Chess Strategy

Doubled Pawns after the Queens exchange, part 1
Doubled Pawns after the Queens exchange, part 2

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Alexander Kotov - Grigory Levenfish
URS-ch Moscow, 1949

Black has some problems with pieces coordination as Nb7 and Bd7 are not perfectly placed. Rook is tied for a6 pawn, while b4 and e4 pawns might also come under attack. Still, Black might be able to consolidate over the next few moves, for example if he plays a5-a4, weakness from a6 will be eliminated and Rook gets open file. Knight can also activate via d6.

All this means that White’s advantage is time-sensitive and he should do something over the next few moves in order to maintain or increase it. Rook is holding the open c-file and it would be nice to reach the 7th rank. However, Black Queen, the only well placed Black piece at the moment, is covering c7 square. In one of the earlier articles “Positional factors and their importance”, we said: - Always try to exchange opponent’s most active pieces. In this case, trading Black Queen would open the gates to the 7th rank and e4 pawn would become increasingly vulnerable.

28.Qd4!
Kotov is not afraid of ghosts! Doubled central pawns are not really a weakness as Black won’t be having time to attack them with Nd6-Nf5. After the Queen’s exchange, Black will have to lose moves on protecting Bd7 and pawns a6, b4 and e4.

28…Qxd4
It wasn’t really possible to avoid the exchange, because after 28…Qd6 29.Rc4! White wins a pawn (but no 29.Qxe4? Bf5)

29.exd4 g5?!

Premature as White can play Rc7 anyway. It was necessary to first consolidate pieces with 29…Nd6 30.Rc7 Rd8 where pawn e4 turns out to be very important. Idea is 31.Bxa6 Ra8 32.Rxd7 Rxa6 33.Rxe7 Rxa2 and Black has counterplay against White King and b3 pawn. Still, it is psychologically hard to decide for this line (without perfect calculation) as prospect of d-pawn advance looks scary.

30.Rc7 Bb5?!
Another mistake. It was obligatory to protect both pieces and gain tempo against Nf4. In this way, Black keeps e7 pawn as an important barrier. 30…Bc8 31.Nh5 Kf8 and in case of 32.Bxa6 Nd6 33.Bxc8 Rxc8 34.Rxc8+ Nxc8 White still has an extra pawn, but Knight endgames like this are really hard to convert to win.

31.Rxb7 gxf4 32.Rxe7 Rc8 33.Bxb5 axb5 34.h4!

Now that King is safe, White is enjoying decisive advantage. Black has no time for counterplay as d-pawn promotes real quick.

34…f5 35.Re5 Kg7 36.Rxf5 e3 37.fxe3 fxe3 38.Kf1 Rc2 39.d6 Rxa2 40.d7 Ra8 41.Ke2 1-0

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