Pawn Chains

•

SCHACHVERLAG

u.

VERTRIEB

OLBRICH GmbH

WURZBURG

1994

CJP-Titclaufnahmc dcr Deutschen Bibliothek

C1"0uch, Colin:

Pawn Chains: The present

book

looks at one J1ar1icular

tyrc

'lf pawn tormntion.

the central pawn

c

hain

,

and \\ith various examples the various ways in which the

positions resulting from such a fonnation may

be

handled.

(Schachvcrlag u. Vcrtricb Olbrich

Gmbll)

ISBN 3-929J24-10-S

ISBN 3-929324-10-5

0 1994

by

S

c

hachverlag

u.

Vertrieb

Olbrich GmbH

All rights reserved. No part of this book

may be

reproduced, stored in

a

retrieval system

or transmitted in any form or by any

means:

electronic, magnetic tape. mechanicaL

photocopying. recording or otherwise, without J1rior permission in writing from the

publisher.
Designed by Raddatz, Gennany
Technical Editor: Alexander Kulagin,

Jerzy

Dobosz

Printed in Poland

£.ontentH

FOREWORD by Colin Crouch ................................................................ 6

1.Pawns chains: the basics .

.

.

.....

.

...

.

..

.

.

.

......

..

....

.

.

..

. .............

.

...

.

.

. . ........ ..

.

9

Game

1

Korchnoi- Kasparov,

Amsterdam

1991

.

..

.

..

.

.

.....

..

....

.

.............

14

2.The

French is not the King's lndian

. . . ..........

.

. . ..

...

..

.

. .

.

..

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

..

..

..

. . ..

.

. . .

.

19

Game

2

Abramovic- Kovacevic, Yugoslav Ch.

1989 .......................... 22

Game 3

Gallagher- Crouch, Krumbach

1991

.

.

.

. . ............

: ................. 25

3.Pawns

or squares?

........................................................................... 30

Game 4

Larsen - Bareyev. Hastings

1990/91

...................................... 32

Game

5

Nimzowitsch- Salwe, Car1sbad

1911

.

.

.

.

....

.

.

..

.......

.

...............

.

.

38

Game 6 Korchnoi- Geller, Moscow 197Q (1 st

iiiei!\:,�.

�c.ii-•c)

. . . ...

.

.

.

...

.

...

43

4.The

Tarrasch French

..........

.

....

.

.

....

.

. . . .

.

............................... ..............

48

Game

7

Ljubojevic-

M.Gurevich, Linares

1991

...

..

..............

.

....

.

.

.......

.

4

9

Game

8

Pyda - Likavsky. Czechoslovakia

1991 .................................. 53

Game

9

Smagin - Vaiser. Bamaul1984

..

.

.

.

.

.

..

.

. ......................

.

...

...

. . . ...

60

Game

10

Ernst-

Crouch, London

1991

.

.

.

....

......

.

................

.

..

..

.........

..

.

64

S.The

unt>roken c:llain

. . ...........

.

..

..

.

..

..

.

.

.

.....

.

........

.

. .

.

.. . .

.

..........................

.

69

Game

11

Piket - Kasparov, Tilt>urg

1989

.

.

.

.

.

.....

.

. ...

.

... . ...

.

.... ......... . ....

69

Game 12 Cet>alo- Cvitan, Yugoslav Championship

1986 ................. 75

•.

6.The

paradoxical push

...

.

...

.

.....

.

......

..

. .

.

........ . . .

.

....

.

.

..

.

......

.

..

.

.......... . ....

80

Game 13 Khalifman- Gelfand, Reggio Emilia

1991/92 .................... 80

Game 14

Lobron - Renet, Novi Sad

1990

.

.

...... . . . . .

.

. ..

.

................ ....

.

.

82

Game

15

Mircovic- Todorcevic. Yugoslav Championship

1991

.

.......

85

7.Biock and t>reak

............ ................... ...................... .. . . ............. . . . ......

94

Game 16 Olafsson- Petrosian, Bled

1961 .......................................... 95

Analytical

exercises

......................................................................... 1 02

5

The computer age has brought about a remarkable informa­

tion explosion in chess, and this has meant that a certain type of

writing, pioneered by

lnformator,

has become prevalent.

.. Languageless" notes, using sequences of moves and a range of
symbols, can be read by anyone, and can be stored in comput­

ers. The convenience of such notes can often hide the fact that

while it is possible to examine tactics {precise sequences of moves}
in great depth, it is made very difficult to write about strategy, xd6

for example says very little about

why

a weakness on d6 should

be a dominant feature of the position; to explain, one needs to

write notes in natural language.

Pawn structure lies at the heart of strategy, and thus to begin to

write about strategy it is necessary to write about particular types
of pawn structures. We can leave such generalities as ucontrol
the center", "develop your pieces", .. attack where your opponent
is weakest" for the relatively elementary texts; more specific ques­
tions need to be addressed. In the current book I examine the
types of position which result from when a pawn chain (d4, e5 v
d5, e6, or e4, d5 v e5, d6} is estab:ished in the center.
This was a natural starting point for me since when I started writ­
ing the book the French Defence was my front-line reply to

1

e4,

and since in the age of Kasparov many of the most interesting
theoretical debates and games are in the King's Indian.

I hope that other titles, covering other types of position will follow.

There

is

of course no single way of playing a pawn chain position,

and indeed games played in the French and the King's Indian

often appear as though they have nothing in common ... It is pre­

cisely this variety of different approaches which I wished to cover
in the illus&:rative games I have presented. Even sub-themes {e.g.

the battle for control of the d4 square in Fiench Defence) could
have books devoted to them, but in practice the strong player will

gradually acquire a stock of understanding of such themes.

All I can hope is that I have given the reader something to think

about.

6

As part of the basis for my own notes, I have of course made

much use of already existing notes, in

lnfonnator

or elsewhere.

Often even the best written notes leave questions unanswered,

and often published not�s can be dubious or quite simply wrong.

I have deliberately avoided entering analytical debates in the main

text, not through laziness. but because

I

felt it would be useful for

the reader himself or nerself to face the same analytical problems

that

I

faced when annotating the game. Thus at the end of the

book there is a series of about twenty analytical exercises for the

reader to try out.

London.Janua�. 1994

7

1. Pa"·n Chains :

The Rasles

At

the heart of the opening

struggle in chess is the battle

for the center. Naturally, with

players of similar strength, the

opening battle is unlikely to be
resolved decisively; what in­

stead happens is that particu­
lar types of opening battles

lead to particular types of

pawn structure, and that the

pawn structures which result
set the agenda for middle

game battle. In this book we

examine one typical pawn

structure, the central pawn

chain, we see how this struc­

ture arises, and we consider
t�.e typical middlegames which
result. Most of the examples

are taken either from the

French Defence or the King's
Indian Defence, but the basic

central formation can arise

from other openings as well,

for example the Ruy Lopez,

the Sicilian (particularly the

2 ... d6 3 Bb5+1ines), the Caro­

Kann (3 e5 lines), the Nimzo­

lndian (where Black plays ... d6
and ... e5), the Hungarian, the

Philidor, and many others be­

sides.

Firstly, we consider in detail

9

how and why the basic struc­

ture arises.

1-

French Defence

Stage

one - the

small center

The French Defence is the

best illustration of the small

center.

1

e4 e6

2

d4

dS

Familiar enough, but what has

been happening?

With his first move,

1

e4, White

has laid claim to some space

in the center. Black has vari­

ous ways in which to respond.

The .. classical" method would

be for Black to stake an equi­

valent claim with

1

. . .

e5.

White· e sole advantage then

would be his extra move, and
he would use this advantage

by trying to lay siege to the e­
pawn, starting perhaps with 2

Nf3 (attacking) 2 ... Nc6 (de­

fending) 3 Bb5 (attacking the

defender).

Black

has his center, but this

center

can be attacked.

The small center approach

!s

based

instead on the idea of

creating a central strong­

point so secure that it can­
not possibly be overrun.

In

the diagram position for ex­
ample, thera is simply no point
in trying to attack the d5

square; White must seek his
advantage in ether ways. The

most important point in his
favour is that he has an advan­
tage in space

;

White has con­

trol and use of a central square

( e5) in the Black half of the
board, whereas Black has no
corresponding outpost in the

White half of the board. Note

however that Black is attack­

ing the White pawn on e4; this
creates some tension in the

central position.

In such position, with one

pawn being attacked by an­

other, there are three choices:

(I) Simplify by exchanging

pawns (3 exd5)

(II) Advance the pawn (3 e5)

(Ill) Maintain the tension by

protecting the attacked
pawn (3 Nc3; 3 Nd2)

10

With the second option, 3 e5
White can create a pawn chain
immediately; we shall consider
a little later why he generally

prefers not to. The third option

is the most common, and

takes the central battle to a
new stage.

Stage two - central tension.

3Nc3

White protects his attacked

pawn. Now Black must decide
whether to simplify by ex­
changing pawns (3 ... dxe4), or
whether to add to the central
tension by a further attack on

e4 (3 ... Bb4; 3 ... Nf6).

After 3 ... dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 5

Nf3 Ngf6 Black's position is

perhaps sound enough, but

White has unqu

e

sti

o

na

bl

y

got

an advantage in space and

freer piece mobility. Black must

play carefully to equalize.

3

...

Nf6

Again White has a threefold

choice: simplify (4 exd5), ad­

vance (4 e5) or maintain the

tension (4 Bg5).

Simplification does not ach­

ieve very much here, but 4 e5

is a perfectly valid altemative

to the text move.

4

BgS Be

7

Black in his turn maintains the

tension, which he could also

have done with 4 ... Bb4, meet-

ing 5 e5 with 5 ... h6 6 Bh4 (6

Bd2 is better) 6 ... g5.
He could also have relieved

the tension with 4 ... dxe4 5

Nxe4 Be 7, more popular here

than on the previous move
since it is easier with the White

bishop already on g5 for Black
to offer exchanges to make his

position less cramped. After 4
. .. Be 7 we reach a critical posi­

tion.

Stage

three-

formation of the

pawn chain.

White still has his three-way
choice, but his alternatives are

slowly diminishing; 5 exd5 of­

fers little, while the pressure on
the e-pawn is now strong en-

11

ough to force White into a de­

CISIOn.

Further protection of the e­

pawn gives White less than

nothing after 5 Bd3? Nxe4 6

Bxe7 Qxe7 (6 .. . Nxc3 7 Qg4

is unclear)

7

Nxe4 dxe4

8

Bxe4 Qb4+. White could keep

some tension by removing an
attacker of the e-pawn with 5

Bxf6 Bxf6 6 Nf3, but then d­

pawn comes under attack with

6 ... c5. Maybe White can try

to claim a tiny edge after 7
exd5 exd5

8

Bb5+ Nc6

9

dxc5

QaS

10

Na4, but after

10

. . .

0-

0

or

10

.

.. Bd7 Black can cer­

tainly dispute this claim.

Really, 5 eS is the only way to

try for an edge.

5e5

Now the pawn chain has been
formed; White's pawns on d4

and e5 encounter Black pawns
on

dS

and e6. The next few

moves indicate how the strug­

gle might develop.

Stage

four

- s�ruggle over the

pawn chain (early stages)

5

...

Nfd7

6

Bxe7 Qxe7

7 f4

0-0

If immediately

7

..

.

c5? then

8

NbS is awkward.

8

Nf3 c

S

9

Qd2

Nc6

The form of the struggle is
gradually becoming clearer.
White has more space and his

pawns look imposing, but all

this gain of space is at the ex­

pense of compactness of stru­

cture. Black can attack the

central White pawnsl

The priority for Black is to at­

tack the base of the pawn
chain, the White pawn on d4.

Should this pawn be dis­
lodged, the White pawn on eS

will be open to challenge with

a timely . .. f6. Quite often

White's d- and e-pawns will be
exchanged for Black's c- and
f-pawns, leaving Black with an

isolated pawn couple on e6
and dS, and leaving the dark

squares on d4 and eS open for

occupation by pieces. Should

White be able to establish a

12

secure blockade of these dark

squares, than he will have the
advantage;

Black

for his part

can aim for counterplay along

both c- and f-files. This is one
way in which events can de­
velop from such a position;
other possibilities will be out­

lined in later chapters.

The small pawn center strat­
egy may also be employed in

queenside openings, although
it is not quite as easy for Black

to establish a stable d6-e5

center as to establish a d5-e6

center. The main line of the

King's Indian Defence leads

however to a pawn chain after

a phase of tension.

1 d4 Nf6

2

c4 g6 3 Nc3

Bg7

4

e4

d6

5

Nf3

0-0

6

Be.2 eS

i!

�.-i

'iV !:

l!t� :

1Ail.

i.Q.il

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I. 1.1·, i

I.

r, t\

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t."'""\

,:-,

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f

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.

(L_j

1-;1

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.

I

� i.\

;:

'-�

;�

..

lS i\ 1\i

i-£ _A· �Y r/_!j

gl

l_

-

·--

--

.

------"

The small center established:

White cannot win a pawn here

because of

7

dxe5 dxe5 8

Qxd8 RxdB 9 Nxe5? Nxe4 and

Black is already better.

As in the French example,
White has three options here:

(I) Exchange with 7 dxe5

(7 ... dxe5 8 Qxd8 Rxd8

9

BgS!)

(II) Advance the pawn (7 d5)
(Ill) Maintain the tension

(7

0-0).

Again, as in the French De­
fence, White usually prefers

not to release the tension with
a pawn advance until abso­

lutely necessary.

7 0-0 Nc&

More pressure o� the d4

square; note how the fianche­

ttoed bishop on g7 adds to the
pressure. White must soon
make an important decision as

to how to handle the central

position.

Black can also play 7 ... Na6
(probably best met by 8 Be3)

or 7 ... Nbd7. The position af­

ter

7

•..

Nbd7

(diagram) merits

closer attention.

White can form a pawn chain
here with 8 d5?1,

but it is not

advisable.

Black replies with

8

.

.. Nc5

9

Qc2 aS with a se­

cure queenside position.

13

(after 7 ... Nbd7)
Later Black will be able to set

in motion his thematic attack

on the kingside by preparing

.. .f5. White's d5 move sells

control of the c5 square far too
cheaply: similarly, if White
were to play e5 in the French

before Black has played ... Nf6,

Black would have extra defen­

sive options based on ... Ng

e

7

or ... Nh6. keeping an eye on

the correspondingly important
f5 square.

With d5 in the King's Indian,

or e5 in the French, White

guarantees himself a spatial
advantage on his leadingflank.

This spatial advantage ne­

eds to be converted into

an

attack. The most appropri­
ate form of attack is the
pawn storm.

In the King's Indian, White pre­
pares to open lines with c4-c5;
in the French Defence the cor-

responding break is f4-f5.

If

the b

r

e

a

k

thr

ou

gh

square

is

well blockaded by Black,

then

it is generally prema­

ture

for White to form

the

pawn chain.

If 8 d5 is a poor response to

7

.

. .

Nbd7, then what should

White play instead? Remem­

ber that even without the move

d5 White still has the advan­

tage in space (pawns on e4

and d4 versus pawns on d6
and e5), and as a result has

more freedom of action to

maneuver pieces behind his

pawn center. White has scope

for a greater number of con­
structive waiting moves than

Black. He should therefore

play q uietly and see what

Black does. One possibility is

8 Qc2 Qe7

9

Rd1 c6, and only

now

10

d5.

10

.

.. Nc5 is inef-

fective, and 10 ... aS is weak-
ening, so Black generally
chooses to close the queen­

side with

10

... c5, after which

White prepares to renew the

queenside attack with a3 and

b4.
After 7

.

. . N

c6

(instead of 7

. .. Nbd7) the d-pawn is under

great pressure, and White has

no really effective way to play
quietly. 8 Be3 has been tried,

but Black seems OK after 8

. .. Ng4

9

Bg5 f6

10

Bh4 g5 11

Bg3 Nh6.

The time is ripe however to

form the pawn chain; Black
cannot successfully blockade

c5.

8

d51

Ne7

Both players are losing! Black
is positionally lost on the
queen side, but once. he has

··

played .. .f5 and ... f4, \1\/hite is

p

ositionally lost on the king­

side. The result on the game

depends on which comes first;

Black's collapse on the queen­

side or White's collapse on the

kings ide.

14

Ga•e

I

Korelanol

•

K•sparo"

_

J\tDs&erd•• 1991

From the diagram we follow

the illustrative game Korchnoi-

Kasparov, Amsterdam

199 1.

One could fill a textbook on

King's Indian play from Kas­

parov's games alone.

9 Ne1 Nd7 1 0 Be3

We shall not consider ques­
tions of opening theory too

deeply here; it is the general

strategic shape of the game

that is important. With the text
move White announces that

he is happy to allow Black to
get on with his pawn storm on

the kingside, so long as White

can have the queenside to

work on.

A

generation ago,

VVhite would usu;�lly have pre­
ferred to sidestep Black's

pawn storm with for examp�e

10

Nd3 f5

1 1

exf5 Nxf5 (11

.. gxf51?)

12

f3 Nf6 13 Nf2

Nd4, Gligoric - Fischer, Bled

1961. Black is comfortable

though.

1 0

.. .

f

5

1 1

f3 f4

(diagram)

Extendind the pawn chain. It

would have been pointless to
play

1 1

.. .fxe4? since after

12

fxe4 all Black's attacking

chances on the king side would

have vanished, while White,
with the d5 pawn still firmly an-

15

chored, could continue to play
for a queens ide attack.

White's e4 is so firmly held as

to be virtually immune to at­

tack. Therefor Black gain s

space on the king side, and

prepares to prise open lines
against the White king with

... gS and ... g4. Fischer said of
this variation that ��Black's

king side attack has practically

been worked out to a forced

mate", yet if White responds

vigorously enough on the

queenside, anything could
happen - including a White vic­

tory:

12 Bf2

Here the bishop helps both in

defence and attack.

12

...

g5

1 3

a4

One cf

Korchnoi's attempts to

enliven White's play. Previ­

ously the standard plan was to

roll away with b4 and c5, con­

tinuing perhaps with Rc1,

cxd6, a4, NbS, etc. But what

is White actually doing with his
b-pawn? Perhaps not very

much. Korchnoi reasons that
if he can force through

c5 with­

out

having to play b4 first, he

might be able to save an im­
portant tempo .

In su ch a

sharp variation, every tempo

c ounts. Both sides must

strive to deploy their pieces

with the utmost efficiency.

13 ... Ng6

Black gets on with his plan. If

13 ... aS 14 Nd3 (preparing cS)

14 ... b6 15 Be1! with advan-

tage to White, Kozul- Popovic,

Yugoslavia

1991.

The idea is

to clear the f2 square for

knight, making it difficult for

Black to play ... g4 ( ... hS is met

by h3), while also preparing to

play NbS and b4, opening up

lines on the queenside. De­

fence combined with attack.

14 Nd3 Nf6 15 c5 h5

(diagram)

16 h3

16

White understands that he

cannot stop ... g4 forever, but

at least he can make it more

difficult to play. Black must now

rearrange his kingside pieces

to prepare for his natural

break. This gives White a little

more time to prepare his own

attack.

In an earlier game, Larsen -

Torre, Bauang, 1973, this po­

sition was reached by transpo-

··sition {13 Nd3 Nf6 14

c5

Ng6

1S a4 hS) and White pro­

ceeded with rather less sub­

tlety: 16 cxd6? cxd6 17 aS g4

18

NbS. (diagram)

White has ·won" on the queen­

side, but now

18

.

.

. g3! for

once, the effect of the exten­

sion of the pawn chain is to

open the position up. If now

19

hxg3- fxg3 20 Bxg3 h4 21 Bf2

Nh5 followed perhap s by

... Qg5, and Black's kingside

attack must surely be decisive.

In the game White tried 19

Bxa 7, but Black still had his at­

tack: 19 . .. Nh7 20 h3 Qh4 21

Bb6 Bxh3 22 gxh3 Qxh3 23

Rf2 Nh4 24 Qf1 gxf2+ 25 Nxf2

Qg3+ 26 Kh1 and now simply
26 ... Nxf3 should win. After 26

... Rf6??, as played, White's

material loss suddenly looked

like a formidable sacrifice: 27
Nh3! Ng5 28 NxgS QxgS 29

Nc7 Ng6 30 Qh3 and White

later won the game.

Back to the Korchnoi - Kaspa­

rov game, and 16 h3.

1 6

.. .

Rf7

17

c6

(diagram)

An incredibly sharp position,

which Kasparov tends to skate
over in his analysis in

Infer­

mater.

It is a good exercise for

a player of any strength just to
get out the pieces, set up this

position and analyze it for an

hour or ai1 evening. to try to

l

--

P;.w., Chams

17

find out what is happening

here.

17 ... g4? is obviously incorrect;

White has 18 fxg4 hxg4 19
cxb7 Bxb7 20 Bxg4.

Kasparov also questions 17
... Bf8 because of 18 NbS a6

19 Na7, an unusual maneuver

designed to exchange Black's
light squared bisnop and make
it more difficult for him to play

... g4. Black can vary however
with 18 ... b6, intending to meet

19 aS with 19 ... g4 20 axb6

cxb6. What do you the reader
make of this position? Which
is more important - that White

has his protected passed

pawn? or that Black has al­

ready playe� ... g4? You will

soon come to appreciate that
White will have a few regrets

about the placement of his
knight on bS; if he should later

play fxg4 then ... Nxe4 could be
dangerous.

17

...

a5!?

Kasparov chooses a different

plan of defence. He is quite

prepared to let White have a

passed a-pawn, provided he

can keep all entry squares on

the b-file under control.
Thus if White should try 18 b4,

Black is quite happy to play 18

... b6 19 bxa5 bxaS and if nec­

essary just let his a-pawn drop.

18 cxb7 Bxb7 19 b4 Bc81 20

bxa5 Bh61 21 Nb4?

Too greedy. Kasparov sug­

gests that White had to try 21
a6 Bxa6 22 Nb4 Bc8 with an

unclear position. One passed

a-pawn is enough

I

Maybe this

is another position for the re­
ader to examine more carefully

(Exercise 2). I suspect that

most strong players would

rather be Black here.

21 ... g4 22 Nc6?1 Qf8

(diagram)

White bangs in his horse on

c6, just to show how much

ground he has taken on the

queen side.

Yet does it really matter? White

is not going to queen. He will

18

not be able to control the back

ranks and thereby press Black

i.'lto one small comer. And his
proud knight?

Merely a statue; it does noth­
ing to protect the White king.

23 fxg4 hxg4 24 hxg4

Or 24 Bxg4 Nxg4 25 hxg4 f3

with a winning attack.

24 .

..

Bg5 25 Bf3 Qh6 26 Re1

White's only hope is to escape

with the king via e2. He is just

a little bit too slow.

26

.

.

.

Nh4!

(diagram)

To meet 27 Kf1 with 27 ... Nxf3

28 gxf3 and a piece sacrifice

on g4. Black's pawn roller has
done its job; now it is the turn

of the piece mass to weigh in.

Should White play quietly,

... Rh7 will follow.

27

Bxh4 Bxh4

28

g5

A vain attempt to divert Black's
attention from the h-file. 28 Kf1

offers more resistance, but

Kasparov points out that Black

is winning after 28 ... Nxg4! 29

Bxg4 (29 Ke2 Ne3 etc.) 29
... Bxe1 30 Bxc8 Qh1+ 31 Ke2

Qxg2 + 32 Kxe 1 (32 Kd3
Qg3+) 32 .. .f3.

28

...

Qxg5

29 Re2

Ng4 30

Rb1 Bg3 31 Qd3 Qh4

White

resigns.

2.

The French Is

�ot

T•e

King's Indian

In the Korchnoi - Kasparov

game, Black was attacking on
a very narrow front, with only

one possible pawn break, and
yet his attack succeeded.
White was operating on a bra-

19

ader front, which in theory
should give him more scope

for maneuver and the opening
up of lines, and yet his attack

was only partially successful;

he took

comniAte control of the

queenside, and yet there was

little he could do with this con­

trol. So why the difference?
The answer lies in the place­
ment of the kings; Black's

kingside attack is potentially a
mating attack: whereas White
is playing for lesser stakes, the

Black king being far away from

the firing line. Black's plan of

playing ... f4 and aiming for a

break with ... g4 (even though

it sacrifices a pawn) would not

look so impressive if the White
king were nowhere in sight.
What of the French Defence?

Outside the Winawer Variation
(1 e4 e6 2 d4 dS 3 Nc3 Bb4,

often with later ... Bxc3+),
where the doubled White c­

pawn changes the strategic

complexion of the position, it
is rare for Black to play ..

.

c4.

Either the move is so strong

that White will not allow it, or
the move is irrelevant to the

needs of the position. There
are few intermediate cases.

Consider for example the fol­
lowing sequence:

1

e4

e6 2 d4 d5

3 Nc3 Nf6

4

e5

Nfd7 5 f4

Already we have almost a mir­

ror image of the King's Indian

pawn structure. White is aim­

ing to gain space on the

kingside; Black is aiming for

queenside counterplay. There
are however two important dif­

ferences from the Kina's In­
dian, one of which w

�

rks in

White's favour, and one of

which works in Black's favour.

Black's problem is that to try

to castle queenside and tuck

his king behind a fianchettoed
bishop would be more time­
consuming than the corre­

sponqing plan, involving king­

side

castling, in the King's In­

dian. By the time that Black

has played ..

.

b6,

.

.. Bb7, ... c5,

. .. N

c6,

.

. .

a6 (to circumvent

Nb5), ... Qc7, ..

.

