Chess Strategy

Mio’s Hidden Ideas by IM Miodrag Perunovic

Dragon variation was a real nightmare for e4 players some 15 years ago! Particularly when players like Kiril Georgiev, Boris Alterman, Chris Ward and Thomas Ernst introduced it to their repertoire. Even Kasparov used it in his match for the World Championship against Anand in a few deciding games with big success! Nowadays, GM’s like Sergey Tivjakov, Fedorov, Golubev and a few others play it with solid results, although none of the top 20 plays it anymore. This might be the reason for the “Dragoners” to feel a bit insecure, losing their confidence. If devoted Dragoners like Georgiev and Alterman don’t play it anymore - it is time to introduce new fresh ideas and bring the Dragon back to life!

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6
We will start with some of the rare sidelines. Future articles will go over moves like 6. Be2; 6. Bc4; 6.g3 What can be the motif of playing sidelines with White pieces in an early stage of the game? The answer is simple and logical - 1) White wants to surprise Black, one of the very common strategies nowadays; 2) White wants to avoid the complications in the main Dragon lines, and by playing these rare moves, he simply reduces time necessary for preparation. So, White has a few interesting possibilities here but none of them is dangerous for Black! Sidelines are: 6.Nd5?! - rare and not the best attempt to surprise an opponent; 6. h4!? - pretty savage move; 6. h3!? with the idea of playing g4!?; 6. Bg5!? Bg7 7. Bb5!? - just an awkward variation, possibly good as surprise, nothing special; 6. Bc4 - maybe the best attempt to take an advantage with White pieces in B70 ECO code; 6. Be2 - calm move, and without real danger for Black; 6. g3!? - many good GMs like fianchetto variations, we have covered one of the subvariations in our previous article.

6.h4!?
By playing this kind of move in the early stage of the game, White clearly announces that he is going for the kill. It could be a very interesting idea against calm and slow-paced players, but the point is: Who would play Dragon with black if he is calm player I think that first to try 6.h4 was Drasko Velimirovic in his game against Watson, but the outcome was depressing for him.

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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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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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This is transcript of the video lesson posted few days ago.

Hi everyone and welcome to the first Chess Strategy video lesson. We will present an example to illustrate typical problems while proceeding from middlegame to ending. Careful chess analysts have noticed that this is exactly the moment when number of mistakes is rapidly increasing.

In some sense, it is natural occurrence as many players are reaching the point of “overload”. It is necessary to calculate long lines, evaluate different relations of pieces and recall of memorized endgame axioms. But probably the most important event is of psychological nature, when player has to regroup his thought for different character of struggle.

Mark Taimanov - David Bronstein
Zurich, 1953

More experienced viewers will recognize Volga-like pawn structure. The board sees material balance, the position is about equal and Black has just offered Queens exchange. Should White accept it? Bronstein thought that incoming endgame would be in his favor because pawns c3 and e4 are possible targets. With Queens present on the board, importance of these weaknesses would be minimized by huge activity of White’s Queen, which can start operations against Black King or pawn e7. Therefore, White should have avoided the exchange. But the game went on with… Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not a *real* exchange sacrifice as Black could have taken it back anytime, but the Rook maneuver was really amazing yet efficient.

Bruno Parma - Tigran Petrosian
Moskow, 1971

The Rc5 is under attack and it can’t go back on c-file because White has crushing e5. But Petrosian was planning way in advance.

21… Rh5!

Suicidal move at the first glance. Rook is running among opponent’s pieces and pawns, setting itself on *volley* g4. Note that 22. Qe3 Rxh2 with Ng4 is losing for White.

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I like this game because it’s a nice short sample of important strategies - pawn structure transformation, weak pawns, proper exchange and power of Bishop’s pair.

