Another sample from “Perfect Your Chess”. GM Volokitin and IM Grabinsky are commenting game moves as the best continuation, but I think there is even prettier tactical motif.
White to move, suggest your solutions in the comments.
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In yesterday’s post I recommended “Perfect Your Chess” by GM Andrei Volokitin and IM Vladimir Grabinsky. Here is one sample from the first chapter “Make a Move”. From the chapter intro: We set ourselves the task of choosing positions where it is sufficient to suggest only one move. Just as in a game, a player has to solve problems of various types, so here you will find a mix of quiet moves, zwischenzugs, winning moves, prophylactic moves, etc.
Black to move. Discuss the position in comments.
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!
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!
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.
For the last few months, and along with other books, I’ve been reading “Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy”
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!
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”
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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by Bogdan Girmacea
Double isolated pawns appear quite often in practice, that’s why I picked this subject. Generally speaking, double isolated pawns can be a strength and a weakness in the same time. Strength because they can control some important squares in the center of the board and a weakness because they can be easily attacked and their general mobility is somehow limited.
In most cases, the side that fights against double isolated pawns has to exchange pieces and to transpose the game into an ending where the weakness of those pawns can be exploited easier.
But in this lesson we will see the strength of double isolated pawns and how the side who posses them should play. I will present a famous game between Portish and Fischer, Tunis 1967, in which after 15 moves in King’s Indian defense the players reached position in following diagram:
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. d4 0-0 5. Bg2 d6 6. Nc3 Nbd7 7. 0-0 e5 8. e4 c6 9. b3 Qb6 10. Re1 Re8 11. d5 Nc5 12. Rb1 a5 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Bxc5 dxc5 15. dxc6 bxc6
(PGN file for download)
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Last time I seriously studied chess, back in 1997-1998, I was amazed how Vladimir Kramnik treated certain line of Sicilian defence. Black didn’t have to fear of direct attack on his King and position was dynamic and full of strategical possibilities for both players, so I wanted to play it myself. Eventually, I had only one shot in the junior league, but I still remember many of Black’s fantastic resources. One of them is presented bellow.
Vassily Ivanchuk - Vladimir Kramnik
Dos Hermanas, 1996
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.O-O-O h6
This is the line in question. Very popular in the late 90’s, nowadays out of fashion. Still worth of studying, take a look at couple of games, you’ll like it. More popular today is YY variation with 8…Bd7.
Black is forcing White do decide what to do with the Bishop. 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 is plain equal because White gets no benefits for pair of Bishops thrown away. 9.Bh4 Nxe4 is poisonous pawn sacrifice, but Black can hold with precise move order. 9.Bf4 Bd7 was favorite of Anatoly Karpov and not dynamic as the main 9.Be3.
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!
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
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.