0-0-0,

.

..

Kb8,

etc., White will be away on the

kings

ide.

20

In

compensation

however,

Black will

be ab

le to create

pressure

on the

base of the

pawn chain

with

...

Qb6, a plan

which is simply not available
in the King's Indian. The battle

for the d4

in the French

is likely to be more intense

•than

the .. b.atti

e

"

for e�i

in

. .

- .. _.._.

.

.__,.. __

�

King's Indian.

5

...

c5 6

Nf3 Nc6 7 Be3

aS

7 ... cxd4 is also possible,

meeting 8 Nxd4 with 8 ... Bc5.

The immediate 7 ... Qb6 has a

slightly suspect reputation;

Black has to sacrifice a piece

for thr&a pawns after 8 N a4

Qa5+ 9 c3 cxd4 1 0 b4 Nxb4

11 cxb4 8xb4+ 12 Bd2 Bxd2+
13 Nxd2 g5, but might have

sufficient play.

·

8

Qd2

b5

Here no strong player

'.vould

c

o

n

t

e

m

p

la

te

9

0-0-0?? Tnis

m

ov

e would

be

p

os

i

t

i

o

n

all y di­

sastrous; Black plays

9

.. .

c

4

a

n

d

prepares to give

check­

mate.

White must therefore try

to find

other ways to make

progress.

In

A

n

a

n

d - Dreyev, 4th

match

game, Madras

1991, W

h

i t

e

tried

9

h4 Bb7 10 h5?!,

but with

the central position

still

unre­

solved, this proved

extrava­

gant:

1

0 ...

b4 11

Na4

and now

11

.. . cxd4 was good,

but 11

.

.

. Nxd4!

12

Nxd4 cx

d

4 13

Bxd4 Bc6

would have

been

even

better. Not however

11

.

..

c4?

12

b3 when the stabiii­

zation of the center (d4

is

n

o

longer under pressure)

will

greatly assist in the de

v

e

lo

p

­

ment

of White's kingside ini­

tiative. Black has

n

o

compen­

sating initiative

on the queen­

side; his pawns are advanced,

but they do not really

attack.

A

more common respo

n

s

e

1s

9 dxc5 Bxc5 10 Bxc5

Nxc5

when the position looks as
much like a Sicilian as a

French.

11 Qf2 Qb6 12 Bd3

21

In this

p

o

s

iti

o

n

Black should be

OK.

but

he

needs to be a bit

careful. Note how the ex­

c

ha

n

g

e

of

pawns

in

the cen­

ter has shifted the emphasis

away from

pawn play and on

to p·iece play. For example, if

Black

castles

here. V\'hite is

itch:�g to

play 13 Bxh7+ (ana­

lytical

exercise: is

12

...

0-0

playable here? what happens
with

best

p

l

ay?). Even if Black

delays castings unti

l

.a

safer

m

o

m

e

nt

.

White can

play for

a

kingside attack

with pieces.

A

ga

m

e Mokry

- Eruk, Haifa

1989, continued 12

... b4?! 13

Ne2 aS

14 0-0

Ba6

15

Kh1

B

x

d

3

16 c

xd

3

Rb8

17

Rad1!

0-0

18

Qh4 f6 19 Ng3 and

White had some irritating, but

not yet decisive.

kingside pres­

sure.

Per

h

a

p

s

Black too would have

done

better to play with pieces

r

a

t

h

er

than pawns: 12

... Rb8!

13 0-0

Nb4

14

Rad1 Na4! 15

Nxa4 bxa4 and because of the

pressure on the b-pawn, White
has nothing better than

16

b3

with equality, Bareyev - King,

Hastings 1990/91.

12

..

. Nxd3+? is a positional

blunder; after 13 cxd3 the

Black bishop is by the worst

minor piece on the board; it will
be able to attack nothing.

All the above is far removed

from the violent attacks on the
opposite flanks characteristic

of the King's Indian or the Si­

cilian, yet it only takes a slight

difference in move order to

make a big difference in the
character of the game.

Ganae

2

Abramovlc

•

Ko"'acevlc

Yugoslav Ch.

1989

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4

e5 Nfd7 5 f4 c5 6 Nf3 Nc6 7
Be3 cxd4 8 Nxd4 a6 9 Qd2
Bc5

(diagram)

In such systems it is inevitable

that Black's c-pawn will at
some stage be exchanged for

White's d-pawn, the base of

his pawn chain.

It makes a difference though,

whether Black or White ini-

tiates the exchange.

If White exchanges with dxc5,

d4 becomes an

---

-

a lot of

��L�

..

���-

If as here Black starts the ex-

.....

�

hange wit

�

... cxd4, .. then the

d4 square becomes occupied.

that

It is not so easy for White to

move the knight from d4 -

White must for examJ,Jie watch

out for

...

f6-

but for as long as

-

.

the knight can be safely main-

\

tained on d4 it has a genuinely

cramping effect on Black. The
center is in effect sti�l blocked

by a pawn chain, even though

part of White's chain happens

22

o be

a

knight! With the center

blocked, pawn play on the

flanks becomes the indicated

strategy.

1 0

0-0-0 0-0 11

Kb1

1 1

Nb3

is possible, but decen­

tralizes the k n i g ht: .B lack

avoids the exchange of

bish­

ops wi

th 11

. . .

Bb4 or 1 1 .. . Be7

11

. . .

Nxd4 1 2 Bxd4 b5 1 3

g

4

Still paying the blocked center

strategy, although may be the­

re was a strong case for emp­

tying

the d4 square by 1 3 Bxc5

followed by 1 4 Qe3 or Qf2.

White's most effective strategy

in the French is often to play

solidly, gently pressing, rather

than relying on all-out attack.

To

be firmly holding· the da(k

squares and to be making it

difficult for Black's queen's

bishop to get into play - that is

enough to cause defensiva

headaches.

1 3 . .. b4 14

Ne2

If

14

Na4 Bxd4 1 5 Qxd4 f6!

and suddenly Black is the one

attacking on the kingside. The

destruction of the White half

of the pawn chain! 1 3 h4 (in­

stead of 1 3 g4?!) would have

avoided this particular pro

b

­

lem.

23

14

..

. a5 15 Bg2 Ba6

The first sign of real progress:

Black is preparing to exchange

his bad bishop for White's

much more useful knight.

16

Bxc5 Bxe21

All

Black's efforts would have

been wasted after 1 6 . . . Nxc5

1 7 Nd4! Qc7 1 8 Qe3. White's

d4 square would then be com­

pletely secure, and occupied

b y a powerfu l kn i g ht. H i s

spearhead pawn on e5 would

also be complete ly secure

(with . . .f6 being ineffective) ,

and this gives him the oppor­

tunity to work on a pawn storm

on the king side. Such a storm

would be as forceful as any

queenside pawn storm. Such

a storm would be as forceful

as any queenside pawn storm

in the King's Indian, and would

be doubly effective in that the

Black king is fixed in the

storm's path. Black's attack on

the queenside would be puny
in comparison.

17 B xf8?!

White misjudges the pace of

the position. Kovacevic gives

.....

17 Qxe2 Nxcs; 8 Qe3 Qc7

19

Rhe1 Rfc8 20 f5 Nd7

21

Rd2

Qd8 as .. unclear". It may look
as though Black is still on the
defensive, out once he has

played ... N b6 that impression

will change.

17

...

B xd118 B xg7 B xc2+ 19

Q xc2 ReS 20 Qd2 Kxg7

A

lot has changed in the few

moves. Would it be too cat­

egorical to suggest that it is be­
cause White no longer con­

trols d4 in any meaningful sort
of way that Black has the ad­

vantage? There are other fac-

24

tors as well. Although White's
kingside pawns look danger­

ous, Black's queenside pawns
are in fact farther advanced
and he already has control of
an open file leading directly to­
wards the White king.

Should White oppose rooks on
this file, as is probably correct,

Black will still have the better

endgame: 21 Rc1 h6 followed

by

. .

. Rxc1 + and ... Qb6. Black

would have three main advan­

tages in the endgame: his

passed d-pawn, the fact that
his knight would have more
scope than the White bishop,
and the weakness of White's
kingside pawns, especiaily the

f-pawn.
Not liking this, White plays for

an attack.-

21 h4?1 Qc7 22 h5 h6 23 Bf3

a4

24 gS

The endgame is lost: 24 Rc1

Qxc1+ 25 Qxc1 Rxc1+ 26

Kxc1.

(diagram)

And now Black destroys the
last remnants of the White

pawn chain with 26 .. .f6!

(a move you will see often in
later chapters). 27 exf6+ Kxf6
28 Kd2 Nc5

29

Ke3 (had

White gone into the endin� a

n\ovu

uarlier, with 23

Rc1 in­

P4tnnd of 23 Bf3,

.

.

.

Na4 would

11nw

hnve been playable)

29

,e:il

�iO b

x

a

3

hxa3 31 Kd4 (31

r,d:lloses

to

31

.

. . d4 and . . . e5)

:\ 1

N b3+!

32 Kc3

Nc1

33

Kb4

Nxa2+

34 Kxa3

Nc1 fol­

lowed by . . . Nd3 (variation by

Kovacevic).

24

...

hxg5 25

Rg1

b 3

26

Rxg5+

Kh8 27

Rg2

White

also loses after

27

axb3

axb3 28 Bd1 Qc4

29

Rg3 Nc5

followed by . . . Qe4+.

27

...

Qc1

+I

White resigns.

25

28

Qxc1 Rxc1 + 29 Kxc1 bxa2

and queens.

At one level, a typical game

with

players castling on oppo­

site sides and attacking furi­

ously. At a deeper level, no­

tice how the fortunes of the

game fluctuated according to

the degree of control White

kept on the d4 square. We

shall cover this subject in more

detail in the next chapter. Be­

fore that we consider one of

the rare examples i n wh ich

Black can treat the French

Defence in the manner of the

King's Indian.

Game

3

Gallagher

•

Cro•eh

Krunabaeh

1891

1 e4

e

6

2 d4 d5

3

Nc3 Nf6 4

Bg5 Be7 5 e5 Nfd7

6

Bxe7

Qxe7

7

f4

The game pawn structure as

in the previous game, but with

the dark squared bishops al­

ready exchanged. White's ba­

sic aim with this early simplifi­

cation is to take some of the

s�ing out of the battle for the

d4 square; there is going to be

no tension, for example, be-

tween

a

Black bishop on c5

and a White bishop on e3. Fur­

ther more, the Black queen on

e7 is not particularly well pla­

ced if queenside pressure is

the aim; b6 is the natural de­

veloping square. The immedi­

ate attempt to rectify the situ­

ation by 7

.

. . Qb4? is easily re­

pulsed:

8

a3! and if 8

.

.

.

Qx

b2??

9

Na4 traps the queen.

7

...

0-0

8

Nf3 c5

9

Qd2

9 dxc5 is perhaps more stan­

dard . With the text White tries

to keep the Black queen away

from c5.

9

...

Nc6

1 0

0-0-0?1

c41

A

strong move unj ustly ne­

glected by theory as a result

of a twenty year old game lost

by Black through a positional

blunder! My own analysis had

convinced me Black·s attack

26

wa s s l ightly q u icke r th an

White's.

For 1 0 .

. .

cxd4? see the Larsen

- Bareyev game in the next

chapter.

11 NbS RbB!

My attention was drawn to this

variation by

a

passing mention

of this position by Dolmatov,

who noted that White was bet­

ter after 1 1 . .

.

a6 �2 Nd6 . Why·

though should Black waste a

tempo with . . . a6 when White

is planning to play Nd6 any­

way? It is more important for

Black to unravel his queens ide

pieces, and to be prepared for

immediate attack as soon as

the White knight leaves b5.

1 2 g4-Nb6 1 3 Nd6 Bd7

(diagram)

Black's plan begins to take

s hape; he i11ten d s to play

... NcB, and if White exchanges

or

c8, he will recapture with

the king's rook, leaving rooks

on

both b-

and

c-files to back

up

the pawn storm.

White's kingside pawns are in

fact farther advanced than the

Black queen side pawns, but

are less well supported by

pieces. Thus 1 4 f5 is met by

1 4 . . .f6! and Black is the one

to benefit from the opening up

of lines on the kingside, for ex­

ample 1 5 Qf4 Nc8 ! and all

lines look good for Black (in

lnformator I g ave 16 fxe6

Nxd6 here; a slip of the pen!

1 6 . . .fxe5 wins of course).

A

radical demonstration of the

power of the ... f6 break, made

even more effective by the un­

prot�cted position of the knight

on f3.

1 4 h4 NcB 1 5 f51eads to a po­

sition from Kapengut- Weste-

27

rinen, Vilnius 1 969; the actual

move

order

after 1 0

. . .

c4 was

1 1 h4

Rb8

1 2 Nb5 Nb6 1 3 g4

Bd7 14 Nd6 NcB 1 5 f5.

Here 1 5 . . .f6! is the thematic

move, when it is Black, not

White, who will be able to take

advantage of the opened lines

on the kingside.

Black is better. In the Kapen­

gut - Westerinen game how­

ever, Black snatched the pawn

with 1 5 . . . Nxd6?, the conse­

quences being 1 6 f6! gxf6 1 7

exd6 Qxd6 18 Qh6 Qe7 1 9 gS!

f5 20 h5

f6

21 Rg1 KhB 22 Nh4

Be8 23 g6 (diagram)

23 . .. Rg8 24 Bh3 Qg7 25 Qe3

hxg6 26 Nxg6+ Bxg6 27 R

x

g6

Qf7 28 Rh6+ Kg7 29 Rg1 + Kf8

30 Rxg8+ Qxg8 (30 ... Kxg8 31

Qg3� Kf8 32 Rh

S

+ Ke7 33

Qc7 mate) 31 Rxf6+ Ke7 32

Rg6 Qf7 33 Qg5+ Kd6 34 Rg7

QeB 35 Qf4+ e5 36 Qh6+ Qe6

37 Rg6 Black resigns.

A punchy attack by White, but

with just a little care by Black it

could have been repulsed be­

fore it started. In

the French

Defence Black must, if he

can, blunt the spearhead of

the White pawn chain on eS,

otherwise he is going to get

overrun on the kingside.

Back to the 1 991 game.

14

c3 Nc8 1 5 Nxc8 Rfxc8 1 6

Qc2

1 6 .

..

f6!

Yet again, Black plays a well-

28

timed defensive move on the

king side, and succeeds in slo­

wing the opponent's attack to

a crawl.

Ng5 is prevented, and there is

no obvious way for White to

advance his kingside pawns to

batter the Black defences.

When both sides are attack­

ing on opposite sides of the

board, as quite often happens

when pawn chains are length­

ened,

the principle of mini­

mum defence

becomes im­

portant. Most of your moves in

such situations should be at­

tacking moves, but you should

play just enough defensive

moves to s low your opponent

down on the flank where he is

attacking. Play too many de­

fensive moves and you will

never get your own attack go­

ing (and furthermore it is un­

likely that you will be able to

hold off your opponent's attack

in the long run). Play too few

.defensive moves and you will

lose - very quickly!

Let us suppose that it takes

three moves to set up a really

big threat; c3, Qc2 and Ng5 to

threaten Qxh7+. The kingside

is not to be defended in the

long run, so it is not worthwhile

to play a series of fussy little

defensive moves. It is better

just to play

one

defens ive

move - the one preventing the

m ove wh ich creates a big

threat. In this case, it is better

to

prevent

Ng5 rather than to

find a c

u

r

e

for Ng5 once it has

been played. By limiting your

own defensive moves to a

minimum. you are giving your­

self more time to develop your

own attack.

17

h4

b5

18 Kb1?

A surprise. The king decides

not to desert his burning ca­

stle; a misplaced sense of ho­

nor! Hiding in

the

forest with

Kd2 and Ke1 offered better

defensive chances; the gate­

way on b2 could have been

protected by Rh2. Too many

defensive moves? Maybe, but

Black's attack is getting

too

dangerous to ignore.

18 ... b4 19

cxb4 c3

Overelaborate.

The

straight­

forward

19

. . .

Nxb4 20 Qc3

Nxa2 21 Kxa2 Rb3 followed by

. . . Rxf3 i s an easy technical

.

w1n.

20

exf6 gxf6

21 Qxc3!

29

On

21

bxc3?

Nxb4 is crushing .

Now Black must be a bit care­

ful, otherwise the win will slip.

21

...

Nxb4

The endgame after 21 ... Ne5?!

22 Qa3 Nxf3 23 Qxf3 Qxb4

2A

Qb3! is not particularly clear.

Had

Whit�

played 20 Qxc3 im­

mediately, without inserting the

pawn exchange 20 exf6 gxf6,

then

20

. . .

Nxe5 would be a

capture . and Black would have

had a clear extra pawn for the

endgame.

22 Q a3 Q d6!

The or:-ly clear way. Now the

f4 square must fall. White the­

refore seeks counterplay, but

Black! having control of more

squares! is quicker.

23 Bd3 Q xf4 24 Rc1

KhS!

So that Bxh 7 is not check. Now

. . . Qxf3 a n d . . . Qe3 are rea l

threats.

2 5

Rxc8+ Rxc8 26 Rf1

26 Qxb4 Qxf3 wins for Black.

But now for something a bit

prettier.

26

...

Bb51 27 BxbS Qe4+ 28

5d3 Nxd3 29 Nd2 Qe2 30
QaS Qxf1 +

White resigns.

3.

Pawns

Or

Sqaares?

By advancing a pawn in the

center to form an interlocking

pawn chain. White i ndisput­

ably lays claim to more terri­

tory in the center. The extra

space for White is perhaps not

so i m porta nt; what re ally

counts is Black's lack of space.

If for example Black's pawn

are pinned down to e6 and

d5

by the White pawns on e5 and

30

d4, it is difficult for Black to

develop his bishop on cB, or

to move pieces across from

the Gueenside. One way for

Black to deal with this problem

is, as we have already seen,

to bypass the White pawn

chain with ... f5-f4 in the King's

Indian, or, more occasionally,

by . . . c5-c4 in the French. The

skeletc:>n position in the dia­

gram may then be reached.

Each s ide spearheads h i s

pawn chain with a pawn on the

fifth. giving perhaps an initia.l

impression of symmetry and of

equal ity of space. White's

spearhead however is in the

center, whereas Black's is on

the flank. Laterally therefore

White has more space; he can

develop his attack on a wide

front (a, b, c, d files) whereas

Black must work in restricted

territory (f, g, h files). For Blac�

this is quite a handicap, and

for the most part the bypass­

ing maneuver is worth trying

only if the White king presents

a tempting target (as in the

Korchnoi - Kasparov and Ga­

llagher - Crouch games). In the

French Defence, this target is

usually not there.

A more common plan i n the

French is a direct att�ck on the

White pawn chain. The ad­

vanced pawn on e5 is of co­

urse the real long-term target,

as that is the pawn which is

doing the most to cramp Black,

but no real progress is made

if B lack attacks

solely

the

pawn on e5, as it is well pro­

tected by the d4 pawn. Fir�tly

Black must undermine the

base of the pawn chain wit:-.

. . . c5.

To this attack White has two

basic responses. One is to

play . . . c3, preserving the pawn

chain with pawns.

After . . . cxd4, cxd4 White's d­

pawn is effectively isolated.

(diagram)

Black has various strategic op­

tion �open with this type of

pawn formation, usually involv­

ing some combination of direct

pressure against the d-pawn,

play along the open c-file, and

. . .f6 break, opening up the f-

31

file.

A

more detailed discussion will

follow in the next chapter.

There is no reason however

for Black to be terrified by this

formation.

White's other option is to omit

c3 and to prepare to recapture

on d4 with a piece, as in the

Abramovic- Kovacevic game.

This does not mean that White

is abandoning the pawn chain;

rather, he i s constr�cting a

piece-and-pawn chain. What

is restricting Black is not so

much White's

occupation

on

d4 and e5, but rather his

con­

trol of d4 and e5. If White, af­

ter an exchange of c-pawn for

d-pawn , ca n keep the d4

square firmly under his control,

and can a lso provid e ad­

equate support for his e5

pawn, then Black has

a

diffi­

cult position to play, as we

shall shortly see. If however

White loses his grip on d4, as

in the Abramovic - Kovacevic

game, Black usually has chan­

ces for counterplay.

Ganae 4

Larsen

•

Bareye''

Bastings

1990191

1 e4 eS 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 NfS 4
Bg5 Be7 5 e5 Nfd7 6 Bxe7

Qxe7 7 f4 0-0 8 Nf3 c5

9

Qd2

NcS

10

0-0-0?! cxd4?!

10 ... c41

1 1 Nxd4

The basic central structure is

now established. Black here

has to decide whether to base

his hopes on an attack on the

q ue e n si d e , o r whether he

s hould attack the White e­

pawn with 1 1

.

.

.

f6

.

Here 1 1

. .

.f6

just creates weaknesses; af­

ter 1 2 exf6 Qxf6 1 3 g3! Nb6

32

1 4 Bb5 Bd7 1 5 Rhe1 Rac8 1 6

Kb1 Black's position is not par­

ticularly comfortable, in this

line, White still has the squares

d4 and e5 well covered, while

Black's backward pawn

on

e6

is under siege.

Black decides instead to get

things moving on the queen­

side. And White, what does he

do? He must make every ef­

fort to consolidate his center,

to keep d4 and e5 under con­

trol. If he can do this, his cen­

tralized pieces will help defend

the queenside and at the same

time attack the kingside.

11

...

N b6 12

Qe3

Bd7

12

.

. . Qc5?! 1 3 h4! Bd7 1 4 Rh3

Rac8 1 5 - Rg3! Nxd4 1 6 Rxd4

Qe7 1 7 h5 f5 1 8 exf6 Qxf6 1 9

Rg5! and Black's position is

very unpleasant, Short - Gul­

ko, H astings 1 989/90.

The maneuvering of the \/Vhite

rook is attractive. From h3 it

protects the White

queen

on

e3, thus unpinning the knight

on d4. From g3 it pressurizes

the Black king, the move 17 h5

forcing Black to move his t­

pawn at an inconvenient time.

After an exchange on

f6,

the

e5 square is open to the White

pieces, and White's Rg5 move

consolidates White's hold on

the critical square.

Fi rm control of

d4

a

n

d

e5

with pieces is least a

s

effec­

tive

as o c cu pati o n with

pawns.

1 3 Kb1 Qc5

14

h4 Rac8

1 4 . . . NaSI?, as suggested by

Larsen, is a n a lternative. If

Black chooses this plan , he

must do so while the White

queen is still unprotected.

1 5 RhJ

(diagram)

As in the Short game. How­

ever, White has taken time out

to play Kb1 , and so Black has

an extra half-tempo to play

with.

15

...

Na5?

3- Pawn Chains

33

A miserable little move of the

type which leaves the French

Defence player so often wear­

ing a gloomy counte nance.

Black makes a

gesture

on the

queenside, but White can im­

mediately force an exchange

of queens with 1 6 Nb3. This,

as we shall see, accentuates

White's central advantage;

without the queens Black has

little active play on

the

queen­

side and he 3till has to decide

I

what to do with his bishop on

d7.

So oftere i n the Cl ass ical

French it seems that Black is

condemned if he exchanges

queens (a bad endgame) and

condemned if he leaves the

queens on (a kingside attack);

and indeed if Black remains

passive, then he is h eading

quietly for a loss. To defend,

he must play actively, take ev­

ery possible tactical opportu-

nity that arises, before White

can lay the big squeeze on

him. A nifty ... f6 at the right

time can work wonders, and

here is one such moment -

maybe. Ou r fourth readers

�,..�.-cl�c i.:. &.u

ct11alyze the po­

sition which results after 1 5

.

. .

f6.

Larsen passes over this pos­

sibility without comment!

1 6 N b3 1 Qxe3 1 7 Rxe3

What a contrast to the position

which could h ave been re­

ached after

15

..

.f6 1 6 exf6 e5!

White has a stable positional

advantage. There is no single

feature of his position that one

could point to as causing over­

whelming problems to Black,

but there

are

lots of little things

which irritate Black.

- Black's bishop is by a long

way the worst minor piece

34

on the board. It has little

scope for movement at pre­

sent, and even if the posi­

tion opens up, it will have

little to attack.

- White has firm control of the

dark squares in the center,

with the empty d4 square be­

ing a useful outpost, and the

pawn on e5 cramping Black.

- White has extra control spa­

ce on the kingside, again be­

cause of his pawn on e5.

Black must always beware

an attack on this part of the

board.

- It is difficult for Black to cen

tralize his king, because of

th� potential weakness of

the kingside.

What connects all these ad­

vantages? They are features

of a position where White has

successfully maintained his

d4/e5 strongpoints i nto an

endgame. Furthermore it is all

gain; White has no real weak­

nesses for Black to attack.

17

...

Nac4

1 7

. .

. Nxb3 1 8 axb3 makes it

even more difficult for Black to

gain counterplay; how does he

bring either of his minor pieces

into the game?

1 8

Rf3?1

i...at

::,�n

�uyy�SL�

u·aat 18 Ree1 ,

keeping pressure on the e-file.

would have bee n more

harmo­

nious. Maybe during the game

he wanted to avoid having to

spend a tempo

p

rotecting the

f-pawn with g3 (after 1 8 Ree1

f6 a� �xi6 Rxf6

20 g3), but this

is not so

m

ething which should

worry White; he

can

besiege

the e-pawn with Nd4 and Bh3.

If after 1 8 Ree1 Black plays

passively, th9n White could

quietly build

up

with g3, Nd4,

Bh3, etc., and leave Black to

worry about the possibility of

f5. Or maybe he could keep

something else up his sleeve

. .

