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ISSUE 9

MODERN CHESS MAGAZINE Understand Understand the Positions with Closed Center - Part 1 How to Fight for an Open File Endgame Series Part 9

Mar Del Plata Structure - Attacking Manual for Black Typical Middlegame Combinations Bishop Sacrifice on "h7"

Table of contents 3

Typical Tactical Ideas in the Middlegame - Bishop Sacrifice on "h7" (GM Grigor Grigorov)

3 4 5 8 10 11 12 14

Greco,Gioacchino - NN / Europe Europe, 1620 Pestalozzi,Max - Duhm,Hans / Bern Bern, 1908 Paulsen,Louis - Schwarz,Adolf / Leipzig m Leipzig (3), 1879 Shirov,Alexei (2726) - Reinderman,Dimitri (2542) Spassky,Boris V - Geller,Efim P / Candidates sf2 Riga (6), 1965 Szabo,Laszlo - Bisguier,Arthur Bernard / Buenos Aires CA Buenos Aires (10), 1955 Kudrin,Sergey (2545) - Machado,Hermes Amilcar (2340) TEST POSITIONS

16 Methods of Playing in Positions with Closed Center - Part 1 (GM GrigorGrigorov) 16 21 33

Grigorov,Grigor (2497) - Georgiev,Krum (2410) Gelfand,Boris (2777) - Jones,Gawain C (2654) TEST

35 Attacking Manual for Black - Mar Del Plata Structure (GM Petar G. Arnaudov) 35 38 40 42 44 47

Taimanov,Mark E - Najdorf,Miguel / Zuerich ct Zuerich (4), 1953 Kortschnoj,Viktor (2602) - Cheparinov,Ivan (2687) So,Wesley (2779) - Nakamura,Hikaru (2814) Ziegler,Ari (2402) - Hillarp Persson,Tiger (2482) Piket,Jeroen (2540) - Kasparov,Garry (2775) TEST

48 Methods of Fighting for an Open File (GM Vladimir Georgiev) 48 50 51 54 55 57

58 58 62 62 65 67 69 70

Capablanca,Jose Raul - Alekhine,Alexander Kramnik,Vladimir (2797) - Aronian,Levon (2816) Melkumyan,H (2650) - Vignesh,N R (2423) Botvinnik,Mikhail - Chekhover,Vitaly Steinitz - Sellman 1885 TEST

Endgame Series - Part 9 (GM Davorin Kuljasevic) Distant opposition 1-3 Side opposition Mehaj,Driton (2204) - Swiercz,D (2656) Diagonal opposition 1-2 Knight opposition 1-2 Opposition battle 1 TEST

Typical Tactical Ideas in the Middlegame - Bishop Sacrifice on "h7" GM Grigor Grigorov (materials are prepared together with GM Viktor Gavrikov)

master Gioacchino Greco in 1620. Even though his opponent's play is far from optimal, this game perfectly illustrates the idea of White's combination. Let's take a look at it. Greco,Gioacchino - NN Europe Europe, 1620  Of course,

nowadays, it is not difficult to see that Black's play is in a deep contradiction with the classical positional principles - the opponent of Greco ignores the fight for the center. Nevertheless, it is pointless to put a question mark after Black's move since when the game was played, there was no structured education concerning the positional play. Greco is already preparing his famous

sacrifice. With his last move, he introduces an interesting trap. The opponent runs into it immediately.  After this move, Black's position is

completely lost. 

Dear Readers, This article marks the beginning of a new course which is designed to improve your tactical understanding. Within the framework of these series, we will mainly focus on some typical tactical ideas in the middlegame. I am fully convinced that the improvement of your tactical vision will enable you to better understand our educational materials on the typical pawn structures in the middlegame. Our first article features one of the most important middlegame combinations - bishop sacrifice on "h7". Before we start dealing with this topic, I would like to mention that I have worked on this subject in collaboration with my trainer GM Viktor Gavrikov who passed away in April of this year. To my knowledge, this combination occurred for the first time in a game played by the old Italian

This is the point behind the move  By playing , White opens up the d1–h5 diagonal for his queen. It is not difficult to see that this sacrifice is based on one very simple rule - when attacking, we should always try to find a way to bring our queen into the attack. 3



Pestalozzi,Max - Duhm,Hans Bern Bern, 1908 In the following simple example, the sacrifice of bishop was realized without the help of the hpawn because white queen was already on the kingside. This

exchange is favorable for Black. Correct continuation is  

This move opens up the h-file for the rook, but it is already impossible to save the game. To mate leads  in view of  with mate to follow.; Also bad is  when White's most simple way to win is  Followed by  or  

 After Black obtains a pleasant position b    1/2 Richter,K-Stahlberg,G/Munich

1936/(45)



Now

everything is ready for the sacrifice on h7.  

  

  And Black was mated in the center of the board. Of course, nowadays, such a game is hardly possible, but the tactical ideas are the same. 1–0

Black`s first mistake in the game and at the same time a decisive one. Also

here

was

necessary to play and Black`s prospects are preferable since he has active pieces and strong pawn center. Note that the f7– f5 advance is quite typical for positions in which our opponent has a pawn on e5. In this way, we could eliminate his space advantage. 

4

 

Paulsen,Louis - Schwarz,Adolf Leipzig m Leipzig (3), 1879 Not always can the exposed position of opponent`s king be so easily exploited after sacrifice on h7 - sometimes the attacking side must find the correct continuation. 

most popular continuation.

The

 The plan with b2–b4 is usual in modern

practice, but was played for the first time in this game.



 The main alternative is 

Of course! This typical sacrifice is possible because white queen controls the important g5– square. By now, the reader should have noted that this bishop sacrifice works exceptionally well in positions in which there is a pawn on e5. This pawn not only secures a space advantage, but at the same time, makes it difficult for the opponent to bring his pieces into the defence.

(after the known mistake is in view of 1–0 Illescas Cordoba,M (2555)-Jussupow,A (2655)/Linares 1992/(70))

 

occurred was played 95 years later, where White continued with

   It is interesting that the next game where the position after 



1–0 Grefe,J (2506)-Bender,H (1785)/New York 1974/(42)  Threatening to win the d5–pawn by means of   

This move is leading to a forced mate. The only possibility to avoid mate was    

1–0

5

Correct was  after which the combination   is sufficient only for a draw -  a) 

calculating variations in this kind of positions. After  White has only three pawns for the sacrificed rook, but Black couldn't coordinate his pieces. White has enough time to castle and bring his rook into the attack. For example:  



Very typical idea for this kind of positions. In order to provoke the opponent's king to come closer to the center, White is ready to sacrifice his knight. You should remember that the d3– square is the optimal position of the queen. From here, the queen could go to h7 or attack the king via third rank. () If Black takes the knight by  then White could mate him. For example:  

b) 

Black is helpless. The threat is  followed by  (But not  because of the typical )  (dangerous for Black looks    (white queen will be trapped in case of ) 

   



As the reader probably remembers, this typical defensive idea was seen in the previous game, too. In this position, however, there is no forced mate since the black king could escape via d8. Always look at this square when you are

The best defence. 6

After  White is winning by using an idea we are already familiar with  As it happens very often is such positions, this rook lift decides the outcome of the game.; The move  doesn't help either   

This is another very instructive moment. Now the black rook is forced to occupy the h8– square. As we are going to see later, this is an important concession.  (In response to  White could react with the typical  Remember this move. First of all, we should cut off the way back of Black's king.)  This is the point! With a black rook on f8, this move wouldn't be possible.  (The move  doesn't help either.  With the threat of h4–h5. White is winning. Sometimes, when the black king is on g6, the advance of the h-pawn is an important additional attacking resource.)   We shouldn't forget this rook transfer along third rank.  

This move is missing the win. White should continue the attack by  We have already pointed out that d3 is the best square for the queen in such positions. In this concrete situation, it is very important to provoke the f7–f5 advance, preventing Black from playing the flexible f7–f6 later. The following variations illustrate very well White's attacking ideas in such positions.    Now, all the pieces are participating in the attack. Of course, all the complications will be in White's favor. For example:         

7



As the reader already knows, in the vast majority of positions, the idea of Greco doesn't decide the game immediately. Very often, we should keep finding the most precise continuations and show skills in the attack. When it comes to attacking masterpieces, one of the names that come to mind is Alexei Shirov. Let's take a look at his game against Dmitri Reinderman played in Wijk aan Zee, 1999. On the diagram, we see a typical French position in which White could proceed with the idea of Greco. Of course, Shirov grabs the bull by the horns.

Black misses his chance and loses. Was necessary to play   and White is only slightly better.

 All white pieces are ready for action

 Of course White increases

 

the attacking potential instead of winning back the material by

and the attack begins. g8 This time, the move  is impossible because of  (or even 



 Otherwise White will play  and        1–0

Shirov,Alexei (2726) - Reinderman,Dimitri (2542) Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee (11), 29.01.1999 The most tenacious. We already know that in such positions, the d8–square belongs to the king. Weak is  At this point, White's most convincing continuation is  Opening up the position.   And White is winning.  Threatening .

Less clear is the continuation  since Black king could escape via d8. For example, 8

after   White's win is not so obvious.

course, in such position, the pawns shouldn't be taken into consideration.



 Bad is  in view of    

The idea to escape via f8, doesn't work here. For example, after  White has the powerful  when Black couldn't escape from the cage.  With a mate to follow.   allows Black to defend his king. 

Also bad was   (stronger than  or      transposes to the

game.

 Very elegant solution! Shirov makes the

most of the restricted mobility of Black's king. Black should somehow prevent the threat of   

In order to create decisive threats, White needs to open the position of the black king. Shirov continues to play energetically. With his last move, he removes an important defender of the king - the f7–pawn. Of 

To a forced mate leads  9

 A little bit more tenacious was  



and Black resigned.



1–0 Spassky,Boris V - Geller,Efim P Candidates sf2 Riga (6), 1965

after

which

White



should

follow

with

After this blow, White is winning in all the variations. For example:     

In some positions, the idea of Greco could appear quite by surprise. That is why you should learn to recognize the typical patterns. Let’s take a look at the following example. The diagram position was reached in the game between Spassky and Geller played in 1965. It looks like White should take the d4–pawn, thus entering a slightly better position. Nevertheless, the welltrained eye could spot some interesting patterns. For example, it is obvious that there are no pieces around the black king. In order to make use of Black's vulnerable kingside, White should open diagonals and free squares for his pieces. In the game, Boris Spassky found a very original tactical possibility White's idea is just to open the b1–h7

Simpler was 

diagonal for his bishop

  Forces the win of queen.

Black loses the control over the g5–

  

square, thus making possible the combination of Greco.

