play 1
EVERYMAN CHESS Gloucester Publishers pic www.everymanchess.com
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First published in 2008 by Gloucester Publishers pic (formerly Everyman Publishers pic), Northburgh House, 10 NOTthburgh Street, London ECI V OAT Copyright © 2008 Yury Lapshun and Nick Conticello
Contents
The right of Yury Lapshun and Nick Conticello to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Pat
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978 1 85744 5602 Distributed in North America by The Globe Pequot Press, P.O Box 480,
Bibliography
4
246 Goose Lane, Guilford, CT 06437-0480.
Introduction
5
All other sales enquiries should be directed to Everyman Chess, Northburgh House,
1
The Sokolsky Gambit
11
10 Northburgh Street, London ECI V OAT
2
1 b4 eS 2 �b2 �xb4
35
3
Black Plays ... e5 and ... d 6
48
4
Queen's Indian Systems
73
5
Black Plays ... d5 and ...e6
100
6
Black Plays ... dS and ...�f5/�g4
121
7
1 . _c6, 1...f5 and Unusual Moves
143
Index of Complete Games
171
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EVERYMAN CHESS SERIES
Chief advisor: Byron Jacobs Commissioning editor: John Emms Assistant editor: Richard Palliser
Typeset and edited by First Rank Publishing, Brighton.
Cover design by Horatio Monteverde. Printed and bound in the UK by Clays, Bungay, Suffolk.
Introduction
Bibliogra phy
I
by Nick Conticel l o
One Saturday evening in September
ideas to an English-speaking public.
Books
2004, I was sitting in the Marshall
But I have also contributed research
Debyut 1 b2-b4, Alexei Sokolsky (Minsk 1963)
Chess Club, mired in a dreadful slump,
and the occasional piece of analysis, so
1 P-QN4, Andrew Soltis (Chess Digest 1992)
when Yury Lapshun carne up to me
it can be said t hat this book is truly a
An Opening Repertoire for Black, Drazen Marovic and Bruno Parma (Batsford 1 987)
and asked if I would be interested in
cooperative effort.
An Opening Repertoire for the Attacking Player, Eduard Gufeld (Cadogan 1996)
helping him write a book on the move
Beating Unusual Chess Openings, Richard Palliser (Everyman Chess 2007)
1 b4. I gave the matter due deliberation
History of the Opening
Black to Play and Win with 1 ... g6, Andrew Soltis (Chess Digest 1988)
(a whole 20 seconds) and agreed. "It
The move I b4 had been played spo
Chess Openings for Black, Explained, Dzindzichashvili, Alburt and Perelshteyn
shouldn't take too
long:' he said.
radically by masters of iconoclastic
(Chess Information and Research Center 2005)
"Maybe three weeks? I'm going to be
bent before 1919, but without too much
Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings Volume A (Sahovski Informator)
busy after that." Three weeks? Once he
success. Here is the game B.Fleissig
My Best Games of Chess 1905-1930, Savielly Tartakower (G. Bell and Sons 1953)
realized we were writing a book and
K.Schlecter,
The New St. George, Michael Basman (Cadogan 1993)
not
sources are confused on the date), that
Winning Unorthodox Openings, Angus Dunnington (Everyman Chess 2000)
would take a bit longer. In fact it took
is
three years! (We finished the first draft
White:
1 b4 e6 2 il.bl li:lf6 3 a3 e5 4 b5 d5 5 d4 �a5+ 6 li:le3 li:le4 7 �d3 exd4 8 �xd4 il.e5 9 �xg7 il.xfl+ 10 Wd1 d4! 11 �xh8+ We7 12 �xe8 dxe3 13 j.,C1li:ld7! 14 �xa8 �xb5 15 il.f4 �d5+ 16 We1 il.e3+! 17 il.xe3 li:lf2! 18 il.xfl �dl+ 19 Wb1 'i!l'd1+ 20 lfia2 'iil'xc2 mate (0-1)
a
pamphlet,
he understood it
Databases
after two years, then found a pu blisher
Mega Database 2007
and rewrote the entire t hing.) Anyway,
The Week in Chess
once I had agreed, the benefits were immediate. The next day I played two terrifically creative games and finished second in a strong tournament. There's something about Yury ... My main function on this project has been to assist Yury, whose native
tongue is Russian, to communicate his
a
Vi!'nna
1893
(or
1895;
typically frightful beating
for
As we say in the USA, don't try this at home!
But in 1919 Savielly Tartakower
5
Introduction
Play 1 b 4 !
famously used it to beat Richard Reti
it too swiftly. Should the pawn ad
without much space to manoeuvre. It
in a match in Vienna (this game is
vance to the fifth rank, it may attack an
may be necessary t o sacrifice material,
covered in Chapter One). ] must take
enemy pawn chain (b7-c6-d5) or con
often the f-pawn or the b-pawn, to
this opportunity to correct Richard
trol the c6-square which might become
meet this strategic threat. The positions
Palliser's explanation in his excellent
weak after an exchange of Black's fi
after 1 b4 e5 2 .!ib2 f6!? (Chapter One)
book Beating Unusual Chess Openings. Tartakower recounts in his book My
anchettoed light-sguared bishop.
Best Games of Chess that he visited the
generally start life on b2 and exert con
The line 1 b4 c6 2 i..b2 a5 aims to
siderable influence on the a1-h8 diago
weaken the b-pawn before attacking it
before he tried 1 b4 against Geza
nal. The light-squared bishop has a
with pieces. We recommend the gambit
Mar6czy in the 1924 New York tour
choice, but a good rule of thumb is to
3 b5!? as the best option. White will
White's dark-squared bishop will
Central Park Zoo in New York just
nament. He was very impressed by the climbing skills of an orangutan and thought the 'climb' of the white b
1B...f5 19 gxf6 ILlxf6 20 lbg5 l:i:a7 21 .!ixh7+ �hB 22 h6 1-0
pawn was similar. So he dubbed the opening
'the
Orangutan'
and
the
name stuck.
require the most accuracy from both players.
put it on e2 or d3 against a Black set-up
lure the pawn to b4 and then attack
based on ... d7-d5, and to fianchetto it if
with a2-a3, as in the Benko Gambit (see
time permits against set-ups with ...e7-
Chapter Seven).
e5. This deployment, in conjunction However, this book would probably
with the thrust c2-c4, Tesembies an
Why should you play this opening?
never have been written without the
English Opening, and the reader is ad
There is one outstanding reason to play the Sokolsky: il is virtually certain that
The American master Anthony San
pioneering work of the Soviet master
vised to acquaint himself with that sys
tasiere played a version prefaced with
Alexei Sokolsky, whose games and
tem. Of course, against a King's Indian
1 ILlf3, and Reti himself often advanced
analysis in his book Debyut 1 b2-b4
your opponenl will be unfamiliar with
formation by Black, one may also play
the positions that arise. The best way to
e2-e3 and d2-d4, put the bishop on e2,
reach good positions from the opening
and play a French Defence with an ex
is to play reasonably sound systems
the b-pawn two squares in conjunction
demonstrated beyond any doubt that
with the fianchetto of the king's bishop
the Sokolsky Opening was a viable
in character with his eponymous sys
weapon at the highest levels of play.
tem. In more recent times the British
Great players such
as Smyslov,
tra tempo. Flexibility is one of the main
with which you are familiar and com
virtues of the Sokolsky.
fortable, and with which your oppo
International Master Michael Ba5man
Bronstein, Spassky and Larsen have
has played 1 b4 (or first 1 a3 or evn 1
Against ... d5 defences White may
used this opening with success against
nents are unfamiliar and uncomfort
even opt for a Bird Opening set-up
h3!?) as part of his unique complex of
grandmasters. None of these experts
with f2-f4 and Iilf3, strong-pointing eS.
able! Under these conditions, your op ponents will surt?ly make mistakes
offbeat systems. Consider the follow
have used the Sokolsky frequently, but
But it's usually a good idea to avoid an
ing:
which you can exploit to win.
at the right moment it can be brutally
early d2-d4, as the weakness of the c4-
effective.
square may make itself felt.
General Theory
volve advanCing the e-pawn or d-pawn
not for you! After the best practical
The advance b2-b4 gains space on the
two squares at once, or playing an
continuation (in my opinion), 1 b4 e5! 2
M.Basman-B.Thipsay
British Championship. Eastbourne 1991 1 h 3 d 5 2 b41Llf6 3 ILlf3 e6 4 a31Llbd7 5 e3 .!id6 6 (4 (6 7 1Ll(3 o..() B .!ib2 l:i:eB 9 '/li'c2 a5 10 b5 C5 11 g4! dX(4 12 .!ixC4 ILlb6 13 .!ie2 .!ifB 14 g5 ILlfd7 15 h4 ILld5 16 h5 1Llxc3 17 .!ixc3 b6 lB .!id3! 6
Black's main defensive systems in
Notice [ said 'reasonably sound'. If you want to guarantee yourself a small advantage with no risk, the Sokolsky is
queenside from the outset and an
early ...c6 to attack the b-pawn quickly.
.!ib2 _lixb4!, Black can be assured of an
nounces a general policy of left flank
The move 1 . . .e5 is the most critical op
expansion. On the fourth rank the b
tion, as the blocking of the long diago
active position, at least for the first ten or so moves. However, we feel that
pawn is active in the fight for central
nal and the threat to dominate the cen
White is not worse here, and the first
control; it can dri.ve away an enemy
tre with ... d7-d5 may leave White, if he
player has the significant practical ad
knight from c6 or exchange itself for a
is not careful, with a passive position
vantage of being on familiar turf, given
c-pawn foolhardy enough to challenge
7
Play 1 b41
Introduction
proper preparation.
ing through databases for the most cor
So much for familiarity_ As fOT com
rert information, so one may assume
fort, the Sokolsky is flexible enough to
your adversaries will seek guidance
offer players of widely varying styles
from the standard opening reference
positions to suit their tastes. For in
works and repertoire books like this
stance, Alexei Sokolsky was a solid,
one. Fortunately for us, very few of
perhaps even a stolid, player; a plod
them offer really usef ul information.
der if you will. His contemporary, Bo
For instanc�, the late Grandmaster
ris Katalymov, an equally ardent devo
Eduard Gufeld, in his book An Opening
tee of this opening, was
Repertoire for the Attacking Player, rec
a
daring tacti
cian who revelled in risky flank at
ommends
tacks. Bukhuti Gurgenidze is a lover of
e3 cS S bxc6 bxc6, and now he gives the
un usual, closed structures, while the
move 6 �f3 after which Black grabs the
author of this book, Yury Lapshun,
initiative on the queenside. But
I b4 e6 2 il.b2 lbf6 3 bS dS 4
I prefer
detests closed games. There is truly
the continuation 6 c4! il.d6 7li:1f3 O-{) 8
something for everybody in the Sokol
'/IjIc2 lj)bd7 9 lbc3 il.b7 10 i.e2!, as
sky.
played in KNovikov-D.Pincher, Tula
If you want to explore untrodden
2000.
paths, if you enjoy thinking for your
Another book, A" Opening Reper
self, or if you prefer to ' play chess and
toire for Black by GMs Drazen Marovic
not variations', you have come to the
and Bruno Parma, considers only 1l7Jf3
right place. Memorization is required
lbf6 2 b4 and offers only one exam pie:
only for the sharpest lines occurring
2 ... g6 3 i1.b2 i1.g7 3 4 04 0-0 S e3 c6 6
after 1 b4 eS. Other first moves for
il.e2 dS 7 0-0 il.g4 8 lba3?! lj)bd7 9 bS
Black place a premium on understand
cxbS 10 lj)xbS dxc4 1 1 il.xc4 a6 12 lj)bd4
ing and judgment. A careful study of
eS 13 lbe2 e4 14 lj)fd4 J:tc8 IS il.b3 lj)cs
the material in this book will provide
16 il.a3lbfd7 17 ):tc\ 'i!!'aS 18 il.xcSlbxcs
you with a grasp of the basics of nu
19 h3 .kxe2 20 lj)xe2 lkdB 21 lj)g3 i1.eS?
merous structures your opponents will
(Marovic and Parma prefer 21 ... lIfe8)
try, and the confidence to confront
22 lIxcS! '/IjIxcs 23 lj)xe4, and White ac
them effectively.
tually won a long rook and pawn end ing, V.Smyslov-W. Uhlmann, Moscow
Opening books may not be too helpful What of your opponents who may be aware of your predilection for I b4?
li:If6 2 i1.b2 g6 3 i1.xf6�?, one may ask -
Where can they turn for guidance?
Indian is no sim pie panacea against the
Most of our readers will be club players, as will their opponents. The
1967. But what of the move order I b4 the authors offer no advice. The King's
lems for both sides. A few books, how ever,
do
make
decent
writing in these games. However, our primary purpose was
suggestions
to put forth Yury Lapshun's games and
against our opening. For example, the
ideas, as he is certainly one of the
American Grandmaster Andrew SoltiS,
strongest active players who regularly
in his Black to Play and Win with 1.. . g6,
plays the Sokolsk y. Yury has annotated
offers a sound King's Indian set-up and
more than 60 games here, including 20
considers the Sokolsky separately from
of his own best games, and I believe
the Nimzowitsch-Larsen. Our prefer
they are a valuable contribution to the
ences
literature of chess.
against this structure will be
found in Chapter Three. Two recent books, Chess Openings
Pronoun Questions
for Black, Explained by Grandmasters
For the remainder of lhis book, the
Dzindzichashvili, shteyn,
and
Alburt
Beating
and
Perel
pronouns '1', 'me' and 'mine' fpff'J to
Unusual
Chess
Yury Lapshun, and' co-author' refers to
Openillgs by 1M Richard Palliser, have
Nick Conticello. The authors under
presented a strong challenge based on
stand that a significant portion of our
the line 1 b4 e5 2 i1.b2 i1.xb4. How to
readership will be female, and there
deal
fore we have used gender-neutral pro
with their recommendations is
discussed in Chapter Two.
nouns whenever possible.
The Sokolsky Connection
Conclusion
Part of our mission in writing this book
J will now step aside and let Yury Lap
was to present the best of Sokolsky's
shun, with some help from Alext'i
work to the English-speaking chess
Sokolsky, guide you the rest of the
world. All the games played by Sokol
way. On behalf of Yury. I wish you
sky (except Game
f'very success in your games with 1 b4,
10),
and
several
other pre-1970 games (5, 26, 4S, 47, SO,
and J hope you experience as much
68, 74, 76 and 77) include notes based
pleasure in reading this work as the
heavily upon
authors enjoyed while writing it.
from
or directly translated
Sokolsky's
book.
OccaSionally
Sokolsky got somet hing wrong, and we
Nick Conticello,
have corrected his analysis where nec
New York,
essary. But we have tried for the most
March 2008
part to retain the flavour of Sokolsky's
Sokolsky. Many repertoire books don'l even
average non-professional will not be
discuss
familiar with the best methods of wad-
Nimzowitsch-Larsen
8
poses vastly different strategic prob
1 b4, considering only 1 b3 (the Attack),
which
9
Cha pter One
I
The Sokolsky Gambit
1 b4 e5
2 il.b2 f6!1 3 e4! (or 3 b5!1)
We begin our survey of 1 b4 with one of its most complicated and most theo retical variations, the so-called Sokol sky Gambit. With his second move Black embarks on a policy of building a strong, c1assical pawn centre, using it to blunt White's pieces, in particular the dark-squared bishop, and eventu ally expanding and breaking through on the kingside. must
combat
We
this
believe White
plan
by
drastic
means, including the offer of a pawn or
The
Katalymov-Estrin
twins
(Games 5 -6) consider the theoretically
two in 19th century style. We start with two classic Tarta
approved thrust 3 . ..d5. Instead of the
kower games that put the Sokolsky
pedestrian 4 exdS i..xb4,
Opening 'on the map' so to speak.
Angus
These games,
book Winning Unorthodox Openings, we
and
two
later
ones,
Dunnington in
as
given by
his
excellent
Fischer-Gloger (Game 3) and Kataly
recommend the lively 4 f4!. This thrust
mov-Muratov (Game 4), examine the
of lhe bishop's pawn suits my style
acceptance of the gambit with 3 .. . il.xb4.
better.
White replies 4 il.c4 with the idea of
My encounters with Laframboise
continuing with the advance f2-f4, and
and Blumenfeld (Games 7-8) illustrate
often f4-fS following a similar strategy
two logical but - perhaps rightly
to that used in the Vienna Game.
attempts by Black.