There is no hurry; Black has

no play.

1 8

...

f6 1 9 exf6 Rxf6

If 1 9 ... gxf6, White has a stan­

dard reply - 21 f51 wrecking

Black's pawn formation.

20

Nd

4

RefS

(diagram)

21 Bxc4

35

In such posi

ti

ons White should

never be rel u ctant to ex­

change bishop for knight;

af­

ter all, the White king's bishop

is not involved in th.e struggle

for the dark squares; the Blac�

knight is, though.

Even so, White would have

liked to have played 2 1 g3,

but

here the drawback of his 1 8th

move

shows itself; Black

has

21 .. . e51

(22

Nxd5 exd4 )

.

21

...

Nxc4

21 . . . dxc4

22

Rdf1 keeps

uo

the pressure for White.

22 b3

Nd6

Again if

22

.

. .

Nb6 23 Rdf1 ,

or.

even better, 23 Nce2 followed

by Re3. Not though 23 Nde2.

when 23 . . . e51 is again trouble­

some.

23

Re3

Yet again 23 g3 is met by 23

. . . e5! White just needs to play

one little pawn move, g3, be­

fore he is in complete posi­

tional control again.

23 ... bS?

Black ought not to give White

time to consolidate. He can

probably scrape a d raw by liq­

uidating weaknesses with 23

... Rxf4 24 Nxe6 Bxe6 25 Rxe6

Ne4 26 Nxd5 Rxh4, as 27 Re7

can be met by 27 . . . Rf7.

24 a3 a5?

Still 23 . . . Rxf4.

25 g3

At last!

25 ... b4 26 axb4 axb4 27 Na2

36

Rb8

28 Kb2 Ne4

Presumably the position that

Bareyev been aiming for. He

has blocked off the e-file, and

has reached e4 just in time to

keep the knight on a2 out of

the game (29 Nc1 Nc3 etc.).

While Black's b-pawn is obvi­

ously week, it is surprisingly

difficult for White to get a rock

to d4, since 29 Ne2 is met by

29 . . . Bb5. The White rooks

have no inroads either. So

Black is safe?

29 Nf31

No. White takes advantage of

a tactical trick (29

. .

. Nxg3? 30

N e5 Nf5 31 Nxd7 Nxe3 32

Rd3!) to gain time to shift the

knight to the other critical dark

square in the center, e5, or to

challenge Black's own strong

knight with Ng5.

29 ... Be8

30

Ng5 Bh5 31 Nxe4

Bxd1

32

Nxf6+ gxf6

33 Rxe6

Kf7 34 Re3

Bh5

3

5

Rd3 Ke6

36

Rd4

The b:-pawn goes as well, and

the Black bishop, although no

longer stuck behind pawns, re­

mains targetless.

36 ... Rg8 37

Nxb4

Bf3 38 Rd3

Be4 39 Re3

Kf5

40

Nc6

Black

resigns.

The b-pawn is ready to run.

Not quite the smooth perfor­

mance as it appears to be at

first sight, and for that very rea­

son all the more instructive.

The blockade of d4 and e5

"hangs by a hair", to borrow a

p h rase from N imzowitsch .

If

the blockade holds, and

White can permanently re­

strain the Black pawns on e6

(especially) and d5, without

allowing significant counter­

play elsewhere, then White

has every chance of being

able to congratulate himself on

a smooth positional victory. Yet

the blockade is not always so

easy to maintain, particularly

if Black is seeking active co­

unterplay.

Two lapses in concentration in

37

the Larsen - Bareyev g ame

come particu l arly to min d .

Firstly there was Bareyev:s

fail­

ure to take advantag e of

a

fleeting opportunity to play . . . f6

before White was properly co­

ordinated. He could have bro­

ken the blockade and created

wild complications; instead he

subsided into a clearly inferior

position. Then Larsen retumed

the compliment with his care­

less

18

Rf3?! leaving several

possibilities open for tactical

breaks by Black with ... e5; had

he secured the center by re­

treating the rook along the e­

file, and secured the f-pawn

with an early g3, then Black's

chances of creating active play

would have been minimal.

Our next game shows the d4

and e5 squares being cleared

at a very early stage, and

White successfully mai ntain­

ing the blockade. It is

of

his­

torical interest in that N im­

zowitsch describes it as lithe

first in which

my

new philoso:.

ph

y

of the center was exhib­

ited". Chess historians, or his­

torians of chess thought, may

di scu ss wh eth er the re a re

clear antecedents; the game

itself looks modern enough not

to be out

of

place here.

Ganae

5

Nlm.w»wltseh

•

Salwe

Carlsbad 19 1 1

1

e4

e6

2

d4 d5 3

e5

c5

4

c3

Nc6 5 Nf3 Qb6 6 Bd3

At the moment the fashion­

able, and controversial move

•

I

IS

6 a3. White's intention is to

pre-empt Black's queenside

play with an early b4 (6 . . . Bd7

7 b4), but the weakness of the

b3 square allows Black to ex­

tend the pawn chain with

6

·

.

.

c4, bypassing the d4 square.

6

...

Bd7?1

More accurate is the immedi-

ate 6 . . . cxd4 7 cxd4, and only

then 7 . .. Bd7. The theory of the

day suggested that White then

had to play

8

Be2 in order to

protect the base of his pawn

chain, a possible continuation

being

8

. . .

Nge7 9 b3 Nf5 10

Bb2 Bb4+ 1 1 Kf1 , and now

Nimzowitsch recommends 1 1

.

. .

0-0! 1 2 g4 Nh6 13.Rg 1 f6

1 4 exf6 Rxf6 1 5 g5 Rxf3 16

Bxf3 Nf5. (diagram)

This position is worthy of close

study, as it is almost an ideal

French position for Black de-

•

I

sp1te the missing exchange.

38

White's d-pawn is evidently

very weak, and should it drop,

Black's d- and e-pawns will

beco me a powerful mobile

force in the center. Black also

has the potential for consider­

able pressure along the f-file,

where White's g4-g5 thrust

has left many weak squares.

And White does not even have

control of the eS square, gen­

erally the m ost vul nerable

point fQr Black after the ex­

change of f-pawn fore-paw

n

.

White has no central control·

I

only central weaknesses.

Nimzowitsch gives as a likely

continuation 1 7 Rg4 Be8 (17

. . . Rf8!?) 18 Qe2 Ncxd4 1 9

_Rxd4 Nxd4 20 QeS BbS+ 2 1

Kg2 Nf5 2 2 Bxd5 exd5 23

Qxf5 Rf8 24 Qxd5+ Rf7 and

Black wins; White has defi­

nitely not solved his problems

of poor development and king

exposure.

Should the tempo loss with

8

Be2 not appeal,the Milner­

Barry Gambit with 8 0-0

Nxd4

9

Nxd4 Qxd4 1 0 Nc3 has to

be considered. Black can try

snatching the second pawn

with 10

. . .

Qxe5 1 1 Re1

QbB;

White has obvious compensa­

tion but no clear advantage.

7 dxc51 1

Nimzowitsch'sll

7

...

Bxc5 8 0-0

White is more concerned to

maintain his strongpoint on e5

than to maintain the integrity

of his pawn chain. Indeed, cir­

cumstances being right, he is

quite happy to exchange his

d-pawn for the Black c-pawn,

lea

v

i

n

g the

d4

square open,

in order to remove from him­

self the obligation of protect­

ing the d-pawn. For this plan

39

to be successful, White must

be in a position to provide the

eS pawn with very secure pro­

tection. Indeed, Nimzowitsch

uses the term l&overprotection",

·

and advises that White should

pile up all his pieces behind

the strongpoint, defending it so

securely that any attack by the

opponent is fruitless.

The two basic points about

overprotection

are

firstly that

the overprotected strongpoint

shall be maintained, and sec­

ondly that the overprotective

pieces themselves have flex­

ibility. If a strongpoint is mini­

mally defended,

it

can be held,

but the pieces protecting the

strongpoint are tied down to

defence; none can move with­

out abandoning the strong­

point to liquidation or wo.-se. If

however the strongpoi nt i s

overprotected,

any of the

overprotective pieces may be­

come involved in opportunis­

tic forays elsewhere without

having to worry about the sa­

fety of the strongpoint.

8

..

.f6

"Black swells in triumph and

throws himself hungrily on the

last remaining member of the

once so proud chain-family, to

destroy him. H is war cry is

·Room for the e-pawnr but

it

h ap pe n s q uite otherwise.··

(N imzowitsch)

9 b4

Maybe Black could have tried

8 . . . aS to prevent this move . .

9 ... Be7 1 0 Bf4

White's plan is beginning to

take dear shape. If he can find

time for Qe2, Nbd2, Nb3, then

m aybe a3 and c4, Black

is

g oing to suffocate . I n the

meantime Black's kingside

pieces get in each other's way.

Black must act very quickly. In

the game he tries an immedi­

ate exchange on e5, but this

does not help him much. Our

fifth reader's exercise is to de­

termine whether Black could

h ave got a satisfactory game

40

by breaking up White·s queen­

side with 1 0 . .. a5.

1 0

.. .fxe5 11 Nxe5

Nxe5

12

Bxe5

So the pawns may have gone,

but who coul d d o u bt that

White has full control of the d4

and e5

squares?

12

. . .

Bf6

fails to 1 3 Qh5+ and if 1 3 ... g6

14 Bxg6+

1 2 ... Nf6 1 3 Nd2

To tighten his grip on the cen­

tral dark squares. White a­

voids dabbling with shallow

tactical threats (1 3 Qc2?) and

concentrates on strategy. Af­

ter 1 3 Qc2? 0-0 1 4 Bxf6?

Rxf6 1 5 Bxh7+ Kh8 Black is

happy; White's grip on the

··

center has gone, his queen­

side is weak and undeveloped,

and Black is ready to advance

in the center ( .. . e5) and attack

on the kingside. it's

not

worth

chasing the pawn_!

1 3 . .. 0-0 14 Nf3 Bd6 1 5

Qe2

Con_scientious and necessary

overprotection of e5.

White ensures that his outpost

is both occupied and defen-

ded. Nimzowitsch points out

that 1 5 Bd4? Qc7 1 6 Qe2

would be inaccurate; Black

frees himself with 16 . . . Ng�! 1 7

h3 e5! with total freedom for

Black. We leave it as a rea­

der's exercise (number 6) to

determine whether White can

successfully play 1 7 Bxh7+

instead of 1 7 h3; some typical

French Defence tactical sequ­

ences are involved.

1 5 . . . Rac8 16 Bd4 Qc7 1 7

Ne5

The piece chain is complete!

The pawns have gone; long

live the squares!

Of course the piece chain will

not last long as Black will feel

obliged to exchange on e5 at

some stage. In such an ex­

change however on e of

Black's "dark square" minor

pieces will be exchanged for

a White 11dark square" minor

41

piece, with the end result that

White

will continue to domi-·

nate the dark squares. On the

light

squares, White's bishop

on

d3,

patrolling an important

open

diagonal leading to the

Blac'<

king, is vastly more ef­

fective

than the hemmed-in

bishop

on d7.

Blaci<

may already be position­

ally lost.

17

...

Be8 1 8 Rae1 Bxe5 1 9

BxeS

Qc6 20 Bd4 Bd7

Black

behind the cathedral

doors.

21 Qc2 Rf7 2 2 Re3 b6

23

Rg3?1

A slip; Nimzowitsch for once

forgets about the iron logic of

overp rotectio n . Now Black

could have fought his way

bac'<

into the game with 23

. .. Ne4! , meeting 24 Rg4? or 24

Rh3? with 24 . . . es. And if 24

Bxe4 dxe4 Black is preparing

to play

.

. .

Qd5

and . . . e5 (al­

though perhaps 25 Qd2 keeps

an edge). Finally, if 24 Re3

Black can of course repeat

with 24 . . . Nf6, while the pawn

sacrifice 24 . . . Qd6!? (25 f3 e5!)

looks promising; if 25 Bxe4

dxe4 26 Qxe4 RfS! and Black's

position is difficult to break.

The correct move is of course

23 Rfe 1 !

23

...

Kh8? 24 Bxh7

Since if 24 . . . Nxh 7 25 Qg6 win­

ning. The rest :s simple mop­

ping u p; Black is a pawn down

and his king is exposed.

24

.

.

.

e5 25 Bg6 Re7 26 Re1

Qd6 27 Be3 d4 28 Bg5

Black's attempts at counter­

play have come to nothing; af­

thoug h h e has gained space

in the center, his pieces are

poorly coord inated and his

king is exposed.

28 ... Rxc3 29 Rxc3 dxc3 30

Qxc3 Kg8 31 a3 Kf8 32 Bh4

Be8 3 3 Bf5 Qd4 34 Qxd4

exd4 35 Rxe7 Kxe7 36 Bd3

42

Kd6 37

Bxf6 gxf6

38

h4

Black

resigns.

We can see this ga;-ne that in

the fight against the White

pawn chain, it is not enough

simply to exchange a couple

of pairs of pawns, if White can

still keep control of the critical

squares

he keeps his posi­

tional advantages. Naturally a

similar situation can arise in

the King's Indian; "every Rus­

sian schoolboy knows that

Black must not take on e4 in

the King's Indian", but what are

the consequences? Again our

illustrative game is taken from

the history books, for the sim­

ple reason that in modem tour­

nament practice White is ge­

nerally q�ite happy in the main

lines to play f3 at some stage,

allowing the bypassing move

. . . f4, and seeing his play on

the queenside. It is now more

fully appreciated that, fero­

cious though Black's king-side

initiative may be, it is still pos­

sible for White to win on the

queenside first.

Twenty o r thirty years ago

Black's standard kingside at­

tacki-ng plan was much more

feared, and White often tried

to avoid playing f3, so as to

give Black no kingside weak­

nesses to bite on. I n such

cases the e4 square often be­

came the focus of st�uggle.

Twenty years a p a rt, both

Fischer and Kasparov have

ut:en great King's Indian aficio­

nados, yet their games in this

opening look completely differ­

ent. It is White who has chan­

ged plan though, not Black.

Our next game is a gentle re­

minder that Fischer was not

the only strong player in the

early 1 970s.

Ganae

6

Kerehnol

•

Geller

Itloseow

1970

(1st mat:eh game)

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4

e4 d6 5 Be2 0-0 6 Nf3

eS

7

0-0 Nc6 8 d 5 Ne7

9 Nd2

Two games later Korchnoi was

to

try

9 Bd2, getting somewhat

the better of the draw. Tai�

manov, whe n being white­

washed by Fischer, also tried

the bishop move, and twice

lost from better positions. It

might be interesting to follow

one of these games for a bit,

to see how opening was be­

ing handled in 1 970.

43

Taimanov - Fischer {Vancou­

ver, 3rd match game) contin­

ued

9 Bd2 NeB 10 Rc1

(10

b4!? f5 1 1 Qb3 Nf6 1 2 exf5

gxf5 1 3 c5, Korchnoi - Geller,

3 rd game. Wh ite has h i s

q ueenside play, and Black's

kingside attack has had its

teeth drawn, but White has no

control of e4)

10 ... f5 11 Qb3

b6 12 exf5 gxf5 13 NgS Nf6

14 f4

N ow White is attacking the

Black pawn center! Black has

recaptured on f5 with his pawn

rather than a piece, so as

avoid giving White long term

control of the e4 square; this

h owever makes his pawn

structure a bit vulnerable. It

h as long been appreciated

that in such positions as that

i n the diagram, Black gains

very little in creating a pro­

tected passed pawn with ... e4;

aft9r Nd 1-e3 the passed pawn

i s nicely blockaded, Black's

pawn structure lacks mobility,

and

White can gradually pre­

pare for a break with g4. Even

so this might have been pref­

erable to the game: 14 ... h6 1 5

fxe5! dxe5 1 6 c5l Nfxd5 (as 1 6

.. . hxg5 1 7 d6+ Kh8 1 8 dxe7

Qxe7 1 9 cxb6 followed by 20

Bxg5 is unpleasant) 1 7 Nxd5

Nxd5 1 8 cxb6 axb6 1 9 Rc6!

(the threat of Bc4 gives Black

no time to capture the knight)

1 9 . .. Kh8 and now White ner­

vously retreated with 20 Nf3?

Bb7 21 Rg6 Nf4! with a big ad­

vantage to Black. Instead 20

Qh3l N f6 21 Bc3 , making

maximum use of open lines,

would have been strong.

Among other strategic possi­

bilities, it must not be forgot­

ten that if enough central

points are keenly fought over

by both sides, a pawn chain

position can quickly become

an open position.

Back now to our main game.

9

...

aS!?

(diagram)

Geller introduces an interest­

ing idea. Naturally Black must

aim to play . . .f5, and of course

the knight on f6 must move

first - but where?

H is intention is to place a

clamp on White's queenside

ac

ti\litu ""'" "',.,,..inn hie!

knl"ght on

1.1 •

''"� - J ,..,

,

.... �.,��I

llv

c5 and pawn on aS. This ef­

fectively eliminates any possi­

bility that White has of playing

for an early c5 break; the prob­

lem is however one of time.

Black is using his king's knight

as though it were a q ueen's

knight, but what is he to do with

his quean's knight, currently

··on e7? Turn it into a ki ng's

knight by maneuvering

it

to f6?

Perhaps - the idea is less far­

fetched than it seems, a s we

shall see later.

44

It would be much easier for

Black if he could have placed

a quean's knight on c5 (Na6-

c5 or Nbd7-c5, rather than

Nf6-d7-c5). And this explains

why- White usually waits for

Black to play ... Nc6 before he

plays d5. The sequence 1 d4

Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4

d6 5 Be2 0-0 6 Nf3 e5 7 d5

(the Petrosian System) is cer­

tainly playable. but White will

have hard work to prove an

.

ad­

vantage after 7

.

. . a5.

1 0 b3

Taking things quietly. A more

obviously thematic sequence

is 1 0 a3 Nd7 1 1 Rb1 f5 1 2 b4

Kh8 1 3 Qc2, and now a recent

try is 1 3 . . .fxe4 1 4 N cxe4 Nf5

1 5 Nb3 axb4 1 6 axb4 Nf6 1 7

Bd3 Nxe4 1 8 Bxe4 Q h4

"equal", Stohl - Marin, Stara

Zagora 1 990.

If this position is only equal,

does this mean that we can

consign to the dust bin of his­

tory all Russian schoolboy les­

sons? N ot quite ; the point

about this particular position is

that Black's grip on the d4

square counterbalances Whi­

te's grip on the rather poorly

45

supported e4 square. White's

knight on b3 will never be able

to sit proudly on its favo rite

empty square; indeed it may

soon be exchanged after 1 9

Bd2 Bd7 20 Bc3 Nd4 2 1 Nxd4

exd4 22 Bd2 Rae8

.

It should

be added that in recent games

Whit� .. has preferred to play 1 3

f3 so as to recapture on e4

with a pawn.

In The French Defence, if the

d4 square is open , an impor­

tant method of counterplay is

... Nc5-e4; correspondingly in

the King 's I ndian , if B la ck

should find himself forced to

leave the e4 square open, it is

often essential for him to pre­

pare counterpiay with . . . Nf5-

d4. It is hoped that the reader

will appreciate that in many

such positions the King's In­

dian is almost a mirror image

of the French.

1 0

...

Nd7 1 1 Ba3 NcS 1 2

b4

In the King's Indian it does n ot

matter so .. :nuch which lines

White opens up on the queen­

side, so long as he opens up

some li nes . After the e x­

change of pawns on b4 White

will concentrate his attention

on attacking the c5 squa re,

and

if

Black plays . . . b6, then

play for an a5 bre ak. 1 2 Bxc5

dxc5 v;ould ue meaningless;

White would h ave doubled

Black's pawns, but he would

also have cut out his chances

of making space for his pieces.

1 2 ... c:xb4 1 3 Bxb4 Na6 1 4
Ba3

b6 1 5

Nb3 fS

1

6 Bb2

1 6 .. .fxe4?!

The classic mistake in this type

of pos

·

ition. In his younger days

Geller was one of the great

pioneers of the King's Indian,

so

why

does he appear to ig­

nore elementary principles?

When a strong player plays an

obviously anti-positional move,

it often means that he is trying

to squeeze something out of

the position that simply is not

there. In this case Geller was

presumably eyeing up the d4

square, but it turns out that

46

control of this square gives him

nothing

.

To play 1 6 . . . f4 would also be

a serious error with Bg4 still a

possibility for White (even

though not necessarily immP.­

diately strong). After 1 7 a4 Nc5

1 8 Nxc5 bxc5 1 9 N b5 White

has a clear plus on the queen­

side, while lack of influence on

the light squares makes it dif­

ficult for Black to storm tha

kings ide.

T he correct plan is to attack

the base �f the pawn chain,

and this is done by 1 6 .

.

. KhB!

followed by . .. Ng8 and . .. Nf6.

Should White find himself de­

fending with f3, then it is time

for the bypassing maneuver

.. .f4 followed by ... g5 etc.

··1 7 Nxe4 NfS 1 8 a4 NcS

19

NbxcS bxc5 20 Bd3

White's strongpoint o n e4 is

now secure, and given time

White will quite sit on Black,s

position. Black shou ld now

probably play an immediate 20

. . . Nd4 (analytical question 7:

what is then happening after

21 Bxd4 ?). Instead he plays

for counterplay on the king­

side, a doomed effort given the

power radiated by the White

knight.

20

...

Bh6?1 21 a S Qe7?1 22

Ra3! Ba6 23 Re1 Qf7 24 Bf1

The resemblance to a French

Defence is b e coming ever

more apparent. Just as in the

French the ebb and flow of

play depends on how much

control White can keep on the

d4 square (Abramovic - Kova­

cevic; Larsen - Bareyev), here

a lot depends on how much

grip White has on e4.

As you play through the rest

of the game, observe how

Black can make no progress

47

whatsoever on the kingside,

despite his massing of pieces

there . Yet if both players

knights could be removed from

the board, Black �auld have

the makings of quite a reason­

able attack against the White

king (as in Abramovic - Kova­

cevic).

Black's most immediate prob­

lem is that White's quean's

rook is starting to look good;

therefore he attacks along the

b-file to force an exchange.

24

...

Rab8 25 Rb3 Rxb3 26

Q�b3 Nd4 27 Bxd4 exd4

Or

27

. . .

cxd4

28

c5 Bxf1

29

Rxf1 and there is not much to

stop the White a-pawn. I have

not stressed the importance of

the outside passed pawn in my

notes, since it can almost be

regarded as an incidental fea­

ture of the position; if Black

can have an extra pawn in the

center, White is "entitled" to an

extra pawn elsewhere. Still,

the pawn must be respected.

28 Qb2

Avoiding the cheap threat of

. .. Bd2.

Ndf3 Qb6

The assault st�rts. An interest­

ing alternative is 7 . . . cxd4

8

cxd4 f5! ? (blocking White's

activity on his stronger flank)

with the idea of . .. Nb6 followed

by . .. Kd7-c7-b8. White would

then have little to attack on the

kingside, whereas Black has

chances to create pressure on

the queenside.

8 h4

The pawn chain needs a lot of

protecting! 8 g3 is the usual

move, but 8 . . . cxd4 9 cxd4

Bb4+ 1 0 Kf2 g51 stops White

stabilizing the pawn chain; if

1 1 Be3 f6. We shall consider

all this later in the chapter.

8

...

cxd4 9 cxd4 Bb4+

10

Kf2

50

This rather awkward looking

move is forced because of the

weakness of the d4 pawn.

But White cannot have every­

thing; the slight displacement

of the king is merely the price

that White has to pay for all

the time he has spent creat­

ing his formidable pawn cen­

ter. The important question is

what happens next. Quiet play

holds absolutely no future for

Black; he is cramped on the

kingside, his queenside is hard

to develop, and he has less

space in the center. White's d­

pawn is under a bit of pres­

sure, but this can soon be re­

lieved. Black has only one re­

alistic possibility - to explode

the position. Maybe then his

lead in development and the

exposure of the White king will

count for more than White's

space advantage.

1 0

. . .

f6

Now a capture on e5 is threat­

ened, while 1 1 exf6? Nxf6

leaves White seriously weak

on the light squares. He must

break the pin on the g1-a7 di­

agonal.

11

Kg3

Possibly 1 1 Be3 is safer, alt­

hough. it gives Black a chance

to organize counterplay

against the pawn on b2, for

example 1 1 Be3 Be7 12 Qd2

0-0 1 3 Rd 1 a5 1 4 Kg3 a4 1 5

Bd3 Qd8 1 6 Ne2 f5 1 7 h5 Nb6

with a fully satisfactory position

for Black, Belyavsky - Kinder­

mann, Munich 1 991 .

Plan

8

in action! White has de­

veloped his pieces, but has not

improved his pawn structure.

Black meanv�hile has played

the blocking move ... f5 (com-

pare also the move ... c5 in the

King's Indian), which prevents

White's stand ard kingside

pawn storm. White would like

to open up the position with g4

but his king on g3 is in the way;

Kindermann in fact criticizes

White's 1 4 Kg3 in his notes,

preferri n g 1 4 Bd3 . On the

queenside Black has the ini­

tiative thanks to his regroup-

51

ing with . . . Qd8 and ... NbS; now

. . . a3, . . . Nb4 and ... Nc4 are all

possibilities. After 1 8 Kf2 Nb4

1 9 Bb1 Nc4 20 Qc3 Bd7 2 1

a 3 Nc6 22 Rdg 1 b� 23 g4 b4

it was dear that Black's queen­

side play was developi n g

much faster than White's king­

side play.