The weakened position of black king gives White sufficient compensation for the pawn after  but the game move is 10

a blunder which leads to a loss.  

In case of  was possible  

This is the point. White frees the g5–square for his knight. Later on, he should find a way to bring his queen into the attack. Less clear is the continuation   

     and Black resigned in view of 

1–0 Szabo,Laszlo - Bisguier,Arthur Bernard Buenos Aires CA Buenos Aires (10), 1955

This is the only way to prolong the resistance.     

So far, we have studied only examples where after the sacrifice on h7, we bring our knight and queen into the attack. Sometimes, however, it is quite possible to attack in a different way. For example, in a number of situations, the typical bishop sacrifice is followed by the inclusion of major pieces. Let's take a look at the following 11

instructive example: The diagram position was reached in the game Szabo - Bisguier played in 1955. When looking at this position, it is not difficult to understand that White is clearly better. He is ahead in the development, the e5– knight is very strong and the d1–rook controls the only open file in the position. Furthermore, the white c2–bishop creates a direct pressure against the black king. The only defender of the black king is the f6–knight. That is why Szabo decides to chase it away by playing

 

This move prepares the sacrifice on h7 after g4–g5. At the same time, White could bring his rook into the game via the g4–square. 

 Was necessary   with some play for the

pawn.  Overlooking White`s idea. 

Black could not prevent the threat of . That is why he resigned. 1–0 Kudrin,Sergey (2545) - Machado,Hermes Amilcar (2340) Thessaloniki ol (Men) Thessaloniki (5), 1988

 

After  wins or       

Before finishing the current topic, I would like to deal with one additional idea - bishop sacrifice on "h7" followed by a tactical blockade on the f6–square. What do we mean by "tactical blockade on the f6–square"? Very often, after a bishop sacrifice on h7, our opponent tries to evacuate his king or to bring his major pieces into the defence by advancing his f7–pawn. That is why in a number of positions we try to block 12

the f7–pawn, even at the price of a piece sacrifice. By doing it, we not only restrict the mobility of our opponent's king, but at the same time we isolate his pieces so they couldn't participate in the defence. In order to illustrate this idea, I would like to provide you with a very interesting example. The diagram position was reached in the game Kudrin - Machado, played in Thessaloniki 1988. It is obvious that the black kingside is extremely vulnerable. Of course, different ideas based on the h7 bishop sacrifice come to mind. In the game, Black followed with the careless underestimating possibilities. 

White`s

 

attacking

Perhaps the best move was  when the typical  Could be met by  By advancing his f-pawn, Black prepares the evacuation of his king. 

This is the point! White blockades the f7–pawn threatening  or . Now the black king is restricted, while the other pieces are isolated.  This is the best defence. Black is trying

to bring his queen into the defence. Very bad is With mate to follow.; Also weak, but a little bit more stubborn is 

Very strong intermediate move. White is already preparing the blockade sacrifice on the f6– square. It turns out that Black has no good defence. Only to a draw leads 



White is winning after the following forced sequence 

 After  White continues   with decisive threats.

13

The advance of the f-pawn is again the key defensive resource. Nevertheless, in this concrete position, this idea turns out to be insufficient. White could follow with the powerful  When Black is losing by force. For example:   

White is winning.   

  when White maintains the advantage by         Black resigned because of mate after  

1-0

TEST POSITIONS 1. White to move

This loses immediately. Also bad is  because of   With mate.; The only defence was 

The e5-pawn gives White a considerable space advantage. How could he proceed with the attack?

14

2. White to move

White has a space advantage and his pieces are dominating the board. How to develop the initiative?

3. White to move

White enjoys a considerable space advantage on the kingside while the h7-pawn is vulnerable. In order to win, however, he should open files for his major pieces. How would you continue the attack?

4. White to move

Again, the e5-pawn gives us a lot of attacking possibilities on the kingside. Furthermore, the mobility of Black's king is restricted. How should White start an attack? 5. White to move

Black has just taken White's e5-pawn with the knight. Despite of being a pawn dawn, White has open diagonals for his bishops. How could White develop the initiative?

15

Methods of Playing in Positions with Closed Center - Part 1 GM Grigor Ggrigorov

subtleties of closed positions will improve your understanding of a number of openings which lead to positions with closed center. To mention just a few: King's Indian Defence, Ruy Lopez, Classical Benoni, French Defence and many others. As we have mentioned on many occasions, it is not possible to build a reliable opening repertoire without understanding the typical middlegames. In my first article dedicated to the closed center, I will discuss the following pawn structure: c4, d5 and e4 against c5, d6 and e5. This pawn structure is quite typical for King's Indian Defence and Classical Benoni. Despite the fact that I have always played this structure as White, within the framework of the current article, I will present the ideas of both sides. I hope that at the end of this course you will have a higher chess understanding. I would like to start with one of my recent games in which I played against the Bulgarian GM Krum Georgiev. My opponent played his favourite King's Indian Defence which was met by the solid Fianchetto System. After the first 11 moves, the position on the diagram was reached. Grigorov,Grigor (2497) - Georgiev,Krum (2410) GRE-chT 44th Achaea, 09.07.2016

Dear Reader, We are about to start dealing with an extremely complex and important type of middlegame positions - closed center. In my role as chess trainer, I have come to realize that closed positions are something of a nightmare for inexperienced chess players. The reason is rather simple - in such positions, the ability to create the right plan is much more important than the calculation of concrete variations. In order to find the right plan, however, we need a lot of knowledge and experience. That is why everyone who wants to progress in the field of chess should spend a considerable amount of time studying closed positions. There is also another factor in support of the importance of the current topic that I would like to bring to your attention. Knowledge of the

Since it is White to move, I was obliged to create a long-term plan. As the reader could see, White's d5–pawn gives him a space advantage on the queenside. In order to establish his plan, White could refer to one of the classical 16

positional principles which says that we should play on the wing where we have a space advantage. That is why White should try to build an activity on the queenside. In the game, I played  Very typical move. In closed positions, we

must find a way to bring our major pieces into play. In order to achieve that, we should open files by means of different pawn contacts. With his last move, White starts preparing the – pawn advance. Later on, he could go for  followed by – and . After opening the bfile, White’s major pieces will try to invade Black's camp. Nevertheless, what will happen if Black sticks to a passive strategy by playing moves like –, , – and . Later on, White's  could be answered by means of  followed by massive exchanges along the file. Will White retain his advantage? In order to answer this question, we should know the concept of "space advantage". In general, when we have space advantage, we shouldn't exchange pieces, because our opponent will have the same number of squares for fewer pieces. Nevertheless, this rule is valid when it comes to the minor pieces. Usually, the exchanges of major pieces favor the side with space advantage. Why? When looking at the current position, it is easy to understand that White's space advantage is defined by the pawn structure. White's central pawn chain takes important squares from Black's minor pieces. That is why Black has difficulties to find reliable squares for his bishops and knights. Black's only chance to create counterplay consists in opening a file for his major pieces (for example the – break comes into consideration). If White manages to exchange all the major pieces, however, Black will be left with his restricted knights and bishops. It becomes clear that by exchanging rooks and queens White could restrict Black's counterplay.  Black's intention is obvious. Since he wants to put his queen on , by playing –, he prevents White from playing  in the

future. Nevertheless, to a certain extent, the move – is a concession. At this point, there

are two important structural drawbacks in Black's position. If we suppose that the b-file is open, in some cases White’s major pieces could invade Black's camp via the weakened – square. Another important drawback consists in the fact that the structure , .  against , ,  is favorable for White since he has additional pawn contact - ––, thus breaking Black's queenside defence. Long story short, it is always dangerous to move your pawns on the wing where your opponent is stronger.  Another important move. Before playing –, White should protect the –pawn. At the same time, with his last move,

White discourages his opponent to go for ideas based on the – break.  

 It becomes clear that Black has coordination problems in his camp. In order to connect his rooks by playing , he should bring his knight to the unfavorable –square. We could see that 3 minor black pieces dispute the –square! As I have already pointed out, in such kind of positions, Black's counterplay is often based on the – break which allows him to activate the rook by attacking the "base" of White's central pawn chain. Nevertheless, this idea hardly works in the concrete position. For example, after White could just play followed by doubling the rooks along the b-file and eventually . Note that 17

Black still couldn't play because White could play making use of the weakened e6–square. If Black wants to prepare – by means of –, then his kingside pawn structure will be weakened. Black has managed to connect his rooks but now it is very difficult to realize the ––idea. Additionally, the –knight doesn't have any squares. 

 White directs his pieces to the queenside and overprotects the important –pawn. Also,

in some cases, in order to restrict Black's counterplay, he could bring his queen to the kingside.

in my comments to the move . White wants to spoil Black's queenside structure by playing –. With a black pawn on a7 (instead of ), this idea wouldn't be very powerful. Normally, Black should avoid this move which weakens the –square. In this concrete position, however, my opponent was forced to go for it. Otherwise, White just plays –.  Worse is  when White could follow with  and Black couldn't defend his –pawn.  

 

 Black starts preparing his kingside counterplay. The idea behind his last move is to play  followed by – After figuring out what my opponent intends to do, I started to look for ways to restrict his counterplay. Before playing , I knew that in some cases, my queen could occupy the –square but after Black's , this idea started getting clearer. After putting his queen on , White prevents Black from playing  since the –pawn is hanging. Despite the fact that I have decided to go for this prophylactic idea, I knew I was not forced to do it immediately. White could first obtain some achievements on the queenside. I played  This strong positional idea was mentioned

Played with the obvious idea to keep the b-file closed. Of course, this move has some drawbacks. Black could apply such an approach in positions where he could easily transfer one of his knights to d6 and later go for –. Since his rook is on e8–square, in order to execute such a transfer, he should spend at least 3 moves. For example, a possible idea would be  followed by –. Nevertheless, such a plan is rather time-consuming. Another important factor is the weakness of the – pawn. In the future, Black major pieces will be tied to the defence of this pawn. Additionally, I would like to point out another drawback of Black's last move. Given the fact that there is no black pawn on , White already enjoys considerable superiority in the center. That is why in the future it will be possible to consider the – break. 18

It is also interesting to see how White should deal with the positions arising after  Now the b-file is open, but white rooks couldn't invade Black's camp. I was intending to follow with 

To my understanding, this is the best square for the queen in this position. With his last move, White establishes a connection between the rooks, protects the important e4–pawn and prevents the opponent from playing  followed by f7–f5 since the f7– pawn is hanging. Later on, I had two ideas in mind:1) double the rooks on the b-file and prepare a possible invasion. If White manages to tie black major pieces to the defence of the b-file, then it is possible to gain some space on the kingside by playing g3–g4–g5 followed by h4–h5. Later for White will be easier to transfer his major pieces to the kingside. When we have space advantage, the communication lines between our major pieces are always better.2) create pressure against the a5–pawn by means of  followed by . Later on it is possible to double the rooks along the b-file and increase the pressure against a5 by playing –. I should say that both plans look very promising and Black will certainly have a hard time dealing with them.

