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!
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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.
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
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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;
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.
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:
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
Hanging pawns are, alongside with isolated d-pawn and Karlsbad, one of the most complex pawn structures that demands careful study. In this post, we will see some basic examples. For deeper exploration, I suggest reading “Pawn Structure Chess”
Let’s mention some of the main characteristics of hanging pawns. The pawns are standing on c4 and d4 (or c5 and d5 for Black), without friendly pawns on adjacent files and without opponent’s pawns on the “c” and “d” files.
The advantage of having hanging pawns is the control over large number of important central squares and certain limitation of opponent’s pieces. They give wonderful e5 (e4) outpost and ability to create strong heavy pieces’ pressure along the “b” file. The hanging pawns’ advance can carry huge energy and rip off the opponent’s center and castle after opening of files and diagonals. But be careful, the pawns’ advance can be double-edge (next paragraph).
The main problem with having hanging pawns is that they have no support from the other pawns and the pieces might be tied for constant defence, which is seriously limiting mobility. Moving any of the hanging pawns might create serious weaknesses in the center, by giving good outposts for opponent’s pieces and allowing him to block the pawns. In addition, the backward pawn can be vulnerable to attack. Very often, opponent doesn’t have to wait for pawns’ advance, he can provoke it by pushing and even sacrificing “b” or “e” pawn. This plan is usually connected with the wonderful pieces’ play over the freshly available squares.
