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Polugayevsky, L. - THW Sicilian Labyrinth Vol.2 - Pergamon 1991 PDF
Polugayevsky, L. - THW Sicilian Labyrinth Vol.2 - Pergamon 1991 PDF
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The Sicilian Labyrinth
Volume 2
by
Lyev Polugayevsky
Translated by
Ken Neat
PERGAMON CHESS
Member of Maxwell Macmillan Pergamon Publishing Corporation
OXFORD' NEW YORK BEIJING FRANKFURT
SAO PAULO SYDNEY TOKYO TORONTO
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Introduction 3
3 Open Lines 48
4 Piece Values 59
5 Strategic Sacrifices 76
Sacrifice of a Pawn 76
Sacrifice of a Minor Piece 85
Sacrifice of the Exchange 96
Sacrifice of the Queen 108
Introduction 119
6 Life-Lines 121
Postscript 159
Middlegame Strategy
Introduction
Play which is unsystematic, chaotic three ranks, but how much explosive
and unintelligent - this is our most dan- force is concealed in this outwardly passive
gerous enemy. And, on the contrary, a variation! And how can it be understood
clearly directed, well-balanced strategic that in one and the same variation, one
plan is a sound foundation of any open- and the same piece can be both the
ing. 'leading light' and absolutely helpless;
Always and everywhere, whether we one and the same square can be both a
are engaged in offensive operations (the strong outpost and a completely useless
Najdorf Variation), conducting trench 'wasteland'; or the same 'spoiled' pawns
warfare (the Paulsen and Scheveningen (doubled or isolated) can be both a plus
Variations), or preparing a counter-blow and a minus in the position.
in the centre, we must have a clear It is with the study of these difficult
impression of those global problems which nuances, and with the resolving of the
have to be solved, and for the sake of great number of strategic mysteries, that
which a concrete plan of action is con- the Sicilian player struggles all his life. By
structed or put into effect. assimilating step by step the strategy of
The strategy of the Sicilian Defence is the Sicilian Defence, we are able more
very difficult to master. All the general easily to penetrate into the 'spirit' of other
laws are applicable to it, but it also openings, and more quickly to master
contains a mass of contradictions and their middlegame ideas.
exceptions to the rules. To analyze in detail the finest subtleties
Thus the severe consequences of being of strategy is obviously beyond the powers
behind in development are well known, of any author, especially in a single work.
yet in the NajdorfVariation (Polugayevsky And, of course, I have not set myself such
and Poisoned Pawn Variations) at an early an all-embracing aim, especially since
stage and under the fire of the enemy everything is constantly changing. My
pieces, Black permits himself the luxury desire has been simply to 'illuminate' the
of strolling about with his queen. In the most problematic strategic questions that
Scheveningen Black huddles on the back constantly arise in practical play.
3
1 Dynamics of the Pawn Structure
S
6 Middlegame Strategy
Balashov-Polugayevsky
Tallinn 1973
1 e4 cS 2 ttJf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ttJxd4 ttJf6 S
ttJc3 a6 6 g3 eS 7 ttJde2 ttJbd7 8 .tg2 .te79
0-0 (4)
13 ... ttJxeS
Things are also not very bright for
Black after 13 ... dxe5 14 .txb7 exd4 15
.txa6.
14 .txb7 liIxb7 IS 'ti'xa6 'ti'b8 16 ttJc6
ttJxc6 17 'ti'xc6+ ttJd7 (3)
It is clear that Black has no difficulties. in such cases, he loses time. With his next
In fact, it is rather the opposite - he can move Black 'gnaws' at White's pawn
hope to obtain the better game, since in chain, the soundness of which was under-
the future the position of the white king mined by his premature lith move.
may become uneasy.
14 e4 5
White must hurry with this move,
before Black has time to play his rook to
c8.
14 ... bxe3
Black aims to open up the game, but 14
... i.g5 was objectively stronger, enabling
him to gain control of the dark squares.
15 liJxe3 a5
Now the exchange of dark-square
bishops does not work: after 15 ... i.g5
20 ... f5!
16 liJe4 i.xcl Black has to reckon with
21 'ib5
the interposition of 17 liJxd6. The move
played secures c5 for his knight. Only now did White sense the uneasiness
of his situation. He did not care for 21
16 ICel liJe5
gxf5 i.c8 22 'it'c6 i.xf5 23 i.b6 'it'b8, but
16 ... ICc8 was interesting, with the idea this would perhaps have been the lesser
on 17 i.e3 of nevertheless reverting to the evil.
old plan of 17 ... i.g5.
21 .ta6
17 i.e3 ICe8 22 'it'e6 fxg4
18 liJa4
Now on 23 i.b6 Black has a choice: 23
The only chance. If Black has time to ... 'it'c8, keeping his extra pawn, or 23 ...
play... i.g5, White's weaknesses will 'it'b8 24 hxg4 .ig5.
quickly make themselves felt.
23 hxg4 .th4!
18 ... liJxa4
After this Black's attack develops swiftly.
19 'it'xa4 ICa8!
It is difficult for White to find a defence
Black switches his bishop to the c8-h3 against the numerous threats.
diagonal, since sooner or later he will
24 i.e4 'it'f6
have to lift the blockade at e4.
25 'it'e2
20 :iiac1 (5)
Or 25 llc2 :a:ac8 26 'it'a4 l:'i:c4!.
20 'it'b5 i.a6 21 'it'c6 was essential, to
25 ... g6
prepare the exchange of queens. White
26 wg2
decides to carry out this manoeuvre at his
own convenience, and, as often happens 26 'it'd2 was better.
8 Middlegame Strategy
Especially unpleasant for Black is the 10 ... ~xf6 11 ttJxd6 'flIc7 was also
blockading f4-f5, when the oxygen supply possible, with a good game for Black. But
to his dark-square bishop is seriously Botvinnik uncompromisingly sticks to
reduced. his principles!
But when White delays his initiative on
11 ttJd4 <ii1h8 12 <ii1hl lIg8 13 f4 ~d7
the e- and f-files and allows Black to
reinforce his position, especially by ex- Black can be happy with the outcome
changing queens, Black's central pawn of the opening. He has fully completed his
mass is often transformed into a powerful development and occupied the g-file,
force. And the opening of a 'second front' whereas for the moment White has not
- apart from the c-file Black also acquires created any real threats at all.
the g-file - affords him, especially in the
14 ~f3?
endgame, many additional possibilities.
Passively played. The only way for
White to achieve any play was by the
active 14 f5, and if 14 ... ttJe5, then 15
Smyslov-Botvinnik
~h5, threatening 16 ~xf7 and preparing
Moscow 1948
ttJc3-e2-f4, transferring the knight to the
1 e4 c5 2 ttJf3 ttJe6 3 d4 exd4 4 ttJxd4 kingside.
ttJf6 5 ttJc3 d6 6 ~g5 e6 7 ~e2 ~e7 8 0-0
14 lIe8
0-0 (7)
15 ttJxe6?
A serious positional mistake, which
7
strengthens Black's central pawns. Now
White can only submissively watch to see
which effective plan the opponent will
choose - ... d5 or ... e5.1t was still possible
to try 15 f5 or else 15 ttJce2.
15 ... bxe6
16 ttJe2 d5
The pawn phalanx begins to advance.
N ow Black threatens 17 ... dxe4 18 ~xe4
f5 and 19 ... c5, unmasking his bishops.
17 f5?
9 ttJdb5
In this game Smyslov is simply un-
Smyslov avoids active play in the centre
recognizable; here he catastrophically
(by 9 <tJh1 and 10 f4) and chooses a
weakens the dark squares. Evidently he
dubious plan, involving the weakening of
was psychologically depressed by the
the black king's castled position. But its
course taken by the game. In the opinion
implementation leads to the loss of two
of Keres, he should have played 17 'flId3,
tempi.
and somehow tried to defend after 17 ...
9 a6 dxe4 18 i.xe4 f5 19 Itadl lIc7 20 ~f3
10 ~xf6 gxf6 'flIc8.
10 Middlegame Strategy
22 ... exf5!
Suetin-Botvinnik
Opening up the game is in the spirit of
Moscow 1952
the position. Now the bishops will be
helped by the rooks. 1 e4 e5 2 ltJf3 ltJe6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ltJxd4
ltJf6 5 ltJc3 d6 6 .ig5 e6 7 1Wd2 h6 8 .i.xf6
23 exf5 llee8 24 lU2 lle3 25 .i.g2
gxf6 9 0-0-0 a6 10 f4 .id7
On 25 ltJc3 there could have followed
One of Botvinnik's patent variations at
25 ... .i.c6 26 .i.g2 .i.xg3!
that time. A tense, uncompromisingposi-
25 ... 'fIe7 26 ltJgl .i.d3 27 'fi'd2 e4 28 tion is reached, conforming to his fighting
llf3 lle8 29 lldl style.
Exchanging queens by 29 llxe3 'fi'xe3 11 .ic4 h5 12 Wb 1 'fi'b6 13 llhn
30 'fi'xe3 llxe3 would have led to the loss
A fundamental mistake, since simplifi-
of the b2 pawn.
cation favours Black - in the endgame it is
29 .i.e5 easier for him to exploit the strength of
30 b3 his two bishops and the half-open c- and
g-files. White should have played 13 ltJb3.
(diagram 9)
13 ... 'ti'xd4 14 'fi'xd4 ltJxd4 15 llxd4
30 liel!
:ilc8 16 .i.b3
All the black pieces are ideally placed.
Here the bishop is essentially out of
31 bxe4 .i.xe4 32 .i.n lhdl 33 'fi'xdl play, and therefore it would have been
lld8 better to retreat it to e2.
Dynamics of the Pawn Structure 11
Keres-Botvinnik
19 ~h6!
Moscow 1956
By this positional pawn sacrifice Black
1 e4 e5 2 lbf3 lbe6 3 d4 exd4 4 lbxd4
seizes the initiative.
lbf6 5 lbe3 d6 6 .tg5 e6 7 'ti'd2 h6 8
20 fxe6 fxe6 21 I1xf6 I1ef'S 22 ~xf'S i.xf'S i.xf6 gxf6
23 I1fl ~h6 24 ~e4 i.e3 25 I1e2 ~gl
Black has thrown down the gauntlet,
White's extra pawn does not play any but doubts were expressed about the
part, whereas the black bishops have advisability of choosing such a complex
gained freedom. Having no opponent, and intricate variation in the present
the dark-square bishop is especially strong, game, since it was played in the last round
and in general Black has an obvious of the tournament, and Black only needed
advantage. True, given accurate play by a draw to gain first prize.
White it is objectively insufficient for a Also, he should not have disregarded
win, since after 26 g3!, as played, Suetin the fact that, by this time, theory had
returned the pawn to relieve the situation accumulated considerable experience, and
on the kingside. And, in view of the energetic plans for White had been found,
limited material left, White had very real seriously undermining the reputation of
chances of saving the game. There is no the given variation.
point in giving the remaining forty moves.
9 0-0-0
The game was played in the last round of
the USSR Championship, and Botvinnik, At the Olympiad in Moscow, 1956,
naturally, battled to the utmost, since the Larsen chose against Botvinnik the plan
* For the remainder of the game, cf. Botvinnik's Half a Century of Chess p.l77 (Pergamon,
1984).
12 Middlegame Strategy
of kings ide castling, and from the opening White had a choice between 15 liJxa5
gained an advantage: 9 ndl a6 10 and the move in the game. He preferred
i.e2 h5 11 0-0 i.d7 12 <t>hl 't!b6 15 nf3, although after 15 liJxa5 1!xa5
13 liJb3 i.e7 14 f4 h4 15 liJa4 'fi'a7 16 nf3 <t>b8 17 'ifd4 i.e7 18 b4 1!c7
16 liJac5 dxc5 17 'fi'xd7+ <t>f8, when 19 liJd5! exd5 20 nc3 i.c6 21 exd5 it
Black gained a draw only with great is not apparent how Black can defend.
difficulty.
15 ... liJxb3 16 axb3 <t>b8 17 liJa4 1!a7
9 ... a6 10 f4 h5 11 <t>bl i.d7 12 i.e2 (12)
t!Vb6 (11)
The exchange on a4 is unpleasant for
Black (the rook moves across to b3 with
11 gain of tempo), while 17 ... 1!c7 leads
to great difficulties after 18 1!d4
i.e7 19 nc3 i.c6 20 liJb6 with the
threat of 21 liJd5.
But with the black queen out of play,
Keres is able to begin a combination.
12
13 liJb3!
Keres was excellently prepared for this
game. It is very important for White to
keep the queens on; only in this case can
he hope for an advantage. From the
previous example we know that the ex-
change of queens after 13 nhfl 'ifxd4
14 'fi'xd4 liJxd4 15 nxd4 i.c6 would 18 f5! 14e7
favour Black.
Black should have agreed to the spoiling
13 ... 0-0-0 of his pawns after 18 ... exf5 19 exf5
14 nhfl ltJa5 14c6, and used his bishops to defend
his weaknesses.
In the game Byvshev-Livshits, Lenin-
grad, 1953, Black replied 14 ... <t>b8, 19 fxe6 fxe6
and on 15 nf3 he incautiously played 20 :i:a:xf6!
15 ... ltJa5. After 16 liJd5! exd5 17
The queen's unfortunate position at
liJxa5 White built up an irresistible attack.
a7 tells, since 20 ... .ixf6? fails to 21
And yet, in Keres' opinion, Black should
'ifxd6+ and 22 '2Jb6+. Therefore Black
have removed his king to a safer place.
has to reconcile himself to the loss of a
15 nf3 pawn.
Dynamics of the Pawn Structure 13
17 eSt dxeS 18 fxeS lLlxeS 19 lLlxeS there would have been technical difficulties
fxeS 20 1fh6 for White.
After the breakthrough in the centre 29 ... Ith4 30 lLld4 Wc7 31 Itg7 .i.f6
White's pieces have begun operating at 32 lLle6+ ~b6 33 ~g6 .i.c3
full power, whereas Black's forces are
On 33 .. , .i.h8 there would have follow-
scattered.
ed 34 g3 Ith2 35 lLlc5+ and 36 lLlxa6.
20 fS
34 lLlcS+ ! .i.c6
21 1fxh7 Itrs (14)
The knight is immune on account of
35 Itd5 mate.
14
3S lLla4+ Wc7 36 lLlxc3 bxc3 37
Itg3 Wb6 38 Itxc3 .i.xg2 39 Itd6+
WcS 40 Itd2
Constructing a mating net.
40 ... Wb441 Wb2 .i.e4 42 a3+ WaS 43
Itd6 Black resigns
Another frequent occurrence in the
Sicilian Defence is the doubling of Black's
pawns on the e-file. In this case also, two
kinds of evaluation are possible.
22 b3!
Only this concrete move justifies White's
strategy. Now, from c4, the bishop will Kupreichik-Polugayevsky
keep the e6 pawn in its sights. Geller USSR 1976
correctly judged that the weakening of
1 e4 cS 2 lL'lf3 d6 3 .i.bS+ lLld7 4 d4
the dark squares in his position would not
lLlf6 S lL'lc3 cxd4 6 'tlfxd4 eS 7 'tlfd3 h6 8
be dangerous, reinforcing his evaluation
.i.e3 .i.e7 9 .i.c4 0-0 10 0-0 lLlb6 11
with the variation 22 ... 'tlfc3 23 lLlh5 e4
.ib3 iLe6 12 lL'lh4 'tlfd7 13 .ixe6 fxe6 (15)
24 .i.xe4! (after 24 .i.c4 .i.f6 25 lLlxf6+
1fxf6 Black has everything in order) 24 ...
fxe4 25 lLlg7+ Wd8 26 lLlxe6+ We8 27
1fg6+ Itn 28 1fg8+.
22 ... e4 23 .i.c4 'tlfeS 24 'ifhS+ Wd8
2S Itxe4 'tlfc3 26 lLle2
Despite the following exchange of
queens, White's attack continues.
26 ... 'tlfh8 27 1fxh8 llxh8 28 llxe6
llxh2 29 llg6
29 llxa6 llxa6 30 .i.xa6 Wc7 31 lLlf4
was tempting, but after 31 ... .i.c6
Dynamics of the Pawn Structure 15
Black's pawn trio, which has arisen radically different. Black's pieces are
after the exchange on e6, is only apparently harmoniously placed, and the open f-file
threatening. In fact it has little mobility, allows him to build his plans on the
and resembles more of a rigid structure. kingside, to where his queen now aims.
Had White now played 14 i.xb6! axb6 His pawn mass controls important squares
15 ltJg6 lHd8 16 llfdl followed by the in the centre, and at the right moment it
doubling of rooks on the d-file, Black may be able to advance. Therefore
would have been condemned to passive White must keep a careful watch on the
defence, since he would hardly have been d5-square.
able to make the freeing advance ... d5,
13 ... 1We8! 14 1We2 1Wg6 15 i.xf6 lIxf6
and sooner or later his pawn weaknesses
16 llad1 llet'S 17 l'ba4
would have been bound to tell.
But even after the game continuation White carries out a three-move knight
14 ltJb5 ltJe8 15 ltJg6 lld8 16 e4 a6 17 manoeuvre, hoping to exploit the weakness
ltJc3 1We8 18 l'bxe7+ ltJxe7 19 llad1 of the d6 pawn, but in doing so he clearly
llae8 20 i.b6 :ad7 21 a4 White 'froze' underestimates the dynamic strength of
the black pawns in the centre and retained the black pieces. He should have played
an advantage. 17 lld3, with a complicated game.
A quite different situation arose in the
17 ... :af4 18 f3 l'bd8! 19 ltJb6 ltJn
following game.
20 l'be4
White has carried out his aim, not
sensing the calamity lying in wait for him.
Bouaziz-Salov
Szirak 1987 20 ltJg5
21 ~h1 (17)
1 e4 e5 2 l'bf3 ltJe6 3 d4 exd4 4 ltJxd4
ltJf6 5 ltJc3 d6 6 i.e2 e5 7 l'bb3 i.e7 8
0-0 0-0 9 i.e4 a6 10 a4 i.e6 11 17
i.xe6 fxe6 12 i.g5 lle8 13 a5 (16)
21 ltJxe4!!
A combinational blow, struck at the
right time by Black thanks to his occupation
Black has the same pawns as in the of the f-file. After 22 fxe4 'it'xe4! White
previous game, but the situation here is loses immediately on account of his
16 Middlegame Strategy
21
Kuzmin-S veshnikov
Minsk 1976
1 e4 eS 2 ltJf3 ltJe6 3 d4 exd4 4 ltJxd4
ltJf6 S ltJe3 eS 6 ltJdbS d6 7 ltJdS ltJxdS 8
exdS ltJe7 9 c3 ltJg6
The pawn configuration has determined (diagram 23)
the nature of the struggle. White has a 10 a4?!
pawn majority on the queenside, but it is
not at all in evidence, since the pawns White's hopes are associated with 10 ...
have not been advanced. Black, on the a6: he then gains an excellent game after
other hand, has four pawns against three 11 ltJa3, 12 ltJc4 and 13 a5. But Black is
in the centre and on the kingside, and he is not obliged to toe the line. Theoretically
fully prepared for advancing ... e4. the strongest continuation is considered
20 Middlegame Strategy
24
instantly.
17 b4!
The opening up of the queenside brings
White an appreciable advantage. The
black pieces are pinned down and are
forced to defend passively.
17 .. , nac8
Of course, not 17 ... cxb4?, since White
interposes 18 i.b6 and then plays 19 c5,
when Black is suffocated. 29 'fi'a4!
18 'fi'b3 .ltd6 Allowing the second rook to go to b6.
19 JUdI 'fi'ei
29 ... .ltd7 30 'fi'a3 E:xa5 31 nxb7 'fi'xb7
The threat of winning a pawn by 20 32 'iWxa5
bxc5 i.xc5 21 i.xc5 'fi'xc5 22 'fi'xb7 'fi'xa5
23 nal forces Black to waste precious Success for White is not far off. The
time. resulting ending is clearly favourable for
him - his efforts in the opening and
20 bxc5 i.xc5 21 i.xc5 E:xc5 22 E:al! middlegame have not been in vain. The
The white rook aims for b6, from game concluded:
where it will support the advance of the d- 32 ... g6 33 h3 'fi'bl + 34 <;t>h2 .ltf5 35
pawn. 'iWc3 'iWe4 36 .tf3 'fi'd4 37 'fi'xd4 exd4 38 g4
22 ... nd8 23 lIa4 i.f5 24 lIb4 .ltc8 25 .ic8 39 c5 a5 40 c6 <;t>f8 41 d6, and Black
nb6 nd6 resigned without resuming.
Fischer tries to obstruct White's passed
pawns, but it is well known that heavy
pieces are poor blockaders, and therefore Geller-Ivkov
his plan of defence does not succeed. But Hilversum 1973
in the event of 25 ... :!a:xa5 26 d6 'fi'd7 27
i.f3 Black's position would have collapsed 1 e4 c5 2 lLlf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lLlxd4 lLlf6 5
Dynamics of the Pawn Structure 23
29
25
26 Middlegame Strategy
12 ~e7 17 J.h6!
13 J.e3
The poor position of the white queen at
The best arrangement of the white d2 becomes clear. In addition, the threat
pieces would still have been 13 J.d2, 14 of 18 ... exf4 19 4:Jxf4 h4! looks unplea-
~b3 and 15 liael. sant.
13 ... liae8 18 h4
Black is the first to complete his It was with a heavy heart that White
mobilization, and his pieces are very went in for this further weakening, this
harmoniously placed, which allows him time creating additional 'holes' on the
to retain the initiative. light squares. But what other remedy can
be suggested against a future .,. h4?
14 ~d2?
18 ... ~f6!
