FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

1

Vladimir Grabinsky:

Garry Kasparov's patent for
prophylactic move in attack

"If you look at Kasparov's games, you will
notice that before a decisive assault he often
prophylactically improves the position of his
king. Remember the 16th game of his return
match with Karpov (1986), which he won
with a brilliant attack in the Ruy Lopez. It
was a very complicated position, he had
sacrificed something,but at some point he
made a prophylactic move, safeguarding his
king, and later this proved to be simply a
winning continuation. "
Artur Yusupov

Kasparov : Karpov
Leningrad (16) 1986

XIIIIIIIIY
9-tr-+-vlk+0
9+-+-+p+-0
9lwq-+-+pzp0
9+-snP+-+-0
9-+p+-+N+0
9sN-+n+-tRP0
9-zP-+-zPP+0
9+LvLQ+-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy

28.Bh6!
White rightly chose to capture with the
bishop on h6. The knight is needed more
than the bishop for attack. If 28.Nh6? Bh6
29.Bh6 Qb2 30.Bd3 cd3 White would get
nothing.
28...Qb2 29.Qf3! Nd7
Taking the Knight 29...Qa3 30.Nf6 Kh8
31.Qh5!? leads to nice perpetual check
31...Rb1 32.Bc1 Kg7 33.Ne8 Kg8 34.Nf6;

And after 29...Rb6 the best move for White
is 30.Kh2! of course. You don't think it's all
rigged. All the proving variations could be
found in Kasparov's book.
30.Bf8 Kf8

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9+-+P+-+-0
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9+L+-+-mK-0
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31.Kh2!
»This important prophylactic move is one
which has occurred in many branches of this
game (cf. above). The king must be moved
off the weakened back rank, after which
White is fully ready to begin his offensive.«
Kasparov
31...Rb3! 32.Bd3! cd3?! 33.Qf4 Qa3?
The only move to keep balance was 33...d2!
34.Nh6 Qe7 35.Rg6 Qe5
Seemingly White's king position allowed
Black to achieve life-saving exchanges, but
...
36.Rg8 Ke7

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9+-+-+-+-0
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37.d6!

FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

2

This small pawn decides the game.
37...Ke6 38.Re8 Kd5 39.Re5 Ne5 40.d7
Rb8 41.Nf7 1:0.

Let’s see one more game of Garry Kasparov,
where same scenario repeated. His opponent
was Anatoly Karpov. Again Ruy Lopez was
played. Kasparov started king attack, the
highlight of which was prophylactic king
move timely made.

“Only the chess player who can do
prophylaxis moves in the heat of attack,
could be called an attacker of extra class.”

Kasparov : Karpov
Lyon (20), 1990

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9+l+-+-zp-0
9p+-zpr+-zp0
9+-+n+-+-0
9Psnp+N+N+0
9+-+-+-tRP0
9-vL-+-zPP+0
9+L+QtR-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy

26.Nh6!
“From this moment on I carried out a
sustained attack. Moreover, I played very
quickly - for some reason I had not a shadow
of doubt about the correctness of White's
attacking construction.” was written in Garry
Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part 2:
Kasparov Vs Karpov 1975–1985.
26...c3
After 26...Rh6 the game is quickly finished
by 27.Nd6! Qd7 (or 27...Qh5 28.Rg5! Qd1
29.Nf7 Kg8 30.Nh6 Kh8 31.Rd1 c3 32.Nf7
Kg8 33.Bg6! cb2? 34.Rh5 with mate)
28.Qg4! Qg4 29.Nf7 Kg8 30.Nh6 gh6
31.Rg4 Kf7 32.Bg6 Kg8 33.Bf5 Kf7 34.Be6

Ke8 35.Bd5. Karpov planned to grasp an
initiative with the move 26...с3, but he
missed the following Kasparov's move:
27.Nf5!
One of two possible winning continuations.
Needless to say, the other winning move is
27.Kh2. I can't believe that there is time for
it in such sharp position!
27...cb2 28.Qg4! Bc8
White's got tremendous domination, Black
could be saved by nothing else but miracle.
What's amazing and entertaining same time
that Garry Kasparov refutes all Black's
attempts with help of prophylaxis 29.Kh2 in
his book.
28...g6 29.Kh2! Qd7 30.Nh4!;
28...Rc8 29.Kh2! Qg6 30.Ng5;
28...Qd7 29.Kh2! Rh6 30.Nh6 Qg4 31.Nf7
Kg8 32.Rg4 (if 32...Kf7 33.Ng5 with mate).
29.Qh4 Rh6
In the event of 29...Kg8 again 30.Kh2 is
decisive - Black is in a kind of zugzwang;
for example: 30...Ra7 31.Ned6 Bd6
32.Nd6+– .
30.Nh6 gh6