A typical example of "full pawn

chain" play, with each player

in a blocked position pressing

hard on his stronger wing; the

King's Indian provides many

mirror images. But the Ljubo­

j evic - Gurevich. game, to

which we now return, provides

a completely different resolu­

tion to the central pawn ten­

sion.

1 1

...

0-0 12 Bd3?

Definitely a mistake. Gurevich

gives as the only move 1 2

Nh3, and now 1 2 .. .fxe5 1 3

dxe5 (1 3 fxe5? Rxf3+ is a

strong exchange sacrifice, de­

stroying the White center) and

now the position is assessed

as .. unclear". Exercise 9

-

cla­

rify!

In the game something really

unpleasant now happens.

1 2 ... Nxd4! !

In the French Defence espe­

cially,

it is always worth con­

sidering sacrificing material
in order to destroy an oppos­
ing pawn ch ain.

Often the

compensation lies in Black's

having a mobile central pawn

mass (particularly aft�r an

.

.

.fxe5); here the payoff is in

the form of open lines against

the White king.

1 3 Nxd4

Pe rh a p s Wh ite h a d ove r­

looked 1 3 exf6 g6! 14 h5 Nf5+

1 5 Bxf5 gxf5. The sacrifice on

h7 h e re is com p l etely un­

sound: 1 3 Bxh7+? Kxh7 1 4

Ng5+ fxg5 1 5 hxg5+ Kg8 1 6

Qh5 Nf5+.

1 3 ... fxe5 1 4 fxe5

52

On 14 Nde2 e4 followed by

. . .

Nf6

Black has his mobi le

central

pawn muss, while 1 4

Nc2

exf4+ 1 5 Bxf4 Bd6 1 6

Bxd6 Qxd6+ 17 Kh3 eS is not

too happy for White either. fi­
nally,

14 Qh5? e4 is hopeless.

14 . . . Nxe� 1 5 Bc2

The

bad positioning of the

White king crops u p in tactic

after tactic, for exampl e 1 5

Bxh7+? Kxh7 16 Qh5+ Kg817

Qxe5 Bd6 winning the queen.

1 5 ... Ng6!

A useful move which blocks off

any counterattack along the

b1 -h7 diagonal, prevents Bf4,

clears the b8-h2 diagonal, and

··

leaves the Black e-pawn free

to advance, thereby opening

up a diagonal for the other

bishop. 16 ... Bd6+ 1 7 Kh3 e5+

is now a big threat.

1 6 Bxg6 hxg6 1 7 Nde2

Horrible, but how else is White

to save his extra piece? If 1 7

Ndf3-Bd6+ 18 Kh3

Q

f

2

1 9 Qe1

e5+

20

g4 Rxf3+ wins.

1 7

.

.

.

Qf2+ 1 8 Kh3 Bd6

_:....

humiliating position for any

grandmaster to reach! Rarely

has a pawn chain bee�

d�­

stroyed with such complete

brutality. Black now threatens

a

mating attack with 1 9 . . . e5+

20

g4 Bxg4+ 21 Kxg4 Qf5+ 22

Kg3 e4+ 23 Kg2 Qg4+.

19

Qb3 e5+ 20 Kh2 Qxh4+ 21

Nh3 Bxh3

White resigns.

The endgame after 22 Qxh3

e4+ 23 g3 Rf2+ 24 Kg·1 Qxh3

25 Rxh3 Rxe2 is not worth

playing.

Quite often Black is forced to

react even more violently on

the kingside in order to break

up the d4-e5-f4 pawn wedge.

Not infrequently this early ac­

tivity backfires completely. My

own advice to players with

31ack would be to forget about

destruction of the White's spa­

�e advantage on the kingside,

53

and then to concentrate on

queenside play. The more vio­

lent lines are interesting, but

so many games are unneces­

sarily lost because· one of the

p!,�'�rs seeks to do something

.. interesting". Here is one, per­

haps.

Game

8

Pyda

•

Llkavsk,-

•

£zeehoslcn'akla

199 1

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 Nf6 4

e5 Nfd7 5 f4 c5 6 c3 Nc6 7
Ndf3 cxd4 8 cxd4 Qb6 9 g 3

Bb4+ 1 0 Kf2 g5!?

Boldly pl ayed , indeed o ne

might possibly suggest over­

boldly played? What is Black

trying to do, given that . . . g xf4

will not even break the White

pawn center? Black can o pen

up the g-file, certainly, but if

White develops his bishop to

h3, the one important e ntry

square, g4, will be safely cov­

ered. The answer is that Black

wants to play . . . g5 and . . .f6,

pre pari n g with two sets of

pawn exchanges to rip open

lines against the White king.

But where does the Black king

go in all this? One cannot ex­

pect to be able to open up the

position so violently and then

be allowed to play a few quiet

m oves to tuck his majesty

away on the queenside. Nei­

ther is the king safe in the cen­

ter. Surely he cannot be con­

templating kingside castling?

Just wait and see!

1

0

.

. .f6 does not look too he­

althy after 1 1 Kg2 0-0 12 Bd3,

while 1 0 . . .f5, the blocking

move. leads to loss of tempo

after the inevitable regrouping

maneuvers with ... QdB, ... Nb6,

. . . Be7, etc.

1 1 Be3

1 1 fxg5 is also perfectly play­

able; Black removes the e5

pawn

,

but White gains the e5

square

in standard French

style. O'Donnell - Foisor, Saint

J o h n 1 9 88 , conti nued 1 1

. . . Ndxe5 1 2 Nxe5 Nxe5 1 3

Kg2 Nc6 1 4 Nf3 Bf8 1 5 b3 !

Bg7 1 6 Bb2 Bd7 1 7 Qd2 wit

advantage to White.

White has no real intention

here of occupying e5; the key

to the position is that Black's

bishop on d7, stuck behind the

Black pawn chain, is extremely

passive, and Black is gasping

for the chance to free it with

. . . e5. So long as White has

good dark square control, this

is not possible, and Black must

seek counterplay .. else�here.

·· In the game cited, Black tri�d

to open up the queenside, but

as so often when one's posi­

tional vulnerability rather than

one's security forces one to

open up lines, it was the op­

ponent who was the ben efi­

ciary: 1 7 . . . a5 1 8 Be2 a4 .1 9

Bc3 h6 20 bxa4 Rxa4 21 Rab1

with pressure; note the tactic

21 . . . Qa7 22 Rb2 Nxd4? 23

gxh6 Bxh6 24 Bxd4.

54

All this tempting , but Black

may well be able to improve

(1 3 ... Nc4 can also be consid­

ered). With 1 3 Be3 however,

White gives Black the chance

to destroy his own king�ide.

1 �

.

.

.

f6

Professional players will be

well familiar with the concept

of the "ghost variation": a move

is tried once, commended in

pri nt, and then never seen

again. Neither examples nor

refutation are published. What

usually happens in such cases

is that a refutation is found,

perhaps by every master who

looks closely at the position,

but is not published. Indeed,

what possible incentive can

there be to publish? Much bet­

ter to win an easy game armed

with pre-match analysis, and

only later to publish.

One such ghost variation is 1 1

.

.

. g4, played i n Jakovich -

Machulsky, USSR 1 985. Our

tenth reader's exercise is to

ask you to find out why this

move is no longer played.

Jakovich gives 12 Nd2 f6 and

now:

(I) 1 3 Qxg4 Bxd2 1 4 Bxd2

Qxd4+ winning for Black.

(II) 1 3 a3 fxe5 1 4 fxe5

Rf8+

55

1 5 Kg2 Be7 16 Qxg4

Ndxe5 and Black, having

successfully broken the

White center, stands

better.

(Ill) 1 3 Nb3 fxe5 1 4 dxe5 Bc5

1 5 NxcS Nxc5 1 6 Bg2?

(16 Bxc5 QxcS+ gives

chances for both sides)

16 ... d4! 1 7 Bxd4 (1 7 Bc1

hS with advantage to

Black was the game) 1 7

. .. Nxd4 1 8 Qxd4 Nd3+ 1 9

Ke3 Qxd4+ 20 Kxd4 Nf2

winning material.

1 2 Bh3

An explosive position! Some­

th ing drastic must happen

soon. In some of the earliest

games in this line, Black tried

to keep the lid on with 1 2 . . . hS,

but the piece sacrifice 13 Qd3!

g4 14 Qg6+ KdB 1 5 exf6 looks

da;,gerous.

Black's only real option is to

castle and attack down the f­

file; the question is whether he

wants to preface this with an

exchange of pawns. The im­

mediate 1 2

.

. . 0-0 used to be

quite popular, and there are

many tactical tricks; a game

Dobrovolsky - Tibensky, Cze­

choslovakia 1 988, showed

however that with simple de­

velopment ( !) White can con­

solidate his center and main­

tain an edge: 1 3 Bxe6+ Khtj

1 4 Ne2 ! fxe5 1 5 Nxg5! exf4 1 6

Nxf4 Nf6- 1 7 Kg2. N o quiver­

ing tension, just a safe edge

to White. So:

1 2 . .. fxe5 1 3 fxe5 0-0

in such positions, Bxe6+ is

rarely especially dangerous for

Black, who usually has freeing

combinations in reserve with

. . . N cxe5 or . . . Ndxe5 or . . . Nf6.

14

Rc1

Designed to sidestep a sur­

prising tactical resource found

by Botterill: 1 4 Bg4 BcSI I 1 5

Bxe6+ Kh8 1 6 dxcS Qxb2+ 1 7

Bd2 g4! 1 8 Bxd5 (After 1 8

Bxg4 Qd4+ Black regains his

pi ece with a slightly better

56

game) 1 8 . . . Ndxe5 1 9 Bxc6

bxc6 20 Rb1 Qd4+ 2 1 Be3

Nd3+ 22 Ke2 gxf3+ 23 Nxf3

Qe4 24 Qxd3 Ba6! 25 Qxa6

Qxf3+ 2o Kd2 Rfd8+ 27 Kc2

Qe4+ 28 Kb2 Rab8+ 29 Ka3

uxej+

�u

Rb3 Qxc5+ 31 Kb2

Rd2+ 32 Kb 1 Rxb3+ 0-1

Emms - Kosten, British Cham­

pionship 1 985. The impression

is however given that Black is

using a string of tactics to hold

a fundamentally dubious posi­

tion together. If White can

avoid such tricks then presum­

ably he is better.

1 4

. . .

Kh8 1 5 Bg4

Better timing ! White did not

have this move order option in

Emms - Kosten which went 12

. .

. 0-0 13 Bg4 and only now a

pawn exchange on e5.

1 5

.

.

.

Be7

It is now time

to

take stock of

the position . White's pawn

cente r re mains u n b roke n ,

which must

of

course please

him.

There are however va rious

tactical blows he must watch

o u t fo r, mostly b a s e d on

. . . N dxe5 and j u sti fi e d by

White's weaknesses o n the

g 1 -a7 diagonal and the f-file.

T h e b2 pawn also n eeds

watching . Black is therefore

not without counterplay, and

therefore his decision to open

up the king side cannot be dis­

missed too badly, except for

that woeful pawn on g5, the

misbegotten child of Black's

king side lust. It is now

White's

turn to open up the kingside.

1 6 h41 gxh4 1 7 N h31

The point. Black is to be en­

couraged to open up the h-file

against himself.

1 7

. . .

hxg3+?!

But this seems unnecessarily

cooperative. Pyda gives the

variation 1 7 . . . Qxb2+ 1 8 Rc2

Qa3 1 9 Qe2 hxg3+ 20 Kxg3

wi th a dvanta g e to Wh ite.

Again though there is no obvi-

57

ous need for Black to cooper­

ate· exercise 1 1 - can Black im-

'

prove by playing

1 9

. . . Rg8

here?

1 8 Kxg3 Ndxe5

1 9 Nhg51

Black's little freeing combina­

tion does 'lot work. The king­

side, Wh1te's favoured zone of

operations, is fully open, whe­

reas Black has succeeded in

only partially opening the cen­

ter, and his queenside pieces

are still locked away.

Such a position casts doubt on

the wisdom of hurling pawns

forward on the kingside, your

weaker wing, just before cas-

..

tling there.

If now

1 9

.

.

.

Nxf3 20 Rxh7+

Kg8 and White llmust" be win­

ning; this is so obvious that

Pyda does not even give a

variation! Not everything is so

simple though; 21 Rh8+ is met

by 2 1 . . . Kg7! , while there are

possibi liti es of an irritating

Black counterattdck with . . .

Bd6+ or . . . Qc7+.

S o h ow does White wi n?

There is a clear method, but it

is not easy to find; readers

exercise number 12!

1 9

. . .

Rxf3+ 20 Bxf3 Bxg5

21

B xgS Ng6 22 Bf6+ Kg8

The first wave of the attack has

been beaten back, and indeed

it would appear that Black

d oe s not stand too badly.

Given the time for . . . Qc7+ fol­

l owed perh a p s by . . . Qf7 ,

. . . Bd7 and . . . Rf8, he might

eve n stand rather well. But

now comes the second wave

of the White attack, which re­

moves all hope.

23 Rxh71 Kxh7 24 Be411 Qc7+
25 Kg2

58

The more obvious point to

White's bishtlp sacrifice is to

clear the way for Qh5+; the

less obvious point is that the

knight on g6 is pinned, so that

Black has no real counterat­

tack, . . . Nf4+ being

ill.s�z.:. -;-�.:

rest is straightforward, as if 25

. . . Qf7 26 Qh5+ KgB 27 Bxg6

Qxf6 28 Rf1 Qg7 29 Rf7.

25 . . . Kg8 26 Qg4 Qf7 2 7

Qxg6+

Liquidating into an easily won

endgame.

27 ... Qxg6 28 Bxg6 Kf8 29

R'l1 Ne7 30 Rh8+ Ng8 31 Be5
Bd7 32 Rh7 Be8 33 Bd6+ Ne7
34 Bxe7+ Kg8 35 Bb� ReS 3 6
BgS Rc

�

37 Be3 e5 3 8 dxe5

d4 39 Bd2 d3 40 Re7 Bc6+

41 Kf2 Rh4 42 Bxd3

Black

resigns.

It is still an open question

whether White can maintain a

meaningful space advantage

with the f4 syste m in th e

Tarrasch. What he is doing is

to sacrifice time to gain space,

and this loss of time g ives

Black the opportunity to ar­

range _counterplay.

Unfortunately, Black's search

for counterplay can itself im­

pede the proper development

of his pieces. To attack the

pawn on d4 Black must .play

his queen to b6; to develop his

queenside he must play . . . Nb6

and . . . Bd7. Alas, double occu­

pation of b6 is not allowed, and

so it becomes difficult for Black

to develop his queenside.

White will probably not have

enough time

to

keep his pawn

wedge intact. but he is quite

likely to be able to attack on

the kingside with. pieces. Play

is sharp.

There is another way for White

to handle the ... Nf6 Tarrasch;

h e can say " Sq u a res n ot

pawns" and can concentrate

o n d eve lopin g his p iece s ,

rather than rolling his pawns

forward. It still remains impor­

tant for Black to break up the

White pawn center, and so

. . .f6 will tend to be played. Af­

ter the exchange of pawns on

f6 however, White can play for

co ntro l of th e e5 s q u are .

A common opening sequence

is

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 Nf6 4

e5 Nfd7 5 c3 c5 6 Bd3 Nc6 7

Ne2 cxd4 8 cxd4 f6

9

exf6

Nxf6,

leading to the diagram

position.

59

White's knights may look at

first strangely placed. but Nf3

soon comes.

The pawn structure is interest­

ing; both sides have their prob­

lems and their opportunities.

White'·s d-pawn is dearly weak

and will need to be defended

by pieces. At the same time

the pawn is very useful as it

controls an important central

square (e5), and also restrains

two Black pawns (dS,

e6).

The

pawn on e6 is a nuisance for

Black in that it prevents the

free development of the light

squared bishop; on the other

hand the absence of the

�

I

pawn gives Black chances of

real counterplay down the f­

file.

U ntil fa irly recently, White

aimed to keep pieces on the

board in this variation. to keep

things complicated, but Black

seems to have perfectly satis-

factory pl ay. This approach

has more or less been aban­

doned ; White now prefers to

play an early Bf4, exchanging

bishops and attempting to

keep p re s s u re o n the e5

square {"squares not pawns").

We consider a game with each

approach.

Game

9

SIDagln

•

Valser

Bo rnaul

1984

1 e4 e6 2 d4 dS 3 Nd2 Nf6 4

eS Nfd7 5 Bd3 cS 6 c3 Bc6 7

Ne2 cxd4 8 cxd4 f6 9 exf6
Nxf6 1

0

Nf3 Bd6 1 1 0-0

1 1 Bf4 is now preferred.

1 1

. . .

Qc7 1 2 Nc3 a6 1 3 BgS

0-0 1 4 Bh4 Nh51

Korchnoi's move, which takes

away much of the fun from

White

.

f4 is a pleasant square

60

for Black to aim for with his

knight, while the open f-file

adds a little bit of pressure.

Black also has in mind the

maneuver . . . g6 and . . . Qg7, pil­

ing more pressure

011_

the d­

pawn.

It is i nteresting to note that

most of Black's play is c;>n the

dark squares, indicating that

perhaps White has not been

very successful in carrying

through his pawn chain strat­

egy (pawns then squares) ,

since the theoretically weak

squares, notably e5, are well

covered. One cannot go much

further than to say "perhaps",

since there are stiil some un­

solved problem with the Black

position, notably the role of the

queen's bishop; any sudden

simplificatio n of the po.sition

will generally favour White.

1 5 Bg3?1

The very move that Black had

supposedly prevented ! The

exchange of bishop for bishop

would have made good posi­

tional sense for Whi te, as

Black starts to lose control of

the vital e5 square. Exchang­

ing his bishop for the Black

knight makes less sense how-

ever; the knight on h5 is a use­

ful attacking pieces, but not a

linchpin of the Black position;

the White bishop however is

unquestionably strategically

important.

In any position where strong

and weak squares are impor­

tant (and this is particularly

likely where there are decayed

p awn ch a i n s) ,

g re at ca re

must be taken to distinguish
between pieces which are
strategically important and

those which are merely ac­
tive .

If

o ne c a n remove a

strategically important piece
of the opponent's in return
for a merely active piece of

one's own, that

is

real posi­

tional gain.

How can one tell

if a piece is strategically impor­

tant? There is no universal

rule, but if a piece is actively

engaged, or likely in future to

be actively engaged, in the

struggle for a key square, then

its strategical role must be re­

spected.

What then is the correct pro­

cedure from the diagram po­

sition? 1 5 Re1 is sensible, met

by 1 5 . . . g6. Black's position

looks perfectly playable, as the

following examples show:

a) 1 6 Rc1 Qg7

1 7 Bf1 Bd7

1 8

6 1

Bg5 h6 1 9 Be3, and now

1 9

. .

. Rf7 20 g3 Raf8 21 Bg2

was roughly equal in Karpov

- Mestel, London 1 984,

1 9

. . .

Nf4! 20 g3 g5 is better

for

Black though; he has made

light of his weakness on e5

and is starting to gain gro­

und on the kingside.

b) 1 6 Bf1 h6 1 7 Bg3 (1 7 Qd3

Nf41) 1 7 ... Nxg3 1 8 hxg3

g5 1 9 Na4 Bd7 20 Rc1

Rf6 21 Nc5 Raf8 22 a3

Bxc5 23 Rxc5 Be8 24

Be2 Qg7 25 Rf1 h5 and

again · Black is looking

good, Ye Jiangchuang -

Belyavsky, Lucerne 1 985.

Even the uad bishop is

starting to see the light!

c) 1 6 Bg5 led to a snappy

draw in Kruppa - Dreyev,

USSR 1 985: 1 6 . . . Nxd4!

1 7 Nxd4 Bxh2+ 1 8 Kh1

Rxf2 1 9 Nf3 Ng3+ 20

Kxh2 Ne4+ 21 Kh1

Qg3 22 Bf1 Rxg2 23 Bxg2

Nf2+ �4 Kg1 Nh3+ with a

perpetual. Always Black

has active piece play to

compensate for his we-

akened pawn structure.

1 5

. . .

Nxg3 1 6 hxg3 g6 1 7

Rc1

Qg7 1 8 Bb1 g 5 1 9 Re1

Bd7

Successfully completing his

development, and avoiding

the impulsive 1 9 .. . g4? 20 Ne5

Bxe5 2 1 dxe5 Nxe5? 22 NxdS!

It is dear that Black is already

better. In Kudrin - Korchnoi,

Beersh eva 1 984, Black won

very quickly by piling down the

f-file after 20 Qd3 Rf7 21 Red 1

Raf8 22 Rd2 Kh8 23 Nd1 Bc7

24 Qe3?? (falling into a stan­

dard combination, but game

was already highly unpleas­

ant) 24 . . . Rxf3 25 gxf3 Bf4

White resigned. The move that

White plays is no improve­

ment.

Maybe 20 Ne5 has to be tried.

20 Qd2?1

20 ... Rxf31

Thoroughly thematic.

62

21 gxf3

Nxd4

Black has a big advantage. He

has destroyed the remains of

the White pawn center, and he

has seriously weakened the

White kingside. Furthermore,

now that Black has the center,

his minor pieces become po­

tentially very active. The fine

position of knight is clear to

see, but may be in a few mo­

ves time the knight will want

to trot away, leaving room for

the d- p awn to advance a

square, thereby giving a won­

derful diagonal to the light

squared bishop, no longer a

bad bishop, more a saint. For

all this, Black. has sacrificed no

more than the exchange for

a

pawn ; such li9.ht sacrifices

(piece for two pawns is al�o

com.mon) are important d e­

vices in the French for Black

to gain central control.

22 Kg2

22 Re3 fails to 22 ... Bf41 (re­

member the Kudrin - Korchnoi

game?). Vaiser gives 23 gxf4

gxf4+ 24 Kh1 1 Qh6+ 25 Kg2

Qg5+

2.6

Kh 1 (26 Kf1 e5!) 26

. . . Qh4+ 27 Kg2 fxe3 28 fxe3

Qh2+1 liquidating into a win-

ning endgame.

22

.

.

. Rf8

2 2

.

. . Bf4? g ives White a

breather after 23 Bxh7+! Kxh7

24

Qd3+.

23

Rh1 h6 24 Qd1

Looks passive, but White has

a tactical defence in mind. As

Vaiser points out, 24 Qd3 is

well met by 24 ... Rxf3

25

C�e

Qxg6 26 Bxg6 Kg7 wh en

Black has a second pawn for

the exchange, and his bishop

pair and pawn center augur

well for the endgame. 24 Rxt)6

is tri cky, but agai n Black

comes o ut on top after 24

... Nxf3 25 Bh7+ Kh81 26 Be4+

(26 Qd3 Qxh6 27 Rh1 Kg7!)

26 . . . Qxh6.

24

. . . Nxf3 25 Nxd5

63

Fully prepared to meet 2 5

. . . Bc6? with 26 Rxc6

I

How­

ever ...

25

.

..

Nh4+11

C��n

lines! Open lines!

If now 26 Kg1 Black gains an

important tempo with 26 ... Qf7,

e.g. 27 Qc2 Nf3+ 28 Kg2 exd5

29 Rxh6 Nh4+.

The text is embarrassing to

White though.

26 gxh4 gxh4+ 27 Kf1 Bb5+

Any French Defence player

would enjoy this movel lf now

28 Bd3' Qg3 wins.

28 Ke1 Bb4+

As if 29 Nxb4 Qe5+ wins. But

28 . . . Qg2! would have forced

immediate resignation.

29 Rc3 exd5 30 Qxd5+ Kh8

31 Kd1 Bxc3 32 bxc3 Bc6

White resigns.

Qu ite naturally, illustrative

games tend to exaggerate the

strength and weaknesses of

particular types of play; if they

did not, there would be no il­

lustration. White's kingside is

n ot obl iged to cru mble if he

avoids exchanges in the Bd3

Ta rrasch , but it ia d ifficult for

h im to keep a ny real grip on

the position . Maybe if the dark

squared bishops a re removed ,
t h e g a m e i s b ri g h te r fo r
W h ite . . .

Game 1 0

E rost

•

Cro ueb

Loodoo 1 99 1

1

e 4 e 6

2 d4 d S

3

Nd2 Nf6 4

eS

Nfd7

5 Bd

3

cS 6 c3 Nc6

7

Ne2

cx

d4 8 cxd4 f6 9 exf6

N xf6 1 0 0-0

Bd6 1 1

Nf3 0-0

1 2

Bf4

B lack cou ld h ave prevented
th is with 1 1 . . . Qc7 , but if \f\!hite

is i nsisten t he ca n play 1 2 g 3

0-0

1 3 Bf4 .

Since dark sq uare control is so

importa nt for White , g3 may be
regarded as being a strength­

e ning move as much as weak­

e n ing move .

A

si mpler move o rder to reach

the ga me position is

1 0

Nf3

Bd6 1 1 Bf4 Bxf4 1 2 Nxf4

0-0

1 3

0-0

1 2

. . .

Bxf4

13

Nxf4

(diag ram)

1 3

.

.

.

Ng4

64

In such positions Black must

a lways aim fo r co u n te rp lay,

nthP.rwi!";P.

his weak e5 square ,

ba ckwa rd e-pawn a nd bad

bishop will continue to bu rden

him for a long time to come.

Yet if he plays overactively, try­

ing to dru m up a n attack which
isn't objectively there , he faces

a rout. To strike the ha ppy me­
dium is the task. not a lways
easy.

