Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 13 views

    (Alexander Kotov) Think Like A Grandmaster Algebr (B-Ok - CC)

    Uploaded by

    Aljon L. Pallen

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content

    You might also like

    (Alexander Kotov) Think Like A Grandmaster Algebr (B-Ok - CC)

    Uploaded by

    Aljon L. Pallen
    13 views94 pages

    Original Title

    [Alexander Kotov] Think Like a Grandmaster Algebr(B-ok.cc)

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf
    13 views94 pages

    (Alexander Kotov) Think Like A Grandmaster Algebr (B-Ok - CC)

    Uploaded by

    Aljon L. Pallen

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf
    of 94
    Think Like a Grandmaster Alexander Kotov Translated by Bernard Cafferty Algebraic Classics Series Series Editor: Dr. John Nunn GM B. T. Batsford Ltd, London ing pabied i dhe USSR. Pnghth eandation © BT Basford Led, 1971 ith impresion 1978 Reprinced 1960, 192, 1964, 1985, 1986, 1988, 190, 1994 Fine altri edi 1995 Repented 2001, 2002 (wc) 2008 ISBN 0 7138 7585 3 Briss Library Caloguing-Pablicsion Dat, ‘Netalogue second for this Book ‘ibe fom de Beash Library |All igh reserved No put ofthis Book may be repmadced by any esas, wothou prior permision ofthe publishes, “Typeset by Jota Nunn and Pea Fink an printed in Great Bean by ‘Greve Pint ané Desig fr te publisher: BT Basford Ll “The Chrys Basing Bramley Road Landon WI0 6S ‘an pen of Calis 208s Grow le Unie State and Cana by Seking Publishing Co. South New Yor, NYI0016, USA A HATSFORD CHESS BOOK Contents Symbols Preface Introduction: An Unusual Experiment 1 Analysis of Variations Do you Know how to Analyse? Historical Digrssion ‘The Thee of Analysis, Forced and Uaforced Variations Different Types of Tree ‘Bare Tron ‘A‘Coppice” “Thickets of Variations’ ‘Selection of Candidate Moves ‘What is a Candidate Move? “Creeping Moves’ Grose Blunders Dizziness due to Success Conditioned Reflexes “The Blind Spot ‘Through the Eyes ofa Pater ~ Blumenfeld’s Rule More Practical Advice "To Analyse of Nott Analyse? Positions for Analysis or Judgement ‘Trust your Opponeat or Not? ‘Time-rouble Exercises 2 Positional Judgement ‘Open Lines and Diagonals "Modern Ideas on Open Lines ‘Pawn Strcnure and Weak Squares ‘Weak Squares Passed Pawns 3 BReeee ysrnssoasyy Pawn Ilands ‘Weak Colour Complexes “The Poston ofthe Pieces oor Position ofa Number of Pieces Space and the Cente Exercises ‘Aa Experiment Continued Iitate Botvnnik or Najdort? ‘What is Concrete and What is General? General Questions and Preparation ‘The Opening Mialegame ‘The Ending General Formulae and Concrete Analysis 3 Planning ‘A Single Plan Planlssness Punished Be Flexible ‘The Ceare ‘Closed Cente Open Centre Mobile Cease Fixed Coote ‘Tension in the Centre Exercises 4 The Ending 5 APlayer’s Knowledge Opening Stady Init Posie to Sudy the Middlegame? Adjourned Games ‘Advice on Various Questions (Chess and Lite “The Factors of Saccest Know Your Opponent Know Thysef! Solutions tothe Exercises Index of Names 100 103 108 14 120 124 125 m 129 130 10 130 a a 136 136 140 143 147 147 49 150 152 133 184 156 165 166 110 m 15 us 116 17 178 a1 as Symbols check Good move Brilliant move Bad move Blunder Mate (D)_ Diagram follows egus-t Preface ‘An immense number of books have been writen on chess. Some chess ‘writers annotate recent games, oth ers compile aad bring up to date works on opening variations, but, strange as it may seem, no one has had the idea of describing the meth fds by which the leading players of fous time have reached the peak of thei playing svength. Yet study of these methods would prety faii- tate the process of mastering the in- tccacies of the game Th this book the author describes hhow Botvinnik, Tal, Smyslov, Pe- twosian, Keres, Bronstein and many other leading grandmasters studied chess theory, and tained themselves tounderstand the mysteries of chess strategy and tactics. They them- selves have revealed some of theit ‘methods in articles and game anno- tations, while T have become ac uainted with others from personal Conversations with my fellow grand= ‘The reader will also find an ac count of my own personal experi- ‘ence ~ my achievements inthe Held fof chess are the result of immense hard work in suidying theory, and 1 Aauer myself that this experience will prove to be of interest 1 the reader. Chess is a complex game, yet rillions of enthusiasts are fasci- ‘nated by it Some of them reach the playing strength of first or second fategory player, while others are ‘satisfied {o be known all their life as ‘a beginner’. Yet surely even a ‘weak player would lke 10 win a chess title and be known ab master, for even grandmaster. If someone could only show them how to reach this goal, then many of these enthu- siasts would be prepared to set off along the long and irksome road of tournament play wit ll its exciting and nerve-racking experiences. How then does one become & grandmaster? Is it the case that a strong player's abilities are purely natural and that hard work cannot change anything? Naturally there ‘mut be some inherent ability, but a= in other spheres of human endeay- ‘our the main factor i immense, on- stinting effort to master the skills of chess strategy and tactics. “That great chess thinker Emanuel Lasker asserted that inthe space of 100 hours he could produce a first- category player from a youag man ‘of average ability Could one go fur ther than that? Lasker never had ‘occasion to prove the validity of his claim: the queso naturally arises: 10 Preface could one by dint of careful study ‘and hard work go as far as becoming ‘Amaster ori the end a grandmas: ‘My own experience tells me that such sud and hard work do lead to Immense improvements in one's practical results, I would remind the feader that up to 1938 T had never ‘managed to reach master standard, ‘but my study ofthe game inthe pe- od. 1936-37 led suddenly toa "great leap forward’ T gained the ‘matter title in 1938 and only one ‘year Iter that of grandmaster. fol- lows that one can become a grand- raster by one's own endeavours fone merely has to work hard at it How exacly 10 go about it is con tained inthis book. ‘A few points ae worth noting: 1) My dese wo make the book as clear and helpful as possible has {ed me to employ new names for some strategic laws and concepts. ‘This was not done in an atempt to tay for an unnecessarily scientific approach, but merely 10 help the ‘memorisation of important points 2) The book makes use to a large extent of the games and advice of those Soviet grandmasters who be- Jong to what is now called the older geaeration. The reason for this is that all my chess career I have rubbed shoulders with Botvinalk, Keres and Smysiov. The younger sgrandmastrs, on the other hand, are boty with dels current tournament Dates and write less about thei ‘thought processes at the board, nor mally restcting themselves 0 giv ing concrete variations. 