Chess Strategy

Happy Holidays to everyone who celebrate them

I have found quite a few games where one of the players is offering Queen’s exchange, even if it means significant damage in the pawn structure. This will be compensated with other pluses, usually in much better pieces’ placement and coordination. The article will be posted in three parts, full PGN file in the final post.

Mikhail Botvinnik - Max Euwe
Den Haag/Moscow, 1948

Botvinnik sacrificed a pawn to bring pieces to attacking positions. Queen and Bishops are on excellent places, White only has to open files for the Rooks. It has to be done quick though, because Black can play Nd5 next and completely neutralize the pressure.

20.f3!!
20.Bxf6? Qxf6 21.Qxe4 Bf5 Black catches on with the development.

20…Nd5
There is no time to take on f3 because 20…exf3 21.Bb1! with idea Bxh7+ is crushing 21…h6 (21…fxg2 22.Rxf6) 22.Rxf3 Nd5 23.Rg3!! Qxh4 24.Rxg7+ Kh8 25.Rh7+ Kg8 26.Rh8#;
20…Be6 was decent however, 21.fxe4! it is all about one tempo (21.Bb1 Nd5 22.Qxe4 f5 with next 23…Nc3 and equal play, Botvinnik) 21…Bxa2 22.Rxf6! (22.Bxf6? gxf6 23.Rf3 Be6 24.e5 Rfe8 25.exf6 Qf8 26.Rg3+ Kh8 27.Rg7 Bf5 and now Black is winning) 22…Kh8 (22…gxf6? 23.Bxf6; 22…Be6 23.Qg3 Qd7 24.Ref1!) 23.Qg3 with attack for White.

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When evaluating position, we should consider factors with their static (absolute) and dynamic (relative) value. So, counting pawn islands, weak squares, pieces’ placement, safety of the kings etc is the first step to be taken. Next is to reconsider each of the assessments in respect of their correlation with other factors, both static and dynamic, and time potential. Time potential means how fast can factor change, to better or worse, and how can this influence with other factors. This is where chess becomes hard and we have to make choices on what is the (most) important feature in the given position.

Let’s see what are the factors in diagrammed setup. White has three pawn islands, black only two. White has to take care of c4 and possibly a2 pawns, while black keeps eye on c7. Pawn a2 is potential passer and both kings seem to be safe at the moment. Nd5 and Bd4 are wonderfully anchored in the center, Bh4 is not that bad either, Rb1 is on the open file, Re8 is on the semi-open file, while black pieces on the a-file might be a bit misplaced.

Now it is important to revise everything said above and see how these factors behave in the real-time, ie next couple of moves. With locked pawn structures, real-time can be extended to 15 or more moves.

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This is the game I played last weekend in a team event. Similar to “5th Deadly Chess Sin”, I will reproduce my thoughts that occurred during the clash. Note that I didn’t run the moves through the chess program, if you find any tactical flaws, please mention it in the comments.

Goran Urosevic - Boban Stojanovic

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3
In the first round, I played the Catalan and lost the game (will post that soon). This time I wanted to try something else.

4… Be7 5. Bg5 h6
I don’t know if this move order (more common is 5… 0-0 and h6 later) has any significance in the sense of allowing/avoiding certain lines. While 6. Bh4 would have been normal transposition, I was happy to get off the hot lines of the Orthodox Queens Gambit, and quickly snapped on f6.

6. Bxf6 Bxf6

I grinned while taking on f6 and I think my opponent saw that. The thing is that in the last year’s league I lost only one game, and it was because I started a combination to win the bishop’s pair, while blundering simple intermediate move (zwischenzug). That was one of the most embarrassing defeats ever, in only 17 moves. I remember how one of the team-mates criticized me for “recklessly running after the pair of bishops”. I was happy to show him this time how “universal” player I am by giving the bishop for knight on 6th move.

This continuation is, of course, well known in the modern opening theory. White will quickly finish the development while black will be a bit passive for awhile, because his bishops can’t easily reach any of the good diagonals. By removing Nf6, black is losing some of the control over e4 and d5, and we will see how could white exploit this advantage.

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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.

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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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.

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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.

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Rubinstein - Miezis

Black’s last move was 14… Qe7. He has clear plan of attacking against e4 pawn while White pieces are still undeveloped. The problem is that Black underestimates importance of “time” as factor. Rubinstein will not only complete the development while Black is busy taking that pawn, but he will also gain other positional advantages.

15. Nc3 Nh5

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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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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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