Pawn Chains

SCHACHVERLAG u. VERTRIEB OLBRICH GmbH

WURZBURG 1994
CJP-Titclaufnahmc dcr Deutschen Bibliothek

C1"0uch, Colin:
Pawn Chains: The present book looks at one J1ar1icular tyrc 'lf pawn tormntion.
the central pawn chain , and \\ith various examples the various ways in which the
positions resulting from such a fonnation may be handled.
(Schachvcrlag u. Vcrtricb Olbrich Gmbll)
ISBN 3-929J24-10-S

ISBN 3-929324-10-5

0 1994 by Sc hachverlag Vertrieb Olbrich GmbH

u.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, magnetic tape. mechanicaL
photocopying. recording or otherwise, without J1rior permission in writing from the
publisher.
Designed by Raddatz, Gennany
Technical Editor: Alexander Kulagin, Jerzy Dobosz
Printed in Poland
£.ontentH

FOREWORD by Colin Crouch................................................................6

1.Pawns chains: the basics. . . ..... . . ..

... .. . ...... .. .... . ... . ............. . .. ... . . . . . . . . . . .. .9
Game 1 Korchnoi- Kasparov, Amsterdam 1991 .. .. . . . . ..... .. ..... ............. 14

2.The French is not the King's lndian . . . .......... .. . .. ... . . .. . . .. ..

.. .. .. . . . .. . . .. . . 19
...

Game 2 Abramovic- Kovacevic, Yugoslav Ch. 1989.......................... 22

Game 3 Gallagher- Crouch, Krumbach 1991 .. . . . ............ :.................25

3.Pawns or squares? ........................................................................... 30

Game 4 Larsen - Bareyev. Hastings 1990/91 ......................................32
Game 5 Nimzowitsch- Salwe, Car1sbad 1911 . . . .. . . . .... . ....... ............... . 38.

Game 6 Korchnoi- Geller, Moscow 197Q (1 st iiiei!\:,�. �c.ii-•c) . . . ... ... . 43

... ...

4.The Tarrasch French .......... . .... .. .... . .... 48 . ............................... ..............

Game 7 Ljubojevic- M.Gurevich, Linares 1991 .. . .. .49 ... .............. .... .......

Game 8 Pyda- Likavsky. Czechoslovakia 1991 ..................................53

Game 9 Smagin - Vaiser. Bamaul1984 . . . . . ... 60 .. . . .. . ...................... ... . . . ...

Game 10 Ernst- Crouch, London 1991 ...... . . .. .. 64 . ...... ................ .. ......... .

S.The unt>roken c:llain . .. .... .. .

. . ........... . .
.. . . ..... ........ .. .. . . . ......................... . .69
Game 11 Piket - Kasparov, Tilt>urg 1989 . . . .. 69 . . ..... . . .. . ... . ... . . . . ......... . .. . .

Game12 Cet>alo- Cvitan, Yugoslav Championship 1986 .................75

•.

6.The paradoxical push .... .... ..... . ...... 80

.. . .. ........ . . . . .... .. .
.. ...... . . .. .......... . .. . .

Game 13 Khalifman- Gelfand, Reggio Emilia 1991/92....................80

Game 14 Lobron - Renet, Novi Sad 1990 . . . . . 82 ...... . . . . . . .. ................ .... .

Game 15 Mircovic- Todorcevic. Yugoslav Championship 1991 . 85 .......

7.Biock and t>reak ............ ................... ...................... .. . . . ............ . . . . ..... 94

Game 16 Olafsson- Petrosian , Bled 1961 ..........................................95

Analytical exercises.........................................................................1 02