5) The book contains games by ‘the author ~ again easily under- ‘Standable as, i aiming to describe the secrets ofthe chess mind, Thave naturally ha to dig down deep into ‘ny own bein 'So, dear reader, forward into bat- te, to storm the heights of grand- maser chest! Introductio An Unusual Experiment ‘We shall now uy to describe the complex proces of thinking which takes place ina grandmaster’ mind during play. To explain his thought processes as clearly as possible let ‘us wy a litle experiment that was suggested to me by the method of ‘studying mechanics in high schoo First ofall one staies Statics ~the cffect of forces on a body at est = fand then Dynamics, in which the ‘same phenomena are studied in ‘motion, So, Woo, we shall fst con- ‘sider how wo think about moves from the static point of view, and thea Intern the book from the dynamic, Let us thea imagine the room where @ top-class tournameat is being played. Let us go on t the stage and ask one of the player, for ‘ample Polugaevaky, to give up his ‘eat us, Let us now ask Smyslov torell us straight away without any further consideration the courte fof his thoughts as he stdies a posi- tion in which he, White, is to move. Tean be certai that his Fist r action would be count how many pawns there are, Ara rule «grand ‘master can take in aa glance, with ‘outcounting, how many pieces there are. However, he may al times also count the pieces. We now assume that Polugaevaky has ot sacrificed anything and so material is level "The next stage in Smysiow's think ing wil be to clarify the following points Fis, from which opening as this position srsen. f not many moves have been made, he will be able t9 ascertain this from the pawn con- figuration and the position of the pieces. If we are well into the ‘iddlegane then one has to work on the remnants ofthe pawa structure, fon the open files and diagonals and ‘outposts forthe knights. ‘Then there follows the question have I ever ad this poston before, orhas it ever occured in games bY other grandmasiers? This s a im portant point in clarifying mates, {if one can call to mind similar po. Sons from earlier games, then iis ‘azier to reach an astessment of how things stand, and to hit upon the cor- rect pla or analyse variations. Such 2 use of accumulated knowledge is fan excellent way of saving thinking time as well as avoiding errs or the wrong plan ‘This period of thought, which we ‘all the clarification period, is very 12 Introduction important. Here the main role is played by the knowledge, experi- nce and eration ofthe grandmas- ter, Naturally the memory plays its ‘art in helping to bring to mind the moves played in games of loag ago (One can find remarkable examples of this techaigue in the games of ‘Alekhine and Botvinnik, who were thereby helped to produce great works of ar ‘Armed with these preliminary ‘soundings, the grandmaster then at- tempts to assess the position. He not ‘only has to solve the basic problem fof who stands better; be also has to discern the nature of the position ‘down to its smallest details. He wll rote the presence and comparative ‘value of various open lines, all the ‘while bearing in mind the concrete tasks tht ie before him: occupy this ‘open ile or diagonal, close that one, ‘on this file neutralise the action of the enemy rook He will lo work ‘out which important outposts he should occupy with his knights, from which outpost he should dive ‘out the enemy cavalry. Tt will be- ‘come clear t0 him which of his pawns and thote ofthe opponent are ‘weak, where there ae strong passed pawns. In amore subconscious than Conscious way he will establish ‘where there is co-operation and har- ‘mony between his pieces, and ike- wise forthe opponent. He wll sy to ‘himself menaly: this is what I have to pot right heres where I must re- 1009. 1 will not cause Smyslov much trouble to establish which side con- twols the conte, and what i the i- ‘uence onthe cente of this or that piece. Thea he wil assess the valve (ofeach side's pawn chains, and find fut where pawn advances are pos ble, After all this he wil understand ‘more clearly who bas the beter po- son, who has th initiative, who must attack, who will be forced 19 ‘efend. He will decide where White ‘must ack if Black merely defends, for instead ties to counter-attack on the flank, Or will Black ty for a blow in the centre ~ grandmaster ‘knows fll well that the bes answer toa flank atack isa couater-blow in the cent. Finally, ifthe position is even, Smyslov will decide that he must ‘manoeuvre quietly so asta provoke ‘weaknesses inthe enemy camp. “Tals thea isthe way that a rand ‘master inthe tournament room gees About asessing a postion. We ean- ‘not claim that be will deal with the ‘elements ofthe position inthis pee= ‘ise order, Much of what we have categorised be wil probably entrust ‘ois intuition, butin one way or an- ‘other the various problems will be ‘considered and solved. low mach time docs this process take? Naturally this depends om the ability of the grandmaster and onthe special features of each particular position, There is lo the element of {emperament It is wel known th ‘with some players sober snaljsis plays the main part, while with oth- 15, intuition developed by analyi- ‘al practice predominates. Assessing 2 postion s very important and alot of ime is devotsd os Only when he has gone through this preparatory work will Smysiov start to draw up aplan. The dzection Of a player's thoughts is governed Principally bythe features ofa given Position, but no small part belongs to the character ofthe player. Peto ‘an would most likely give fis thought to how to defend his weak nesses, whereas Tal would probably far to look for the chance to pre- pare a