegames and endings, but the material is written by an Sicilian Dragon expert and the readers who play this opening might benefit from it.

Finally, I’d love to continue with video lessons, once in a while, but first have to fix my ActiveX controls. GM Alex Finkel is also interested in contributing with videos, we’ll see how it goes.

Download lesson in PGN for your own game viewer.

To clarify right at the start, the title is referring to the process of exchanging good minor piece for opponent’s bad one, in order to gain some other benefits. Rook on the 7th rank, in this particular example. The article is presenting positive transformation of one sort of positional advantage into another.

“Small Exchange” is literal translation from Serbian. English term exchange (in the meaning Rook for minor piece), is translated into qualitat (German), kachestvo (Russian, Bulgarian) or kvalitet (Serbian), all being literally equal to English “quality”. Small exchange should emphasize importance of the operation (good piece for bad) by comparing it with material giveout (Rook for minor piece). I hope that this primitive linguistic digression won’t make you close your browser before even getting to chess.

I don’t know the official history, but Vassily Smyslov might have been the oldest ever World Championship contender. At the age of 63, already 26 years after he lost the rematch to Botvinnik, Smyslov qualified to play Candidate matches. GM Aleksandar Matanovic described one of his previous unsuccessful attempts (1976 I think) in interesting book “Chess is Chess”. In 1983/84 Smyslov first eliminated German GM Robert Huebner, then Hungarian GM Zoltan Ribli in the semifinals and succumbed only to future champion Garry Kasparov in the Candidate Finals.

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Since the “Hanging Pawns” are very broad and complex field of chess strategy, I will compile an e-book composed of the material posted on the blog and include other examples that are left over. There is still much to be said about the d-pawn movement and undermining on hanging pawns. I hope Bogdan Girmacea, who wrote excellent column on former WorldChessNetwork, will help me make it good.

by Bogdan Girmacea

Download lesson in PGN for your own game viewer.

If in previous lesson we saw how the things could evolve by changing hanging pawns configuration pushing c pawn, in today’s lesson we will analyze what happens after we push d-pawn. And as example I would like to show you the game Korchnoi - Karpov, Merano 1981. The opening was a Queen’s Gambit and after 12 moves we reached the position presented in the diagram:

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 0-0 7. e3 b6 8. Rc1 Bb7 9. Be2 Nbd7 10. cxd5 exd5 11. 0-0 c5 12. dxc5 bxc5

We have a typical position with hanging pawns for Black. For the moment the situation is still complex because there are still many pieces on board. So White will try to simplify position and Black will try to complicate game and to prolong middle game as long as possible. As we can see, those hanging pawns controlling d4 and e4 central squares leaves White with less space for maneuver, that’s why White is a bit limited in moves. In this game Korchnoi tried a series of maneuvers to double rooks on d-file and to press over pawn d5, but we will see it won’t be enough. The game continued:

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Finally, the long awaited second part of Hanging Pawns trilogy. We will present another example of counterplay on b-file and plans for undermining on the hanging pawns. The 3rd and final part will display the huge attacking potential that sometimes goes with this kind of pawn structure.

One feature added after readers’ feedback. You can now replay the lesson in your browser or download PGN file for your own game viewer. Enjoy.

Akiba Rubinstein - Aron Nimzovich
Karlsbad 1907

A position very similar to Bertok - Fischer from previous lesson. Again, Black is pushing c4 to nail b2 pawn on its starting position. Possible drawbacks were mentioned before - White gets d4 square for its pieces and Black can be vulnerable to e4 breach. Still, playing c4 here makes perfect sense because White will be busy defending b2 pawn and he won’t be having time to reach d4 with the Knight.

16… c4 17. Be2
It takes away desired e2 square for Nc3, but White wants to organize counter-pressure against backward d5. 17. Bc2 with idea Ne2-d4 Rab8 18. Rb1 a5 19. Ne2 Qb4 20. Nd4 Rb6 with Ne4 and Rfb8

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