5
 The computer age has brought about a remarkable informa­
tion explosion in chess, and this has meant that a certain type of
writing, pioneered by lnformator, has becom e prevalent .
.. Languageless" notes, using sequences of moves and a range of
symbols, can be read by anyone, and can be stored in comput­
ers. The convenience of such notes can often hide the fact that
while it is possible to examine tactics {precise sequences of moves}
in great depth, it is made very difficult to write about strategy, xd6
for example says very little about why a weakness on d6 should
be a dominant feature of the position; to explain, one needs to
write notes in natural language.
Pawn structure lies at the heart of strategy, and thus to begin to
write about strategy it is necessary to write about particular types
of pawn structures. We can leave such generalities as ucontrol
the center", "develop your pieces", ..attack where your opponent
is weakest" for the relatively elementary texts; more specific ques­
tions need to be addressed. In the current book I examine the
types of position which result from when a pawn chain (d4, e5 v
d5, e6, or e4, d5 v e5, d6} is estab:ished in the center.
This was a natural starting point for me since when I started writ­
ing the book the French Defence was my front-line reply to 1 e4,
and since in the age of Kasparov many of the most interesting
theoretical debates and games are in the King's Indian.
I hope that other titles, covering other types of position will follow.
There is of course no single way of playing a pawn chain position,
and indeed games played in the French and the King's Indian
often appear as though they have nothing in common ... It is pre­
cisely this variety of different approaches which I wished to cover
in the illus&:rative games I have presented. Even sub-themes {e.g.
the battle for control of the d4 square in Fiench Defence) could
have books devoted to them, but in practice the strong player will
gradually acquire a stock of understanding of such themes.
All I can hope is that I have given the reader something to think
about.

6
As part of the basis for my own notes, I have of course made
much use of already existing notes, in lnfonnator or elsewhere.
Often even the best written notes leave questions unanswered,
and often published not�s can be dubious or quite simply wrong.
I have deliberately avoided entering analytical debates in the main
text, not through laziness. but because I felt it would be useful for
the reader himself or nerself to face the same analytical problems
that I faced when annotating the game. Thus at the end of the
book there is a series of about twenty analytical exercises for the
reader to try out.

London.Janua�. 1994

7
 1. Pa"·n Chains : how and why the basic struc­
The Rasles ture arises.
1- French Defence
At the heart of the opening Stage one - the small center
struggle in chess is the battle
for the center. Naturally, with The French Defence is the
players of similar strength, the best illustration of the small
opening battle is unlikely to be center.
resolved decisively; what in­
stead happens is that particu­ 1 e4 e6 2 d4 dS
lar types of opening battles
lead to particular types of
pawn structure, and that the
pawn structures which result
set the agenda for middle
game battle. In this book we
examine one typical pawn
structure, the central pawn
chain, we see how this struc­
ture arises, and we consider
t�.e typical middlegames which
Familiar enough, but what has
result. Most of the examples been happening?
are taken either from the
With his first move, 1 e4, White
French Defence or the King's
has laid claim to some space
Indian Defence, but the basic
in the center. Black has vari­
central formation can arise
ous ways in which to respond.
from other openings as well,
The .. classical" method would
for example the Ruy Lopez,
be for Black to stake an equi­
the Sicilian (particularly the
valent claim with 1 e5.
2 ...d6 3 Bb5+1ines), the Caro­
. . .