sacrifice. ‘So in one way or another our grandmaster will decide the general, plan of campaign, where to direct his pleces, what to attack, and in case of necessity how to defend. ‘Along with his general pan, he will have a more conerete plan, which decides what his next few moves will be: occupy this square, exchange ‘that pawn, et. He wil also see what his opponent's plan is, and how he ean eoss it. Up to this stage a grandmaster’s thoughts have been bated on general ‘ideas and strategic principles. Now, at Tong lst, he wil start looking for {he best move. He will exablsh What roves are possible, and how they fit in with his plan. Then he will begin analysing many variations. For each of the moves he will examine, he ‘will foresee the opponents reply. then his bet answer and 0.08. Oaly Introduction 13, after Hnishing this immense tsk, ‘ow purely analytical, will Smyslov move a piece and stop his clock. ‘Thinking over, move made! ‘Our experiment has enabled us to examine the sequence of» grand- master’s thoughts whea he is choos- {ng de best move na given poston. ‘We have also learned from it that real chess player mast have the fl- lowing qualities 1) He most be wel up in modern opening theory. 2) He must know and keepin his memory the principles behind typi cal middlegame positions learned both from his own games, and fom those of other players. The more a player knows and remembers, the tasier iti fr him 0 find a “prece eat’, i.e. a positon that has o&- ‘curred before and which sila 0 his own present position. Natrally, is not a question of mechanical smemorising, bat of knowing meth ‘de and possibly separate moves and ‘combinations employed at some time ‘or other and appropriately assessed in subsequent notes and analysis. ‘We shal call these fest two qualities with good reason ‘chess erudition’ 3), grandmaster must be abe to assess a positon accurately and cor- reel. 44) Noless importants the ability ‘to itupon te right plan, which must _meet the demands ofthe given posi= ') A grandmaster must be able to caleulate socuraely and quickly all 16 Introduction the significant variations that might arise in the subsequeat course of, hay. "These then ae the most important ‘qualities which players should de- ‘elop within themselves, nsinly by practice, analysis and personal ef- fort We shall now examine all these ‘ualties and show how they can be ‘quired by dint of hard work To fa- litte their teatmeat we shall deal ‘vith them indifferent order, 1 Analysis of Variations Do you Know how to Analyse? Recently I was invited othe closing ceremony of a team tourameat in which both candidate masters and frst-category players were playing. 1 ‘asked my aadience what they would Tike me to talk to them about, and T was inundated with requests. Some players asked me to demonstrate fn interesting combination, while others wanted to Know how to play the Sicilian Defence comecty for Black, "But do you know how to analyse variations?” 1 asked my listeners, and without giving them time to re- ply weat on, “twill show you how to analyse variations and i'm wr0ag, then stop me. Let us suppose that at ‘one point in your game you have & choice between two moves, Hdl or ‘}g5. Which should you play? You settle down comfortably in your chair and start your analysis by aly saying to yourself the possible ‘moves. “Allright, I could play Hdl and he would probably play 267, ‘ore could take my a-pawn, which { now undefended. What then? Do I like the look of the postion then?” ‘You g0 one move further in your analysis and then you pall a long. face ~ the rook move no longer ap peals to you. Thea you look atthe Knight move, "What 1 go gs? He can dive away by 6,1 £0 ed, he captures it with his bishop. Ire- capture and he attacks my queen ‘with his rook. That doesn't look ‘ery nice 50 the knight move is 10 {Beod. Lets look atthe rook move again. Ihe plays 007 Lean reply £3, bot what if he captures my pewn, What can ply then? No, the ook move i no good. I must check the knight move again. So, 5. 6: Det, fxet; Wes, Had. No good! ‘So I mustn't move the Knight. Try ‘the rook move again. Hdl, Wia2” At his point you glance atthe clock. “My goodness! Already 30 minstes gone on thinking whether to move the rook or the knight" It goes on ‘ke this you'l realy be in ime trouble. And then suddenly you are struck by the happy idea ~ why move ook or knight? "What about BI?" ‘And withot any more ado, without any analysis at all you move the bishop, just like that, with hardly any consideration a al” My words were interrupted by applause. The audience laughed, £0 securate was my plcure of thei ss and ebaltions 16 Do you Know how to Analyse? ‘When I revealed that I was writ fing a book 10 ell all that T knew bout analysis, based on wht I had Teamned from other grandmasters and what Tha discovered myself, ‘yas rewarded yet again by applause ‘Thus [came to realise that players ‘even in high grades need such guid nce. Then I said jokingly, "Borvin- nik is working hard at tying to ‘make a computer play chess a well a a buman being, so et me teach hhuman beings to analyse with the soouracy of a machine” ‘The example Ihave described of incorrect, unsystematic thinking is {oite common even with players of ‘eal ability and high gradings. They ‘suddenly abandon their analysis and make a move which they haven't ‘examined property atall. Letuscon- ‘der one such caze. "White's attack on the kingside looks very threatening, and naturally the master who was White tried 10 {nd a concrete way to shatter the en- ‘em king oto get some decisive ad- ‘vantage. isnot very difficult to see this concrete line must involve a sc rife, "Thave to sacrifice the master told himeel, bat which piece? There are several possibilities: 26 &xh6, 26 @xg6 or 26 2g followed by 77 ‘@ixh6+ Which then? Let us analyse 26 Gxg6 Axg3 27 hag’ feg6 28 xe6 gxhS 29 Eat Eh). The ex- change down, the d-pawa weak, Black’ bishop is strong. No, that's not it What if 26 S1xh6? Let's have look. 26..gxh6 27 Wah6 fixe5 28 Bes Wg7 79 Wes (29 Kegs Wrg6!) 29,5 and here White has noth- ing concrete “Possibly 26 Qeg¢ is stronger? ‘Where will the black queen go? £5 fs bad because of 27 2xh6+ gxh6 28 Wels exf5 29 Hxgor @h7 30 Eixn6+ sb47 31 Hhé. Two pavns ‘up, White stands clearly beter Nor oes 26. save him since then 27 Bsher gxn6 28 Exg6> ot 28 ‘Bre and the back king cannot be defended, "S026 Ded is good? But what if 26..Wh4? Then 27 Dehs+ 8! 