-
rare
These games,
I
11
The Soko/sky Gambit
Play 1 b4/
hope, will demonstrate that a thorough
lowed b y . . .lLlg6).
good for White.
understanding of the ideas from the
S f4
12 d 31Llf6 13l!!'g S h6 14 'ilfg3!
previous examples will enable you to
The immediate 5
"fYh5+ is White's
14 'ill'xg6?? allows Black to trap the
cope with the unexpected, even in such
main alternative (see Game 3).
queen with 14 .. 1Ig4!.
a wild opening as this.
S...dS 6 exds Jtd6
14 e4
Of course, not everyone will want
.•.
Latcr Colle tried 6 ...exf4 aga in st Tar
to play in this gambiteering way, and
takower (see Game 2).
for people of a more conservative tem
7 fxes fxes 8l!!' hS+ ILlg6 91Llf3
perament (like my co-author) we in clude three exam pies of the positional 3 b5, one of which was played and ana lysed by Alexei Sokolsky himself.
25 ...lIf6? But there is not enough com pensa
Gamel
tion for two pawns! 25 ... 'iII'c3!? is an
S.Tartakower-R.Reti
improvement.
Vienna 1919 Black is not ready to open the cen
1 b4 eS 2 il.b2 f6 3 e4 il.xb4 Black's
attempts
at refUSing
tre. 14 ... il.g4 , bringing another piece the
gambit are discussed in Games 5-8.
4.1/.h7 21 �d3+ wins material for White.
10 0-0
16 il.g4
29'i!i'b8
..•
After 10 il.d3 0-0 1] il.xg6 hxg6 12
ILleS 13 0-0 the position is un
best move.
clear.
4...IiJe7
10 0-0 111LlC3 J:tf4 1l ... lLlf6 12 'ill'gS e4 131Lld4 il.xh2+ 14
This knight helps to prepare ... d7-
15_.II:xe4
endgame for White.
"l!i'xg6 •..
d5, and later on to protect f4 (for ex
..t>hl
ample, after f2-f4, met by ...exf4 fol-
1 4 ...lLle5 IS il.b3 h6 16 'iWh4 should be
(but
26 'iWxa7 !:tb6 27 d6! il'xd6 28 �c4+ ..t>h7
�xf6 18 il'xf6 gxf6 leads to a pawn-up
game was complex enough to dispense
9...lLld7
According to Sokolsky, this is the
to crack.
lS ltlxe4 1Llxe4
with any (urther comments on compli cations that didn't occur.
12
Tartakower
25...b6 26 c4, but even 26 ...'iWc3 is tough
not
14
'.t>xh2??
ILlg4+!)
16 ...'iWe8! ]7 il.d3l:Ixe4 is unclear.
17 'iWe1 il.xf3 18 J:txf3 J:txf3 19 gxf3 il'g5+ 20 '.t>h1 'ill'h 5 21 'ill'f2 I:If8 22 il.e2 il.e5 23 il.xe5 il'xe5 24 I:Ig1 1Llf4 25 .1/.f1 Black is a pawn down, but his ac· tive
pieces
probably
compensation.
offer
enough
Now the threat is il'g8 mate, and White is winning.
29_lLle6 30 il.xe6 �xe6 31 �x:xf6 iLlg6
5 It\e2, as given by Andrew Soltis, seems more to the point. I-or example: a) 5... d6 6 c3! (Soltis) 6 ....lil.c5 (or
17 g7+) 17 "iWxf4 >te8 18 nael+ �e6 19
14 lhg6! hxg6 ]5 "iWxg6 Wh8? 16 It\e8!
6 ... .lta5 7 d4 exd4 8 O-O!
"iWa4+ c6 20 "iWb4 gxf6 2] "iWxd6 with a
"iWe7 17 tZlf6 1-0, A.Sokolsky-Strugach,
this is always the answer to Black's
crushing attack for White.
Minsk 1958, is a good demonstration of
... exd�) 7 d4 . lil.b6 8 0-0, and now
14 exfS d S
White's attacking chances in this line.
8 ... iLlh6 Iransposes to note 'b'.
b) 5 ... d6 is a passive but solid reac
b) s ..iLlh6 6 0-0 d6 7 c3 Ji.c5 8 d4
tion. We suggest 6 fS, after which Black
.lil.b6 9 a4 a6 10 as �a7 11 'l!i'b3 lhc6 1 2
gxh7+ II
White w i ns.
36 :r:tel lI<e8 37 "i!!'b8+ 1Ih8 2 0 cxd5 cxdS 2 1
81i:lfd2 0-0 9 Ii:lc3 fS
1i:l3xe4'.
good for White, but we think that after
However, Fritz suggests 32 iLf1!!
32 ...'i'!'g3 33 'iiVcl (33 fxeS l:tf2 wins)
and gives the line 32...li:lf3+ 33 \l;>hl Ibel
33 ...d4 Black has a strong attack; for
34 'Wd1 Ii:lxg2 35 iLxg2 lhg2 36 'Wfl
example, 34 .lIb7 d3 3S iLg4 IH6 36
l:tg5 37 );Ib7 'i!!' f5 38 a7 'i!!'f3+ 39 Wh2 d4
l::txa7 Ii:lf3+ 37 iLxf3 exf3 38 'iiVd 2 fxg2 39
40 llb3 dxe3 41 :!Ixe3 'i!!'f 8 42 :!Ixe4 lldS
'iiVxd3 > .lIg6 40 llxg7+ Wxg7 41 'iiV d7+
43 );Ib4, which is winning for White.
Wh8 42 'iiV d8+ .lIg8 43 'iiVd4+ 'iiVg7 and
32... );IxgH 33 fxg3 'Wxg3+ 34 Wfl
Black wins.
'i!!' xh3+ 35 'it<el 'Wxe3! 36 'ita2 'iiVa5+ 40 I!;>bl 'iiVb 4+ 41 'itxa3
mentioned previously, and Black can
Here White could have played 21
ILld6 36 ill eS J:'te7 37 'it>b4 Wi7
continue with 1 1 ....!:txa6 12 il.g2 il.e4 1 3
'ii'f2! defending 13. After 2 l...1ile6 22
'ii'e3 IIe6. Instead 11 il.g2 looks like the
IIel na6 23 1Ll14 'ii'd7 24 Wg2 0-0 25
best chance for White.
lhe6 lhe6 26 1Llxe6 'l!i'xe6 27 lIel White
11...il.e4 12 'i!i'e2 axbS?!
has more lhan enough play for a pawn.
12 ...'ii'e7! 1 3 13 il.xc2 wins a pawn.
21...lLlxf3 22 'iWxdS 'ii'e4 23 'ii'b S+ 'it>f8 24 'iWb4+ Wg7
24 ...'it>g8 25 ILlf2 'ii' c6 26 'l!i'xb7 i!l'xb7 27 l:1xb7 h5 should be equal. 2S Iilf2 'iWe6 26 'ii'e 7+ 'it>g6 27 1bb7
After this strong move White has some problems to solve: his bishops 381Llxa6!
look bad, the b5-pawn is weak, and
The logical culmination of White's queenside attack. Now the b-pawn will march to its coronation.
Black has more space. 71LlC3 il.b4 8'iWhS+
Forcing a
weakening
38 bxa6 39 Lxa6 'it>e840 li[e6 Wd7 41
kings ide.
'it>cs 1-0
8...g6 9 'iWf3 a6 10 g3
•..
41 ._lLlf7 42 il.c8+ wins, as does 42
in
Black's 13 W fl
10 bxa6 J:l.xa6 only helps to improve Black's rook and weaken the a2-pawn.
b7.
Carnell
Ducking the pin and clearing el for the rook. Possible is 13 f3!? l:!a3 14 fxe4 il.xc3+ 15 il.xc3 l:1xc3 reaching a posi tion with chances for both sides.
27 lild2+ 28 W gl ILlf3+ 29 Wfl Iil d2+
13...il.xe3 14 il.xC3 lLle7 15 f3 iI.fS 16
30 W gl y.-y.
•••
il.xfs gxfS 171Llh31Llbe618l:1bl b4
K.VoIke-V.Kuprei(hik
18...Xlxa2 19 lhb5 'ii'd7 looks more
Minsk 1994
logical.
Perpetual check ends an entertain ing
game
in
which
both
players
showed their lactical skills.
1 b4 eS 2 il.b2 f6 3 bS dS 4 e3 cS 5 d4!?
A risky move, fighting for control of the centre. After 5 bxc6 ILlxc6 Black's centre looks very solid. S exd4 •..
5...cxd4 6 exd4 e4 7 c4 il.e6 8 ILlc3 il.b4 9 'iWb3 il.a5 10 cxd5 il.xd5 I I il.c4, as played in U.Kreuzer-P.Turati, corre
l o...il.fs
1O ... axb5 11 ILlge21Llc6 12 ii.g2 gives
spondence 1990, sees White maintain
White
ing dangerous pressure on the a2-g8
pawn.
diagonal.
11 il.h3
32
a
big enough initiative for a
33
Play 1 b 4 ! Summary
This is probably the most difficult chapter in the book from a tactical point of view. Players with sharp styles will relish the complications of the Sokolsky Gam bit (3 e4 il.xb4 4 il.c4 or 3 e4 d54 f4). Opponents who don't know what to do can meet the same fate as mine did in Games 7 and 8, and a study of these two en counters should give you some encouragement.
Cha pter Two
Players who don't enjoy complications should look more closely at 3 b5, as seen in Games 9-1 1 .
1
1 b 4 e 5 2 il.b2 f6 3 e4
I
b4 e S 2 .i. b2 .i. x b4
3 b5 d5 4 e3 (0) 4 ...il.e6
-
4 ...il.d6 4...c5
-
-
Game 9 Game 10
Game 1 1
3 il.xb4 ...
3 ...c6
-
Game 7
3 ... a5 - Game S 3 ... d54 f4 exf4 5"ill'h5+ g6 6 'i1!'xd5'i!fxd57 exd5il.xb4 8 il.c4 (0) 8 ...il.f5 Game 5 -
8 .. .tL'ld7
-
Game 6
4 iI.hl
thought for about one hour over his
trap: on 12_.Ilfe8? there follows 1 3
During the game I felt this was the
iLeS
opening ten moves.
i1.hs! 'liVg5 1 4 f 4 'liVe7 IS 'liVf3, winning
best defence to the idea of ... 1:::c6, be
1... eS 2 i1.b2 i1.xb4 3 .1l.xeS 4:lf6 4 e4 0-0
material.
cause my queen needed more f reedom.
5 4:lf3 4:lc6 6 i1.b2 d5 7 cxd5 4:lxd5 8 e3
12 •••iLf5 13 "iliel
2 1...h 5
The d-pawn goes, but the attack rages on. 36 iLb2 :lIe3 37 'liVds J:i:e6 38 i1.f8 46 i1.e6 .t>e8 47 nxa7 1.()
pressure on the g2-pawn. I had no idea what to do, so ] chose which
Game 1 6 Y.Lapshun-R.Robson
World Open, Philadelphia 2007
a
wailing move
decides where Black's
dark
42
With this and his following move
14 .. Jtad8 looks more natural. 1S iLb5 .!lad8
his pieces for the next game too! Right
Black can try to win a pawn with \\!i'xbl
'liVxbl
17 l:txbl
now he was experiencing some time pressure because he had spf"nt too
squared bishop goes and protects the
15 ...i.xb1?!
i.xd2, but here 18 4:lf3 i1.a5 1 9 i1.xc6
much of it in the opening.
future.
bxc6 20 l:tbcl 4:ld5 21 l:txc6 gives White
25 e4!
9 a3 i1.a5 10 �_e 2
a slight advantage.
4:lc3 and discouraging ... \\!i'g6.
16
my opponent seemed to be preparing
b4-square - this could be useful in the
I think 10 'liVc2 is best, preparing
I n this game I was playing against
Creating my first threat: winning a
'liVa2 17 4:lc1 'liVbl 18 iLd3, trapping the
16 iLe3 Trying to release the pressure, but
The beginning of my attack in the centre.
Black's
initiative
has
disap
peared and it was a time for him to
43
PlaY l b4 !
1 b4 e5 2 Ji.. b 2 il.Xb4 10 �xc5? tDxe5 1 1 tDxe5 il e6 12 �b5
trade pieces with 25...il. g4.
was already losing
25 ... il.e8?! 26 e5
41 �b4+ IPd8 42 'ilfb8+ lPe7 43 llel
Ilc8 13 /l)c4 'ilff6 14 Ila2 tDb6 15 tDxa5
�g4+ 44 Wf2 1·0
il.xa2 wins for Black.
Now White has a clear advantage. 26 •..l!dd7 27 il.e4 "lWh6 28 f4 IPf8
Defending the rook on e7 and thus
Black can't save the knight. This is a
a slightly better approach. 22 ...e3?!
Trying to win the h7-bishop, but this allows a lre-mendous attack on the
good exam pIe of a white pawn storm
black king. Instead 22... tDb3! 23 ILlxe6
threatening to capture the d4-pawn.
in the centre prepared by careful open
fxe6 24 Ildl 'i!!'h 4 25 (3 b5 26 il.e4 is un
29 d5
ing strategy.
clear, as Black f'ojoys some coun terplay on the queenside. 23 dxc3 g6 24 il.xg6 fxg6 25 C4
Came 1 7 B.Katalymov-S.Giterman
USSR Championship, Novgorod 1961 1 b4 e5 2 il.b2 il.xb4 3 il.xe5 tDf6 4 tDf3 0·0 5 e4 d5 6 e3
6 cxd5 ILlxd5 7 e3 tDc6 8 il.b2 would transpose to previous games in this chapter.
10 ...'i!!'e7 11 il.d3 h6 12 0-0 il.e6 13 l::tel il.b6 14 tDe3 Ilad8?
This move allows White to gain the two bishops and saddle Black with
6..•e5
weak doubled pawns on the b-file. 14 ...tDxc3!? 15 �xc3 f6 16 il.e4 tDa5 17
moving.
6 ... tDc6 7 .i_b2 ne8 8 cxd5 Iilxd5 9 il.e2 would reach Games 14-15.
il.c2 11fd8 looks about equal.
29...f5
7 a3 il.a5 8 cxd5 1Ll xd5 9 'ilfe2
15 tDa4 il.g4 16 tDel tDa5 17 Ilabl Ile8
25 ...lLlf6 26 'l!i'xg6 tDxc4 27 'l!i'xh6+ IPg8
18 h3 il.e6 19 tDxb6 axb6 20 tDf3 e4 2 1
28 'l!i'g6+ wh8 29 il.a1 I!f7??
An unbelievable position, in which all of Black's pieces have problems
This is the only way to complicate the position, but White's next move
il.h7+ IPh8
renders Black's position hopeless.
White has a crushing attack
Losing at once. 29 ... il.d7!? puts up more resistance, although after 30 llb4
30 d6! exd6
ILleS 31 'l!i'h6+ IPg8 32 l::txc8 .Il:xc8 33 tDb3
Or 30 ... lLlxd6 31 exd6 ::Xxd6 32 il.d3,
wf7 34 Ilf4 Ile8 35 il.c3 il.c6 36 iI.b4
with a good extra piece.
'l!i'd8 37 11Wh7+ lPe6 38 tDd4+ IPd5 39 'l!i'c2
31 il.xf5 't1e7 32 :1."e7?
il.a4 40 e4+ White is winning easily.
White could win easily with 32
30 ILlxe6 'l!i'xe6 31 J:'tb5! 1·0
il.xc8!, but in my calculations I missed
There is no defence to 32 .Il:h5f6 followed by ... l:txb5
'l'!'b3 axb5 15 'i'hb5 itlc6 16 0-0 'iiic7 17
51 ...f6+ S2 wd5 nxbS 53 11a3 y,-y,
itlb3 .i.f8 18 .i.a3 itlxaS ]9 il.xf8 11.xf8 20
Now if 53 ... IIaS 54 1':[b3 1':[a6, 5S \I;>c6 threatening 56 nd3 guarantees a draw.
lJ.xa5 �xc3 2] l::txa8 l::txa8 22 'il¥xb7 reaches an equal position. 1 1 ... .i.e6, however, allows White to
Came 2S B.Katalymov-I.Zaitsev
Odessa 1972
The starl of a good and necessary
apply pressure with ]2 cxd5 .i.xd5 13 itlxd5 1hdS 14 'il¥b3 'lil'd7 1 5 a6 b6.
12 a6 From this poSition it's impossible to calculate the countless variations, but
manoeuvre to return the exchange.
41 fs ll:h8+ 42 Wg3 Wf6 43 \l;>f3 nes! 44
...
Katalymov played this crazy game
it's clear that Black is under consider
in the city and year of my birth. His
able pressure, which will continue un
ing.
opponent sacrificed many pieces going
abated.