White· e sole advantage then

Kann (3 e5 lines), the Nimzo­
would be his extra move, and
lndian (where Black plays ... d6
he would use this advantage
and ...e5), the Hungarian, the
by trying to lay siege to the e­
Philidor, and many others be­
pawn, starting perhaps with 2
sides.
Nf3 (attacking) 2 ... Nc6 (de­
Firstly, we consider in detail
fending) 3 Bb5 (attacking the
9
defender).
Black has his center, but this
center can be attacked.
The small center approach !s
based instead on the idea of
creating a c entral strong­
point so secure that it can­
not possibly be overrun. In
the diagram position for ex­
ample, thera is simply no point
in trying to attack the d5
square; White must seek his
advantage in ether ways. The
most important point in his
favour is that he has an advan­
tage in space ; White has con­
trol and use of a central square
(e5) in the Black half of the
board, whereas Black has no
corresponding outpost in the
White half of the board. Note
however that Black is attack­
ing the White pawn on e4; this
creates some tension in the
central position.
In such position, with one
pawn being attacked by an­
other, there are three choices:
(I) Simplify by exchanging
pawns (3 exd5)
(II) Advance the pawn (3 e5)
(Ill) Maintain the tension by
protecting the attacked
pawn (3 Nc3; 3 Nd2)
10
With the second option, 3 e5
White can create a pawn chain
immediately; we shall consider
a little later why he generally
prefers not to. The third option
is the most common, and
takes the central battle to a
new stage.
Stage two - central tension.
3Nc3
White protects his attacked
pawn. Now Black must decide
whether to simplify by ex­
changing pawns (3 . ..dxe4), or
whether to add to the central
tension by a further attack on
e4 (3 ... Bb4; 3 ... Nf6).
After 3 ... dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 5
Nf3 Ngf6 Black's position is
perhaps sound enough, but
White has unquestio nably got
an advantage in space and
freer piece mobility. Black must
play carefully to equalize.
3 ... Nf6
Again White has a threefold
choice: simplify (4 exd5), ad­
vance (4 e5) or maintain the
tension (4 Bg5).
Simplification does not ach­
ieve very much here, but 4 e5
is a perfectly valid altemative
to the text move.
4 BgS Be7
Black in his turn maintains the
tension, which he could also
have done with 4 ... Bb4, meet-
ing 5 e5 with 5 ... h6 6 Bh4 (6
Bd2 is better) 6 ...g5.
He could also have relieved
the tension with 4 ...dxe4 5
Nxe4 Be7, more popular here
than on the previous move
since it is easier with the White
bishop already on g5 for Black
to offer exchanges to make his
position less cramped. After 4
. .. Be7 we reach a critical posi­
tion.
Stage three- formation of the
pawn chain.
White still has his three-way
choice, but his alternatives are
slowly diminishing; 5 exd5 of­
fers little, while the pressure on
the e-pawn is now strong en-
11
ough to force White into a de­
CISIOn.
Further protection of the e­
pawn gives White less than
nothing after 5 Bd3? Nxe4 6
Bxe7 Qxe7 (6 .. . Nxc3 7 Qg4
is unclear) 7 Nxe4 dxe4 8
Bxe4 Qb4+. White could keep
some tension by removing an
attacker of the e-pawn with 5
Bxf6 Bxf6 6 Nf3, but then d­
pawn comes under attack with
6 ...c5. Maybe White can try
to claim a tiny edge after 7
exd5 exd5 8 Bb5+ Nc6 9 dxc5
QaS 10 Na4, but after 10 0-. . .
0 or 10 .. Bd7 Black can cer­
.
tainly dispute this claim.
Really, 5 eS is the only way to
try for an edge.
5e5
Now the pawn chain has been
formed; White's pawns on d4
and e5 encounter Black pawns
on dS and e6. The next few
moves indicate how the strug­
gle might develop.
Stage four - s�ruggle over the
pawn chain (early stages)
5 Nfd7 6 Bxe7 Qxe7 7 f4
...
0-0
If immediately 7 .. c5? then 8
.
NbS is awkward.
8 Nf3 c S 9 Qd2 Nc6
The form of the struggle is
gradually becom ing clearer.
White has m ore space and his
pawns look imposing, but all
this gain of space is at the ex­
pense of compactness of stru­
cture. Black can attack the
central White pawnsl
The priority for Black is to at­
tack the base of the pawn
chain, the White pawn on d4.
Shoul d this pawn be dis­
lodged, the White pawn on eS
will be open to challenge with
a timely . .. f 6 . Quite often
White's d- and e-pawns will be
secure blockade of these dark
squares, than he will have the
advantage; Black for his part
can aim for counterplay along
both c- and f-files. This is one
way in which events can de­
velop from such a position;
other possibilities will be out­
lined in later chapters.
The small pawn center strat­
egy may also be employed in
queenside openings, although
it is not quite as easy for Black
to establish a stable d6-e5
center as to establish a d5-e6
center. The main line of the
King's Indian Defence leads
however to a pawn chain after
a phase of tension.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4
e4 d6 5 Nf3 0-0 6 Be.2 eS
i! �.-i 'iV !: l!t� :
1Ail.
' i.Q.il
I. 1.1·, i
I.
r, t\ ;�\ .
: t."'""\ ,:-,
f .
. (L_j 1-;1 I .

exchanged for Black's c- and I � i.\ ;� lS i\ 1\i

;: '-� ..