1No, White cannot allow that the ‘queens are exchanged aod all his Pieces ae en prise. So Dept doesn’t work, Let's look atthe other cap- tures on 6 and g6 again ‘And once again his thoughts dwelt onthe various ramifications of those two moves, and yet again the resulting positions did not appeal {the master Once more he returned consider 26 2g4 and once again he ‘id not ind a Win there. How many times he jumped from ove variation to the other, how often he thought About this and that attempt to win, fonly he can tell. But now time- ‘eouble came creeping up and the master decided 10 “pay a safe move" ‘which did not demand any real analysis: 26 Stc3. Alas, this was al- ‘mest the worst move he could have played, Blak replied withthe deck sive 26.904 and after 27 Was hs 28 Wal hs White was forced to re- sign. Note in passing that White was wrong to reject 26 Dgd. After 26,..Whd 27 DahG+ 05 28 Wadd ahd 29 Dxf7 x17 30 Bree $18 31 Bgd Qixg? 32 Addr 66 33 Aad6r Hxd6 34 Bixck Orel 35 ‘2x07 White would win, ‘Can you remember eases when this happened to you in tournament ‘games? No doubt you can! So let ws ‘iscuse how to learn to think about possible moves with the greatest ef- Beiency. Historical Digression Practice has shown tht ony afew players have mastered the technique of analysis; even highly rated play- sare lacking in his respect. In chess circles, where one hears many apt sayings, there i .common joke that no type of exercise can change a player's playing strength Wits like to quote the words of Ostap Bender (Translator's note: (One of the main characters in the well-known satirical novels by I and Petov, The Twelve Chairs and Bo you Know how to Analyse? 17 ‘Tae Golden Calf. One ofthe jokes of the book was that Bender, who could not play chess, gave lectures blonde plays well and the brunette plays badly, and no lectures will ‘change this state of afi!” How fever, the experience of many players ‘of widely diferent playing stength shows tha the opposite is tre. ‘We shall be mentioning egain the need for regular self-examination, forthe need to summarise the les- sons of the tournaments we have played in. tis by means of such el-ridcism that we can bes lar ity the faults of our chess thinking ‘To give the reader a better idea of ‘what Tmesn I-shall tell you about ‘the work I did myself inthis field, work which gave much biter results than Y expected, Tn the period 1935-36 I had man- ed to take first prize in a nomber fist-categorytourmaments Chad played with succes in two Moscow Championships, bt all the same T ‘was not satisfied with my lay. When 1 ida critical survey of my games f came to the conclusion that thee ‘were serous defects in my play. I fam looking, as T write this, at the ‘many exercise books that I filled in thoes days with notes to my games, Believe me, they are full of harsh self-critical comments. No splenetc Annotator ever gave such angry as- Sessments to my moves a5 I di 1 ‘ce wrote inthe press: “Most of all 18 Do you Know how to Analyse? it became clear to me that my main trouble was not superficial know- ‘edge of the openings or poor end- fame technique, but my limited lnderstanding of the middlegame, My worst fault was an inability to analyse variations. I would spend far foo much time examining com- paratively simple postions, which ‘often renalted in ine-wouble. More- ‘over, [often made serious blunders. Finally, after the game I would al- ‘ways find out that my opponent had seen much more atthe board than 1 had. It became clear tome that Thad ‘Tot of hard work todo on master- ing the technique of analysis” "This was how I expressed it in public, but in my exercise books I Dut i much more strongly. “T had ‘worked out the following variations at random, and was duly punished by my opponent Such vague analy ses the main drawback in my play fand f must make every effort to r00t tout? That was what I wrote in my notes to my game with A. Yelisov. “A lack of deste realy to go into concrete variations thoroughly, a ‘vague wandering about, those are my characteristic mistakes in my playin the 1936 Moscow champion Ship’ was another gloomy sum- sming-p. 1 was particularly discouraged by ‘my game with Panov (Black) which after a sharp opening reacted the following position, ‘White's attack on the queenside, 0 seemed to me, was developing fn s systematic and logical way. 1 {idged tht the “ugly" formation of the back pieces wat proof of his e- lous positional difficulties. Inthe game there now came 22 5 gS! after which it suddenly became aob- ‘ious that Blak had very dangerous thyeats. The main point, however, ‘was that his kingside pieces which Thad thought gave the impression ‘of awkwardness and lack of c0-0p- eration were working together very ‘well, whereas my ‘nicely placed” pieces were unable wo pasty his nasty threats “There now followed 23 Bat £3 ‘bt ices 25 Sent Bal 26 Wiad 12e3.27 We2 WE and Black has & winning game. The finish was just ‘Punishment for my ill-founded opti- tmism: 28 4 e4 29 Hbel Qixdl 30 edt We3 31 Wes 65 32 tnt ‘Wre3 and Black easily won the end- ing. “After the game we analysed sev- ‘eral variations. Pano told me that after 22..g5! he thought White had no good defence. If 23 Riel then 23.13 24 BA (24 nd Qixed 25, ‘Bret fag? with the tcrible threats (0 26,.Wxd5, 26.7 and 26...) 24. -Bixh3! 25 Ssh @ixhs 26 dubs Wes 27 gt eT 28 g3 Wet 29 2n3 Whe+ 30 dogs Ande 31 dats Bike 32:p2 Wxf0+ wins the queen. Black's whole manoeuvre ~ his coviginal plan and the unexpected scrifice~ ae atte, These por- sibilities which were hidden in the position remained a mystery for ‘me to the end of the game. Thad not ‘examined a single one ofthe tacti- cal operations given above. Here is ‘what | wrote in my summary of the ‘tournament about my misconcep- ‘ions inthis game: "Twas not abe find a single one of the variations snd combinations while I wa a the board. I dida’t even suspect that there was a combination coming at move 24, and 1 was very surprised ‘when Panov showed it 1 me, TO ‘what a laughable exteat my thinking is based on general principles and Ta passing I did the following. summary ofthe thinking time I took in the games ofthe 1935 Moscow ‘championship: ‘From the 17 games, Twat in serious time-trouble in 7 games, in simple time-trouble (5 rinute for 8-10 moves) in S games, notin time-trouble in $ games (in 3 ‘of which the game did not last long ‘enough forthe time control to mat- ter), In ime-trouble I played badly, most ofthe time going on mixing up variations and general reflections” ‘Well then, that’s pretty clear. Such Do you Know how to Analyse? 