1 3

. .

.

Qb6

- is

a

depend­

able enough move, althoug h

one mig ht feel that the q ueen

ought to be doing more to in­

fluence eve nts on the king­

side .

1 3 . . . Ne4 is a sharper p la n ,

with an excha nge sacrifice in

mind . After

1 3

.

.

. N e4 , 1 4 g 3 is

a safe enough reply. since the

n a tu ra l 1 4 . . . Qf6 ? 1 5 h 4 !

leaves Black without a good
reply. Attentio n h a s con cen­
trated however on 1 4 Ne2 ! ?

Rxf3 (again the sta ndard sac-

rifice) 1 5 gxf3 Ng5. Black has

compensation, but probably

not enough for e�uality, for ex­

ample 16 Kh 1 e5 1 7 dxe5 Nxf3

1 8 Bxh7+ Kh8 1 9 Ng1 Ncd4

20 Nxf3 Bg4 21 Nxd4 Bxd 1 22

Rad1 Kxh7 23 Rd3! Qb6 24

b3 Rca 25 f4 with some advan­

tage to White, Timoshenko -

Gleizerov, Chelyabinsk 89/90.

An interesting position. Black,

in order to avoid a nagging po­

sitional disadvantage, has

�sed his temporary superior

piece mobility in order to pro­

voke complications. These

complications seemingly tran­

sform the position completely,

yet when everything has sub­

sided White still has the mak­

ings of typical French (or Sicil­

ian) type positional advantage.

Note for example t_he roles of

the spearhead pawn on e5,

the strong blockading knight

on d4 and the open lines for

� - Pawn Chains

65

the rooks on the king side. The

Black queen had to perform

acrobatics {25 . . . Qg6! 26 Re3

Qb6 27 Rd 1 Qh6! 28 Rf3 Qg6!

29 Re1 Qb6 30 Rd3 Qb4 3 1

Rdd1 Qc3) for Black to �tay in

the game.

Please excuse the author for

choosing a rather less interest­

ing game (and one of his own,

as we ll) as the i ll us trative

game, but this is the last chap­

ter on the French, and I wan­

ted to show a typical positional

struggle revolving around the

bad bishop.

1 4 Qd2

1 4 g3 g5 1 5 Ng2 Qf6 1 6 Be2

N h6 1 7 Qd2 Nf5 1 8 Rad 1 g4

1 9 Ne5 Ncxd4 20 Nxg4 Qg7

.with chances for both sides,

Renet

· -

Hertneck, Altensteig

1 987. A strategy we have al­

ready seen in the line without

the bishop swap; Black ex­

pands on the king side to cover

over his weakness on e5.

1 4

. . .

Qf6 1 5 Nh5 QhS

No choice really, but White is

happy to be moving closer to

an endgame. Still, p rovided

Black is determined not to wait

passively and let White show

his technical skills, his position

should hold together.

1 6 Qxh6 Nxh6 1 7 Na3?1

-

Overmaneuvering a bit,

1 7

Rfe 1 a6 1 8 Rac1 is slightly

better for White, one point that

. . . Nf7 can

in

many cases be

met by Nf4.

1 7

. . •

aSI

A

necessary defensive move.

If 1 7 . . . Bd7? 1 8 Bb5! followed

by Bxc6 and White is gainir.g

ground, having exchanged

a

piece that is merely active (the

bishop on d3) for one that is

strategically important (the

knight on c6). In the positions

which result, the Black bishop

is a dreadful piece which can

attack nothing and which can

do nothing to cover the weak

dark squares. Its only Lon-

6B

structive role is to defend the

pawn on e6, and this is a laug­

hably small role. Almost any

textbook on the endgame will

give an example of how the

bad bishop can be made to

look very silly by a n active

knight.

Anyone who plays the French

Defence will almost inevitably

be occasionally called upon to

defend a bad bisho p end­

game. The defensive tech­

nique to remember is to keep

your knights, and to keep them

active. In the diagram position

Black's plan is to develop his

q u eenside, ce ntra l ize h is

knight on h6 ( ... Nf7-d6), and

then to start counterplay on the

queenside. In an otherwise

slightly depressing position,

one small detail encourages

Black; Wh ite's d - p awn i s

weaker than Black's . This fea­

ture harks back to the earlier

struggle against the base of

the pawn chain (

. . . cS ; . .

. cxd4) .

1 8 Rad1 Bd7 1 9 Rfe 1 Nf7 20

Ne2 NdS 21 Nc3 Rae8 22 Ne5

White can hard l y h o pe to

make progress without this

move.

22 ... Nxe5 23 Rxe5

There is a case for 23 dxe5,

which would be rather st

r

o

ng

if White could get a knight to

d4. True, Black has a passed

pawn

,

but it is extremely well

blockaded, and has little im­

mediate impact on the game.

How does Black avoid gettir:'g

into a dismal endgame? The

first step is to put the e5 pawn

under pressure, thus 23

.

.

.

Nf7;

note that this inhibits White's

Ne2 plan. The obvious reply is

24 f4, but Black can attack

White's kingside pawn chain

with 24

. .

. g5! 25 fxgS Nxg 5 26

Ne2 Re7 27 Nd4 Rg7; some

fairly standard pawn chain

strategy. White can try antici­

pating Black's ... g5 with 24 h4,

but this gives Black time to

change track with 24

. . .

NdB

and

. .

. Nc6. Finally if White tries

24 Bb1 Black plays for pres­

sure along the c-file with 24

. . . R

e

B

.

With care, Black should be

OK.

23

. . .

g6

(diagram)

Black's modest pawn mo

v

e is

actually a bid for the initi

a

ti

v

e!

In the next few moves Black

67

will set the pace of the game.

The tactical point is that Black

no longer has to worrv about

Bxh7, so that . . . Rf4 is going to

be a genuine threat to the d­

pawn (24 h4? Rf4!). In addi­

tion, a · route to the center is

given to the Black king ( ... Kg7-

f6). If one adds that the White

knight is tied to c3 because of

the danger of Bb5, it should be

clear that White has no real

edge.

24

g3

Playing for f4 .

24

. . .

b5

Playing for Nc4.

25 b3 Rf31

An unexpected weakness ap­

pears in the White position

(RR - 26 Ne2? Nf7 27 Re3

Rxe3 28 fxe3 e5 is well for

Black).

26 Kg2 RefS 27 Rd2

27

. . .

Nc41

After which White is the one

who has to defend. Not how­

ever 27 . . . b4?1 28

Nd1

Bb5 (28

. . . N bS 29 BxbS) 29 Bb1

t

and

Black has overplayed his at­

tack a bit.

28 bxc4 dxc4

Allows a counter-tactic, but 28

. . . bxc4 29 Re3! leaves White

in control.

29 Bxc41 bxc4 30 Re3 Bc6

Black has no more bad bishop

problems, and indeed has the

more bad active pieces, plus

a passed c-pawn.

68

However this passed pawn is

itself weak, and it is this factor

which prevents Black pressing

for a win. The equilibrium is

soon reached .

31 Kg1

Rxe3

32 fxe3 Rf3 33

Re2

Kg7 34 Re1 h5 35 Nd1 !

Suddenly White's defensive

plan becomes clear. The ex­

change of rooks with Rf1 is

threatened . and if this ex­

change is allowed the knight

versus bishop endgame is

very good for White.

I n

such a

position as would be reached,

the bishop would be inferior to

the knight, not because it has

nothing to attack.

Rather than endure this, Black

tries to swing his rook to the

queens ide .. .

35

. . . Rf5

White parries .. .

36 Nc3

Black returns .. .

36

�

.

.

Rf3

and the draw is agreed .. .

37

Nd1

Rf5

i2

:

% .

5.

The Unbroken Chain

As we have seen, the setting

up of the pawn chain is an im­

p

ortant part of White's strategy

1n the French defence, while

the demolitio n of the pawn

chain is an equally important

component of Black's strategy.

Indeed, French middlegame

�

trategy (as opposed to open­

Ing strategy) is primarily con­

cerned with the implications of

decayed pawn chains; some

of the pawns which originally

formed the chain remain in

place, whereas other will have

disappeared. leaving vacant

squares for White to use (d4

and/or e5), and open lines for

Black to u se (c-fqe , f-fi le ,

sometimes the h2-b8 diago­

nal).

By contrast, pawn chains can

have a very long life in the

King's Indi a n , especially if

Black follows the standard by­

passing strategy with .. .f4. This

strategy is usually justified only

by the uncomfortable situation

of the castle d White king,

stuck in front of an advancing

pawn roller; otherwise, as in

the French, it is best for Black

69

to maintain the tension . We

have already seen an example

(Korchnoi - Kasparov) of Ka­

sparov successfully ramming

his kingside attack home after

an early . . . f4; as

a

refresher

I

here is another sample of the

Kasparov maneuver.

Gan1e

I I

P i ket

•

Kusparo''

Tllburg

1989

1 d4 Nf6

2 Nf3 g6 3 c4

B g7

4

Nc3

0-0 5

e4 d6 6 Be2

e5

7

0-0

N

c

6

8 d5 Ne7

9

N

e1 Nd7

1 0

8e3

fS

1 1 f3 f4 1 2 Bf2

gS

1 3 b4

In our Korchnoi

·_

Kasparov

gam e , Wh ite tri ed 1 3 a4.

Korchnoi has also tried the

strange-looking 13 NbS a6 14

Na7,

the idea being that if the

light squared bishop on c8 is

exchanged, Black loses con­

trol of the g4 square and thus

cannot roll his king side pawns

forward, while White still has

everything open on the queen­

side.

The tactical justification is that

White can survive 1 3 . . . a6 1 4

Na7 Rxa7 1 5 Bxa7 b6: thus 1 6

b4

Bb7 1 7

c5 dxc5 1 8 Rc1 !

NcB

1 9

bxc5 BaS (19

. .

. Nxc5

20 Rxc5!) 20 c6 Nf6

2 1

Bxb6

Nxb6 22 Bxa6 and White has

made ma�sive gains on the

queenside before Black has

started his kingside counterat­

tack, Korchnoi - Hulak, Zagreb

1 987. In that game, Black now

completely mistimed his play,

and after 22 . . . g4? ! 23 Nd3 g3

24 h3! his resistance soon fol­

ded.

A wonderfully imaginative line.

Sadly, it soon had to be aban­

doned when it became clear

that after 1 3 . .. b6! 1 4 b4 a6 it

is not really worth the two

tempoes to provoke the weak­

ening of the queen side. Black

just builds· up on the kingside,

as usual.

1 3 . .. Nf6 1 4 c5 Ng6 1 5 cxd6
cxd6 1 6 Rc1 Rf71

A useful defensive move.

White has made progress on

the queenside, and has

70

opened up the c-file , which

exposes various Black weak­

nesses on the dark squares.

These weaknesses must be

covered, at least temporarily,

since Black is not quite ready

yet to play . . . g4. In particular,

Black needs to prevent an in­

vasion on c7 after White's

NbS, while he must also bear

in mind that the passive 1 6

. . . a6? would leave a disabling

weakness on b6 (17 Na4 etc.).

Any exchange of knight for

light squared bishop would

tend to favour White, who has

his . .. g4 anxieties significantly

reduced.

The point about ... Rf7 is that it

covers the weak square on c7

efficiently.

The next stage in

Black's defensive maneuver is

to play . . . Bf8, coverin

g

the d6

·pawn , and then after . . . h5,

. . . g4, etc. , the rook is free to

move to the g- or h-files,

while

still covering c7.

Thus Black

is not defending purely pas­

sively; he has eyes on attack

as well as defence.

White has also deployed his

pieces carefully. We have al­

ready seen a broadly similar

formation in the game Larsen

- Torre, given in chapter 1 in

the notes to Korchnoi - Ka-

sparov. There however White

declined to play his rook to the

c-file, preferring instead to ad­

vance his pawn. The result

was that when White finally

played Nb5 it was harmless;

there was no bite on c 7, and

Black could nonchalantly roll

his pawn on the kingside.

1 7 a4

Analytical exercise 1 3: what do

you think of 1 7 Nb5?

1 7

. . .

Bf811

Truly a World Champion mo­

ve! Most of us would have got

on with our king side attack with

1 7

. . .

h5, etc. Kasparov shows

that

. . .

hS is

not

even neces-

sary; note that the h-pawn re­

mains on h7 for the rest of the

game, and that Black saves an

important tempo by leaving it

there.

Kasparov reasons that in or­

der to make progress on the

queenside, White will inevita­

bly have to play Nb5 at some

,

stage. This however weakens

the e-pawn, and allows Black

to play ... g4 without hindrance;

if White plays fxg4, Black is

planning on e4, not g4!

71

1 8

aS

Bd71 1 9

Nb5?

Straight into the positional

trap. Kasparov gives 1 9 Kh1

as better, and 1 9

.

.

. .

Qe8 (giv­

ing extra cover to b5) as .. un­

clear"; Black is still preparing

to roll however.

1 9

. . .

g4!

. •

Observe thi s d iagram , and

think carefully on the note to

1 7 . . . Bf8 ! ! In so doing , you

should be able to leam some­

thing about the art of purpose­

ful maneuvering.

20 Nc7?!

White is a tempo short for all

this! He also gets throttled on

the kingside after 20 Nxa 7 g3

2 1 Bb6 Qe7 22 NbS (22 h3

Bxh3 !) 22 . .. Nh5 23 Kh1 (to

meet 23 . . . Qh4 with 24 Bg1 )

2 3 . . . gxh2 2 4 Bf2 Bxb5 2 5

Bxb5 N g3 + 26 Bxg 3 fxg 3

(Kasparov). There is no imme­

diate mating attack, but the

hole on f4 and the monster

protected passed pawn on

h2

combine to make life hard for

White.

So maybe 20

fxg4

is neces­

sary, but after 20 ... Nxe4 21

N c7 Ba4 22 Qxa4 Rxc7 the

long term chances are clearly

with Black, who has much the

better pawn structure.

20

. . .

g3!

The standard pawn sacrifice;

White is condemned if he ac­

cepts, condemned if he re­

fuses.

If he accepts, Black loses two

pawns while White loses one.

For each pawn that Black lo­

ses, he gains an open file and

an entry square for a minor

piece; White however loses an

important defensive unit.

72

If he declines . . . wel l . just imag­

ine how good a Black queen

on h4

wiJI

look!

21

Nxa8?!

A stray horseman ransacks an

abandoned castle i n a distant

land, while at home the gates

to the king's pala ce will no

longer hold, and \l\1hite's spiri­

tual advisers can give no help.

Such is the transitory nature of

the gains made in so many fo­

reign campaigns!

21 hxg3 had more relevance

to the domestic front. Nikitin,

presumably working with Ka­

sparov, gives detailed analy­

sis, summarized nere. Best

play for Black is 2 1 . . . fxg3 (21

. . . Nh5?! 22 g41) 22 Bxg3 Bh61

23 .. Nxa8 Nh51 (not countir:-tg

material !) 24 . . . Bf2 Ngf4 (24

. . . Bxc1 !? 25 Qxc1 Ngf4 is a

perfectly palatable alternative

for those who do n ot like sac­

rificing heavily - CSC ) 25 Nd3!

(25 Rc7 Ba4! 26 Qxa4 Nxe2+

27 Kh2 Bf4+ 28 Kh3 N hg3! 29

Rxf7 Kxf7 gives B lack a win­

ning attack; dark squared con­

trol plus exposed king !) and

the rest we give as an analyti­

cal exercise (number 1 4): can

Black win with

2 5

. .

.

Nxg2

here? and if not, how should

he play?

In such positions the strategy

is relatively straightforwa rd ,

but the tactics are com p li­

cated. Black must get at the

White

K.iny,

oLr u=rwise ile

� �

worse. To get at the king he

must sacrifice, maybe only a

pawn to start with, but perhaps

more later in order to break

down the last lines of defence.

Whenever sacrifices occur,

the question oi sounciness ari­

ses, and so does the need to

calculate precise variations.

There may be three different

ways to sacrifice, or to follow

up a sacrifice in a given posi­

tion; one may be tempting but

unsour.d, one may be unclear,

and one may be good. H ow

can a player tell? Often CH:tly

throug h calculation, and the

calculations involved may be

really difficult. So tactical s kill

counts for a lot.

21 ... Nh51

Another reason for Kasparov

to be pleased that he avoided

. . . hS. Control of the g3 square

is crucial to Black's attack; so

long as g3 is occupied b y

pawn or knight the White king

73

has nowhere to go. There is

no escape through 22 Bxa 7

Qh4 23 h3 Bxh3 (another the­

matic sacrifice) 24 gxh3 Qxh3

25 Rf2 gxf2+ 26 Kx.f2; the

White king is obviously far too

exposed to survive. The alert

reader will not easily be se­

duced by such words as "ob­

·viously". To such a reader we

ask the question of" how, if at

all, Black wins (exercise 1 5).

Nikitin gives 26 . . . Nh4 27 Bf1

Qh2+ 28 Ng2 Rg7 winning, but

27 Nd3! improves. Remember

the bishop on a 7 may still help

the defence; maybe White's

21 Nxa8 had some relevance

to the kingside after all!

22

Kh1

gxf2 23 Rxf2

Ng3+1

Banged into the same square

I

24 hxg3? hxg3 is hopelessly

lost.

24

Kg1 QxaS!

Cool and calm, Black collects

the knight. White has no time

to reciprocate.

25 Bc4

(diagram)

25

. . .

aS!

A delicate little touch. Now that

the mighty White bishop has

been exchanged , the Black

Queen takes control of the al­

agonal immediately behind the

White pawn chain. Yet the

more orthodox route remains

available if needed: 26 hxg3

fxg3 27 Rb2 Qd8 28 Kf1 Bh6

.29 Ke2 Qg5 30 Rc3 Nf4+, etc.

26 Qd3?1

M issing his last defensive

chance 26 Nd3 Qa7 27 Nc5!?,

hoping for 27 . . . dxc5? 28 d6

with complications. Black can

sidestep this with 27 . . . Bb5! 28

BxbS axb5 29 hxg3 fxg3 fol­

lowed by a capture on c5 and

. . . Nf4.

26 ... Qa7 27 b5 axb5 28 Bxb5

(diagram)

28

. . .

Nh1 1

White resigns.

74

A classic King's Indian game

from one of Kasparov's most

successful tournaments (first

oy

� Y2

points!)

White's plan in this game was

particularly uncompromising,

and therefore the play became

unusually sharp. Having a bi­

shop on f2 is fine for helping

the queenside attack along,

but it does nothing to hinder

Black's .. -. g4 break. What can

White do to slow Black down

·· on the kingside? One radical

plan, which we shall look at in

more detail in the next chap­

ter, is for White to play g4 him­

self; the king may look ex­

posed, but he is less likely to

be choked by a Black pawn on

g3. There is another plan how­

ever. When White has played

f3, the f2 square is open to

a minor piece. If White plays
a

knight

there, rather than

a bishop, it becomes more dif-

ficult for B lack to play . . . g4 .
This suggests a maneuver

Nf3-e1 -d3-f2.

�ame I Z

£ebalo

•

Cvltaa Yugoslav

�•••plonsblp

1 986

1 d4

Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3

Bg7

4

e4

d6

5

Be2

It is a lso possible to pre

p

are

to build the pawn chain more
directly with

5

f3, the Samisch

System. Such an idea is allur­
ing , but, White's inability to use
the f3 sq uare for his knig ht

makes kingside development
rather more difficult; often he

has to try awkward maneuvers

such as Ne2-c1 . The modern

preference is to develop the
kingside first,

before

setting

up the ful l pawn chai n : th is

g ives the minor pieces more
flexibility.

5

. . .

0-0

6 Nf3 eS 7

0-0 Nc6 8

dS

Ne7

9

Ne1 Nd7 1 0 Nd3 f5

1 1 Bd2

(diag ram)

White's minor pieces are now

in place. At some stage he will

play if requ ired f3, and then

Nf2

in response to Black's .. .f4 .

75

An immediate 1 1 .. .f4 is pre­

mature however since White
has

1 2

Bg4! preparing to ex­

change h is bad bisho p , for
example 1 2 .. . h5 1 3 Be6+ Kh8

1 4

f3 g5 1 5

b4

Ng6 1 6 c5 Nf6

1 7

Bxc8 Rxc8 1 8 h3 Rg 8 1 9

b5 Bf8

20

c6 Rogers - D. Pau­

novic, Belgrade 1 988.

This is almost an ideal position
for White ; without the B lack

bishop on ca. Black's king side
attack lacks sting , while White

can quite happily live without
his purely defensive bishop on

e2. Looking forward a few mo­

ves, Black's futur e . . . g4 will al­

most certainly entail a pawn

sacri"d ce (oncP. Wh ite has

played Nf2) . But how is Black

going to justify this sacrifice if

he has no bishop to keep pres­

sure on the pawn on g4? To

see how important Black's light

squared bishop can be in such

situations, consider again the

Korchnoi - Kasparov game in

the introductory chapter.

Back to the game, and a little

bit of cat-of mouse before the

full chain is finally set up.

1 1 ... Kh8 1 2 Rc1 f4 1 3 f3

Since now 1 3 Bg4?! would be

met by 1 3 . . . h5 1 4 Be6 (no

longer check) 1 4 . . .f3!

1 3 . . . Ng8 1 4 b4 Ndf6 1 5 c 5 g 5
1 6 cxd6 cxd6 1 7 NbS

As in our previous game, Whi­

te attacks along the open c­

file. The absence of the bishop

from the g 1 -a7 diagonal slows

down the White initiative how­

ever.

1 7 ... NeB

Even so, Black must keep c7

76

covered. Exercise 16: assess

1 7

. . .

Rf7.

1 8

a4

h5

19

Nf2 Nh6

Extra support for . . . g4.

20 h3 Rg8 21 Rc31

'Nhite prepares to triple on the

c-file, obviously, but he also

prepares a third rar.!< traverse

for the (ook in the event of

Black playing a later .

�

. g4.

21 . . . 8f8

N atural enough, but Black co­

uld also consider dislodging

the White knight first with 21

. . . a6. Cebalo then gives the

thematic variation 22 Na3 Bf8

23 aS Nf6 (now that

the

c7

square no longer has to be

watched) 24 Nc4 g4 25 fxg4

hxg4 26 hxg4 Bxg4 27 Nb6

Rb8 -28 Nxg4 Nfxg4 29 Bxg4

Rxg4 30 Qe2 followed by Rfc1

with, according to Cebalo, a

slight plus to White. But play

on a move, 30 . . . Qh4, an d

Black is preparing for a stan­

dard King's Indian garotting

with . . . Rg3 and . . . Ng4. Exer­

cise 1 7: analyze this position.

22

Qc2 Bd7

Too late for 22 . . . a6 because

of 23 Nc7.

The immediate 22 . . . g4 was

worth considering though. Af­

ter the inevitable multiple ex­

changes on g4, Black certainly

cannot claim any sort of win­

ning kingside attack, but at

least he has some counterplay

along the g-file to offset part

of White's queenside initiative.

Cebalo gives 22 . . . g4 23 fxg4

hxg4 24 hxg4 Bxg4 (not 24

. . . Nxg4? 25 Nxa7! - a standard

tactic that is worth remember­

ing) 25 Nxg4 Nxg4 26 Rh3+

N h6

27 Rc1 with perhaps a

slight edge to White.

(diagram)

Would the reader wish to dis­

pute this assessment? That is

fair enough; Black has many

chances of creating play, per­

haps starting with

27

.

.

. a6.

I

am not going to set this posi-

77

tion as an analytical exercise,

although

I

would certainly not

wish to discc:.Jrage the reader

from trying to work out what is

happening.

There is a general point that

needs to be made. I n the

King's Indian, and particularly

in position with extendecl pawn

chains,

the basic strategy in

terms of pawn structure is

straightforward; the detailed

i nte ra ctio n s am o n g t h e
pieces are however very in­
tricate and complicated.

The

full pawn chain structure is one

of the most distinctive pawn

structures there is, yet the

fixed nature of the ce ntral

pawns mean that the empha­

sis is very much on piece play

rather than on pawn play, par­

ticularly when both sides have

already made their thematic

pawn breaks (c5xd6; . . . g4).

Yes, the pawn center is as the

center of everything, but it is

an inert nucleus. The action

goes on

a round

the center,

mostly in an anticlockwise di­

rection.

23 Rc1 Rg7?1

A slip or a deliberate waiting

move? In either case, the im­

mediate 23 . .. g4 probably de­

served preference.

24 a S g4 25 fxg4 hxg4 26

hxg4 Nxg4 27 Nxg4 Bxg4 28
Bxg4 Rxg4

A typical position following a

liquidation on g4, although it

has to be added that Black has

been at fault in &loverpreparing" ..

his pawn break. Certainly the­

re was no need to allow White

to double rooks on the c-file

before playing . . . g4; see note

to 2 1 . . . Bf

B

.

White is momentarily safe on

78

the kingside, but in order to

claim a secure and stable po­

sitional advantage he must

completely block

off

any hint

of

Black initiative

on

this side

of the board. His

next

two cen­

tralizing moves do this.

29 Be1 1 Qg5 30 Qe2!

White is now ready to p lay

ReB,

surrounding Black. Black

now tries to set up some tricks.

30 ... Bh61 31 ReS Kh71

There is nothing in 31 . . . f3? 32

Qxf3 Qe3+ 33 Qxe3 Bxe3+ 34

Bf2 Bxc1 35 Rxa8.

32 Qf31

Locking the kingside; White

now has a clear positional win.

