Professional Documents
Culture Documents
DynamicDecisionMakinginChess Excerpt
DynamicDecisionMakinginChess Excerpt
DynamicDecisionMakinginChess Excerpt
Making in Chess
by
Boris Gelfand
with invaluable help from Jacob Aagaard
Quality Chess
www.qualitychess.co.uk
Contents
Key to Symbols used 4
Publisher’s Foreword 5
Introduction 7
1 Minsk 1979 19
2 Petrosian 33
3 Tactics at the Top Level 47
4 The Nature of Tactical Mistakes at the Top Level 79
5 Compensation 121
6 Time 151
7 Dynamic Masterpieces 197
8 Dynamic Defence 241
But the biggest joy has been working with Boris Gelfand on this project. Boris loves chess
immensely and it is impossible not to fall in love with the game all over again when discussing it
with him. Our analysis sessions have been spirited and enjoyable, and I have been able to learn a
lot about the game from them, all of which is hopefully included in this book!
Writing a book is a difficult job, even when it is co-writing. You still have to choose the right
words, structure, restructure and then restructure some more. A point made in August might be
easier to understand if added to a game analysed in February. You get the idea. When the ideas
are not in your head, but in someone else’s, this does not become an easier process.
What has made writing these two books amazing is the time spent with Boris. His warmth and
wit dominate our conversations. I laugh more in our sessions than at any other time during a
normal week. I will leave you with one extract from one of our conversations in 2014:
Then our conversation was interrupted. A siren rang out weakly somewhere outside Boris’s house.
He stood up immediately.
6 Boris Gelfand – Dynamic Decision Making in Chess
Being a part of this project is an ongoing joy. I hope some of this joy has spilled over into the
pages and makes this not only an instructional book, but also a pleasure to read.
Jacob Aagaard
Glasgow, May 2016
Chapter 1
Minsk 1979
Geller – Yusupov
Diagram Preview
On this page you will find a few 1222222223 1222222223
diagrams with critical moments
from the coming chapter. If you
want to compare your thinking
with the games, you have the
possibility. Take as much time
as you need or want. This is not
a test, but a chance to ‘think
along’ with the grandmasters in
the games. 79 79
Find the winning move! How would you destroy the
(see page 24) black kingside?
(see page 30)
1222222223 1222222223 1222222223
79 79 79
Can you find Negi’s novelty? How did White start an Do you know this famous
(see page 22) attack? combination?
(see page 27) (see page 30)
1222222223 1222222223
79 79
How should the attack be White wins with accurate
continued? play; but how?
(see page 24) (see page 29)
Chapter 1 – Minsk 1979 21
I was incredible lucky that I had the chance to Vitaly Tseshkovsky – Viktor Kupreichik
be present at the 1979 Soviet Championship,
Minsk 1979
which was played in Minsk. I would go to the
playing hall and watch the games; every day,
Tseshkovsky is an amazing attacking player,
every minute. Some of the games made a big
but in this game he got totally mated!
impression on me and we shall look at them
briefly in this chapter.
1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6
Alexander Nikitin and Boris Postovsky gave
5.¤c3 ¤c6 6.¥g5 e6 7.£d2 ¥e7 8.0–0–0
me the tip to write down what I was thinking
0–0 9.f4 h6 10.¥h4 ¥d7
during the game, in order to analyse the games
afterwards and of course to compare it with
what the players chose during the game. I did
this and it helped my development immensely.
As with Positional Decision Making in Chess, I
want to show not only what I have been able to
do in the field of dynamics, but also where my
understanding of dynamics comes from.
You can find amazing games everywhere
While working on this book, I showed Jacob
Aagaard some of the games from this Soviet
Championship. Most of them were new to
him. But then he assured me that he would
be able to find amazing games from Danish This variation was very popular at the time.
tournaments that I do not know. I believe My friend Ilya Smirin played it a lot in the
him. There are many talented chess players 1980s.
in the world, and although many have failed
to fulfil their ambitions because of various 11.¤f3
shortcomings, you will not see this in their Against 11.¤db5 Kupreichik has played
best games. And when you are 11 years old, both 11...¤xe4 and 11...d5.
as I was then, it can make a big impression on
you to see the winner of the previous year’s 11...£a5 12.¥c4
championship being blown off the board by This is probably already an inaccuracy.
a caveman. Tseshkovsky is an expert on playing the
And with full respect for Danish events, I Sicilian with White, and I have no experience
can say that the Soviet Championship was in a whatsoever, but this is still what I believe.
different league.
12.e5?! dxe5 13.¥xf6 ¥xf6 14.£xd7 has been
played in a few games.