 

I have already explained the idea behind this move - White wants to stop for a while the idea  followed by f7–f5. It is really amazing that Black doesn't have a comfortable way to defend the f7–pawn. This is very often the case when one of the sides is short on space.  Black overprotects the b6–pawn and

frees the e8–square for his knight. At this point, I had two main ideas - engage black major pieces with the defence of the b6–pawn and prevent Black from moving his f6–knight to e8 or g8. I saw that after Black couldn't trap the queen because of followed by  with a huge advantage for White.  The idea of this move is clear. White

wants to tie Black's queen to the defence of the f6–knight.  This seems to be the only move. For

now, White could stop worrying about the ideas connected with different knight moves. It is time to create some pressure against the b6–pawn. The idea to protect the knight by means of  is clearly worse since White could follow with And white knight comes to the ideal c4–square.

19

 

With his move, Black creates an opposition along the h2–b8 diagonal, discouraging his opponent from playing the immediate f2–f4. The disadvantage of this move could be explained by the fact that black queen goes far away from the kingside. This circumstance could tell in the future. After this precise move, black queen is practically forced to go to the unfavorable b8– square. Besides the fact that the opposition along the b-file could be very annoying, Black has difficulties to bring his a6–rook into play.

Black managed to cover his weaknesses on "b6" and "f6". Nevertheless, there is absolutely no coordination between his major pieces. That is why I started considering some ideas allowing me to attack Black's center. The first move that came to my mind was  followed by f2–f4. In that case, however, I should pay attention to the construction  -  which at some moment could be used by Black's dark-squared bishop Another important point is that the immediate could be met by 24...Qc8 (attacking the h3–pawn) followed by –. So, I needed to protect the h3–pawn and escape and remove my king from the a7–g1 diagonal. important prophylactic move. White defends the h3–pawn and prepares . In positions in which your opponent has no counterplay, you shouldn't rush. Before going for our active plan, we should play all the useful moves that come to mind. Maybe the inclusion of these moves will decide the outcome of the game later.

 In case of I was planning to react with intending to follow up with f2–f3, h3–h4 and , thus supporting the further advance of the d-pawn. Note that Black has no comfortable way to block White's central passed pawn. 

Very

Black makes room for the maneuver  White is already prepared to go for f2–f4

advance under favorable circumstances. Nevertheless, White's last move has one important disadvantage - Black's f6–knight is no longer under attack and Black could play with his queen.

This was one of the most difficult moves in the game. Despite the fact that White's advantage is out of question, it's still difficult to proceed with concrete actions. That is why I decided to make one more useful move. White's last move has two main ideas. Given the fact that now the b1– square is free, White could increase the pressure against the b6–pawn by transferring his queen to b1. The second idea is even more important. It is quite obvious that sooner or later White will go for the f2–f4 advance. Being on b2, White rook could be easily transferred to the kingside. As I have already mentioned, the space advantage gives us the possibility to easily

20

transfer our major pieces from one wing to another. Quite a natural move. Black not only

intends to block White's d-pawn by means of , but at the same time, he is planning to make use of the restricted mobility of the g5– bishop by playing f7–f6. I decided to prevent both ideas. My opponent was happy to make this

move since Black exchanges minor pieces (which is favorable in positions where our opponent has space advantage) and gets rid of his passive dark-squared bishop. Nevertheless, we should also consider the dynamic aspects of the position. It seems that after the exchange of the dark-squared bishops, Black king becomes quite vulnerable. The game continued

White knight has finally reached his

dream square. Now White is ready to transfer his rooks to the kingside after which the game will be over. As

the reader probably remembers, this move was one of the main points behind Now Black has no counterplay at all. White is simply planning to expand on the kingside by playing g3–g4–g5.  In this completely hopeless

position, my opponent lost on time. Anyway, it is impossible to find defence against White's numerous threats. Moves like  or  followed by  are only some of White's possibilities. 1–0



Gelfand,Boris (2777) - Jones,Gawain C (2654) London Classic Gp-C 5th London (2.1), 11.12.2013

Now, in order to transfer his rook to the kingside and free the d7–square for one of the knights, Black is forced to part with his lightsquared bishop. Otherwise, White could go f4–f5 or fxe5 followed by .  Black is ready to parry the threat of fxe5 followed by . Nevertheless,

White has another natural way to develop his kingside initiative.

Of course, wrong is because of  winning a piece.

In the previous game, we have seen how White first stopped Black's active options on the kingside and only then started active actions on the queenside. Now I am going to show you another instructive example in which White uses the same strategy. The diagram position arose in the game Boris Gelfand - Jones Gawain played in 2013. By now, the reader should be familiar with the typical plans in this structure. While White's long-term plan consists in playing on the queenside by means of a2–a3 followed by b2–b4. Black will be trying to realize the f7–f5 advance. Given the fact that Black has already played h7–h6, his next move could be  followed by f7–f5. Note that in this case, the move  couldn't be met by the standard  Of course,  is not the only move which allows Black to execute the desired f7–f5 advance - moves like ,  or  are always an option. In this game, Gelfand used a typical approach to parry Black's kingisde play before it had started.

21

This classical way to fight against Black's

kingside play is introduced by the Soviet master Borisenko. At first sight, White's last move looks paradoxical. He is advancing his pawns on the wing where his opponent is planning to build an attack. Strangely enough, by playing , White is actually fighting against f7–f5 since he is ready to play . From h4, the knight controls the f5–square and keeps an eye on the g6–pawn. In this line of thought, we could say that the move h7–h6 has some obvious drawbacks. Had the pawn been on h7 instead of h6, it would have been much easier to carry out the f7–f5 advance. Black intends to make use of the weakened light-squares by playing . In

with , with his last move, Black wants to make use of the g5–square. In the game, White played which was met by means of  Later on, Black could use the weakened lightsquares by playing –. Nevertheless, in his comments to the game, Gelfand points out White's strongest reaction ! Attacking the h6–pawn and stopping the move Ng5. After this move, Black is forced to play when a possible continuation is   It is not clear how Black could develop his kingside initiative. With a pawn on h5, it is much more difficult to realize f7–f5. Furthermore, given the fact that White has a firm control over the g5– square, the h7–knight is rather misplaced. White is ready to proceed with his expansion on the queenside.; 

this way he finishes the development and establishes a connection between the rooks. This solution, however, is far from being optimal. It's clear that Black's h3–bishop will not be supported by other pieces. Furthermore, this bishop could be easily exchanged by means of  at an appropriate moment. In this pawn structure, the exchange of the light-squared bishops is usually favorable for White. This could be explained by the fact that White's e2– bishop is restricted by the c4–d5–e4 pawn chain. On the other hand, Black is trying to exchange the dark-squared bishops. In the game Gelfand - Smirin played in 2005, Black opted for 

Given the fact that White is planning to follow

Black not only clears the way of the f-pawn, but at the same time is ready to meet  by means of  Nevertheless, in a number of variations, the position of Black's h5–knight seems to be rather awkward. At this point, White should play  White is planning to prevent his opponent from playing f7–f5 by means of , thus keeping an eye on the h5– knight. Black's most logical continuation is  (Bad is  in view of  and Black couldn't protect his kingside pawns. Also, Black should reckon with his weakness on d6. For example, after  Black's position is completely hopeless.) 

22

I have the feeling that d2 is the best square for the bishop. With this move, White keeps the door open for moves like  (creating pressure against the h6–pawn) or  (preparing the move b2–b4). (In the game Gladyszev,O Onishchuk,V, played in 2012, White preferred Black managed to create a sufficient counterplay after (It turns out that the move is very well met by Had the white bishop been on d2 in this position, White could have played . Now it seems that White couldn't find a suitable square for his queen.)  In this highly unclear position, Black's attack fully compensates the missing piece.)

(As we have already pointed out, now the move  is very well met by  when Black's minor pieces are placed very awkwardly. White could already consider moves like f2–f3 followed by g3–g4.)  Another subtle positional move. White creates a dangerous opposition along the e-file and intends to strike in the centre by playing f2–f4. Note that the f2– f4 advance not only allows White to bring his rooks into play, but at the same time restricts the f8–rook and the c8–bishop. That is why Black's most natural reply is the immediate  It seems that Black's kingside initiative could become dangerous, but White could go for an extremely favorable ending after  It turns out that if the black knight goes back to f6, White is just winning a piece by means of . The game could continue  (The move  doesn't help either. For example,  Followed by  followed by  when White enjoys a healthy pawn up.) 





/+– White is almost winning. He has two knights for a rook while Black has passive dark-squared bishop and weak pawn on d6.

23



I suppose that at this point, Black was quite happy with the outcome of the opening. He managed to connect his rooks and develop his minor pieces. It is important to point out that Black intends to meet the move – by means of  followed by . White, however, has an important positional resource

would have been much more dangerous. After the exchange of the light-squared bishops, however, the move  seems to be meaningless. Since Black has no chance to play f7–f5, White could start his queenside play. It becomes clear that Black's h5–knight will remain out of play. Let's try to improve Black's play in this position. I think that there is no ideal set-up here. The move  is similar to the game. Indeed, Black could transfer his knight to g5, but this maneuver is sound only when it is supported by the move f7–f5.; Maybe the best try for Black is  intending to bring the knight to the queenside by playing . Later on, Black could consider moves like  followed by –, intending to exchange the dark-squared bishops. Nevertheless, this plan is rather time-consuming and White has a free hand on the queenside. 

 The reader already knows that the

exchange of the light-squared bishops favors White. As we are going to see later, after this exchange, Black has great difficulties to carry out the desired f7–f5 advance.  

