FIDE Surveys – Judith Polgar

1

Judith Polgar:

So - Wesley So

Kasparov's emerageance in top chess in the
early '80s determined a radical change of
winds with respect to the era dominated by
Karpov. Much due to his outstanding
succeses chess became more concrete and
aggressive, with the aim of achieving as
much as possible with each move, starting
with the early opening. Kasparov's
domination lasted for two full decades, so,
when he retired in 2005, it could be felt that
it would be not emply to fill in the empty
space left on the very top. The first player
who induced a new tendency was Magnus
Carlsen, who switched back to the classical
strategic chess, with such a persistence and
effectiveness that he won three consecutive
World title matches. But to many the last
minute hero is Wesley So, who over the past
years had an impressive string of tournament
successes. What strikes most in Wesley's
play is the fluidity of his play, making one
wonder how would it still possible to win
games with such apparent ease and natural
moves. The games I have chosen for this
article feature the same opening, the Catalan,
and similar structure, with a kingside
majority for White.

So : Adams
London 2016

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3
0–0 6.0–0 dc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qc4
Bc6 10.Bg5 a5 11.Nc3 Ra6 12.Qd3!?
Preparing e2–e4 without the need of giving
way the g5–bishop, but also getting ready to
defend the b2–pawn. The point behind
Black's original manoeuvre is that after the
standard 12.Bf6 Bf6 13.e4 he has 13...Rb6,

causing troubles with the d4 and b2 pawns.
12...Rb6 13.Qc2 h6 14.Bd2 Bb4 15.Rfe1
Black cannot increase his pressure against
White's centre anymore. In order to avoid
being crushed with e2–e4, after which his
rook and c6–bishop would be terribly
misplaced, he needs giving up one of the
bishops.
15...Bf3
The alternative is 15...Bc3 but this
strengthens White's centre. 16.bc3 White can
fight against the blockade on light squares
with, say, 16...Be4 As we will see, the
blockade is not very stable. 17.Qc1 Nc6
18.Rd1 Qe7 19.Bf1!?, followed by Bf4 and
Nd2.
16.Bf3 Nc6 17.e3
For the time being Black has prevented the
massive advance of White's centre, but
things could change in the future, justifying
Black's next move.
17...e5

XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-wq-trk+0
9+pzp-+pzp-0
9-trn+-sn-zp0
9zp-+-zp-+-0
9Pvl-zP-+-+0
9+-sN-zPLzP-0
9-zPQvL-zP-zP0
9tR-+-tR-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy

18.Bc6!
An elegant and effective way of converting a
form of advantge into another.
18...ed4
If 18...Rc6 19.de5 Nd7 20.f4±, White is just
a pawn up.
19.Bf3 dc3 20.bc3 Bc5
White has preserved his bishops pair, but his
central space advantage turned into a mobile

FIDE Surveys – Judith Polgar

2

kingside majority. On the queenside his
weaknesses are only apparent, as the isolated
pawns safely block Black's majority. In the
next phase of the game So will manoeuvre
slowly, gradually activating both bishops.
21.Rab1 Rd6 22.Red1 b6 23.c4 Qe7 24.Bc3
Rfd8 25.Bb2 Qe6 26.Rd6 Rd6 27.Rd1 Rd1
28.Qd1 Bd6
The recent exchanges did not make things
easier for Black as a queen and two bishops
are enough to create kingside threats in
combination with the mobile majority.
Strictly speaking this is an ending, but
White's attacking chances yield the position
certin middlegame threads.
29.Qd4
In view of Black's far from obvious defence
mentioned below, this may be not the
strongest. 29.Qc2 comes into account, for
instance 29...Be5 Of course, Black should
try exchanging one of the dangerous
bishops. 30.Ba3 Bd6 31.c5.
29...Qe8?!
29...Qd7! would have offered a better
antidote to White's intended regrouping:
30.Bd1 (Actually White should return to the
previous position with 30.Qd1 Qe6 and then
re-start planning.) 30...Be5!! 31.Qd7 Nd7,
with reasonable chances to hold due to the
stability on dark squares.

XIIIIIIIIY
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9+-+-+-mK-0
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30.Bd1!

Not only defending the pawn, but also
getting closer to the perfect regrouping.
30...Qc6?!
Underestimating White's plan. 30...Qe4!? is
safer.
31.Bc2!
White has obtained a promising attacking
position almost efortlessly. Everything is
ready for the advance of the pawn majority.
31...Kf8
Evacuating the dangerous area, but the king
is not safe in the centre either.
32.e4 Bc5 33.Qd8 Ne8 34.Qd5 Qg6 35.Kg2
Ke7 36.f4 c6 37.Qd3 Nc7?
For far from obvious reasons this is blunder
in a difficult position.

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9+-+-+-+-0
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38.f5!+–
Leaving the queen short of good squares.
The point is that the g7–pawn is hanging.
38...Qg5
38...Qh7 is not only undesirable, but also
allows a forced win: 39.f6 gf6 40.Bf6!+–
Kf6 41.e5.
39.Be5 Ne6
39...Ne8 drops the queen: 40.Bf4 Qf6
(40...Qh5 41.Bd1) 41.e5.
40.fe6
Black cannot retrieve the piece as this would
lead to mate: 40.fe6 Qe5 41.Qd7 Kf6 42.Qf7
Kg5 43.h4 Kg4 44.Bd1#. 1:0.

