player, so that in some variations my
Miguel Illescas:
analysis went beyond move 20. Finally, it
was time to play and I was very lucky to
MODERN OPENING PREPARATION
guess correctly: Manuel played all the best
(A nocturnal recipe against the King s
moves on that line of the Kings Indian, one
Indian)
after another, and I was able to string
together no less than 17 moves of my
The following game was played in the last
preparation.
round of the Spanish Championship held in
I hadn t slept at all but, perhaps as a
Linares (Spain), in the late summer of
reward for the previous night s effort,
2013. What happened in the hours before
fortune knocked at my door. Pure luck
had a great influence on the development
however, as I must confess that at five in
of the game, so I will deal with it before
the morning I was seriously considering
we get to the chess contents.
watching a movie instead of studying the
The previous day I had lost a decisive
labyrinth of the King's Indian Defense ...
game in my fight for the title, which was
now mathematically out of my reach. I had
Illescas Cordoba M. : Perez Candel. M.
every reason to feel unhappy, because
Linares 2013
although my opponent GM Ivan Salgado
had played very well and deserved to win,
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3
my opening play with White was honestly
The fianchetto is a solid option against the
very poor, unnatural and contrary to my
King s Indian defence. Among other things
style. In fact, I could not help feeling that I
it prevents Black from organizing an attack
had thrown the game overboard in the first
on the kingside, as it happens in some
ten moves.
other variations.
As usually happens after such a defeat, that
3...Bg7 4.Bg2 0 0 5.Nf3
night I couldn t sleep: the hours went by
I would normally play 5.Nc3 here, but I
and I kept going over my mistakes in the
wanted to try out an idea to sidestep my
game again and again. Five in the morning
opponent s preparation.
came round and I still hadn t slept a wink.
5...d6
As the last round had to be played at nine
Black can choose the Grunfeld defence
in the morning, I decided to take a shower
now with 5...d5, but Candelario s plans for
and use the lack of sleep to try and prepare
this game didn t include this option.
as thoroughly as possible for my last round
6.0 0 Nbd7
game, as a win would guarantee second
This is the line that I hoped Perez
place. I told myself that since my mood
Candelario would go for, as he had already
was not very good, I should try to
tried out this setup before. Black could
compensate it by achieving a decent
now choose between several different
opening position.
setups, associated with different moves.
With the help of my computer, I
The main alternatives are 6...Nc6, 6...c6 or
considered the different defenses that my
6...c5.
opponent, GM Manuel Perez Candelario,
7.Qc2!?
might use with special emphasis in the
This move order, delaying the
analysis of a specific variation of the
development of the queenside knight,
King's Indian Defense which could easily
restricts Black s options. I was convinced
appear on the board. I analyzed the main
that it would surprise my opponent, as I
options in each of the lines, trying to
had never used it before.
cover the tree of variations widthwise
I did know that my opponent had some
rather than lengthwise.
experience in the variation 7.Nc3 e5 8.e4
But one must always pay special
a6!?. In this line Black fights for an active
attention to the best moves for each
FIDE Surveys  Miguel Illescas 1
game by exchanging the knight on d4 Clearly the best move, opening the way for
followed by the c7-c5 push, frequently the f-pawn. If Black goes 13...a5 White can
preceded by & Ne5. My opponent would play 14.Be3! Nfd7 15.Bf2 and White s
have probably found one of my old games bishop has a very safe and active position,
in his database: 9.Qc2 ed4 10.Nd4 Ne5 from where it attack s the queenside and at
11.b3 c5 12.Nde2 Rb8 13.a4 Bg4 14.f3 the same time defends his king. In this
Bd7 15.Rd1 Ne8 16.f4 Nc6 17.Be3 Bg4 variation 14...d5?! doesn t work, because
18.Rab1 Qa5 19.h3 Be2 20.Ne2 b5 21.ab5 of 15.cd5 cd5 16.Bg5!Ä… and Black loses
ab5 22.cb5 Rb5 23.Kh2, Illescas Cordoba material.
M. : Piket J., Linares 1995. 14.Rb1
7...e5 8.Rd1 I was playing very fast, because we were
By quickly placing the rook on d1 White still following the main line that I had
prevents Black s modern plans based on prepared the night before.
a7-a6 and the game drifts towards more 14.Be3?! can t be recommended because
classical setups in this old variation of the of the advance 14...f5!