f-pawns, leaving Black with an i-£

l_ -
_A· �Y r/_!j
·--
.
--
gl ------"

isolated pawn couple on e6

and dS, and leaving the dark
squares on d4 and eS open for
occupation by pieces. Should
White be able to establish a
12
The small center established:
White cannot win a pawn here
because of 7 dxe5 dxe5 8
Qxd8 RxdB 9 Nxe5? Nxe4 and
Black is already better.
As in the French example,
White has three options here:
(I) Exchange with 7 dxe5
(7 ... dxe5 8 Qxd8 Rxd8
9 BgS!)
(II) Advance the pawn (7 d5)
(Ill) Maintain the tension
(7 0-0).
Again, as in the French De­
fence, White usually prefers
not to release the tension with
a pawn advance until abso­
lutely necessary.
7 0-0 Nc&
More pressure o� the d4
square; note how the fianche­
ttoed bishop on g7 adds to the
pressure. White must soon
make an important decision as
to how to handle the central
position.
Black can also play 7 ... Na6
(probably best met by 8 Be3)
or 7 ... Nbd7. The position af­
ter 7 Nbd7 (diagram) merits
•..
closer attention.
White can form a pawn chain
here with 8 d5?1, but it is not
advisable. Black replies with
8 . .. Nc5 9 Qc2 aS with a se­
cure queenside position.
13
(after 7 ... Nbd7)
Later Black will be able to set
in motion his thematic attack
on the kingside by preparing
.. .f5. White's d5 move sells
control of the c5 square far too
cheaply: similarly, if White
were to play e5 in the French
before Black has played ... Nf6,
Black would have extra defen­
sive options based on ... Nge7
or ... Nh6. keeping an eye on
the correspondingly important
f5 square.
With d5 in the King's Indian,
or e5 in the French, White
guarantees himself a spatial
advantage on his leadingflank.
This spatial advantage ne­
eds to be converted into an
attack. The most appropri­
ate form of attack is the
pawn storm.
In the King's Indian, White pre­
pares to open lines with c4-c5;
in the French Defence the cor-
responding break is f4-f5.
If the b re akthr ough square
is well blockaded by Black,
then it is generall y prema­
ture for White to form the
pawn chain.
If 8 d5 is a poor response to 7
. N bd7, then what should
. .
but Black seems OK after 8
... Ng4 9 Bg5 f6 10 Bh4 g5 11
Bg3 Nh6.
The time is ripe however to
form the pawn chain; Black
cannot successfully blockade
c5.

White play instead? Remem­ 8 d51 Ne7

ber that even without the move
d5 White still has the advan­
tage in space (pawns on e4
and d4 versus pawns on d6
and e5), and as a result has
more freedom of action to
maneuver pieces behind his
pawn center. White has scope
for a greater number of con­
structive waiting moves than
Black. He should therefore Both players are losing! Black
play q ui etly and see what is positionally lost o n the
Black does. One possibility is queen side, but once. he has
8 Qc2 Qe7 9 Rd1 c6, and only ·· played .. .f5 and ... f4, \1\/hite is
now 1 0 d5. 10 .. Nc5 is inef-
.
positionally lost on the king­
fective, and 10 ... aS is weak- side. The result on the game
ening, so Black generally depends on which comes first;
chooses to close the queen­ Black's collapse on the queen­
side with 10 ...c5, after which side or White's collapse on the
White prepares to renew the kingside.
queenside attack with a3 and
b4. Ga•e I
After 7 . . N c6 (instead of 7
.
Korelanol • K•sparo"

. .. Nbd7) the d-pawn is under _ J\tDs&erd•• 1991

great pressure, and White has

no really effective way to play From the diagram we follow
quietly. 8 Be3 has been tried, the illustrative game Korchnoi-

