Whether I work with small children who
Jacob Aagard:
cannot see that the pieces can be taken
(occasionally this includes the king) or if I
Intuition  Three building work with top 100 grandmasters, I have
found that there is always a basic
Blocks
component that can be improved  and this
is our basic intuition about what is required
Let us start with three small exercises.
in a position. In this article I will try to
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present the method I use for strengthening
the intuition of these players by directing
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their focus. I wrote a whole book on this:
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Grandmaster Preparation  Positional
Play, which contains a number of
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examples and 222 positional exercises.
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But first I want to define narrowly what I
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mean by intuition here  or to be precise, I
want to make clear that I do not talk about
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pattern recognition. Obviously pattern
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recognition is a great part of our intuitive
arsenal and a study of chess history is
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essential for anyone wanting to achieve
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mastery in chess. But here I am simply
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talking about intuitive focus.
In my observation there are three factors
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that are at play in almost all positions:
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which is weaknesses, piece activity and the
opponent s ideas and threats. Basically
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weaknesses represent the static aspect of
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chess, the pieces represent dynamics and
9PvlQzP-+-+0 the opponent makes every second move.
Though chess is obviously far more
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complicated, the value of the students learn
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to look at these factors cannot be
understood. And as with riding a bicycle,
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we need to start with doing it consciously
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again and again, before it becomes second
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almost automatic.
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So, in order to train intuition, I developed a
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method of asking three simple questions,
inspired by psychological processes I had
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read about. The basic proposition is that
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we have far more answers inside us than
we can usually access. The problem is to
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know what the question is. But in order for
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a training method to be useful, the
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questions need to be unchanged. Therefore
I ended up with:
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1. Where are the weaknesses?
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2. Which is the worst placed piece?
FIDE Surveys  Jacob Aagard 1
3. What is your opponent s idea? onscious of the weakness I immediately
While working with my students, I ask feel on the dark squares, because of how
these questions again and again, as well as the white knights are positioned. From
request them to do so when they work with there it takes only seconds before the
their homework. When we then look at the combination has been discovered.
training positions together (or their games White s idea of Nd2-c4 and the fact that
for that sake), we have a good chance of Black has not developed his queenside
discussing what weaknesses are, the comes in as less important information. It
creating of them, fixing them and so on. is good to know, but makes little difference
The same with piece activity and dynamic for our choice of move.
principles, such as expand a lead in 9...Ng4! 10.Bxg4
development or lose it, give all the pieces a 10.d5 with a slight edge for White is the
function and so on. These are so basic that curious computer suggestion. This is
we at times forget to talk about them with nonsense. After 10...Nxe3 11.fxe3 a5
our students, but because they are so basic, Black is at least slightly better! At least the
they are very important. (I am a deep computer chooses the right moves; here for
believer in importing principles and once, it got it wrong...
lessons from other sports or fields into 10...Bxg4 11.Qxg4 exd4 12.Bf4
chess training, as well as exporting them, Potkin decides to use his lead in
and in many sports you find a recurring development before it disappears.
focus on getting the basics absolutely right. However, his position cannot bear it. Still
In chess I think Magnus Carlsen has it is an understandable gamble.
mastered this, though how he got there is 12.Bxd4 Bxd4 13.Nc4 Nd7 14.Rad1 Bc5 is
not public knowledge). nice for Black as well.
Finally there is prophylactic thinking. We 12...dxc3 13.Nc4?!
all teach this to our students, so I will not 13.bxc3 Nd7 14.Qg3 Ne5 is slightly better
push it here. for Black.
Let s take a look at the three exercises: 13...cxb2 14.Rab1 Qd7 15.Qxd7 Nxd7
16.Bxd6 Rfe8
Potkin V. : Andreikin D. Black has a clear edge, but failed to win
Moscow 2012 the endgame, which was eventually drawn
on move 70.
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Anish Giri  Levon Aronian
9zppwq-+pvlp0 Istanbul (ol) 2012
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Most strong players would find the best 9-zP-+-zPLzP0
move here very quickly; probably see it
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without really knowing why. Because I
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have gone through these three questions
more than 10,000 times, I am quite The pawn on d4 is weak and the pawns on
FIDE Surveys  Jacob Aagard 2
b2 and c5 are potential weaknesses later This example is taken from the book. One
on. White is intending Nc3-e4-d6. Black's critic did not fully understand why the c8-
worst piece by far is the bishop on c8 (and bishop and the b1-knight were worse
White's the knight on b1). placed that the rooks in the corner.