Botvinnik regards this as a routine
move, leading to serious difficulties, since The clump of white pieces, huddled
the queen is badly placed on the c1-h6 together in the 'basement', looks quite
diagonal, and he rightly suggests that 14 helpless. And it is not surprising that
J.f2 would have been better. Black's excellently coordinated forces land
a crushing blow on the kingside, where,
14 ... 4:JfS IS J.fl hS 16 liael (36)
'throbbing' painfully, the opponent has
Good or bad, White should have decided numerous weaknesses.
on 16 g4 hxg4 17 hxg4 4:Jh6 18 g5, creating
19 J.e4 exf4 20 4:Jxf4 4:Jxh4! 21 J.e3
counterplay.
4:J fS 22 J.xfS
22 4:Jxh5 fails to 22 ... gxh5 23 J.xf5 (23
36
J.xh6 ~xh6) 23 '" J.xe324 nxe3 ~g5!!,
when Black wins the exchange. The game
now concluded:
22 ... 't!IxfS 23 ~g2 't!Ig4 24 ~e2 ~xe2+
2S lixe2 lieS 26 liee1 life8 27 J.fl h4 28
nxeS nxeS 29 d4 hxg3+ 30 <t>xg3 ligS+
31 <t>h2 lifS 32 J.e3 exd4 33 exd4 <t>h734
~fl gS 3S 4:Je2 Iixfl+ 36 J.xfl fS White
resigns
16 ~d8!
Geller-Reshevsky
But now after 17 g4 hxg4 18 hxg4 4:Jh4
Palma de Mal/orca 1970
White has to part with one of his bishops.
1 e4 eS 2 4:Jf3 e6 3 d4 exd4 4 4:Jxd4 4:Je6 S
17 <t>h2
4:Je3 d6 6 J.e2 4:Jf6 70-0 J.e78 J.e3 0-0 9
17 fxe5 fails to 17 ... J.h6 18 ~c24:Je3, f4 J.d7 10 4:Jb3 as 11 a4 eS12 <t>hl4:Jb413
when White's position collapses. J.f3 lie8 (37)
The Battle for the Central Squares 29
20 'iWfl lIxe5
37 The weakening of Black's f7 square
does not allow him to play 20 ... lIxe4, in
view of 21 liJxe4 liJxe4 22 .ixe4 .ixe423
lId7 etc.
21 liJxe5 'fie7 22 liJb3 .ib6 23 'fie2 g6
24 liJb5 lia8
Such moves are not made willingly.
25 liJcl
The technical phase commences. The
white knight aims for d5, and when it
In this variation Black tries to gain arrives there, the game will be over.
counterplay on the queenside by advancing
25 ... liJa6 26 liJa2 liJe5 27 liJae3 h5
his a-pawn. In doing so, however, he
weakens a number of squares. But how is Parrying 28 liJd5 for the moment on
White to exploit his advantage? With account of 28 ... i.xd5 29 exd5 e4, with
the following subtle rook manoeuvre he counterplay for Black.
succeeds in disclosing the drawbacks to
28 :ael 'fifS 29 :ad6 liJcd730 lIddl 'fih6
Black's set-up. The rook is transferred to
31 'iWd2 'iWfS 32 'iWd6 'fih6 33 'iWd2 'iWfS
the d-file, but the main subtlety of White's
plan is well camouflaged. With both players short of time, White
repeats moves.
14 lIfl! :f!e4 15 fxe5 dxe5 16 lid2 'fie7
17 'iWgl!! 34 h3 ne8 35 liJd6 lii:d836 liJc4 .ie737
liJd5! (38)
This is the point! Black's dark squares
on the queenside, especially b6, begin to
crumble. 38
17 ... .id8
Black is forced to make awkward
defensive moves.
18 lIadl .ie6
18 ... liJxc2 fails to 19 lIxc2 .ixa4 20
liJa1!, when White's minor pieces control
all the most important squares.
19 .ie5
An important interposition, forcing This move essentially concludes the
Black to give up the exchange for practically game.
no compensation.
37 ... liJxd5 38 exd5 liJf6 39 'figS liJxd5
19 ... ne8 40 liJxe5 'iWg7 41 e4 f6, and without
30 Middlegame Strategy
waiting for his opponent's reply, Black On his 13th move Black made a serious
resigned. positional mistake, by exchanging the
light-square bishops (he should have played
Now let us turn directly to the problem
13 ... i.d7 followed by 14 .. , i.c6), and
of the central squares. We will dwell in
White immediately exploits this.
detail on the analysis of two main points,
d5 and e5, which feature recurrently in 15 i.g5!
the majority of Sicilian variations.
A text-book example of how to exploit
the weakness of the d5 square in such
positions. White eliminates the last enemy
2.1 The d5 Square
defender of this important strategic out-
post, after which his knight becomes sole
The author would like to focus the
master of it.
reader's closest attention on this square,
since in the Scheveningen, Paulsen, Sozin 15 ... lUe8 16 i.xf6 i.xf6 17 lLld5 i.d8
and even the NajdorfVariation, it provokes
On 17 '" 'ilxc2 there would have followed
such a strong clash of interests of the
18 nf2, and if 18 ... 'ilc5, then 19 lIeI and
opposing sides, and fierce arguments over
20 lLlc7, winning the exchange.
it take place so often. The d5 square is
weakened by Black, and so here the basic 18 c3 b5 19 b3 'ilc5+ 20 ~hl lIc8 21
question is as follows: either White gains lIn ~h8
complete control of the desired post, or
Of course, Black could have dug in
else Black succeeds in securely covering
with 21 ... f6, but this passive defence
it.,
would not have held any promise. After
transferring his heavy pieces to the kingside
and advancing his g- and h-pawns, without
S myslov-R udakovsky
the least hindrance White would have
Moscow 1945
decisively stormed the enemy king's posi-
1 e4 c5 2 lLln e6 3 d4 cxd4 4lLlxd4 lLlf6 5 tion.
lLlc3 d6 6 i.e2 i.e7 70-00-08 i.e3 lLlc6 9
22 f6! gxf6 23 'ilh4 lIg8 24lLlxf6 lIg725
f4 'ilc7 10 'ilel lLlxd4 11 i.xd4 e5 12 .ie3
llg3
i.e6 13 f5 i.c4? 14 i.xc4 'ilxc4 (39)
With the threat of 26 'ti'xh7+!
39 25 ... i.xf6 26 'ti'xf6 llg8 27 lIdl d5 28
nxg7 Black resigns
Smyslov-Denker
Moscow 1946
1 e4 c5 2 lLlc3 lLlc6 3 g3 g6 4 i.g2 i.g75
d3 e6 6 i.e3 lLld4 7 lLlce2! d6 8 c3 lLlc6 9 d4
cxd4 10 lLlxd4 lLlxd4 11 i.xd4 e5 12 i.e3
lLle7 13 lLle2 0-0 14 0-0 i.e6 15 'ild2 'ti'c7
16 nfc1! f5 17 c4 fxe4 18 lLlc3 lLlf5 19
The Battle for the Central Squares 31
40
42 43
14 \IIel \IIc6 15 J.f3 J.c4 16 ltJcl! 31 ... bxa5 32 b5 axb5 33 cxb5 Itc5
Manoeuvring this knight to the magic On 33 ... nc3 White wins by 34 b6 ..tb8
square. 35 b7, when the black rook is trapped.
16 ... h6 17 ltJla2 ltJc5 18 ltJb4 \IIe8 19 34 J.xc5 ltJxc5 35 J.fl a4 36 \IIc2 a3 37
g3 nc7 20 J.g2 ndc8 21 b3! J.c4 ltJe6 38 lIld3 ltJd4 39 \IIa2 ..tb6 40
nxa3 Black resigns
An important interposition, enabling
White to be fully prepared in the near And now another modern illustration
future for c2-c4, conclusively depriving of how White succeeds in 'building a nest'
the opponent of counterplay on the c-file. at d5.
21 ... J.e6 22 ltJcd5 ltJxd5 23 ltJxd5
J.xd5 24 nxd5
Popovic-Polugayevsky
The rook feels no less happy than the Sarajevo 1987
knight on this central square.
1 e4 c5 2 ltJf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ltJxd4 ltJf6 5
24 ... nc6 25 JIadl ltJe6 26 c4 J.g5 27 ltJc3 a6 6 g3 e5 7 ltJb3 J.e7 8 J.g2 ltJbd7 9
J.a7 naS 28 J.b6 J.d8 29 J.e3 J.c7 a4 b6 10 0-0 J.b7 (44)
The passive plan of defence chosen by
the English grandmaster hastens his defeat. 44
29 ... J.g5 was more tenacious.
30 \IIe2 b6
Now the attempt to escape from the
vice no longer helps.
(diagram 43)
31 b4!
This leads by force to loss of material
for Black.
The Battle for the Central Squares 33
'it'd1 'it'h6 36 b3 lId8 37 ~b2 lId7 38 ~b1 square and in many instances joins actively
lId8 39 'it'e1 lIdc8 40 'ifb4 lId8 41 a4 in the play. Now after 13 i.xf6 lbxf6 14
Black resigns lbh5 he has a pleasant choice between the
restrained 14 ... 'ti'b6 15lbxf6+(15lbxg7+?
As we see, all Black's misfortunes stem
~f8 16 lbh5 'it'e3+ 17 ~fl lbxe4) 15 ...
from his bad bishop, since after exchanges
i.xf6 16 'it'd3 i.g5! when the position is
he does not have left a single minor piece
unclear (17 i.d5 lIxc3! 18 'it'xc3 i.xd5 19
which is ready to 'argue' with the knight
exd5 0-0 20 ~e2 b4, with the initiative for
at d5.
the exchange), and the sharp 14 ... lIxc3!?
F or a long period White was triumphant 15 bxc3 i.xe4 16 lbxg7+ (16 0-0 lbxh5 17
in this variation, but then, nevertheless, 'it'xh5 d5 18 a4 0-0 19 axb5 'it'b6+ 20 ~hl
came happier times for Sicilian players. axb5, with an excellent game for Black,
They gradually delved into the subtleties Neikirch-Minic, Krakow 1964) 16 ... ~f8
of the position and rendered harmless 17 lbh5 lIg8 18 lbxf6 i.xf6 19 'it'h5 d5!,
White's dangerous plan. with complications not unfavourable for
In this respect the following two games Black.
were of enormous significance, raising
13 0-0 h5!
Black's spirits and, on the contrary, causing
despondency in White. F or a long time the audacious advance
Let us return to our standard position: of the rook's pawn did not occur to
anyone, but it is precisely here that the
1 e4 c5 2 lbf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lbxd4 lbf6 5
golden truth lies. Unexpectedly the white
lbc3 a6 6 i.c4 e6 7 i.b3 b5 8 f4 i.b79 f5 e5
knight at g3 begins to feel the ground
10 lbde2 lbbd711 lbg3 i.e7 12 i.g5 (47)
shifting under its feet. If now White sticks
to his standard plan: 14 i.xf6 lbxf6 15
lbd5, then Black wins a pawn: 15 ... h4 16
lbxf6+ gxf6! 17 lbe2 i.xe4. Black's idea
came as a shock to White, who in his
panic committed a serious weakening.
14 h4? b4 15 i.xf6 i.xf6 16 lbd5 i.xh4
17 lbxh5 'it'g5 18 f6 g6!
Not giving in to provocation: 18 ...
lIxh5? 19 lIf5.
19 lbg7+ ~d8 20 1If3 i.g3 21 'iWd3
i.h2+ 22 ~f1 lbc5 23 lIh3 1Ih4!
The subsequent forced simplification
reduces to nought White's last hopes.
R.B yrne-Fischer
24 'it'f3 lbxb3 25 axb3 lIxh3 26 'iWxh3
Sousse 1967
i.xd5 27 exd5 'it'xf6+ 28 <ct7e1 'iff4 White
12 ... lIc8 resigns
An important link in Black's general Events developed rather differently in
plan. The rook occupies its customary the following game:
36 Middlegame Strategy
all seriously to shake its foundations. ~h5 .tg7 13 c3 0-0 14 0-0 (50)
Fate must indeed have been pleased that
such a stubborn person should appear,
endure all the sufferings, and nevertheless 50
axb5 (also possible is 19 ... llc8 20 'fIIe2j3 f4 e4 26 .ixb5 .ihS 27 f3 'fIIc5+ 28 lLle3
21 gxf3 exj3 22 'fIIe6+ Wh8, with a exf3 29 'fIId3 f2+ 30 Wxf2
dangerous initiative for Black, Drukker- 30 llxf2!? .ixdl 31lLlxdl was possibly
Kozyrev, Tyumen 1978) 20 .ixb5 llb821 better, although even in this case Black's
c4 lLlxd5 22 lla7 (22 llfd1 lLlc723 lLlb4 attack continues.
lLlxb5!) 22 ... lLlc7 23 llfal lLlxb5 24 cxb5
'fIIf6! 25 llc7 llbc8 26 llaa7 llxc7 27 30 ... .ixdl
llxc7 'fIIxb2 28 'fIIe2 d5 Black gained the 31 llxdl Wh8!
advantage. Preparing to bring into battle his last
16 ... lLlxb4 reserve - his rook on the g-file.
17 lLlxb4 a5! 32 Wg2 llg8 33 lLlfl .ixc3+ 34 lLlg3
The strongest reply, essentially refuting .ixb2 35 'i!fxd5 (52)
White's plan. The other continuations to
have occurred in practice, 17 ... d5 and 17
... 'fIId7, leave White with the better
chances.
18 exfS
There appears to be no other move. If
18 lLld5, then 18 ... .ixd5 19 exd5 e4,
while on 18 lLlc6 Black wins by 18 ... 'fIIc7
19 exf5 .ic4! 20 .ixc4 bxc4 21 'fIIO lla6!
18 ... .in 19 'fIIh3 'fIId7! 20 lLlc2 dS 21
lladl (51)
18 ... ~h8
56
14 ... i.e6!?
The more aggressive plan with 14 ... a5!?
is also possible, when Black gains quite
adequate counterplay on the queenside.
For example, if 15 b4 i.e6 16 a4 bxa4 17
llxa4 axb4 18 cxb4 ltJe7 etc. Better is 15
'it'd3! (the strongest reply) 15 ... i.e6 16
llfd 1 'it'd7 17 Wg3 h6 18 b4 i.d8 19 ltJce3
~h8 20 lld2 ltJe 7 21 llad 1, when White
retains pressure.
15 'it'd3! 24 b4!
The Battle for the Central Squares 41
After the opening of the game on the 38 lifa1 i.f8 39 'ti'e2 lic640 li6a3! lic5
queenside the black pieces find themselves 41 lif3 lixf3 42 'ifxf3 'ti'f7 43 'ifg4 h5 44
pinned down, while the white rooks 'ti'e4 lic8 (44 ... cj;h 7 45 lia3 i.g7 46 lif3
acquire freedom. 'ti'e6 was more tenacious) 45 lia3 'iff546
lia7+ cj;h6 47 'ife3+ g5 48 'ti'e2 lib8 49
24 ... axb4 25 lbcxb4 lib7 26 a4! bxa4 27
g4! hxg4 50 hxg4 'ifb1 + 51 cj;g2 lib7 52
lixa4
lixb7 'it'xb7 53 'ti'f3! 'ti'c8 54 'ti'f6+ cj;h755
Material is level, but Black's position is 'ti'f7+ Black resigns
quite unappealing on account of the poor
placing of his pieces, and, in particular,
on account of its major defect: the loss of 2.2 The e5 Square
control over d5.
While the d5 square most often falls
27 ... f5 28 lia6 lbc8 29 lia8 cj;g7 30
into White's hands, the neighbouring
'ife2 fxe4
square e5 is more likely to come under
The exchange of knights does not Black's domain. In the struggle for it
improve Black's position: 30 ... lbe7 31 Black uses various means, induding the
lbxe7 i.xe7 32 lbd5, and White has an ready-made prescription of exchanging
'eternal' knight. bishops, only this time not the light-
square, but the dark-square bishops.
31 'ifxe4 'iff5 32 'ti'e2 l:oIf7 33 c4 i.h4
Black's attempt at a counterattack is
easily parried.
Thomas-Boleslavsky
34 lin lbe7 35 lia6 'ti'd7 36 'ti'e4 lbxd5 London 1947
37 lbxd5 i.e7 (57)
1 e4 c5 2 lbc3 lbc6 3 g3 g6 4 .i.g2 i.g75
d3 d6 6 lbge2 e6 70-0 lbge78 ..td2 i.d79
'ti'c1 lbd4 10 lbxd4 cxd4 11 lbe2 h5 12 c4?
(58)
Tarnowski-Boleslavsky
Debrecen 1961
1 e4 e5 2 ttJf3 ttJe6 3 d4 exd4 4 ~xd4
ttJf6 5 ttJe3 d6 6 f4 e6 7 i.e2 i.e7 8 .tf3?!
(60)
15 ... g5!!
Now the e5 square becomes the main
outpost for the black pieces, and White's
position immediately becomes unpromis-
mg.
16 ttJf1
A practical chance was offered by the
exchange sacrifice 16 fxg5 ttJe5 17 'it'd 1!?
16 ... gxf4 17 i.xf4 ttJe5 18 E:g3 i.f6 19
'it'd2 'iYe7 20 'ti'b4 i.e6 21 llel b6 22 ttJd2
0-0-0 23 llf1 llhg8
After completing the mobilization of
his forces, Black goes onto the attack. White diverges from the usual develop-
White is not in a position to undertake ment in the Scheveningen, and chooses a
anything. plan which does not cause Black any
difficulty at all.
24 'it'a3 ttJg4
25 llgf3 i.e5! 8 ... i.d7 9 ttJde2 'it'b6 10 b3 a6 11 a3
The exchange of bishops is of course to While White is extravagantly wasting
Black's advantage. Now the dark squares time, his opponent completes the develop-
fall into his possession. ment of his pieces.
26 .txe5 ttJxe5 11 ... E:e8 12 'it'd3 'it'e7 13 g4? (61)
The Battle for the Central Squares 43
Tal-Polugayevsky
Alma Ata 1980
1 e4 cS 2 lLJf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lLJxd4 lLJc6 S
lLJbS d6 6 c4 lLJf6 7 lLJlc3 a6 8 lLJa3 i.e79
This speculative play meets with a i.e2 0-0 10 0-0 b6 11 i.e3 lLJeS 12 f3 i.b7
hostile reception, and White's position 13 'ifel lie8 14 'iff2 lLJed71S JUdI 'ifc716
collapses like a house of cards. liac1 liac8 17 Whl 'ifb8 (62)
13 ... gS!!
A typical strategic procedure for gaining
control of e5. Now the initiative is
completely in Black's hands, and he is
able to dictate the play.
14 h4
This attempt to confuse matters is
easily parried.
14 ... gxf4 IS i.xf4 hS! 16 gS lLJg4 17
i.xg4 hxg4 18 'iM'l?
Exactly in the style of Steinitz - the
king is the strongest piece, but not in the In this popular line of the Scheveningen,
middlegame! 180-0-0 lLJe5 19 i.xe5 dxe5 both sides have completed the mobilization
20 Wb2 may have offered chances of of their forces, and now White begins to
resisting, although even in this variation display aggression (the match situation
White is condemned to a difficult life. forced him to take such a step).
18 ... lLJeS 19 i.xeS dxeS 20 wg3 18 g4?! h6!
Having started, White has to continue It would seem that this move should
in the same vein. be criticized, since we have stated
several times that, when an attack is in
20 ... .tcS 21 wxg4 .td4! 22 liadl
progress, it is dangerous to make even
After 22 lih3 Black's attack would the slightest weakening of the king's
have developed as follows: 22 ... i.xc3 23 pawn screen. But it should not be
lLJxc3 f5+!, while if 22 lLJxd4, then 22 ... forgotten that the white king is also in
44 Middlegame Strategy
the line of fire where the pawns are Decisive. The exchange of bishops is
being thrown forward, and that naturally like a knife to the heart for White.
its own position is also being exposed. 32 ~xh4 gxh4
19 h4 lLlh7 33 lLlg2 ~g3+
20 ~f4 g5! Black's position is easily won, since on
Black is not afraid of ghosts! For the 34 '~f1 there follows 34 ... Wg7 35 g5 JIh8
sake of a valuable square one can take a 36 'ifg4 lLle5. (But at this point he agreed to
risk. He has accurately worked out the a draw, since this was all he required to
consequences of the opening of the h-file. secure overall victory in the match -
Now White should have chosen 21 .tg3!? Translator's note)
21 hxg5 hxg5 In the Sicilian Defence Black gains
22 .tg3 lLlhfS control of e5 most often by making the
thematic advance ... e5, when the white
At just the right time. The black knights pawn stands at f4. In the overwhelming
succeed in establishing control over e5, f4 majority of cases, the Najdorf and Scheven-
and h4. ingen Variations are viable precisely thanks
23 'ifh2 lLle5 24 'ifh6 lLlfg6 25 wg2 'ifc7 to this freeing manoeuvre, a fact which
has been confirmed by hundreds of games.
The queen urgently returns home.
26 J:ih 1 .tf6
Making way for the queen. Black's Matanovic-Polugayevsky
pieces coordinate excellently on the dark Moscow 1977
squares. A veritable triumph for 'black' 1 e4 c5 2 lLlf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lLlxd4 lLlf65
strategy! lLlc3 a6 6 .te2 e5 7 lLlb3 .te7 8 0-0 .te6 9
27 lLlc2 'ife7 28 lLle3 lLlh4+! 29 Wf2 f4 'ic7 10 a4 lLlbd7 11 .ie3 0-0 12 Whl
(64)
29 ~xh4 gxh4 30 f4lLlg6 followed by 31
... ~g7 is no more comforting for White.