19 severe selferticlom presupposes that the next step willbe efforts to root out the faults, and I started to ‘work. Having examined the games of other players, particularly masters, land read the occasional comments fm this point that appeared in game fannotations, { became even more Convinced thatthe ability to analyse ‘leary a sufficient umber of vari- ations so as to clarity the postion ‘was the basic condition for tuccest. However, [also came tothe conch sion that in ther analysis some play cre make various mistakes, Some ‘examine a few lines 10a consider- ble depth, others analyse a large number of variations two or three moves deep. The correct solution is to find the golden mean, especially ‘as one is playing against a time limit Ialso became clea tome that the ability to orientate oneself inthe labyrinth of possible variations is not only @ natural gif, but also the result of serious and prolonged ef- fort, and taining ‘How should one go about this training? Where was there a descrip- tion of how to tenn and discipline ‘one’s thought? There were no books fon the subject, and it dd not seem possible to get help from anyone tle, 20 had to fend for myself. 1 chorea method which seemed to me the most rational, and fortunately it was the right one. Ever since that Lime I have considered it the most etfective metho to get good results. 20 Do.you Know how to Analyse? selected from tournament books ‘those games in which great compli- ‘tions hod arisen. Then T played them through on a board but when TPreached the crucial point where there were the greatest complicz- tions and the largest number of pos- sible variations [stopped reading the ‘notes. I either put aside the book or ‘covered the page with a sheet of pa- [per and st myself the task of think {ng long and hard to as to analyse all the possible variations. All the time I tied to work myself into the frame of mind that Iwas siting a the board in the tournament room, Having spent between half an hour and an hour on this task T would sometimes (especially in very ‘complex postions) waite down the variations [had examined and then T would compare them with those ofthe annotatoe. At fist there was 2 big discrepsney in favour of the lat ter but then I learned how to widen my scope and delineate each vari- tion with considerable exactitide [Naturally I analysed without mov- {ng the pieces 40 as to make it just like a tournament game, In this fashion Lexamined a large number of very tricky and compl. cated positions. Iremember one of them in particular. think the reader ‘wil be interested to study the many Variations which sre the product both ofthe players themselves and ‘of many annotatrs. ‘This postion arose after Black's 234d move inthe game Flohr-Fine, Hastings 1935/6, The tension has reached its peak and the outcome canbe resolved by the slightest in- accuracy. Grandmaster Flobr did in fact commit such an inaccuracy by playing the obvious 24 2d8?, which was convincingly refuted by Fine He retreated his queen to €?, after ‘hich he simply won the knight and all White's attempts to attack g7 came to nothing. "Annotators the whole world over ‘analysed this position. A win for ‘White found in one country was Auickly refuted in articles published in another. A practically invisible finesse spotied by one analyst was scon shown tobe an eroron further ‘examination. Finally the English ‘master Winter found the one and ‘only way to win. Thad worked out the same line in my own analysis. ‘Look atthe variations which arse after the winning pawn advance 24 DSI. The idea behind the move is not immediately apparent. is to open the a3-f8 diagonal for the white ‘queen to attack the enemy king, The ‘Win after the forced reply 24.Sixb5 25 DxgT is proved by the following, 1) 25..0xg7 26 Bg when none ‘ofthe various replies saves Black: 4a) 26. sone 27 Wot, 1b) 26. dih6 27 egS! and Black ‘cannot meet the two threats of 28 Wes and 28 Wel. Ic) 26..s0h8 27 Hxbs Bes 28 Bagh txg8 29 Kes eh! 30 1R(S og7 31 g4 and White must win, though not without technical dif. cules. 1d) 26..Oxga 27 Bess 08 28 WgT+ 7 29 Wa17+ as 30WEA+ with a decisive attack. 2) 25. x04 26 QYSI. This strong move creates mating threats as well asthe threat ofa family check one Black has various defensive tries but they ae all unsatisfactory: 2a) 26..We7 27 Beds ns 28 Hee. 126) 26..<0h8 27 Bred followed by Bess. 2c) 26..2le7 27 Rede hs 28 xo and 29 Hes. 72) 26..Wad (0 prevent a queen ‘check on the a3-f8 diagonal) 27 Heb Hre¥ 28 gts 18 29 Wr6 and after Black has run out of checks he has no defence against Ba. ‘Training exercises of this sort gradually led to an improvement in the accuracy of my analysis, and I was able to penetrate more deeply Into the secrets of very complicated positions. Finally 1 setup a personal record by analysing a possible vari ‘ation from the fourth game of the Do,ou Know how to Analyse? 21 ‘Chigorin-Tarasch match 24 moves ‘deep. [confess I was very proud of this though tis now clear tome that Twas helped by the exceptional ‘suaigh line’ nature ofthe variation, which had comparatively few side= fines. Her isthe position. CChigorin went wrong by 48 gx and after 48. fixf6 49 Wh3 a3 50 Dxl6 Wai6 51 Eg6 a2 $2 Bete x6 soon lost. After looking at the ‘postion many times, I found a win by 48 Wh3I. I give the main vari- ation and omit the subsidiary ones: 48.23 49 WHS £395 50 16 x16 51 xg5 42 52 ONT+ BF 53 Dhxss x16 54 Dn6+ Ges 55 Tx5+ ‘gxl6 56 WaSe dT $7 He7 We (G7..sec6 58 WaB+ and mate ino) 58 WdSe! des! (8._shes 59 Hgs+ WER 60 WH7+ wins) $9 Was a7 (60 Wh7+ He7 61 Hxe7s x07 62 ‘Wrc7+ @e6. Now despite his mate- jal advantage White's win is not ‘simple. He forces itby te following ‘ne manoeuvre: 63 We8+ eT (or (63.6 64 DISH) 64 IS B17 65 Wats p6 66 W y+ ns 67 Wiss 22, Doyou Know how to Analyse? es 68 What 213 69 Was+ he2 70 Wg2+ xd 71 Wx02. ‘After further examination ofthe position I found a quicker win for ‘White, but this is not important Such exereiss, involving analysing tnd