I am inclined to believe that this seemingly accurate move is not precise. With a white bishop on e2, the black knight's jump to f4

Maybe this move is a little bit premature. As we have already pointed out, Black's main positional idea in this structure consists in exchanging the dark-squared bishops. In this concrete position, this idea could be realized by means of the maneuver – That is the reason why it makes sense to play  Now  is impossible because the h6–pawn is hanging. Of course, Black could prepare it by playing  Despite the fact that his move is logical, it seems to be too slow. Furthermore, the opposition along the b1–h7 diagonal could be 24

rather annoying. (It is possible that Gelfand rejected the move  in view of  Strangely enough, this move turns out to be impossible even here. This could be explained by the bad position of Black's minor pieces. White could play  White makes use of the opposition along the ffile in order to create pressure against the fpawn. In case of  White could react with the simple  attacking the awkwardly placed h5–knight. If Black goes for  , then White could follow with  when it is impossible to defend the weak d6–pawn.)  White is already preparing the typical b2–b4 advance.  This is the point. Given the fact that white knight is not on h4, White has time to meet  by means of , avoiding the exchange of the dark-squared bishops.  After preserving his strong dark-squared bishop, White has a free hand on the queenside. Now the thread of b2–b4 is rather real. On the other hand, Black has no counterplay on the kingside. For example, the typical  is always well met by  It turns out that when the light-squared bishops are exchanged, the f7–f5 advance is not that threatening. 

bold  With the idea to sacrifice an exchange after  (Better is  allowing Black to exchange the dark-squared bishops after  I think that White should accept the position arising after   (The aggressive  Is very well met by  Followed by  and g3–g4. It turns out that Black couldn't create a kingside activity since his pieces are not well coordinated.)  And here, I like  

White is planning to transfer his knight to d3 via f2. It is important to remember that d3 is the perfect square for our knight in this structure. From that position, the knight controls the important squares "c5" and "e5" and supports the breaks b2–b4 and f3–f4. Normally, we go for the f3–f4 advance when the black pieces are concentrated on the queenside and Black doesn't have a firm control over the e5–square. Despite the fact that the exchange of the darksquared bishops is definitely an achievement for Black, he has no active options and should play for equality.)

This move seems to be too slow. Black misses an excellent opportunity to create a kingside counterplay. At this point, Gawain should have preferred the

25



 

Black has managed to create some kind of counterplay. White has a weak king and structural damages. So far, he couldn't make use of the extra exchange since there are no open files for the rooks. On the other hand, Black could continue to develop his initiative by means of simple moves like ,  and  Even though White is still objectively better, I doubt if Gelfand would prefer to enter such kind of position.

Very strong prophylactic move. White not only prevents Black's f7–f5 idea, but at the same time, improves the position of his queen. In order to create indirect pressure against the c4– pawn, one of the black rooks will come to c8, creating an annoying opposition along the c-file. With his last move, White avoids the opposition and protects the important c4–pawn.

 Of course, it was not late for .  Black's only idea is to carry

out the f7–f5 break. As we have already seen, however, this break is not so dangerous when the light-squared bishops are exchanged and Black's knight is placed on h5. Of course, White could even prevent this idea. Black

should

have gone for  When we reach a position which was discussed above.



This move is designed to provoke further weakening of Black's queenside. For example, in this concrete position, the move  could be met by  followed by  thus invading Black's camp.  Black protects the a7–pawn and intends to meet  by means of   It is important to point out that black

knight is actually not so badly placed on the a6– square. From that position, the knight not only creates pressure against b4, but at the same time is ready to occupy the c5–square in case of   Very useful move. White is planning to play  on the next move in order

to overprotect the c4–pawn. Additionally, under favorable circumstances, White could even consider move like  (the h5–knight is vulnerable) or  (after a possible exchange of the queens, Black will have problems to defend 26

his pawns on d6 and a7). With this move, Black shows that he is not ready to accept the passive defence. Now, his counterplay is mainly based on the h5–h4 advance. Depending on the situation, Black could also insert moves like   and  As a drawback of the move  we could mention the fact that this pawn advance further weakens Black's kingside.

play), we could say that this advance is perfectly possible.



 

 White wants to win some time

before executing his real idea. The attempt to realize f3–f4 after the exchange of a pair of knights gives Black sufficient counterplay. For example, after  Black could counter White's central expansion by means of Black sacrifices a pawn in order to open the c-file for his major pieces. For instance, could be answered by followed by .  White chooses the

right moment to open a file on the queenside since Black couldn't take with the knight. Also, taking with the d-pawn is pointless here, because the black knights are far away from the d6–square.  I am entirely sure

Played in the style of Petrosian! Gelfand doesn't allow even the slightest idea of counterplay. If we look deeper into the position, it becomes clear that Black has run out of constructive ideas. On the other hand, White has a number of useful moves which allow him to further improve his position. For example, he could consider playing  followed by the maneuver

that this is the optimal continuation. As I have already pointed out in my comments to my game with Krum Georgiev, when we have a space advantage, we should avoid the exchanges of minor pieces. On the other hand, we should exchange major pieces in order to restrict our opponent's counterplay.

–

Maybe White should have preferred  followed by massive exchanges of major pieces along the b-file. When looking at this position, it is not difficult to see that black minor pieces lack space.

The idea of this move is quite obvious -

Black wants to exchange the annoying b5– knight by playing  We already know that when our opponent has space advantage, we should exchange minor pieces.

By protecting the e4–pawn,

White introduces the threat of f3–f4. Taking into consideration the bad coordination between Black's pieces ( and  are practically out of

 Gelfand goes for the right

strategy. He is ready to exchange all the major pieces. As the reader is going to see later, Black has considerable difficulties in the arising endgame. The game followed with 27

 

I consider this move to be an important strategical mistake. Maybe, at this point, Black was convinced that the endgame after the exchange of the queens is an easy draw. In fact, after this exchange, Black runs out of counterplay. In this position, Black's activity is based on the presence of the queens. Gawain should have preferred  followed by moves like  or even – in some cases. In such kind of positions, White couldn't easily attack the opponent's weak pawns with the queen since we should keep an eye on the possible invasions of the black queen.  This is an extremely strong positional

move. Gelfand is ready to exchange the queens but he wants to define the structure. The game continued

 

Before playing  Gelfand was obliged to evaluate this endgame. A long time ago, the founder of the Soviet chess school Mikhail Botvinnik used to say: "Knight endings are really pawn endings". This consideration is the key factor in the evaluation of the current endgame. As we know, the distant passed pawns are an extremely important factor in the pawn endgames. That is why we could conclude that in this position, White is fighting for a win. His idea is very simple - the king goes to b3, while the knight occupies the e3–square. Later on, White could push away the black knight by means of a4–a5. If White manages to achieve that, the black king will be tied to White's queenside passed pawn. In order to win the game, White should create an additional weakness on the kingside.  

 This is the critical position for

the evaluation of Gelfand's idea. Despite the fact that Black has a protected passed pawn on c5, he couldn't support by any means. On the other hand, White is planning to create a distant passed pawn on the queenside. Furthermore, the c4–square is an excellent blockading position for White's knight. White's dream here is to play a4–a5 followed by – supporting b5–b6 and attacking the d6–pawn.

28

This move is against the basic endgame rule that we should always look for an activity. Given the fact that White is planning to transfer his king to the queenside, Black should have tried to create counterplay on the opposite wing. This precise move is preparing the activation of the black king via g5. Later on, Black could follow with f7–f5. 

In this position, the c4–pawn gives Black serious winning chances. White should be very precise in order to save the day.) 

(After Black could play If White

plays passively here, Black will just take the h4– pawn, entering a position with a better pawn structure on the kingside and active king. That is why, White should play energetically The idea of this move is to deflect the Black knight in order to play  Nevertheless, this approach seems to be insufficient. After   The position is draw since Black's c5–pawn gives him enough counterplay. White's doubled pawns on the h-file are not dangerous at all.) This active move is again White's best try. (The idea which was used by Gelfand in the game is already not working. For example, after preparing , Black is just in time to proceed with It turns out that White chooses between two positions which are extremely dangerous from a practical point of view. (After the concrete , Black could go for the following forced sequence:   

In this position, White is the one who should try to keep the balance. Black's active king and the c4–pawn could be very dangerous. On the other hand, White's queenside pawns are completely neutralized by the knight.)   After this move, Black's counterplay is more than sufficient for equality. For example, I provide you with the following sequence:  This is the right reaction. In order to activate his king, Black is giving the a7–pawn.

29

After

  

The draw is obvious. 

Since Black is doomed to passivity, we shouldn't hurry. Before proceeding with our general plan, it is often useful to improve our position to a maximum. By playing h2–h4, White gains space on the kingside and fixes the opponent's h5– pawn. As we have already mentioned, once the black king is tied to the queenside, White should open a second front on the kingside. In the current structure, this idea could be realized by means of the advance g3–g4. The obvious idea of this move is to follow with gxh5 creating a weakness on h5. If Black meets the move g3–g4 by means of hxg4, then White reacts with fxg4 followed by h4–h5, creating a distant passed pawn on the kingside. In both cases, the move h2–h4 is useful. Note that the advance g3–g4 is very effective when both kings are on the queenside (for example, on b3 and b7). Despite the fact, that this move doesn't spoil the advantage, I think that from a technical point of view, this is not the optimal continuation. Before going for this advance, White could have further improved his position. For example, moves like  or  are always useful. 

 

Gelfand is following his plan. Despite the fact that this move is quite normal, I think that White has even better continuation. 

After this move, Black's position is completely lost since White could create a weakness on the kingside.

30

More tenacious was !

Black's idea is to prevent White from creating a distant passed pawn by playing h2–h4. This move would have never been possible, if White had played h2–h4 earlier. Even though White should still be able to win, he should play in an extremely precise way. First of all, it is necessary to force Black's pieces to occupy passive positions. (The move  allows  White is ready to sacrifice his central e4–pawn in order to create a distant passed pawn.  (The idea to keep the knight on f6, by playing  doesn't help either. White could play  White is preparing the move  with the obvious idea to grab the important d6–pawn. 

 In such endings, it is always

important to force opponent’s pieces into passive positions.  White continues to apply the same strategy. Furthermore, with his last move, he is fixing the f7–pawn.  (The attempt to create a fortress by means of  simply doesn't work since after  White focuses on the other weakness in Black's camp the f7–pawn. At this point, he is planning to the transfer the knight to h6 via the g4–square.  With the obvious idea to play  followed by  or  White is winning since Black couldn't protect his weaknesses.) 

With the idea to transfer the king to a5 followed by b5–b6. Black is helpless.)    And White's

(The passive  allows White to make use

of his space advantage to a maximal extent.

connected passed pawns should decide the outcome of the game.) White's main idea is to tie Black's knight to his passed pawn. In such kind of positions the quantity of the pawns is not important. We should care only about the quality!   Final trick. White is planning to deflect the opponent's king by playing  White wins.) 31



The first stage of White's plan is over. Black's pieces are tied to the defence of the weaknesses on "f6" and "d6". Now it is time to gain space on the queenside by means of a4–a5. Later on, white king will go to c4, while the knight will be transferred to the f5–square in order to keep an eye on the d6–pawn. This construction being achieved, White could create a distant passed pawn by means of b5–b6+. In this situation, the move axb6, will be answered by a7–a6 followed by . It is not difficult to understand that the a6–pawn decides the outcome of the game.  This is the most stubborn defence. Black is trying to prevent his opponent from playing a4–a5. At the same time, Black is planning to play a7–a5 himself, thus creating a fortress. (In case of the passive  White could apply the plan which was discussed above.   White is winning.) 

move  with the idea to provoke , but at the same time, he prevents Black from playing a7–a5. Black is desperately seeking for an activity. I think that this move is a necessity since other options are losing. (In case of White is winning in the way we are familiar with  idea  doesn't work in view of  and White is winning.)   Before taking the pawn it is necessary to force Black king to a passive position. This is the point of Black's previous play. Now the black knight is active while the e4–pawn is under attack. Still a lot of precision is required from White. 