12 exf4
This variation is very well known to
The Battle for the Central Squares 45
67
1!t'd2 was correct. Itec1 gxh5! 34 gxh5 Itg8! But now the
game proceeds by force to a draw.
28 ... 1!t'xb4 29 1!t'f6 Ite8 30 .txf7 t'Llxb3!
31 .txb3 1!t'xb3 32 Itc3 Itdl + 33 Itxdl 1!t'xdl + 34 ~a2 1!t'xg4 35
1!t'd6+ ~a8 36 Itc7 (36 Itc6!) 36 ... gxh5 37
In the time scramble Black fails to find
Itxb7! ~xb7 381!t'd5+ ~b8 391!t'd6+ ~b7
a more favourable continuation. After 32
40 1!t'd5+ ~c7 41 1!t'c5+ ~d7 42 1!t'd5+
... 1!t'e6!? he would have gained slightly
the better ending. The sharp 32 ... 1!t'b5!? Draw agreed. 42 ... ~e7 is not possible
also came into consideration, and if 33 on- account of 43 t'Llf5+.
3 Open Lines
Active piece play is the alpha and omega the d-file completely, use is made of the
of the Sicilian Defence. To a marked e4-e5 breakthrough.
degree it is assisted by open lines - Something similar also occurs on the
diagonals for the bishops and files for the diagonals, where both White and Black
rooks. It is mainly along these 'highways' have their missions prepared. Thus White's
that the direction of strategic operations dark-square bishop proceeds along the
is planned, and that the outcome of cl-h6 and the gI-a7 diagonals, while the
battles is largely decided. hI-a8 diagonal is most often controlled
One detail should be emphasized. In by Black's light-square bishop.
contrast, for example, to the Ruy Lopez, It would be naive to think that such an
where there can be a confrontation of allocation of roles is definitive, and cannot
rooks along the a- and e-files, or the be changed. Of course this is not so:
Queen's Indian Defence, in which at a things can also work out differently. But
very early stage of the opening all four these are more likely to be individual
bishops may come into contact, in the exceptions. The author will be emphasizing
Sicilian Defence this is rarely observed. the most general cases, which are encoun-
Each side has his own zone of influence. tered both in the study of the opening,
The initial opening moves already deter- and in practice.
mine the sphere of interests: Black is But these 'life-lines' do not always
given the c-file, and White the d-file. operate at full power. Often enemy pawns
It is hardly necessary to demonstrate stand in the way of the pieces, restricting
how important the c-file is for Black. In them. This most often occurs with Black,
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it who may lack space - a common phenom-
serves him faithfully, whether for mounting enon. Therefore I consider it appropriate
an attack or counterattack along it, or to once again draw the readers' attention
using it for positional manoeuvring. We to the counterblow in the centre, where I
have seen this in numerous examples. To mainly have in mind ... d5 for Black. This
picture Black without the moves ... llc8 has already been mentioned in the section
or ... 'fi'c7 is simply unimaginable. on defence (cf. Volume 1). There Black's
Later I will be once more touching counterblow was carried out in reply to a
specially on the role of the c-file in the flank pawn attack by White, and had the
section on the endgame. aim of opening up the game and exploiting
Naturally, the neighbouring semi-open the exposed position of the enemy king.
d-file is White's property. Irrespective of But here the reader will be shown
where his king castles, the white rook has several games where, with the help of this
its favourite post at dI, where it directly freeing manoeuvre, Black was able to
takes part in the battle for the centre increase sharply the activity of his fre-
along this file. And sometimes, to open quently very cramped pieces.
48
Open Lines 49
69
70 71
can be opened for them, will become an White. 19 IUdl lbg4 20 lbf3 was more
important factor. Therefore Black's follow- tenacious, when the win for Black still
ing actions are absolutely justified. requires a good deal of work.
15 ... d5!! 19 ... lbg4 20 lbe4 .ixb4! 21 lbg5 1!d5
16 e5 d4! 22 lbgf3 'fi'xb3 23 lbxb3 .id5 24 lbfd2
.ic3 25 nabl b5 26 axb5 axb5 27 lbe4
The central pawn, by sacrificing itself,
.ixe4 28 dxe4 Iic4 29 g3 h5 30 Wg2 nd8
has cleared the hl-a8 diagonal, and given
31 nc2 .ixe5!
Black fine counterplay. Suddenly, White's
position unexpectedly collapses - nearly After this loss of a second pawn White
all of Stein's pieces operate purposefully with a clear conscience could have resigned,
and precisely, as though aware of the firm which he did only on move 41.
hand of their commander.
17 lbxd4
R.Byrne-Andersson
Other continuations are even worse: 17
Amsterdam 1979
exf6 is very strongly met by 17 ... .ixf6!,
while if 17 .ixd4, then 17 ... .ixf3 18 exf6 1 e4 c5 2 lbf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lbxd4 a6 5
.ixf6! 19 .ixf6 1!xf6 etc. i.d3 g6 6 b3 d6 7 0-0 i.g7 8 i.b2 lbf6 9 c4
0-0 10 lbc3 lbbd7 11 E:el E:e8 12 .ifl b6
17 lbg4
13 'fi'd2 .tb7 14 E:adl 'fi'c7 15 f3 Ii:ad8 16
18 .igl (72)
'fi'fl lbe5 17 Ii:c1? (73)
72
73
18 lbxh2!
The position is a typical 'hedgehog', in
A beautiful and unexpected combi- which the Swedish grandmaster is a great
national blow. specialist. Notable features of this set-up
are the deployment of Black's rooks at e8
19 E:fc1
and d8, and also the fianchetto of both his
19 Wxh2 fails to 19 ... ~xb4!, while on bishops. White's last move displays a
19 lbxe6 there follows 19 ... 'fi'xd3 20 IUc1 definite loss of vigilance; he does not
'fi'h3! The move played leads to the loss of sense the danger associated with the
a pawn and an inferior position for hanging position of his knight at d4 on
52 Middlegame Strategy
the long diagonal. 17 'it'hl was correct. of amazing beauty! This is where White
feels the lack of a rook at dl to defend his
17 ... d5!
knight on d4. His reply is forced, since 20
This counterblow stems logically from lbxf3 fails to 20 ... 'ti'c5+ 21 'it'hl lbf2+ 22
the deployment of the black pieces, which ~gl lbe4+, when his queen is again lost.
after exchanges in the centre acquire
20 gxf3 i.xd4+ 21 'it'hl 'ti'xg3 22 hxg3
enormous scope. True, the idea looks
lbe3
dangerous in view of the opposition of
rook and queen on the c-fUe. But Andersson White's hopes are dashed. He loses a
has noticed one very significant detail: the pawn, since 23 dxe6 i.xf3+ is totally bad.
closed h2-b8 diagonal is suddenly opened,
23 i.d3 exd5 24 exd5 lbxd5 25 E:xe8+
and the black queen enters the main
llxe8 26 i.e4 i.xe3 27 .ixe3 lbxe3 28
arena.
i.xb7 lbxa2
18 exdS
After an exchange of blows Black has
18 cxd5 suggests itself, but then lying in won a second pawn. White's attempt to
wait for White is a series of terrible blows: regain one of them merely hastens his
18 ... lbfg4!! 19 'ti'g3 lbd3!! 20 'ti'xc7 (20 defeat.
hd3 hd4+ 21 'it'/1 lbxh2+, winning
29 ~e6 a5
the queen) 20 ... i.xd4+ 21 ~hl lbdf2+
30 E:xb6 E:b8!
22 ~gl lbh3++ 23 ~hl lbgf2 mate. A
triumph for the knights! A mortal pin, after which the remainder
is simple:
18 ... lbfg4!
19 'ti'g3 (74) 31 ~g2 ~fS 32 iib5 lbb4! 33 'it'f2 We7
34 'it'e3 Wd635 'it'd4 We736 E:xb4 axb4 37
On 19 'ti'd2 (19 /xg4 lbxg4 loses
.td5 Wd6 38 i.xf7 E:fS 39 .id5 E:f5 40
immediately) there would have followed
.ie4 lag5 41 g4 h5 White resigns
19 ... i.h6 20 f4 i.xf4! 21 'ti'xf4 lbf3+!,
when White loses his queen.
74 Karpov-Andersson
Milan 1975
1 e4 c5 2 lbf3 e6 3 d4 exd4 4 lbxd4 ttJe6 5
ttJb5 d6 6 e4 ttJf6 7 lblc3 a6 8 ttJa3 .te7 9
.te2 0-0 10 0-0 b6 11 .te3 .tb7 12 laet
lle8 13 'ti'b3 ttJd7 14 E:fdl E:e8 15 lld2
'ti'e7 16 'ti'dl 'ti'b8 17 f3 .ta8 18 'ti'fl ttJee5
19 ttJabl ttJf6 20 Whl h6 21 E:ddl .tfS 22
ttJd2 lled8 23 'ti'f2 ttJed7
The regrouping of the forces by each
side is typical of the 'hedgehog' system.
Black has finally deployed his rooks at e8
19 lbxf3+!!
and d8, and his knights at f6 and d7,
The knight sacrifices present a spectacle enabling him to achieve coordination and
Open Lines 53
Intending lbb4-c6, but White's dream difficulties for White on his weakened
proves unrealizable, and his knight is shut territory.
out of the game. He should have admitted
43 lbc1
his mistake and retreated his bishop: 37
i.bl. Perhaps 37 ... llc8 did not appealto The knight hurries across to help, but it
Karpov, but then 38 \!Yfl is possible, and is too late.
if 38 .. , i.xc3 39 bxc3 llxc3, then 40 llc2
43 ... lbg5 44 lbd2 i.b4! 45 Wf2
(40 ... lbxd5? 41 llxd5! llxc2 42 \!Yxc2).
It is dangerous to go to g2 on account
37 ... lbdxe4! 38 fxe4 i.d6 39 \!Yc2 lle5!!
of 45 ... f5!
(76)
45 ... i.xd2
76 Only here should Black be criticized,
since he misses the strongest move 45 .. ,
\!Ye7!, which would have won quickly: 46
ttJd3 \!Yf6+ 47 ~g2 i.xd248 ttJxe5 .ixel
49 llxel \!Yxe5. However, the move played
also leaves White with little hope.
46 llxd2 lbxe4+ 47 E:xe4 llxe448 lbe2
.ic8 49 lbc3 llel 50 lbe2 llal
All White's hopes rest on his d-pawn,
but sooner or later Black must be able to
coordinate his queen and rook and exploit
the open position of the enemy king,
The Swedish grandmaster's conduct of
while securely blockading the passed pawn
the game is impressive. The rook uses the
with his bishop.
transit square e5 to switch to the kingside,
and White begins to feel keenly the 51 lld4 \!Yd8 52 'ti'c6 i.d7 53 'ti'd6 'ti'e8
weakness of his dark squares. 54 \!Yf4 'ti'c8
40 g3 White is faced with the serious threats
of 55 ... \!Yc5 and 55 ... ~h3, against which
Not 40 lbg3? E:g5 41lbf5 llh5+ 42 ~gl
he has no satisfactory defence.
lbg4, when apart from 43 ... 'ti'b6+ Black
threatens the piquant mate 43 ... .ic5+ 44 55 b4 .th3
'ti'xc5 E: hl+! 56 'ti'e4 .tf5?!
White defends h2, but now he weakens
For some reason Black deviates and
the light squares, and his king will be in
makes things more difficult for himself.
trouble if the bishop at a8 should break
The consistent 56 '" llfl + 57 ~e3 .tf5 58
free.
'ti'g2 'ti'e8+ 59 ~d2 llal wins easily:
40 .,. \!Ye8 41 lldel .ib7 42 ~gl ttJh7!
57 'ti'e3 'ti'c2 58 g4 .td7 59 'ti'e4 'ti'b3 60
Again brilliantly played; Andersson's 'ti'd3 \!Yb2 61 'ti'e4 lla8 62 'ti'e3 lla2 63 d6
play is worthy of the highest praise. The E:a8 64 lle4 .tc6 65 'ti'd4 'ti'bl 66 lle7
knight is transferred to g5, creating great 'ti'hl (77)
Open Lines 55
15 ... i.xd5
16 exd5!
22 'ti'f6
By recapturing in this way Karpov not
only cramps the opponent's pieces, but Karpov considers that 22 ... i.xh2 was
also increases the activity of his light- more tenacious, at least restoring material
square bishop. It is true that White also equality.
retains some advantage after 16 'ti'xd5,
23 h4!
but in this case his e4 pawn would require
defending. The sickly white pawn is unexpectedly
transformed into a powerful force.
16 ... G"tJg6
17 ~e3 h6!? 23 ... 'ti'f5 24 :!ib4! i.f6 25 h5
White has a spatial advantage, and Of course, not 25 Itxb7?? on account of
therefore it is easy to explain Black's 25 ... :!ixh6 26 'ti'xh6 'ti'xd5+.
desire to gain counterplay, even at the
25 ... G"tJe7
cost of some risk. Now the character of
the position changes sharply. Both White's 25 ... G"tJe5? immediately loses a piece to
and Black's pieces gain great freedom of 26 :!if4.
movement along the open lines and dia-
26 IU4 'ti'e5
gonals.
27 lif3
18 gxh6 i.h4+ 19 'i!1dl gxh6 20 i.xh6
A miraculous display of tight-rope
i.f6 21 c3 i.e5
walking by the white rook - it is both
Black appears to have successfully attacking, and helping with the defence.
regrouped and created the unpleasant
27 ... G"tJxd5
threat of 22 ... 'ti'h4, but ...
After 27 ... 'ti'xh5? 28 :!ixf6 'ti'h 1+ there
22 :!ig4! (82)
follows 29 -tf1.
This difficult move not only parries the
28 :!id3 Itxh6
threat, but also activates the white rook,
whose amazing manoeuvres will disrupt 28 ... G"tJe7 is decisively met by 29 i.f4.
58 Middlegame Strategy
29 llxd5 ~e4 (83) pieces on the board! In the given game the
rook has literally tried all 'professions'.
First it operated on the g-file, then it
switched to work on the fourth rank, and
then came a new change of scene - the d-
file. And finally, just before the curtain
comes the finale: by modestly retreating,
the insatiable white rook sets its sights on
the e-file - if Black plays 30 ... IIh8, then
there follows the winning 31 :iIe3.
30 ... ~hl + 31 ~c2 ~xal 32 ~xh6 i.e5
33 ~g5
59
60 Middlegame Strategy
Black also has an excellent game after Played in the hope of exploiting the
the more cautious 18 .tbl. weakness of the 8th rank, since after 26
't:Je3 i.xb2 Black, with material equal,
18 ... 't:Jdb4 has a completely won position. Black
19 .ie4 't:Jd3 could have avoided the exchange of rooks,
The a2 pawn is not worth bothering but he had accurately worked out all its
about. consequences.
pieces, in combination with his queenside yourself with pieces with an enhanced
pawn majority, leads to a quick result. efficiency.
87
R.Byrne-Polugayevsky
Montilla 1975
1 e4 c5 2 ltJf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ltJxd4 ltJf6 5
ltJc3 a6 6 i.e3 e6 7 i.e2 ~e7 8 g4?! b5 9 g5
ltJfd7 10 f4 b4 11 ltJa4 i.b7 12 i.f3 ltJc6!
(88)
88
circumstances I think that 14 ltJe2 was the 24 'fi'e2 .ixfl+ 25 tWxfl 1tJf8! 26 '1J.abl?
best way out, although after 14 ... 'fi'a5 15
Here White misses his last chance of26
b3 ltJc5! 16 ltJb2 (16 ltJxc5 dxc5 and then
tWc5!, trying to tie the black pieces to the
17 ... '1J.ad8 is dubious for White) 16 ...
defence of the e-pawn.
'1J.fd8, preparing ... d5, Black has an
excellent game. 26 ... tWe7
27 .ih5
14 ... ltJxd4 15 .ixd4 e5 16 fxe5 dxe5 17
.ifl .ic6 18 c3 'fi'aS 19 b3 '1J.fd8! White was very much relying on this
move. On 27 ... g6 there follows 28 .ig4,
The initiative has completely passed to
preventing the knight from moving to the
Black. The white pieces have blocked the
centre via e6 and d4, while after 27 ... Ita7
f-file, and this allows the black rook to
he has 28 '1J.b6!, and 28 ... ltJe6 is again not
move from f8 without fear, vacating this
possible, on account of 29 'fi'xf7+.
square for the knight.
27 ... ltJg6!
20 cxb4 'fi'xb4
21 'fi'e 1 'fi'b 7 A brilliant solution! Since the opponent's
bishop has proved a worthy match for the
Of course, Black does not agree to the
knight, Black continues his general strategy:
exchange. With the queens on it will be
he goes in for an exchange, removing
easier for him to exploit the exposed
White's last active piece. As a result, one
position of the white king.
form of advantage (knight against bishop)
22 tWe3 ~xa4 is transformed into another - Black's
23 bxa4 .tc5! (89) rooks and queen are clearly superior to
White's heavy pieces, since the white king
is hopelessly exposed.
28 .ixg6 hxg6 29 :!:lbdl 'fi'e6 30 <t;h2
:!:lac8
The enormous difference in the placing
of the kings is obvious. White is unable to
block both open files, and along one of
them the black rook triumphantly breaks
through into his position.
31 lIxd8+ :!:lxd8
32 'fi'e2 Iid4!
(diagram 90)
With merciless consistency, Black carries
The concluding stroke. The black
out his basic plan: he removes from the
rook approaches the enemy king by ...
board White's most active piece, his dark-
:!:la4-a3, against which White has no
square bishop, and clears the path for his
satisfactory defence.
knight to d4 and f4. In doing so he is not
diverted: 23 ... ltJc5?! 24 Iiad1 ltJxa4 25 33 a5 lIa4 34 :!:In :!:lxa5 35 <t;g3 lIa3+
'1J.d5!. 36 :!:lf3 :!:lxa2 37 'fi'd3 'fi'b6! 38 'fi'fl 'fi'b239
64 Middlegame Strategy
91
93
41 ... .ie3 42 lld8+ ~g7 43 lld7+ ~f6 to have committed any 'crime', and the
break in the centre seems logical in view
White resigns. In this game he paid the
of his lead in development. But this
price for his disdainful attitude to the
appearance is deceptive; in fact White's
opponent's active pieces.
eighth move is over-hasty. And the point
"Which is stronger, knight or bishop?" is not that with his own hands he has
is an eternal question, although in the given scope to the black bishops. Much
abstract sense the two pieces are equivalent. more serious are the concrete features of
An answer should be sought in the very the position: White was counting on 10
character of the position. In open situations, .ie4, and only at the last moment did he
where the battle is over a wide front and see the "terrible" check at h4 (after the
there is an unrestricted range of action, a preliminary 10 ... ltJxc3) , while he also
bishop is usually superior to an enemy had to reject 10 ltJe4 on account of the
knight. But in closed positions with a unpleasant reply 10 ... ltJb4!, when 11
stable pawn structure, where the bishops .ie2 is tactically refuted by 11 ... 'it'xd4!.
do not have much scope and where there Kingside castling is also unsatisfactory in
is a manoeuvring struggle for control of view of 10 ... .ic5.
important central squares (especially if We have seen for ourselves how great
they have been weakened), the knight the 'value of a move' is in the Sicilian
plays the major role. Defence, and you, dear reader, must
never forget this.
Such is the fate of our opening: it will
not tolerate non-concrete thinking and
De Firmian-Polugayevsky
demands extreme accuracy from the very
Bie/ 1989
first steps.
1 e4 c5 2 ltJf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ltJxd4 ltJf6 5
10 ltJxd5 'it'xd5
ltJc3 a6 6 f4 e6 7 .id3 b5 8 e5?! dxe5 9 fxe5
11 ltJf3 ltJd7
ltJd5 (95)
11 ... .ic5 also looks good, but Black is
dreaming of more.
95
12 0-0 .ib7
A voiding 12 '" ltJxe5 13 ltJxe5 'ifxe5 14
'iff3.
13 'it'e2
Now the play will be all one way, since
White parts with his bishop. Only 13 'ifel
was in the spirit of the opening. Then
Black has a choice between the sharp 13
... .ic5+ 14 ~hl .id4 15 .if4 (bad is 15
'fIg3 .ixe5! 16 ltJxe5 ltJxe5 17 'fIxg7 0-0-0
Only a few moves have been made, and followed by 18 ... llhg8) 15 ... g5!? and the
White already finds himself in an inferior safer 13 ... ltJc5 14 .ie2 .ie7!, when to 15
position, although he would not appear 'fIg3 he has the very strong antidote 15 '"
68 Middlegame Strategy
lbe4! 16 'ixg7 'ic5+! 17 'it>hl 0-0-0 with Black exchanges a pair of rooks, depriv-
an obvious advantage. Even so, although ing White of his last chance on the f-file.
Black has an excellent position, there The superiority of the black pieces is
would be a tense struggle in prospect. undisputed, the role of the light-square
bishop being particularly marked. White
13 ... lbc5 14 'it>hllbxd315 exd3 i:.e716
is forced to defend passively, thinking
i:.g5
only of parrying concrete threats.
In order to deprive Black of the advan-
23 lIxel lIxel + 24 'it>h2 'ilfe5 25 d4 'ie4
tage of the two bishops, but the light-
square bishop which remains 'alive' is Inviting White to go into a hopeless
much stronger than the white knight. ending: 26 'ilfxc4 bxc4! followed by 27 ...
c3. Here the superiority of bishop over
16 ... i:.xg5 17 lbxg5 0-0 18 a3
knight is clearly seen.