covering up the page with the fgrandmasters notes, are very bene ficial in perfecting the technique of analysis. Ifthe reader wil ty i for himself, he will 3000 realise how ef- fectively it helps him to improve However, one must not restict one- self to this method as there are ‘others. Great help can be obtained by solving studies from a diagram ‘without setting op the positon on the board. One can read chess books “blind” without osing a et here is analysis of positions where the task is given ‘White to play and force a ‘win’ and 20 on. Every player who spends sometime on such methods wrll soon notice an increase in his playing stength Sot was able to discover for my- self an excellent method for training ‘n analysis. Subsequently I shared this discovery witha number ofcan- ‘idate masters and first-grade play- tert who studied under me for several {years in a Moscow chess club, They Iiked it, and I feel it played apart in Improving their playing ability Later on I formulate for myself and also borowed fom othe sources ‘certain recommendations which one ‘must know in analysing, particularly the concept ofthe "we of analysis which shal deal witha ite later. 1 soon realised that it is not ‘enough for a master simply to ana- Ise variations serupulously just ike ‘an accountant, He must lear t0 ‘work out which particular moves Ihe should consider and then exam- ine just as many variation as neces- sary ~ no more and 20 lest. With superficial analysis one cannot get ‘own tall the fine points of posi- tion, but to get carried away by a large numberof possible variations can lead to awkward consequences. I ‘now players who consider an in- smease number of possibilities, then regularly get into time-trouble and 0 lose al the fits oftheir labour In ordero avoid this I ied wo an- lyse the maximum number of vai- ations, wrote them down, and then {red to extablsh which of them were ‘worthy of consideration within the emanding conditions of tourna- ‘meat play, and which could be left ‘out so as to save time, Normally & master decides this by intuition, but you have to develop your intuition. 1 ‘managed to develop mine by the method described below and then [successfully tied out the same ‘method in study groups of second- and tir-category players. (shall da! later in detail with the ‘vestion of choosing moves and vari- ations, Here I describe the one ex- ample with which T began all my research) Tonce analysed in deta the ap- parently simple, but in fact very tricky poston of the diagram. Then 1 asked the people in the group to study it and in the course of half an hour write down all the variations ‘which they thought should be exam- ined. They were not allowed to move the pieces, Then we examined the position together and so exhausted All the possibilities it contained. It turned out that i was fr from sim- ple to discover all the special fe {ures of the position. This can be shown by the fact that one strong. master in his notes wrote tht White ‘would win by 1 e81 and gave the ‘eautfl variation 1_Jixe82 Wg7+ (g7 3 Hse + WE 4 Bare He also took account of the cunning reply Lgl which fails to 2bh3 WES+ 3 Bhs. However, he failed to find the excellent rejoinder 1 a2+! and Black draws. Taking the rook is bad Wxd2 Bred 3 Eres Wess and 428.266 (oe Moss wie re ply 2.8054, while after 2 hl there comes 3. 1+ with pexpet tal Black has avery fine wis after 2 3 viz. 2. WES+ 3 g6 WT 4 ahs Banas 5 dys Hose 6 Wieithertes Wr. Do you Know how to Analee? 23 “That isthe way to work on the second important factor in develop- ing analytical ability ~ the ability to find the really important lines "A thied factor which must be con- sidered in this respect is speed of analysis, $0 important in practical play. Anyone who has ever been in time-iouble wil not ned coavine ing ofthat —he will know the value fof the odd minute saved here and there. practised the following method: 1 would set up a complicated posi- tion and give myself the tsk of ‘working out all the possible var- ations inthe space of 20-30 minutes ‘Then I would write them down and check how well had worked out all the hidden secrets. Gradually, Ire ‘duced the amount of time, and each time checked how well [had done, Soon I managed to get rid of su perficality and speed up my think- ing, 1 the reader finds that he often get into ime-troube and just omits key variations when be resto save time, then there is something wrong in his thought processes. Current tournament rules give a near to op- ‘imum thinking time for moves ~on average about four minutes a move (Eedior's nove: Most events are now played at three minutes per move, but Kotoy's argument is just as rele- ‘vant~ in tournament playtime is at | premium and inefficient analysis cften proves costly near the end of, the session). 24 The Tree of Analysis ‘This is quite adequate when you bear in mind that itis increased by quick play in the opening where ‘well-known series of moves are not- mally played. If this time is not ‘enough and your games are decided {in time-trouble with ite inevitable terrors, then you must devote a lot ‘of attention to mastering the tech- nique of analysis. "Three factors guarantee finding the right move. They are: an aceu- ate analysis of all variations that can be logically considered, conti- ence that you have taken account of all the best moves and strict econ- ‘omy in thinking time. ‘We shall deal with all dee in turn and dissect the most complex and incomprehensible caprices af- fecting a player's thinking. We shall thus endeavour to give as accurate a picture as possible of the compli- ‘ated proces that takes place when ‘a chess player tries to find the best The Tree of Analysis The course of a player's thoughts ‘when considering his move is best shown by a concrete example. The position in the diagram arose in Boleslavsky-Flohr, 18th USSR Ch (Moscow) 1950. ‘The game had begun thus: let c6 2Of3 d5 33 Rpt 4h x13 5 xO 06 6 df ZUG 7 £43 dees 8 Des Wrdd 9 hes Web 10 00-0 DbaT 11 Bed Was 12 ar Ws 13, hel xed 14 Exed D6 15 Bxe6 fre6 16 Bess Now Flohr did not pay 16.7, bout tied 16, de? and lost ia the tend, What interests ut is how the ‘game would have gone if Black had ‘moved his king to £7, and how Boleslavsky would have worked ‘out what to play in that event. We ‘cannot be sure that the course of his thoughts was exactly