In order to convert his advantage, White should apply the following plan:1) deflect black king by means of the sacrificial b7–b6 in order to take the d6–pawn; 2) attack the f6–pawn with a knight in order to force black knight to a passive position; 3) create zugzwang and penetrate Black's camp with the king  a) The attempt to keep the knight on e4 by playing waiting moves with the king doesn't help, either. For example  Taking the c7–square from the king. Now White is winning the d6 pawn and the game.  

Very strong move. White not only prepares the

b) Also, insufficient is the idea to attack White's kingside pawns by playing In such kind of endings, the number of the pawns is not that 32

important. Usually, we are winning when our pawns are advanced further. That is why White is easily winning after taking the d6–pawn.  With an easy win.;

3) Always try to create a distant passed pawn 4) Try to advance your pawns as further as possible 

 

This is the point! Now the black knight is tied to the f6–pawn. Now the space advantage allows white king to invade Black's camp.  Zugzwang! Black king should go back.   This is the last precise move. Now Black is forced to allow the white king to go to f7. 

Fixing the f7–pawn. The weakness could be easily attacked by means of the manoeuvre . Now the game is over. The rest of the game is a matter of a simple technique. That is why I leave the remaining moves without comments.         1–0 

Closed Centre - Part 1 - Test 1 White to move.

White is winning. After analysing this endgame, I have managed to draw the following conclusions concerning the knight endings: 1) You should always try to overtake the initiative by activating your pieces. In order to achieve that, you should be ready to sacrifice material 2) The space advantage is a very important factor in the knight endgames.

Despite the fact that White enjoys a considerable space advantage, Black's position seems to be fairly solid. How could White break through? 33

Test 2 White to move

Test 4 White to move

By playing a2–a3,  and b2–b4, White started active actions on the queenside, but it looks like Black managed to obtain a solid position. How could White develop his queenside play?

It seems that the inclusion of the moves a7–a6 and a2–a4 is in Black's favour since White couldn't execute his main idea based on a2–a3 followed by b2–b4. Nevertheless, White has another thematic idea. Could you find it?

Test 3 White to move

Test 5 White to move.

response to , Black played keeping the b-file closed. Later on, Black intends to block the d5–pawn by means of . What should White do in this position?

The legendary World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik used to say that there is no difference between the knight endgames and the pawn endgames. In the pawn endgames, there are some key factors like space, distant passed pawn, further advanced pawns and zugzwang. Taking into consideration all these factors, how are you going to proceed?

In

34

Attacking Manual for Black – Mar Del Plata Structure GM Petar G. Arnaudov

is favorable for the side which manages to execute his plan first. I enthusiastically recommend that you learn how to play this line for both sides, as it is one of those fundamental, must-know structures in chess. Taimanov,Mark E - Najdorf,Miguel Zuerich ct Zuerich (4), 1953 

This is the so-called Classical system which is the most popular weapon against KID. 

Dear Readers of Modern Chess, In this article, I will examine the tactical and strategical ideas for both colors in the most popular system in King's Indian Defense - Mar del Plata. This system became popular around 60 years ago, in the early 50s, mainly because of the efforts of Mark Taimanov for White and the Serbian (Yugoslavian) legendary player Svetlozar Gligoric for Black. Its popularity increased after one particular game (see below) which has become a model game showing how to play the KID with Black and serving as a learning resource for many generations of strong players. There are hundreds of games, books and videos giving long forced lines here, but my idea is not to provide you with an opening repertoire – instead, I would like to teach you how to handle the arising positions. In these positions, computer evaluations are irrelevant, since the computer always gives a big advantage for White even after the first ten moves, mainly because of the space advantage. This is not an objective evaluation and a number of players have lost their games as a result of their reliance on engines. What really matters here is the understanding. Usually, the outcome

Let me pause here and briefly explain the plans for both sides. White has space advantage and his main plan is to open a file on the queenside and invade the opponent's camp. Black's plan is to organize an attack on the kingside by means f7–f5–f4 followed by the advance of "g" and "h". Later on, he could regroup his pieces and attack White's king by opening the g-file or by pushing g4–g3. Black does not have much space and should play precisely, in order not to find himself doomed to passivity. He should know exactly how to arrange his pieces in the best way. White now has a choice on how to arrange his pieces: to stay with the Knight on f3 - square (systems with or ) and to meet eventual f7–f5 by means  or to play –, –maneuvers with an idea to meet f7–f5 by playing f2–f3. In the first part of this article, we will see a classical approach of handling this position: White plays  followed by  and 35

. This set-up seems very natural. White puts all

his pawns on the light squares and uses his dark-squared bishop to cover the dark squares. In this setup, the game becomes pretty sharp because Black's hope is to organize a successful attack against White's king and sometimes sacrifices a lot of material, giving White a free hand on the queenside.

King than his queenside.  The bishop seems to be perfectly placed

here. The drawback is that Black won a tempo with his previous move and is now ready to start an attack. 

There is a discussion where to put the

knight - on e8 or on d7. The game move was always much more popular and flexible because being on d7, the knight covers c5 square and gives Black the chance to play  - h6 followed by  - . The move is also possible, but this

is a matter of discussion in the next games. 

I should mention that instead of this move, Gary Kasparov advocates . The idea is to prevent the opponent from closing the kingside by –. Still, most of the King's Indian specialists prefer the move in the text, because it is more flexible and allow the plan – which we will see in the game Korchnoi - Cheparinov.  After years of investigation, theory has

come to the conclusion that this move is not very accurate. Remember that this move is good only after f2– f3 If the pawn is on f2, White can answer it with , followed by an exchange of the lightsquared bishops. Without them, Black's attack is not so dangerous anymore and White's position becomes almost strategically winning. This position was always a topic of discussion for players at all levels, from World Champions to club players. My opinion is that it is too risky to play like this with White - even If your strategical ideas are realized, one small mistake can lead to a disaster. On the other hand, Black's play is much easier and straightforward. It is always more pleasant to attack the opponent's

 this move is Victor Korchnoi's patent and

he has a lot of spectacular wins with it. The idea is to win space on a queenside and to give White an option to develop the rook via a3, from where it can defend the kingside;  followed by pawn sacrifice  is invented by Croatian GM Zdenko Kozul and has since become a main line.  Black is preparing g5–g4!  This is another setup for Black which we

should discuss in later games.

36

 

the nice h1–square. Later on, the possible invasion on the queenside could decide the game. Black had something else in mind.  

This is the way to regroup your pieces! Every KID - player should know this plan. Rook is coming on g7 to support the g5–g4 - break and to cover the very important c7 - square. The bishop is coming to f8 to protect the d6 - pawn. Logical, but slow move which gives Black

a chance to continue with the attack.  Another slow move

the idea of which is to prepare doubling the rooks on the c - file. Now the queen no longer covers the g4–square and Black is the first to start concrete actions. 

Very nice positional sacrifice. Now Black opens files and diagonals for his pieces. White's king will be much weaker and the Black's Knight has the wonderful f4–square. Also, the diagonal h6– c1 would be a very nice place for dark-squared bishop. This pawn sacrifice is the key motif and the most common attacking idea for Black. this should be played.

If followed by  decides the game quickly in Black's favor The bishop is coming either

on g5 or on h4

With an idea to meet by . One of the main advantages of the KID

Black should play g4 at the first possible moment.

defense is that engines always evaluate the position in White's favor. For example, after this move, the computer gives almost +1. I should disagree with this evaluation. A piece of advice: Always continue analyzing a little bit deeper. Here for example, after followed by , the engines start liking Black's position more and more after each move.

White's pieces look "ideally placed". If

One more piece is joining

Black takes on f3 then the white king will have

the attack. 37

Her

coming.

majesty is also

The last of Black's pieces come into

White sacrifices his queen, but still can't stop the mate coming. 

 

play. According to Bronstein, this move is the

last mistake in the game and White's position is lost after it.

 Is the best move here, but not changing

much

the

evaluation of the position. With an exchange up and attack.  

After  White has no defense from the mate. This win impressed a lot the chess world at that time. One of the best KID players for White was smashed without making any visible mistake. I suggest to every KID player to remember every single move of this game, because it is the main reason that this opening is so popular today. 0–1 Covers the c4–square.  White finally invades

the queenside, but there is nothing there.  Black is preparing  with multiple

threats.

  this ends the game immediately   Nice finish.  When you attack with 7 pieces, always

the combination should exist.

 With the deadly threat of 

Kortschnoj,Viktor (2602) - Cheparinov,Ivan (2687) Amsterdam NH Hotels 3rd Amsterdam (3), 22.08.2008 In this game, we will see the plan with  - , –    The first 12 moves are the

same as in the previous game. In this game, the legendary Victor Kortschnoj decides to avoid his favorite  and to play the modern line . His opponent is the strong Bulgarian GM Ivan Cheparinov who manages to crush his much more experienced opponent in style.

38

 

doesn't care about his queenside and completely abandons it. The idea to protect the a7–pawn with  is a typical mistake. Now, in many variations, the  is hanging.  The light-squared bishop is Black's

most important attacking piece and we should avoid exchanging it. The rule says that if White manages to exchange it, then the attack on the kingside will be less effective and in most of the cases, White is better. The idea that we mentioned before. Black doesn't hide his intention to go for a direct attack. The idea is pretty simple. –– with – and it is not easy for White to defend the h2–pawn

 White exchanges the defender of the c7

pawn, but now he has problems to cover the extremely important g4–square.  It is impossible to protect c7

 An important nuance is that  is

not very accurate here, because allows c4–c5!  White's attack seems to be faster.; Black should start with 

 

 White is sacrificing material, in order to

win some tempos and open the c-file.  This is necessary.

Unfortunately,  is bad in view of  which is the point of White's idea.  

Black leaves the queenside, but organizes a strong attack on the other side of the board. is also possible This is a very

instructive moment. Black should play not immediately.  Looks tempting, but White has a wonderful defense.

39



And White resigns due to

the following variation.  