King s Indian. Although each of his 14.b4!? is interesting. Play could continue
following moves can be considered 14...Ne6 15.Nb3 (But not 15.Be3? Ne5
perfectly natural, Perez Candelario began 16.Ne6 Be6 17.c5, Matlak M. : Trapl J.,
to think and displayed some discomfort Ceske Budejovice; 17...Qf6!) 15...Ne5
with the course of the game. 16.Ne2, reaching a very complicated
8...Qe7 position that deserves to be analyzed
There are several move orders that lead to deeply.
the same game position after move 13, for 14...a5
example: 8...Re8 9.Nc3 c6 10.e4 ed4 A standard move that strengthens the
11.Nd4 Qe7 12.b3 or 8...ed4 9.Nd4 Re8 position of the black knight on 'c5' and
10.Nc3 c6 11.e4 Qe7 12.b3. allows the 'a8' rook to participate in the
9.Nc3 c6 10.e4 Re8 game, if only performing control tasks.
No one has dared to play 14...f5!?N yet,
XIIIIIIIIY
but it deserves to be considered. The idea
9r+l+r+k+0
is that after 15.ef5? Bd4 16.Rd4 Qe1
17.Bf1 Ne5 Black has the advantage.
9zpp+nwqpvlp0
XIIIIIIIIY
9-+pzp-snp+0
9r+l+r+k+0
9+-+-zp-+-0
9+p+nwqpvlp0
9-+PzPP+-+0
9-+pzp-+p+0
9+-sN-+NzP-0
9zp-sn-+-+-0
9PzPQ+-zPLzP0
9-+PsNP+-+0
9tR-vLR+-mK-0
9+PsN-+PzP-0
xiiiiiiiiy
9P+Q+-+LzP0
11.b3
Black is unnecessarily delaying the
9+RvLR+-mK-0
exchange on d4 which made me think that
xiiiiiiiiy
maybe 11.d5!? would be interesting.
However, I decided not to stray away from 15.Nce2!
my preparation. During my preparation I liked this
11...ed4 12.Nd4 Nc5 13.f3 Nfd7! prophylactic move a lot. It strengthens the
 d4 square considerably and continues
FIDE Surveys  Miguel Illescas 2
with the strategy initiated with my with an aggressive piece sacrifice 17...Nf3
previous move of moving pieces away 18.Nf3 Ne4. Black ended up with two
from the a1 h8 diagonal, restricting the pawns and active piece play for the knight,
strength of the Indian bishop. but I am unsure as to whether this offers
15.f4? would not have been appropriate, enough compensation. Play continued
due to 15... Nf6! 16.Re1 Nfe4. 19.Kg1 Nf6 20.Nf4 Bf5 21.Nd3 Ne4
And against 15.a3 the advance 15...f5!? is 22.Re1 Qf8?! (Better was 22...Qd7.)
even more interesting than on the previous 23.Nh4! Ng3 24.Bf4! Ne4 25.Nf5 gf5
move. 26.Kh2Ä….
15...Ne5 16.h3 17...Ne6!
More prophylaxis and control moves in Anticipating White s intentions, this move
Karpov style. 16.f4? is still bad, because of is aimed at the exchange of a piece, which
16...Ng4 17.Nc3 Nf6 and White is unable normally favours the player with less
to defend his e4 pawn. space. My preparation more or less
16...h5 finished here: White has reached a very
Black is playing consistently with the playable position, which is both tactically
standard patterns in the line. He prepares a and strategically very rich in content. From
possible h5-h4 advance and at the same now on I had to make the decisions in real
time prevents White s standard g4-f4 time.
expansion. However, it s not the only way The text move is better than 17...a4? 18.b4
to go. Ne6 (18...Nb3?! 19.Nb3 ab3 20.Rb3 Be6
A game between two specialists in this 21.Rc3.) 19.f4 Nd4 20.Nd4 Nd7 21.Bb2
variation continued 16...Qf8!? 17.g4 f5 Nf6 22.Re1 Bd7 23.Rbd1Ä…, Drasko M. :
18.ef5 gf5 19.Ng3 fg4 20.hg4 Ng6 Pavlovic M, Cacak.
21.Ndf5 Bf5 22.Nf5 Re6 23.Bg5 Rae8
XIIIIIIIIY
24.Qd2 Re2 25.Qd6 Ra2 26.Be3 Qd6
9r+l+r+k+0
27.Rd6 Nh4 28.Bc5 Rg2 29.Kf1 Nf5
30.Kg2 Nd6 31.Bd6 b5 32.f4 Rd8 33.Bc7
9+p+-wqpvl-0
Rd2 34.Kf3 Bc3 35.cb5 cb5 36.Rc1, ½ ½,
Drasko M. : Kotronias V., Dresden 2008. 9-+pzpn+p+0
A previous Kotronias game featured the
9zp-+-sn-+p0
artificial 16...f6. That game continued
17.Kh2 Bd7 18.a3 Rec8 19.f4 Nf7 20.b4
9-+PsNP+-+0
ab4 21.ab4 Na4, Henrichs T. : Kotronias
9zPP+-+PzPP0
V., Kallithea 2008 and now White could
have played 22.Ra1! c5 23.bc5 and
9-+Q+N+L+0
White s position would have been slightly
9+RvLR+-mK-0
better.