as we de- scribe i, but the general tend was, ‘bound tobe a follows “How did [intend to play if he moved the king when I sacrificed the bishop?” is Boleslavsky's frst ‘thought and he instantly remembers. “Yes, 17 Exf6+, Tremember think: ing that Thad a certain draw, while Black's king would have to move bout in the centre being harassed by all my pieces. Could there be a win there? So 17 Ext exf6, and now what? Tam arook down, Fmust ‘heck or play some other forcing move. Only one move comes t0 mind: 18 WhSe, otherwise Black will find a way to get his queen over to defend. What do I get from my queen check? Is ita good movel f ‘rust work it out, the position isn't ‘very complicated, I ean analyse it fight to the end. Let's analyse. have ‘enough ime and the whole game is ‘now in the balance, If T can find @ ‘mate thea ts worth spending a few ‘minutes on it So, analyse! "But do T need to sacrifice the 00k at ll? Could there be a simple ‘way to exploit my initiative without 2 further sacrifice? How?" For a ‘minute of 80 he examines the pos- tion wih this in mind ~istessential (o sacrifice? He quickly decides that ‘he must If 18 del Black has many defences, such as 18...WbS or even 18.228, It follows that the ex- ‘change sacrifice on {6 is not only the obvious move, but also the only winning attempt, while all the time ‘White has a guaranteed draw. So the grandmaster settles down comfortably in is chair and starts analysing.‘ play 17 Hits gxf6 18 Whs+, Where can hisking g0? A lot of squares ae possible ~ e7, e637, 18. Four defences. Let me see if | an force mate or get a decisive ad- ‘vantage . Start with €7 and e6 and Teave the other tl the end. They are more complicated ... So we have four candidate moves “18. eT 22 Wg7+ Right its going well, bt wat about g8? Analyse carefully! 4) 18.9298 19 Wyte. Quiet moves sre 0 use; 'm a ook down, Now two defences: 19.67 and 19,807 4a) 19.097. What is there 10 think about? 20 h6 Wer 21 a7 wins. No, stop! The rook move is a 705s blunder He gives up his queen by 21..Wxd7! 22 Wad? Sxh6+ and Tm the one to resign. No i's not so simple. How do I meet 19.477" ‘And after further thought Boles: lavsky finds two candidate moves, 20 We6+ and 20 Wet, which give him atacking chances, and he con- sider each in tum, 20 We6+ ©¢8 21 ies Was 22 Exds+ Wxd8 23 RaG+ Wrds 24 Wed6+ and White ‘must win; or 20 Wet 18 21 ‘Bbte and Black must give up his ‘queen, So that makes the fet vari tion clea. Now forthe seond. “4b) 19.9617 20 Wes, This is strong. I'm not going to repeat moves. Then 20.287 Or 20.896, Clearly not e8, right ito the eross- fire ofall my pieces. But if he docs? Maybe the few pieces I have left 26 The Tree of Analysis ‘don’ frighten him? To be sure let's check it “4b1) 20...te8 21 Hel (beter than 21 We6+ eT) 21.67 (or 21 sbd8 22 WS e723 i+ he 24 Heb) 22 Abd! We7 23 ‘Wes! and Black can resign. 4b) 20..1g7. Now White has no usefUl checks, but he ean attack: the queen, which is as good as a check, Yes, that’s quite a move! 21 ‘Be3. This threatens a check with the rook at 7.1 21.-WeT, then 22 Weer 17 23 Ba7s. There is just 21.,WbA left, but then 22, Ra7+ Shg6-23 WIT IS 24 par des 25, ‘Wa{6 and he can’t sop all the mate threats T should think s0 too. King in the centre exposed to all my “4b3) 20,.<06. Can this save hima and 20 refte the sacrifice on £67 How ean that be, how ean the king defend himself from the attack of ‘my three pieces? Just look for the ight move!” ‘And without much touble White will ind the win here too, 21 Welt! ‘Moves which don't look too threat- ning a frst sight can turnout to be decisive, 21.207 22 aS. White ‘mast threaten the rook check at &7 ‘with gain of time. Two lst ditch de- fences are possible, but neither works: 22..We5 23 Rar fe? 24 ‘Biba West 25 14 and if 2_-Bh6+, 23 dbl Had8 (23..hd8 24 Wan? ‘BgT 25 Ws and 26 Bxd6) 24 Wess! ty? 25 Wet+ followed by 26.06" “Well, thank goodness, every- thing is in order’ was Boleslavaky's probable reaction. What does he do then? Does he sacrifice on 6 imme- diately or does he check the var ations once more? It all depends how much time he has left oa his clock. If he has plenty of time he will allow himself to check every” thing again. He might even do this even if he is short of time. The ea- ‘son fr such “squandering” of time is that this is the decisive moment in the whole game. White ether mates ‘or wins the queea, soe can isk get- ting into time-trouble. As a rue, however, a grandmaster will not start checking a second time all the ‘variations which he has already ex: amined. This is an unforgivable ‘waste of time which can have grave ‘consequences in the final phase be- fore the time contol, and moreover shows a lack of confidence in one's nalysis. One must tach oneself to snalyse accurately and then place fall confidence in the ‘computer ‘which nature has provided us with Of the many scientific techniques studied at secondary-school level (nd after) for clarifying problems, a ‘particularly helpful one isthe draw {ng of graphs and diagrams. Let us ow depict in diagram form the snalysis which we have jst consid- ced (se Fig. 1. Here is what the analysis looks like. What we have produced re- ‘minds one of a family tree. The trunk of this tree is the main move ‘we are considering. The opponent’ replies form the four main branches, ie. 1) 1867, 2) 18.866, 3) 18.,s0g7 and 4) 18.98. These bbanches in their turn are divided {no smaller branches and 4008, The ‘number of branches depends wpon the special features of the position ‘and our ability to find candidate ‘moves, and 30 reveals the level of ‘our analytical ability. The Tree of Analysis 27 ouble-checking ean only be lack of ontidence in oneself tis beter to suffer the consequences of an over. Sight than suffer from foolish and panicky disorder in analysis ‘A exitically-minded reader might bere pose the question: ‘What if none of the moves which I examine ap- peals to me? What should Ido then?” Tm this case, the only advice Tean gives: even if you are faced by such We shall deal with other aspects of the analytical tree later, bat now ‘we can formulate a rule which one should uy to assimilate from one's ealiestatempts at seftaining: ‘When analysing complicated variations, examine each branch ofthe tree once and once only. ‘You simply must not wander to and fro, here and there through the