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9Psn-+N+-wQ0
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9-zp-+-zPP+0
9+L+-tR-mK-0
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31.Kh2!
“My patent prophylactic move in the Ruy
Lopez.. Now the Knight on e4 can attack, as
rook is no more lost with check!" Kasparov.
31...Qe5
Mating motifs have appeared: 31...Bg7
32.Nd6 Qe1 33.Qh6! Bh6 34.Nf7#.
32.Ng5 Qf6 33.Re8 Bf5 34.Qh6!

FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

3

There were other ways too, but surely,
Kasparov chose the queen sacrifice.
34...Qh6 35.Nf7 Kh7 36.Bf5 Qg6 37.Bg6
More elegant would be 37.Rg6! Ne7 38.Re7!
Be7 39.Rg4#.
37...Kg7 38.Ra8 Be7 39.Rb8 a5 40.Be4 Kf7
41.Bd5 1:0.

Undoubtedly, prophylactic moves in attack
occur not only in Ruy Lopez and not only in
Kasparov games. I have an advice for those
who want to learn themselves or teach their
students of basic ideas how to lead an attack
or do mates in scheveningen as White. You
should necessarily see 2 wins of Emil
Sutovsky from Tilburg tournament in 1996.
They were played in an exemplary manner.
g4, g5, queen goes to h5, rook is moved via
f3 and voila. The fact that such strong
opponents as Van Welly and Judit Polgar
were defeated in 22 and 24 moves is part of
the charm. Here is the example how Judit
Polgar was crushed.

Sutovsky : J. Polgar, Tilburg 1996

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3
a6 6.Be2 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Be3 0–0 9.0–0 Qc7
10.g4!?

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9+pwq-vlpzpp0
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9-+-sNPzPP+0
9+-sN-vL-+-0
9PzPP+L+-zP0
9tR-+Q+RmK-0
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According to megabase the first one to dare

playing g4 in this position was Shatashvili
and he crushed not an ordinary opponent but
young Tigran Petrosian in 18 moves!

10.g4 Nc6 11.g5 Ne8 12.f5 Ne5 13.Bg4 Ng4
14.Qg4 Qc4 15.f6 Bd8 16.Qh4 g6 17.Qh6 e5
18.Nd5 1:0, Shatashvili : Petrosian, Tbilisi
1945.
10...Nc6!?
Two rounds earlier Van Wely was defeated
by Sutovsky in 24 moves after 10...b5?!
11.g5 Nfd7 12.Bd3! Re8 13.Qh5 g6 14.Qh4
b4 15.Nce2 Bb7? 16.Rf3+–, Sutovskij : Van
Wely, Tilburg 1996.
Anand defended wrongly in this position:
10...Re8?! 11.g5 Nfd7 12.Bd3 Nc6 13.Qh5
g6 14.Qh4 Bf8 15.Rf3, led to furious attack
which resulted in victory of Garry Kasparov
(1:0, Kasparov : Anand, Moscow 1996).
The best reaction on wing attack is banal
counter strike in center 10...d5! 11.ed5
(11.e5 Ne4) 11...Nd5 12.Nd5 ed5 13.Bf3
Nc6, with balanced position, Black
eventually even won in the game Fedorchuk
: Navara, Bol 2014.
11.g5 Nd7 12.f5 Nde5?!
It isn't probably the best defense despite the
fact that Spassky played this move in his
game against Kholmov in 1964. We'll see
more appropriate capture on d4 in the next
game.
13.f6 Bd8 14.Bd3
The Bishop opens way for Queen to h5.
14...Nd4
Better was 14...gf6 15.gf6 Kh8 16.Bh6 Rg8
17.Bg7 Rg7 18.fg7 Kg7 with compensation.
15.Bd4 Qa5?
Judit made this move too quickly being
certain in her opening preparation. The move
she had analyzed at home is the decisive
mistake by the way. Though it's difficult to
imagine for young chess players, but such
things happened. At that time computer
didn't verify the quality of analysis and home
preparation.
16.fg7 Kg7

FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

4

XIIIIIIIIY
9r+lvl-tr-+0
9+p+-+pmkp0
9p+-zpp+-+0
9wq-+-sn-zP-0
9-+-vLP+-+0
9+-sNL+-+-0
9PzPP+-+-zP0
9tR-+Q+RmK-0
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Now try yourself to find the only move
leading to irresistible attack.
17.Kh1!!
This blissful prophylactic move is winning
mathematically! Black has prepared the
exchange of dark squared bishops with Bb6,
but White is ready to trade his Bishop d4
only to the knight e5.
17.Qh5? Would be premature. This is the
move Polgar expected in her home analysis.
17...Bb6! 18.Bb6 Qb6 19.Kh1 Rg8! 20.Rf4
Kh8∞.
17...Bb6
The time for good advices has passed. Any
other move loses here too.
18.Be5 Qe5 19.Qh5
White's plan is to attack directly, for
example Rf6, Raf1, Qh6 and finally g5–g6.
19...Be3 20.Rf3 Bg5 21.Rg1 f6 22.h4 1:0.

Victories of Emil Sutovsky were excellent
material to study. Andrei Volokitin and me
worked out through his games to learn
standard ways of attack in scheveningen.
After few months only this work brought
results. In the open tournament 11 year old
junior, who played chess for 2 years only,
was paired with 62 year old master Victor
Zheliandinov, long term coach of Vassily
Ivanchuk and member of Karpov team.
What was really special about it for me - that
this game was an exam of my student Andrei
to my coach Viktor.

Volokitin : Zheliandinov, Lviv 1997

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3
d6 6.Be2 Be7 7.0–0 0–0 8.f4 a6 9.Be3 Qc7
10.g4 Nc6 11.g5 Nd7 12.f5
Andrei Volokitin was armed with theory
knowledge here, but Zheliandinov had to
solve his problems over the board.
12...Nd4
Not accidentally Zheliandinov made draws
with such legends as Karpov,Tal,
Polugaevsky, Geller. His active play style
and life optimism often bailed him out. His
ability to find counter play helped the master
in this game too. At least his way of defence
is estimated more optimistically by computer
than the one Judit Polgar chose in our
previous game.
13.Qd4

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13...Qd8!
It's very difficult psychologically to make
such backward move. But that is the best
chance for Black!
14.Kh1!
This quiet move is the strongest continuation
of attack! Such moves made during king
attack is prove of 11 year boy talent.
14...Ne5?
Black should have taken g5 pawn 14...Bg5!
15.Bg5 Qg5 16.fe6 fe6 17.Qd6 and despite
White's initiative position is playable
15.f6!
There is no escape now!

FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

5

15...gf6 16.gf6 Bf6 17.Rf6! Qf6 18.Rg1
Kh8 19.Bg5 Qg7 20.Be7 Qh6
20...Ng6 21.Bf6+–.

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9+-+-+-tRK0
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21.Qe3!
Queen sacrifice is decent ending for this
crashing attack. What's interesting that after
6 years absolutely identical game was played
not far from Lviv, in the Poland youth
championship U18, between Gajewski and

Czakon (Krynica 2003). 1:0.

Spraggett : Spassky, Montpellier 1985

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9zP-+-+-+-0
9-zP-+-+rzP0
9+K+-+R+-0
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No one else would comment the point of the
following game better than did Kevin
Spraggett who played it as White: "White
has a clear advantage but the former world
champion is defending very resourcefully.
White was intending to play 32.Rf7 followed

by Qh6 with a mating setup, but at the last
moment he realized that Spassky has
32…Rb2!, with a perpetual check! I could
have defended against this with 32.Qf3!?,
but after 32…Rb2 anyway. 33.Kb2 Dd4 and
after 34…Qe4 Black could force an ending
where White’s win is not so guaranteed. I
felt that White deserved better! I used up 10
minutes of my remaining 15 minutes and
finally found the solution. … one that I am
very proud of!"
32.Ka1!!
It's simply amazing how prophylactic move
could be the strongest continuation in such
sharp position.
32.Rf7 Rb2!=;
32.b4 Rb2! 33.Ka1 Ra2!=;
32.Qf3 Rb2 33.Kb2 Qd4 34.Kb1 Qe4
35.Qe4 de4.
32...Rb2
Otherwise White will proceed Rf7 and Qh6.
33.Qg3!! Kh8

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34.Rf7!
34.Rg1? Rg2!!
34...Rg2 35.Rh7! Kh7 36.Rf7 Kh6 37.Rf6
Kh7 38.Qh3 Kg7 39.Qg2 Kh7 40.Qg6 Kh8
1:0.

FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

6

Alekhine : Euwe, Wch (16) 1937

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48.Kh1!!
This ultra-brilliant quiet move overwhelms
Euwe on the spot. Now 49 Ne2 is threatened.
Immediate 48.Ne2 wouldn’t work, because
of check 48...Qe5.
48...Ra2?
Max Euwe made a mistake, but it was
extremely hard to find the right move. Even
computer can’t help with this. The best
chance for Euwe would be to play 48...h5!!
Kasparov put question mark to this move in
his book “My Great Predecessors”, which is
absolutely unfair. The idea behind this
strange move I revealed in the variation
49.Ne2 Rd1 50.Qb7! (an important
inbetween check, to take off the queen from
bad position) 50...Kf8! 51.Nd4 Rf1 52.Kh2.
It seems that position is clear now, but let’s
continue: 52...Bg1 53.Kg3 Bf2 54.Kf3 Bd4
55.Ke4 Bg1
Finally, there appears the position, which
was commented by Euwe: “The position
even draws, if the bishop has to be sacrificed
for the b-pawn.” Well, we have to give due
to Max Euwe for finding such unexpected
chance. But still if White gives the bishop it
would be hard to hold the fortress. White
will try then to push g4–g5 and create
zugzwang threat because Black rook has
little safe squares. Instead making draw with
bishop and rook is much easier! All Black
needs to do is to return his rook to 6th rank,

controlling b6 and it’s not clear how White
can achieve any progress in pushing his
pawn. Computers of course will keep saying
White is winning, but this is only extra proof
that the theme of fortress remains
incomprehensible for them.
49.Ne2! Ra1 50.Qb7!
Important in between move. Wrong is
50.Nd4? Rf1 51.Kh2 Bg1, winning back the
Queen.
50...Kf6?! 51.Nd4 Rf1 52.Kh2 Bg1 53.Kg3
Bf2 54.Kf3 Bd4 55.Ke4 Rd1
With Qа6 threatening.
56.Qd5?! Ke7
Transferring into pawn endgame is also
hopeless: 56...Re1 57.Kd4 Rd1 58.Kc5 Rd5
59.Kd5 Ke7 60.Kc6.
57.g4 h5 58.gh5 f5 59.Kf3 Rd3 60.Ke2 Re3
61.Kd2 Re4 62.hg6 1:0.

”At one of the sessions of our chess school for
talented young players, grandmaster Yusupov
remarked that, when studying Kasparov’s
games, he had noticed a specific procedure
that was often employed by the world
champion. With an offensive in full swing,
there would suddenly follow a quiet king
move, and later it would transpire that this
move decisively strengthened the attack. On
its previous square the king interfered, by
being open to a check in certain variations”.
Mark Dvoretsky

XIIIIIIIIY
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9p+-+p+-+0
9+p+nzP-+p0
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9-+-vL-zPK+0
9+-+-+-+-0
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Kasparov : Jobava, Rethymno 2003

FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

7

Make your choice, what is better here? To
capture on d5 either with the bishop or rook,
or maybe some prophylaxis. Please calculate
variations.
41.Kh2!!
Absolutely the best choice! If anyone chose
41.Rd5? he should practice in finding
opponent’s counter chances. Otherwise it’s
hard to explain why the move 41...Rg4! was
missed.
Taking with the bishop is more promising,
than the rook capture. 41.Bd5!? ed5, and if
you found the move 42.Re3!, you’ll be
pleased to know that Kasparov didn’t even
consider this strong move. (Garry studied
42.Rd5 Qg4 where big fighting is ahead).
41...b4
41...Rg4 42.Bd5 ed5 43.Rc3 Qe4. Now it
became obvious that absence of king on g2
allows to avoid queens exchange and
continue White’s attack 44.Rc8 Kd7 45.Qc3
d4 46.Qc7 Ke6 47.Re8+–.
42.Bd5 ed5 43.Rd5 Rg6
43...b3 44.Rd3.
44.Rd3! Rc6

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9+-+-+-+-0
xiiiiiiiiy

45.e6! Qe6 46.Re3 Qc4?
Losing is 46...Qf6? 47.Re7!, but after
46...Qd7! White would have to find some
more difficult moves: 47.Bb4 Re6 48.Rb3!
Qc6 49.Qh5 Bb4 50.Rb4 Re1 51.Rb8 Ke7
52.Qg5 Ke6 53.Qg4 Kf6 54.Qf4 Ke6
55.Kh3!+–.

47.Bb4 Re6 48.Be7 Ke7 49.Rc3!+– Qg4
50.Rc7 Kd6 51.Qc6 Ke5 52.Qc3 Kd5 1:0.

You may also find more interesting
examples on this theme in School of Chess
Excellence 2: Tactical Play: Mark Dvoretsky
Chapter “Don’t let the King interfere!”