A possible novelty is 16...Ne6!?N, a
xiiiiiiiiy
natural move that nobody has decided to
18.Nxe6!?N
play yet.
This was the first move in the game where
17.a3
I stopped to think. I already had an
A typical move, preparing the eventual
important advantage on the clock  more
advance b4. Alternatively, the move
than forty minutes I seem to recall  and it
17.f4?! is, as always, quite premature, in
was quite obvious that my preparation had
view of 17...Ned7 and the e4 pawn is very
produced a psychological impact in my
weak.
opponent, as he seemed to be seriously
In the game Maiorov N. : Banikas H.,
worried and restless. I had to exploit this
Rethymnon 2010, the interesting
advantage by drawing up a good plan that
prophylactic move 17.Kh1!? was answered
FIDE Surveys  Miguel Illescas 3
would give him some new problems to d) A possible improvement is the original
solve. 21...Qd8!?N, to transfer the queen to b6 or
I remembered having seen a game that f6 depending on how the game proceeds,
continued with 18.f4 Nd4 19.Nd4 Nd7 for example: 22.Rbd1 (If 22.Nf3 Bb2
20.Bb2, but I didn t like the position of the 23.Rb2 Qf6!.) 22...Qb6 23.Kh2 Bd7. Once
bishop on b2 in this variation. Therefore I again the desired move 18.Be3?! can be
decided to look for some other ideas. Here answered by 18...f5! 19.ef5? Nd4.
follow a few interesting games that 18...fe6?
continue from this position, a brief Although my opponent reacted rather well
theoretical summary after 20...Nc5! 21.Re1 after being "caught" in the opening, Perez
Candelario was unable to withstand the
XIIIIIIIIY
pressure: this pawn capture is a big
9r+l+r+k+0
mistake, as it weakens the g6 pawn
decisively.
9+p+-wqpvl-0
The normal move was 18...Be6 with the
9-+pzp-+p+0 idea a5-a4. I was thinking of playing 19.f4
Nd7 and now I would have had to decide
9zp-sn-+-+p0
on the course of the game. I was
considering several options but I was still
9-+PsNPzP-+0
undecided when my opponent surprisingly
9zPP+-+-zPP0
captured on e6 with his pawn.
9-vLQ+-+L+0
XIIIIIIIIY
9+R+-tR-mK-0
9r+-+r+k+0
xiiiiiiiiy
9+p+nwqpvl-0
a) 21...Be6 22.Rbd1 Rad8?! 23.b4! ab4
9-+pzpl+p+0
24.ab4 Na6 25.b5! Nb4 26.Qc3 (26.Qd2!
9zp-+-+-+p0
c5 27.Nf5!Ä…) 26...c5 27.Nf5 Bc3 28.Ne7
Re7 29.Bc3 Red7 30.Bf6 Rc8? (30...Bc4
9-+P+PzP-+0
31.Bd8 Rd8) 31.Bf1 b6 32.Rd2+-, Drasko
M. : Nikolic M., Belgrade.
9zPP+-+-zPP0
b) 21...Qc7 22.Nf3 Bb2 23.Rb2 a4?! 24.b4
9-+Q+N+L+0
Nb3 25.Qc3 c5, Drasko M. : Paunovic D.,
Herceg Novi; 26.b5!?.
9+RvLR+-mK-0
c) 21...f5?! 22.ef5! Bd4 23.Bd4 Qe1
xiiiiiiiiy
24.Re1 Re1 25.Kh2 Bf5 26.Qd2 Re7
27.Bb2 Rae8 28.Qd6 Re2 29.Qd4! (Better a) I had decided against 20.Bb2?! Bb2
than 29.Qf6 R8e7 30.Kg1 Re1 31.Kh2 21.Rb2 a4! 22.b4?! Nb6!
R1e2 32.Kg1 Re1 33.Kh2 R1e2 34.Kg1 b) And I knew that 20.Be3? a4 21.b4 Bf5!
1/2 1/2, Marin M. : Kotronias V., was bad.
Plovdiv) 29...Ne6 30.Qh8 Kf7 31.Qh7 Kf8 c) I wanted to analyze deeply 20.f5,
32.Be5 Rd8 33.c5 Be4 34.Qh8 Ke7 35.Qf6 although my preliminary calculations led
Kd7 36.Qf7 Kc8 37.Qe6 Rd7 38.Bf6 Rg2 me to believe that after 20...Bf5! (Much
39.Kh1 Rgd2 40.Kg1 (40.Qe4 Rd1 41.Kg2 better than 20...gf5 21.ef5 Bf5 22.Qf5 Qe2
R7d2 42.Kf3 Rf1 43.Ke3 Re1) 40...Kb8 23.Bf4.) 21.ef5 Qe2 22.Qe2 Re2 23.fg6
41.Be5 Ka7 42.Bd6 Rd1 43.Kf2 Bf5 fg6 24.Rd6 Ne5 the game would be equal.