32 Rxa8? is careless; Black

has a second kingside b reak

with 32 . . .f3! which saves

the

game. Thus 33 Qxf3 Qxc1

34

Qxg4 Qxe 1 + 35 Kh2 Bf4+ 36

g3 Qf2+ 37 Kh3 Qf1 + 38 Kh4

Nf6! !

39 Qf5+ Kg7 4 9 gxf4

Qf2+ 4 1 Kh3 Qf3+ 42 Kh4

Qf2+ with a perpetual.

Cebalo's technique is good

enough to avoid the cheap.

32

.

. .

RxcS 33 Rxc8 a6 3 4

RxeS axbS 3 5 RbS Qg7 3 6

Rxb7 Rxg2+ 37 Qxg2 Qxb7

�8 Qg4

A typical winning King's Indian

endgame for White:

(I)

White has an outside

passed pawn on the

queenside which is very

dangerous, whereas

Black's passed pawn on

the kingside is well cove­

red , a nd has little real

chance of queening.

(I I)

Black's .. bad bishop" is

79

seriously hemmed in by

his own pawns and has

little mobility (a similar

problem often arises with

the light square� bishop

in the French), whereas

White's bishop is fully

mobile on both sides of

the board.

(11.1) Black is extremely weak

on the light squares

covered by the White

pawn chain.

It is no surprise that the

game is soon over.

38 .... Qc7

39 Bf21

Qc3 40 Kg21

White co nso lidate s o n the

kingsiae and allows the a­

pawn to win the game for him

on the queer.side.

40 ... Qb4 41 QfS+ Kg7 42 a6

Qa

4 43 a7 b4

Now Black no longer has the

possibility of . . . Qxe4 + , but

wh at e l se co uld he h a ve

done? He was in zugzwang!

44 Qc8

Black resigns.

A highly thematic White vic­

tory.

Chess is long , and books are

short, so sadly there is l ittle

scope here for a full discussion

of the various ways in which

the kin gside struggle

in

the

Ki ng's Indian may deve lop.

One popular and interesting

possibility needs to be dis­

cussed though; the paradoxi­

cal g4, throwi ng forward a

pawn on the flank on which

Black is attacking.

6.

The

Paradoxical Push

.. Never push pawns of the bo­

ard where you are weak; you

just create further weakne­

sses. " This is one of the main

precepts of classical chess

strategy, and it is on the whole

valid. I ndeed, a standard at­

tacking technique against a

poorly defended sector is to

use piece pressure to attempt

to force a pawn advance, and

then to u se the newly a d­

vanced pawn as a lever for the

attack; .�ither one can prepare

a pawn advance to force open

some lines (e.g. g4-g5 if Black

has been forced to play . . . h6)

or one can, especially if the

pawn has advanced in

front

of

the defending king , prepare a

sacrifice (e. g. Bxh6).

80

Yet sometimes an apparently

bizarre pawn advance may be

used to pre-empt

an

attack, to

stop it before it has started.

The defender makes a bold

push in a beleaguered sector,

and the opponent finds he is

unable to build up his attack

at leis ure. Systems where

White plays g4 have become

quite popular in the King's In­

dian; it is, after all, the surest

possible way of preve nting

Black from playing . . . g4.

H ere is a simple exam ple;

even a quick draw may some­

times be a useful illustrative

game.

Game I!J

Kl1allfman

•

Gelfa11d

Regg�o

Emilia

199 1192

1

c4 g6 2 Nf3 Bg7 3 e4 d6 4

d4 Nf6 5 Nc3 0-0 6 Be2 e5 7
0-0 Nc6

8

d5 Ne7 9 Ne 1 Nd7

1 0

Nd3 f5 11 Bd2 Nf6 1 2 f3

Kh8

1 3 a4 a5

Black does not want White to

gain space wi�h a5.

14

g4

The paradoxical push!

White has no immediate plans

to m a ke any

fu rther

pawn

moves o n the kingside; he

merely waits to see what Black

does. Black has three basic

choices:

(I) He can leave the pawns

as they are, but this would

be a sign of success for

White: he has halted

Black's kingside initiative.

(II) He can exchange pawn

on g4 or e4. It was poin­

ted out in the introductory

chapter that with the Whi­

te pawn still on g2 this

would be a very bad · ex­

change for Black; he wo­

uld have released all the

central tension, and he

would no points of entry

along the open f-file, while

White would continue to

have a free hand on the

6

-

Pa"' - :- "'ams

81

queenside. With the pawn

on g4, this argument app­

lies with slightly less force

(White's king is a bit open),

but still the play is in

White's favour.

(Ill) He can block the king­

side with . . .f4, and Whi­

te's kingside remains

under pressure, but much

less so than if Black is

allowed to play . .. g4.

A difficult choice for Black,

out here made easier by

the fact that Black has

done his own pre-emptive

blocking on the queenside

(13

..

.

aS).

14

. . .

c5!

Closing the queenside. Now all

that Black has to do for com­

plete equality is to close the

kingside as well.

1 5 Kg2

Tak_ing

en passant

is not to be

considered; after 1 5 dxc6?

bxc6 Black is vastly better,

White having conspi cuo us

weaknesses along the b-file,

the g1 -a7 diagonal, and on the

kings ide.

1 5 . . . f4 1

6

h4 h5 1 7 g5 Ne8

1 8 Rh1

Draw agreed.

Not much chance to play for

a

win here! Both pl�yers have

succeeded in locking the pawn

structu re o n th eir weaker

flanks.

There are chances for livel!er

play though, as we shall short­

ly �ee.

Game

14

Lobron

•

aenet

Novl Sad

1990

1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7

4 d4 0-0 5 e4 d6 6 Be2 e5

7

0-0 Nc6 8 d5 Ne7 9 Ne1 Nd7

Not of course the only varia­

tion of the King's Indian, but

even so a variation which ex­

presses classical themes ex­

tremely well.

1 0 Nd3 f5 1 1 Bd2 Nf6 1 2 f3 f4

82

1 3 g4!?

The theme of th.e chapter, al­

th ough i n most

v

a ri a tivns

White plays g4 befo re Black

has played . . . f4. lhis poses

the question of whether Black

can profitably play 1 3 . . . fxg3

1 4 hxg 3 . White 's k i n gside

pawn structure is

ugly,.

and the

king's position is exposed ,

which reduces his options so­

mewhat. On the p l us side,

White has the rather pleasant

c1 -h6 diagonal for his bishop,

and the h-file may well become

useful. In M. Pavlovic - Vokac,

Trnava 1 988, Black's position

became highly unpleasant af­

ter 1 4 . . . c6 1 5 a4! aS 1 6 Ge3

Kh8 1 7 Qd2 cxd5?! (closing

the queen side with 1 7 . . . cS

was preferable, but White still

has kingside pre s s u re) 1 8

cxd5 Bd7 1 9 Kg2

Rf7

20 Rh 1

ReS 21 Nf2.

Without that wonderful pawn

on f4, Black's kingside sud­

denly seems u ncoordinated

a n d vulnera b l e , while h is

queenside problems still· have

not been solved (in the game

cited, White

r.z.� �:-.c

i-.-.ai-acu­

ver Ra3-b3 i n hand) . It is

hardly surprising that Black

usually prefers to keep his f­

pawn.

In such a case, the fact that

White has safely played g4

may be regarded

as a .-.-.i.-.o.­

strategical victory, although

the h4 square will need care­

ful watching.

1 3 ... g5 1 4 Rc1 h5

Black must open the h-file.

1 5 h3 Rf7 1 6 Be1

White must cover h4.

1 6 ... Bf8 1 7 cS N g6 1 8 cxd6

cxd6 1 9 Qb3 Rh7 20 Kg2

(diagram)

The White fortifications are al­

most complete. Rh1 and Bf2

are to follow.

N ote that Black's attack makes

no progress after 20 . . . hxg4 2 1

hxg4 Nh4+ 22 Bxh4 Rxh4 23

83

Nf2.

·20

. . .

as

21 a4 Bd7 22 Bf2 ReS

23

Rh1

Qe8?

Letting White have the impor­

tant b6 square without a strug­

gle. Lobron suggests instead

23 ... Rg7, and if 24 Qb6 N h4+.

Maybe Whita is still slightly

better after 25 Kf1 .

24 Qb61 Rg7

Si nce 24 . . . Bxa4 25 Nxa4

Rxc1

26 Rxc1 Qxa4 27 Nc5!

is highly favorable to White.

25 b3

Not just a simple defensive

move; White also has ideas of

Nb1 -d2-c4. Slow? Well, what

can Black do on the kingside

in the meantime? The whole

pace of the game is slower

than when the kingside is more

open and Black is aiming for

the . . . g4 break himself.

25 .. . Nh4+ 26 Bxh4 gxh4 27
Nf2

The second wave of defence

to forestall the second wave of

attack. White must cover all

potential sacrifices on g4.

27 . . . Nh7 28 Nb1

See note to White's 25th.

2 8 .. . N g 5 2 9 Nd2 hxg4 30
hxg4

·

Black is ahead on the kingside,

but he has no barnstorming at­

tack. Meanwhile he has his

u sual queenside problems ,

and his bishops are both ex­

tremely ineffective; one bishop

is blocked by friendly pawns,

while the other is enchained by

enemy pawns. White's knights

84

are, g iven passive play by

Black, headed towards h3 (to

exchange off the only effective

Black minor piece) and c4 (to

take control of the queen side).

To �ave such a position with

normal defensive play would

be quite an achievement for

Black. Rightly or wrongly (and

Lebron suggests that Black

should have prefe rred 30

. . . Rh 7) Black lashes out.

30 ... h3?1 31 Nxh3 Nxh3 32
Kxh3 Qh5+ 33 Kg2 Bxg4 34

fxg4

Not 34 Rxh5?? Bxh 5+ fol­

lowed by 35 . . . Rxc1 .

34 ... Rxg4+ 35 Bxg4 Qxg4+
36 Kf2

Black's attack is all illusion,

thoug h only because the Whi­

te queen is so well placed on

b6.

White's extra rook will soon

decide the issue.

36 ... Rxc1

37

Rxc1

Be7 38

Rg1

38 Nf3 !

would have been sim­

pler.

3 8 . . . Bh4+ 3 9 Kf1 Bg3 40

Rx

g

3

40 Qf2! Qd1 +

41

Kg2 would

have been an artistic finishing

touch, but White would have

wanted to reach the time con­

trol as simply and safely as

possible.

40 .. .fxg3 41

Qe3

Qh3+ 42

Ke2 Qh2+

43

Kd3

g2 44

Nf3

Qg3 45 Ng1 Qg4

46

Kd2 Kg7

47 Ke1 Kg6

48 Kf2 Kh5 49

a5

·Black resigns

.

Castling kingside

,

and then im­

mediately launching the g­

pawn, is a parado

xi

cal but of­

ten effective stratagem. White

can also consider playing g4

before

he castle

s

,

in which

case the nature of the play be­

comes rather more violent,

with Wh ite ofte n castling

queenside, and using the g­

pawn to support a White pawn

85

storm on the kingside

.

Black

in return must attack on the

queenside

,

a reversal of the

normal roles.

Our example comes one step

removed from the King's In­

dian.

Game

15

Itllreovle

•

Todoreevle

Yugeslav Championship

1991

1

d4

as 2 e4 Ba7

3 c4 d6 4

-

-

Nc3

Nd7

Black is cagy about his inten­

tio

n

s. If White is not careful,

he will find himself in an inte­

rior King's Indian where Black

can safely play . . . f5 without

having to worry about getting

the king's knight out of the way.

5

g4?1

White prepares the big clamp

on the kingside.

5 ... e5

It is tempting to adopt a Dra­

gan/Benoni formation with 5

. . . c5, but the knight on d7 is

misplaced for this plan; Black

needs to p ressurize d4. White

can quite happily keep the

central tension with 6 Be3 fol­

lowed by Qd2, f3, etc.

6 d5 Ngf6

Black opts for a pseudo-King's

Indian, but White can prepare

a pawn storm.

The sharpest way to play is to

play for an early . . . f5, notwith­

standing White's attempt to

eliminate this move. After a

double exchange of pawns on

f5, White will have complete

control of several key light

squares, particularly along the

b 1 -h7 diagonal , and he will

also have possibilities of attack

along the g-file. It should not

be forgotten though that White

will be weak along the f-file,

a n d tha t B l a ck h a s d a rk

square control, with . . . Nd4 or

the pawn sacrifice . . . e4 being

interesting possibilities. So for

exercise

1 8

we ask what is

86

happening after 6 ... Ne 7 7 Ne2

f5.

7 h4

Most certainly not 7 g5? Nh5,

possibly followed by . . . Nf4

and/or the opening of the f-file

with . . . f6. White's pawn struc­

ture woul d have lost all its

natural elasticity.

With the next move White

threatens to extend his grip on

the light squares by playing h5.

This is a good move, whether

Black allows the h-file to be

opened, or whether he tries to

keep the h-file closed. If for E)X­

ample Black tries 7 . . . h6, then

8

�5!? g5 9 f3 gives White a

very favorable pawn structure.

In such a position the kingside

is completely blocked with only

White having chances of play

(Nf5), while White still has his

traditional advantage on the

queenside. Only White can

win , a nd Black's defensive

task is burdensome.

Black decides he must prevent

h5.

7

..

.

h5

8 g5

Nh7

9

Be3

0-0

1 0 Nge2 Qe7 1 1 Ng3

Advertising the possibility that

a sacrifice on h5 might later be

available. It helps that Black is

press�d for space on the king­

side.

Furthermore any attempt to

break free

with

. .

. f5 or . .

.

f6

can

be

met

by

exf6,

after which the

Black pawn

on

g6 will be very

weak. Note that the bishop on

e3 effectively protects

the oth­

erwise weak White pawn on

f2.

There is also a more immedi­

ate tactical problem; if now 1 1

. . .f6? 1 2 N xh5! gxh5

1 3

g6 is

strong. So Black is uncomfort­

able.

1 1 . . . Rd8 1 2 Be2

Now

13

BxhS followed by Nf5

is a threat.

1 2 . . . NdfB 1 3 Qd2 c5

The "block and break" theme,

87

discussed further in the next

chapter. With White standing

better on th e kingside . al­

though obviously preparing to

castle queenside, . Black must

prepare counterplay on the

queenside, on his .. unnatu ral"

wing. To do this, he must firstly

block with . . . c5, then break

with . . . b5.

1 4

0-0-0 aS 15

Rdg 1

b

5 1 6

Qd1

Black's sacrifice should be ig­

nored as a matter of principle.

After 16 cxb5? axb5 1 7 Bxb5

White gains a pawn, b�t so

what? Black's two open files

on the queenside p rovid e

ample compensation, and 1 7

.

. . Bg4 followed by . . . Rdb8 will

bring to a halt White's attack,

and h a n d the i n iti ative to

Black.

16

. . .

bxc4

(diagram)

1 7 Bxh5!

Thematic and very strong.

White is aiming a few pawns

at Black's congested kings ide.

Without this sacrifice, White

would have noth ing o n the

kingside. and would have to

content himself with closing

down the q ueenside, some­

thing clearly not possible when

Black has already played . . .

bxc4.

Seen in this light, it is clear that

White must already have de­

cided that this sacrifice was

promising when he castled on

move 1 4, otherwise he would

have tucked his king away on

the kingside, maybe on f2, and

prepared to meet . . . bS with b3

and a likely draw.

1 7

. .

.

gxh5

1 8 Qxh5 Rb8 1 9

Nf5

And this is

why

the sacrifice is

strong . Every pawn removed

from the board means that at

least one square is weakened;

here the weakening of Black's

fS is highly significant. White's

newly found control of h5 is not

so important of itself; the real

88

point is that the road is clear

for the h-pawn.

1 9 ... Qb7 20 Qe2

Ng6

21 hS?!

Sometimes it is the mistakes

that are instructive. The move

played gives Black a fleeting

opportun ity for counterp!ay

(can you see it?). The correct

.. move is 21 Nxg7 ! A. player

would be naturally reluctant to

exchange off his excellent

knight so soon after it had

reached its strongest square,

but the bishop on g7 is

crucial

to Black's kingside defence;

White has no need to feel

guilty here about exch�nging

good knight for llbad" bishop.

After 2 1 Nxg7 ! Kxg7 22

h5

Black is unable to move the

knight away from g6 because

White's g6 move would be ter­

rifically strong . Black would

have nothing better than 22

. . . N hf8 23 hxg6 Nxg6 24 Rh6,

but White would then have lev­

e lled material and kept his

king side initiative.

Some examples of what hap­

pens if Black tries to keep his

extra piece (based on analy­

sis by Mirkovic):

(a) 22 . . . Nf4 23 Bxf4 exf4 24

g6 fxg6 (otherwise 25 h6+

is too strong) 25 hxg6 Nf6

(25 . . . Nf8 26 f3! Nxg6 27

Rxg6+ !) 26 e5! dxe5 27

Rh7+! Nxh7 28 gxh7+

Kh6 29 Rh1 + and a

queen check decides.

How easily the king's

cover is stripped bare

once the bishop has

gone!

(b) 22 . . . Ne7 (22 . . . Ngf8

merely leaves an extra

target after a later g7) 23

g6 fxg6 24 hxg6 Nf6 (24

•

. . . Nxg6 25 Rxh7+) 25 Bh6+

Kg8 26 Bg5 Kg7 (26

. . . Rf8 27 Bxf6 Rxf6 28 g7)

27 Bxf6+ Kxf6 28 Rh7

with a winn1ng attack.

21 . . . Bxf5 22 exf5

(diagram)

22

. . .

Nf4?

89

Black m isses a s p l e n d i d

chance to break fre e . Any

King's Indian aficionado will

have a fond understanding of

the power of the Indian bishop

once the long diagonal has

been swept open, and so it

proves here. 22 . . . e4! is the

move, thrP.atening . . . Bxc3 ;

Black is not scared of 2 3 hxg6

Bxc3 24 gxh7+ Kh8. White

can of course throw a cloak

over the bishop with 23

f6,

but

then the knight takes over the

open e5 square: 23 . . . Ne5!

Mirkovic gives 24 fxg7 Nd3+

25 Kd 1 as ��unclear''; it is also

an interesting position to ana­

lyse (exercise

1 9) .

The first

question to ask is w hether

Black stands better.

23 Bxf4 exf4 24 f6

Back to normal after some

missed opportunities. White's

ki ngside press u re is formi­

dable; Black's queenside at­

tack is merely irritating

.

24 . . . B h8 25 Qc2 ReS

Mirkovic shows that the co­

unter-sacrifice o n f6 avails

nothing: 25

. .

. Bxf6 26 gxf6+

Kh8 27 Rg6! fxg6 28 hxg6 Rd7

29 Ne4 Qxd5 30

f7

and the

Black king is defenseless.

26 g6?!

This could have waited a bit;

26 Rh4! was strong.

26 ... Nxf6 27 g7

Painful! Of course 27 . . . Bxg7

28 h6 loses quickly, but Black

must rrepare the counter-sac­

rifice somehow.

27 . . . Nh7 28 Rh4

90

28 .. .f5?

The tension reaches a peak as

White prepares Rhg4 followed

by a capture on h8 and a n at­

tack down the g-file. In addi­

tion, Black was getting short of

time. He makes the mistake,

common in such situations, of

seeking a premature release

of tension, when everything

subsides, White has a clear

positional edge.

Exercise 20; can you suggest

a better defensive plan for

Black? Examine this position

carefully and you will see how

knife-edged these pos!tions

with �ttacks on opposite wings

can be.

29 h6 Re7 30 Rxf4 �xg7

The release of tension.

31

Rxg7+ Rxg7 32 hxg7

Qxg7 33 Qxf5

(diagram)

Illustrating the theme

of

ata-

..

vism in chess. Looking at the

diagram, one of the most ob­

vious points is that White is

taki n g co ntrol of the l i g ht

squares.

This becomes even clearer in

few moves time, when the

VVhite knight will have reached

e4 and the rook g4, while the

advanced d5 pawn will con­

tinue to highlight the weakness

of the e6 square. A lot of wood

has crossed a lot of squares,

but the position is one which

is highly characteristic of pawn

chain strategy. I n particular,

the s pearhead pawn on d5

stays in placs, and while the

e4 pawn has long since dis­

a p p e are d fro m th e boa rd

White still has control of the e4

square.

So does this mean that White

has been consistently follow­

i n g a classical pawn chain

strategy, and is finally reaping

the benefits? Even if one ig­

nores the various mistakes in

the earlier play, ·such an inter­

pretation does not hold. After

all .

one can also deduce from

91

the diagram position, perfectly

correctly, that there has

re­

cently been a sharp battle with

both sides trying hard to open

up lines and create attacks

against kings castled on oppo­

site flanks. This is, if you like,

the ��father'' of the position. The

immediate paternity of the

po­

sition is currently not so impor­

tant; White may have the

oc­

casional threat down the g-file,

.

but it is not going to be this

that

decides the game. The

strate­

gic features which are most

im­

portant now, are throwbacks

to

an earlier "generation",

atavis­

tic features. The basic

tone

of

the position has been

set

by

the sequence 5 g4 e5

6 d5;

White has aimed for ambitious

control of the light

squares,

while Black has tried

to

hold

steady on the dark squares.

White has been more s uc­

cessful than Black, but

that

is

because he has played

better

than Black.

It would be a mistake to

think

that White's light squared

con­

trol has been an enduring

fea­

ture of the position, and an

even bigger mistake

to con­

sider it merely accidentaL

It

is

atavistic, a genetic trait

(this re­

lating to the genesis of the po-

sition) which has not visibly

manifested itself for a few

"generations" (phases of play),

but which suddenly appears at

a much later date. If you the

reader are not convinced by

this line of reasoning , and

would wish to argue that White

was

always

better on the light

squares, I would refer you to

the position set in exercise 1 9,

where Black had just estab­

lished his knight on d3, and

had pawns on c4 and e4 - not

really signs of White domina­

tion ! So what is the particular

significa nce of atavism i n

chess? Perhaps the most i rr.

·

portant point is that it is worth

accumulating positional ad­

vantages even in situ�tions

where it can be for seen that

the game will soon be domi­

nated by tactics and by com­

plicated sequences of attack

and counterattack. However

messy the complications ap­

pear to be at the time, they will

eventually subside, and there

is a f�ir chance that ancient

strategic features of the posi­

tion will assume new promi­

nence. Believing in chess ata­

vism, one can says as a mat­

ter of faith,

"

I like my position,

and I want to preserve my ad-

vantages. If he wants to com­

plicate, let him! Though every­

thing seems confused; I be­

lieve that I go into complica­

tions with a good position, I will

emerge with a good position."

A long philosophical digres­

sion. How does atavism work

in practice?

33 .. . KhB

33 . . . Qg 1 + is well met by 34

Nd1 .

34 Rg4 Qh6+ 35 Qf4

White is happy with an end­

game, _and indeed is prepared

to meet 35 . . . Qh1 + 36 Kc2

Qa1 with 37 Qc1 ! White's d­

and f-p awns are stro n g ,

.. Black's d-pawn and front c­

pawn are weak.

92

35 ... Qh1 + 36 Kc2 RfB 37 Qe3

Qh2 38 Ne4!

(diagram)

The throwback to classica l

pawn chain strategy is com­

plete. Black's ineffective attack

down the f-file and modest

control of dark squares do not

compensate for White's mas­

sive grip on the central light

squares.

The threat of Qc3+ now forces

an endgame in which the

Black pawns are genetically

predisposed to drop off. (Curi­
ously, I have never seen ripe
apples fall like pawns.)

38 ... Qe5

39 Qc3 Qd4 40 f41

Rf7 41 Nxd6 Rd7 42

Qxd4+

cxd4

43 Nxc4 Rxd5

44

Kd3

There is no real difficulty her�.;

White is a pawn up and has
the better pawn structure and

the more active pieces; the

endgame win is simply a mat-·
ter of time.

44 ... Nf6 45 Rg5 Rd8 46 Ne5

Kh7 47 Ng4 NeB

If Black allows any exchanges,

the win is even easier.

48 b3 Ng7

49 Nf6+

Kh8 50

ReS Rf8 51

Nd5 Nf5

52 Ke4

93

Nd6+ 53 Kxd4 NbS+ 54

Kd3

Rd8

55 a4 Nd6 56 Kd4 aS 57

KcS Nf7 58 Re7 Kg8 59 Ra7

Black resioned .

.....

Not the most accurate game

in this book, but of theoretical
and thematic interest.
The .. paradoxical push" can

also occur in the French De­

fence, for example 1 e4 e6 2

d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3

Qb6 6 a3 Bd7 7 b4 with ad­
vantage to White. Black can
prevent this with 6 ... as or the
bypassing move 6 .

.

. c4.

A

more important case is that

of the Nimzo-lndian. There are
many variations in this open­
ing where White forms the

pawn chain f3-e4-d5, while

having doubled pawns on c3
and c4. The shape of White's
pawn chain suggest queen­
side activity, but the doubled

pawns rule this possibility out.

White's most promising plan,

unlikely and paradoxical tho­
ugh it might seem at first sight,

is to keep his king in the cen­

ter and use his f3 pawn as a
pivot for a general kingside

pawn advance. Maybe in a fu­

ture volume we shall consider

the doubled pawn complex in

more detail; in the meantime

here is an example of White

gaining an edge with this plan.

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4

f31 ? c5 5 d5 Bxc3+

6

bxc3 d6

7

e4 e5 8 Bd3 Nbd7 9 h4

The kingside advance starts;

White proposes h5 and h6,

while if Black prevents this with

9 . . . h5, the g5 square is weak­

ened, and White can aim for

Bg5, Ne2-g3-f5.