Vassily Smyslov - Mikhail Tal
Bled, 1959

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Be3 Qc7 10. a4 Be6 11. a5 Qc6 12. Bf3 Nbd7

Both players were aiming for this position. Tal didn’t use the earlier opportunity to play b7-b6 and prevent White’s a5, because Nd7 is firmly controlling b6 square and it’s impossible to attack b7 pawn. Pawn a5 is good blocker but at the same time it can be responsibility (as seen in Hort-Fischer last week). With Black Queen and dark-squared Bishop around, White pieces might be tied defending a5.

13. Nd5

This is good time for Nd5, before Black puts his Rook on c8 pressing against c2 pawn.

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After seeing an old TV show produced during Belgrade 1989 tournament, I decided to show excerpt from the last round’s Garry Kasparov - Predrag Nikolic. Our main strategical topic is exchange. By the way, this was the first tournament where Kasparov broke magical border of 2800 elo points.

In the starting position white has better pawn structure because black pawns d5, f7 and h6 are weak. White pieces are also better placed, holding higher dynamic potential. There are certain short-term limitations, Ra1 has to defend a3 pawn and Ne2 has to cover nasty Rc3 check. We will see how Kasparov solved these slight problems convincingly. On the other hand, black pieces are rather passive, Rg8 is out of play, Nb6 is fairly limited (thanks to b3 pawn!). The black’s only active soldier is Rc6, controlling c-file and 6-th rank.

27. Rhc1!!

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Vladimir Makagonov - Mikhail Botvinnik
Russia, 1943

While I was active, all of my students, no matter what strength, had to see this example. The most important feature in white’s position is weakness of entire complex of light squares. One of the possible strategies in exploiting the weakness is exchange. Particularly, exchanging pieces that are defenders of the weak complex.

In the given position, white is still somehow covering light squares - with Queen and Bishop. The natural plan would be to trade off light bishops. But looking closer, we can notice wonderful e4 outpost for the Nc5. The only problem are two defenders - Nc3 and Bc2. Therefore, first remove the Nc3:

13… Bxc3! 14. bxc3 Bf5!

And now Bishops. Exchanges are forced as white can’t avoid them. When thinking about combinations that include trade of one or more pairs of pieces, we should always correctly evaluate the arising positions in regard of pieces’ relative value. Relative value is connected with piece’s “influence” and potential (possibilities). In our game, white will have queen and dark-squared bishop fighting against queen and knight on outpost e4. Notice that Ne4 is on “permanent” outpost ie. white can’t push it away with the piece of same or lesser value. We didn’t take rooks into this account, since all of them are on starting positions.

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Vsevolod Rauzer - Nikolay Riumin
Leningrad, 1936

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 d6 7.c3 b5 8.Bb3 Na5 9.Bc2 c5 10.d4 Qc7 11.Nbd2 Nc6 12.a4 Rb8 13.axb5 axb5 14.dxc5 dxc5 15.Nf1 Be6 16.Ne3 O-O 17.Ng5 Rfd8 18.Qf3 Rd6

Black has to cover potential outposts d5 and f5. White controls open a-file and Black controls d-file, but this is not of the major importance because all entry squares are well protected. White’s biggest problem are his passive Bishops and with his next move he’s trying to give them some air. 19. Ne6 is not the best because after fe6 Black is covering d5 and f5 and his single weakness e6 will be easily defended. 19. Ne6 Re6?! 20. Nd5! favors White.

19. Nf5 Bxf5

Russian author Mikhail Yudovich suggested 19…Rdd8 as better, but it seems that after 20. Ne6 fe6 21. Ne7 and Be3, White can create strong pressure on Black queenside pawns. Alexander Koblenz, coach of Mikhail Tal, also mentioned this game in his book but didn’t comment on Bf5.

20. exf5 h6

White’s doubled pawn has gained space allowing good chances for future advance of Kingside pawns. Before the advance, White has to improve his pieces and prevent opponent’s counterplay. The most important feature of exf5 is that White gets e4 square for transfer of his pieces. Instead of h6, better was 20…Rdd8, in order to meet Ne4 with Nd5.

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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.

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