1–0 (30) Zhao,X (2506)-Ju,W (2558) Huaian 2016  White wants to bring his

major pieces into the defence via the second rank. Nevertheless, this move weakens the king even more.

with an easily winning position. It was interesting to see how so experienced a player as Viktor Korthcnoi was outplayed so easily. 0–1

was better with the idea to meet   And White manages to survive, will be well met by .

So,Wesley (2779) - Nakamura,Hikaru (2814) Sinquefield Cup 3rd Saint Louis (6), 28.08.2015

Nice idea! Black wants to execute another typical manoeuvre -  -  - 

In this game, we will see the interesting idea of keeping the bishop on g7 and playing  instead. This gives Black a chance for another regrouping starting with .

The drawback of this move is

that e4 pawn is desperately weak. Black

increases the pressure - g3 and e4 - pawns are very weak.  It is not difficult to spot that White's

pieces on the queenside are completely useless. Trying to make some threats, but

  Again, we have reached our

main position. This time, I want to show you one recent game between two American superstars. Just a couple of days ago, Wesley So won Sinquefield 2016, in contrast to last year when the tournament did not leave him with many good memories. One of his losses was this one.

Black has a simple solution.

40

 

 

As we mentioned before, this is the best square for the Knight. From this position, the knight not only supports the c4–c5 advance, but at the same time could participate either in the defence (by playing ) or in the attack (by means of ).

Both players blitzed the moves until now, but it seems to me that Black evaluates the position much better. Black is ready for an active play on the kingside, while White can't do anything on the queenside.

 Starting the famous

 Here we can see the idea of  instead of .

Naidorf's maneuver.

  makes more sense

 is the most common move in

here, but Black's position is still easy to play.

this position, but Black has something else in mind.

 the threat is h3

Engines like this move a lot,

but I can't see the point. It looks like this is just a waste of time, which is proven later in the game.



 After this move Black plays very

energetically, sacrificing a lot of material.  

 Black stops the idea – followed by the exchange of Black's light-

squared bishop. Now c6–square is available, but the problem for White is that only one knight can go there.

41

Opens new files and diagonals for his pieces. The move  just leads to the exchange of some pieces.   White is at least OK here.

So can resign even here because there is a forced mate.  Nice move, now  is

the threat.

  One final

sacrifice. 

Another spectacular move.  this loses on the spot, but it is hard to

come up with something better for White.

 ruins to   With a winning position for Black. 

Nice

which introduces the deadly threat of  

collapsed.  

White's

move

position

Spectacular win for Black, which shows us how careful we should be when we analyze this position with engines. My computer likes a lot White's position after move 20, but it failed to offer improvement for White after that. 0–1 Ziegler,Ari (2402) - Hillarp Persson,Tiger (2482) Excelsior Cup Goteborg (9), 15.01.1999 In this game we will see the other very interesting plan for Black:  -  -    I would like to show you one more plan for

Black. Even If it is not so popular, it is always useful to have in your arsenal of weapons.

42



Why does White wants to lose so many



tempos?! make sense here.

  Black accepts the challenge. Now

the queenside is missing and the game will be decided on the other side of the board.  White doesn't want to allow  but the immediate g4 is also strong.  with the same ideas as in the game  Finally the attack begins, Black's

plan is simple: to activate his pieces and open the kingside by taking on f3 or playing g4–g3 Beginning of the plan with the idea to play , followed by  and later close the position. White is in a hurry to open the queenside

which is the right plan in this position.

  White

manages to open the queenside before Black's attack becomes serious. 1–0 (59) Swayams,M (2444)-Hillarp Persson,T (2546) Douglas 2015

 White equalizes the material, but can't

make any threats in the center or on the queenside. At this point, Black regroups his pieces for a dangerous attack.

 the rook is much more useful on the g-

file 

 White is stopping the exchange

of the dark-squared bishops, but the queen is not standing very well on the d2–square. Black closed the kingside and switched to

the classical plan with pushing g and h pawns. If



consideration

then

deserves

Strange maneuver. If White

wants to provoke a7–a6, then it makes sense to play with the idea to provoke further weaknesses such as b7–b5. One more tempo should be lost

here. It is funny that the engines give almost +1 for White here. In my opinion, the game is pretty complex and Black has his chances. Obviously with by means of b5

the

idea

to

meet

The Knight is protecting d6 and can come to g5.  We can see how hopeless is White's

position. He can't make a single threat

 After:  Black could follow with   And

White's position collapsed

43

 White's hopes are

based on this resource. Now the king can come to safety on f1 and the bishop will return to g1.

 Black is the first to improve all his

pieces.

The most straightforward move. White's position will collapse quickly after h4–h3 

 

This move has a dubious reputation now, but back in the day, it has been tested by some very strong players including J.Picket. The idea is obvious - White is preparing c4–c5.  The idea c4–c5 is played, but

somehow, the move b2–b4 looks like a loss of a tempo. As we already know, the time is the most significant factor in this structure. White resigns 0–1 Piket,Jeroen (2540) - Kasparov,Garry (2775) Interpolis Tilburg (8), 24.09.1989 This is a model game for Black. He played in an extremely aggressive style without losing a single tempo.    

 White is playing the most natural moves. His idea is to go for ,

after taking the control over the c-file. ! This is the right plan. Again, I insist on

the fact that any moves on the queenside like  just provoke weaknesses and lose time for the attack. Also, h5 is possible, but Kasparov wants to leave this square free for his f6–knight.    White makes use of the

fact that the c7–square is available now, but leaves e4 pawn without protection.

44

 

interesting to observe how much energy has in every move of Kasparov's.  

 The game becomes very concrete. White is ready to meet  by means of  when

Black would be in trouble. That's why it is time for our typical attacking move.  Of course, critical was:  there is no way back, the rook on a8 is not important at all. 

again

Black

simply

activates

his

pieces

  This is the

final blow - Black is a rook down, but his attack is unstoppable,  clearing the path for the queen.

very strong again. White can't take the knight. 

move



Nice finish. Black wins a piece so White resigns. Fabulous game for Black and extremely instructive. This is how Black should handle the position - energetic play without losing any time and without hesitation to sacrifice material. 0–1 Epishin,Vladimir (2570) - Cvitan,Ognjen (2570) Switzerland Switzerland, 1997 In this game, we will see one of the most beautiful combinations in this structure.   



With the idea to activate the queen via a7. Black's position is already winning, but it is

In this game we will discuss a different system  This system is connected with . The 45

idea is that after the advance c4–c5, the knight will have the wonderful c4–square. Black has a number of choices:

 

 This move is Nakamura's favorite. The

game is very sharp. As in previous games. Black almost abandoned the queenside and pushed all his efforts on the Kingside.  The most popular is – which leads to

a more positional game. Black is trying to slow down White's play on the queenside and little by little to prepare his counterplay with f7–f5.

  1/2 (28) Beliavsky,A (2623) -Bacrot,E (2711) Jerusalem 2015;  

 1/2 (31) Gurevich,M (2688) -Hebden,M (2560) Clichy 2001)   1–0 (45) Harikrishna, P (2725)-Socko,B (2614) Doha 2014   As we already know,

this move is a huge positional blunder. It allows an exchange of the light-squared bishops with an almost winning position for White.

  1–0 (32)

Marin,M (2583)-Fernandez Benasque 2009

Rubio,R

(2019)

 Again, we

have this well-known maneuver. Black is ready to defend d6–pawn by means of .

This move is a horrible mistake, but you should agree that the following combination is very beautiful and it is easy to be missed over the board.  This looks very dangerous, but

White has a very powerful defensive resource. ( is just bad here  And the King is absolutely safe on h1)  The only move, but it is enough for an advantage.  Black has no attack and White's pieces are much better placed.  Black gives a forced mate in 6 moves.  

  This is another continuation

which also deserved consideration.  White is planning to play b5–b6 followed by   There is no time for defence.

Black should hurry with the attack.  Clever move played with the idea to meet an eventual  with   ? is well met by  And Black wins an important tempo  h4 with an idea h4–h3 

With a winning position.  was probably better with the idea  

The point of the combination. + this knight which seemed very

passive on the h7–square gives mate at the end.

46

 

Absolutely brilliant finish. This game shows us that even in the positions where White is clearly better, every single mistake could be fatal. 0–1

3. How should Black continue here?

4. What is Black's best move here?

TEST 1. How should Black continue the attack?

2. How could Black seize the initiative here?

5. How should Black regroup his pieces? Black to move.

47

Methods of Fighting for an Open File GM Vladimir Georgiev

Dear Readers of Modern Chess, In the following article, I will explain one of the main strategical weapons that each chess player should have in his "strategical repertoire": How to fight for an open file and how to exploit it after you win it. A full overview of the ways of fighting for an open file and what to do next will be offered in the examples. We will start with one classical game between the 3rd and the 4rd World Champions Capablanca and Alekhine. Let's evaluate the position: On the board, we have only major pieces with an equal material, both kings are completely safe for the moment. Black has 3 against 2 pawns on the queenside and White has 4 against 3 on the kingside. So the plan for Black is to push his pawns on the queenside and for White to push his kingside majority. Usually, these positions are slightly better for the side which has 3 against 2 because it is easier to create passed pawns and also because you shouldn't push the pawns which are in front of your king. In this particular position, it is very important to know which is the side to move. If it is Black to move, he will continue with Rfd8 with eventual massive exchanges on the d-file and probable draw, but if it is White to move, he can take control on the only open file, which is the most important factor in the position. Remember that in the endgames, the side which controls the open file has a significant advantage.

Capablanca,Jose Raul - Alekhine,Alexander World Championship 13th Buenos Aires (5), 27.09.1927

 How to fight for the open file: 1.

You should double or triple on the file and do not allow massive exchanges. 2. When you take the control over the open file, the best place for the rook is 7th rank. From there, White's rook will be very active and Black should misplace his rook to passive position to protect his pawns. 3. Start pushing pawns in order to win more space. 4. Activate the king. 5. Try to make new weaknesses in Black's position. 6. Collect material. 7.Convert the material advantage.  Black wants to fight for the open file by means of   with this move, White wins a tempo and

now he has time to get the full control over the d-file.  The rooks are already doubled.  Black realizes that there is nothing

more important than the d-file.  White makes use of the

weakness of the 8th rank and wins with a typical trick

48

 

just activate his king and start pushing his f and e-pawns. White makes the wrong decision here. He ignores the main rule in this type of positions. The right idea is to activate the king and start pushing pawns on the kingside. 

 

The back rank is not weak anymore and White threatens to win the b7–pawn.  In order to save his

queenside pawns, Black should allow the opponent to take the control over the d-file.;  With a winning endgame.  In the variation 

Now we can see why h3 was a good move.  The battle for the open file is over. Now,

White should try to invade the opponent's camp.