branches, losing time in checking your analysis. The reason for such 8 critical situation do not repeat yourself, Can you be sure that you ‘will ind a flly satisfactory line? OF ‘course not! And you will lose time “Take the best decision you can. Re member that Burdan’s ais died be- ‘cause it could not make up its mind from which bundle of hay it should Start eating. From two evils choose the lesser, but if you stand really badly then look round just once more fora saving move, 28 The Tree of Analysis ‘So thatthe reader can get more ‘used tothe concept of the analytical ‘uee, and of analysing lines once and ‘once only, let us examine another interesting example. The reader should draw up for himself in as detailed manner 26 possible the analytical tee forthe following po- ‘tion. Tam sure this wil bring both benefit and pleasure. This postion arose in Rossolimo- Nestle, Venice 1950. The American ‘grandmaster had just sacrificed the exchange twice over. These sacri- fices were based on intuition, but to some extent were backed up by con rete analysis. The point for us to ‘analyse is Black's obvious defence 23,8146 and also White's attacking answer 24 WhS (Translators note: In the sctwal game Nestler played 23,,.x45 which is considered a¢ better than 23.46 by Kotov inthe Soviet tournament book). ‘Does White win then? If he does, how ean we prove this by analysis? [must warn the reader that i will be far from easy fo work out all the possible defences and atacks, £0 {ake the trouble to spend a east half ‘an hour going through the text. To discover for yourself all Black's ‘possible defences and White's at. tacking replies will ake a great deal ‘oftime, but that isthe way th reader ‘should try to perfect his method of analysis! ‘White’ intentions are clear. If it were his move, then he coald play 25 Wh6! and force the win of queen, for knight as there is no other de- fence to the threat of 26 Dxi6+ (Q5..fuxd5 opens the 61-87 diago- nal and diasater follows again st 17). Hence 25 Wh isa threat which ‘must be defended against. How? First ofall, according to ous rle cof analysing all possbiies in tar, ‘we establish which are the candi- date moves, We must not skimp thie ob, but be very conscientious over {it Miss out some insignificant move and it might turn out to be the one that would save the game. We repeat the rule: candidate moves must be established straight away and they ‘must be clearly enumerated. This {ask cannot be split into parts by ex- mining one move fully and thea Tooking for the next one. This brings isorganisation to your thinking. ‘Without knowing how many candi- ate moves there are, you could de- ‘ote 100 much ime 10 one of them and when you finish examining its ramifications find that you just don’ Ihave enough time forthe other pos- sibiiues So let us enumerate ina system atic way all the candidate moves. It is not hard to find that Black's de- feasive chances are enhanced by these moves: I) 24,8; 2) 24.65, 3) 24,.f0xdS. But this isn't all. Co. ing deeper into the position we discover that there are many tricky points in playing a rook to e8, so as to meet 25 Ws by 25. Heb defend ing (6. So we add two more candi dates: 4) 24,-HaeB and 5) 24..2¢e8. ‘Before analysing, let ws chock to see if we have missed anything? Have you checked’? You're right, thre are ‘o other candidates, s0.0n to analy- 1) 24..deh8. Now 25 Whe is met bby 25.28 and the rook defends the crucial h7 square from g7. How can ‘will prove very handy to him in ‘ther variations too. The point of the ‘manoeuvre lies in the moves 25, heS! Wes 26 Be, Let us work ‘ut the consequences. If 26.65, 27 exdS attacks the queen a¢ wel (Greatening mate on h7. 26.28 27 xf) 28 Wes Hage 29 D7! is also a win. This positon ie quite prety, 129..WxeT then 30 x97 ‘Erg? 31 WcT wins, while any other 29h move is met by the decisive 30, 2M o 30 Dix. 2) 24..15. This defence looks very sound since Black's queen is ‘brought into the defence of his king: side. White, however, sll has a win The Tree of Anairis 28 though itis far from obvious, by 25 she5 (as before, the same leimo- fi) 25. Wes (itis not hard to see that all other queen moves lose at once) 26 WS+ 8 26.46 27 DeT+) ‘27 x81 We6 27 EXE is bad be- cause of 28 6 and now there is ‘Bo answer to the threat of 29 Wh attacking 7 and £8) 28 Weg6 ixg6 (28.46 29 a6 ZeB 30 De7 at tacking the bishop and threstening 31 Jaxe5#) 29 4.d6 and White gains ‘decisive material avanage. 3) 24. Bxd5 25 exdS. Mate on ‘bis deatened and Black has many defensive moves t9 choose from. ‘Will White force mate inthe end, oF ‘not? Thats the question we have to answer in ouranalysis. As the analy- Sis is complex we again proceed ax at the beginning and subdivide into the following five candidate moves: 3a) 25...fe8: 3b) 25.H0GR: 30) 25..BfcB; 34) 25.15; 3e) 25.04 ‘Letus now move along all the sub- ‘beaches of our tree of analysis. 3a) 25. fe 26 WahT+ 18 27 5 winning the queen '3b) 25.28 loses the queen ar before 3c) 25, 8. Now eS is guarded by the rook, but the simple 27 WS, threatening 28 Qxh74, forces the win asthe queen is now unguarded at d6, and 15 is thus ruled out 13d) 25.£5 26 x65. Now there are only two reasonable defensive (ries: 26.2008 and 26.46, 341) 26.2168 27 Sac8 Bacb 28 Watt ond 29 Wes 30 The Tree of Analysis 342) 26..n6 27 xno WI5 28 Weds the 29 Bes Wy? 30 2/61 We16 31 Whs+ and mate in two. Te is hardly any consolation for Black. that there ie another win by 30 ‘Whs+ and 31 206. Be) 25..04 26 Bes (5 27 Bxt5 is 28 Weis Gh 29 dts 16 30 We6 Ha7 31 Wah6+ gS 32 eo+ a7 33 Aixf6 forcing mate on BS ‘Thus the apparently sound defence ‘of taking off the knight and then ad- ‘vancing the pawn is refuted. There ‘remain two other main lines to con- sider 4) 24,Hae8 25 Ss Was (ter. wite after 25,..Wes 26 Whe Sixas 27 exd5 the queen is attacked) 26 ‘2x18. Now equally bad for Black ‘026. x8 27 Wh6 and 26...0205 27 Whe! Ext8 28 exa3 wit forced 5) 24_fe8 (cms out that this is the most stubborn defence and ‘White's win is achieved only after a ‘number of tricky points) 25 eS! ‘Wa (here, too, this particular retest is forced so a8 not to have the queen attacked by apawn ater 25.626 ‘Who SxS 27 exds) 26 bo! Was 27 oT! WS 28 Dxi6+ eg7 29 ‘B16! Teas to an amazing position Black loses in all variations, e.g 5a) 29..1d6 30 Wg5+ and now 30,.

    You might also like