29 lIf3 itlf2+ 30 wg1 itle4
for checkmate, but Katalyrnov won a
12 ... <S 13 .i.a3
28 ...'il¥xg4 29 ll:f2 gives Black noth
The
last
few
moves
have
itlxes wxes
seen
bishop and trium phed without moving
Black's attack growing in menace, so
his king's rook
White decides to offer an exchange to
1 b4 eS 2 .i.b2 'il'e7 3 c4 g6 4 bS .i.g7 S
slow Black down.
e3 itlf6 6 itl Wxd4 47 lIc7 is dan
13 ...dxc4!? 14 .i.xc4 bxa6 ]5 bxa6
gerous for Black. No better is 4S...WdS
'il'e8 is far from clear, for example after
46 dxcS dxcS 47 l::td3+ Wc4 48 l::td 7.
46 dxcS dxcS 47 l::td3 We7 48 as! l::t h 1
queens and l'akes the exchange h e will
4 8. . .bxaS 4 9 .!:ta3 lIb8 5 0 IlxaS .!:tb7 5]
not be able to win because of While's
We4 wd6 52 lIa6+ Wc7 53 WdS! even
58
Now we can see that Zaitsev, play
16 itlb5 'il'e7 ]7 'lil'a4 itlg4 ]8 'il¥a5 itlb6
ing a King's Indian system, has saved a
19 .i.e2 'lil'h4 20 g3 'lil'f6 2] .i.xg4 .i.xg4
tempo by pushing his pawn to dS in
22 jtxc5 .!! d7 23 itlc3 .i.f3.
one move.
14 dxcS
59
Black Plays . . . e5 and . . . d 6
Play 1 b 4 ! White's t wo extra pawns outweigh
White's king will eventually escape
Black's activity - White hasn't devel
all the checks, the black pawns will
After 9... Qidf6 10 �d3 il.f5 11 Qih4!
oped all his pieces, but his passed
disappear, and the white pawns will
Black's pieces are not well placed, and
pawns can crush everything in their
become queens. One possible line is 43
he will lose at least a pa wn.
path. In this hopeless position Black 's
nf3 '!!f g4+ 44 Wf2 '!!fd4+ 45 Wg3 �e5+ 46
10 d5 Qief6
only practical chance is to continue
Wg2 'OlI'b2+ 47 llf2 'OlI'd4 48 IIh3 'OlI'g4+ 49
This humiliating retreat is forced..
sacrificing pieces.
llg3 '!!f e4< 50 11ff3 '!!fe2+ 51 Wh3 '!!fh7+
Black now realizes that it's better not to
20 Itxd4 21 Qixd4 J::t d 8 22 Qic2 il. f3 2 3
52 g4 'i!l'e4+ 53 J::tf4 'i!l'e6+ 54 h4 'i!l'e5
trade the bishop on g7 which defends
'!!fu
55 ll.gf3, and White wins.
his king. On 1O .. .li:ldf6, White replies II
.•.
Qid4 and later f2-f3, kicking the knight
23 gxf3 is another way to win. After 23 ... Itd2 24 fxg4 Itxe2 25 il.xe2 Q\d7 26 c6 Qib6 27 il.f3 il.xe3 28 .!:ld 1 il.g7 29
14...d41 Another
�_c5 il.f8 30 il.xb6 axb6 31 IiIg2, White mistake.
It's
true
that
Game 26 B.Katalymov-Bakhtiar
Tashkent 1959
enjoys a decisive material advantage.
14 ... bxa6!? 15 cxd5 '!!fe5 1 6 1l.c1 Iilxd5 1 7
23 ...il.h6 24 Ii',ds il.xdS 25 cxdS .!:lxdS
Qixd5 '!!fxd5 18 c6 Qif6 19 bxa6 il.g4 20
26 h3 Qie3 27 Qixe3 Itlf3+ 28 6 IIdc8 38 l:td a I White eas •..
b6?
ily forces a win (3 8 ... nc 7 3 9 l:txb6).
To preven t the threat of 24 'il'a5 , bu t
34 exb7!
23.. 'i!i'c7 wou ld have been a better way
Unexpected and very effetive. Re
to d o this. The pawn move weakens
c a ptu ring I he qu een by 34 .lixc 7 llxc 7
.
the c 6-square and gi ves White a c hanc e
35 nal ne8! wou ld en able Blac k to re
to c reate a stron g passed pawn.
sist st rongly. Although Black's po sition
24 'i!i'a3! exb5
Black wou ld
wou ld still be inf erior, the realizat ion lose a pawn after
o f White's ad van tage wou ld need a
24... bxc5 25 bxc6 'ili'd 6 26 'ili'xc 5, whi le
c onsid erable in vestm en t of lime and
24. .. �f8 is really bad bec au se of 25 itJxc 6 bxc 5 26 'il'c 3 .
energy.
25 e6! 'l!i'e7 26 axb5 lle4 27 lIa1 lIa8 28
62
Qui te a rare m ove ord er. 3 ...itJd 7 4 g3 g6 5 ;tg2 ;tg7 6 tib3 tile7 7 1tlf3 0-0 8
c han ge and after 3 3 'l!I'xc7 i..xc7 con
queen sac rifice shatters all his hopes.
23
Whi te m oves the rook away from the potenti al thrust ... 'ili'c2. On 3 9 itJxg6
34...'il'xb7 35 :te7 'i!i'b8
Black has a sm all materi al ad van -
was equ al in S.Bemstei n
4 d4 itJd7 5 e3 il.g7 6 itJf3 e4 7 1tlfd2 fS
.••
Blac k pitc hes a pawn to c lear d 5 for
8 itJe3 itJh6 9 'iWb3 e6 10 itJe2
his bishop. 40 itJxg6 d3 41 lIe7 'l!I'e8 42 itJe7+ -j;f7
Not 42 ...-j;h8 bec au se of 43 Sl.e5+. 43 itJxf5+ -j;f6
Or 43. ..-j;g8 44 itJh6+ �h8 45 .lie5 m ate. 44 1ilg7 'l!I'g8 45 .lie5+ Ilig6 46 f5+ �xf5 4 7 1tlxf5 1-0
Game 2 l V.Alekseev-K.Sakaev
Petrov Memorial, St Petersburg 1996
At first sight thi s looks like a waste of time, bu t in ord er t o stop Blac k's ki ngsid e attac k Alekseev wanted
White d oes som ething qu ite un u sual in
thi s gam e. He pu shes hi s
to
gain c ontrol of the f4-squ are. 10...ltlf6 11 h4 il.e6 12 Itlf4 il.f7 13 a4
63
Black Plays . . . e5 a n d . . . d 6
Play 1 b 4 ! 0-0 14 b S
2S iLxg4 fxg4 2 6 IZlxe4 IZld3+ 2 7 J:lxd3
Here w e see our favourite queen side attack. Howeverl ] believe that
lO. . . aS!? 1 1 b 5 exd4 1 2 exd4 c5 13 0-0
'l!i'xb2+ 2S '/!!" xb2 �xb2+ 29 Itxb2 .!txe4
cxd4 14 Ii"lxd4 1Zlc5 15 'l!i'c2 is equal.
30 IZlxgs .!txC4
ll 1Zld2 hS
White is actually trying to close the queenside and castle there, and so it's Black's duty to prevent White from doing this by opening up the queenside. For example, 14 ... a6!? 16 axb5 lJ.xal
�
15 ....e2 axb5
17 ....xa1 with a level
position.
14 lZlhg4 15 ....e2 "i!Ye7 16 as cS 17 d S .•.
J:1aeS I S a 6 b 6 19 IZlfl lZles 2 0 IZlg3 IZlfg41
40 l'!:f4+
Sakaev would pay for not prevent
]t's curious how two strong chess
ing White's line-opening on the kingside. 20 ... h5!? looks like a better option.
21 hS "i!YgS 22 IZlh3 1!Yf6 23 hxg6 hxg6
players White has an extra pawn. but also
missed
checkmate
in
three
moves: 40 llg7+ Wf6 41 lIh6 c We5 42
some weaknesses. In order to maintain
ng5 mate.
the advantage, he must attack Black's
40...�g6 41 1ZlfS+ �g7 42 1Zle6+ 1-0
weak pawns.
31 e41! 31 .!:!.h6' would have been the best
reversed. White is attacking on the
After 42 ... �g6 White mates as in the
castle
Baburin, White has reaped the benefits from his decision to postpone castling.
1 b4 eS 2 .... b2 d6 3 c4 IZld7 4 e 3 g6 S
doubt.
IZlf3 .... g7 6 ....e2 lZlgf6 7 d4
35 �bl C4 36 .ll: h4 C3 37 J:bg4 .ll:c S n
White can also postpone the strug gle until a later stage by playing d2-d3,
there was no time to contemplate how
as Benko does in the next game.
to checkmate the white king. Instead
7 :Wie7
24 0-0-0! g5
Black should be content with a perpet
•.
After 7...0-{) 8 0-0 lle8 9 dxe5 ILlg4 10
After 24. . ."i!Yh4!? 25 l:!dfl IZlxf2 26
ual check, which arises after 37.. .l:!b2+!
IZlc3
IZlxf5 gxf5 27 1Zlxf2 '/!!" g3 28 l:!h3 '/!!" xg2 29
38 �a1 ....b3 39 lZle6+ �f7 40 l:!g7+ �f6
A.5okolsky-V.Kirillov,
IZlgxe5
II
'Wib3, as played Minsk
in
1957,
l:thh1!, with the further l'!:hgl White can
41 1'k7 J:!.a2 c 42 Wb1 l'!.b2< 43 �c1 l'!:c2
:e4 37 -,,-b 2 'iWxf4 27 f4!
After 9 ... dS!? 10 cxdS lbxd5 11 a3 ( 1 1
38 litg4 'iWd2 39 litgxe4! 'iWxa5+
The first step of an attack is often
39 ...'iWxc2 40 ll:xe8 , Wh7 4]
'O'fu3!?) 1 Le4 1 2 -,,-xg7 exf3 13 -,,-xf3 .Il:xa8
Ibxe3 14 fxe3 Q;xg7 15 Ibc4 the position
the most difficult one. This move forces
'iWxc4+ 42 wbl should be winning for
looks roughly equaL
Black to open lines against his own
White.
10 'iWc2 Ibf8 1 1 <S!?
king.
40 Wb1 'iWxe1+ 41 litxe1 lil.. e1+ 42 Wa2
27 .._exf3 28 gxf3 -"-x xg7
22
5 g3 b6
"i!!'g4 e4 2 2 l;)eS il.e6 23 "i!!'g3 "i!!'d 6 24
S ... dS 6 cxd5 Itlxd5 7 il.xg7 ¢>xg7 8
11c51 White's active pieces offer him a
Wib3 Itlf6 9 il.g2 Itlc6 10 0-0 e5 11 d3
chance to fight for the advantage. That
il.g4 12 Itlbd2 'iWe7 13 b5 itld8 14 'iWb2
said, despite White's logical play it
itld7 15 Itacl, as played
can't be said that he has a real advan
A.Pokorny, Maehrisch Ostrau 1923, is a
tagf' - look at his dark-squared bishop,
bit better for White. Capablanca prefers
for instanCE.
a dou ble fianchetto and later adopts a
17 ... il.e6 18 il.g2 gs 19 d4!
in R.Reti
King's Indian formation. 6 il.g2 Jl.b7 7 0-0 d6 8 d3 Itlbd7 9 Itlbd2 eS 10 'iWc2 .te8 11 llfdl as
26 h31 Losing a pawn and a tempo. After the obvious 26 1:tc5 the position should
Capablanca
:lde1 ):Ixc5 28 ll:xc5 :!lc8 29 'iW c1 l'!xcS 30
22 •..¢>g8 2 3 :lxd6 "i'!'C5 24 J:adl l:ta7 White's pieces are well coordinated
"i'!'c3 il.xe5 34 "i'!'xe5 'iWxe5 35 il.xe5.
and Black is saddled with weak f6- and
26 •.•gxh3
c6-squares. The pawn on b6 is another useful target for White.
This simple move gives Black a
After improving his light-squared tre, but Black's advanced pawns on the
68
undprpsti
mated the strength 01 this move.
dxc5 .ltc8 31 'iWd2 'iWe6 32 b5 Itlh7 33
bishop, White decides to attack the cen
apparently
be equal; for example, 26 ... l:lac8 27
slight advantage.
2S ltle3 "i'!'hs 26 Itld4 il.xg2 27 Itixg2
27 il.f1 ¢>h7
"i'!'eS Black's position is virtually indefen
Prf'paring a dangerous 28... il.h6. 28 l'!cs
sible. For example, 27.. Jk7 28 Itlf3 lIe6
'I.-V.
Probably in this position Benko of-
Black is fighting for control of the
29 III d5 g5 30 I;)fS Itlf6
31 lIxe6 fxe6 32 69
Play 1 b 4 !
Black Plays
..
. e5 and . d 6 ..
�xf6 exfS 3 3 �xb6 g 4 3 4 lilh4 is hope
seur o f the English Opening, knew well
Opening. White's light-squared bishop
less.
thaI the Double Fianchetto is a tough
has nothing to target in this structure,
traded and it's soon time to agree a
28 lile4 �e5 29 lile6 lIe7 30 lile3 liles
nut to crack.
and in fact the white knight was a more
draw,
31 IhdS l-0
9 0-0 lilbd7
dangerous piece.
advantage. Almost all the pieces are
IS iLxf3 'fIe7 16 g3 l"Llf6 17 Itabl Itfd8 18 !l:d2 hS 19 h3 'iWd7 20 1:I.g2 eS 2 1 'fIb2 'fIe6 2 2 llbdl llb8 2 3 llc2?!
It is hard to understand why White didn't prevent Black's next move by playing 23 bS!? 23 ...bS 2 4 !Ibl
White could keep a slight advan tage with 24 'fIc3!?, with one possible line being 24 ... !Idc8 2S l:!dcJ a6 26 'fId2 bxc4 27 l:!xc4 cxb4 28 axb4 dS 29 !IcS
.
2 4... aS
If 31._lilc4, W hite replies 32 lhcs lilxb2 33 lIc2 lila4 34 lildS and wins a piece.
10�b3
Now with best play in this compli
The immediate 10 d4 looks more
cated position, neither side can gain an
2S 'fICl axb4 26 axb4 bxc4 27 );1>« 4 cxb4 28 llcxb4 llxb4 29 ll xb4 dS 30 l:!bs IIe8 31 l:!es IIxes 32 �xes e4 '/2-'/2
aggressive, but White wants to prepare this advance with l:!fd 1.
Game 3 1 K.5praggett-I.lvanov
Montreal 1981
10",l:!e8 1 1 1Udllile4 ] believe that this move favours
White because it allows the trade of Black's
important
King's
Indian
bishop. 1 lilf3 lilf6 2 b4 g6 3 iLb2 iLg7 4 e4 0-0
12 lilxe4 1:I.xe4 13 1:I.xg7 Wxg7 14 d3
S e3 b6 6 iLe2 d6 7 lilc3 cS 8 a3 iLb7
14 1:I.xf3 ..•
The late GM Igor Ivanov, a connois-
70
An idea borrowed from the Catalan
71
Play 1 b4! Summary
The King's Indian set-up is quite popularbut shouldn'! be too troublesome for the Sokol sky specialist. White·s early capture of queenside space will give him an im portant lead in the standard pawn races seen in many King's Indian games. In some lines it's worth considering castling long for White, as a way of hiding the king from the opponent's attack or even as a prelude to counterpunching on the
Cha pter Four
kingside (see Games 27-28). 1 b4 1llf6
I
Queen's I n d i a n Systems
l . ..e5 2 Ji.. b2 2 ... 'l!I'e7 - Game 25 2 ... d6 3 c4 3... a5 - Game 19; 3...Ji..e7 - Game 20; 3... Ji..e6 - Game 23; 3 ...lll f6 - Game 24; 3 ... g6 - Game 27; 3 ... llld 7
Game 28
3 .. .f5 4 e3 1ll f 6 5 1llf3 Ji.. e 7 (D) 6 1ll c3 - Game 21 6 d4 - Game 22 2 il.b2 g6 3 1ll f3
3 Ji.. xf6
-
Game 29 (I1otes)
5 g3 5 ...b6 (D) - Game 30 S .•. d6
Game 31
5...d5 - Chapter 7 6 d4
6 Ji..e2 - Game 29 6.. .lllb d7 (D) - Game 26
s...Ji.. e7
72
what to do about the b5-pawn must
...e5 systems and proceed to the more
always be uppermost in his or her
leisurely, amorphous, strategic life of
thoughts.