Of course, the American grandmaster
26 'ilfe3 JIbl
could not be happy with the rook ending
after 18 'ie4 'ilfxe4 19lbxe4 i:.xe4 20 dxe4 The noose draws tighter. White is faced
lIfd8 21 lIadl lIxdl 22 lhdl lIe8 and with a heavy-piece attack along the back
then 23 ... h5. rank (27 ... 'ilfJl). If 27 J:le2, then 27 ...
i:.xf3 28 gxf3 lIdl 29 JId2 'ilfcl.
18 h6
19 lbf3 lIae8 (96) 27 'it>g3 'ic1
28 'if2 (97)
96
Then the idea struck me: what if 28 .,. important it is to restrain one's emotions,
i.xf3? I quickly evaluated the variation and even at the very height of the struggle
29 gxf3 'fIh 1 30 'ih2 (the only move) 30 .. , to maintain a clear mind.
llg1+31 llg2(3J Wj4g5+32We311el+, Let us return to the diagram.
and wins) 31 ... 'fIxh2+ 32 ct>xh2 lld 1, and The most critical move appears to be 28
White loses material. I also looked at the '" g5!?, when White's rook cannot move
preparatory 29 llc2, which is met by the on account of 29 ... 'fIf4 mate; i.e. it is
simple 29 .,. 'fIdl, andif30 gxf3 'fIhl with almost complete zugzwang. But White
the same consequences. does have one try for counterplay: 29
I quickly checked everything again, liJh2! with the threat of 30 liJg4 (29 ... h5
and, not allowing the opponent to gather 30 'fIe3). True, Black in turn has the
his wits, swiftly played ... cunning reply 29 ... f5!, and to avoid the
worst White has to sacrifice his knight: 30
28 i.xf3? exf6 'fIc7+ 31 Wg4 'fIxh2. But the adven-
Looking at the position from the side, I tures do not end there - 32 d5! leads to a
cannot help wondering how the idea genuine clash, with unclear consequences.
could ever have occurred to me of giving Thus on 32 ... lIcl!? White does not play
up my fine bishop. It is well known that, 33 dxe6? nc4+ 34 Wh5 lIh4+ 35 wg6
when one side is deprived of counterplay, i.e4+, but 33 Wh5!, when the fate of the
the main thing is not to hurry and not to game is very much in the balance (33 ...
force matters unnecessarily, the more so i.xd5 34 lIxd5! exd5 35 'ti'e3).
if account is taken of the opponent's time Therefore the key to the solution lies in
trouble. Why then did Black break this an unhurried positional increasing of the
sacred principle? To be frank, I have to pressure. And here the logical 28 ... i.e4!
admit that I had an elementary halluci- suggests itself, preventing 29 lIc2. The
nation - I completely rejected the possibility most probable continuation is 29 lle2
of White taking the bishop with his king, i.d3 30 :ad2 i.c4 31 lIc2 'fIdl 32 l::td2
thinking that the king could not step onto 'ti'b3, when it is very difficult for White to
the f-file! What is the secret of such an suppress the energy of the black pieces. 30
oversight? I think it is very important to j.f5 also looks convincing.
give a correct interpretation of what
29 Wxf3
happened, since such an occurrence is
very common in practice with all chess The worst for White is over. I im-
players, and is therefore of a textbook mediately felt despondent, since in this
nature. In the given situation, what could game from the last round I desperately
have happened with me was either: (1) needed a win for a share of first place. The
excessive fatigue in the fourth hour of maximum effort was required to again
play (the first time control in this game take myself in hand and find the correct
was 2 hours for 40 moves), or (2) relaxation, plan.
res ulting from excitement associated with
29 'ti'hl!
the euphoria of imminent victory.
Taking account of my state at that It is only by the combined coordination
moment, I am personally convinced that of queen and rook that Black has any
it was the second factor. chance of creating an attack on the white
This instructive instance shows how king.
70 Middlegame Strategy
Boleslavsky-Lisitsyn
Leningrad 1956
1 e4 c5 2 ~f3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ~xd4 ~f6 5
~c3 g6 6 i.e3 i.g7 7 f3 0-0 8 \!fd2 ~c6 9
0-0-0 ~xd4 10 i.xd4 \!fa5 (99)
99
35 ... \!fg3!
36 \!fe3 \!fg6!
The trap snaps shut. The white king
cannot escape from the bl-h7 diagonal.
37 d5 exd5+
38 llxd5
38 Wxd5 loses immediately to 38 ...
\!fe6+ 39 ~d4 \!fc4 mate.
38 ... llg5+ 39 Wd4 llxg240 lld8+ Wh7 11 Wbl!
41 lld6 \!ff5 42 b4 ll1'2! 43 llxa6 In this well known position White does
Piece Values 71
not hurry to begin his kingside pawn The triumph of White's strategy! - a
storm, but first makes a prophylactic typical case of the superiority of knight
move, associated with a profound strategic over bishop. The loss of a pawn is of no
idea. In earlier games Boleslavsky carried significance, and the absence of any
out another interesting plan: II i.c4 i.e6 counterplay for Black gives White an
12 i.b3 i.xb3 13 cxb3!. overwhelming advantage.
11 ... eS 12 i.e3 i.e6 13 a3! 20 ... tWb4 21 'fi'e2 i.fS 22 'if1 llac823
g3 'igS 24 h4 tWb6 2S g4 gS
Now the d6 pawn is attacked. The
immediate 13 'fi'xd6?? is not possible on And this is desperation. Black loses
account of 13 ... i.xa2+! 14 lbxa2 llfd8. instantly.
13 ... llfd8 26 hxgS 'ixgS 27 llhS 'ig6 28 gS! h6 29
14 lbbS! llxh6 'ixg5 30 llhS Black resigns
The point of White's plan. 14 ... 'ixd2
And now let us examine a performance
15 l1xd2 d5 is met by 16lbc7, and so Black
by the same Boleslavsky, where a black
is forced to move his queen.
knight is superior to a white bishop.
14 ... 'ia4
White's reply is quite unexpected.
Yudovich-Boleslavsky
IS c4!!
Moscow 1942
A brilliant idea! Giving up a pawn,
1 e4 cS 2 lbf3 l'Llc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ltJxd4
White exchanges bishops and seizes control
l'Llf6 S l'Llc3 d6 6 i.e2 eS 7 ltJf3 h6 8 0-0 i.e7
of the highly important d5 square.
9 h3 i.e6 10 liel 0-011 i.f1 llc8 12 l'LldS
IS ... i.xc4 ltJd7 13 g4 lle8 14 c4 l'LlfS IS i.e3 l'Llg6 16
'id2 l'Llh4 17 lbxh4 i.xh4 18 i.g2 i.g5!
If Black declines the sacrifice, after 15
(101)
... a6 16 ltJc3 and then 17 ltJd5 he has no
compensation for the defects of his position.
16 lbc3 'ib3 17 i.xc4 'ixc4 18 i.g5!
~e6 19 i.xf6 'ixf6 20 lbdS (100)
out an important strategic procedure: the 'bad' bishops. The contrast between them
exchange of dark-square bishops, after is especially apparent in middlegame
which his knight at d4 becomes invulner- positions with opposite-colour bishops,
able. The white knight, on the other hand, where the superiority of one of them is
can always be attacked by Black's bishop. sometimes of primary importance.
More than with any other World
19 b3 i.xe3 20 ttJxe3 ttJd4 21 f4 b5
Champion, the theme of opposite-colour
Opening the c-file and not allowing bishops frequently occurred in the games
White to play 22 ttJc2. of Mikhail Botvinnik.
22 exb5 'fi'b6! 23 f5 i.d7 24 ~hl
102
Karpov-Mecking
Hastings 1971172
1 e4 cS 2 ltJf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ltJxd4 ltJf6 S
ltJc3 a6 6 .te2 e5 7 lLlb3 .te6 8 f4 'fi'c7 9 a4
lLlc6
The customary place for the knight in
this set-up is at d7. Now White achieves
domination in the centre.
10 fS .txb3 11 cxb3 'fi'b6 12 .tgS
A subtle positional manoeuvre. Black Eliminating the last defender of d5.
is operating on the light squares, and he This method is well known to us from
threatens 19 ... i..b7 and 20 ... 'ti'g6. The earlier games.
queen-bishop combination will be very
12 '" .te713 .txf6 i.xf6 14 ltJdS 'fi'a5+
aggressively aimed at g2.
IS 'ti'd2 'ti'xd2+ 16 Wxd2 i.gS+ 17 Wd3
It is curious that a similar situation
0-0 18 h4 .td8 19 'iJ.ac1
often occurred in Botvinnik's games. For
example, back in 1939 in the USSR Although the queens have left the
Championship, in the decisive last round arena, the play is not technical, but is
game with Kotov, it was this light-square more of a middlegame nature, since White's
duet of queen and bishop which enabled hopes are associated with a pawn attack
him to gain the title of Champion. on the kingside.
74 Middlegame Strategy
He prevents 19 ... ttJe7, on which there 26 ... i.b6 27 l:i:h3 i.c5 28 l:i:f1 f6 29
follows 20 ttJxe7+ i.xe7 21 l:i:c7. hxg6 ~xg6 30 l:i:tbl l:i:be8 31 l:i:h7 ~g5 32
~e2 ~f4
19 ... a5 20 ~d2 l:i:b8 21 g4 ttJb4
Black is absolutely helpless, and now
In anticipation of coming events, Black
his king rushes headlong into the noose.
can no longer endure the enemy knight in
One interesting detail: with the exception
the centre, and by exchanging it he tries to
of the b2 pawn, all the white pieces are on
weaken somewhat the opponent's attacking
light squares!
power.
33 l:i:lh3 i.d4
22 i.c4 ttJxdS
23 i.xd5 (103) On 33 ... ~xg4 Karpov had prepared 34
l:i:hl l:i:g8 35 i.xg8 l:i:xg8 36 l:i:fl, winning
103 easily.
34 l:i:g7
Mate is unavoidable. Mecking could
find nothing better than to lose on time.
The apotheosis of light-square strategy!
We also see a similar picture in the
following game, which was played thirty
years earlier.
Boleslavsky-Kotov
The diagram position is the best illus- Moscow 1942
tration of how enormous the difference
1 e4 c5 2 ttJf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ttJxd4 ttJf6 5
in strength can be between two pieces of
ttJc3 ttJc6 6 ttJdb5 d6 7 i.f4 e5 8 i.g5 a6 9
the same value. The black bishop is
i.xf6 gxf6 10 ttJa3 b5 11 ttJd5 i.e6 12 c3
simply faceless, and even on the open gl-
i.g713 ttJc2 f514 exf5 i.xf515 ttJce3 i.e6
a7 diagonal it is idle. The white bishop, on
16 'iff3 0-0 17 i.d3 ttJe7 18 ttJxe7+ 'ifxe7
the other hand, is aiming at the king, and
19 0-0 'ifg5 20 i.e4 l1ad8 21 i.d5 'iff4 22
has no opponent, and when White opens
l:i:fdl l:i:fe8 23 g3 'ifxf3 24 i.xf3 i.h6 25
files in this region for his rooks he will
ttJdS i.xd5 26 i.xd5 l:i:b8 27 i.e4 i.f8
essentially have an extra piece in the
(104)
attack.
White's domination on the light squares
23 ... g5
is obvious. In an attempt somehow to
Black tries his last chance, trying to suppress the opponent's initiative, Black
block the white pawns, but it does not has chosen the path of simplification, but
achieve the desired result. this has not brought him any significant
relief - the difference in the activity of the
24 fxg6 hxg6 25 ~d3 ~g7 26 h5
two bishops is too striking. White carries
After appropriate preparation the open- out the general plan of a kingside offensive,
ing of the h-file is inevitable. and by opening lines exploits the power of
Piece Values 75
his bishop, which is absolute master of everything ready he embarks on the decisive
the position. In this sense the present attack.
game has much in common with the
36 ... a5 37 h4 IIa6 38 ~h3 a4 39 IIgl
previou!;l one.
axb3 40 axb3 .id8 41 g5 hxg5 42 hxg5 IIa2
43 ~g4 IIca7 44 ~5! e4 45 g6! (105)
104
A chess player who chooses the Sicilian hands of the experienced Sicilian player
Defence must be prepared for all sorts of representing a well-polished weapon. For
surprises, and in particular for the most example, the sacrifice of a minor piece
desperate sacrifices. In various forcing (usually offered by White), or of the
variations of an especially attacking nature, exchange (this is more likely to be by
these sacrifices are constantly present; Black). Only the sacrifice of the queen is
without them the tense 'Sicilian life' is an exception, for it is understandable that
simply inconceivable. such an expensive 'pleasure' cannot become
I remember the USSR Championships a typical undertaking. But even it has its
from days of old. How many spectators, own typical Sicilian motifs.
with their hearts in their mouths, followed In view of the enormous amount of
the games of the young Mikhail Tal! information on this topic, for its study it
Especially on those days when the Riga will be best to classify strategic sacrifices
player had White against the Sicilian. For by the value of the piece given up.
they knew that Tal was bound to afford
them pleasure, by sacrificing something
at e6 or d5!
When we examined the games in the 5.1 Sacrifice of a Pawn
chapter on attack, we saw for ourselves
how many combinational storms began This is usually carried out for the opening
with a sacrifice. But now, when the of files and diagonals. Remember the pawn
discussion is about strategy, we will be sacrifice by White in the NajdorfVariation
studying sacrifices of a different type, the (I e4 c5 2 lbf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lbxd4 lbf6 5
main aim of which is not to get at the lbc3 a6 6 i.g5 e6 7 f4 'ti'b6 8 'ti'd2 'ti'xb2),
enemy king, but to achieve certain posi- and by Black in the Kasparov Gambit (I
tional gains. These may be the implemen- e4 c5 2 lbf3 lbc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lbxd4 e6 5
tation of a concrete strategic plan, or the lbb5 d6 6 c4 lbf6 7 lb Ic3 a6 8 tba3 d5).
gaining of a spatial advantage for our These operations have the aim of obtaining
pieces, or a change in the balance of certain gains in compensation: a lead in
forces (of course, not material, but real!) development, exploiting of weak squares,
in our favour, when the customary pattern the advantage of the two bishops, restricting
of the struggle is disrupted. the mobility of the enemy pieces, and so
Moreover, the attention of the reader on. A strategic pawn sacrifice does not
will be concentrated largely on typical usually count on an immediate effect, but
strategic sacrifices, present in different on the obtaining, or maintaining, of a
variations of the opening, and in the long-term initiative.
76
Strategic Sacrifices 77
Shipov-Polugayevsky
At the cost of a pawn Black has gained
Yalta 1962
a great advantage in force on the kingside,
1 e4 c5 2 iLlf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 iLlxd4 a6 5 and even the exchange of queens does not
.i.d3 .i.c5 6 iLlb3 .i.a7 7 0-0 iLlc6 8 'tWg4 bring White any relief: 13 'ti'xd8+ Wxd8
(106) 14 ~gl (14 .i.e3 also does not help: 14 .. .
he3 15 fxe3 liJxe3 16 1If2 iLld1) 14 .. .
iLlf3+! 15 ~hl iLlxf2+ 16 1Ixf2 .i.xf2,and
106
the knight at f3 is immune on account of
mate at gl.
13 ... 'ti'f6
Black begins surrounding the white
queen.
14 f4 lIh6 15 'ti'g8+ We7 16 h3 l1h8
(107)
8 iLlf6!
The critical reply. This pawn sacrifice is
justified, since Black gains time for the
development of his pieces and obtains the
g-file for an attack. Had White been less
obstinate, he would not have fallen in
with the opponent's wishes, but would
have preferred 9 'ti'h4.
9 'ti'xg7 lIg8 10 'ti'h6 lDe5 11 Whl
The trap snaps shut. Now the lesser evil
In such a position one cannot delay. Of
was 17 'ti'g5 lDf2+ 18 Wh2 l1xh3+ 19 gxh3
course 11 .i.f4 looks stronger, although
lDf3+ 20 Wg2 lDxg5 21 fxg5 'ti'e5 22 l1xf2
even in this case Black has the initiative
-txf2 23 Wxf2 'ti'h2+ 24 We 1, when the
after 11 ... iLleg4 12 'ti'h3 (12 'ti'h4 lDxf2!
struggle is not yet over. The continuation
13 lIxf2 'fJ.g4 14 'ti'h6 lDgS! 15 'ti'xh7
in the game leads to a rapid decision.
hf2+ 16 Wxf2 'il.xf4+ and 17 ... 'ti'g5) 12
... e5 13 .i.g3 d5 14 'ti'h4 dxe4 (15 i.c4 17 fxe5 'ti'xfl + 18 ..txfl l1xg8 19 i.f4
e3!). ..tb8!
11 .i.e2!? occurred in the game Ljubojevic-
This dispels White's last hopes. Now
Lobron (Plovdiv 1983), but after 11 ...
the e5 pawn is lost, and the black knight
lDeg4 (instead of 11 ... b5?! as played) 12
remains alive, since on 20 hxg4 there
.i.xg4 (12 'ti'h3 lDxf2! 13 'il.xf2 'ti'b6, or 12
follows 20 ... I:Ih8+ etc.
'tWf4 .i.bS) 12 ... l1g6! 13 'ti'h3 lDxg4 Black
has fine play. 20 g3 lDxe5
11 ... lIg6 12 'ti'h4 lDfg4! 13 'ti'xh7 The rest is a matter of technique:
78 Middlegame Strategy
Not allowing Black any peace; the on the board, the consequences of which
bishop at c7 has to be saved. were quite unpredictable. This was under-
standably a boon to the temperamental
18 ... lbc6!
Yugoslav grandmaster. But who knows
And again Vlf intuitively finds the what was going on at that moment in the
best solution. The position is full of mind of the cautious Andersson? Possibly
complicated variations. 18 ... i.c6 seems he too was hoping to seize his chance in
sounder, but analysis by Timman shows the mutual 'scuffle' ... Of course, 21 ...
that after 19 lbg5! Black's e6 comes under lbxc7 22 'fIxc7 i.b5 23 lIf4 i.xd3 24
fire: 19 ... h6 (or 19 ... i.d6 20 'fIh3 h621 lIxd4 lIac8 was sounder. True, White
lbdxe6!) 20 lbgxe6 fxe6 21 lbxe6 lIxf4 22 can force a spectacular draw by perpetual
lhf4 lbf7 23 lbxc7 'fIxc7 24 i.c4 'fIb6+ check: 22 i.xh7+ <:JiJxh7 23 'fIxg7+! <:JiJxg7
25 lIe3! lbd6 26 i.xf7+ lbxf7 27 lIxf7! 24 lIg3+, but whether or not the two
<:JiJxf7 28 'fIf2+, and White wins. players saw this combination remains an
open question.
19 i.xc7 lbxd4!
22 i.e5 lbc6
Black was obliged to foresee this reply.
19 ... 'fIxc7 would have failed to 20 lbf6+ Timman gives the fine variation 22 ...
<:JiJh8 21 'fIxc7 lbxc7 22 lbxd7 lbxd4 23 i.xd3 23 i.xd4 i.xfl 24 lbxe6 fxe6 25
lIxc7. i.xa7 lIxa7 26 "iWb8!
20 i.d3 "iWa7 23 i.xh7+!
21 lbc5 (109)
White has as though used the queenside
as bait, achieving in this region a solid
109 concentration of black forces. But in fact
his hopes are associated with the king-
side.
23 ... <:JiJxh7
24 lIf4
White could have forced a pretty draw
by 24 i.xg7 lbxg7 25 'fIxg7+! <:JiJxg7 26
lIg3+. If Ljubojevic saw it, then the rook
manoeuvre in the game clearly testifies to
his aggressive intentions.
24 ... f6
21 i.b5
In this mind-boggling position there
From the objective viewpoint, I cannot are a number of other interesting possi-
agree with those commentators who con- bilities. Analysts have made a deep study
sidered this manoeuvre (which, in my of 24 ... f5, and have come to the conclusion
opinion, is positionally fully justified) to that it does not give Black equality. Here
be incorrect. It is another matter if one is is the main variation given by Timman:
guided by psychological considerations. 25 lIh4+ <:JiJg8 26 'fIg6 lbxe5 27 "fi'xe6+
Indeed, after the text move a storm begins lIf7 (27 ... lbj7 28 lIch3!) 28 'iWxe5 lId829
80 Middlegame Strategy
111
21 ... d5!
Including the dark-square bishop in
the action. Bad now is 22 exd5 exd5, when
The players have chosen one of the the rook at e8 is not to be trifled with.
fashionable lines of the Paulsen Variation,
22 Wg2 i.c5
in which Gheorghiu is a great specialist.
23 ttJg4 ttJa7
Constantly employing it with Black, the
Romanian grandmaster has a feel for the With the dual aim of clearing the light-
most subtle nuances of this set-up. And square diagonal and of shifting the knight
here he picks the right moment for a from b5.
positional pawn sacrifice on the queenside.
24 ttJh6+ WfS
17 ... b5! 25 .te5
This typical break, in combination This allows the devaluation of White's
with the following operation in the centre, queenside pawns. He should have con-
allows Black to uncoil like a compressed sidered 25 ttJd4.
spring. At the cost of a pawn the black
25 ... ttJxb5
pieces begin working actively, exploiting
26 'tlxb5
the gl-a7 and hl-a8 diagonals.
White seeks salvation in the endgame.
18 g5 ttJh5
It seemed more dangerous to him to keep
19 cxb5
the queens on, but in fact after 26 axb5
White should not allow himself to be dxe4 27 .txe4 i.xe4+ 28 'tlxe4 lIa2+ 29
diverted. It looks more logical to build up Whl he could have hoped to find counter-
his attacking forces on the kingside with chances.
19 ttJg4!?
