Chess Strategy

by GM Alex Finkel

In this post I would like to show you that learning and analyzing the games of top players isn’t just very useful to enrich your opening knowledge and expand the horizons, but it has a great practical value too!

Quite a few years ago, I analyzed game Leko-Khalifman for one of the issues of Chessbase magazines…

I guess it’s worth mentioning that many chess fans consider Peter Leko rather “boring player”. Indeed, his games very rarely include sharp tactical battles, unbalanced positions with most of pieces hanging in the air and amazing sacrifices - kind of chess most chess fans enjoy to see (not that he is incapable of providing that kind of stuff, it’s just he prefers a different approach to the game…).

However if we are inclined to learn about deep positional play and carrying out complex strategic plans I can’t think of player whose games are more suitable and comprehensive for this purpose than Peter Leko!

Speaking of above-mentioned encounter Leko-Khalifman, I consider it a classic example of good knight versus bad bishop play in French defense. Due to my exposure to this game back in 2000 (!), I had a very easy life in one of my rare tournament games more than 5 years afterwards!

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Article by GM Alex Finkel

Hey guys. Some time ago Goran talked me into writing some stuff for his blog and frankly speaking I’m quite thankful to him that he did! Some of you might know me from WCN, others might know me from Chessbase, most of you probably never heard about me In any case this column isn’t about me, it’s about improving your understanding of chess and providing you some tools to do that!

I keep saying all the time that in order to become a decent player all you have to do is to learn basic strategic rules and to follow them (not a very easy task by itself!), however if you want to become a really good player it’s not enough just to follow the rules - it’s even more important to know how to break them at the right moment!

This statement is especially true at the era of “computer chess”, when most top players have adapted a very concrete approach to the game, based mostly on a very deep calculation rather than on a pure positional play. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not calling to neglect learning of basic chess strategy, it’s an absolutely vital part of chess education, but you have to remain open-minded and remember that none of strategic rules stands above the Game…

One of the cornerstones of chess strategy is a fast development of the pieces and a quick castle - in most cases it’s highly recommended (I’d even say necessary) to accomplish development of the pieces and put a king in the safe place before starting any active operations. There are countless examples of severe punishment in case one of the sides had left his king in the center for the middlegame. However, under right circumstances, delaying castle and starting an active piece play could be very rewarding. The next game perfectly illustrates what I mean…Enjoy it!

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Egoism, according to Jonathan Rowson. Last year I played open tournament in Senta and in round 3 I was paired to play young girl Ana Gebejes. On the previous day I was “butchering” an IM and I thought 200 points lower-rated opponent will just roll over and lose without too much effort from my side. Wrong! Each game demands full mobilization and each opponent deserves respect. The former U18 Serbian champion, as she told me after the game, played very well. Here is the game with comments of GM Michael Roiz and I will add couple of notes to explain my decision-making process.

Ana Gebejes - Goran Urosevic
Senta, 2006

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3
Earlier I played Semi-Slav but after three years of inactivity I wanted to try Nimzo Indian defence. Before the tournament, I planned to enter classical Queens Indian on 3.Nf3, but when she actually played it, I started to doubt my choice. What if she, unlike myself, knows perfect theory and I end up in one of those annoying plus/equal positions? What if we end in one of the most drawish variation(s) in the world? I had no clue about the Benoni, but I wanted to play for win.

3… c5 4. d5 exd5 6. cxd5 Bd6!?

This move earned the post title. I wanted to avoid the theory and played rare move expecting to confuse the young girl. Bd6 makes it slightly different than regular Benoni, in the sense that Black is losing some tempi but it could be possible to build stronger pressure against e4 pawn (by exchanging its defender Nc3). I tried the variation on couple of blitz occasions and almost all of my opponents, including FMs, failed to find good solutions. But this “statistics” actually tricked me, as longer time controls are something completely different.

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Hey readers of Chess Strategy )

Here is a list of my favourite chess books:

Winning Chess Tactics for Junior - puzzle book, to learn the basic of TACTICS TACTICS TACTICS. For instance, if you want to mate the opponent’s king on g7, first you have to plan how to remove the defender of g7
How to Beat Your Dad in Chess by Murray Chandler - MUST KNOW mating patterns ) How can you checkmate opponent king without knowing chess mating pattern???

Logical Chess Move by Move by Irving Chernev - every move explained. It is important for 1200+ elo players to understand the purpose of each move and how the Master thinks. A sample of the comments in this book is ‘’every pawn move on your kingside creates weak square'’ –> g2-g3, weaken the light square….it allows your opponent to put bishop on h3 and queen on f3 to create the mating pattern.

The Most Instructive Games of Chess by Irving Chernev - a lot of beautiful, interesting and instructive games, very cheap too.

Chess Master vs Chess Amateur by Dr.Euwe - Chess Master will punish the error made by chess amateur, it’s a good experience.

The Amateur Mind by IM Jeremy Silman - designed for 1200 to 1800 elo level. Chess players like to read more comments, not only moves!

How to Reassess Your Chess by IM Jeremy Silman - Best modern instructional chess book

The Reassess Your Chess Workbook by IM Jeremy Silman - you can read this book even before reading “The Amateur Mind” and “How to Reassess Your Chess”, because it contains chapters “Silman thinking technique” and “Imbalance Crash Course”. Every exercise in this book is also very useful!!!

The Middlegame 1 and 2 by Max Euwe - the middlegame examples are highly instructive, another well written book by former World Champion Euwe!

Send us your list

For the last few months, and along with other books, I’ve been reading “Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy” by John Watson. This masterpiece won 1999 USCF and BCF awards, and after going through first few chapters, I added it under must have on the sidebar. You can imagine my amazement, and delight too, after reaching page 255, where I discovered my own game! You are reading the blog of an chess strategy trend-setter

The game was played in the 8th round of the local Cuprija Open Championship and my opponent was FM Boroljub Zlatanovic. We went to the same elementary school and won 1992 Yugoslav Scholastic Championship. After a tough game on the previous day, I woke up too late and missed school that morning. Having nothing better to do, I grabbed two Chess Informants (there were no databases and internet back then!) and tried to find some ideas against expected French defence. I’ll copy John’s comments and add couple of mine.

John Watson - Four themes from this book arise in the following game: trippled pawns, the struggle between two bishops and two knights, the early space-grab by flank pawn moves, and a rook-lift on the fourth rank.

Goran Urosevic - Boroljub Zlatanovic
Cuprija, 1996

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. Nf3 Bd7 8. h4 Ba4 9. h5

John Watson - An increasingly popular idea which, as explained in Part 2, Chapter 3, has to do with prophylactically denying Black his usual kingside play, as well as setting up long-term prospects for White on that wing.

9…h6 10. dxc5!

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Some months after the Exercise I and Exercise II, it was about time for new challenge, and I picked one example from the absolutely fantastic “John Nunn’s Chess Puzzle Book”. What I liked was the pattern of identifying opponent’s potential and then imposing problems which he cannot solve. Give yourself at least 15 minutes on the board.

White’s king is rather exposed, but it is hard for Black to make progress because of the potential perpetual check on f6 and d8. How should Black continue?

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