14
Kasparov, Amsterdam 199 1.
One could fill a textbook on
King's Indian play from Kas­
parov's games alone.
9 Ne 1 Nd7 1 0 Be3
We shall not consider ques­
tions of opening theory too
deeply here; it is the general
strategic shape of the game
that is important. With the text
move White announces that
he is happy to allow Black to
get on with his pawn storm on
the kingside, so long as White
can have the queenside to
work on. A generation ago,
VVhite would usu;�lly have pre­
ferred to sides tep Black's
pawn storm with for examp�e
10 Nd3 f5 1 1 exf5 Nxf5 (11
.. gxf51?) 12 f3 Nf6 13 Nf2
Nd4, Gligoric - Fischer, Bled
1961. Black is comfortable
though.
10 f5 1 1 f3 f4 (diagram)
.. .
Extendind the pawn chain. It
would have been pointless to
play 1 1 .. .fxe4? since after 12
fxe4 all Black's attacking
chances on the kingside would
have vanished, while White,
with the d 5 pawn still firmly an-
15
chored, could continue to play
for a queens ide attack.
White's e4 is so firmly held as
to be virtually immune to at­
tack. Therefor Black gain s
space on the king side, and
prepares to prise open lines
against the White king with
...gS and ... g4. Fischer said of
this variation that ��Black's
kingside attack has practically
been worked out to a forced
mate", yet if White responds
vigorou sly enough o n t h e
queenside, a n ything could
happen - including a White vic­
tory:
12 Bf2
Here the bishop helps both in
defence and attack.
12 ...g5 1 3 a4
One cf Korchnoi's attempts to
enliven White's play. Previ­
ously the standard plan was to
roll away with b4 and c5, con­
tinuing perhaps with Rc1,
cxd6, a4, NbS, etc. But what
is White actually doing with his
b-pawn? Perhaps not very
much. Korchnoi reasons that
if he can force through c5 with­
out having to play b4 first, he
might be able to save an im­
portant tempo . In su ch a
sharp variation, every tempo
c ounts. Both sides must
strive to deplo y their pieces
with the utmost efficienc y.
13 ... Ng6
Black gets on with his plan. If
13 ...aS 14 Nd3 (preparing cS)
14 ...b6 15 Be1! with advan-
tage to White, Kozul - Popovic,
Yugoslavia 199 1. The idea is
to clear the f2 square for
knight, making it difficult for
Black to play ... g4 ( ... hS is met
by h3), while also preparing to
play NbS and b4, opening up
lines on the queenside. De­
fence combined with attack.
14 Nd3 Nf6 15 c5 h5
(diagram)
16 h3
16
White understands that he
cannot stop ...g4 forever, but
at least he can make it more
difficult to play. Black must now
rearrange his kingside pieces
to prepare for his natural
break. This gives White a little
more time to prepare his own
attack.
In an earlier game, Larsen -
Torre, Bauang, 1973, this po­
sition was reached by transpo-
··sition {13 Nd3 Nf6 14 c5 Ng6
1S a4 hS) and Whi te pro­
ceeded with rather less sub­
tlety: 16 cxd6? cxd6 17 aS g4
18 NbS. (diagram)
White has ·won" on the queen­
side, but now 18 . .g3! for
.
once, the effect of the exten­
sion of the pawn chain is to
open the position up. If now 19
hxg3- fxg3 20 Bxg3 h4 21 Bf2
Nh5 fol lowed perhap s by
... Qg5, and Black's kingside
attack must surely be decisive.

In the game White tried 19
Bxa7, but Black still had his at­
tack: 19 . .. Nh7 20 h3 Qh4 21
Bb6 Bxh3 22 gxh3 Qxh3 23
Rf2 Nh4 24 Qf1 gxf2+ 25 Nxf2
Qg3+ 26 Kh1 and now simply
26 ... Nxf3 should win. After 26
... Rf6??, as played, White's
material loss suddenly looked
like a formidable sacrifice: 27
Nh3! Ng5 28 NxgS QxgS 29
Nc7 Ng6 30 Qh3 and White
later won the game.
Back to the Korchnoi - Kaspa­
rov game, and 16 h3.
16 .. . Rf7 17 c6 (diagram)
An incredibly sharp position,
which Kasparov tends to skate
over in his analysis in Infer­
mater. It is a good exercise for
a player of any strength just to
get out the pieces, set up this
position and analyze it for an
hour or ai1 evening. to try to
l -- P;.w., Chams
find out what is happening
here.
17 ... g4? is obviously incorrect;
White has 18 fxg4 hxg4 19
cxb7 Bxb7 20 Bxg4.
Kasparov also questions 17
.. . Bf8 because of 18 NbS a6
19 Na7, an unusual maneuver
designed to exchange Black's
light squared bisnop and make
it more difficult for him to play
... g4. Black can vary however
with 18 ... b6, intending to meet
19 aS with 19 ... g4 20 axb6
cxb6. What do you the reader
make of this position? Which
is more important - that White
has his protected passed
pawn? or that Black has al­
ready playe� ... g4? You will
soon come to appreciate that
White will have a few regrets
about the placement of his
knight on bS; if he should later
play fxg4 then ... Nxe4 could be
dangerous.
17
17 ... a5!? not be able to control the back
ranks and thereby press Black
Kasparov chooses a different i.'lto one small comer. And his
plan of defence. He is quite proud knight?
prepared to let White have a
passed a-pawn, provided he
can keep all entry squares on
the b-file under control.
Thus if White should try 18 b4,
Black is quite happy to play 18
... b6 19 bxa5 bxaS and if nec­
essary just let his a-pawn drop.