 

White wins one pawn.

 with e4 and f4 to follow.    Now Black is safe.  White wins a pawn  with a draw  

 

 Of course! As the reader already knows,

the 7th rank is the best place for our rook.  is just bad   Good decision. It is good for White to

exchange queens and to enter a rook endgame with an active rook against a passive one.

 White wins a pawn.;  and c6–pawn will be lost.  Then White can

49

The rest is just irrelevant to our topic. White is not better anymore.   

1/2 Kramnik,Vladimir (2797) - Aronian,Levon (2816) Olympiad 1:01.54–0:00.02 (6), 03.09.2012

Maybe, at first sight, the position seems equal, but White definitely has a big advantage here. He controls the open file while Black's bishop is just misplaced on g7. 

 

 In Exchange Slav,

very often the decisive factor for the outcome of the game is the control of the open file.

 This move has

a bad reputation. The bishop is badly placed here.  The point of Black's idea is that he can

exchange the light-squared bishops. 

Prophylactic against   Trying to cover the e5 square.

If  then  With pressure on the c-file.  Black is in trouble.  First part of the plan is over. White is

trying to bring more pieces into the fight for the open file. The f3–knight is doing nothing at the moment and it is a good idea to transfer it on the queenside.

Let's take a closer look at this position. It appears absolutely symmetrical with one open c-file. So the idea of both sides is to occupy this open file. And while White can simply double on the c-file, for Black this is not so easy because the c7–square is not available. This fact gives White an advantage. Vladimir Kramnik manages to convert this small plus to a full point.

 White stands

better here. Black does finally threaten to play . This would not fully equalize the position, but White's advantage would then be reduced. White must now find a tactical move, exploiting the fact that his rooks are already doubled on the c-file.  Nice idea and not a very obvious one.

 Typical move. White is going to

occupy the weakened dark squares.

50



There is no need to take back the piece because b-pawn is just unstoppable. Perfectly

played game by White. 1–0 Melkumyan,H (2650) - Vignesh,N R (2423) 23rd Abu Dhabi Masters Abu Dhabi UAE (4.15), 23.08.2016

White sacrifices a piece, but completely ties up Black's pieces and gains connected passed pawns. His advantage is practically decisive.  Black is completely

paralyzed and White can simply push his pawns on the queenside. Do not allow any exchanges. A great counter-resource,

but it is not sufficient because White's b-pawn is too far advanced. this was Black's idea,

but White has a nice refutation



Let's have a look at this position. The position is closed. White has an idea to push c5, but the d5– pawn is hanging. White can try to play  followed by e4, but this can be met by f4 with a typical pawn sacrifice and attack for Black. So the only logical plan is to try to fight for the open file which is under Black's control for the moment. Black is ready to exchange rooks on

the a - file.

51

 

unstoppable. If Black's rook leaves the 8th rank, White will win a piece by  

Very strong idea. White has closed the a-file with the help of his minor piece and will double the rooks behind it. This idea is well-known from Spassky and Karpov's games when they played the move  with the similar idea. Melkumian's version is even stronger because now White takes under control the important c6–square.  White is executing his main plan.

Perfectly played game by Melkumian, who introduces the very interesting idea to close the open file with a knight and then to double the rooks behind it. 1–0 Study Position

 The counterplay with h5–h4 is

slow.  White exchanges queens and prepares   strange move, probably played with the idea of   this move leads

only to troubles for Black  better was the passive defence  Black is paralyzed and

White can improve his position and try to open diagonals for his bishops.

  Black can't take the pawn because of:  followed by  

The

threat

of



is

We have no open files yet. The position looks equal, but White has a clear plan to open the afile and to get the control over it.  very important way of gaining

control over the file. First, double the rooks and 52



then open the file! Remember it. 



and

Black

survives.  If  then White achieves a winning endgame by playing 

Followed by b5  

waiting.

 is bad, because with this move White loses control over the a-file! 

now, Black is controlling the only open file!; If  then good is 

 Another option is  but then  and now Black can't double the

White already has a big advantage.  First step is over. White is

controlling the a-file. Which is the next step? Enter the enemy's camp and destroy it!   If  then  And Black holds.

rooks on the a-file. We can see now how useful is the king on b2.  with a winning endgame.; If  then White wins a pawn  (the pawn endgame after:  is lost  Black should resign)  The king comes into play. The rest is a simple endgame technique.  

 with the idea

to take the control over the squares "a1" and "a2". is premature because of  



 53

Black will lose a second pawn. White's position is absolutely winning.

 A typical prophylactic move.

Stronger was 

1–0 Botvinnik,Mikhail - Chekhover,Vitaly URS-ch sf Leningrad, 1938

The theme of this game is how to create and seize the open file. The position looks very safe for Black, due to his better pawn structure.  The 5th world champion finds a way

how to fight for the advantage and how to make use of his doubled pawns. The idea is to open dfile and to double the rooks by using the d5 square as an outpost.  This is the typical

motif that you should remember. White is doubling the rook by using the fact that the c4– pawn protects the d5–square. It is not good for Black to exchange on d5, it is impossible to prevent White's idea.



Now  leads to the blockade of White`s passed pawn when Black is out of danger.  Black tries to prevent , but missed

White`s maneuver. Was correct    With a win for White.)  with sufficient counterplay  And Black has enough counterplay to hold the position.  This tricky move decides the game. In

order to evaluate the position correctly, we can compare the activity of Black's knight and White's bishop.

 Wrong is  in view of   (If  then 

White collects a pawn.)  this d6 pawn is extremely dangerous and gives White an advantage.; better was  

And

54

 

 

 Is just bad here.  

It is time for the King to join the battle.



  White's pawns are unstoppable.

Very nice game played by Botvinnik. We can learn from it how to fight for the open file and how to exploit it when we manage to take control of it. 

1–0 Steinitz - Sellman 1885

An important tactical finesse.  The bishop is

coming to d5 from where it will control the entire board.  More tenacious was   when White continues with   As we already know, now the

plan is to push our f and e-pawns.

 Black is trying to organize a

counterplay.

What can we say about this position: White definitely has a slight advantage, but how to convert it and what plan to choose? The first World champion found a very interesting 55

resource. Since all White's pieces except the knight on c3 and the rook on f1 seem to be at their perfect positions, he decides to improve them.  The Knight is aiming for the a5–square

which will give him a chance to take full control over the open c-file.  is very slow  fails to equalize  White returns to c3 and now the b5–pawn is in danger.;  with the idea – was much better. After 

White still keeps an advantage.

 The bishop can't

protect c8 and c6 squares at the same time anymore.  

With the very unpleasant threat of .  was better  was the last chance. But after the correct  (after

  Black can

still

fight)

  Black's position is hopeless.  White is winning. 

Finally, White succeeds with his plan. The c-file is under total control and the invasion  will cause a lot of trouble. White eliminates the defender of

the c7–square.



Complete domination of White's pieces. Black resigns. 1–0

56

TEST

How should White continue?

White to move?

White to move

White to move?

How White can fight for the open file?

57

Endgame Series - Part 9

Distant opposition 1

GM Davorin Kuljasevic

In this basic pawn endgame Black can hold a draw only with a precise: Hello, Dear Chess Friends! In the previous issue of Endgame series, we explained fundamental endgame concepts: key squares and short opposition. Today, we will expand our understanding of these concepts by examining other types of opposition, namely: distant opposition, diagonal opposition, side opposition, and knight opposition. Once we understand all the possible ways to hold the opposition, we will be ready to analyze the final example, which I called "Opposition battle". In this position, kings are fighting for key squares using various types of opposition. One step on a wrong square brings the inglorious end of the battle for the defender. It is a subtle fight and, in a way, an aesthetic dance of the kings as they are exchanging attacks from a distance in a harmonious fashion. But first, we need to make sure we know our oppositions! We start with: Distant opposition Whereas the short opposition happens when two kings are on squares of the same color one square apart, distant opposition is the one where they are three or even five squares apart. It is apparently a more sophisticated method, though essentially the same as the short opposition. Let us see examples:

 We can see that both kings are on the

dark squares, 3 squares apart. Therefore, Black holds distant opposition. Of course, it would be naive to play  as White gets the short opposition with  and after  takes under control key square f4.  Now black king approaches to hold

the short opposition. He would be mistaken to try to keep the long opposition since White would win according to another endgame principle:  Black still holds the opposition, but the problem is that White has a "saved pawn tempo": 

58

which turns the tables and forces the opposition upon black king.  We also know very well that White does

not accomplish anything by pushing the pawn in front of his king:   etc.  

"desperado" idea:  It is important to give up this pawn so that

White does not have a saved pawn tempo as in the variation below. Following distant opposition rule blindly with  does not end well for him because of  is now answered with  and White wins thanks to a saved pawn tempo:   

and we have reached the well-known pawn endgame where Black holds the opposition, so White can't make progress. Distant opposition 2 Holding the distant opposition! Of course, we know that  is wrong due to   With the pawn on 4th rank White

does not have a valuable pawn tempo in reserve, so after  black king can safely switch to the short

opposition. 

Black seems to be in a hopeless position as he can not defend his last pawn and his king is badly placed. However, he has a sort of a

Finally, we will examine a slightly more complex endgame which illustrates the concept of distant opposition perfectly.

59

Distant opposition 3

When black king goes too far from his d-pawn, White can create a passed pawn with  Opposition is the key!   and White wins.)  and White wins.  Black king holds his ground with

diagonal opposition.

White is a pawn up, but in order to win he will need to maneuvre with his king closer to Black's d-pawn. If he could do that, he would surely win as Black's active defense (attacking the e4 pawn) is not sufficient, as we will see. This means that Black needs to stick to the passive defense and distant opposition is perfect for that!

Keeping the short one with  is wrong as it neglects another basic rule of pawn endgames - the square rule. In fact, black king should never step on the h-file in this endgame because White uses the breakthrough:  to create a passed pawn  which is too fast for black king.  

 Active  is a poor choice due to  (Returning to  allows White to achieve triangulation with  so we have the

same position as in the beginning, but with Black to move. This means White will break through after either  (or 

Switching to distant opposition is the only correct way to hold the delicate balance.

Diagonal opposition! We will see more examples later. 