26 ... 'tlxb5 21 axb5 dxe4 28 lId7
19 ... axb5 20 ttJxb5 'tlb6 21 a4 (112)
This needless activity merely worsens
21 'iJxd6 would have lost the exchange White's position. He should have chosen
after 21 ... i.xd6 22 lIxd6 i.a6. 28 IHel! e3+ 29 WfI.
82 Middlegame Strategy
28 ... lIe7
29 lIxe7
113
Or 29 lIxb7 lIxb7 30 .ixe4 lIa2+.
29 ... ~xe7 30 lIc1 .ib6 31 ~ f5 32
gxf6+
It is undesirable for White to give
assistance to the black knight, but other-
wise his own will be blocked in.
32 ... ttJxf6
33 ~e2 lIaS!
The black rook, now unrestricted,
embarks on concrete action: the b5 pawn
Black hopes to retain his extra pawn, but
cannot be saved.
forgets about the time loss involved. He
34 lIe4 lIxb5 35 .ixf6+ ~xf6 36 .ixe4 also fails to equalize by 9 ... .ixbl 10
.ixe4 37 llxe4 lIxb3 38 lle5 .ie7! 39 Ii:xbl e6 11 .ixf6! gxf6 (11 ... 'fINxf6 12
ttJg4+ ~e7 40 lle4 lIh3, and a few moves dxc5 dxc5 13 'fINa4+ b5 14 'fINe4) 12 d5, but
later Black realized his material advantage. the cool 9 ... .id5 10 ttJbd2 e6 11 c4.ixf3
12 'fINxf3 cxd4 would have maintained
equal chances.
Georgadze-Tal 10 ttJbd2 .ixf3 11 'fINxf3 e6 12 .ixf6!
USSR Championship 1978 'fINxf6
1 e4 e5 2 ttJf3 d6 3 .ib5+ Practically forced, since 12 ... gxf6 13 c4
.ih6 14 lIadl clearly favours White.
When Black is playing for a win, this
check has a depressing effect. Tal avoids 13 'fINxd5
the simplifying 3 '" .id7.
As a result White has restored the
3 ... ttJc6 4 0-0 .id7 5 lIel ttJf6 6 e3 a6 7 material balance, whereas the black king
.ixe6 is unable to find a comfortable shelter.
7 .ia4 or 7 .if! is more common. White 13 ... 'fINe714 'fINe5 exd4 15.exd4 'fINd6 16
readily parts with his bishop, since he has 'fINe4 'fINb4 17 ttJf3 .ie7 18 lIe3!
in mind a concrete pawn sacrifice.
The threat of 19 lIb3 prevents Black
7 ... .ixc6 8 d4!? .ixe4 9 .ig5 from castling, and his queen is forced to
embark on a dangerous journey.
(diagram 113)
18 ... 'fINxb2 19 lIbl 'fINxa220 lIxb7 lIe8
The idea of White's pawn sacrifice is
(114)
clear: to gain a lead in development and
to use the e-file for his rook. White completely dominates the battle-
field, and had he played 21 'fINe5!, Black
9 ... d5?
would not have lasted long. However, the
A very dubious, if not incorrect decision. move chosen -
Strategic Sacrifices 83
21 d5
- also looked convincing enough:
21 ... .if6
11 ... ~xf6!?
22 llxf7 llel +
One comes across the original ideas
Taking the rook allows mate: 22 ... Wxf7
and deep plans of Vladimir Simagin in
23 'ti'xe6+ Wg6 24 ltJe5+.
various openings, but his innovative spirit
23 ltJel e5 manifested itself particularly in the Sicilian
Defence, when playing it with Black. The
The rook is again taboo: 23 ... Wxf7 24
inherent features of this defence evidently
'ti'xe6+ wg6 25 ng3+.
created favourable ground for his rich
24 llxf6! imagination. Back in the 1960s Simagin
wrote: "I am an old supporter of the
An indefatigable rook! Gaping holes
Sicilian Defence, and I believe in its
appear in Black's position, in which the
future. Perhaps in some 30-40 years' time,
white queen takes complete charge.
on opening a theory book, a player will
24 ... gxf6 25 "iff5 0-026 "ife6+ Wg727 read: 1 e4 is not possible on account of 1 ...
"ifd7+ Wh8 c5t"
11 ... gxf6 is usually played here. At the
If 27 ... llf7 then 28 llg3+.
cost of a pawn Black gains the two
28 "ife7 bishops and avoids weakening his positi~n.
He hopes that, with castling on opposite
White has an overwhelming advantage,
sides, the extra pawn will not be of any
and it was only his subsequent inaccurate
great importance. However, it has to be
play which allowed Black to save the
said that White was later able to shake the
game.
reputation of Simagin's bold plan.
12 "ifxd6 ii.e7 13 "ifd2 b4 14 ltJe2
Sakharov-Simagin An unfortunate retreat. In the game
Tallinn 1965 Gufeld-Simagin. played a few rounds
84 Middlegame Strategy
later, White found the correct way: 14 29 fxe5 fxe5 30 lLlf5 i.f8 31 lld8!
lLla4!, when 15 'ti'xd7+ was already
The threat of 32 lLlh6+ forces Black to
threatened. The game went 14 ... lLlb8(l4
exchange one pair of rooks, which slightly
... lla7 is unpleasantly met by 15 'ti'e3!) 15
worsens his position. White's chances are
'ti'd4 'ti'c7 16 1Ll b6 lla 7, and now the quiet
already preferable.
17 ~bl would have secured White an
advantage. 31 ... llxd8 32 'ti'xc4+ ~h8 33 lLle3 h6
34 llti
14 .,. lla7 15 ~bl 0-0 16 lLled4 'ti'b6 17
lLlxc6 i.xc6 18 'ti'el llc8 A semblance of activity. 34 :!le 1 or 34
lldl was sounder, but White overrates
The initiative gradually passes to Black,
his position.
and it is now White who has to defend.
34 ... 'ti'b6 35 lLld5 'ti'e6 36 ''O ~g8 37
19 1Lle5 i.b5 20 i.d3 :!lac721 llO f622
1If3 :!lc8
lLlg4 i.xd3 23 llxd3
The game has again become level, but
Of course, not 23 cxd3? on account of
White is under the impression that he
23 ... :!lc2 24 :!lf2 b3!.
stands better.
23 ... :!lxc2 (116)
38 llf2 a5 39 :!lc2 :!lxc2 40 ~xc2 'ti'c6+
41 ~d2 ''c5 42 b3 'ti'd4+ (117)
116
117
position: 11 .txb5 axb5 12 llhe1 b4 (also .txc4+ 28 bxc4 'fIxc4+ 29 WeI 'fIe4+ 30
possible is 12 ... 0-0 13 e5 ti:Jh5 14 'fIj3 Wd2 'fId4+ 31 Wc2 'iVc4+ 32 ~b2 'fId4+
ti:Jxf4!, with equal chances) 13 ti:Jcb5 33 Wb3 'ifd3+ 34 Wb2 'ifd2+ 3S Wb3
'fib8 (13 ... 'fIc5 14 e5 dxe5 15 fxe5 0-01 is 'fId3+ 36 Wa4 'fIc2+ 37 Wb4 'ii'd2+ 38
much stronger, when, by returning the Wc4 'fIc2+ 39 Wd4 'fId2+ 40 We4 'fIe2+
piece, Black succeeds in sheltering his 41 Wf4 'fi'xf2+ 42 wg4 'fi'xg2+ 43 Wh4
king) 14 e5 dxe5 15 fxe5 lixa2 16 ~bl! 'ifxh 1 44 'fi'g3 Black resigns.
lla5 17 exf6 'fIxg3 18 fxg7! llg8 19 hxg3
11 ... 'fib8, which occurred in a game
llxb5 20 .txe7 lib6 21 .th4 llxg7 22 ti:Jf5
Bronstein-Najdorf, will be examined later.
llg4 23 ti:Jd6+ lixd6 24 llxd6, and White
realized his material advantage.
12 ... b4 was also played in the later 119
game Mnatsakanian-Ustinov, Moscow
1960. Black managed to parry the attack,
since White's play was not the best: 13
ti:Jcb5 'fIb8 14 e5 llxa2 15 ~b1 lia6 16
exd6 (he should have included 16 .txf6
gxf6, and then 17 exd6!) 16 ... .id8 17 ti:Jf5
0-0 18 ti:Jxg7 ~h8 19 .th6 llg8.
In 1975, in a game with Anetbayev,
Vitolinsh introduced a new way of con-
ducting the attack: 12 ti:Jdxb5 'fIb8 13 e5!
dxe5 14 fxe5 ti:Jxe5 15 lihe1 ti:Jc4 16 'fIc7!,
with a decisive advantage for White. IS ...
12 ttJxd6+ j(,xd6
ti:Jed7 also loses to 16 .tf4 'fIb7 17 .td6
13 lixd6 ttJh5
lIa6 18 ti:Jc7+ ~f8 19 .txe7+ ~xe7 20
ti:Jxe6 E:xe6 21 llxe6+ ~xe6 22 lie1+ ~fS 13 ... 0-0 is more accurate, when 14
23 h4! h6 24 'fId3+ ~g4 25 'fIh3+ WhS 26 llxd7 ttJxd7 15 .th6 does not achieve
'fIf5+ g5 27 hxg5 'fIxg2 28 ti:Je2 ti:Jd5 29 anything after 15 ... 'fIe5 16 f4 'ii'f6.
ti:Jg3+ Wh4 30 lIe4+ Wxg3 31 llg4+ Wh2
14 'ii'h4 h6
32 llxg2+ Wxg2 33 'ii'xd5+, and White
won a few moves later (Gusev-Zhuravlyev, In this particular variation Black is
USSR 1976). happy to exchange queens, since after 15
'fIxh5 'fIxgS+ 16 'ii'xgS hxgS 17 h3 g4
10 ... axb5
White's kingside pawns are significantly
11 ttJdxb5 'fIa5 (1/9)
weakened.
In a game Konstantinopolsky-Gersten-
15 j(,e3 ttJhf6
feId, Lvov 1940, 11 ... 'fIcS was tried.
16 f3?
After 12 .te3 'fIc6 13 ttJxd6+ j(,xd6 14
lhd6 'fIb7 IS e5 ttJe4 16 'fIxg7 IU8 17 A pointless waste of time. 16 lihdl
llxd7! .ixd7 18 ttJxe4 'fIxe4 19 i.cS 0-0-0 looks stronger, and if 16 ... E:b8 17 E:ld4.
20 .txf8 .ia4 21 b3 E:d2 the white king
16 ... E:b8
managed to shelter from perpetual check:
17 E:d4
22 Wxd2 'fId4+ 23 WeI 'fIa 1+ 24 Wd2
'ii'd4+ 25 We2 'fIe4+ 26 Wfl .tbS+ 27 c4 17 a3! and then 18 E:hdl was slightly
Strategic Sacrifices 87
Bronstein-Najdorf
Buenos Aires 1954
11 ... 'ib8
Compared with the previous example,
In the endgame Black cannot cope with
Black chooses a more modest path.
the three passed pawns. The game con-
cluded: After the game Bronstein wrote that at
the board he had been unable to evaluate
33 ... ttJ bS 34 We3 0-0 35 l:[d6 Wg7 36 b4
the position after the rook sacrifice in the
ttJe8 37 l:[b6 ttJe6 38 l:[d7 ttJb8 39 l:[db7
event of 11 ... 'ia5 12 lixd6!? .ixd6 13
ttJc6 40 .ic5 l:[g8 41 a4 ttJd8 42 l:[b8
'ixd6.
l:[xb8 43 l:[xb8 ttJe6 44 .ie7 f6 45 c5 Wf7
It is interesting to note that such a
46 l:[b7 Wg6 47 .id6 ttJ8g7 48 Wc4 l:[a8
sacrifice occurred in the game Lilienthal-
49 a5 ttJd4 50 l:[bS l:[a 7 51 l:[b6 ttJge6 52
Kotov, Moscow 1942. True, Black is not
a6 g4 53 fxg4 Wg5 54 b5 ~f4 55 l:[b7 l:[a8
obliged to take the rook on move 12, and
56 l:[f7 ~xe4 57 l:[xf6 Black resigns
by continuing 12 ... ttJxe4! 13 ttJc7+ 'ixc7
During the past quarter of a century 14 lhe6+ fxe6 15 'ixc7 ttJxg5 16 h4 .ie7
88 Middlegame Strategy
Vasyukov-Averbakh
Moscow 1957
1 e4 c5 2 tLlf3 tLlc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 tLlxd4
After castling kingside the Argentine tLlf6 5 tLlc3 d6 6 i.g5 a6 7 'iYd2 i.d7 8
grandmaster was possibly hoping to put 0-0-0 b5 9 ..txf6 gxf6 10 ~bl e6 (123)
Strategic Sacrifices 89
22 lld7
23 c4 (124)
123
11 ~xbS
Peresypkin-Sveshnikov
Kiev 1973
1 e4 c5 2 liJf3 liJc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 liJxd4
liJf6 5 liJc3 e5 6 liJdb5 d6 7 iLg5 a6 8 liJa3
b59 i.xf6 gxf6 10 liJd5 f5 (127)
25 g5! .txg5
On 25 ... h6 White has the decisive 26
liJf6!.
26 E:hgl Wh6
27 h4
White would have won immediately
11 .ixb5!? axb5
after 27 f4! exf4 28 lld3 f6 29 liJxf6 etc.
12 liJxb5 E:a7
27 ... iLd8
Initially this bishop sacrifice was con-
If 27 ... iLxh4, then 28 llg4. sidered more promising than 11 liJxb5,
but with the years the theory and praxis of
28 liJe3! Wh5
this variation have made considerable
28 ... iLe7 would not have saved Black advances. Not wishing to lose ourselves in
after 29 llxd6+! f6 (29 ... iLxd630 llg5!) the opening maze, we will merely remark
30 lle6 llb7 31liJg4+ Wh5 32 llxf6! iLxf6 that after the strongest move 12 ... lla4!,
33 liJxf6+ Wxh434 llg4+ ~h3 35 iLfl+ as shown by numerous tournament games,
~h2 36 llg2+ ~h3 37 liJe4 liJxb4 38 White can hardly hope to win. 12 ...
llf2+ ~h4 39 llh2 mate. "ifa5+!?, an idea of English players, is also
interesting.
29 f6 h6
13 liJxa7 liJxa7
After 29 ... iLxf6 30 llxd6 iLxh4 31 liJf5
iLg5 32 f4 exf4 Black is mated by 33 iLe2+. In the game van der Wiel-Tiller,
92 Middlegame Strategy
And now we will examine the positional month, a year, two years ... It was clear
sacrifice on a central outpost. that to refute Tal's idea at the board
would have been an exceptionally difficult
In the following game White plays the
task. And the Riga grandmaster is abso-
audacious move ltJc3-d5, in order to
lutely right when he says that "years of
activate his hitherto idle pieces, and also
analysis and minu tes of play are not at all
to create a 'demarcation line' on the e-file
the same thing".
to disrupt the coordination of the enemy
The Ex-World Champion was guided
forces.
both by positional considerations and by
his intuition. In concrete terms - White
aims to exploit the remoteness of the
Tal-Larsen black pieces from the kingside, whereas
Bled 1965 his 'fighters' are already prepared to
strike a decisive blow against the castled
1 e4 c5 2 ltJf3 ltJc6 3 d4 cxd4 4ltJxd4 e6 5
position. (The standard two-bishop sacri-
ltJ c3 d6 6 .te3 ltJf6 7 f4 .te7 8 'iVf3 0-0 9
fice at h7 and g7 is threatened).
0-0-0 'iVc7 10 ltJdb5 'iVb8 11 g4 a6 12 ltJd4
ltJxd4 13 i.xd4 b5 14 g5 ltJd7 15 .td3 b4 17 ... f5
(131)
Tal's instinct did not betray him. The
Danish grandmaster does not choose the
131 best plan of defence. Later it was shown
that the way to save the game was by the
highly committing move 17 ... g6! Larsen
evidently considered this continuation,
but was concerned about such an obvious
weakening of the dark squares in his
position. In his notes Tal himself gives
two possibilities for White to continue the
attack.
The first consists in advancing the h-
pawn: 18 h4 ltJ c5 19 h5 ltJ xd3+ 20 II xd3
.if5 21 hxg6 fxg6! 22 lIxh7 Wxh7 23 lIe3
'iV~7 24 'iVe2 lla7!! 25 .txa7 .td8! 26 .td4
16 ltJd5!? exd5
Wg8 27 'iVh2 'iVh7, and Black defends
17 exd5
himself.
This knight sacrifice at d5, when the If White continues his piece attack with
black king has already moved away 18 lIhe1, then Black defends as follows:
from the danger zone, may at first seem 18 ... .td8 19 'iVh3 ltJe5 (19 ... .tb6? 20
openly cavalier, but it caused a great stir .txg6! Jxg6 21 l1e7) 20 'iVh6 .tb6 21 fxe5
in the chess world. Over a period of (after 21 .txb6 ltJxd3+ 22 cxd3 'WIxb6 23
several years, analysts from various coun- h4 .tg4 Black wins) 21 ... .txd422 lIe4!
tries carried out analyses which were .tf2! 23 lin 'iVa7 24 e6 .tb7. Although
published on the pages of chess magazines. the resulting position is double-edged,
Was the sacrifice correct? Did Black have Black's material advantage should tell in
a defence? Replies came at intervals of a the end.
Strategic Sacrifices 95
complete break-up of the opponent's 21 ~a6 lLle5! 22 Iixc3 ~h7 23 Iih3 'ti'd5
queenside. 24 ~d3 ~g8!
12 ... :axe3!
136
Here compensation for the exchange is
provided by the excellent placing of all
Black's pieces, and in addition he picks
up an important central pawn.
13 bxe3 lLlxe4 14 ~d4 e5 15 fxe5 dxe5 16
'ti'e 1!
Naturally, the variation 16 ~xe4 ~xe4
17 ~e3 ~c6 does not satisfy White, and
therefore he aims for complications, but
the attempt to confuse matters is parried
by Simagin's accurate play. Ravinsky-Simagin
Moscow 1958
16 ... exd4 17 i.xe4 lie8 18 .txb7 :axel
19 Iiaxe1 dxc3 20 l1e3 h5! 13 i.d4?
Only after securing his king's position This move allows Black to destroy
can Black demonstrate the strength of his White's centre and firmly seize the initiative.
queen. 13 lLld2 should have been played, as in the
98 Middlegame Strategy
18 bxe3?
White has illusions of an attack. This is
why he keeps his rook at h3, although he
should have played 18 lixc3ltJxe419 llc2
e5 20 IUc1 i.d8 21 ltJc6, with a double-
edged game.
18 ... ltJxe4
19 .i.el f5
Black's powerful centralized knight is
much stronger than the faceless rook at
h3.
23 ... ltJg5! 24 llg3 'ihl+ 25 ~f2ltJe4+ 20 lld3 .tf6 21 'ia2 lle8 22 ~hl (141)
White resigns. Such a splendid creative 22 ... ltJxc3 23 i.xc3 llxc3 24 llxc3
achievement has to be admired! .i.xd4+ etc. was threatened.
Khasin-Boleslavsky
Leningrad 1956
1 e4 e5 2 ltJf3 ltJc6 3 d4 exd4 4 ltJxd4
ltJf6 5 ltJe3 d6 6 .i.e4 e6 7 0-0 .i.e7 8 .i.e3
0-0 9 'ie2 a6 10 lladl 'fi'e7 11 .i.b3 b5
12 a3 ltJaS 13 f4 .i.b7 14 .i.f2 ltJxb3 15
exb3 llae8 16 lld3 'ti'd7 17 llh3 llxe3!
(140)
A familiar stratagem, which has be-
come a universal means for seizing the
initiative. 22 ... h6!
100 Middlegame Strategy
142
19 ltJxd4 f5
20 i.xe4
White's nerves give way. He gets rid of
one knight, but Black, exploiting the
wonderful outpost in the centre, replaces
it with the other.
20 ... ltJxe4 21 1!fb4 1!fc7 22 llabl i.c8
23 llbdl (143)
Since 23 1!fb6 is met by 23 ... ll17!
White changes his approach and shifts
the weight of the struggle to the centre
White's instinct betrays him, and he squares.
Strategic Sacrifices 101
Panov-Simagin
Moscow 1943
1 e4 eS 2 ltJf3 d6 3 d4 exd4 4 ltJxd4 ltJf6 S
ltJe3 g6 6 ..te3 ..tg7 7 f3 0-08 ltJb3 ..te6 9
'ti'd2 ltJbd7 10 0-0-0 ltJb6 11 g4 lIe8 12
..th6 (144)
23 ... 'fi'e3!
One of the most difficult moves in the
game. It is in the endgame that the black
pawns will acquire the necessary mobility.
24 'fi'xe3 ltJxe3
2S lIdel Wf7
Black no longer has to worry about the
defence of his pawns, and his hands are
freed for him to occupy the c-file.
26 as ..td7 27 lIe3 lIe828 lIfelltJdS 29
lIb3 'iJ.e7 30 g3 ..tc8
For the third time the bishop takes up
12 ... ..th8!
its initial position, allowing the rook to
become more active. The forefather of strategic exchange
sacrifices for Black was Vladimir Simagin,
31 lIdl g6
who had a patent on this invention. Not
Parrying 32 ltJxf5. begrudging material, Black maintains on
the al-h8 diagonal his powerful bishop,
32 wgl lIe4
which in a complicated middlegame often
33 1I a3 ltJe3
proves stronger than a passive white
It is very pleasant for the knight to rook. From afar it literally pierces the
return to its favourite square e4! opponent's queenside, where his king is
placed.