44.Qf6 Rd2 45.Ke1 Rd3 46.Qf8 Rb3 47.a4 d) I would have probably opted for
Re3 48.Kf2 Rd6 49.cd6 Rd3 and Black is 20.Nd4, which leads to some complicated
still fighting although I don t think that he positions, for example after 20...Nc5 21.b4
will achieve a draw. ab4 22.ab4 Na4 23.Ne6 Qe6 24.Rb3.
FIDE Surveys  Miguel Illescas 4
19.f4 Nf7 This move didn t surprise me. Black tries
White would also be clearly better after to finish his development and for the
19...Nd7 20.e5! as in the game. moment forgets about getting his pawn
With the game's move Black would be fine back. I now calculated the game line up to
if he had time to play e6-e5, but... the end. Truthfully, it wasn´t very difficult.
20.e5!Ä… Black can t really do much to prevent the
final assault on his weak king.
XIIIIIIIIY
After 23...Ne5 24.Re1 Nf7 25.cd5 cd5
9r+l+r+k+0
26.Nd5; or 23...Be5 24.Qg6 Bg7 25.Nh5
Nh8 26.Nf6 an White s advantage is
9+p+-wqnvl-0
decisive.
9-+pzpp+p+0 Hardly better is 23...Qg5 24.Qg5 Ng5
25.Nh5 and White has an important
9zp-+-zP-+p0
material and positional advantage.
24.Ng6 Qc5 25.Kh2 b5
9-+P+-zP-+0
25...Nh8 wouldn t be very helpful for the
9zPP+-+-zPP0
defence, after 26.Nh8 Bh8 27.Bh6 Re7 (If
27...Qe7 28.Rd4 is crushing.) 28.Qg5 Bg7
9-+Q+N+L+0
29.b4 and the black queen must abandon
9+RvLR+-mK-0
the defence of the rook on e7.
XIIIIIIIIY
xiiiiiiiiy
This is the problem: with the black pawn
9r+-+r+k+0
on h7 everything would be fine, but now
9+-+l+nvl-0
the black castled king will fall under a very
strong attack.
9-+p+p+N+0
20...g5
9zppwqpzP-+Q0
Trying to complicate the game. After
20...de5 21.Qg6 White s advantage is very
9-+P+-+-+0
clear.
20...Kh7 doesn t work due to 21.Be4
9zPP+-+-zPP0
winning.
9-+-+-+LmK0
21.Qg6!
The white queen creates havoc on the
9+RvLR+-+-0
kingside. There is no good advice for
xiiiiiiiiy
Black.
21...d5 22.Qxh5 gf4 23.Nf4! 26.Rf1!
One of the advantages of playing the Preparing the final combination which
opening fast is that later on you have more Black can t really prevent.
time to calculate the middlegame 26...Ra7
complications, which in my case proved
very useful as I hardly slept the night
before. I took my time to capture with the
knight because I wanted to be sure that the
kingside attack was winning.
I was tempted to consolidate the extra
pawn with 23.gf4 but I considered that
after 23...Nh6 Black could put up a lengthy
defence.
23...Bd7
FIDE Surveys  Miguel Illescas 5
imminent mate with the rook on the fourth
XIIIIIIIIY
rank, for example after 31...Kh8 32.Rf4
9-+-+r+k+0
Qf8 33.Rh4 Bh6 34.Bf6 Qg7 35.Qg7#
mate. 1:0.
9tr-+l+nvl-0
9-+p+p+N+0
9zppwqpzP-+Q0
9-+P+-+-+0
9zPP+-+-zPP0
9-+-+-+LmK0
9+RvL-+R+-0
xiiiiiiiiy
27.Rf7!
This sacrifice eliminates one of the
defenders of the enemy s king, and at the
same time extracts his majesty to open
ground.
27...Kf7 28.Ne7!
The king won t be allowed to return to the
warmth of the 'g8' square and he is forced
to accept a second sacrifice.
28...Kxe7
After 28...Kf8 29.Qf3! Ke7 30.Bg5 Bf6
31.Qf6# the game finishes even faster.
29.Bg5
White s reserve pieces now come into play
with check and Black s king will be
returned to the fold where it will receive
mate.
29...Kf8 30.Rf1 Kg8 31.Qf7
XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-+r+k+0
9tr-+l+Qvl-0
9-+p+p+-+0
9zppwqpzP-vL-0
9-+P+-+-+0
9zPP+-+-zPP0
9-+-+-+LmK0
9+-+-+R+-0
xiiiiiiiiy
and Black decided to resign in face of the
FIDE Surveys  Miguel Illescas 6