9

. . .

Nf8

Castl i n g kingside, into the

pawn storm, is too dangerous.

1 0 h5 h6 1 1 Rb1 Qc7 1 2 Qb3

Kd8

The first sign of planlessness,

but · what improvements are

there? If 1 2 ... b6 1 3 a4 White

p repare s to attack on the

queen side.

1 3 Ne2 Ng8 1 4 Ng3 Ne7 1 5
Be3

(diagram)

A very pleasant position to

play for White, Gutman - Am.

Rodriguez, New York 1 988.

Black has been unable to take

the initiative on the queen side,

94

so the doubled c-pawns

are

not weak.

·v·v'i 1ii� i lC:t::; piay

along the b-file,

and his kingside pawns clamp

Black very effectively. Note

that whereas in the King's In­

dian the key push is g4 (to re­

strain . . . f5), in the Nimzo-,n­

dian the leading pawn is gen­

erally the h-pawn (White must

provoke weaknesses).

7.

Bloek aad 8reak

In a book this size, it would

be

impossible to give full cover­

age to all major pawn chain

themes. The best that can be

hoped for is that the examples

and discussion in this book will

have improved the reader's

positional fluency when deal­

ing with what is undoubtedly

a

rathe r complicated typ e of

pawn structure. There is one

theme that definitely should

not remain undiscussed and

I

that is the "block and break"

theme.

Our last chapter showed ex­

amples where White pushed

h i s kn i g ht's pawn on h i s

"opponent's" flank, either re­

straining . . .f5 (or . . . c5) or ac­

tually attacking the opponent's

f- (or c-) pawn. Black can also

p l ay pawn moves on the

'wrongn side of the board; . . . c5

in the King's Indian or .. .f5 in

the French . The primary mo­

tive is clear; Black wants to

prevent White gaining too

much s pace on his stronger

flank. With this blocking move,

Black can prevent White's c5

in the King's Indian, or his f5

in the French; on the other

hand it is made easier for

White to open up lines (b4 and

bxc5 in the King's Indian; g4

and gxf5 in the French). Yet

Black can also open up the po­

sition, with . . . a6 and ... b5 in the

King's Indian (as we have al­

ready seen in Mircovic - Todor­

cevic), or by ... h6 and . . . g5 in

the French.

It is probably in the block-and­

break type of position that

similarities between the King's

I nd ian a nd French become

most n oticeable. Here for ex-

95

ample is a game that Petrosian

won shortly before becoming

World Champion; the game

starts as a French, but the su­

per-subtle strategist so com­

pletely wrong-foots a world

class opponent that Olafsson

finds himself playing a grossly

inferior King's Indian, Mirror

Variation.

G•me 16

Olafsson

•

Petroslan

Bled

1961

1 e4

e6 2

d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4

The Winawer Defence, strate­

gically the most complicated of

all the F

1

ench variations.

Black's pressure on e4 forces

an immediate decision from

White. Normally he plays 4 e5

here, even· though this invol­

ves

no

gain of tempo.

The main line 4 . . . c5 5 a3

Bxc3+ 6 bxc3 Ne7. {diagram)

A pawn chain position, but with

a diff9rence; White has doub­

led c-pawns! The pawn struc­

ture is highly unstable; this is

shown in extreme form in lines

such as 7 Qg4!? Qc7 8 Qxg7

Rg8

9

Qxh7 cxd4 with great

complications.

In this line Black has destroyed

the White pawn center, but

has had to sacrifice his king­

side to do this!

Black's kingside is undoubt­

edly weaker in the Winawer

than in the Classical (3 ... Nf6),

and the absence of his dark

squared bishop might well be­

come a problem (a4 followed

by 8a3 is a standard pian for

White). On the other hand,

White's center is considerably ..

more vulnerable than in the

Classical , his c3 square being

particularly weak (square, and

not just pawn; a sudden open­

i n g of the c-file can leave

White weak on

c3

and c4 be­

cause of the absence of the

b-pawn).

Who do these differences fa­

vour? There is no simple an­

swer; perhaps best to say for

the time being that both sides

have something to play for.

96

4 e5 Qd7!?

Avoiding the main lines. The

purpose of this move is simply

to facilitate queens ide castling.

4 ... b6 5 Qg4 8f8!? is another

possioiiity.

1

ne retreat of the

bishop looks strange at first,

but Black has provoked e5 in

a situation where the pawn on

d4 is poorly protected. and in

such circumstances the White

queen is indifferently placed

on g4. indeed a game Blatny ­

Psakhis, Amsterdam 1 99 1 ,

saw a quick return to: 6 h4!?

h5 7 Qd1 ! (the queen is a tar­

get after 7 Qg3 Nh6) 7 . . . c5 8

Bg5 Qd7 9 Bb5 Nc6 1 0 Nge2

a6 1 1 Bxc6 Qxc6 1 2 Nf4 cxd4

1 3 Nce2 Qc7 1 4 Nd3 with an

unclear. position. It is perhaps

more logical for White to play

5 a3 Bf8 6 Nf3 Ne7 7 h4 h5 8

Bg5, and now Portisch gives

after 8 ... Qd7 9 Bb5 c6 1 0 Ba4,

with the idea of Ne2 and c3,

and the White pawn chain is

well secured.

5 Qg4 f5!

Th� kingside block.

6 Qg3 b6

7

h4

A reasonable move, or the first

step down a slippery path? It

all depends on how seriously

White needs to take the pos­

sibility of . . . g5.

7 N�3 is definitely worth con­

sidering, when

7

. . .

Ba6 led to

White's advantage in H_iartar­

son - Adams, Reykjavik 1 990:

8 Bxa6 Nxa6 9

0-0

c6

1

0 Nf4

(pressure on the backward

pawn) 1 0

. . .

Nc7 1 1 Nce2! Qf7

1 2 b3 followed by c4. Yet the

King's Indian player might well

legitimately ask why it is so

necessary to exchange the

bad bishop, when Black is

solid enough after a "real"

fianchetto. 7 ... Nc6! looks emi­

nently p layable; . . . Bb7 and

. . .

0-0-0

are to follow. The

trouble with playing a knight to

h3 so early is that White is ne­

glecting his important d-pawn.

7 -

Pawn Chains

97

7

. . .

Bb7 8

Bd3?1

This routine developing move

is questionable; the bishop is

misplaced on d3 as White im­

plicitly admits four moves later.

Clarke, in

Petrosian's B

est

Games of Chess,

suggests 8

Bd2 Nc6

9

Nf3

0-0-0

1 0

0-

0-0

followed by Ne2 and Nf4.

8 a3 also looks reasona ble.

There is a distinction to be

drawn between development

and merely getting pieces off

the back rank for the sake of

moving them.

8

. . .

Nc6 9 Nge2

Maybe 9 Nf3; who knows?

White's game is slipping, and

appears to be slippin g with

every ruove. When this hap­

pens, every move looks like a

mistake at first, when in fact

there may only be one or two

real mistakes. Perhaps in the

next few moves it is White's

position that is bad , not his

moves.

9

. . .

0-0-0 1 0 Bd2 N h 6

As 1 1 Bxh6 will give Black the

g-file.

1 1 a3 Be71

The bishop retreats to its best

square, regardless of the pos­

sible loss of a pawn. White is

set a challenge: snatch the

pawn, or forever play a slightly

inferior position. Exercise 21 :

the critical line is 1 2 Qxg7 Ng4

1 3 Bg5; has Black got any­

thing concrete here?

1 2 Bb5

Admitting that his 8 Bd3 was

ill advised.

1 2 ... Rdg8 1 3 Qd3

The drifting continues. This

move looks ugly, but how else

does Wh ite secure his d­

pawn? Black's piece move­

ments are much more harmo­

nious.

1 3 ... Nf7 1 4 0-0-0

(diagram)

1 4 ... Kb8 1 1

Petrosian was renowned for

the subtlety, and occasionally

the oversubtlety, of his posi­

tional maneuvering. Here his

play is subtle yet comprehen­

sible, altogether charming.

98

The point about this position

is that the natural side for de­

veloping the Black initiative is

the queenside, not the king­

side. Furthermore this initiative

is potentially a powerful one in

that Black has the right piece

development to start a King's

Indian style pawn roller on the

queens ide. Sc Petrosian turns

it into a King's Indian!

Stage I - clear the

c8

square.

1 5 Nf4 Qc8!1

Stage II - major piece to the c­

file.

1 6 Nce2 Ncd81

-

Stage Ill; knight out of the way

so that the pawn may ad­

vance. (diagram)

Black's last few moves may

look mysterious, when taken

one by one, but it is the posi-

tion at the end of the maneu­

vering that counts. Black's po­

sition is 1 00% solid - there is

not a ghost of a weakness that

White can attack - and the ac-

+i,

, ,..

""'' ..... ,.. ...... , - . •

;s J·ust about

.., , • .._.

� ""' -..,. I I ., ..., I

t"''--

J

I

to start.

Black's ... c5 '.Nill express both

French and King's Indian the­

mes. In French style, Black is

th reatening to destroy the

White pawn center by a sus­

tained attack on d4, which

would undermine the spear­

head pawn on e5. Shou ld

White decide to complete the

pawn chain with 1 7 c3, then

Black attacks in King's Indian

style, e.g. 1 7 . . . c5 1 8 Kb1 c4

1 9 Qe3 (Qc2? loses a piece

to 1 9 .

. .

a6 20 Ba4 b5) 1 9

.

. . Bc6 ! ? 20 Bxc6 Qxc6 and

Black's maneuvering need no

longer be so subtle; . . . Nb 7 -a5-

b3, . .. Ka8, . . . Rb8, . . . a5, . . . b5-

b4, etc. , is annihilating.

99

Petrosian was never a King's

Indian advocate, but this posi­

tion is perhaps most easily

grasped in King's.lndian terms.

To com pensate for Black's

queenside play White ought to

be developing a h uge advan­

tage on the kingside, the flank

of his spearhead pawn, but he

has nothing: Black's .. .f5 and

Nh6-f7 have very effectively

blocked off White's play on his

stronger flank, while his . . .

RdgB announces the possibil­

ity that Black can break (with

. . . g5) as well as block. Black

is so strong on the queenside

however that this possibility

remains merely hypothetical.

1 7 Qb3?

After this White is clearly lost.

1 7 Nh�_! the only chance, pre­

paring to buttress the e-pawn

with f4. An important mini-tac­

tical point is that 1 7 . . . c5 may

safely be met by 1 8 dxc5 be­

cause 1 8 ... Nxe5? is answered

by 1 9 Bf4. To gain the maxi­

mum from the position, Black

has to prepare to recapture on

c5 with a knight. Thus 1 7 . . . c6

1 8 Ba4 Ba6 1 9 Qe3 N b7 !

leaves Black i n the driving

seat; for example 20 Kb 1 c5

2 1 c3 Na5! is strong.

17

. . .

c61

Forcing the bishop to deprive

the knight of the d3 square.

1 8 Bd3 c5 1 9 dxc5 Bxc5 20

Nh3 Nxe5

This pawn may safely be sna­

tched as the pin is not as dan­

gerous as it looks, for example

21 Bf4 Nf7 22 Ng5 Bd6 ! 23

Nxf7 Nxf7 and Black has con­

solidated his extra pawn.

21 Bf4 Ndf7 22 Bb5

Having lost the strategic battle

in the center, Wh�te aims for a

lightning attack against the

Black king. It fails, but it had to

be tried.

22

. . .

Ka8 23 Nd4 Ng6 24 Qa4

Bxd4

Before White can flick in Nc6.

25 Bd7

(diagram)

25

. . .

Qf8

White has done well in ran­

domizing the position , an d

100

Black still has to think carefully,

despite being piece and pawn

up. Petrosian plays according

to the principle .. protect every­

thing", but there is a suspicion

that this move is over-subtle.

Exercise 22 is two parts. firstly,

is 25 . . . Qf8 a clear win? Clarke

gives as the main line 26 Bxe6

Be5 27 Bxd5 Bxd5 28 Rxd5

QbB! and Black keeps his ex­

tra piece; you might want to

look fo r· improvements fo r

White. Secondly, has Black

got any simpler alternative to

25 ... Qf8?

26

Rxd4?

Now it is easy for Black.

26

. . .

e5

To meet 27 Rxd5 with Nxf4

and 27 Bc6 with Qc8.

27

Rb4 exf4

28

Rxb6

Nfe5

29

Rx

b

7

Kxb7

30

h5

Qd6 3 1

h x g 6

Qxd7 3 2 Qxf4

Nxg6

White resigns.

A memorable game.

Here reluctantly, it is time to

bring the book to a close, oth­

erwise a short book will be­

come a long one. There are

several recent games that I

would have liked to include,

given more space (notable ex­

amples being Shirov - Bare­

yev, Hastings 1 991 /92 and

lvanchuk - Kasparov, Linares

1 992), and it would have been

interesting to include a few

games from other openings,

such as the Ruy Lopez and the

Advance Variation of the Caro­

Ka.ln. I hope however that I

have done enough to acquaint

the reader with some of the ba­

sics of pawn chain strategy in

the two classic pawn chain

openings, the French and the

King's Indian. I hope that the

reader will enjoy exploring the

issues further, both in playing

through printed games, and in

h i s o r her over-the-board

chess. There is still one piece

of unfinished business in this

book; all those analytical ex-

1 0 1

ercises! Here are the positions

again, with my own attempted

sclutions.

A nalytical

Exer�lses

There is only so much that one c�n learn from the pas­

sive study of texts; all top trainers are agreed that indepen­
dent analysis is the real key to improvement. Such analysis
does not mean simple calculation of combinations; what is
required is that one should take an interesting position (or
even a boring position) and study it in depth, to find out what

is real ly going on. Only so is it possible for the reader to gain

a

more subtle appreciation of the relative importance of par­

ticular types of strategic feature in game-li ke settings. Deep

analysis improves both tactical and strategical judgment!

The exercises that fol low have arisen from the discussions in
the text. Each exercise represents a point in the notes where

the sources I have used (mostly

lnformator)

fail to clarify

a critical position. Since in my own notes I have wanted to
concentrate on strategical themes rather than analytical dis­
cussion, I have not written in detail on these positions in the

main text, but have left them as analytical exercises for the

interested reader. In this chapter, I present all the positions

again, and give my own tentative solutions to the questions

I have raised .. If you the reader disagree with my answers,

then excel lent! Analyse more deeply!

1 02

1 . Korchnoi - Kasparov (note to White's 1 7th)

White to move

A typically razor-sharp Classical King's Indian

What is happening here? Who is better?

2. Korchnoi - Kasparov (note to White's 21 st)

White to move

"Unclear" accordi ng to Kasparov.- Comments?

103

3. Introduction to Chapter 2

White to move

Black has just castled. Is the standard sacrifice 1 3 Bxh7+

good, bad or indifferent? In the French Defence it often takes
very fine judgment to be able to decide whether to allow this

sacrifice or not.

4.

Larsen - Bareyev lnote to White's 1 5th)

White to move

Black has just broken with 1 5

.

.

.

f6

(an opportunity that Bareyev

neglected). What is happening?

104

5. N imzowitsch - Salwe (note to White's 1 Oth)

White to move

Can White establish an advantage after Black's 1 0 . . . aS?

6. N imzowitsch - Salwe (note to White's 1 5th)

White to move

Another Bxh7+ combination to calculate. Is it strong?

1 05

7.

Korchnoi - Gel ler (note to White's 2

0

th)

White to move

Does 2 1 Bxd4 give White a stable positional edge?

8. Korchnoi - Geller (note to White's 36th)

Black to move

Black lost on time here, yet 36 . . . Kg7 1 stil l gives White tech­
nical problems. Can White win this _endgame? I s Gufeld's

suggesti'on on 37 Re6 Rf6 38 Rc6 correct?

1 06

9.

Ljubojevic - M . Gurevich (note to White's 1 2th)

Black to move

Who

stands

better?

1 0:

Pyd o -

Likavsky (note to Black's 1 1 th}

White to move

This variation was once recommended as good for Black,

but h as been avoided in master chess. Why?

1 07

1 1 .

Pyda - Likavsky (note to Black's 1 7th)

Black to move

I s this position defensible after

1 9

. . .

Rg8?

1 2. Pyda - Likavsky (note to White's

1 9th)

White to move

A traditional "find the combination" exercise. Whit•

and win. Not as easy as it looks.

1 08

1 3. Piket - Kasparov (note

to

White's 1 7th)

White to play

White

played 1 7 a4. Assess 1 7 NbS. I s 1 7 . . . h5, as suggested

in

Encyclopedia of

Chess

Openings

the correct reply?

1 4. Piket - Kasparov (note to White=s 21 st)

Black

to play

Does 25 .

. .

·Nxg2 win? If

not,

how should play continue?

1 09

15. Piket - Kasparov (note to Black's 21st)

Black to move

If the win is "obvious", you will surely find it.

16. Cebalo- Cvitan (note to Black's 17th)·

Black to move

Black played 17 ... NeB; assess 17 .

. .

Rf7.

110

17. Cebalo- Cvitan (note to Black's 21st)

Black to play

Slight advantage to White, according to Cebalo.
But \Vhat is happening after 30

.. .

Qh4?

18. Mirkovic- Todorcevic (note to Black's 6th)

White to play

What is happening?

111

1 9. Mirkovic - Todorcevic (note to Black·s 22nd)

Black to play

" Unclear, according to Mirkovic. Clarify.

20. Mirkovic - Todorcevic (note to Black•$ 28th)

Black to play

How should he defend?

112

2 1 .

Olafsson - Petrosian

(

note to Black,s 1 1 th)

Black to move

Can White be punished for snatching the pawn?

22.

Olafsson - Petrosian

(

note to Black,s 25th

)

..

B lack

to

move

How

should White have met 25

. . .

Qf8?

Can B lack i mprove?

e

-

Pawn Chams

1 1 3

Exercise

I

May be a draw is a fair result, with 21 c7 being the critical

move. After 21 . . . Qd7 22 Rxa7 (22 Nxa7 leads to similar varia­

tions, but without the preparatory exchange of rooks) 22

. . . Rxa7 23 Nxa7 gxh3 24 Ne1 Rg7 25 Bxh6 hxg2 26 Nxg2
N h4 27 Rf2 Nxg2 (27 ... Qh3?1 2B Bf1 1 ) 2B Rxg2

�"�2 -r 2�

Kxg2 Qh3+ 30 Kg1 Qg3+ 31 Kh1 is perpetual check.
2 1 hxg4 hxg4 22 fxg4 Nxe4 23 Bf3 would be interesting, with

White battling for control of e4 and hoping to use his passed

pawn, except that Black has 23 . . . Ng3 with a crushing king side
attack.

Exercise

2

White has just given back his extra pawn to save a tempo,

but what can he usefully do with his extra move? Certainly

something quiet like 23 a5? g4 'Nould be total ly wrong.

A White attac!� on the queens ide wil l not be able to outspace

a B lack kingside attack. What is necessary is to undertake
prophylactic measures on the kingside._ In the actual game
White defended against Black's sacrifice on g4 by Re1 , Bf3
and attempting to run .his· .king to e2: however he had not
prepared this sufficiently early, and lost as a result.
Therefore an immediate 23 Re1 !? Rh7 24 Kf1 is worth con­
sidering, and if 24 . . . g4 25 hxg4 hxg4 26 fxg4 Bg5 27 Bf3.
After 27 . . . Bh4 2B Ra2 Bg3 Black still has good prospects
though, and there also alternative methods.
Another idea for White is 23 Nc6 QfB 24 N a7 , hoping for a

draw by repetition after say 24 . . . Bd7 2S NabS ReB 26 N a7

Rb8 27 NabS ReB. Black can sacrifice the exchange how­

ever: 24 . . . Rxa7 25 Bxa7 c5, when after 26 Bb6? ! N h4 White

has too l ittle covering the kingside. So 26 N bS (idea Bb8) 26

. 114

. . . g4 27 hxg4 hxg4 28 fxg4 Nh4 (But not 28 . . . Nxe4? 29 Bd3)

and Black has very good play for the exchange, for example
29 Bf3 Rg7 30 Bb8 Nxf3+ 31 gxf3 Nxg4 or 29 Bb8 f3 ! Maybe
29 Ra3 Nxe4 30 Rh3 Bg5 is best, but Black still ha� excellent

play for the exchange. Black is looking good.

Ex-ercise 3

This is most spectacular of the analytical exercises! The

sacrifice is strong. 1 3 Bxh7+1 Kxh7 1 4 Ng5+ Kg8 ( 1 4 . . . Kh6

would lose quickly to 1 5 Qg3) 1 5 Qh4.

N ow B lack must make a flight square for the king. If h e
counter -aiial,;k�

with

1 5 . . . N d3+, then simply 1 6 Kf1 Qf2+ 1 7

Qxf2 Nxf2 1 8 Kxf2 f6 1 9 exf6 Rxf6 20 g3 leaves White

a

pawn up. If Black tries instead 1 5 . . . Rd8, then �n important

flight square is blocked after 1 6 Qh7+ Kf8 1 7 Qh8+ Ke7 1 8

Qxg7.

After 1 5 . . . Re8! White must be careful; the impulsive 1 6 Qh7+

Kf8 1 7 Qh8+? Ke7 1 8 Qxg7 Nd3+ 1 9 cxd3 Qe3+ 20 Ne2 Nd4

2 1 Qxf7+ Kd8 22 Qh5 Ra7 hands over the attack to Black.
White does better

to

spend

a

move getting his king into safeiy.

1 6 0-0-0 ! ! Now Rxd5 is a possibility, for example 1 6 . . . Ne7
1 7 Qh7+ Kf8 1 8 Qh8+ Ng8 1 9 Rxd5 ! b4 20 Nh7+ Ke7 2 1

Qxg7 with a mating attack. So Black tries to dislodge the
knight immediately.

1 6 . . . b4 ( 1 6 . . . Na4!?) 1 7 Qh7+ Kf8 1 8 Qh5 ! Now if 1 8 . . . Ra7
1 9 Nh 7 + Ke 7 20 Rxd5, winning; 1 8 . . . Nd8 receives the same

punishment and 1 8 . . . Qa7 or 1 8 . . . Qb7 are not much better,

too.

1 8 . . . Qc7 ! ( Black foresees a later . . . Qxf4+ in a critical line) 1 9
Nh7+ Kg8 20 Nf6+! gxf6

21 Qg4+ Kf8 22 exf6. Now Black

has a choice of losing variations, the second one being par­

ticularly attractive.

1 1 5

(a 22 . . . Rd8 23 Qg7+ Ke8 24 Qg8+ Kd7 25 Qxf?+ Ne7 (25

. . . Kd6 26 Rxd5+1 ) 26 fxe7 ReB 27 Nxd5 exd5 28 Rxd5+
Kc6 29 Qxe8+ Kxd5 30 QdB+ winning.

(b 22 . . . Re7 23 Nxd5! exd5 24 Qg7+ Ke8 25 Qg8+ Kd7 26

Rxd5+ Ke6 27 Qg5 t ! and Black, although three pieces

ahead, is helpless. If this game hasn't already been played,
then no doubt one day it will bel

Exercise

4

The position is screaming out for 1 5 . . . f6, a thoroughly

thematic move to break White a grip on the center.
After 1 6 exf6 Black might also be tempted by the wild 1 6

. . . e5? ! which works out wel l in the sharp lines (e.g. 1 7 Rg3
Nxd4 1 8 _Rxg7 + Kh8 1 9 Qxe5 Nf5! ), but fails to the mundane

1 7 Nxc6! Qxc6 1 8 fxg7 Rxf4 1 9 Qxe5 Rf7 20 Bb5.

Black's position seems perfectly adequate after 1 6 . . . Rxf6,

which amongst other things puts pressure on the pawn on f4.

If 1 7 Rf3 Na5! with real queenside play, since unlike the game

1 8 Nb3 loses

�

pawn.

An object lesson in the importance of . .

J6

in the French.

Exercise

5

This is basically a question of strategy rather than one of

tactics. White plays 1 1 b5 ! , not worrying about the surrender
of c5 square, and then prepares Nbd2 and c4, opening up
the center rather than queen side. White's advantage in space

and development should then prevail. And White does not
even have to spend a move playing a consol idatory a4; after

1 1 . . . Na7 1 2 Nbd2 ! Bxb5 1 3 Rb1 Black must lose m aterial .

While on 1 2 . . . Bc5 preparing to meet 1 3 c4 with 1 3

.

. . Ne7,

then 1 3 a4! , played as a semi-waiting move, is strong. Black, s

bishop on c5 is badly placed, and if 1 3 . . . Ne7 1 4 Nb3 gaining

1 1 6

the bishop pair i n a position which will soon be opened up

(c4, maybe exf6, etc. ).

White stands better. Th

_

e general opening strategy is i nter­

esting. First of a l l

Wh

ite closes the position to gain space .

. Then when shortage of space has constricted the movement

of the Black pieces, White opens up the position again to

exploit his lead i n development!

Exercl�e

6

1 7 Bxh7+

(a 1 7 . . . Kxh7 1 8 N g5+ Kg6! 1 9 Qxg4 Rf4! ( 1 9

. . .

Bxh2+? ! 20

Kh1 , and 20 . . . e5

21

Ne6+ Kf7 22 Nxc7 Bxg4 23 Kxh2 ! or

20 . . . Rf4 2 1 Q h3 Kxg5 22 Qxh2 Rh4 23 Be3+ Kh5 24 g4+

Kxg4 25 Rg 1 + wi nning) 20 Qh3 Kxg5 2 1 Qg3+(21 Be3 Kg6
leaves B lack be

t

ter) 21 . . . Rg4!(21 . . . Kf5 !? 22 Qd3+ Kg5 2.3

Qg3+, etc. ) 22 Be3+ (22 f4+ Bxf4) 22 . . . Bxf4 . Good enough
reason already for rejecting 1 7 Bxh7 +.