34 1Id3 ltJe4
3S e3 ..td7 13 ..txfS 'fi'xfS 14 ltJd4 ..te4 IS gS ltJfd7
16 ..th3 e6 17 Wbl ltJeS 18 f4
And now the bishop, which for a long
time has been 'living modestly', has also White underestimates the opponent's
acquired an 'appetite'. The remainder is tactical resources. Not worrying about
clear without explanation. loss of material, Black aims at all costs to
102 Middlegame Strategy
22 ... ~xa2+!
23 Wal
23 Wxa2? is bad on account of 23 ...
tDxc3+! 24 Wal 'fi'b4!, or 24 Wb3 'fi'c5!
23 'fi'c5
24 dxe6 tDxc3 (145)
145
15 ... ~h8!!
149
20 ... g6!
Boleslavsky justifiably avoids the repe-
tition of moves, reckoning that the slight
material concession will merely improve
his position. His two bishops and powerful
pawn centre are bound to have their say.
21 .ixfS .ixfS 22 .ie2 eS 23 'ti'fl .ig7
24 ~el ~d8 2S .idl hS 26 Ei:ge3 e4
the f-pawn, which draws the noose still ... lLlxc3 9 bxc3 i.e7 continue 10 i.h6.
tighter. The game Wedberg-Pokojowczyk, Copen-
hagen 1984, went 10 ... g6 11 h4!? (also to
34 lldl ~c7 35 llxd8 ~xd8 36 ~el
White's advantage is 11 hf8 hf8 12
~d4
i.d3 d6 13 f4 dxe5 14 fxe5 lLld7 15 0-0
The weakening of the dark squares in lLlxe5 16 'WIf4, or 13 ~g3 ~a5 14 0-0 dxe5
White's position also tells. 15 lLlf3, Ftacnik-Helmers, Gjovik 1983)
11 ... ~a5 12 ~g3 lld8 13 h5, and White's
37 lld2 ~e5 38 lLlc1 f4 39 lle2 lLld6 40
initiative on the h-file is appreciable.
lld2 lLlf5 41 i.dl Wh7 42 lld8 f3 White
However, this in no way detracts from the
resigns
innovation ofVeresov, whose experiment
continues to be studied.
8 i.h6 g6 9 i.xfS ~xfS 10 ~g3
Matulovic-Krnic
Yugoslavia 1982 In the game Chavez-Estevez, Nicaragua
1981, White preferred a different plan,
1 e4 c5 2 lLlf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lLlxd4 lLlf6 5
and came under an attack: 10 lLle2lLlc6 11
lLlc3 i.b4 6 e5 lLld5 7 ~g4 O-O!? (151)
~g3 d6! 12 0-0-0 dxe5 13 lLlxd5 exd5 14
a3 i.e 7 15 lIxd5 i.f5 16 'Llc3 i.xa3! 17
151 bxa3 ~xa3+ 18 Wd2 i.xc2!
10 ... lLle6
10 ... ~c5 offers Black more hopes,
with the sequel 11 a3 ~xd4 12 axb4lLlxb4
13 .td3 lLl8c6 14 f4 lLlxd3+ 15 cxd3 lLlb4
16 Wd2 b6. Now 17 :aa4 is a mistake on
account of 17 ... b5, Gufeld-Plachetka,
Vinkovci 1982, but White can try for an
advantage with 17 :ahe1!? i.b7 18 ~e3.
11 'Llxe6 bxe6
12 a3
The idea of this original exchange This weakening of the queenside favours
sacrifice belongs to one of the strongest Black. White could have gained an advan-
Belorussian players from the past, Gavril tage by 12 .tc4!? 'Llxc3 13 bxc3 i.a5 (13 ...
Veresov. White's slight lack of develop- ~c5 14 cxb4 ~xc4 15 a3 a5 16 ~d3, or 14
ment, and the great possibilities open to '" ~xb4+ 15 <t;fl ~xc4+ 16 <t;g 1 favours
Black's dark-square bishop, provide a White) 14 ~e3! The bold 12 O-O-O!? also
certain compensation for the loss of the came seriously into consideration.
exchange.
12 ... .ta5 13 b4 i.e7 14 'Llxd5 exd5 15
Numerous analyses, both theoretical
~c3 .tb6 16 i.d3 ''g7
and practical, have shown that White can
retain an advantage. Thus, in particular, Exploiting the diagonal pin, Black
he need not pick up the rook immediately, opens up the position, giving scope to his
but can first play 8 i.d2, and only after 8 bishops.
106 Middlegame Strategy
17 0-0 i.b7 18 liIae1 d6 19 1i'al dxe5 20 bishop ending. White's defence had evi-
1i'xe5?! dently cost him a great deal of strength,
and in addition the onset of time trouble
Strangely enough, in the endgame the increased the probability of a mistake. 31
situation becomes favourable for Black,
liId8! was correct.
although he is a clear exchange down.
White would possibly have done better to 31 ... liIxd7
continue 20 liIxe5, keeping the queens on. 32 i.xd7 f4!
20 1Wxe5 Fixing the f3 pawn on a light square.
21 liIxe5 (152)
33 b5
33 <iite2 is very strongly met by 33 ... e4!
152
33 ... i.dS 34 i.e6 i.e4+ 35 <iite1 <iite7
Now the activation of the black king
decides matters. The game concluded:
36 a4 <iitd6 37 i.e8 g5 38 g3 <iite5 39 gxf4
exf4 40 i.d7 <iitb4 41 i.e6 h5 42 i.e8 i.d5
43 <iite2 g4 44 fxg4 hxg4 45 <iitf2 .te4 46
i.d7 i.xe2 47 i.xg4 i.xa4 White resigns
28 Iixf6!
An elegant blow, typical of Stein's
ebullient style. And the point is not that it
is landed in the vicinity of the black king:
rather, the sacrifice is of a positional
nature. White eliminates the main piece When beginning his operation on the
holding Black's position together - his 14th move, Black underestimated (or
dark-square bishop, at the same time perhaps overlooked) Karpov's strong reply
breaking up his pawns. The black rooks 16 !Vb3!, which forced the opponent to
make a pitiful sight and are of no use for make the awkward move 17 ... :af8,
anything, whereas White's knight and leaving his king in the centre (after 17 ...
bishop essentially occupy the entire stage. 0-0 18 g5 hxg5 19 i..xg5 White has an
In other words, the play is all at one end. irresistible attack).
28 ... gxf6 29 !Vf2 wg8 30 lIft! 18 :adS!
White methodically intensifies the pres- White's reaction is not long in coming!
sure, remembering that "the threat 1S Now he guarantees himself 'permanent
stronger than its execution". access' to the light squares.
30 ... lIde8 31 lbf5 !Vd8 32 !Vg3 18 ... i..xd5
With the incidental threat of h4-h5; Forced, since on 18 ... 'iYc7 there is the
now the enemy pawns fall one after strong reply 19 i..b5!
another.
19 i..xd5 :ad8
32 ... WhS 33 lbxd6 lIe7 34 lIxf6 lIxe4 20 .tc4
35 lbxf7+! lIxf7 36 lIxf7 lIeS 37 c4, and
20 J..xb7 is unpleasantly met by 20 ...
White won a few moves later.
J..c5, when after the exchange of dark-
square bishops White's initiative may
evaporate.
Karpov-Sax
Linares 1983 20 ... .ib4
108 Middlegame Strategy
21 c3 b5! 33 i.a4 g6
34 'iVf3 'it>c8 (155)
The Hungarian grandmaster defends
tenaciously.
After 21 ... i.d6 22 'iVxb7 'iVc7 White 155
has a choice between 23 'iVxc7 i.xc7 24
i.xa7, and 23 'iVxe4, in each case with an
obvious advantage.
22 i.e2 i.d6
23 'iVdS
If 23 i.xb5+, then 23 .. , 'it>e7, and Black
coordinates his rooks.
23 ... 'it>e7
Black's desire to active his rooks is
quite understandable, but Karpov's reply 35 E:e7!!
comes as a 'cold shower'. A splendid conclusion to White's pre-
24 .tc5! i.xc5 ceding strategy. The rook is immune on
account of a forced mate: 35 ... 'ti'xe7 36
24 ... 'iVc7 loses to 25 'iVxe5+ 'it>d7 26 'ti'a8+ 'it>c7 37 'iVa7+ 'it>d8 38 'ti'b8 mate.
i.xd6 'iVxd6 27 lidl, and 24 ... f6 is also
bad, in view of 25 i.c4!, with irresistible 35 ... :adl +
threats. 36 'it>xdl 'ti'xe7
25 'iVxc5+ 'it>d7 26 'iVxe5 'iVc7 27 'ti'f5+ 36 ... E:d8+ 37 E:d7! leads to a queen
'it>e7 ending where White is two pawns up.
In the event of 27 ... 'it>c6 White was 37 'ti'a8+ 'it>c7 38 'ti'a7+ 'it>d6 39 'ti'b6+
intending to continue his attack with 28 Black resigns, in view of the inevitable
'iVxb5+ 'it>d6 29 'ti'b4+ 'iVc5 30 'iVb7 'it>e5 39 ... 'it>e5 40 'ti'd4+ 'it>e6 '41 ,ib3 mate.
31 llel 'iVxf2 32 'iVe7+ 'it>d5 33 lid1+ 'it>c6
34 'iVxe4+ 'it>c7 35 'ti'e7+ 'it>c6 36 lin etc.
28 'iVxe4+ 'it>d7 29 'iVf5+ 'it>e7 30 E:el 5.4 Sacrifice of the Queen
lld6
Now the black king succeeds in sheltering In any opening a queen sacrifice is an
on the queenside, but it is there that it out-of-the-ordinary event, and in the Sici-
meets its end. lian, like a flash of lightning, it can provoke
genuine panic in the enemy position. For
31 i.c4+ 'it>d8 sending your queen off to the 'block', you
32 i.xb5 a6 must have very serious grounds. The
32... :af6 did not work on account of normal criterion for such a step is the
the spectacular variation 33 'ti'd5+ 'it>c8 sharply enhanced activity of the lesser
34 lle7!! 'iVxe7 35 'ti'a8+ 'it>c7 36 'iVxa7+ pieces, the united efforts of which the
'it>d6 37 'ti'b6+ 'it>e5 38 'ti'd4+ 'it>e6 39 i.c4 enemy queen, left in 'splendid isolation',
mate. is unable to oppose.
Strategic Sacrifices 109
157
22 ltJxh7+ ~g8
Kostro-Simagin
On 22 ... 'iit'xh7 there would have Varna 1966
followed 23 lIx17+ ~h6 24 i.xe6 i.xfl 25 1 e4 c5 2 ltJf3 ltJc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ltJxd4
i.d2+ g5 (25 ... 'iit'h526 lIh7 mate) 26 i.f5 ltJf6 5 ltJc3 d6 6 i.g5 e6 7 'ti'd2 a6 8 0-0-0
'ti'h8 27 h4! lIg8 28 'iit'xfl, when Black has h69 i.f4 i.d7 10 ltJxc6 i.xc6 11 f3 d512
no moves. 'ti'el i.b4 13 a3 i.a5! 14 exd5 ltJxd5 15 b4
23 lIh3 lIe5 (160) (161)
112 Middlegame Strategy
161 162
22 .i.a3
Kral-Barlov
White's only target is the d6 pawn, but Budapest 1987
Black pays no attention to it, and sets his
1 e4 e5 2 liJf3 liJe6 3 d4 exd4 4 liJxd4
sights on the enemy king.
'iVb6 5 liJb3 liJf66 liJe3 e6 7 .i.e3 'ti'e78 a3
22 ... lUe8 23 ~d2 ~ab8 24 Wb2 ~b5! a6 9 f4 d6 10 .te2 b5 11 .i.f3 .i.b7 12 'ti'e2
.i.e7 13 0-0 lile8 (165)
A brilliant manoeuvre. Now 25 f4 is
bad, in view of 25 ... .i.f6+ 26 WeI .i.c3!
27 ~xd6 .i.xc2! 28 Wxc2 .i.e5+ 29 Wbl 165
(29 Wd2 .i.xd6 30 .i.xd6 ~d5+, winning)
29 '" ~xb3+ 30 Wa2 ~xa3+ 31 Wxa3
.i.xd6+ 32 Wb3 .i.xf4, with an obvious
advantage.
25 h4 .i.f6+ 26 wet .i.e5 27 'ti'g4 ~xb3!
28 'ti'xe4 ~xa3 29 ~dl
had to foresee the coming complications. that Black has anything more than
perpetual check: 20 ... lDh4+ 21 ~gl
19 i.b6? lDf3+.
White naively assumes that Black has 20 ... 'ixe3!!
blundered, and himself runs into a mine.
He should have retained his valuable In any standard of event, such a queen
light-square bishop: 19 i.g2! lDg4 20 'ig3 sacrifice would be assured of a brilliancy
lDxe3 21 'ixe3 d5 22 'it'h I! 1Wd8 23 f6 gxf6 prize.
24 exd5 with advantage, or 22 ... d4 23 21 bxe3 exf5
'ixd4 i.xg5 24 fxe6 fxe6 25 'ie5, and
Black loses his e6 pawn. Even a brief glance is sufficient to
reveal who is in charge: the bishop at b7
19 lDxf3+ has no equal! On 22 l::i:ael Black has the
20 ~hl (166) decisive 22 ... lDxel 23 l::i:xel i.xe4+ 24
~gl l::i:xc3, while 22 'ig2 is adequately
met by 22 ... l::i:xc3 23 i.a5 (23 exf5 i.c6)
23 ... i.xe4! 24 i.xc3 lDxg5.
22 'ie2 l::i:xe3!
A voiding the false trail 22 ... i.xe4?? 23
l::i:xf3 lIxc3 24 'ixe4.
23 i.e3 i.xe4
24 :i1xf3 i.xg5
Putting the finishing touch. White is a
queen up for just a bishop(!), but the pin
on the hl-a8 diagonal is deadly.
Mistakes never occur singly. White is 25 ~gl i.xf3 26 'ixf3 i.xe3+ 27 ~g2
tactically short-sighted, otherwise he would i.d4 28 'idl i.e5 29 a4 lafe8 30 axb5
have played 20 ~g2, when it is unlikely l::i:xe2+ White resigns
Part Two
Endgame Silhouettes
Introduction
The question naturally suggests itself: without the c-file. And in an ending
"What relationship does the Sicilian with doubled f-pawns, arising after the
Defence have with the endgame?" exchange of queens in the Rauzer Variation,
One can understand this when talking does one not feel the direct influence of
about the middlegame, linked by hundreds the opening? Or take, for example, the
of threads directly to the opening, but the ending with a black knight at c5 or e5
endgame, the most distant phase of the against a light-square bishop, and Scheven-
game, that is another matter ... However, ingen or Dragon set-ups instantly come
let us cast our doubts aside. I will venture to mind.
to assert that in the Sicilian Defence, as in Thus, without trying for an absolutely
no other opening, the resulting endgame complete picture, a very close relationship
silhouettes largely possess a shape very within the Sicilian labyrinth can be estab-
similar to the outline of the opening itself. lished between the three phases: opening,
Try picturing a typical Sicilian ending middlegame and endgame.
119
6 Life-Lines
The Sicilian player cannot contemplate queens, but he chose for this an inappro-
existence without the c-file, especially priate moment. As a result the c-file
when it comes down to an endgame. 'slammed shut', and Black was left without
Without exaggeration it can be called a counterplay.
'life-line', since only on it does Black have
the feeling of being the real master.
Incidentally, White prefers not to contest
Polugayevsky-Kotov
this file. He has his own life-line - the
Moscow 1961
d-file.
Experience shows that in the endgame 1 e4 e5 2 ltJf3 ltJe6 3 d4 exd4 4 ltJxd4
the semi-open c-file brings Black much We7 5 ltJe3 e6 6 i.e3 a6 7 a3 b5 8 ltJxe6
greater dividends than the d-file does for Wxc6 9 i.e2 i.b7 10 0-0 We7!? (10 ... llc8
White. And when, due to some extra- or 10 .. , ltJe7!? is stronger) 11 'tWd3 lld8
ordinary occurrence, this road unexpectedly (11 ... ltJf6 is better) 12 i.d4 ltJf6 13 'ire3
becomes blocked to Black, halting the lle8 14 f4 i.e5 15 lladl d6 16 i.f3 i.xd4
traffic, his fortunes in the ending im- 17 Wxd4 We5 18 Wxe5 dxe5 (167)
mediately decline. Numerous examples of
this could be given, but I will dwell on one 167
episode from my own experience.
In 1961, playing for the 'Burevestnik'
team in the USSR Championship for
S ports Societies, I met grandmaster Alex-
ander Kotov. This game took place on an
evening which was memorable for both of
us: fate had decreed that our weddings
should take place on the very same day,
and that morning, before our encounter,
we had both registered our marriage!
On arriving for the game, each of us at
heart was hoping to give to his wife a
19 e5!
memorable chess present ... With my
very first move I decided to disconcert the White controls the d-file, and he now
venerable grandmaster with 1 e4! (of sets about seizing the outpost at d6.
course, he never expected such 'impudence'
19 ... i.xf3 20 llxf3 ltJd721 ltJe4 <3ie722
from me!).
Ilg3!
In the Paulsen Variation Kotov went in
for a variation with the exchange of Completely paralyzing the opponent.
121
122 Endgame Silhouettes
White could have gone into a rook b4 33 ltJd5 'i1.xc2 34 liJxb4 'i1.b2, preparing
ending by 23 liJd5 llxc2 24 liJxf6+ llxf6 35 .. , llcI.
25 llxf6 gxf6 26 llxd6, but after 26 .,.
25 llxfS+! WxfS
Wf7! 27 lId7+ Wg628 llxb7 lle229 llb4
26 W! i.a5?!
(29 'i:J.b6 llxe430 llxa6 'fJ.b4 is no good for
him) 29 ... Wg5 30 Wgl h5 he would not This second inaccuracy allows White
have gained complete equality, although to overcome his last difficulties, which
he could have counted on saving the would not have been possible if Black had
game. played 26 ... we8 (preparing 27 ... Wd7
and 28 ... i.a5) 27 ltJe2 E:xc2 28 Itxd6
23 'fJ.c6
i.c7 29 lld3 lIb2. In view of the active
24 Wg2 (169)
placing of his pieces and the weakness of
the h-pawns, Black would have retained a
169 slight advantage.
27 liJe2 E:xc2 28 Itxd6 Itb2 29 lId5
i.b6
After 29 ... b6 30 E:xe5 E:xb3 31 ltJd4
Black cannot play 31 ... E:xh3, on account
of 32 ltJe6+ wg8 33 ltJg5.
30 E:d7 'iJ.xb3 31 E:xb7 E:f3+ 32 Wg2
llf2+ 33 Wg3 'iJ.xe2 34 E:xb6 E:e3+ 35
wg2 E:xe4 Draw agreed
24 ... .td8?!
With White short of time, Marin wrongly
simplifies the position, thereby making
things significantly easier for Belyavsky.
After the obvious concentration of his
forces on the c-file, 24 ... llfc8 25 llff3
Wf7! (it was evidently this king manoeuvre
that Black overlooked), it would have
been difficult for White to find the best
way out of a very difficult situation. The
correct solution, found later by Marin,
lay in the paradoxical move 26 h4!, securing
a post for the white king at h3. His main
idea is revealed in the variation 26 h4 We6
Morovic-Polugayevsky
27 Wh3 i.d8 28 'fJ.g3! g629 llgf3 i.a5 30
Lucerne 1982
liJd5 llxc2 31 Itf6+. However, Black can
make better use of his chances, by 29 ... Since White has not managed to create
i.e7 30 Wg4 b5 31 axb5 axb5 32 Wh3 (32 any concrete threats against the black
h5 b4 33 liJd5 gxh5+ 34 Wxh5 llxc2) 32 ... king (30 llg5 'f1.e3!), he prefers to exchange
124 Endgame Silhouettes
queens, with the hope of gaining a draw in his kingside pawns to their fate, but in
the ending. return he lays waste White's queenside.
30 'iff7+ 'ifxf7 40 ~xh7 Wc4 41 lith6 Wb3 42 litxg6
31 ~xf7 Wxb2 43 litxa6 litxc3
The seventh rank seems to guarantee The tragedy for White is that the black
White against any difficulties. If now 31 rook on the third rank cuts his king off
... E:el, then 32 lixel Wxt7 33 E:e6 lid8 from his h-pawn .
34 c4, and Black has no chance of winning.
44 Wg2 b4 45 h4 b3 46 h5 Wc147 h6 b2
But at this culminating moment the c-
48 h7 bl = 'if 49 h8='if
file comes to Black's aid.
In such positions the result depends on
31 ... E:c8!
who it is to move.
It transpires that after 32 E:xb7 E:xc2
49 ... 'ifc2+ White resigns
Black's threats along the second rank are
much more serious.
32 c3 E:el 33 E:xel Wxf7 34 E:e6 E:c5!
35 E:xd6 We7 36 E:e6+
Only now is the point of the black
rook's splendid manoeuvre revealed. It is
not possible for White to go into the pawn
ending: 36 E:b6 libS 37 E:xbS axbS 38 b3
Wd6 39 c4 gS! 40 Wg2 hS 41 wO WeS 42
We3 b4! followed by 43 ... bS, and he
cannot be on both sides at once.
36 ... Wd7 37 E:e5 Wd6 38 E:e6+ Wxd5
39 E:e7 (171)
Mariotti-Tal
Leningrad 1977
Black has an undisputed advantage.
White's play on the kings ide has come to
a standstill, whereas Black has a powerful
initiative, the c-file providing decisive
assistance. With his next few moves he
doubles rooks on it, and threatens by ...
a3 to secure for himself the c3 square as a
transit point. An important role in the
coming events is assigned to his strong
dark-square bishop.
39 b5!