22 Boris Gelfand – Dynamic Decision Making in Chess
21...¥a4 22.¥xc3 ¥xc2 23.¥xa5 ¥xd1† There were some young players in the
24.¢xd1 dxe5 25.fxe5 ¥xe5 26.b4 ¦c3 tournament. For example, 19-year-old Artur
27.a4 ¦a3 28.¢c2 ¥d4 29.¦d1 e5 Yusupov took second place in his first-ever
0–1 championship. Artur kindly shared his
memories of Geller from this tournament:
When you are watching this live in the
tournament hall as a child, you cannot help but When I first arrived at the tournament,
be overwhelmed. This is one of the reasons why my impression of Geller was that Grandad
I think young players should be encouraged to had decided to play. I liked that, but at
watch top tournament games. If they cannot first his results did not impress. In the first
make it to the tournament hall, then at least seven rounds he made all draws, before
follow the games online. Be entirely focused winning a fine strategic game against
on the games, without online commentary or a Romanishin. But it was in Rounds 10
mind-numbing engine, trying to find ideas of and 11 that everything changed. First,
your own, calculating the various possibilities Razuvaev made a horrific blunder in the
as the players think about them. opening, and lost to Geller in 21 moves.
Then the next day, Tseshkovsky, in an
Efim Geller equal position, blundered his queen right
after exiting his adjournment analysis.
One player in this tournament fascinated me Geller was an experienced card player,
more than the others... so he immediately realized his luck was
in. He transformed completely and played
Efim Geller’s golden years were 1949 to with such energy – beautiful attacking
1980. Born in 1925, he won the USSR chess. It was truly fascinating.
Championship qualifier in Tbilisi in 1949,
and subsequently took joint 3-4th place at the I was able to use this experience much
main championship. He became a grandmaster later in my career, in the German
in 1952 and also played for the first time in the Championship, when Alexander Graf
Soviet team that year. He was a strong force blundered his queen against me in an equal
for these three decades, scoring +6 in almost position. I remembered Geller, and knew
200 games against the six World Champions I just had to show up and play, and luck
he faced, suffering a majority of his defeats would be on my side. In the last round,
against Spassky, but achieving a plus score the next day, I misplayed my position a
against Botvinnik, Smyslov, Petrosian and little, and my opponent offered a draw. I
Fischer. rejected it, because of Geller. I had to play!
He was one of the most respected players And immediately my opponent made
in the Soviet Union, and acted as second for mistakes. You have to use the luck! This
Karpov for many years. Before Kasparov’s is what I learned from Geller at the 1979
1993 match against Nigel Short, he asked championship.
Geller what he should do against the Marshall
Attack, which Short employed at the time. Actually, Geller had already made an
Geller suggested a system with h3, d3 & ¤bd2 impression on me in the first round against
and slow play, which worked well for Kasparov Dolmatov. Sergey had played quickly and
and stayed popular for the next 15 years. confidently in making a draw with Black,
26 Boris Gelfand – Dynamic Decision Making in Chess
which was a decent result. Geller, on the I think he meant that I might have needed a
other hand, had been thinking a lot, and few years to recover, but as no one had told me
was low on time when the game ended, as about this earlier, I simply played well and won
was his habit. the tournament.
When they analysed the game
afterwards, Dolmatov would say: “Here Boris the Attacker – 1979
I can play this, this or this, but I chose
that.” Geller said: “Really, you think To understand how exciting the following
you can play this?” and then he showed Geller game was to me at the time, it is
the most beautiful refutations of Sergey’s necessary first to see a game I played just before
suggestions, one after the other. None of the tournament.
this happened in the game, which was not
so interesting. But it seemed that Sergey
Boris Gelfand – Eduard Raisky
had been lucky, and by intuition had Minsk 1979
chosen the only move again and again.
1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6
For those not blinded by age, but still interested 5.¤c3 e6 6.¥e2 ¥e7 7.0–0 0–0 8.f4 ¤c6
in numbers, let me offer you something solid: 9.¥e3 a6 10.a4 £c7 11.£e1 ¤a5 12.£g3
by 1979 Geller was 54 years old and had not ¤c4 13.¥xc4 £xc4 14.e5
played in the Olympiad team for a decade. He
was certainly not over the hill though – his
highest Elo rating was as recent as 1976, when
2620 made him Number 8 in the world. By
1979 he was still Number 28 in the world,
whereas Yusupov was Number 128 in the
world and Dolmatov Number 45.
This recollection is quite pleasant for me: I
absolutely would like it to be the attitude of
young players that they have to beat me, no
matter what. I have been declared ‘finished’ for
decades. In 1998 there were a lot of articles
where they announced the end of me.
After I lost the candidates match to Short
14...¤e8!?
in 1991, I defied the expectations of some 14...¤d5 is more natural, but the move in
people. I went on to win in Belgrade, tying the game is not bad if Black plays accurately
for second with Kasparov in Reggio Emilia afterwards.
1991/92 and, shortly thereafter, won in Wijk
aan Zee 1992. After the last of these events, 15.¤e4 b6?
a journalist confided in me, saying that after Luckily he does not.
the match with Short, “I thought you were
finished.” I was 24 years old... 15...d5 would allow White to keep a
I want to point out that this was a very stable advantage with his massive lead in
pleasant person, who spoke from the heart. development. A quick shift to the queenside
Chapter 1 – Minsk 1979 27