Instead, short opposition  fails to  when White holds the so-called "knight opposition" (more on that later as well) on black king. The point is that it can not keep on holding short opposition from f5 square as it is controlled by the e4–pawn. Black loses because of the lack of maneuvering space and that is exactly why he had to drop back to the background - to g7. 60





Now

White

takes

over

the opposition.  is another failed try  because White catches black king on the wrong foot. Black should always bear in mind that White can also try to penetrate from the queenside!  Final precision. Black king is kicked away from the penetration square e5.  would be very careless as after  even Black wins!)  Here Black can try to defend actively with  (or passively with  



Black catches the most distant opposition possible. Again, this is better than the shorter one on g6 as Black has more maneuvering space in the background. In case of  White would have a dangerous resource  which prevents Black from keeping the distant opposition from e6. Black could still hold a draw with  since now it is White who can't hold the opposition with , but it is not necessary for Black to go for such a defense when he could simply keep the distant opposition with   White also falls back to the background,

trying to catch black king wrong-footed. White had an interesting attempt in  when the only drawing move is  loses to the well-known breakthrough  and now White has a defended passed pawn which makes all the difference.     Of course, Black needs to stick to his

distant opposition policy. Otherwise but ultimately both attempts fail.

he loses. For example, after  White is the one who catches the distant opposition.    61



that it is horizontal opposition, rather than vertical one (kings are aligned along a rank, not a file). For that reason, some endgame books omit it, but I think it should be mentioned and classified in endgame theory. An excellent practical example of side opposition is the following game: Mehaj,Driton (2204) - Swiercz,D (2656) 17th ch-EUR Indiv 2016 Gjakova KOS (1.28), 12.05.2016

Black is consistent with his defense method. White will have no passage into his position even on the queenside:   Consistent and simple.  draws as well, but there is

no need to complicate matters. 

After a hard-fought game players reached this position. It is obvious that Black's rook is placed passively and it can not shield his king from checks of active white rook. This gives White a drawing chance, but, as we will see, he needs to thread carefully. The only serious winning attempt. Black

sacrifices his passed pawn, hoping to use a better position of his king to win the f3–pawn. does not amount to much  and black

after rook remains stuck on a1, while his king is still without a shield. and White finally has to admit that Black's fortress is impenetrable.

drew as well, as we will see in

Side opposition Side opposition is basically the same as the short or distant opposition, the only difference being

In the game, White played and after  heresigned. Black king marches toward b1,

the main line commentary.

62

after which comes  shield and Black promotes the a-pawn. Transposing into the pawn endgame

seems like a good idea given black king's superior position.

on the h-file.  Tricky, but  

The other attempt is but Black has his weaknesses, too:   and White should draw altering taking on h5 without much trouble. For instance:     Can White defend this pawn

endgame? There is only one way:  

keeps White’s fortress safe.  of course, 

loses

after

0–1 Side opposition is essential in the following interesting endgame: Side opposition 1

using the distant side-opposition. "Natural" loses to when Black takes the knight opposition against White king, using the fact that  is impossible. White is lost as the continuation shows: Again, knight opposition. or White got rid of f3 weakness, but now e4 is without protection. etc. This is the difference compared to  - White has enough maneuvering space

Black is down a full piece, but he can hold a draw with precise king maneuvering: 63

 Black keeps the contact with g4–pawn.

 In principle it is better to hold the

Neither ; nor  would accomplish Black's goal as his king would be cut away from g4–pawn.

However,  draws as well, Black just needs to be careful in event of   and it's still a draw.

 This is the trickiest possible king move.

 

White knight and pawn should not move, so this is basically a battle of kings.

We saw many times before how such innocentlooking moves can be deadly if the opponent goes wrong.

opposition while keeping contact with the gpawn.



For instance, here Black draws only with  Diagonal opposition is the key!

Putting the king on a dark square loses:  Side-opposition!   and here White sacrifices his knight for the greater good:  Similar thing happens in the event of  Now White is the one taking diagonal opposition... and then transposing into short opposition:  Black will lose the pawn endgame precisely because of this move, which is now, sadly, necessary.  and finally with pawn on g5 Black loses the pawn endgame. 

 Knight sacrifice to activate the king is the

last attempt to win the game. We saw in a previous commentary that a similar position with black pawn on g5 is winning for White. As usual, the devil is in the detail. Instead  leads White nowhere.

also

 but now White does not have (as with black pawn on g5), so in an attempt

to win black g-pawn, he also loses his own. is a typical beginners' mistake:  Black even wins thanks to

zugzwang. What an unexpected turn of events! and naked kings can agree to a

peace treaty.

 and the g5 pawn falls.

After analyzing different types of straightforward opposition, let us look at two other types: diagonal and knight opposition. 64

Diagonal opposition As its name suggests, diagonal opposition is a type of opposition where the kings are on squares of the same color, only one square apart diagonally. To illustrate, we will begin with a simple, yet practically important example:

Diagonal opposition 2

Diagonal opposition 1

Being two pawns up in a pawn endgame, especially with connected pawns, is usually a piece of cake. However, this particular endgame is not that trivial, that is, if you don't know about diagonal opposition. The trick is that White can defend with a stalemate motif. Black wins only with: Other attempts fail:  or as in both cases white king

gets stalemated. Black takes the diagonal opposition. with

checkmate

soon

to

follow. In a similar example, only with extra knight for the defender, we see the same idea.

In one of the previous issues we already dealt with knight vs. 3 connected passed pawns type of endgame. The conclusion was that defender should not let all three pawns cross the middle of the board. Here, obviously the pawns have advanced very far, so the evaluation of the position is clear - White is winning.  The alternatives do not save Black,

either: Knight sacrifice  does not work as White takes the key square  An attempt at stalemate  is also refuted:    and only now we take the knight  and if  White uses the same idea as in the previous example:  Diagonal opposition.    tempting White with a

"free" knight. If  White wins as in the previous example:   etc.

65



 and  The most precise.  less precise as it allows Black to

defend with side opposition   but even here White can win with  achieving knight opposition as in the main line.)   with transposition into the main line. 

 Stalemate!  and White

wins. Knight opposition is much rarer than other types of opposition in the practice, yet it is good to know about it to have a complete picture. It can be clearly seen how it works in the following position: Knight opposition 1

This is the winning knight opposition. Black's own pawn on g6 restricts his king's movement, so he is forced to abandon it:  

Pawns of both sides are immobile, so it is a king battle again. White to move wins with:  Black has two choices:

and White promotes the pawn in a few moves.

66

The next position is more complex because White has an important saved pawn tempo. Black defends with knight opposition, which seems to be counter-intuitive at first, but the point is that White can use this saved tempo in case Black attempts to defend with short opposition.

 Let us see what happens if White uses up his saved pawn tempo:  then

Black has to take the regular opposition, in this case distant as short one is not available: 

Knight opposition 2

(It would be a mistake to go for the knight

White's position looks close to winning. He has a better king and an extra passed pawn. Yet, none of his winning attempts are successful if Black defends correctly. The key is in knight opposition.

opposition  as in the lines where White did not play a4–a5 because of the following beautiful winning plan by White:  stops White’s bypassing maneuver, but creates a gaping hole on b6 which White can take advantage of if he returns with his king 

 In case of  Black should also hold the knight opposition with  (but not the short

one because White uses his saved pawn tempo  and now forced Black into the lost position that we will analyze after  beginning the winning by-passing maneuver that would end on b8! (see the variation below)) None of White’s tries work. For example, if he uses up his saved pawn tempo   is fruitless because it takes up maneuvering space for white king:   also leads White nowhere  then Black can comfortably hold the short opposition with  and then switch to side-opposition:

 Does this position look

familiar? It should! We analyzed it thoroughly in a previous Endgame series article when we discussed triangulation. Here is a small recap of White’s winning plan:  The key background move.  67

Triangulation completed, Black is in zugzwang.   Another saved pawn tempo, giving White the opposition against black king. All continuations lose for Black: 

 

a)  b)  This "body-check" is absolutely necessary for White to win the game. (Half-hearted  would allow Black to corner white king just in time:   but here Black is one move too short and White wins with   (Naturally, allowing White to gain the

key square after  is not going to save Black either:   White continues to go around black king, setting his eyes on the a7 pawn.   Black did the best he could denying white king the access to his pawn, but here comes the dagger:  The last saved pawn tempo decides the game! Black is forced to either abandon his a-pawn or allow free passage to the enemy's c-pawn.   and White finally wins. A beautiful and instructive endgame!)  Now the short one works too as White cannot use his saved pawn tempo a4–a5 anymore.  He could try to achieve the same winning plan with  but the difference is that Black can hold his ground with:   and here White lacks that a5–a6 pawn tempo, so he can only try the same thing with c-pawn   but it ultimately leads to a draw after

Black defends with knight opposition until White pushes his a-pawn; then he switches to short opposition.  would be a big mistake, as we saw previously:     Same position with black pawn on a6 is

lost, but this one is drawn as White can not penetrate via b6.; As we said before, once White uses up his crucial pawn tempo  Black switches to regular opposition:   We saw that a

similar position with white pawn on a6 is winning, but with pawn on a5 it will prove to be drawn as White misses that one tempo: Just not 



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

 Short opposition first.  White is trying to stretch black

king out of a-pawn's square, but Black switches to:  diagonal opposition!

Short opposition  is losing because of  and the pawn is suddenly too quick for black king.  Now switching to side-opposition!

Now that we are well-versed in all types of opposition, let us see how to use our knowledge in a position where opposition is all that matters. Once you become fluent in king battles, there is nothing to be afraid of in the pawn endgames. Opposition battle 1

as diagonal opposition  does not work any more due to  and White wins by closing in on black e4 pawn.  White again tries to stretch

black king.  

Normally the positions with a defended outside passed pawn are won for the stronger side. This one is an exception as White's passed pawn has not crossed the center of the board, so black king has just enough maneuvring space to keep white king at bay with opposition and stay in the square a4–a8–e8–e4 of the white pawn. Let us see:

Distant opposition saves the day! We already know that stepping on the f-file puts black king out of the a-pawn's square, so short opposition  loses to 

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

 a pawn sacrifice in order to distract black

king and win the b4 pawn. However, after the forced:  

Black king is still within the square, thus it can keep the short opposition. In

fact,

keeping

the

long

one

with

 would be losing because of  and Black gets out of opposition as  is not possible!  Now White takes the opposition and it is all over.    Interaction of kings

leaves an aesthetic impression.  

Black achieves the familiar short-opposition and in the absence of saved pawn tempi the position is drawn. A beautiful example where Black defends with all types of opposition! And there you have it, dear Reader – we covered all types of opposition in this article. It is an essential endgame tool for a chess player, so we hope you read it carefully. To test your knowledge, please find exercises below. In the next issue of Endgame series, we will talk about zugzwang and mutual zugzwang.

Test 1 Black to move and draw

and Black created an invisible wall that White can not breach with his king. He can try one more thing: 70

Test 2

Test 4

White to move and win

Black to move and draw

Test 3 White to move and win

Test 5 Black to move and draw

71