S b6 .••
6...lll bd7
White will generally develop the
Tactics and variations mean little here;
light·squared bishop via
plans and ideas count for much more.
Ji..e2, to cover b5 and leave a route for
It was quite difficult to decide
5.. .dS - Chapter 7 -
Black, and like it or not the question of
direct, cut-and-thrust opening play of
the reversed queen's pawn opening.
3 ... Ji..g7 4 _d8 j>_f2 55 .l'!b3 Wf7 56 .ltxb6
pressure
With the capture of the passed b pawn, a draw becomes inevitable.
against
the
two
hanging
24 'il'd2 'il'h4 would give Black a win
axb6 axb6 3 4 "i!!' xf5 would have given
pawns on c5 and d5.
ning attack.
White an edge.
11 .l.e8
18 il.xc3 dxe4 19 lilxe4 Iild5
••
56 SLxb6 57 .l'!xb6 Il:h2 58 g5 Il:xhH 59
3 1 lile1+ 3 2 Wh Iil d3 33 axb6 axb6 • .•
34 il.c3
.••
Wg4 J:!h1 60 llb7+ Wf8 61 J:!h7 Il:gl+ 62
34 il.xb6! l:te5 35 l:ta5 c3 36 Wg2 c2
<j;f4 I1fl+ 63 f7 38 l:!c8 Ille l+ 39 �f1 ]:!,xbS
l:th6 e4 66 J:tf6+ V.-V.
40 Wxel lhb6 4 1 11xc2 is a dead draw. 34...liJxh2+ 35 'it>g2 1ilg4 36 lila7 I1e2 37 il.d4
Game 33
Even though Black now has two ex
L Kiss-P.Kiss
tra pawns, White's two very active
Eger 1992
pieces provide enough com pensation. 37
In a
tournament i n Hungary
[
The
played an opponent named Kiss, and one of my students played another
hl?!
Kiss. But I've never seen a game be
A complete waste of time - it's dif
20 SLb2
20 'il'c2! ? "i!!'d7 21 Iild2 1ilg5 22 il.xd5
lIxf2+ 42 'it>gl c1"1!f+ 43 J:lxc1 lZb2 44 .l'!cB+ We7 45 .l'!c7+ 'it>d6 46 J:txg7 offers
tween two Kisses, until now!
ficult to believe a master would play
il.xd5 23 f3 is about equal.
White some winning chances, bul we
1 b4 d5 2 SLb2 Iilf6 3 e3 e6 4 b5 ..6 1iJd7
whereas the white b-pawn will run to
along the c-file, s o he pushes his
glory.
pawn and induces White to capture.
41, liJd3 42 1i>0 cl� 43 il.xC1 IiJxC1 44
15 bxc6 .icllc6 16 liJc3 ll:c8 17 '!'I'bl .icb7
W c6 is zugzwang, and 53...We6 54 1i>b6
IlxC1 llb2 45 ll:c5 f4 46 gxf4 Ii>g7 47
18 IiJb5 d5 19 odS .icxd5 20 .icd4
wd6 55 Ii>b5 Ii>d7 56 Wc5 li>e6 57 Wc6
.•
r
53 ...We7 54 wb6 1i>d6 55 b5 1i>e6 56
Ii>g4 ll:xf2 48 ll:c7+ Ii>f6 49 Ilc5 li>e7 50
reaches the same position.
Wfs hS Sl 1i>gS ll.b2 1-0
S4 1iJ"g6 IiJf6 SS IiJh4 li>e6 S6 IiJf3 Ii>d6
White grabs the h5-pawn,
S 7 IiJg5 c6 S8 WaS IiJd7 59 Wb4 1-0
after
which one of his pawns will become a
Two extra pawns, together with
queen.
Black's thret> weaknesses, are more than enough to win this position.
Game 34 M.Vokac-M.Tratar
34 ... liJf6 3S d3 Ii>d7 36 h3 Ii>c7 37 IiJ<S
Ceske Budejovice 1996
Ii>c6 38 IiJb3 Ii>d6 39 IiJd4 IiJd7 40 IiJf3
Game 35 A.Sokolsky-V.Chekhover
Leningrad 1938
IiJf8 41 liJg5 f6 1 b 4 liJf6 2 il.b2 e6 3 b5 b6 4 e3 .icb7 5
This move weakens Black's pawn White has managed to trade off his
f4
structure, but the only alternative was
1 b4 liJf6 2 �b2 e 6 3 b5 b6 4 e 3 il.b7 5
weak c4-pawn and now starts \0 attack
an undesirable king retreat.
1iJ0 i.e7
Black's vulnerable b-pawn.
42 liJf3 li>cs 43 IiJd4 Ii>d6
20..:'li'a2 2 1 liJc3 �xbl 22 ll.xbl .iccs 2 3 IiJxds IiJ x d s 24 g3 .icxd4 2 S t;',xd4 g6 2 6 Wf2 ll:a8 2 7 il.0 l:la2 28 il.xd5 exd5
Despite the two weak pawns, Blark should hold this ending. However, the task proves to be Loo difficult after a blunder by Black and some excellent endgame play by White. 29 We2 h5??
Black should rush his king to the With 5 f4 White is aiming to gain
centre with 29 ... wf8!' The text move
control of the e5-square. 5 IiJf3 is more
wastes time.
common: 5... .ice7 6 �_e2 (6 c4 0-0 7 �_e2
30 ll:bs Ilas 31 ll:xas bxas 3 2 liJc6 Wf8
d5 8 a4 was Sokolsky-Chekhover - see
Black plays in the style of the 44 1i>d2
Now the white king will circle
Winning a pawn, as 32 ... a4 can be
Queen's Indian Defence. White begins an advance on the queenside, where he
Game 35) 6 ... 0-0 7 0-0 d5 8 d3 c5 9
met by 33 liJe7� Wf8 34 IiJxd5.
round its counterpart.
has a space advantage.
IiJbd2 IiJbd7 10 c4 .icd6 1 1 Ilet �c7 was
n liJxas li>e7 34 liJb7
44.. ,liJd7 45 Wc3 IiJc5 46 IiJf3 liJa4+ 47
6 c4 0-0 7 il.e2 d5 8 a4 dxc4
equal in A.Miles-Z.Ribli, London 1984.
A long time ago somebody told me
wd4 1ilc5 48 IiJh4 1iJe6+ 49 1i>C3 Q)f8
Giving up the centre leads to an ad vantage for Whit... Black should play
5...a6 6 a4 axbS 7 axbs ll.xal 8 .icxal d6
that knight endgames are very similar
9 IiJf3 IiJbd7 10 .ice2 �a8 11 .icb2 .ice7
to pawn endgames, in which case an
lacking the two weaknesses on g6 and
8... c5.
12 0-0 0-0 13 c4 Ild8 14 �c2 c5
extra pawn is almost always a decisive
d5.
9 liJa3 b5 f5 53
Black
80
seeks
active
counterplay
White's strategy is based upon at
And here too it's better to play
81
Play 1 b 4 ! 1 0...cS.
Quee n 's (ndian Systems 25 lZlxa5
11 il.b2 id6 12 il.xf6 'f¥xf6 13 0-0 ndB
40_. �d6 41 lZlfB �d3 42 g3 g5 43 lZlxh7 lZld7 44 lZla5
14 'i!!'bl! li'ld7
A natural move. Now on 14 ... cS, 1 5
Four pawns against the knight! A very interesting endgame to thp finish. 57._lile2 5B g4+! Wg6 59 Wd6 lilC3 60 e5 lile4+ 61 �d7 lile5+ 62 �e6 lZld3 63
lZlc4 lZld7 1 6 a s ! is very strong.
�d6 lZlf2 64 e6 lilxg4 65 e7 1i1f7 66 h5
15 lZlc4 lZlc5 16 liIC1
Of course not 66 �d7 because of
66 ... lZle5+ 67 ¢'d8 lilc6. , and against 66 g6. Black has 66 . �e8 67 g7 lilh6 68 . .
W e6 lilg8. 66...�eB 67 h6 lilf2 6B h7 lile4+ 69 �e5 lilxg5 70 hB'iW+ 1-0
25 .. .li!xCl+
Otherwise there would follow 26 lZlac6. 26 J:bCl WfB 27 f3 :!lcB
In the annotations to this game,
44u.g4
This is the only chance to compli
published in the tournament bulletin,
of his forces and threatens moves like
the chess master Alatortsev suggested
d2-d4, a4-aS or lZlc4-aS. Black's knights
for Black the variation 27... e5 28 lZldc6
fxg4 We7 47 g5.
must retreat.
Ji:c8, believing lhat Black could put up
46 lZle4+ �e7 47lild2 il.a2 4B fxg4 il.g8
16u.lZle7 17 d4 �e4
stiH resistance. Bu t White can win in a
49 lZlxf6 �xf6 50 h4
1 b4 e6 2 il.b2 lilf6 3 b5 a6
45 �e3 il.bl
White wins eaSily after 4S ... il.xbS 46
17 ...lZle4 would have been better,
study-like way, as tollows: 29 lZlc4!
but even in this case White develops
lZlxc6 30 lZld6 J:lc7 3J 1:!xc6! J:ld7 32 nc8.
strong pressure after 18 as.
We7 33 lZlfS. �f6 34 g4, and there is no
50...il.e6 51 g5+ �g6 52 lZle4 IiIh5 53
lB 'iWb2 il.d3
good defence to the threat 35 llc6+.
b6! il.xe4 54 �xe4 lilxb6+ 55 � e5 lila4+
2B llxcB+ Ii:'lxcB 29 1i:'lde 6 WeB 30 Ii'lxa7!
56 �d5 lile3+ 57 �xe5
il.xd3 20 lZlce5.
Odessa 1960
cate things a little bit. On 44 ... il.e2, White answers 4s lilc4 ' We7 46 li'ld2.
W hite has finished the mobilization
J8 ...lZld3 is bad because of J9 �_xd3
Game 36 A.Sokolsky-D.Usov
Passed pawns on both flanks ensure White's victory.
Using the strength of the far ad
Against 18 ... il.d3 White could reply
vanced b-pawn. White carries out a
19 �dl, but after 19 .. £>.xd5 1 9 .I1l.c4.
7 ...lbbd7 8 .l>.e2 b6 9 d4 'iIIe7
18 .lU2'i!i'e7
Black's decision to place his queen
Black's position seems active, but
here is both premature and poorly
after two further moves White's advan
judged, as White will soon open the c
tage becomes apparent.
file. Better is 9 ... .I1l.b7 10 ltlbd2 0-0 1 1 0-0
19 exds �_xdS 20 .I1l.c4
36 ltlg5+! lti>h6 3 7 ltlxf7+! 'ilIh7?
26 .l>.xb3 .••
Not a lot better is 26... exd3 27 ltld4,
Zeitnot! But 37 _ .'!!l'xf7 38 '!lVh8< 1l¥h7
when the d3-pawn should disappear.
39 'i!!' xb2 is hopeless for Black in any
27 .l>.xe4! ltlxe4 28 1l¥xb3
case. 38 'OiI'g8 mate (1-0)
"iIIe7, with a later ...lIfd8.
Game 3 7 A.Sokolsky-V.Byvshev
10 ltlbd2 .l>.b7 11 nel!
Lvov 1951 1 b4 ltlf6 2 .l>.b2 e 6 3 b S dS 4 e 3 a6 5 a 4 ltlbd7
Black could exchange rooks on the a-file, but this exchange probably fa vours White. With more room to ma The tactics have ended. White has 20...lIxb2
An exchange sacrifice - a result of
more likely to use this file.
chances to win. One might expect a
6 ltlf3 .l>.d6 7 e4 .xh2 'lWe7 35 il.d5 g6 36 f4
this weird-looking move.
have been better to play 14 ...l:tac8 in
IIh3, when 41..l!h2i I forces a per
Scekic was coming after me with his
petual check after 42 IIIx h2 �e2+ 43
whole army! I had to work hard to de fend his threatened sacrifices on g3 and
wgl 'il'e1+ 44 wg2 �e2+. My inluition told me that one of the
f2.
knighl sacrifices should win, but which
27 11ds
one?
40\l;>h3
I was thinking about li'lh6+,
tZlgf6+, li'lhf6+ and li'lxg7. At this mo ment bot h of us were in severe time trouble and I had to make my decision quickly.
Black keeps finding the best practi
n li'lgf6+!?
27 ...f611
3S ...IleS!
cal chance. Against 35 ... Wg8, White
Only 33 IZlxg7!! gives White a sure
wins after the sequence 36 li'lf6+ wf7 37
win. I saw it but was afraid of 33 ... fxg4.
li'lh5 Wg8 38 g4 'i!i'd8 (38 ... fxg4 39 l::tg5+)
However, White can play 34 li'lf5 gxf3+
39 Ilxf5 Ile5 40 :XeS dxe5 41 'lIi'xe5 wf7
35 Wft 'lWe6 36 IZlxe7+ 'il'xe7 37 l:tg5+
42 'iI'g7+ We6 43 lilf4+ wd6 44 e4 lild7
�f7 38 J:lg7+ winning the black queen,
45 'lWg6+ We7 46 'lWgs+ li'lf6 47 e5 �d2+
a point I managed to miss while calcu
48 Wh3.
lating the jungle of variations.
36 f4 lil b3!
After
the
game
Aleksander
36 ...lIxd5 allows 37 'fJ'f6+ Wg8 (or
40...li'ld2?
Allowing a simple tactic. 40 ...'i!i'e8 41 li'lf3l:te7 puts up more resislance.
27 ...li'le6 is stronger: 28 li'lxe6 (28
Wojtkiewicz told me t hat 34 J:tg5? (in
37... We8 38 �f8i wd7 39 li'lf6 t We6 40
li'ld4?! li'lxf4 t 29 exf4 h6 30 �f'2 'il!'c8
stead of 34 lilf5) was a winning move,
cxd5 mate) 38 �g6+ wh8 39 li'lf6 l:d2+
Good enough, but more precise is
favours Black; but it was worth consid
but the position is so complex that even
40 wh3, when Black cannot prevent
4 1 �a1! li'le4 42 li'lxe4 nxe4 43 h5+ \l;>h7
ering 28 'fIic2, for example 28 ...li'lxf4+ 29 exf4 li'lf6 30 rld2 li'lh5 31 l:!d4 'i!!'d 7 32
sl rong grandmasters can be mistaken: 34 ...gxf3i 35 wh2 l:!e5! 36 l:!xe5 dxe5 37
mate.
(43 .. .'.t>xh5 44 �g7) 44 �f6 l:!xc4 45
37 'lWxa4 1he3!
�e7+Wh8 46 h6 �g8 47 l:txf5.
l:!e4 li'lf6 33 lhe8+ 'fIixe8 34 li'ld4)
'lIi'xe5 'lWf8 38 li'lJ 5 li'lc3 39 'lWf4 'lWf6 40
88
The complications reach their peak,
41 11xd6+!
41...�hS
89
Queen 's Indian Sys tems
Play 1 b4! mate. A mere human can't possibly work this out with no time on the clock.
4S ... ll<xh6 46 \\!ff8+ whS
Sokolsky, and is sometimes employed
Or 46 ...�g6 47 1lle5+ It>h7 48 'i!!'f7 •.
47 'i!!' h8+ Il with this exchange sacrifice.
24 f3 25 j>_xf3 �xC1 26 IIxC1 II.ds •.•
Copying Sokolsky's idea from his game against Byvshev. After 17 cxd5 $'_xd5 18 �f3 'ifb7 19 'ifc2 �xf3 20 ttlxf3 the position would probably be equal.
Spassky demonstrates his positional
17 ...ttlf5 1B cxdS
ability. He fights for control of the c6-
White could secure a pull by con
square by occupying
tinuing 18 dxc5!? �xc5 19 cxd5 ttlxg3
31 .!lxdS?? Black couldn't find the right de
20 hxg3 �xd5 21 �f3 �xf3 22 'ifxf3.
bS.
passed d-pawn should give an advan tage, despite the small material deficit.
32 'ifxds
The knight is aiming fOT the d4-
Now White's passed pawn decides
If you have a passed pawn, push it! White should use his passer to confuse the enemy forces. After 27 d6! 'i!tf8 28
the game.
$>.xe4 ):(f6 3 2 'ifc7 'ife7 33 b6 ):(ff8 34 'i!tc6, only the slightly exposed white king offers Black any slim hope of sur vival. see,
14 ttle6 15 ttla ttle4 16 ttlcd4 ttl4es 17 il'c2 Now it's time to think about both the weak c6-square and the backward c7·pawn.