18 cxb7 Bxb7 19 b4 Bc81 20

bxa5 Bh61 21 Nb4?
Too greedy. Kasparov sug­
gests that White had to try 21
a6 Bxa6 22 Nb4 Bc8 with an
unclear position. One passed
a-pawn is enough I Maybe this
is another position for the re­
ader to examine more carefully
Merely a statue; it does noth­
ing to protect the White king.
23 fxg4 hxg4 24 hxg4
Or 24 Bxg4 Nxg4 25 hxg4 f3
with a winning attack.
24 . Bg5 25 Bf3 Qh6 26 Re1
..

(Exercise 2) . I suspect that

most strong players would
rather be Black here.
21 ...g4 22 Nc6?1 Qf8
(diagram)
White's only hope is to escape
with the king via e2. He is just
a little bit too slow.
26 . Nh4! (diagram)
. .

White bangs in his horse on To meet 27 Kf1 with 27 ... Nxf3

c6, just to show how much
ground he has taken on the
queenside.
Yet does it really matter? White
is not going to queen. He will
18
28 gxf3 and a piece sacrifice
on g4. Black's pawn roller has
done its job; now it is the turn
of the piece mass to weigh in.
Should White play quietly,
... Rh7 will follow.
27 Bxh4 Bxh4 28 g5
A vain attempt to divert Black's
attention from the h-file. 28 Kf1
offers m ore resistance, but
Kasparov points out that Black
is winning after 28 ... Nxg4! 29
Bxg4 (29 Ke2 Ne3 etc.) 29
... Bxe1 30 Bxc8 Qh1+ 3 1 Ke2
Qxg2 + 32 Kxe 1 (32 Kd3
Qg3+) 32 .. .f3.
28 Qxg5 29 Re2 Ng4 30
...
Rb1 Bg3 31 Qd3 Qh4 White
resigns.
2. The French Is �ot
T•e King's Indian
In the Korchnoi - Kasparov
game, Black was attacking on
a very narrow front, with only
one possible pawn break, and
yet his attack succeeded.
White was operating on a bra-
19
ader front, which in theory
should give him more scope
for maneuver and the opening
up of lines, and yet his attack
was only partially successful;
he took comniAte control of the
queenside, and yet there was
little he could do with this con­
trol. So why the difference?
The answer lies in the place­
ment of the kings; Black's
kingside attack is potentially a
mating attack: whereas White
is playing for lesser stakes, the
Black king being far away from
the firing line. Black's plan of
playing ...f4 and aiming for a
break with ...g4 (even though
it sacrifices a pawn) would not
look so impressive if the White
king were nowhere in sight.
What of the French Defence?
Outside the Winawer Variation
(1 e4 e6 2 d4 dS 3 Nc3 Bb4,
often with later . .. Bxc3+),
where the doubled White c­
pawn changes the strategic
complexion of the position, it
is rare for Black to play .. c4.
.
Either the move is so strong
that White will not allow it, or
the move is irrelevant to the
needs of the position. There
are few intermediate cases.
Consider for example the fol­
lowing sequence:
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4
e5 Nfd7 5 f4
•than the b attie for e�i in
. .
Already we have almost a mir­
ror image of the King's Indian
pawn structure. White is aim­
ing to gain space on the
kingside; Black is aiming for
queenside counterplay. There
are however two important dif­
ferences from the Kina's In­
dian, one of which w�rks in
W hite's favour, and one of
which works in Black's favour.
Black's problem is that to try
to castle queenside and tuck
his king behind a fianchettoed
bishop would be more time­
consuming than the corre­
sponqing plan, involving king­
side castling, in the King's In­
dian. By the time that Black
has played . . . b6, . .. Bb7, ...c5,
. . . N c6, . . . a6 (to circumvent