FIDE Surveys – Judith Polgar

3

So : Kramnik
Shamkir 2017

In the next game, played shortly before I
write this lines, we will see a similar picture,
with So's pieces regrouping slowly until
reaching the optimal attacking squares in a
similar structure as above. The only
difference is that Black will manage
exchanging one of White's bishops, but this
will not influence the character of play, nor
affect the fluidity of So's plan. And from
psychological point of view it is interesting
that So will defeat one of the greatest
Catalan experts of the past decades.
1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.0–0
0–0 6.d4 dc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qc4 Bc6
10.Bf4 a5 11.Nc3 Nbd7 12.Qd3 Bb4
13.Rfe1 Re8 14.Qc2

XIIIIIIIIY
9r+-wqr+k+0
9+pzpn+pzpp0
9-+l+psn-+0
9zp-+-+-+-0
9Pvl-zP-vL-+0
9+-sN-+NzP-0
9-zPQ+PzPLzP0
9tR-+-tR-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy

The situation is familiar to us. The threat e2–
e4 forces Black making a concession. The
main difference is that Black's development
is more harmonious than Adams', making
the break with ...e6–e5 sounder strategically.
14...Bf3 15.Bf3 c6 16.Red1 Qe7 17.Na2
The start of a long and most effective knight
journey, consisting of at least three
important phases.
17...Bd6 18.Bd6
With his minor pieces imperfectly
coordinated, So refrains from keeping his

bishops pair with the somewhat passive
18.Bd2. A possible continuation is 18...e5
19.de5 Ne5 20.Bg2 Neg4 21.e3 Bc5
(Threatening Nf2!) 22.Rf1 Nd5 23.h3 Ngf6.
Black's activity makes the pawn majority's
advance in the near future improbable.
18...Qd6 19.Nc1 Nd5 20.e4 Nb4 21.Qc3 e5
22.Nb3

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9tR-+R+-mK-0
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Completing the first phase of regrouping.
The knight keeps the a5–pawn under
observation, thus questioning Black's
stability on dark squares.
22...Qe7 23.Bg2 ed4 24.Rd4 Nf8 25.Rad1
Red8 26.R1d2!?
A deep half-waiting move, defending the
queen's rook. With his next move Kramnik
shows he underestimated White's idea.
26...Ne6?
26...b6 was safer even though White retains
pressure with 27.Rd8 Rd8 28.Nd4, followed
by f2–f4. In this line, too, it is important that
the rook is defended.
27.Rd8 Rd8 28.Na5 Ra8 29.Nc4 Ra4
30.Nd6

FIDE Surveys – Judith Polgar

4

XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-+-+k+0
9+p+-wqpzpp0
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9rsn-+P+-+0
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9-zP-tR-zPLzP0
9+-+-+-mK-0
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Black has retrieved the pawn but the white
knight has reached a perfect square in the
process.
30...Ra1 31.Bf1
Knowing the game with Adams, we can
anticipate that the last move makes part from
White's global plan.
31...Na6 32.Kg2 Nac7 33.Nf5
33.Nb7 was entirely playable, but So does'nt
wish to lower the rhythm of his initiative.
33...Qe8 34.Bc4 Ra8 35.Rd6
Threatening with a double capture on e6 and
more or less forcing Black to allow the
rook's access to the seventh rank.
35...Qf8 36.Rd7 Re8
37.Qe5
Once again pawn grabbing was possible, but
it would have lowered the speed of the
attack: 37.Be6 Ne6 38.Rb7 g6 39.Ne3 Nc5
40.Rc7 Ne4 41.Qc6.
37...b5 38.Ba2 g6 39.Ne3
This is strong enough and it marks the start
of a new incursion of the knight. But White
missed a promising attacking possibiltiy:
39.Rf7 Kf7 40.Qc7 Kf6 (40...Kg8 41.Nd4
wins) 41.Qc6 (Threatening Nd4.)041...gf5
42.ef5. White has three pawns for the
exchange and a continuing attack. One fine
point is that 42...Kf5 runs into 43.Be6. Due
to the possible f2–f4 and h2–h4 the king
wouls soon have to go to the sixth rank

allowing Bd7, since 43...Re6 44.Qf3 wins
the queen.
39...Re7 40.Re7 Qe7 41.Ng4 Qg5 42.Nf6
Kh8 43.Nd7 Qe5 44.Ne5

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The culminating point of the knight journey.
White won a pawn and soon after the game.
44...Nd4 45.Bf7 c5 46.f4 c4 47.Kf2 Kg7
48.Ke3 Nb3 49.g4 Nc5 50.h4 Na4 51.b3
cb3 52.Bb3 Nc5 53.Bd1 h6 54.Nc6 N7a6
55.Kd4 Ne6 56.Ke5 Nec5 57.Bc2 b4
58.Nd4 g5 59.hg5 hg5 60.f5 Nd7 61.Kd6
Nf6 62.e5 Ng4 63.Ne6 Kh6 64.f6 Nb8
65.Ba4
These games not only offer a model about
how to treat this opening variation with
white and how to make use of the mobile
kingside majority. They also offer an image
about coherent, fluent planning and play,
which are one of So's main threads.
1:0.