Game 42 B.Spassky-L.Lengyel
Moscow 1975
27...$'_xdS 2B ttlf6+? It's not easy to
square via c2. .••
32 ...'ifb6+ 33 'ifcS 'ife6 34 b6 l:te8 35 b7 'ifb3 36 ..whS g6 37 'iff3 "i!fb6+ 38 Wh2 gs 39 'ifc6 il'e3 40 'ifxe8+ 1-0
'ifxb6 llc8 29 l:l:dl �xe4 30 d7 ll:d8 3 1
17 1I.f6 18 ttlxe6 ttlxe6 19 .i.xf6 il'xf6 20 d4 �a8 21 ttles 'ife7 22 .Iil.g4 );leB 23 llC1 ••.
Let's take a look at what's going on. Obviously White slands better here
but Black has a
strong centre and advance his d-pawn.
problem with his bishop. White could
22 ...exf4 23 ttle4 $'_h6?
have exploited
94
and - f irst of all - putting his pawn on
8 ...a6 9 a4 axbs 10 axbS �xa1 11 .i.xa1 0·0 12 i.e2 ttlbd7 13 o-ottles 14ttla3
Black's pieces are poorly placed, and
White wants to break up Black's
his
'ifxa8?? loses to 32 ...'ifb6+ 33 Whl 'lWh6+ 34 WgI 'ifxc1 + and .. .!has.
White's well-placed pieces and a
27 il'xb6
22 f4!
with
fence. 31. . .llf8! was pOSSible, because 32
1B_cxd4 19 e4 ttlxg3 20 hxg3 fS 21 exfs �gS
d4
knight, placing the rook on the c-file
•..
this by
playing 28
1 ttlf3 ttlf6 2 b4 e6 3 a3 b6 4 �b2 $>.b7 5 e3 $>.e7 6 c4 dS?! It's perhaps too early for Black to
because: 1) His pieces occupy great positions; and
95
Queen 's Indian Sys tems
Play 1 b 4 ! 2) There are two weaknesses on the c-fiIe that are under attack: c6 and c7. I believe these advantages should be enough for White to win.
game after 29. . .lIxc6 3 0 bxc6 Wf8 31
bishop, just like in his favourite King's
�xdS lild8 32 Wf1 We7 33 We2 Wd6 34
Indian Defence. In this position 5 e3,
fl.g8 lilxc6 35 fl.xh7 lile7.
protecting the b5-pawn, is safer.
an unstoppable attack.
28 ..."f!i'xc6 29 lIxc6 Wf7 30 Wf:1 IId7 3:J. We2
5...a6 6 a4 axb5 7 axb5 .!! xa1 8 fl.xa:J. "f!i'd6 9 fl.g2 fl.e7 :10 0-0 0-0 U 'tlYc:J. 'tlYb4
22 ...g6 2 3 liJxd6 cxd6 24 tl'e6+ Wg7 25 'tlYxd6 exd4 26 fl.xd4 b5 27 'tlYc7+ �h6 28 l'1.a:1 :ac8 29 fl.e3+ g5 30 fl.xgs+! 1-0
After 31 gxfS!? gxfS 32 �e2 �e7 33
Black
exploits
the
absence
of
22 'tlYg4 Now White crashes through with
hS lId6 34 Itc1 there would be further
White's light-squared bishop on the 11-
White wins after 30 ...Wxg5 31 "f!i'g7+, Dr
weaknesses for White to attack.
a6 diagonal by attacking bS.
30 ... fxgS 31 lIxa6+.
32 IIe:1 We6 33 g5 h6 y..y. It's probably too early to take a
:J.2 lbc3 d4 :J.3 lila2 "f!i'xb5 :14 lbxd4 "f!i'a6 :15 lilc3 fl.b7 :16 e4 e5?!
draw here. 33 ... h6 34 lIg1 lIh7 35 h5
16 ...c5 offers good counterchances;
3:J. •••lild8
gxhS 36 fl.xhS hxgS 37 lhg5 nh6 38
for example, 17 liJde2 c4 18 tl'b1 lId8 19
fl.f3 is still slightly better for White.
.lid] fl.cs 20 d4 cxd3 21 cxd3 e5.
Game 44 D.Campora-F.Visier Segovia
Canete 1994
liJf5 fl.b4 18 liJd5 liJxd5 :19 exd5 f6 20 "f!i'd:1 fl.c5?
In this game we ran see how a
Black should play 20...g6, and fol
Grandmaster beats a FIDE Master from
:J.7
Game 43 R.Fischer-D.lna
23 g6 24 lilc6 'tlYd6 25 h4 .••
The continuation 25
11.xe6
fxe6
(2S...'tlYxe6 is answered by 26 lila7 win
Cleveland (Si m u ltaneous Display) 1964
ning a pawn - 26 ...lIa8? loses to 27 "f!i'xc7 lIxa7 28 "f!i'b8+) 26 lileS gives White many positional advantages.
25 ...f5 26 11.f3 11.xc6 27 'tlYxc6 lId8
lowing 21 liJe3 .!!e8 22 c4 liJd7 23 d4
a completely level endgame.
fl.d6 24 "f!i'c2 na8 25 fl.b2 tl'a4 26 tl'e2
:1 b4 d5 2 fl.b2 lilf6 3 lilf3 e6 4 a3 as 4...cS 5 bxcS fl.xcS 6 e 3 i s discussed
both sides have chances.
2 1 d4!
in Chapter Five (see Games 50-51).
:1 b 4 e 6 2 fl.b2 d 5
5 b5 liJbd7 6 e3
I n this and the following game,
6 d4 liJb6 7 liJeS 1i.d7 B e3 fl.d6 9 c4
Black commits to an early .. dS.
dxc4 10 lilxc4 liJxc4 11 fl.xc4 c6 was
3 liJf3liJf6 4 b 5
comfortable for Black in the game
.
For the alternative, 4 a3, see Cam
C.Skalicka-J.salas Romo, Buenos Aires
pora-Visier Segovia (Game 44).
1939.
4... b6 5 g3
6 ...c5 7 c4 dxc4 8 fl.xc4 b6 9 0-0 11.b7 :10 d3 fl.d6 u lilbd2
This excellent
advance
activates
White's pieces and shuts out Black's best unit - the bishop on cS.
28 g4!
2:J. ...fl.d6?
Striving to create another weakness
2Lexd4 22 fl.xd4 fl.xd4 23 lilxd4
in Black's camp. Instead White could
fl.cB 24 lIe1 is also good for White, but
have won a pawn with 28 "f!i'xd6?! Ihd6 29 lIc61 but it's not enough to win the
96
this would have been a better choice Fischer liked to fianchetto the king's
for Black than the tex!.
97
Queen 's Indian Sys tems
Play 1 b4! .!Ifd8 27 il.c3 il.f8 28 a4 'lWb7 29 Wh2
Summary
square, and the fact that a knight on
il.e7 would be okay for Black.
The Queen's Indian system o f development is a logical response to the Sokolsky,
that square can add more pressure to
26 dxc4 I!xd1 27 I!xd1 J:: d 8 28 Wf2 il.f8 29 il.c3 I!xd1 30 'lWxd1
on b5 and protect it, and look for the right moment to break in the centre. It's hard
White is thinking about the c4-
e5. All the bishops are pointing menac ingly at the kingside, and both sides
White has a slight advantage, but it
must also be careful since any pawn
shouldn't be enough to win. The only
movement in the centre could create
chance is a pawn storm on the king
some weak squares.
side.
11. .-0-0 12 e4 1Llg4 13 h3 ILlges 14 1Llel ILlg6 IS lLlef3 ILldeS 16 'IWg8 37 il.e1 WfS 3S il.f2 �gS 39 1!i'aS 1!i'e7 40 il.e3 f5
-
2 il.b2
5 ... c5 - Came 39; 5 ...il.e7 - Came 40
2 ... e6 3 b5 b6 3...c5 4 e3 d5 5 1Llf3 1Llbd7 6 c4 6 ... b6
-
Came 33
6 ... il.d6 7 d3 0-0 8 1ilbd2 b6 - Came 32 3... a6 4 a4 (0) 4 ...b6 - Came 38 4 ... d5 5 e3 In this closed position both White and
Black
have
ineffective
5 ...c5 6 1Llf3 il.d6 7 c4 ILlbd7 8 il.e2 b6 - Came 36
dark
5 ...lLlbd7 6 1Llf3 il.d6 7 c4 cS 8 d3 0-0 9 1Llbd2 b6 - Came 37
squared bishops. I don't see any win
4 e3 il.b7 5 1Llf3 (0)
ning plan for Black, but White has
Came 3S
5 £4 - Came 34
some options. He can try to attack the black king by pushing his kingside pawns, but he must take care not to expose his own king by doing so as this
This looks suicidal, but
perhaps
Black was afraid that White would
would lead to big trouble. Also, White
play h6, il.xc5 and then b6.
can place rooks on cl and d 1 , prepar
41 exf6 �xf6 42 g5 �e7 43 il.d2 wf7 44 il.c3 'IW d7 45 hxg6+ 1-0
ing the push of the d-pawn.
25 I!ad1 il.xc4?!
After the recapture 45 ...hxg6, White
This poor move trades off a good
plays 46 'i!¥h l !, and here 46...'lWd6 47
piece and eliminates a white weakness
1!i'h7+ We8 48 1!i'xg6+ makes matters
at the same time. 25 ... .!Id7!? 26 .!Id2
pretty clear.
98
5
il.92
4 04 99
Black Plays ... dS and . , e 6 .
I
Cha pter Five Black Plays
.••
d S a nd
..•
pawns? Black has no great edge in the
ILlxe4 'i!!'xb5 1 2 ILld6+ would not be a
centre or in development at this mo
good idea.
ment, so why not?
8 ILlf3 ILlbd7 9 c4 'i!!'a S 10 ILlc3 ILlb6 Black is striving for active counter play, but it would be mOTe advisable to complete de velopment with lO .. . St..d6
and ... 0-0.
11 bxc6 Spassky wants to grab e5 for his
e6
knight,
so
he takes on c6 first to gain a
tempo. Probably
trading on d5 fol
lowed by il.e2 is a better option.
11... bxc6 12 ILles il.d7 13 il.e2 il.d6 14 f4 0-0 15 0-0 na8 The next two chapters are important
ends up getting in the way. The excep
because many Black players choose a
tion seems
reversed
opening
(Game 45), in which Black's queenside
against the Sokolsky (or, for I'hal mat
play nearly carries the day. Possibly
ter, against any unorthodox opening).
Spassky's
For the sake of convenience, in this
kingside was inappropriate.
queen's
pawn
chapter we deal with an early ...e6,
to
be Spassky-Smyslov
plan of attacking on the
In Simagin-Flohr (Game 50), White
whereas in Chapter Six we move on to
avoids b4-bS and uses the time saved
games where Black develops his light
to build an attack on the righl flank,
squared
but Flohr's carer ul defence neutralizes
bishop
outside
the
pawn
This position looks nothing like those seen in so-called standard theory. Nonetheless,
the
following
lively
struggle bel ween two top Grandmas ters shows there is plenty of scope for interesting play in this system.
6 ... c6 7 e3
White's threats. The classic encounter
chain. This
4 ... axbS 5 axbs .lba1 6 il.xa1
chapter
consists
of games,
Alekhine-Drewitt
(Game
51)
shows
many originally from Sokolsky's book,
what can happen against a less than
which examine attempts by Black to
perfect response.
Often in this variation White uses the a-file for active operations on the left flank. In this game White's outpost
play a reversed Queen's Gambit with his light-squared bishop locked in be hind his e-pawn, and not fianchettoed. This plan seems like a poor one from the
evidence
accumulated
here.
In
nearly every game Black feels the need
Game 45 B.Spassky-V.Smyslov
with control of the a-file and has room
play on the queenside.
16 g4! It's not every game you see one player pushing pawns on both wings
1 b4 liJf6 2 il.b2 e6 3 bs a6 4 a4 Not your everyday opening! Does it to
to make good use of it, especially as
make sense
Black's light-squared bishop often just
home and throw up the a- and b-
1 00
side attack, and Black will be the one to
Moscow- Leningrad Match, Moscow 1960
to open the a-file with ...a6 and ... axb5. The usual result is that White ends up
on e5 prepares the ground for a king
keep the centre pawns
7...dS Of course Black could take on b5, but the surviving b-pawn would be isolated. The forcing variation 7 ...cxb5
8 il.xb5 'i!!'a5 9 1Llc3 1Lle4 10 'i!!'bl il.b4? 1 1
in the first sixteen moves.
16 ...il.e8 17 'i!l'el lLla4 18 1Llxa4 18 g5 is met by 18 . ..lLle4. 18 ...'i!!' xa4 19 gs lLle4 20 d3 il.b4! 2 1 'i!!' h 4 1Lld6 101
Black Plays . . d5 a n d . . . • 6
Play 1 b4 !
.
2 L li'ld2 22 /tlg4 /tlxfl 23 �xg7 ice7
27 ices lIa2+ 28 'it>g3 i1.a4 29 lIal y,-y,
cept by placing his pawns
24 �xf1 is very dangerous for Black, if not losing outright. However, 21 ...'l!i'c2! looks to bl' winning for Black. Instead he prefers to bring his knight to f5 to
on
light
squares whl'n there are Iight-squarl'd bishops present. Nonetheless, in this
Game 46
exceptional case the decision is sound.
A.Sokolsky-A.Shagalovich
Black's bishop stays restricted by the
Minsk 1959
defend his king.
pawns, but its counterpart is active,
22 'ilI'f2 'ilI'c2 23 �g4
threatening Black's weakened kingside.
1 b4 e 6 2 iLb2 /tlf6 3 bS a 6 4 a4 axbs 5 axbS nxu 6 £xu d 5 7 e3 c5 8 /tlf3 iLd6 9 c4 0-0 10 iLe2 /tlbd7 11 0-0
So Black seeks salvation in an I'nding, but unfortunately for him this still fa vours his opponent.
2 3...'i!Jld4+ 24 Whl 'i!Jle3 25 'i!Jlh5 1i'g7 26 h4 'i!i'h6 27 'l!I'xh6+ Ii'xh6 28 nul Real threats begin to appear. Now
The a-file is at last in White's grasp,
17 .../tlxg4 is bad on account of 18 'ilI'xg4
and the imminent invasion of the sev
g6 (or 18 ... eS 1 9 'ilI'g3!) 19 'ilI'gS £e7 (not
enth
19 ... 'ilI'e7?, because of 20 iLf6) 20 'il'h6 f6
forces.
21 iLxe6+. Black also can't play 17... /tle4
28 ...l1d8 29 J:: a 7 lId7 30 Wgl Wg7
rank
will
terrorize the black
because of 1 8 d3. Finally, on 17 ... /tldS
Black gets nothing from 3O li'hS
or 17.../tle8, 18 fS! is very strong; for
because of 31 g3 Wg4 32 Ii'f2 Ii'hS 33
..•
The retreat of the knight has lifted
example, 17 ... /tle8 18 fS exfS 19 llxfS
iLdS iLc6 34 1:txd7 s.. xd7 3S iLc6 iLeB 36
all the prl'ssure off White's position,
iLc8 20 li'lh6+! and White is winning.
iLe8, when hI' is quite losl.
This is why Black allows the doubling
31 �f2 1i'f8 32 �e3 �g7
and he can now defend quite easily.
23 'ilI'xf2+
11 ...dxc4
••.
23 ... lIa2 24 'ilI'xc2 lIxc2 25 1H2 lIc1 +
of his pawns: it's better than losing ma
A mistake - it's wrong to give up
26 1Hl 1:tc2 27 nf2 draws at once.
the important c4-square. 1l ... b6 fol
24 IPxf2 dxc4
lowed by ... �b7, finishing the devel
After 24...na2+ 2S Ii'g3 dxc4 26 /tlxc4
opment of the minor pieces; is a better
li)xc4 27 dxc4 I1c2 28 I1dl iLe7 29 nbl
way forward.
iLd6 30 lIdl iLc7 31 iLd4 I1xc4 32 I1al,
12 /tla3! /tlb6
the penetration on the eighth rank, combined
with the pressure of the
so the upcoming exchange is forced.
13 /tlxc4 /tlxc4 14 iLxc4 b6 15 /tles
�aS 3S �e2 I1c1 36 ..l.b2 I1bJ 37 �a3i
White exploits the absence of a
�_b4 38 nbf! cS 39 iLxb4 .!hb4 40 lk8
knight from d7 to capture the impor
would even
tantcf'ntral square eS.
2S /tlxc4 /tlxc4 26 dxc4 cS The position has stabilized, and peace will soon be at hand.