Nb5), ... Qc7, ...0-0-0, . .. Kb8,
etc., White will be away on the
kingside.
20
In compensation however,
Black will be able to create
pressure on the base of the
pawn chain with ... Qb6, a plan
which is simply not available
in the King's Indian. The battle
for the d4 square in the French
is likely to. be more intense
.. "
.
th
�
;
- .._.._. .__,.__
.
King's Indian.
5 ... c5 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 Be3 aS
7 ... cxd4 is also possible,
meeting 8 Nxd4 with 8 ... Bc5.
The immediate 7 ...Qb6 has a
slightly suspect reputation;
Black has to sacrifice a piece
for thr&a pawns after 8 N a4
Qa5+ 9 c3 cxd4 10 b4 Nxb4
11 cxb4 8xb4+ 12 Bd2 Bxd2+
13 Nxd2 g5, but might have
sufficient play. ·
8 Qd2 b5
Here no strong player '.vould
contemp la te 9 0-0-0?? Tnis
move would be p ositional l y di­
sastrous; Black plays 9 .. . c 4
an d prepares to give check­
mate.
White must therefore try to find
other ways to make progress.
In A nand - Dreyev, 4th match
game, Madras 1991, W h i te
tried 9 h4 Bb7 10 h5?!, but with
the central position still unre­
solved, this proved extrava­
gant: 1 0 ... b4 11 Na4 and now
11 .. . cxd4 was good, but 11
. . . Nxd4! 12 Nxd4 cx d4 13
Bxd4 Bc6 would have been
even better. Not however 11
. .. c4? 12 b3 when the stabiii­
zation of the center (d4 is no
longer under pressure) will
greatly assist in the deve lo p ­
ment of White's kingside ini­
tiative. Black has n o compen­
sating initiative on the queen­
side; his pawns are advanced,
but they do not really attack.
A more common respons e 1s
9 dxc5 Bxc5 10 Bxc5 Nxc5
when the position looks as
m uch like a Sicilian as a
French.
1 1 Qf2 Qb6 12 Bd3
21
In this position Black should be
OK. but he needs to be a bit
careful. Note how the ex­
cha n ge of pawns in the cen­
ter has shifted the emphasis
away from pawn play and on
to p·iece play. For example, if
Black castles here. V\'hite is
itch:�g to play 13 Bxh7+ (ana­
lytical exercise: is 12 .. . 0-0
playable here? what happens
with best play?). Even if Black
delays castings until .a safer
mo m ent . White can play for a
kingside attack with pieces.
A gam e Mokry - Eruk, Haifa
1989, continued 12 ...b4?! 13
Ne2 aS 14 0-0 Ba6 15 Kh1
Bxd3 16 cxd3 Rb8 17 Rad1!
0-0 18 Qh4 f6 19 Ng3 and
White had some irritating, but
not yet decisive. kingside pres­
sure.
Perha ps Black too would have
done better to play with pieces
r a ther than pawns: 12 . .. Rb8!
13 0-0 Nb4 14 Rad1 Na4! 15 tiates the exchange.
Nxa4 bxa4 and because of the
pressure on the b-pawn, White
has nothing better than 16 b3
with equality, Bareyev - King,
Hastings 1990/91.
12 .. . Nxd3+? is a positional
blunder; after 13 cxd3 the
Black bishop is by the worst
minor piece on the board; it will
be able to attack nothing.
All the above is far removed If White exchanges with dxc5,
from the violent attacks on the d4 becom es an---empty square,
- �--------=-
a lot of ten!!Q.!1_jQJtut��nter is
---

opposite flanks characteristic

of the King's Indian or the Si­ ·r�!������-�--�d WQ.ttfi l§I�IayJWJ.
cilian, yet it only takes a slight ��L� ��� ���1Q..I1�1, ���-
..
difference in move order to If as here Black starts the ex-.....

make a big difference in the �hange wit� ... cxd4,.. then the
character of the game. d4 square becomes occupied.
Black then Qressurjz'!s�_tb.�
Ganae 2
Abramovlc Ko"'acevlc
-�cupying that squ,.:
p_i_���-�
.C!!e.,.
•