All of this inspires Black to strike at the Elsewhere in the book this is explained,
main weakness with a pawn sacrifice that but most reviewers never read the whole
opens up the position before White has thing... The knight and bishop are not only
managed to get his pieces out. From without a function (as are the rooks), they
looking passive and about to be behind in are also in the way! For this reason it is
development, Black becomes very active practical to get the minor pieces out first.
and solves his structural problems (the The critic also disliked that the d4-pawn is
pawns were making the c8-bishop bad). weak, but not won. This is typical for those
The pawn is regained soon enough. who believe only in variations to apply a
18...e5!! 19.d5 limited point of view to those who talk
19.dxe5 Qe7 20.f4 (20.Nc3 is possible about ideas. I see it again and again: they
better, but Black has solved all his say that we are dogmatic and stupid and
problems and should be looking for a way afterwards criticise us for it.
to play for an advantage.) 20...Rd8! The ...e5 break works because d4 is weak.
19...f5?! Black s reward is dynamic, using a static
19...cxd5 followed by ...Qe7, when White feature.
would find the c5-pawn and the b2-pawn
to be unpleasantly weak. Hou Yifan  Ruan Lufei
20.dxc6 e4 21.cxb7 Bxb7 22.c6 Ba6 Jermuk 2012
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For some reason all my students are
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attracted to advancing the h-pawn. I really
23.Qb3?!
cannot understand it, as this pawn can only
Passive play is not a good idea in a
become a weakness, while at the moment it
position like this, where your opponent
beautifully supports the g2-g4 advance, for
seems to be holding all the trumps.
which White's pieces are ideally placed.
23.c7!? was better it seems. After 23...Qe7
Still this is also what the World Champion
24.Qc6 e3 25.Kh1 exf2 26.Nc3 the
played, so my lack of understanding might
position is desperately unclear.
be a general weakness with me, even if the
23...Rc8 24.Nc3 Rxc6 25.Nd5 Bc5!
move is no good here?
26.Bf1 f4 27.Nxf4 Bxf2+ 28.Kh1 Rb6
26.h4?
29.Qc2 e3
Black's advantage is colossal and lead to a
victory on move 48.
FIDE Surveys  Jacob Aagard 3
The correct move was 26.f4!, where White 29...Nf6?!
is on a roll after either 26...Nf7 27.Ne3 g6 Black would have done better with 29...a5!
28.g4! when after 30.bxa5 Ra8 31.f3 f4 32.Qe2
Nd6! the position is unbalanced and even.
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30.Qf3 Ng4?
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30...Ne4 31.Qf4 a5 32.bxa5 c5 33.dxc5
Nxc5 34.Ne3.
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31.Qf4 h5 32.Ng3
9p+-+q+pzp0 32.Nd2!? Re7 33.Nf3 Rf8 34.Ng5 Qg6
35.Nh3ą.
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32...Rf8?
32...Rb6! 33.Ne2 Rf8 34.g3 Rg6 35.f3 Nh6
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36.Qd2 Re8 37.Nf4ą.
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33.f3 Nh6 34.Qg5+- Be8 35.e6 Qg6
36.Re5 c6
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with the idea 28...fxg4 29.f5! and White
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wins.
Or 26...Ne4 27.Bxe4! (Maybe it was
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giving up this bishop that distressed my
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students, now the f5-pawn is so weak?
Well, exchanges should historically be 9zP-+-+PsN-0
judged by which pieces remains and not
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which are exchanged. Looking at it like
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this, hopefully all would like the
blockading knight over the bad bishop?)
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27...fxe4 28.Ne3 Rf8 29.Rf1 g6 30.g4
37.Ne2!
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37.Bxf5 Nxf5 38.Nxf5 Kh7ą.
37...Kh7?! 38.Nf4 Qxg5 39.hxg5 Ng8
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40.e7 1:0.
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As with all training methods, the three
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questions are limited. My idea is limited: I
want to have a tool to talk about essentials,
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to train the understanding of essentials and
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to systematically direct their focus. It has
helped quite a number of players to
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progress and I warmly recommend this as a
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training system for other trainers. But
please do not teach your students to ask
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these questions 50 times during a game.
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They will be locked up within a month and
you will have lost a source of income!
White's advantage is devastating.
26...Ne4 27.Qh3 Bd7 28.Rbc1 Qf7
29.Qe3
From this point Hou Yifan outplays her
opponent brutally.
FIDE Surveys  Jacob Aagard 4