1 02
..•
Obviously Black shouldn't allow a
draw clear. 32...g6 33 na8 1lc3 �e7 38 �c4 �d6 39
1 03
Black Plays . . . d5 and
Play 1 b 4 f
. .
. e6
g 4 h6. In this position it's sufficient for
It's also worth noting the backward
winning a piece. Black prefers to cap·
White to lose a tempo to put Black into
pawn on the half·opened c·fiIe. If the
t ure the pawn on h2 but is trapped in a clever snare.
zugzwang, as follows: 40 iLd5 We7 41
pawn were on cS, Black wouldn't have
il. a8! wd6 (or 4 l . .. il.d7 42 il.c6! il.xc6 43
these problems.
24...lbxh2
bxc6 ..t.>d6 44 Wb5 Wc7 45 h5! etc) 42
Maybe Black counted on 25 llh4?
iLc6. The pawn endgame after the
1S ...il.b7 16 il.xf6 'OIVxf6 17 l2lb4 l2leS 18 l2ld4!
forced 42 ... il.d7 43 il.xd7 II<xd7 44 Wd5
Now both knights are controlling
IIb3 We7 n ..t.>a4 Defending
the
b5·pawn
allows
White to play il.d5, but Black of course
a
good plan.
l2lxf3, 26 .t.xf3 "i1t'f5!, meeting all the threats.
25 121fes! In this position 2S ... 'iI!'f5 10ses a piece after 26 'WxfS l2lxfS 27 IPxh2. Nor is Black saved by 25...'Wh6, because of 26
diagonal creates too many problems.
li!.M.
Here it's easily eliminated because the
2s ...'i!I'xe2
white knight is coming to c6.
21 121bc6 wh8 22 1131 So, the a-file is in White"s power!
Now, by sacrificing a queen, White forces a checkmate in four moves:
26 'i!l'xhH! 1·0
It's worth observing that the reply 22 ...li!a8 is not good for Black. Continuo
Again 1O ...c5 is stronger. Black's reo
ing 23 11xa8i il.xa8 24 'Wa4, White's
grouping of his pieces will not prove to
queen invades on the a-file, achieving
be successful.
the advantage. This is a logical turn of
11 e4 il.f6 12 l2le3 dxe4 13 il.xc4121d6 14 il.e2 b6 1S 121a2!
events, since on the queenside White has a space advantage, and using the
will not allow it to reach c6.
open a-file is easier for him.
37 ....liLe8 38 il.ds II
13 0-0 �xbS
Came 49 A.Sokolsky-N.Abzhirko
c4 will give White the belter chances.
5 e3 c5 6 llif3 �d6 is more active.
14 �xbS 'i!!'x bs
S "3 0-0 6 llif3 axbs?!
Whitp, who now has a base for activp
If 14...llixd2, White replies 15 llixd2! 'l!I"xbS 16 'l!I"g4 g6 17 'l!I"d4 f6 18 nbl 'i!!' xcs 19 l1xb7, arriving onto the sev
1 b4 llif6 2 �b2 e6 3 bs il..e7 4 e3 0-0 5
operations on the queenside. 6 ... d5 is a
enth rank with many threats.
llif3
stronger option.
1S llixe4 dxe4 16 'l!I"d4! �_f6 n 'i!!'xe4
7 axbs l:txa1 8 �xa1 dS 9 d4
�Xa1 1 8 X!.Xa1
the a-file is
good
for
06
are obviously in White's favour. The
Or 13 ...llixc5 J 4 'i!!'bl, and a later c2-
jectionable, but the continuation 4 ... d5
Opening
...
Omsk 1943
ensuing transfer of the bishop to c6 is probably the best that Black
can
do in
this position.
It's a matter of taste which move to prefer: s llif3 or 5 f4.
Ma ybe better here is 18 lligS g6 19 'l!I"M hS 20 l1xa 1.
5...c6
In this game Black decides to de
18... 'l!I"xc5 19 'l!I"xb7 'l!I"xc2
stroy the nuisance on bS. It's possible to do so by a more exact order of moves: 5 ... a6 6 a4 axbS 7 axbS x!'xa1 8 �xal c6 9 c4 dS. 6 a4 d5 7 C4 a6 8 llic31
12 ...il.d7 13 0·0 .!>.c6 14 llifd4 �dS 1S ):(c1 llibd7
The
tempting
continuation
15 ....!>.xc4 16 lhc4 'l!I'dS leads after 17 lIc7! �d8 18 llic3 to the loss of a pawn. 16 .!>.a3!
This move is probably not worse than the usual 9 c4. White plans to de velop by llibd2 and -'.d3. Black must open the game with ...c5 or else he will
The battl.. on the queenside has
remain cram perl.
ended
9 ••.cS
White's pieces are placed mOfe ac
Geller brings about a lively position with
this
mandatory
W hite's dark-squared
thrust.
True,
bishop comes
alive, but so do the black pieces.
pawns on the left flank and has thus assu red himself of not losing.
would
have
been
Now after the exchange of rooks on the a I-square White's queen will come to the a-file, and this greatly improves
After 20 llid4! 'l!I"c8 (20...'l!I"c3 21 l:!.bJ
Hoping to get in a useful ... '/WaS< , 1O ... �xc5
tiv..ly, but Black has ehminated all the
20 h3
10 dxcS llie4!?
but
satisfactorily for both sides.
his position.
�c8) 21 Itbl �d7 22 It\c6 'l!I"xb7 23 l::txb7
8 ... axb5 9 axbs r!xa1 10 'i!!' Xa1 dxC4 11
llif6 24 llieS, Black would still have to
�xc4 cxbS 12 llixbS
The goa l of this pxchang.. is to gain
stronger.
negot iate
before
Black has achieved his goal of de
11 llibd2ll1'as 12 �e2 �d7
achieving the draw. In the actual event
stroying the bS-pawn, but he has spent
where it can attack the pawn on b7.
After 12...llic3? 13 llib3! 'i!!'b4 14 'i!!' d 2 llia2 15 llI'xb4 llixb4 16 Ii>d2, the black
peace was concluded more quickly.
16..•.!>.xa3
20 ..:iWc6 21 );ta7 'iWxb7 22 l1xb7 llic6
too much time in doing so. Further more, the b7-pawn is now exposed as a
knight is in a precarious position.
Y.-Y.
weakness. The results of the opening
106
a
few
difficulties
the d6-square for the knight, from 17
'iil'xa3
It\b6
18
�xdS
llibxdS 19 l1id6
White has carried out his plan, but
107
Black Plays . . . dS and . • 6
Play 1 b41 Black defends admirably.
29 ...b6 30 /lc4, with threats of 31 filfS or
19... 'i!I'e7! 20 fil4bS fileB 21 g 3
31 1'4.
destructive.
30 'i'l'c4 fila6?
3B 'lWd1 ncB
An important preparation. White wants to push Ihe knight away from
37... 'lWe6 38 l:td6 'lWc4 39 filxh6+! is
here 7 c4 Ii:lc6 8 d4, which is probably
Equivalenl to g1vmg up. But after
dS, but 21 e4 allows 21. _filf4.
edge oj the board is a serious mistake.
38 ...filcs 39 'lWg4� Black has no defence
21 .. .filxd6 22 'l'fxd6 'liI'g s
Coming back to d5 leads to immediate
to the threats of 40 J:txcS or 40 filxh6; .
22...'l'fxd6 23 filxd6 b6 (23 .. JlbB 24
defeat: 30...fildS 31 filfS 'lWe6 32 J:hd5
39 nd7 1-0
filxb7!) 24 e4 iDf6 2S f3 IitbB 26 Wf2 etc
l:txdS 33 'i'l'xdS etc. Only 30 ... file6! offerS hopes of saving the game.
his early queenside activity into a dev
23 fild4
31 Ubs 1l: bB 32 'lWb3
astating attack on the olher wing.
Here it's possible to win a pawn, playing 32 Ji[xb7 nxb7 33 'lWc8+ Wh7 34
because of 23 ...b6 24 1.'lc6 filxe3. In turn,
'lWxb7 lbc7. But White is well aware thai
White is now threatening to sacrifice
realizing his extra pawn in such an
on e6.
ending is not an easy task, so he prefers
23 •. .I!dB 24 'l'fcs h6 2S 'i!lbs eS 26 file2
to keep the rooks on and increase the
White has successfully convl'rtl'd
32 ... g6 is not good because of 33 litb6 'l!I'c7 34 lhg6+.
7 d4 ii.e7
This is stronger than retreating to B l.ilbd2
And here 8 c4 was better. Flohr immediately exploits his opponent"s mistake.
Game 50 V.Simagin-S.Flohr
USSR Championship, Moscow 1955
pressure. 32...'lWd7
better than Simagin·s preference.
b6, which was Drewill's choice.
leads to a difficult ending for Black. Black was threatening the move
Alekhine·Drewitt,
Portsmouth 1923. Alekhine continued
Thl' transfer of the knight to the
23 ...filxe3!, and 23 litcS was no good
the beginning of
B ...b6! 9 files
Now after 9 .l1i.d3 or 9 c4 Black can continue 9 ... .l1i.a6!. The idea of White's actual move is to make it harder for Black to exchange I he light·squared bishops: 9 ... .l1i.a6 is met by 10 Ii:lc6! filxc6
1 b 4 d S 2 .l1i.b2 filf6 3 Ii:lf3 e6 4 a3
4 b S is stronger. Simagin writes that
1 1 .l1i.xa6. 9• . ..l1i.b7 10 .l1i.d3 1i:lc6
after 4 bS a6 S a4 Black can simplify the
33 IilfS �h7 34 'lWb2 f6 3S 'lWb1 l1.d6! 23 'i!l'xb7 'i!l' xb7+ 24 llxb7
My opponent had seen enough and
IiJd5 "iWd8 17 f4 l'tb8 1 8 J:.c3 J:.e6 19
lla2 25 l:!d7 .l>.f8 26 liJe5 lhf2 27 lld8
gave up. So after two rounds I was tied
IiJxf6 > "iWxf6 20 "iWh7 > 'il.xe5 32 ll:e7 J:.d6 33 :I1e8+ J:.f8 34
looks level. S.Tartakower-G.Maroczy,
liJxh7 Wxh7 35 lhf8 leaves White with
New York 1924. The moves 4 ...a6 and
a winning rook ending.
4.. cS, in conjunction with an early . . b6,
26 .ll:c2 27 'iil' b 3
were discussed in the previous chapter.
__
Another good way was 27 "iWxb7
23...lla3+ In comparison to the previous note, after 23 ... .l>.d6 24 'i!l'xb7 'i!l'xb7 25 llxb7
1 b4 e6 2 J:.b2 1iJf6 3 b5 d5 4 e3 J:.d6
tive. Then 26 ...lla8 27 'i!l'xb7 'i!l'xb7 28
llcl+ 28 We2 llc2+ 29 WeI llcl + 30 Wd2
.
.
5 liJf3 a6 6 a4 "iWe7 Black is preparing to advance in the
l:!xbl 31 'iil'x bl, with an extra pawn.
centre with ... es.
27 .llcs 28 liJg5 b5 29 liJxe6
7 .f8 27 liJg5 l:!xf2 28 IiJxe6
position. White has a very dangerous
l:!xg2 29 ll:d8 Wf7 30 liJxf8 We7 31 l:!a8
attack, but his king is not castled, his
1Ixh2 White is winning as the knight
rooks are not connected and the knight
can escape (d4-d5 followed by liJe6). In
on g5 is under threat
this line Black can choose to defend
15 ...axb5?
with 27...l:!a6, but White has excellent chances to convert his advantage.
24 We2 l:!a2+ 25 Wf1 It was thoughtful of the rook to es
.
IS ...Wh8 looks like the best defence; for example, 16 J:.a3 axb5 J7 .l>.xb5 "iWd8 18 1iJxc7 l:ta7 19 J:.e2 J:.xa3 20 lha3 "iWe7 21 liJ b5 ll:a5.
cort my king home, but this really
15 ...liJd7, on the other hand, could
hasn't accomplished very much fOT
lead to lhe following aesthetic varia
Black. And now White possesses that
tion: 16 bxa6 bxa6 17 "iWc3 liJdf6 18 J:.e2
114
115
Black Plays . . . dS and ... e 6
Play 1 b4 ! ibh5 19 �gl hxg5 20 S/.xg4 S/.xg4 21
'ilfd4 'ilfe6 28 >tIdl /bf3 29 'i!i'e5 t:d8 30
Ilxg4 f7 42 'ilfd8 "i!O'c6
teresting complications after 26...e5!,
43 'i1t'g8+ \t>g6 and White runs out of
which in all likelihood will boil down
ideas. After the text move, however,
to equality after 27 'i!i'a2 �f8 (27 ... exd4
the tables are abruptly turned .
28 I1xd7!) 28 IIa6 "il'c7 29 IIa7.
36 iLes! 'i!i'f4+
22 ••.e5 23 iLC3 ibes 24 'i!i'a2?
36... S/.xcS allows mate in one with
24 'i!i'c2 'i!i'd5 25 ibb2 ibe6 26 ibdl. preventing annoying Black moves such as .. .'1l1a2 and ... S/.b4, makes sure that Black has achipved a fairly comfort
n li'lxfs li'le5 24 hxg5
able position from the opening, with a
24..•'i!i'd5 25 ltdl ibxd3 26 J:txd3 'i!j'xe4 27 "il'd2 "il'xa4
White has managed to achieve a de
White 15 two pawns down and com
Fischer exchanges his weak c-pawn.
pletely lost.
11...dxe4 12 lilxe4 IIae8 13 a4 IIfd8 14
28 IId7 'i!i'a3
'i!i'e2 b6 15 Itfel 'lWb7 16 h3 ibe5
28...\t>f8!, preventing
37
g3 1-0 Poor Walters missed the chance of a
lifetime in this game.
nice c�file and no weaknesses.
9 d3 0-0 10 t;)bd2 'fie7 11 c4! 20• . .ibd7 2 1 exf8'if+ ibxf8 22 ibe7+ >tIf7
White holds the balance.
37 'i!i'f7.
29 'ilfd5,
is
Game 55 B.Gurgenidze-A.Dgebuadze
Georgian Championship, Tbilisi 1996
stronger.
ClSlve material advantage without moving his king or either of his rooks.
ing a4, b3, d3 and e4.
29 'ilfd5+ 1t>#8 30 �d2 h6 31 'ilfe6 l:e8 32
1 ibf3 ibf6 2 b4 e6 3 a3 d5 4 e] c6 5 c4
24 ...'ilfd7 25 ll:f1 ibfg6 26 gxf6 gxf6 27
17 ibd4 �xd4 18 S/.xd4 ibb3 1 9 �ebl
e4 b5 33 iLe3 as 34 �h2
iLe7 6 iLe2 0-0 7 0-0 ibbd7 8 exd5 exd5
116
The knight on c5 is a danger, attack
117
Block Ploys .. dS a n d .
Ploy 1 b4 !
9 �b2 a s
'i!l'e8+ Wg7 39 'ilfe7+ Wg6 40 'ilfe8+ Wg7
Planning a possible liJh4-g2-f4, add
gain some control in the centre.
ing pressure to dS.
10 bS CS 11 a4 ne8 12 d3 b6 13 liJbd2 �b7 14 I1C1
16.. �g7 17 liJh4 ncB 1B liJg2 1:C7 19 'ilfu
•6
After 36 'ilfel 'ilfd4+ 37 il'e3 il'd5 38
1S...g6 16 g3
A good move, which helps Black to
...
41 'ilfe7, Black should allow the p�r petual check, as 41...'ilff7 42 tixf7+ Wxf7
knight on f4. Black decides to strike
43 liJe3 is good for While. 36...'i!I'ds 37 'i!l'xf6 'i!l'h1+ 3B ..t>f2 'i!l'xh2+ 39 >!<e3 39 Wfl 'ilfd2 40 'ilfe6+ is probably
first, but probably the counterattack is
also a draw.
premature and 19 ...'ilfe7 is safer.
39 ...'lil'xg3+ 40 Wd2 1-0
White wants to attack the d5-pawn with the queen on a2, bishop on f3 and
19...d4 20 liJc4
The game should be drawn after 40 Wd2 'lil'f4+ 41 'lil'xf4 gxf4 42 liJd3 h5 43
36 liJe1
liJxf4 h4, but maybe Black lost on time.
Such a position can easily occur in the Sokolsky. Ideally White would like to swap off Black's d-pawn by playing e�4,
but
Black's
concentration
of
forces on that square makes this idea impractical. So instead White conceives a plan of direct attack on the enemy's
20.. .IiJeS?!
central bastion.