26 ... lId727 litedl g6 28 h5 Wf8 29 hxg6
The quickest way to win. Black abandons hxg6 30 b3 ~dc7 31 lIhl We7 32 lith7
Life-Lines 125
This is ineffective, since on the h-file Black's pressure on the c-file is highly
there is nothing for the white rooks to do. unpleasant for White, who on account of
But what else can be suggested? Perhaps the weakness of his c2 pawn is unable to
White should have decided on 32 bxa4. occupy d5. Black's plan is to advance his
queenside pawns, to open up the position
32 ... a3!
for his bishops.
Black keeps the white king on the back
24 .. , a5!
rank, and avoids being diverted by 32 ...
25 Jldd2 h5!
hd4?! 33 Jlxd4 ~xc2 34 bxa4.
Another powerful side thrust. White
33 nh2 Jle3
cannot allow ... h4, since there would
34 Jldl ~e3
follow a typical exchange sacrifice at c3,
The beginning of the end; 35 ... .ixd4 is and the e4 pawn would fall. Therefore he
now threatened. is forced to make a weakening move.
35 'i:le2 26 h4 Wf8?
Essentially White is completely stale- It is difficult to grasp the idea behind
mated. His next move is a cry of despair. this move, especially since in certain
36 e3 bxe3 37 We2 .ie338 Jld3 i.xf439 variations the h7 square will come in
'i:lxf4 ~xf4 40 nxe3 ~xe3+ 41 Wxe3 ne4 useful for the black king. The consistent
42 ~g2 Jlxe5 White resigns 26 ... i.a6 followed by 27 ... a4 and 28 ...
b4 would have put White in an impossible
situation.
Ljubojevic-Portiseh 27 Wh2
Wijk aan Zee 1972
In order to defend the h4 pawn.
I e4 e5 2 'i:lf3 d6 3 d4 exd4 4 'i:lxd4 'i:lf6 5
'i:le3 a6 6 i.e4 e6 7 i.b3 b5 8 0-0 i.e7 9 f4 27 ... .lta6 28 'i:ld5 'i:lxd5 29 exd5 ~5e7
0-0 10 f5 e5 11 'i:lde2 'i:lbd7 12 'i:lg3 .ib7 Taking measures in advance against 30
13 i.g5 Jle8 14 i.xf6 'i:lxf6 15 a3 'ti'b6+ 16 'i:le4, but now White has time to come to
Whl 'ti'e3 17 Jlf3 'ti'g5 18 'ti'd3 'ti'h4 19 the aid of his pawn.
Jlel l::i:e7 20 Jle2 Jlfe8 21 h3 'ti'g5 22 'ti'e3
'ti'xe3 23 ~fxe3 Jlc5 24 Jld3 (173) 30 Wh3 a4!
31 ~a2 b4
li:txc2 li:txc2 36 li:ta8+ (this is where the the g-file, the significance of which in the
unfortunate position of the black king endgame is hard to overestimate.
tells) 36 .. , i.e8 37 i.b3 li:txb2 38 i.a4.
Black exploits the fact that after 34 i.xc4
li:txc4 35 l:!xc4 l1xc4 he is threatening
Szabo-Stein
mate at h4.
Tallinn 1969
34 b3 i.b5 (174)
1 e4 c5 2 ltJf3 ttJc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ltJxd4
ltJf6 5 ltJc3 d6 6 i.g5 i.d7 7 1Wd2 li:tc8 8
0-0-0 ltJxd4 9 1Wxd4 1Wa5 10 i.xf6?! gxf6
11 f4 i.g7 12 Wbl 1Wc5 13 f5 1Wxd4 14
E:xd4 h5 (175)
35 l1xa3?
This leads to a hopeless position. The
only continuation was 35 li:ta5!, and if 35
... l1xc2, then 36 l1xc2 l1xc2 37 lixb5 g6 White has played the opening inaccu-
38 li:tb8+ wg7 39 l1b7 with a draw. rately. Thus the premature exchange on
f6 must be criticized; instead of lO i.xf6
35 ... l1c3!
theory recommends lO f4 as strongest.
Inflicting a mortal grip on the oppo- The resulting ending is favourable to
nent. On 36 l1a5 there follows 36 '" Black, who has the open c- and g-files.
i.d7!.
15 .tb5 i.xb5 16 ltJxb5 a6 17 tLlc3 i.h6
36 ..tbl e4!
This is the only diagonal where the
37 Wh2 e3
bishop can show its worth, since obviously
38 l1d4
White will not allow it to go to e5. In
Or 38 l1dl i.xh4. addition, Black begins operating on the g-
file, his h-pawn acting rather like a
38 ... i.f6 39 l1b4 i.e5! 40 l1xb5 e2
battering-ram.
White resigns
Now White had to play 18 tLld5!,
covering the f4 square. Instead he begins
The influence of the c-file is increased if
an action on the queenside, which does
Black has available another open file.
not bode well for him.
This often occurs in the Rauzer Variation,
when after the exchange on f6 he acquires 18 l1b4?! b5
Life-Lines 127
19 a4 .td2! simple:
Black takes the opportunity to get rid 32 h5 Itxh5 33 c3+ We5 34 We3 Ith3+
of his bishop, which, strictly speaking, is 35 Wd2 Itf3 36 Wc2 lif4 37 Wd3 Ith4 38
not the pride of his position. White's Itg2 Itxe4 39 Itg7 Wxf5 40 Itxf7 d5 41
extra pawn will be of no significance. It is Ith7 e5 42 h4 Itg4 White resigns
much more important that, in the double
rook ending, the 'working' open files And now let us see what role in White's
belong to Black. fate is played by the d-file. The readers'
attention is drawn to two games where,
20 axb5 axb5 21 Itxb5 .ixc3 22 bxc3
by-passing the middlegame, the play goes
Itg8 (176)
straight from the opening to the endgame.
Ivkov-Taimanov
Belgrade 1956
1 e4 c5 2 ~f3 ~c6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ~xd4
~f6 5 ~c3 d6 6 ,tg5 e6 7 ''d2 i.e78 0-0-0
0-0 9 f4 ~xd4 10 ''xd4 h6 11 i.h4 ''a5 12
e5 dxe5 13 ''xe5 ''xe5 14 fxe5 ~d5 15
.ixe7 ~xe7 (177)
Best. On 16 .ib5 or 16 .ic4 Black has Ivkov conducts this part of the game
the strong reply 16 ... a6! (cf. Litvinov- brilliantly, not allowing the opponent to
Boleslavsky, USSR 1959, p.146). complicate the play. He has accurately
worked out the consequences of the pawn
16 ... .id7?
ending: 28 ... exd4 29 lIxc4 lIxc4 (the
Later Boleslavsky showed that only 16 rook ending is quite hopeless for Black)
... b6! gives Black chances of full equality. 30 bxc4 wg6 31 Wb2! Wf5 32 Wb3 We633
Wa4 Wd6 (33 ... /5 34 Wxa5/4 35 Wb6 g5
17 .ih7+ Wxh7
36 c5 g4 37 c6) 34 Wb5 f5 35 Wb6 Wd7 36
18 lIxd7
Wc5!, and wins. Black is forced to go into
As a result the open file has made its the knight ending, which looks fairly
important contribution. Black is forced dismal for him.
to sacrifice his queenside, picking up the
28 ... lLld6 29 lIxe8 lLlxe8 30 lLle6 a4 31
central pawn in return.
bxa4 Wg6 32 a5 Wf7 33 a6 We6 34 a7 lLlb6
18 ... lLlc6 19 lIxb7 lLlxe5 20 lIel! 35 lLlb4 Wd6 36 e4!
This and the following rook manoeuvre While Black is dealing with the a-pawn,
casts doubts on Black's 16th move. Nothing White will have time to make gains on the
is achieved by 20 lLlb5 i:tfb8!. kingside.
20 ... f6 21 i:te3! lIfb8 22 lIe7 ne8 23 36 ... We5 37 lLld5 lLla8 38 lLle3 Wb6 39
lLlb5 lIab8 lLlf5 Wxa7 40 lLlxg7 lLlb6 41 g4! lLlxe4 42
lLlf5 e4 43 lLlxh6 lLle5 44 h4 Wb6 45 h5 'i!7e5
The weakness of the black a- and e-
46 Wd2 Wd5 47 lLlf5 lLlf3+ 48 'i!7e2 lLlg5 49
pawns gives White a great advantage in
h6 Black resigns
the variation 23 ... a6 24 lIxc8 lIxc8 25
lLld4 lIe8 26 lIa3.
24 lIa3 a5
Tal-Sisniega
25 lIxe8
Taxco 1985
Avoiding the trap 25 lIxa5? lIxb5!.
1 e4 e5 2 lLlf3 d6 3 d4 exd4 4 lLlxd4 lLlf6 5
25 ... i:txe8 26 lLld4! lLle4 27 lIe3 e5 28 lLle3 lLle6 6 .tg5 e6 7 'ti'd2 i.e7 8 0-0-0 0-0
b3! (178) 9 lLlb3 a5 10 a4 d5 11 .tb5!
The latest word in fashion. This invention
belongs to the Latvian player Vitolinsh.
11 ... lLlxe4
Tal must be thankful to his colleague
on the Latvian team. Slightly later, at the
Candidates Tournament in Montpellier,
1985, in this variation he scored a brilliant
victory over Korchnoi. That game went
11 ... dxe4 12 'ti'xd8 i.xd8 13 lIhel lLla7
14 .ic4 h6 15 .ixf6 gxf6 16 lLl xe4 f5 17
lLld6 i.c7 18 g3 b6? 19lLlxf5! exf5 20 i.d5,
Life-Lines 129
Neither in the opening nor 10 the In addition, when most of the pieces
middlegame is the 'eminence' of the have left the battlefield, the two bishops,
bishops displayed so powerfully as it is in by restricting the opposing pieces, as
the endgame. Especially, when one side though clear the way for their own king,
has the so-called 'advantage of the two which advances and becomes one of the
bishops'. This is not an abstract conception, most active participants on the board.
but a very real one, and it rests on a firm Finally, there is one other important
positional basis. feature: the bishops are not tied to each
There is obviously no need to dwell on other, and if some favourable moment
certain specific instances, when, let us should arise, one of them can be exchanged,
say, both bishops are completely lacking leaving that bishop which has superiority
in space, being, for example, squeezed by over the opponent's knight or bishop. In
their own pawns, and where the advantage other words, here we see the transformation
of the two bishops is therefore essentially of one type of advantage into another.
fictitious. Such instances are atypical. In For a striking illustration of this, I give
practice, the duel between the bishop pair two instructive episodes.
and the enemy knight and bishop, or two
knights, normally takes place in endings
which are nominally equal for White and
Black, in which there are pawns on both
wings and there are no particular restric-
tions on the movements of the pieces.
It would be absurd to assert that the
two bishops are all-powerful, but defending
against them is a very difficult and thankless
task, and the weaker side often lacks the
patience and nerve to avoid errors even in
a drawn situation. This phenomenon is
encountered time after time in tournament
games.
What then is the secret of the hegemony
of the bishop pair in the endgame? First
Sidorov-Polugayevsky
and foremost, it is their ability to control
Riga 1954
a large number of squares on the board,
and thus restrict the actions of the enemy Black is a pawn up and has several
knights. And the more open the position, ways of winning. But the method chosen
the more strikingly this factor manifests is the quickest, and is of a textbook
itself. nature.
131
132 Endgame Silhouettes
of the supenonty of a bishop over a The pawns advance, leaving behind them
knight. The bishop is best placed on the large areas of open space, and when they
back rank, since it deprives the white come into contact with the opponent's
knight of the important square b6, from pawn defences they also create open
which it could halt the advance of the zones in the enemy position. It can happen
rook's pawn. that one wing is insufficient for the bishops,
and so that they should not be cramped,
51 WeI a4
the battle is also conducted simultaneously
52 Wdl a3
on-the opposite wing, i.e. the action front
Black has made very good progress is widened.
with his a-pawn. Now White loses after 53
lLlb4+ Wc3 54 lLla2+ Wb2 55 lLlb4 j.,e7 56
lLlc2 a2, when as is easy to see, he soon
Stein-~iagrnarsuren
ends up in zugzwang: 57 f4 .td6 58 f5 i.e5
Sousse 1967
59 Wd2 .tf6 and 60 ... .,tg5.
1 e4 c5 2 ttJf3 lLlc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lLlxd4 e5 5
53 wet Wc4!
lLlb5 h6 6 lLllc3 lLlf6 7 lLld6+ .txd6 8
Kasparov plays the ending splendidly. ~xd6 ~e7 9 ~xe7+ Wxe710 .te3 d6 11 f3
He drives away the white knight, depriving .te6 12 0-0-0 E:hd8 (184)
it of the b4 square.
54 lLle3+ Wb3 184
55 f4
On 55 lLlc2 Black would have won by
55 ... i.g5+.
55 ... i.c7!
56 Wbl
Otherwise 56 ... i.f4 is decisive.
56 ... a2+
57 Wal i.a5!
The last finesse. It was not yet too late
to go wrong with 57 ... i.xf4?, when 58 White has the advantage of the two
lLlc4! would have led to a draw. bishops, but for complete 'happiness'
they need scope. For this ,reason he begins
58 ttJd5 i.d2
advancing his kingside pawns, exploiting
And without waiting for 59 ... i.el, a weakening in the opponent's position
Amason resigned. The future World ( ... h6).
Champion displayed fine technique in
13 g4! E:ac8 14 h4 ttJe8 15 E:h2 a6
this ending.
It is unpleasant to concede the b6
To display their power, the bishops square, but what else can Black do? He
clearly need scope. In the endgame this is must somehow activate his game on the
most often achieved by pawn offensives. queenside.
134 Endgame Silhouettes
valuable, if account is taken ofthe possible deprived of any active possibilities, but it
exchange of all four rooks on the open also comes under attack by the a-pawn.
file. But these factors, on their own, are After 22 ... Wd8 23 a5 t'iJc8 24 .txc8 wxc8
insufficient for a win. There are no weak- 25 .txa7 White won easily.
nesses in Black's position, and he has the
15 ... a6 16 b4! WfS 17 a4 t'iJd7 18 as!
chance of establishing his knight at c5 (...
t'iJd7-e5). To restrict the movements of Fixing the black pawns on light squares.
the enemy knight and to secure space for In the future they may become a target for
his bishops, White must set his pawns in the light-square bishop. Note how the
motion. pawns have taken away all the important
squares from the knight.
15 .te2
18 ... .tb2 19 lIe2 ~xe2+ 20 Wxe2 i.g7
A few rounds later in the same tour-
21 Wb3 lIe8 22 .td2!
nament, I obtained exactly the same
position in my game with Ostojic. In it I Thus White has completely carried out
was able to improve White's play, by his plan on the queenside, and yet for the
finding the ideal solution: 15 lIxc8+! moment Black can hold the position,
Hxc8 16 g3! The transference of the since on this part of the board he has
bishop to the h3-c8 diagonal is the main sufficient force. It becomes clear that
link in White's overall plan. The bishop White must expand the battlefield, by
not only covers the square d7, but is also shifting the centre of gravity to the opposite
ready to attack the queenside: 16 ... Hc7 wing, when the passive black pieces will
17 i.h3 t'iJd7 18 Hell :axel 19 Wxc1, and be unable to defend on two fronts simul-
after the exchange of the second pair of taneously. Therefore White embarks on
rooks, the bishops will be impossible to the second stage of his plan: he gives the
stop. Ostojic continued 19 ... t'iJb6 (no signal for a kingside pawn storm.
better is 19 ... t'iJe520 .txa7 t'iJd3+ 21 We2 But before beginning to advance his
t'iJxb222 .te8 b5 23 .ta6, or 19 ... t'iJe520 pawns, there is one little problem he must
~e2 followed by 21 b4) 20 Wc2 Wf8 21 b3 solve: should he exchange rooks? With
We8 (186). his last move White emphasizes that he is
not afraid of the black rook, since none of
the key squares on the c-file are available
to it. And since in the operations on the
kingside and in the centre, sooner or later
the position will be opened up, White
quite rightly decides to retain his own
rook.
22 ... .td4
Both now and later Black sticks to
waiting tactics, freeing White's hands to a
marked extent. Perhaps he should have
tried to complicate the situation by 22 ...
e6.
22 a4!. The black knight is not only 23 g4! wg7
136 Endgame Silhouettes
41 lie2! .txf442 .tf6+! (the following is a long diagonal for the dark-bishop. White's
false trail: 42 hd7? r:tJxd743 lif2 .te5t 44 only hope is to hold on to the d5 square,
he5 dxe5 45 lixf7+ r:tJd6 46 lixh7 e4, even at the cost of giving up his light-
and Black gains slight chances) 42 ... square bishop.
li:'lxf6 43 .txc8 r:tJxc8 44 gxf6 .te5 45 b5!
axb5 (Black cannot permit b5-b6, when
the rook penetrates to c7) 46 r:tJb4 r:tJb8 (or 188
46 ... hf6 47 lie8+ r:tJd748 lift) 47 r:tJxb5
Wa7 48 lixe5! dxe5 49 d6 r:tJb8 50 r:tJb6
r:tJc8 51 d7+ Wxd7 52 Wxb7 e4 53 a6 e3 54
a 7 e2 55 a8='it' e 1='it' 56 'it'c8+ Wd6 57
'it'c6+ <tIe5 58 'it'e8+.
41 .txd7
Black resigns. On 41 ... Wxd7 there
follows 42 .tf6, when there is no defence
against lle7-e8-h8.
pawn to get rid of the bishop at e6, but Black has to defend against 19 .th5+.
this does not save him from defeat.
18 ... h5 19 lLId6+ "irxd6 20 "irxa7 (189)
29 ... .txdS 30 llxd5 llxf4 31 b5 llxh4
All this had occurred previously. One
Black has a healthy extra pawn, which game went 20 .. , "irxh2, and White was the
is ready to advance. And in the end it first to create real threats. But in my home
finally decided the game, although this analysis I had been fortunate enough to
took a further forty moves. find a significant improvement for Black.
Our picture of the two bishop 'monopoly'
would be incomplete, if we did not touch 189
on another variety of endgame, where the
balance of forces is two bishops and a
pawn against rook and knight. Both in
the middlegame, and in the endgame,
such positions often occur in the Sicilian
Defence - as a result of strategic exchange
sacrifices.
Am.Rodriguez-Polugayevsky
Biel1985
1 e4 e5 2 lLIf3 d6 3 d4 exd4 4 lLIxd4 lLIf6 5 20 ... "ire5!
lLIe3 a6 6 .tg5 e6 7 f4 b5 8 e5 dxe5 9 fxe5
The centralization of the queen - first
"ire7 10 exf6 "ire5+ 11 .te2 "irxg5 12 "ird3
and foremost! This move depressed my
"irxf6 13 llfl "ire5 14 lldl J;Ia7 15 lLIf3
temperamental opponent: it turns out
"ire7 16 lLIg5 f5 17 "ird4
that the white king also does not feel safe.
The Cuban grandmaster is always ready Therefore Rodriguez hastens to exchange
for a theoretical argument, and therefore queens, but the ending is unpromising for
he chooses what was then the most topical White.
line of the Polugayevsky Variation.
21 "ird4 lLId7!
17 ... "ire7!? 22 "irxe5 lLIxe5
The latest word of theory. Without the Black has three excellent minor pieces
least 'embarrassment' Black continues and clear play in the centre and on
moving only his queen. This exception to the kingside, where he has a two-pawn
the rule is based on concrete calculation. majority. There is no way in practice for
White to realize his extra exchange and
18 lLIge4
pawn on the opposite wing. Black merely
Black is caused more difficulty by 18 has to keep an eye open for tactics .
.th5+ g6 19 "irxh8 "irxg5 20 .to, with a
23 ~d2
position which is difficult to evaluate. By
the text move White also wins the exchange, White castles artificially and vacates
but on the opposite side. For the moment the el square for his rook.
The Power of the Bishops 139
Bishops display their virtues not only frivolous explanation, but at any rate, in
when they are together. Also as an later events I have frequently seen this
independent unit, in the endgame the balance of forces in Karpov's games, for
bishop is often a more important piece example, against Timman, Miles, and
than the knight, if, as mentioned earlier, others.
there are no special factors making their
mark. The bishop is more long-range
than the knight, and therefore it coordinates
Karpov-Miles
better with a rook and with the king,
London 1982
which in the endgame takes an active part
in the play. 1 e4 c5 2 lLlf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lLlxd4 lLlf6 5
The opposition of bishop and knight is lLlc3 g6 6 .i.e3 .i.g7 7 f3 0-0 8 'ti'd2 lLlc6 9
a common occurrence in the Sicilian g4 .i.e6 100-0-0 lLlxd4 11 .ixd4 'ti'a512 a3
endgame. But what is surprising is that ~ab8 13 h4 ~fc8 14 lLld5 'ti'xd2+ 15 ~xd2
there is a higher percentage of games .i.xd5 16 exd5 a6 17 .i.e2 lLld7 18 f4 lLlc5
where the light-square bishop dominates, 19 ~h3 lIc7 20 lIe3 b5 21 .txg7 Wxg722
irrespective of whether it belongs to White ~d4 a5?! (191)
or to Black.
If one studies the technical phase of
Karpov's and Fischer's games, it transpires
that both have had a liking for this piece
when playing White.