(b 1 7 . . . Kh8 also seems amply playable for Black, e. g . 1 8

Ng5 Bxh2+ 1 9 Kh1 e5 20 BcS Qc6 2 1 Bxf8 Rxf8 22 f3?
Ne3 23 Qxe3 Bf4 with a big advantage to Black. Alterna­

tively 1 8 Bc2 e5 and Black has taken over the center.

Therefore 1 7 Bxh7 + is not strong, and so Black stands well

in diagram position Nimzowitsch of course did not reach the

diagram position, which resulted from a hasty l ine which left

insufficient control of the cente

r

.

As a matter of general principle, it is usually best to play the

positionally l_ogical move (e. g

.

overprotection of one's own

strong points, restraint of the opponent

'

s position) rather than

to play "attacking" moves and rely on rando

m

tactics to back

up the attack

.

Often as here random tactics do not work.

1 1 7

E:xerelse

7

Not an easy position to assess, or to analyze. 20 Bxd4 is

certainly the natural move for White, giving Black the choice
between stabil izing the pawn structure with 20 . . . exd4 or un­
blocking the queenside with 20 . . . cxd4.
After 20 . . . exd4, B lack's e6 square is exposed, and he must

be very careful not to exchange his light squared bishop too

l ight-heartedly. After 21 f4 Bf6 (to prevent Ng5) 22 Re1 Be7

23 g3 White stands better and can play to increase the pres­

sure with Qd2 , a5 and Ng5. Black's only real chance of play
is if VJhite rushes things too quickly, for example 23 . . . Bd7

24 h4? !

(24 t:aG)

24

. . .

Bxh4.·

Sight advantage to White then.

if

20 . . . cxd4, White's main responsibility is to keep his strong

point on e4, and indeed to overprotect it. With B lack having

no real play in the center or kingside, White can turn his

attention to the queenside. After 21 Qe2 White can consider

Rfc1 or even doubling rooks on the a-file to push the pawn

forward to induce . . . Ba6 leaving some weak light squares on
the kingside. If Black wants to force opposite colored bish­

ops with 2 1 . . . Bf5, then let him

I

The bad bishop on g7 can do

little to guard the queenside, a··perennial problem in the King's

Indian.
I hope you did not

try

calculating too many variations in this

exercise! Analysis can be as much about strategy as about
tactics.

E:xerelse

8

The first point to consider is that Gufeld's suggestion of 36

. . . Kg7 37 Re6 Rf6 38 Rc6 Rxc6 39 dxc6 is unnatural; White
is voluntarily weakening his pawn structure! After 39 .

. .

Kf6

B lack should almost certainly be able to draw by picking off

the c-pawn with his king if the White king should move to the

118

queenside, and by keeping guard on g5 if White tries Kg2-

g3-g4.

A

more logical approach is to force the exchange of rooks

without compromising his pawn structure, by playing 37 Re7+

Rf7 38 ReB. Now 38 . . . Rxf4 is hopeless: 39 Ra8 Rf6 40 Ra7
Kh6 41 Kg2 1 (cutting out the last glimmer of counterplay) and
Black can resign. Black must therefore fal l in with White's
plan by playing 38 . . . Rf8 39 Rxf8

Kxf8.

Although White is an outside passed pawn u p , the win is
very difficult since the bishop is tied

to

the defence of the c­

pawn, and since the kingside pawn majority is compromised
by the doubled f-pawns. The natural plan is

40

f5? 1 gxf5 41

f4; we must see why this does not work. After 4 1 . . . Ke 7 42

Kf2 White's king is in range of the Black pawn on c5, mean­

i ng that 43 Bxf5 is a threat.

Thus if 42 . . . Kd6 43 Bxf51 Bxc4 44 Bxh7 1 and Whitels three
widely scattered passed pawns count for more than Black's
tightly bunched pawns. Neither though is defendi ng passively

an opinion for Biack: 42 . . . Kf6? 43 Ke 1 Kg6 44 Be2 followed
by playing the king to d3, covering the vulnerable c-pawn, .
and then playing the bishop to b5.

·

So how does Black defend? He must get h i s h-pawn to a
dark square, beyond the reach of the White bishop: 42 . . . h61

I

I

have been unable to find a White win here. A typical line is

43 Bxf5 (before Black can play . . . Kd6) 43 . . . Bxc4 44 Bc8 Kd6
45 a6 Bxa6 46 Bxa6 Kxd5. B lack's queenside pawn phalanx

is sufficient to_hold the game, as will readi ly be seen by play­
ing out a few variations. A critical technical poi nt needs to be
noted here; Black draws the game if he can win the f-pawn,
even if he loses all his queenside pawns, as the bishop is the
wrong color square for the rook's pawn. In the other words,

preserving the h-pawn is of no help in White's bid for a win .

1 1 9

The ultimate useles�ness of the White's h-pawn is not so
easy to see in advance, especially on move 40, but it does

help bring · to mind

�

possible alternative plan. White must

attack Black's kings ide pawns with h4-h5, th

r

owing away the

expendable h

-

pawn

,

rather than with f4-f5. Therefore 40 h4! !

is the move. If Black now tries

40

.

. .

h5, the simplest is

41 to

gxf5 42 f4 fol lowed by bringing the king to b3 or d3

,

protect­

ing the c-pawn, and then winning either the f-pawn or the h­
pawn. It fol lows that Black cannot preven

t

h5

.

If 40 . . . Kf7 4 1 . h5 gxh5, White has a fairly straightforward win

by marching the king up the h-file, gobbling pawns and even­

tually squeezing through the king up the h-fi le. Black must try
to preserve a pawn on g6. So: 41 . . . Kg7 ( it is also desirable

not to allow White to play h6

)

42

Kg2 Kh6 43 Be2 Kg7 44

Kg3 Kh6 45 Kh4 Bc8 (45 . . . Kg7 46 Kg5! ) 46 hxg6 hxg6 47
Bd3 Ba6 48 Kg4 BcB+ (48 . . . Kg7 49 Kg5; the Black king is
misplaced) 49 f5 ! ! gxf5+ (49

.

. Bxf5+ 50 Bxf5 gxf5+ 51 Kf3; 49

. . . Kg7 50 Kf4 ! gxfS

51

KeS)

50

Kf4 Kg6 51 Ke5 Kg5 52 d6!

cxd6+ 53 Kxd6 and White soon mops up.
There was a lot of fight left in the position when Black l

o

s

t

on

time.

··

Exerebie

9

White stands better! He has maintained his pawn chain,

since sacrifices on e5 are unsound, and he is ready to sort
out his kings ide development and take the i nitiative.

Main variations:

(a 1 3 . . . Ndxe5? 1 4 fxe5 Nxe5 1 5 Nxe5 Bd6 1 6 Qe1 !? Qd4 1 7

Bf4 Rxf4! 1 8 Nxf4 Bxe5 is unclear, �espite Black's heavy
sacrificing: There is however an unusual twist: after 1 4
Nxe5! Nxe5 1 5 fxe5, the fact that White has a pawn rather

than a knight on e5 means that

. . .

Bd6 is u nplayable

.

White

1 20

is simply a piece ahead.

(b 1 3 . . . Nc5 concedes that the pawn chain cannot be broken;

B l ack decides instead to acti·'late his own pieces. White's
most appropriate response is to get his king into safety,

avoiding random tactics. Thus 1 4 Kh2 is indicated, and if

1 4 . . . Ne4 1 5 Nfg5 knocks out Black's e4 strong-point. Black

must avoid 1 5 . . . Nf2? 1 6 Qc2, but the alternatives seem
good for White. If 1 5 . . . Nxg5 1 6 hxg5, White develops with

Bd3, etc.

Ex�rt-lse 1 0

I

do not know in how much detail this position has previ­

ously been analyzed, but the critical line would seem to be

1 3 Nb3 fxe5 1 4 Qxg41 N ow:

(a 1 4 . . . Nf6 1 5 Qg7 Rf8 1 6 dxe5 Ne4+ ( 1 6 . . . d4 1 7 exf6 is

good fer White) 1 7 Kf3 d4 1 8 Kxe4 (1 8 Qxh7?? Ng5+) 1 8

. . . dxe3 1 9 Be2 and B lack's king on e8 is more exposed

than White's king on e41 P l ay is of course extremely sharp,

but probably in White's favour after for example 1 9 . . . Ne7

20

Bh5+ Kd7 {Hop_ing for 2 1 Qxf8? Qc6+ when Black is at

least equal) 2 1 Rc1

I

{Black stands well after 21 .Rd1 + Kc7

22

Rd6 Bxd6 23 exd6+ Qxd6 24 Qxf8 Qd5+ 25 Kxe3 Nf5+

26

Kf2 Qxh1 27 Nf3 b6 1 ) 2 1 . . . Rg8

22

Qf7 Qb5 23 Nf3 ! ,

and White wins the race to complete his development ( ! )
and give a kil ling check.

(b 1 4 . . . exd4 1 5 Qxe6+ Kd8 1 6 Bxd4 Nxd4 1 7 Qxb6+ Nxb6

1 8 Nxd4 B c5 1 9 Ngf3 Bg4 20 Rd1 gives White a solid extra

passed pawn. Black's bishop pair and superior develop­
ment offer only transitory compensation.

(c 1 4 . . . Nxd4?? 1 5 fxe5 is simply·a blunder.

1 2 1

Some tactical sequences here which are typical of the French
Defence, and of the f4 Tarrasch in particular, in that B lack is
desperately trying to create tactiLal mayhem before White
can consol idate and make use of his considerable space ad­
vantage. One should not be dogmatic, but on the whole such

position ought to favour White.

Exercise

I I

Yes ! Black stands well, thanks to a few thematic defensive

combinations:

(a 20 Bxe6 Ndxe5! 21 Bxg8 Ng4+ 22 Kg1 Nxe3 23 B xh7 Bg4'

(not 23 . . . Nxc2 24 Bxc2 Bg4 25 Qd2 ! ) 24 Qd2 Bxf3 25 Rc3

Bb4 ! etc .. White has alternatives of course, but B lack al­

ways comes out ahead.

( b 20 Nhg5 Bxg5! 21 Nxg5 (21 Bxg5 Nxd4! ) 2 1 . . . Rxg5 22

Bxg5 Nxd4 and White's position col lapse�.

(

c

20 Nxh4 avoids immediate disasters, but White has little

to show for the pawn he h�s sacrificed.

Does thts mean that White's whole idea is wrong? Not so;

White's play is fine, but it is his note that is wrong. F rom the

diagram position, retract White, s last move, 1 9 Qd 1 -e2, and
play instead the more aggressive 1 9 Nhg5! An extra tempo
for the attack matters more than the bishop on e3 !

8

lack gets

mated if he tries 1 9 . . . hxg3+ 20 Kxg3 Qxe3 21 Rxh 7

+

Kg8 22

Bxe6+, so the defence of the bishop is wholly unnecessary,

yet if Black tries something else, White opens up the h-file
anyway.

1 22

Exercise

12

2 1 Bxf3 Bxg5 22 Be4! (Since 22 Bxg5 Qxd4! or 22 Bxd5

Rf5 is fine for B lack; RR - 22 Qh1 ! is also strong) 22 . . . dxe4
and now White can choose between 23 Rh8+ !? Kxh8 (23

. . . Kg7 !?) 24 Qh5+ Kg7 25 Qxg5+ Kf7 26 Rf1 + Ke8 27 Qg6+
Kd7 28 Rxf8 Qxb2 when White stil l has to prove the win, or

23 Qh5 ! Rf3+ 24 Kg2 Qxb2+ 25 Kh1 with a winning attack,
e.g. 25 . . . Bxe3 26 RhB+ Kg7 27 Qh7+ Kf6 28 RfB+ Kg5 29

Qg7 + Kh5 30 Rh8+ and mate·next move.

Exercise 13

1 7 Nb5? is a weak move, since in abandoning control of

the e4 square White allows an immediate 1 7 . . . g4! in repy. 1 8

Nxa7 is of course met by 1 8 . . . g3, and 1'8 Bxa7 is met by 1 8
. . . Rxa 7, so the threat to the a-pawn is shallow.
ECO ( E99/4), note 22, gives the strange sequence 1 7 N b5(?)
h5(?) 1 8 Nxa7 Bd7 1 9 a4 g4 20 a5 g3 21 Bb6 gxh2+ 22 Kh1
Qe8 23 Nd3 h4 24 Nf2 Nh5 25 Kxh2 Ng3 26 Rg1 h3 unclear
(Black has compensation for the sacrificed material), Piket -
V.Spasov, Groningen 1 989.
A checking of sources shows however that the position after

1 7 . . . h5 was reached by transposition, and that neither player
in fact made an obvious positional blunder. The sequence of

moves was 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4

0-0

5 Nf3 d6 6

Be2 e5 7 0-0 Nc6 8 d5 Ne7 9 Ne1 Nd7 1 0 Be3 f5 1 1 f3, and
now not 1 1 . . . f4 1 2 Bf2 g5 1 3 b4 Nf6 1 4 c5 Ng6 1 5 cxd6 cxd6

1 6 Rc1 Rf7 1 7 Nb5(?) Rf7(?) as suggested in ECO, but rather
1 1 . . . h5 1 2 b4 f4 1 3 Bf2 Nf6 1 4 c5 g5 1 5 Rc1 Ng6 1 6 cxd6

cxd6 1 7 Nb5 ! ? Rf7. Such an incident shows the need for
care when consulting reference works on the opening.

On the subject of transpositions, it is perhaps only fair to point

1 23

out that in the Korchnoi - Kasparov game in chapter 1 , the

move order to reach the position after move 8 was not the
standard King's Indian move order, but rather 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4
g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 d4

0-0,

etc.

r;xerclse 14

25 . . . Nxg2 is of course the thematic move, thoroughly ex­

posing the White king, but Black is so far behind in material

that the best he can t,ope for is a draw. Thus 26 Kxg2 Rg7+
27 Kh2 Ng3! (always sacrifices . . . ) 28 Bxg3 Qg5 29 Rg1 Qh5+

30 Kg2 Be3 3 1 Rh1 Rxg3+ 32 Kxg3 Qg5+ with a draw. I have
to admit

t�::t ! ::t this

exercise not believing that Black had

"only" a draw after 25 . . . Nxg2; I wanted a further opportunity
to examine the positron. It is important to note that in the
above line 28 . . . Rxg3 is not a win; 29 Kxg3 Qg5+ 30 Kf2

Qh4+ (with White being two rooks and a piece ahead, the
king cannot be allowed to escape to e1 ) 3 1 Kg1 and now the
rational way is 31 . . . Qg3+ with a draw, since 3 1 . . . Be3+ is
met by 32 Rf2.
So if B lack is aiming for a win he should try 25 . . . Rg7. Para­
doxical ly this looks even bolder than the piece sacrifice since

B lack, a whole rook down, gives White a tempo to close down

the kingside. Still, Black has his opportunities to reduce the

material imbalance ( . . . QxaB, maybe later . . . Bxc1 ), and the

White kings ide is still leaky. Kasparov gives in

New in Chess

the l ine 26 Nxf4 Bxf4 27 g4 (27 Rc7? Ng3 ! - the familiar py­
thon grip - 28 Rxd7 Qh4 29 Rxg7+ Kxg7 30 Bxa7 Nxe2+ 3 1

Qxe2 Bh2+ 32 Kh1 Bg3+ and mate next move) 27 . . . Bxc1 28
Qxc1 Nf4 29 Qe3 h5 and the material deficit is under control
with B lack still having a kingside attack. Kasparov suggests
that White can still defend with 30 Rc1 hxg4 31 fxg4 Nxe2+
32 Qxe2 Bxg4 33 Qe3, but here is the only point where I can

1 24

disagree with his analysis. Why should Black exchange his
dominating knight for White's weak bishop? 3 1 . . . Qxa8 lev­
els the piece count and continues to maintain the tension on

the kingside.

There is however a third alternative at move 25, mentioned

by neither Kasparov nor Nikitin: 25 . . . Bh3 !? It gives nothing
clear though after 26 Nxf4 Nxf4 27 g4: and if 27 . . . Q a8 28

Rc3!

25 . . . Rg 7 is best.

One of the few analytical exercises where even after pro­

longed thought I have been able to add nothing of real sub­

stance to the published analysis; but should this be surpris­

ing when the analysis has been done by

a

world Champion?

Exerelse

IS

Quite a ta.1talizer! Black is only a piece down and appears

to have the White king at his mercy, but it is i ncredibly diffi­
cult to find the way o

�

landing the killing blow when there are

so many tempting alternatives. The problem is that since Black
is working on a very narrow front his pieces are l i able to get
in each other's way, for example 26 . . . Be 7 27 Bf1 ! Bh4+ 28

Kg 1 and suddenly Black is wishing he had h4 for the knight

or queen.
An important practical point: Black is not worse. If u nable to

find a win he can always settle for a draw with 26 . . . Qg3+ 27

Kf1 Qh3+ 28 Kf2 (28 Kg1 ? Nh4 and . . . Rg7+) 28 . . . Qg3+.

26 . . . Ng3 is tempting, but the White king escapes after 27

Nd3 ! Qh4 28 Ke1 !

26 . . . Qh4+ 27 Kg1 is also unconvincing, since with h4 un­

available for a Black knight White can stick a m inor piece on
g2, for example 27 . . . Ng3 28 Ng2.

125

26 . . . N h4 ! , as suggested by Kasparov and Nikitin, is in fact

the winning move, and if 27 Nd3 Qg3+ 2B Kf1 Ng2 ! ! The

escape route via e1 has been b:ocked off, and Black has

time to bring more pieces in to finish everything off, for ex­

ample 29 Qd2 (29 Bf2 Qh2 ! ) 29 . . . Qh2 30 Bg1 Ng3+ 31 Kf2

Nxe4+ 32 fxe4 Qg3+ 33 Ke1 Ne3+ 34 Bxe3 fxe3+ and wins.

Exerelse 16

G iven that Black is playing for . . . g4, there is an obvious

presumption that 1 7 . . . Ne8, playing the knight away from f6,
i s a gross waste of time. And yet . . .

If White were to play exactly as in the game, then clearly

1 7

. . . Rf7 would appear as a great improvement on 1 7 . . . NeB.

The reason why Black preferred 1 7 . . . NeB was anxiety about

another plan, the "paradoxical push". On 1 7 . . . NeB 1 8 g4

fxg3 1 9 hxg3 Bd7 Black's pieces are reasonably wel l coordi­

nated, but after 1 7 . . . Rf7 1 8 g4! White is better, much as in

the illustrative game Lebron - Renet. Black is going to spend

a tempo defending d6 before he can remove the knight.

A puzzl ing decision can thu.s be explained by the fact that
the opponent has flexibility of plans; what is good against

plan A is not necessarily 990d against plan B.

Exercise 17

White is in fact very comfortable, dangerous though B lack's

attacks may appear. After 30 . . . Qh4 31 Rff3! Rg3 32 Rxg3
fxg3 33 Qf3! White's king wil l escape without trouble via e2.
The main line i·s 33 . . . Bg7 34 Rc8+ RxcB 35 Nxc8 Ng4 36

Ne7 ! (36 Nxd6? Nf2 37 Kf1 Qh1 + 38 Ke2 Qd1 + 39 Ke3 Bh6+)

36 . . . Qxe7 37 Qxg4 and White wins the endgame.

So White did the right thing, in Cebalo's note, by getting on

with his queenside play, watching the center, and meeting

126

Black's kingside break when it came.

Exerelse 18

A lot of pawn exchanges follow, with White trying to get a

grip on the empty e4 square. 9 gxf5 gxf5 1 0 exf5

( fO

Rg1 0-

0

is also worth considering, but the attempt at exposing the

king with 1 1 Bh6 Rf7 1 2 Bxg7 Rxg7 1 3 Rxg7+ Kxg7 simplifies

the position too much) 1 0 . . . Nxf5_ 1 1 Ng3 (1 1 Nf4 Nf6 ! is u n­

clear) 1 1 . . . Nf6 1 2 Rg 1 !

Often White has to be very careful in preparing the double
exchange on f5, especially when he has spent a tempo pre­
paring g4 with h3, since Black has plenty of targets along the

f-fi le. Here though the tempo count is very much in White's
favour, and he will soon gain a massive grip on the e4 square,
the b 1 -h7 diagonal and the g-file, fo.r example 1 2 . . . 0-0 1 3

Bd3 Nd4 1 4 Nh5.

Exe:-clse 19

It looks at first as though Black is making a lot of ground i n

the center and o n the queenside, but appearances are i l l u­

sory. B lack's big problem is that he cannot bring his knight on
h 7 into the game; none of White's pieces is similarly restricted.

25 . . . Nxb2+ is met not by Mirkovic's 26 Kc2?! , when 26 . . . N a4 !

i s dangerous (27 Nxa4 Qb4), but rather by 26 Ke1 ! After some
minor tactical chaos, White stays in control, for example 26

. . . Q b4 27 Qc2! Kxg7 (27 . . . Na4 28 Bd2 Nxc3 29 Bxc3 Q b 1 +

30 Kd2 is hopeless for B lack; g6 is coming) 28 g6 fxg6 (28

. . . Nf6 29 Bg5! Na4 30 h6+ Kxg6 31 Bh4+ Kh7 32 Bxf6 wins)

29 Bh6+! and Black has no satisfactory reply (29 . . . Kxh6 30

Rxg6 mate).

Which leaves 25 . . . Qxb2 26 Qxb2 Rxb2, assessed by Mirkovic

127

as "unclear... The simple 27 Nxe4 is probably winning for

Wh ite though; i n one move he has taken a pawn, protected a

key square

(f2)

and advanced his own attack (g6 is now dan­

gerous for Black).
Since 27 . . . ReB and 27 . . . Kxg7 both lose quickly to 28 g6, it is

wise for Black to play the decoying move

L t

. . . c�. li 1�1 � lui­

lows 28 Nxc3 Rxf2 (28 . . . Nxf2+ 29 Bxf2 Rxf2 30 g6 Nf6 3 1

gxf7+ Kxf7 32 h6 must ultimately be a win for White) 29 g6 !
(29 Bxf2 is unclear) 29 Nf6 (There is nothing to be gained by
an immediate check on b2; Black holds back) 30 h6! (An
important zwischenzug, threatening 31 h7+ Kxg7 32 h8=Q+
Rxh8 33 gxf7+) 30 . . . fxg6 31 Rf1 Nb2+ 32 Kc1 Nn3+ 33 Kb 1
Rb8+ 34 Ka1

Rxf1

+ 35 Rxf1 . White with his two mighty passed

pawns would seem to be winning; if 35 . . . Nb4 36 a3 Nc2+ 37

Ka2 Nxe3 38 Rxf6 with total control .

Exercise

20

If in doubt, centralize, and remember which color squares

you are strong on ! Therefore 28 . . . ReS ! followed by . . . Qe 7 i s
the appropriate plan. There i.� a lot of fight left i n the position,
and a lthough B lack's kingside is a l ittle wobbly, it should not
col lapse. For example 29 gxh8=Q+ Kxh8 30 h6 Ng5 (to pre­

vent Rg7)n31 Rxf4 Qe7

32

Rf5 (32 Rxc4 Rb4 ! ) and Black i s

comfortably barricaded on the dark squares, while White is
beginning to look i nsecure.

Exercise

2 1

The intrusive White queen cannot quite be won, but there

is no easy escape either. With ac�urate play Black is very

much in control of the game.

B lack plays 1 3 . . . h6 1 4 Bxe7 Nxe7 1 5 Nf4 (On 1 5 Qf7 Rdf8
1 6 Qh5 c5! is very strong) 1 5 . . . Rdf8 (to prevent the queen

1 28

attacking the e-pawn) 1 6 N g6 Nxg6 1 7 Qxg6 Rhg8 1 8 Qh5
Qg7 and White is in massive trouble. 1 9 . . . Nxf4 is a direct
threat, while White must also be careful not to allow the ma­

neuver . . . Bc6-e8.

Exercise 22

In the l ine 25 . . . Qf8 26 Bxe6 Be5, White can improve on

the suggested 27 Bxd5?1 by playing 27 Be3 1 with the threats

of Bxb6 and a capture on d5, and possibly als�Qd7. Black's

pieces are so badly tied up _on the kingside that White is
better, despite being a piece down. Unless you the reader
can suggest something else . . .

Black also has defensive problems after 25 . . . Qf8 26 Bxe6
Nxf4 27 Nxf4 Be5 28 Nxd5, giving strength to the impression

that 25 . . . Qf8 is too passive. If you want to defend by curling

up

like a hedgehog, it is better to do

s o

in front of the king,

and not on the opposite side of the board !
The outgoi ng 25 . . . Qc5! is better, the main line being 26 Bxe6

Nxf4 27 Nxf4 Bxf2 28 Bxf7 Bc6 29 Qb3 (29 Bxd5 Qxd5! )

29

.

.

. Rf8 and B lack regains the extra piece; or 29 Qb4 Qxb4 30

axb4 Be3+ 31 Kb1 Bxf4 32 Bxg8 Rxg8 where White reaches
an endgame but a prospectless one.

Even in his best games, Petrosian was occasional ly liable to
play over-defensively.

QU.rleh_

eh

ess

llooks and

for

everylaody

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