Black should play 20 ...'iiI'a 8�?, when
14 ...�f8 1S 1l:c2
21 liJel dxe3 22 fxe3 1l:e6 23 �dl offers chances for both sides.
21 liJxeS Ilxes 22 exd4 cxd4 23 l:! .KC7 'iil' xc7 24 �xd4 l:!xe2 25 �xf6 � d6 26 'ilfxf6 White has won a pawn, but Black's pieces are active and it will be hard to make it count.
26 ...l.e6 27 'iil' d4 27 'iil' a l! �xg2 28 Wxg2 'ilfd7 29 );tdl keeps the extra pawn and offers some winning chances. Defending
both
bishops
preparing a thematic 'ilfa1.
118
and
27 ..Jl.d6 28 'iil'e5 'ilfd7 29 liJf4 f6 3 0 'ilfe3 gs 31 liJg2 l:!xd3 32 'ilfxb6 'e'dS 33 f3 Ilxf3 34 Ilxf3 'ilfxf3 35 'ilff2 'ilfd1+ 119
Play 1 b4!
Summary
I
The Queen's Gambit set-up without ...b6 is less logical than the Queen's Indian players don't employ the Queen's Gambit as White by locking in their queen's bishop anymore, do they? The recipe for White is often the same as the one sug
Cha pter Six
gested in Chapter Four. put a pawn on b5, cover it, and then strike at the centre. However, playing with a more restrained a2-a3, as in Garnes 50-52, is also possible. It's not covered here, but the Bird set-up with f2-f4 mighl be worth exploring, and this
can
be compared with a similar approach in the
imzowitsch-Larsen At
tack with 1 b3 (a good source is Dunnington's Winning Unorthodox Openings).
Black Plays
Ld5 2 il.b2 ibf6 3 ibf3 e6 Game 54; 4.. .ltd6 5 e3
-
dS and
... �fS / ... �g 4
1 b4 ibf6
4 b5 (D): 4 ... c6
.••
.
-
Game 53
4 a3 4 ... c6
-
Game 52; 4 ... c5 5 bxc5 -,,-xc5 6 e3 O-{) (D)
7 c4
-
Game 51; 7 d4
This chapter is devoted to reversed
Game 50
queen's pawn openings in which Black
2 il.b2
2 ihf3 e6 3 a3 d5 4 e3
-
Game 55
-
.
tre with ... e7-e6.
3...a6
Against an early ...S:l.f5 White can
Game 49; 3 ... d5 - see I dS ...
borrow an idea from the Nimzowitsch
4 a4 axbS
4 ...il.e7
-
1 b4 ds 2 il.b2 Si.fs 3 lZlf3 e6 4 e3 lZlf6 S
a3
Larsen Attack and play a quick f2-f4 to
Game 48
S axb5 l:[xa1 6 il.xa1 dS (D)
6...c6 - Game 45
White's main alternative, 5 c4, is
seize the eS-squace. Larsen was quite
discussed
fond of this plan and dubbed it ·the
(Game 57).
in
Katalymov-Litvinov
Dutch Orangutan', an acknowledge
7 e3
7 lZlf3 il.e7 8 e3 lZlbd7
Las Palmas 1974
hemmed in when he supports the cen
see I . .d5
3 ...Si.e7 4 e3 0-0 5 lZlf3 c6
B.Larsen-W.Browne
pawn chain so that it will not be
2 •••e6 3 bS
3 a3 d5 4 ibf3
Game 56
develops his c8-bishop outside the
-
ment to another common name for 1
Game 47
b4. My encounter with Gravel (Game
7 ...(5 B lZlf3 Si.d6 9 (4 - Game 46
59)
explores
this
approach,
while
Games 56-58 concentrate on the more usual development with ibf3 followed by a quick c2-c4. One of Black's most challenging de fences to the Sokolsky consists of play ing L.d5 followed by ...S:I.g4, either on the second move or a bit later. The final seven games of this chapter will examine various White plans against this 4 bS
120
6...0·0
6.•.dS
set-up.
5 f7
Netanya 1 968, is nothing special for
14 ... exf4!? 15 exf4 offers chances for
played
in
H.Ree· Y.Bernstein,
both sides, for example after 15 ... lilg7
White. Against 6 a3, 6 ... a5 is rather an-
16 h5 as 17 hxg6 hxg6 18 a3 axb4 19
noying, while 6 ... dxc4 7 il.xc4 as is also
axb4 ;/:te8 20 lile2 1.. g 4
Play 1 b4! 3 6. . •I!aS 37 \!ig2 \!id7 3 S ll:b6 \!i(7 3 9
weak e-pawn and e4-square, but at
shut out the black bishop.
It b 2 W ( 6 4 0 h4 nes 41 l:ta2 Ii>b6?
least in return I was getting the e5-
23 fS .!!:XC1 24 .!!:Xg3 'iIo>h8!
hxg5 38 d5 J:e8 39 lhb6 �h7 40 llb7
of more than ten hours. When I finally
28 1I(8+ il.g8 29 'i!l"g4 .!!:e 3+ 30 il.f3 b6
il.g6 41 lla7 llb8 42 d6.
arrived, I was about 30 minutes late. It
34 'ifhs Wh7 35 �g4!
was very difficult to find the venue
It's hard to say for sure whether or not it's wise to interpolate 30... 'ifel+ 31
because all the signs were in French. I
'ot>h3.
rook to prevent il.f5+.
had absolutely no idea what my oppo
31 f6 g5 32 h3
3S ...'iff2 36 llxe8 'i!l"f4+ 37 'iIo> g1 'ifxd4+
n ..nt liked to play, so I figured this was
It's time to move my king to h2. 32
a good time for the Sokolsky.
the e5-square. 4 illf3 e6 reaches Games
3S ltih 1 'ifxf6 39 il.e2 Ii>g7 40 'l!l"f3 1-0
h4!? was also possible, but I wanted to
1 b4 ill f6 2 il.b2 dS 3 e3 il.fs 4 f4
The idea of this move is to control
Winning, as Black must give up a
hide my king, not expose it! 16.••ill (4?!
Black should have prepared this
32... 'ife1+
32_ ..l:te6 is possible too. Fritz offers
Game 60 Y.Lapshun-A.Hahn
US Championship, San Diego 2004
move.
the following variation, which may
4.. .e6 5 a3 as 6 bS (S 7 illf3 ill bd7 S (4
n ill xc4 ll:X(4 1S illx dS ill xd5 19 il.xds
uncover the truth, but it's too difficult
il.d6 9 (xdS exdS 10 il.e2 0-0 11 0-0 h6
]:ttl 20 �_C1 il.xa3 21 'iff3 jc 1« 1 22
for any human ( know to work out
J:taXh2 'ife3 35 h4 :tbl 36 iLdl lhb5 37 :tc8 'iff4+ 38 'ifxf4
Champion with 1 b4. Before I played her, I looked at her games and didn't
and a passed pawn. The next step is to
gxf4 39 .l:!d8 :tf5 40 .l:!d6 l:Ib5 41 dS l:Ib4
know which move to open with. I was
56-58.
My opponent didn't wan! to have to part with his bishop afler illM. 12 ill (3 il.h7 13 d4!?
I was worried about giving myself a
126
127
Black Plays
Play 1 b4 ! thinking about 1 !, and
decided to take his advice, forget
White mates after 44 ...hxg5 45 �e6+
preparation, and play ] b4. She played
\Pf8 46 't!i'xe7-t \Pg8 47 'i'e8+ IiIh7 48
great chess in the opening but [ de
't'fh5+ IIIg8 49 ne8
cided to attack when she got into time
39...il.gS??
.
trouble, and I won. Maybe she could
Instead the move 39 ... � d8! defends
.
have defended with 39_.i!'dB, but by
31,,_li:l b8 32 \Ph1
then I was doing well. 1 b4 dS 2 SLb2 SLg4 3 �C1
After the continuation 40 li:lxI6+ 'fj'xf6
I'm not sure if this is the best move, The white queen defends the b pawn and - indirectly - the aJ -rook, while preparing to attack the black
but a little prophylaxis can't hurt.
43 li:ld7! 't!i'xfS 44 li:lf8+ �88 45 li:lg6+ IIIh 7 46 li:le7 wins for White) 43 il.a 1
32 _._li:le6 33 'i!I''xb7 23 il.c4 lilef4 24 'i!fb3 wh8 25
approach to strategic problems. I al
weakens his d ynam ism in the centre.
32 hxg5 'i!l'xg5+ H Wh2 'i!fh4 34 'i!fe5
'iild 1
ways come away from these sessions
16 1Lla4 e5 17 Iilxb6 axb6 18 il.f3 e4 19
IId7 35 J:!g1 'i!fxf2+ 36 );tg2 'i!fh4
feeling like a humble student who has
dxe4 dxe4 20 �e2 J:rae8
I couldn't find a safer place for my
Lombardy into
now an
provokes
advance
which
king.
been taught by a true master.
25 ... 11b8 26 l::tg 5! il.e7 27 'i!fxb7 nxb7 28
1 1ilf3 Iilf6 2 b4 c6 3 c4 d5 4 e3 �g4 5
of White's two-bishop advantage by
il.xd5 IIxb2 29 ne5
il.b2 e6 6 'i!fb3
playing 20...il.eS
29 );tfS is also strong. 29 ... lilg6 30 il.xf7! Iilxe5 31 dxe5
In most games White defends the
free Black from White's grasp. 29 gxh4 g5 30 .!!. xb6 J:rd8 31 'i!fa1 'i!ff5
It would have been better to get rid .
21 J:rad1 �b8
b4-pawn by pushing it or protecting it with a2-a3. Here Lombardy uses an interesting idea - defending it with the queen. 6 ... lilbd7 7 cxd5 exd5 8 il.e2 il.d6 9 h3 il.e6
I believe the e6-square isn't the best choice for the bishop in this typf' of structure, and instead
37 l:!xf6 ! 1-0
Black should
White is winning in all variations:
maintain the pin with 9 ...il.hS.
37 ...'i!fxf6 38 ):I.g8+ Wh7 39 'i!fhS+ 'i!fh6 40
10 Iild4
'i!fxh6+ 'iilx h6 41 l::t xf8; or 37 .. l!xf6 38 'i!fe8+ Wh7 39 'i!fxd7+ It>h6 40 'i!fg7+ WhS An unsuccessful attempt to check-
In this winning position J had only five minutes left and wasn't able to keep
of time, and White uses this to strike
any further score of the game. Little by
back in the centre. It wasn't too late to
little I was able to push my passed
trade
pawns forward and eventually I forced
playing 21 ...�eS.
my opponent to resign.
White's dangerous bishop
by
Game 65 Y.Lapshun-R.Furdzik
New York Masters (Rapid) 2002
22 J:rd2 'i!fa 23 g3 'i!fc8 24 Wg2 'i!l'f5 2 5 'i!fd1 �e5 26 .i.xe5 'i!fxe5
Game 64 W.Lombardy-M.Quinteros
Torremolinos 1974
41 'i!fh7+ .!:th6 42 il.f7 mate.
mate the white king only leads to a loss
This ambitious move blocks thp dS pawn, attacks Black's bishop and helps
M r. Furdzik is
a
National Master
After wasting so much time Black
who has beaten some GMs. He plays
has finally traded bishops, but he has
openings creatively and well, but de
lost the initiative.
spite this I have bpaten him with I b4
27 il.c4 h5?!
many times. Even though he knows
Black continues to attack the king,
what I will play against him, the result
to attack both flanks.
but it was time to fight for control of
is always the same. Here is ont" exam
to the World Junior Championship
10 ...'i!fe7 11 b5 c5 12 Iilxe6 fxe6 13 d 3
the d-file and defend the weak b6-
ple of his I b4 woes.
with a perfect 1 1-0 score fifty years ago,
0-0 1 4 0-0 Wh8 1 5 1il c 3 1ilb6
pawn. 27...'l!I'c7 would have helped to
1 b4 d5 2 il.b2 1ilf6 3 e3 c6 4 f4
G M William L ombardy, who swept
is a legend of American chess. I've ana
This position offers levt"l chances:
lysed with him several times at the
White enjoys the advantage 01 the two
Marshall Chess Club, and I'm always
bishops, while Black has a strong cen-
134
solve these problems. 28 lJ.d6 h4
A desperate pawn sacrifice can't
4 Illf3 iLg4 5 c4 reaches Lombardy Quinteros (Game 64). 4 .••�g4 5 il.e2
135
Black Plays .. d5 and .
Play 1 b4! For 5 ltlf3, see the next game. S ...�xe2 6 1!i'xe2 e6 7 a3 ltlbd7 S ltlf3
ltlxc6 ltlc4 offers Black good compensa
tending 22 e4 'iO'b6 23 'i!l'c4 nab8.
tion for the queen. 15 ... .lil.xf4! is even
22 e4 c4 23 'lIt'f3 J:ldS
···
�f5 /. . . � 9 4
2 7..•whS?
White enjoys a big advantage after
stronger, as 16 .!1xf4 1!i'xb2 17 .!l:ffl 1!i'b6
27... lli'xf7 28 12le4 cxb2 29 ltlg5< Ili'f8 30
square.
would leave White with nothing fOT
'lIt'e6 .lil.d4+ 31 ltlxd4 'lIt'e8 32 lil:xb2, but
S... .lil.d6 9 c4 0-0 10 0-0 as 11 cxdS exdS
the missing pawn.
the text is even worse for Black.
12 bS neS
1S... cS 16 ltlfs
28 .lil.a1?
Continuing
to fight for the h6 39 l.'l de4!!
but it's forced because of the pressure exerted by White's c3-bishop. Now White can exploit the new weaknesses on the light squares. 14 f4 lbd7 15 fLh5+ g6 16 fLg4 fLg7 17 �b3 liJb6 18 fLe6 f5 19 h4 lbd5?
Black would still be okay af ter 19 ...Jhc3 20 �xc3 lH8 21 fLb3 (21 h5 g5! is quite unclear.) 21...0-0-0. 7... fLxf3 8 gxf3?!
I was nervous about recapturing this way because it spoiled my pawn White has built a mating net with
138
20 fLxd5 cxd5 21 fLxg7 �xg7 22 Ji!Cl 'i!!'d7 23 h5!
After creating weaknesses on the
36 ll:7h6+
36 J:tf7+ also wins after 36 ...�xf7 37 �e5+ \l;>g6 38 �g5 mate, or 36... Wg6 37 J:tgl + � h5 38 J:th7+ �h6 39 �e5+ �h4 40 l':txh6 mate.
slTucture, and I had to think about king
queenside, it is now time to force con
36 ...J:tg6 37 J:txg6+ \l;>xg6 38 �h7+ �f6
safety. On the other hand the f3-pawn
cessions on the other wing.
39 J:!h6 mate (1-0)
139
Black Plays
Play 1 b4! knight will go to the c4-square.
.ikxg6+ 'iWxg6+ 2 4 'iWxg6+ lhg6 is un-
. . .
d5 and
...
iLf5 1
...
fl.g4
liJxb7+ 1-0
clear - Black has a piece for three
Game 6 7 Y.Lapshun-A.Smith
pawns) 19 .. .lhg6 20 .ike2 liJef6 21 .ikf3 .ikd6 22 We2 is better for White, who
Canadian Open, Kapuskasing 2004
has two bishops and many pawn tar gets.
Black's actual choice is considerably One day before this game I was
worse.
analysing some openings together with
17.••'iWa5? 18 .ikxe4 dxe4
GM Dmitry Tyomkin and his coach Mark
Tseitlin,
a
very
18 .. .fxe4 19 'iWe6+ Wd8 20 'iWxdS
humorous
Ilxg6 21 'iWxb7 Ilb8 22 'i!!'xe4 leaves
Grandmaster from Israel. During our
White two pawns ahead and winning.
analysis, whenever the king was uncas tied in the middle, he was constantly repeating "The father is in the middle!"
19 'i!!'xf5 'i!!' b4 20 'i!!'e6+ 13... h5
With this move my opponent was
White can also win by playing 20
My opponent resigned because he
'i!!'f7+ Wd8 21 �xg7 .ikxg7 22 'iWxg7
thought that after 29... We8, 30 'iWf7 was
Next day, against the Canadian player
trying to stop my kingside attack. In
'i!!'xa3 23 'i!!' xh6 'i!!'b2 24 Ildl.
mate, but in fact Black's king can
Andrew Smith, my king didn't make a
order to finish his plan. he would have
20• . .wd8 21 J:lbl 'i!!'a S 22 'i!!' xe4 'i!!'b6 23
cape to d7. Instead I was considering
single move in the entire game. When
to push his pawn to g6. I had to pre
flgl liJf6 24 'i!!'f s .ike7 2 S .ikeS We8 26
29 ... We8 30 liJd6. Wd8 31 liJf7. We8 32
ever I was away from the board I
vent this.
liJc2 "i!l'c4+ 41 lilc3. But the text move i s
it not for the weaklings on d4 and b6.
the equivalent o f resignation.