I will risk expressing an objective opinion
as to why, for example, Karpov came to
like the light-square bishop. Strangely
enough, I consider myself to blame! In
the earlier chapter 'The Triumph of the
Experimenter' (cf. Volume 1) I annotated
the fourth game of my match with him,
where in the endgame I had a very
powerful knight against White's light-
square bishop. But in a paradoxical way, Superficially it appears that Black has a
I contrived to lose that ill-fated game ... sound position, and that his knight is no
Who knows, perhaps the young Karpov weaker than the white bishop.
came to believe in the magical power of But this is not so. White has managed
the light-square bishop? I hope that the to prepare for an attack on the kingside
reader will excuse the author for such a and in the centre along the e-file. Black's
140
Minor Pieces in Opposition 141
knight does not have a strong point at eS, lIxd8+ Black resigns
and at cS it is insecure on account of b2-
Here is a similar picture, which also
b4. In the light of this it was wrong for
arose from the Dragon Variation:
Black to weaken his queenside pawns; it
would have been better to carry out the
manoeuvre ... ltJa4-b6.
23 b4! ltJa4
Miles was afraid to play 23 ... axb4
because of 24 lIxb4!, when there are
serious difficulties over the defence ofthe
bS pawn.
24 bxa5 ltJc3
25 .tfl WfS
On 2S ... :aa8 Karpov was planning the
king manoeuvre 26 Wb2 ltJa4+ 27 Wb3
ltJcS+ 28 Wb4.
Psakhis-Taborov
26 Wb2 lIbc8 27 Wb3 :ac5 28 a6! ltJxd5
Baku 1979
29 :axd5! :axd5 30 lIc3!! (192)
Here too the ending favours White.
Again one square, eS, has been taken
away from the black knight, and the
other, cS, can be controlled by the b-
pawn. Along the e-file the white rooks
have easy play, while the h-pawn ties the
black king to the back rank and creates
future mating motifs.
Black tries to improve the placing of his
pieces, especially his knight, by bringing
it closer to the centre.
20 ... ltJf6 21 lIh3 :ac5 22 c4 :aac8 23
:ab3
A series of fantastic moves! After 30 ... Preventing counterplay with ... bS.
lIxc3+ 31 Wxc3 ItcS+ 32 Wb4 :ac7 33
23 ... b6 24 .te2 lLle4 25 lId4 f5 26 g4!
.ig2 Black's position is hopeless. This is
where the power of the bishop is fully The attempt to establish the knight in
revealed! the centre has not succeeded. White
undermines its support at fS, and then his
30 ... lId8 31 :ac7! :adl 32 .txb5
bishop goes to work.
Now the a-pawn cannot be stopped.
26 ... Wf7 27 :ae3 1I5c7 28 Wa2 a5 29
32 ... e5 33 a7 exf4 34 lIb7 lIb 1+ 35 gxf5 gxf5 30 .id3 lIg8 31 .ixe4 fxe4 32
Wa4 lIxb5 36 l1xb5 f3 37 lIb8 f2 38 lIdxe4 a4 33 f5! (194)
142 Endgame Silhouettes
Dolmatov-Watson
194 Sochi 1988
1 e4 e5 2 .!Df3 d6 3 d4 exd4 4 .!Dxd4 .!Df6 5
.!De3 g6 6 .te3 .tg7 7 f3 0-0 8 Wd2 .!De6 9
g4 .te6 100-0-0 .!Dxd411.txd4 Wa512 a3
lIab8 13 h4 b5 14 .!Dd5 Wxd2+ 15 lIxd2
.txd5 16 exd5 a5 17 .te2 .!Dd7 18 lie1
lIfe8 19 b3 b4 20 .txg7 <it'xg721 Wb2 lie5
22 .tft ~ 23 lIe4 bxa3+ 24 <it'xa3 lie3
25 .te2 .!De5 26 lIe4 lIe3 (195)
195
later blockading move ... g5. If White The light-square bishop also enjoyed
himself plays 28 g5, then after 28 ... h5 the special 'patronage' in the endgame under
h4 pawn will require defending, and Black Bobby Fischer. The theme of the conflict
has in prospect the chance of creating a between this bishop and a knight occurred
passed h-pawn (if only by 29 ... /6). 28 f4 several times in his games, and two
can hardly be recommended for White, m~sterpieces - against Rossetto and
since there then follows 28 ... a4 29 b4 a3+ Taimanov - received world recognition.
30 Wa2 ltJe4, exploiting the weakening of
the e4 square.
28 b4 a3+ 29 Wa2 ltJd7 30 bS ltJcS Fischer-Rossetto
Buenos Aires 1960
This is not bad, but 30 '" ltJb6!? came
very seriously into consideration, tying 1 e4 cS 2 1tJf3 ltJc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ltJxd4
White to the defence of his d-pawn. ltJf6 S ltJc3 eS 6 ltJdbS d6 7 i.gS a68 i.xf6
gxf6 9 ltJa3 dS 10 ltJxdS i.xa3 11 bxa3
31 llb4 We8 32 gS Wd8 33 i.dl Wc734
i.e6 12 i.c4 VaS+ 13 Vd2 0-0-0 14 lldl
lle2 l1xe2 3S .ixe2 l1a8?
Vxa3 IS 0-0 lIhg8 16 Ve3 Vxe3 17 fxe3
Black shows inadmissible carelessness. Wb8 18 i.b3 llg6 19 ltJb6 Wc7 20 llxd8
How could he break the principle of the ltJxd8 21 ltJdS+ i.xdS 22 i.xdS ltJe6 23 h4
blockade? Correct was 35 ... Wb6! 36 hS 24 llfS llh6 2S llf3 llg6 26 Wf2 b6 27
Wxa3 lIa8+ 37 Wb2 f5!, when Black can lIfS l1h6 (197)
hope to save the game.
36 b6+ Wb7 37 i.bS llaS 38 i.c6+ Wb8 197
(196)
Taimanov's nerves give way, and he In the event of 56 ... ~a7 57 i.g2 Black
commits a serious positional mistake, by is in zugzwang, and he is forced to allow
placing his pawns on light squares. Essen- the white king in at c6.
tially, Black takes on the heavy burden of
57 ~a6 (199)
defending his pawn phalanx against the
encroachment of the white bishop. For
the time being he should have stuck to
waiting tactics.
36 E:d3+ ~c7 37 lId5! f5 38 lId2 lIf639
E:e2 ~d7 40 lIe3 g6 41 i.b5 lId6 42 ~e2
~d8 43 J:ld3! ~c7 44 lIxd6 ~d6
Hjartarson-Polugayevsky
Reykjavik 1987
1 e4 cS 2 ltJf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ltJxd4 lLlf6 S
ltJc3 a6 6 i.e3 e6 7 'fWd2 b5 8 f3 ltJbd7 9
0-0-0 i.b710 g4 h611 i.d3 lLleS 12 <t1bl b4
13 ltJce2 dS 14 exdS lLlxdS IS i.f2 i.e7 16
h4 'fWd7! 17 gS lLlxd3 18 'fWxd3 hxgS 19
hxgS J::1xhl 20 J::1xhl 0-0-0 21 i.g3? i.xgS
22 'fWc4+ ltJc7 23 'fWxb4 i.f6 24 'fWaS 'fWe7!
2S i.eS i.xeS 26 'fWxeS 'fWf6! 27 'fWxf6 gxf6
(205)
Threatening the unpleasant 37 ... <t1f5.
As in the previous game, we observe the
splendid coordination of rook, bishop
and king. The white knight is tied to the
a-pawn and is in a pitiful position.
34 g4
On 34 ~e3 there would have followed
34 ... nh8 35 h3 i.xg2. White's task is to
create a fortress and not allow the enemy
king into his territory. But as the immediate
events show, this is not easy to do.
34 ... f6! 3S exf6 ~xf6 36 ~e2 eS
Breaking down the last barrier in front The resulting ending has developed to
of the king. Despite the simplification Black's clear advantage. His ideally placed
and the limited material remaining, Black's bishop is the pride of his position. The
advantage is very appreciable. It is difficult bishop's role is markedly enhanced when
Minor Pieces in Opposition 149
the pawns are unbalanced (here Black has light-square bishop which comes into
a majority in the centre, and White on the conflict with a knight? No, one should not
queenside ). come to such an absurd conclusion. Of
course, endings occur where there is also
28 nn ltJd5 29 nn ltJe3 30 b4 e5 31
plenty of employment for the dark-square
ltJb3 5?!
bishop. For example, I recall the following
Black, short of time on the clock, fails ending of mine, in which I was able to
to find the strongest continuation: 31 ... evaluate very precisely the potential of
nd1+ 32 'it'b2 f5 33 f4 (33 ltJc5 nd2, and my bishop.
White is lost) 33 ... ltJg4, immediately
terminating the struggle.
32 ltJc3 f4
Scholl-Polugayevsky
33 ltJc5 nd4!
Amsterdam 1970
From this point Black finds the best
1 e4 c5 2 ltJf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ltJxd4 ltJf6 5
moves.
ltJc3 ltJc6 6 i.c4 e6 7 i.e3 a6 8 i.b3 ltJa5 9
34 a3 0-0 b5 10 f4 'iNc7 11 f5 e5 12 ltJde2 i.b713
ltJdS ltJxd5 14 i.xd5 ltJc415 'iNcl i.xd516
This leads to loss of material. White
exd5 nc8 17 b3 ltJxe3 18 'iNxe3 'iNc5 19
could have offered a resistance by 34
'iNxc5 nxc5 (206)
ltJd3, rejecting the idea of eliminating the
b7 bishop, although after 34 ... ltJc4
followed by 35 ... f5 Black has an undis- 206
puted advantage.
34 ... ltJc4!
35 ltJxb7
On 35 'it'a2 Black wins by the elegant 35
... nd2!, and if 35 ltJQ,3, then 35 ... ltJxa3+
36 'it'a2 lIc4!, depriving White of any
chances.
35 ... 'it'xb7
36 a4
It is White's undoing that 36 'it'a2 fails
20 c4!
to 36 ... nd2! 37 nxd2 ltJxd2, when the f3
pawn is lost. During the game White was very much
relying on this clever reply. Had Black
36 ... ltJb6! 37 b5 ltJxa4 38 bxa6+ 'it'xa6
risen to the 'bait' and won a pawn, White
39 ltJxa4 nxa4 40 'it'b2
(after the exchange of one pair of rooks)
Or 40 nh2 Ita3 41 Ith5 f6. would have gained counterplay on the c-
file.
40 ... 'it'b541 nhl 'it'c442 llh7 lla743
'it'et na3 White resigns 20 ... bxc4 21 bxc4 i.e7! 22 nfcl 'it'd7!
So, in the Sicilian endgame is it only the Just in time Black succeeds in including
150 Endgame Silhouettes
In beginning this .. p~wn offensive, white king, but 54 ... lIc2! (taking away
Black's aim is to provoke a weakening on the c4 square from the bishop) was
the kings ide. Now White should have probably more subtle, and if55 ~f7, then
replied 48 g3, to avoid leaving his pawns 55 ... ltJd3! 56 lIh8 c;!;>g3! 57 lig8+ C;!;>h2
on light squares, but he commits a serious followed by the unavoidable 58 '" lif2
positional mistake. mate.
55 lIg6?
This loses immediately. White's last
chance was to pursue the knight by 55
~c4! Black's winning chances would then
have been associated with the knight
manoeuvre ... ltJb4-c2-e3. In the event of
55 ... lbb456 llb8 he would have the very
strong check 56 ... lib1+, when after 57
'i.t>e2 (not 57 'i.t>f2 ltJd3+) White is forced
to allow the black king in at g3.
55 ... lif2+ 56 'i.t>gl lie2 57 'i.t>h2 llel
And the trap snapped shut: against the
mating threat of 58 ... lbf2 there is no
48 h4? satisfactory defence. In the concluding
position the superiority of the knight over
Now Black succeeds in blocking the
the bishop is clearly seen.
white pawn phalanx on squares of the
same colour as the bishop, thus ensuring
the future hegemony of his knight, since
White's bishop is condemned to the
unenviable role of defending his weak- Geller-Muehnik
nesses. USSR 1970
48 ... l1bl 49 lia2 f4+ 50 'i.t>e2 g5! 1 e4 e5 2 lbf3 d6 3 d4 exd4 4 ltJxd4 lbf6 5
ltJe3 a6 6 ~e2 e5 7 ltJb3 ~e6 8 0-0 lbbd7 9
Preparing an infiltration route on the
a4 iie7 10 as 0-0 11 ~e3 lie812 f3 'ti'e713
dark squares, since White does not have
'ti'd2 llfd8 14 lifdl 'ti'e6 15 liac1 i..e4 16
control of them.
Axe4 'ti'xe4 17 lbd5 ltJxd5 18 'ti'xd5 'ti'xd5
51 hxg5+ c;.t>xg5 52 l1a8 'i.t>h4 53 lIg8 19 lixd5 lie6?! (19 ... g6 or 19 ... lIc4 was
correct) 20 l1d2 lide8 21 e3 f6? (21 ... g6!
The only way of preventing the king's
was better) 22 lial 'i.t>f7 23 lbc1 lbe5 24
invasion, but it is already very difficult for
AxeS dxe5 25 e4 lId826 lidS liee8? (26 ...
White to keep an eye on all the black
lixd5 offered more chances) 27 lia3
pleces.
lIxd5 28 exd5 Ad6 29 lIb3 lle7 30 lib6!
53 ... l1b2+ (209)
54 'i.t>fl lbd3
This rook manoeuvre completely ties
Beginning a combined attack on the down all the enemy pieces.
152 Endgame Silhouettes
30 rtle7
31 ltJd3 rtld7
31 ... f5 is not possible, in view of 32
ltJxe5.
32 rtlf2 g6
33 rtle3
White has no reason to hurry, and he
brings his king to the centre. Black is
helpless, since on 33 ... f5 there follows 34
Uitumen-Geller
h3 and 35 g4, when he runs out of pawn
Palma de Mal/orca 1970
moves, and is forced to play his king to e7,
when ltJxe5 is decisive. Therefore he is Here we see a similar picture. The
obliged to await passively the development bishop's activity is restricted by the pawn
of events. White can easily fix the oppo- barriers, especially at e4. White's only
nent's pawns on dark squares, thus chance is to create a passed b-pawn, but
restricting the black bishop still further, in this case his king is diverted to the
whereas his knight is able to 'stroll' queenside, when it is unable to combat
around the entire board. the opposing passed pawn on the very
distant h-file. The ideal placing of the
33 ... rtle7
black knight must be emphasized. It ties
34 g4 E:d7
White to the defence of his e-pawn, and,
On 34 ... e4 the simplest is 35 fxe4 i.xh2 when the opponent advances his b-pawn,
36 e5! it simultaneously controls b5. In order to
picture the situation more clearly, let us
35 rtle4 rtld8 36 h4 rtlc8 37 h5 rtlb8 38 h6
imagine for a moment that, rather than a
Fixing the h7 pawn, just in case it light-square bishop, White has a dark-
should prove useful. square one. The evaluation of the position
would be radically different!
38 ... rtla7 39 b3 rtla8 40 ltJf2 rtlb8 41
ltJd3 43 c3 bxc3
Minor Pieces in Opposition 153
succeeds in getting rid of his weakness. out his plan, and the white bishop be-
comes very restricted. Even so, 30 h3 was
27 ... bxa4! 28 lIxa4 a5 29 lIda1
essential now instead of the passive text
White moves his rook away, but wrongly, move.
since he is not able to create any threats
30 1I1a2?! g5 31 h3 Wf6 32 e4
on the a-file. 29 h3 was correct, and if 29
... f5 30 l:tc4, forcing simplification. White's nerves give way, and he exposes
the dark squares, having overlooked the
29 '" f5 (217)
opponent's reply. 32 .tn was better.
32 ... lIe8!
217
33 b3
33 llxa5 lha5 34 l:txa5 .ixb2 did not
appeal to White.
33 ... i.d4 34 Wd3 .tf2! 35 llxa5?
White has pretty well spoiled his position,
but he had no right to take this pawn,
since it leads to the loss of a piece.
35 ... .tel! 36 llxe5 l:te3+ 37 Wc2
llxe2+ 38 Wb1 llxa2 39 lle6 llxg2 40
Iixd6+ Wf7 41 e5 f3 42 lld7+ We8 43 e6 f2
The Bulgarian player consistently carries 44 d6 f1 +'ti' 45 lle7+ WfS White resigns
Postscript
Our lengthy path through the intricate From this lengthy analytical journey in
Sicilian labyrinth is complete. Let us the Sicilian Defence we have emerged, I
mentally once again recall everything. hope, different players: hardened, self-
Before us, as in a kaleidoscope, have confident, not losing our composure at
flashed by hundreds of games, diagrams, anxious moments, not doubting our
typical and non-standard positions, thou- choice ...
sands of moves of different character, The main problem facing the author
strong and ... weak. How many impro- was this: to arm the reader with a reliable
bable mysteries, original ideas, deeply guide, so that he should not lose his way
calculated combinations, and sometimes in the maze of one of the most popular
serious blunders have been concealed in openings of our time, with its complex
them! middlegame patterns and subtle endgames.
We have constantly encountered the And if even to a slight degree this aim has
solving of complicated problems, which been achieved, the author will consider
at times have been very difficult. But step that his work of more than two years was
by step we have advanced, one moment not in vain ...
proceeding smoothly, the next plunging To all Sicilian players, I wish you
into wild and unfathomable complications. success!
Index of Garnes
(bold type indicates that the player had the white pieces)
160
Index of Games 161
-Reshevsky 28 KUZMIN-Sveshnikov 19
-UitUDlen 152
LARSEN-Geller 13
GEORGADZE-Polugayevsky 55 -Tal 94
-Tal 82 -van den Berg 109
GHEORGHIU-Fedorowicz 80 LEHMANN-Bednarski 36
GUFELD-Ermenkov 157 LlSITSYN-Boleslavsky 70
HJARTARSON-Polugayevsky 148 LITVINOV-Boleslavsky 146
HOR T-Karpov 56 LjUBOjEVIC-Andersson 78
-Portisch 125
IV ANCHUK-De FirlDian 17
-Polugayevsky 16 MAKOGONOV-Rauzer 85
IVKOV-Geller 22 MARIN-Belyavsky 122
-Polugayevsky 134
MARIOTTI-Tal 124
-Taimanov 127
MAT ANOVIC-Polugayevsky 44
jANSA-Polugayevsky 100
-Sokolov A. 92 MATULOVIC-Krnic 105
KARPOV-Andersson 52 MECKING-Karpov 73
-Dolmatov 40
MESTEL-Polugayevsky 45
-Hort 56
-Kavalek 154 MIAGMARSUREN-Stein 133
-Mecking 73
MILES-Karpov 140
-Miles 140
-Nunn 31 MOROVIC-Polugayevsky 123
-Sax 107
MUCHNIK-Geller 151
KASPAROV-Arnason 132
NAjDORF-Bronstein 87
KA V ALEK-Karpov 154
NEIKIRCH-Botvinnik 72
KERES-Botvinnik 11
NEZHMETDINOV-Chernikov 110
KHASIN-Boleslavsky 99 -Dubinin 26
-Stein 103
NUNN-Karpov 31
KLOVAN-Timoshchenko 37
OLAFSSON H.-DollDatov 147
KLYAVIN-Boleslavsky 49
PADEVSKY-Botvinnik 98
KOSTRO-Simagin III
PANOV-Simagin 101
KOTOV-Boleslavsky 74
PARMA-Stein 106
-Polugayevsky 121
PERES YPKIN -Sveshnikov 91
KOTTNAUER-SlDyslov 5
POLUGAYEVSKY-Balashov 6
KRAL-Barlov 114 -Byrne R. 62
-Chikovani 59
KRNIC-Matulovic 105
-De FirlDian 67
KUPREICHIK-Polugayevsky 14 -Donner 33
162 Index of Games
-Geller 18 -Sakharov 83
-Georgadze 55
SISNIEGA-Tal 128
-Hjartarson 148
-Ivanchuk 16 SMYSLOV-Botvinnik 9
-Ivkov 134 -Botvinnik 27
-Jansa 100 -Denker 30
-Kotov 121 -Kottnauer 5
-Kupreichik 14 -Portisch 156
-Matanovic 44 -Rudakovsky 30
-Mestel 45
SOKOLOV A.-Jansa 92
-Morovic 123
-Popovic 32 SPASSKY-Portisch 64
-Rodriguez AIIl. 138
STEIN-Khasin 103
-Scholl 149
-Miagmarsuren 133
-Shipov 77
-Parma 106
-Sidorov 131
-Sigurjonsson 50
-Tal 43
-Szabo 126
POPOVIC-Po1ugayevsky 32 -Tal 95
PORTISCH-Ljubojevic 125 SUETIN-Botvinnik 10
-SlIlyslov 156 -Yuferov 137
-Spassky 64
SVESHNIKOV -Gutierrez 38
PSAKHIS-Taborov 141 -Kuzlllin 19
-Peresypkin 91
RAUZER-Makogonov 85
SZABO-Stein 126
RA VINSK Y-Simagin 97
TABOROV-Psakhis 141
RESHEVSKY-Geller 28
TAIMANOV-Ivkov 127
RODRIGUEZ AM.-Po1ugayevsky 138 -Fischer 144
ROSSETTO-Fischer 143 -Zaitsev I. 129
T AL-Georgadze 82
RUDAKOVSKY-SlIlyslov 30
-Larsen 94
SAKHAROV-Simagin 83 -Mariotti 124
-Polugayevsky 43
SALOV-Bouaziz 15
-Sisniega 128
SAX-Karpov 107 -Stein 95
SCHOLL-Polugayevsky 149 TARNOWSKI-Boleslavsky 42
SER V A TY -Gaprindashvili 25 THOMAS-Boleslavsky 41
SHIPOV-Polugayevsky 77 TIMOSHCHENKO-Klovan 37
VUKIC-Bronstein 90 YUDOVICH-Boleslavsky 71
WATSON-Dobnatov 142 YUFEROV-Suetin 137
YUDASIN-Chandler 112 ZAITSEV I.-Taimanov 129