14...fxe3 15 dxe3 exb5 16 cxb5 il.xb5 17
20..:i!Vb7 21 itlxbS "i!l'xg2 22 0-0-0 .... a3+
3 8 hxg5+ fxg5 39 "i!l'c6+ 'Ot>g7 40 fxg5 h4
itlg5 il.d7?
23 'Ot>b1 IlxbS+
41 "i!l'h6+ wg8 42 'i!l'g6+ Wh8 43 itld6 1·0
20 itlxe6!
tions arises on the board.
.
An original game with a very sharp
17 ... il.xe2!? 18 Wxe2 itlc6 19 "i!l'd3 g6
itle4+ �c4 47 Wg3 �d5 48 Wf4 ii.f7 49 Wg5 'Ot>e5 50 il.d6+ 1·0
Game 79 Y.Lapshun-L.Oms Fuentes Barcelona 2007
20 f4 Ilad8 offers level chances.
fight.
1 b4 a5 2 b5 c6
2 ...itlf6 3 il.b2 g6 is the subject of Akesson-Ernst (see Game 80).
Game 78 G.Welling-R.Achleitner
3 a4 itlf6 4 il.b2
Velden 1994 1 b4 d5 2 e3 e6 3 ii.b2 f5
Black
plays
the Dutch
Defence,
Stonewall variation. 4 c4 itlf6 5 itlf3 c6 6 a3 il.d6 7 itlc3 0-0 8 'i!l'c2 'i!l'e7 9 il.e2 il.d7
24 itlb5!
An unexpected move! If Black now
In the Stonewall Black often mao
plays 24 ... il.xb5, then after 25 �b3+
noeuvres his bad bishop via e8 to h5.
Wg7 26 axb5 White beats off the attack
10 h3
and remains with a material advan
18 "i!l'd3! g6 19 'i!!'d4! e5 20 "i!l'xd5+ Wg7 2 1 l:!d1 il.c7
After 2 1 ..J:!f6 22 f4 il.c6 23 fxe5 il.b4+ 24 axb4 Ilfl+ 25 nxfl il.xd5 26 I remember how several titled play
tage.
IIxdS, White has extra material as well
24•.:,Wd5 25 'Ot>a1 il.b3
as the attack.
ers who inspected our board sepmed
22 "i!l'xb7 il.c6 23 'i!!'xc7 'i!!'xc7 24 1tle6+
shocked that two players trying to fin·
llbl.
wf7 25 itlxc7 il.xh1 26 il.xe5 lla7 2 7
ish high in the standings could reach a
26 "i!l'e7 Ilb7 27 "i!l'e8+ wh7 28 Ilb1 il.b2+
il.c4+ We7 2 8 il.d6+ wd7 29 itl b 5 il.f3
position like this.
3 0 il.xf8+ il.xd1 3 1 itl "a7 ii.xg4
4...d5 5 e3 il.f5 6 itlf3 e6 7 e4 e5 8 exd5
Now on 25...il.xb5 there follows 26
At first glance Black has achieved success...
After a long tactical middlegame
2 9 Ilxb2!
Black is down a bishop. White has a
exd5 9 d3
9 d4 il.xbl 1 0 Ilxbl c4 gives Black a passed pawn and a smal1 advantage.
...but this exchange offer dashes his
completely winning position and the
hopes! In the event of 29 Wxb2 il.xa4,
rest of the game requires no further
9 ...il.d6 10 itlbd2 0·0 11 1I.e2 l:I.e8 12
Black enjoys a huge attack.
comments.
0·0 itlbd7 13 l:e1 itle5?
Very business-like. Black remains a piece down. 31 ..."i!I'xb3
32
�xb7+ wh6
33
'il'd7
"i!l'xa4+ 34 'Ot>b2 "i!l'b4+ 35 'Ot>e2 "i!l'a4+ 36
160
I3 .. JIc8 is a good move.
Preparing a kingside attack with a
32 il.h6 'Ot>d6 33 il.f4+ �c5 34 il.xb8
pawn on g4, rook on gl and bishop on
'Ot>xc4 35 itlc6 wb3 36 itlxa5+ Wxa3 37
14 itlxe5 il.xe5 15 .i.xe5 llxe5 16 d4!
b2.
itlc4+ wb4 38 itle5 il.e6 39 il.d6+ �e3
cxd4 17 itlf3 Ite8
10...a5 11 b 5 itle4 12 g4 itlxe3 13 'i!l'xe3
40 f3 We2 41 Wf2 Wd2 42 il.b4+ We2 43
1 7...dxe3?! 18 itlxe5 exf2+ 19 Wxf2
f4 14 h4
itlg4 wb3 44 il.f8 'Ot>c3 45 itlf6 h5 46
itle4+ 20 Wfl "i!l'b6 21 itld3 "i!l'e3 22 .!Ia2
29..."i!I'xh1+ 30 J:l.b1 "i!l'd5 3 1 Ilxb3!
161
1 ... c6, 1 . . ./5 and Unusual Moves
Play 1 b4! 'tWh6 23 -lif3 'tWxh2 24 na3 nc8 2S �_xe4 i.xI'4 26 'il'g4 'il'hl+ 27 We2 'tWxg2 + 28
.!te7 b6 30 'tWc3 h5 31
1 b4 as 2 b5 liJf6 3 il.b2 g6 4 g3
h4
'ti'xg2 �xg2 29 J;!cl is winning for
White is still slightly better, but
White.
couldn't se(' how I could win.
lB IL\xd4
31...'i!I'f6??
I
Fixing the weak b6-pawn and rein
A typical King's Indian pawn race
Stopping Black's kingside attack.
forcing the outpost on bS. In addition,
looms after 4 e3 il.g7 S IL\f3 0-0 6 c4 d6 7
Black has to take care of his d6-pawn
d 1 ll\bd7 8 il.e2 eS 9 liJc3 e4 10 Iild l ne8
and the dS-square. He should play th..
11
'i!l'c2
'i!l'e7.
This
was
played
in
prophylactic 19 ... liJd7!?, intending to
A.Sokolsky-Y.Nikolaevsky, Kiev 1957.
answer 20 f4 with 20 ... exf4 21 lbxf4
with White eventually winning.
IL\xf4 22 nxf4 illeS.
4...�_g7 5 il.g2 0·0 6 c4 d6 7 liJO e5 B d3
19...'tWd7?! 20 f4 liJc5 21 1H3
2] f5!? was the most logical way to attack the black king. 21 ... 'tWh3 22 Wh 1 'i!kh5?!
22 ... liJg4!? 23 liJgI 'i1i'hS 24 IL\bS J:[d7 25 h3 f5 would have been a better try, although we bl'lieve While would still have I he advantage. 23 Wg2 g5?!
23...nc7 24 liJbS ll:d7 2S h3 l:Ie6 26 White, with a strong knight on d4
Finally Black has made a mistakl',
and an isolated pawn to attack, has the
and he pays for it.
advantage.
32 liJc61 'tWxc3 33 .u xc3 -lixc6 34 J:[7xe6
lB ..• -lid7 19 J:[C1 'ti'b6 20 .if3 J:[aeB 21 'ti'd2 -lie6 22 1L\b3 );laB
Black can't defend all his pawns.
-licl is not quite as bad as the lex\. 24 ng5 'tWxg5 2 5 nef1
White piles on more pressure down A typical English Opening!
the f-file, and on all the black weak-
34...ndl+ 35 Wh2 nd2 36 wg3 l:Ie5 3 7
B ... liJbd7 9 liJa4 neB 10 'i!!'C2 llbB 11 e3
nessE'S there.
lhb6 g 5 3 B J:[bc6 gxh4+ 3 9 Wf4 J:[eB 40
b6 12 liJe2 il.b7 13 �xb7 Ilxb7 14 e4
2 5 ...'i!I'g6 26 IL\d1!?
tlc2 Ild1 41 nb2 1-0
The strength of my passed b-pawn and the task of defendmg his numer
In this closed position Black is sad dled with weak c6- and d5-squares. W hite tries to prepare f2-f4.
ous islands (only Japan has more) con
14 ...liJfB 15 liJac3 liJe6 16 0-0 'il'd7 17
vinced my opponent to resign.
l:!ae1 c5 1B bxc6 'lWJ(c6 19 a4
Game 80 R.Akesson-T.Ernst
Kraft Chess Cup, Skelleftea 1999 23 l;tc3
I met GM Ralf Akesson in Barce
23 'ilI'd4! 'ilI'xd4 24 1L\xd4 nec8 25 1L\b3
lona. I spent many rounds in that tour
b6 26 ttc6 looks very dangerous for
nament placed between his board and
the magical f5-square.
Black.
his countryman GM Lars Karlsson's. I
26...lilfxe4
23 ...lL\e4 24 il.xe4 dxe4 2 5 1L\d4 'ti'd6 26
kidded them that they were my two
J:[ecl g6 27 'tWcz -lids 2B h3 l:IadB 29
SwedIsh bodyguards!
1 62
This knight is going to e3 and on to
A desperate sacrifice in an awful position. Black refuses to lose slowly
163
1 . . . c6, 1 .. .f5 and Unusual M o ves
Play 1 b 4 ! and tries to survive in the tactical wil
b 5 'i1!'b 6 9 'i1!'cl �e6 10 lile5) 8 �xg7
A tactical trick, which only serves to
derness.
�xg7 9 'i1!'c1 Wg8 10 'iWxc4 c6 11 O.{) lild 7
improve White's pawn structure. Soon
27 dxe4 'iWxe4 2S 'iWxe4 lilxe4 29 .IId 3
12 'i1!'h4 e5 13 lilg5 lil7f6 14 b5 lbe7 15
White is able to take control of the cen
lilcs 30 l:Ia3 e4 31 �xg7 Wxg7 3 2 lile3
bxc6 bxc6, and White enjoyed a slight
tre.
WfS n lilf4
advantage due to the weak c6-pawn.
10 bxe5 'iWxb3 11 axb3 �xb2 12 J:l.a2
4 �g2 �g7 5 �b2
�f6 13 exd5 exd5 14 lilbS lba6 15 d4
This is winning for White, who has an extra knight for just two pawns.
White employs a double fianchetto
n .•J:1eS 34 .!Idl .II d7 3S l"lbl l"lb7 36
against the Griinfeld sel-up.
liledS lild7 37 Wf2 IreS 3S lile3 IicS 39
5.,.c6 6 lila3
lilfdS f6 40 .!!b b3 Wf7 41 l:tbs .!!cbS?
�dS 34 We3 .11 3S 3S 37
�d7 16 lile3 lilb4 17 .IId 2 .!'I.aeS lS lila2
Wresting control of the b4-square will give White added possibilities on the queenside. lS..,lilxa2 19 .!'I.xa2 a6 20 e3
Black needed to defend b6 with 41...l:tc6. 42 lilfS We6 43 lilf4+ 1-0
White wins after 43 ...Wf7 44 lilxd6+
35,..f5
We745 lilxb7.
3S ... f6 36 h4 h6 37 g4 hS 38 f3 Itid6 39 gxhS gxhS 40 naS Wc6 41 We4 �d6 42 .l:l:a6+ We7 43 f4 �d7 44 fS exfS+ 4S
Game 81 D.Bronstein-V.Lepeshkin
WxfS is a typical winning line - White
USSR Championship, Tallinn 1965
king. The text move shortens the proc
can always gain an entry square for his ess. Another extraordinary idea from
l lilf3 lilf6 2 g3 g6 3 b4
36 J:1.a5+ 1-0
Bronstein: \Nhite prepares to strike at the centre with his c-pawn. 6,..0-0 7 e4 'iWb6 S 'iWb3 lile4
8 ... aS!? 9 cxdS cxdS 10 b5 reaches an
After 36...�d6 37 wf4 h6 38 M, 20,..b6?!
Black runs out of useful moves and
This overambitious Ihrust merely creates
weaknesses.
Black
should
equal position.
choose 20 ... J:[c7, with a defensible posi-
9 0-0 lile5
tion.
must allow the white king to penetrate and eventually gobble up some more pawns.
21 b4
21 cxb6 �bS 22 ll:fal J:!b8 23 lbeS J:[fd8 24 l:tcl .lhb6 25 .!lac2 is close to
Game 82 B.Gurgenidze-E.Mnatsakanian
USSR Team Championsh ip, Mos[QW 1972
equal. 21...�b5 22 l:!:e1 �e4 23 ll:aal e6 24 �f1 as?
l.osing a pawn, and the game. After 3...d5
V.Hort-M.Krisko, Trinec 1972, conti
24 ... �xf1 2S �xf1 bxcS 26 bxcS l:tc6 27 ll:aS White has only a small advantage.
l lilf3 lilf6 2 b4 g6 3 e4 � g7 4 £b2 0-0 5 e3 d 5
The drawback o f playing a Griin
nued 3... �g7 4 �b2 O.{) 5 c4 d5 6 �g2
25 �xe4 dxe4 26 bxa5 bxc5 27 nxe4
feld
dxc4 7 lila3 lild5 (the attempt to save the
exd4 2S ll:xeS J:l.xeS 29 lilxd4 �fS 30 a6
Opening is that Black's important dark
c4·pawn doesn't succeed after 7 ...'i1!'d6 8
�xd4 31 exd4 We7 32 �g2 wd6 n �f3
squared bishop is likely to be traded.
164
set-up
in this
pseudo-English
1 65
1 . . . c6, 1 . .f5 a n d Unusual Moves .
Play 1 b 4 ! 6 exdS ttlxdS 7 .fI.xg7 \tixg7 S 'l!!'el
This knight is racing to c5, but it
33 fxeS l-o
probably nol good. By attacking the b4-
was more logical to castle first.
pawn, Black gains time to create a
lS ...il.c6 19 ttles ttleS 20 I!b2 ttld6 21 ttle6+ ttlxe6 22 il.xe6
position
pawn centre, but in future the poor of
his
queen
will
weigh
against him.
The while bishop on e6 inhibits
3 a3
Black's movement, but after his reply
White could offer a pawn sacrifice
the dark side of failing to castle be
by continuing 3 b5, intending 3 ...'lWb4?
comes apparent.
4 il.c3 'i!i'xbS 5 p4 with I he initiative. Instead Black should reply consistently with 3...e5, as in the IPxt. 3 ...es 4 ttlf3 f6
This is essential, as it's unfavour able to allow White's pieces to invadE"
White puts his queen on a dark
It's more than likely that Black lost
square (now thai the dark-squared
on time here. A possible conclusion
the centre after 4. . .e4 5 ttld4. In addi
bishops have gone) and indirectly de
could be 33 fxeS ttlxe4 34 Itd4 lte7 35
tion, the continuation 4... ttld7 5 e3 il.e7
fends his pawn: 8 ... ttlxb4?? 9 'l!!' c3+ wins
a4! (35 ttlxe4 Ilc4+ 36 Itd3 l1xe4 37
followed by a later ...ii.f6 is simply un
the knight.
1:!xbS :txe5 38 lhaS looks drawish)
realistic.
S •..f6 9 a3 e6?!
35 ... 1:!cl 36 axb5 ttlxd2 37 1:!xd2, and
S e3 il.e6 6 d4 e4
Maybe Black should play 9. ..fI.g4!? .
Maintaining the centre by playing
White wins.
Too many pawn moves is risky. 22....fI.bs 23 ttld2
To get his king's rook into Ihe fray, White relreats the knight to prepare f2f3 followed by \tif2.
23 ...fS 24 f3 \t>f6 2S dS .fI.eS 26 \tie2 .fI.f7
6. ..tZld7 7 dxe5 {xeS requires consider
Game 83 A.Sokolsky-F.Villard
Kiev 1955
8...dxc4 9 'lWxd6 il.xd6 10 ttlg5 i1.d5 1 1 ttl(3) 9 cxd5 cxdS 1 0 /2\c3 a6 1 1 ttlg5 ttlgf6 12 ttlxe6 'lWxe6 13 'i!i'b3 - there is strong
27 il.xf7 \tixf7 28 :tel ntes 29 :txeS IlxcS 30 \tid 3 bS
able concessions after 8 c4! c6 (or
1 b4 ds 2 il.b2 'i!i'd6
pressure
on
Black's
central
pawns. 7 ttltd2 ts 8