Yugoslav Ch. 1989

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4
e5 Nfd7 5 f4 c5 6 Nf3 Nc6 7
Be3 cxd4 8 Nxd4 a6 9 Qd2
Bc5 (diagram)
\ cramping effect on Black. The
In such systems it is inevitable
that Black's c-pawn will at
some stage be exchanged for
White's d-pawn, the base of
his pawn chain.
It makes a difference though,
whether Black or White ini-
22
It is not so easy for White to
move the knight from d4 -
White must for examJ,Jie watch
out for ... f6- but for as long as
- .
the knigh t can be safe ly main -
tained on d4 it has a genuinely
center is in effect sti�l blocked
by a pawn chain, even though
part of White's chain happens
o be a knight! With the center
blocked, paw n play on the
flanks becomes the indicated
strategy.
1 0 0-0-0 0-0 11 Kb1
1 1 Nb3 is possible, but decen­
tra l i ze s t h e k n i g ht: .B l a c k
avoids the exchan ge of bish­
ops wi th 11 Bb4 or 1 1 .. . Be7
. . .
11 ... Nxd4 1 2 Bxd4 b5 1 3 g 4
Still paying the blocked center
strategy, although may be the­
re was a strong case for emp­
tying the d4 square by 1 3 Bxc5
followed by 1 4 Q e3 or Qf2.
White's most effective strategy
in the French is often to play
solidly, gently pre s sing, rather
than relying on all-out attack.
To be firmly holding · the da(k
squares and to be making it
difficult fo r Bl ack's queen's
bishop to get into play - that is
eno ug h to cau s e defensiva
headaches.
1 3 . .. b4 14 Ne2
If 14 Na4 Bxd4 1 5 Qxd4 f6 !
and suddenly Black is the one
attacking on the kin gside. The
destruction of the White half
of the pawn chain ! 1 3 h4 (in­
stead of 1 3 g4?! ) would have
avoided this particular p rob
lem.
14 .. . a5 15 Bg 2 Ba6
The first sign of real progress:
Black is preparing to exchange
his bad b i s h o p for W h i te's
much more useful knight.
16 Bxc5 Bxe21
All Black's efforts would have
been wasted after 1 6 . . . Nxc5
1 7 Nd4! Qc7 1 8 Qe3. White's
d4 square would then be com­
pletely secure, and occupied
b y a powerfu l kn i g ht . H i s
spearhead pawn on e5 would
a l s o be co mplete ly s ecu re
(with . . .f6 being ineffective) ,
and this gives him the oppor­
tunity to work on a pawn storm
on the king side. Such a storm
would be as forceful as any
queenside pawn storm. Such
a storm would be as forceful
­
as any queenside pawn storm
in the King's Indian, and would
be doubly effective in that the
23
 Black king i s fixed in the
storm's path. Black's attack on
the queenside would be puny
in comparison.
17 B xf8?!
White misjudges the pace of
the position. Kovacevic gives
.....
17 Qxe2 Nxcs; 8 Qe3 Qc7 19
Rhe1 Rfc8 20 f5 Nd7 21 Rd2
Qd8 as .. unclear". It may look
as though Black is still on the
defensive, out once he has
played ... N b6 that impression
will change.
17 B xd118 B xg7 B xc2+ 19
...
Q xc2 ReS 20 Qd2 Kxg7
A lot has changed in the few
moves. Would it be too cat­
egorical to suggest that it is be­
cause White no longer con­
trols d4 in any meaningful sort
of way that Black has the ad­
vantage? There are other fac-
24
tors as well. Although White's
kingside pawns look danger­
ous, Black's queenside pawns
are in fact farther advanced
and he already has control of
an open file leading directly to­
wards the White king.
Should White oppose rooks on
this file, as is probably correct,
Black will still have the better
endgame: 21 Rc1 h6 followed
by . Rxc1+ and ... Qb6. Black
. .
would have three main advan­
tages in the endgame: his
passed d-pawn, the fact that
his knight would have more
scope than the White bishop,
and the weakness of White's
kingside pawns, especiaily the
f-pawn.
Not liking this, White plays for
an attack.-
21h4?1 Qc7 22 h5 h6 23 Bf3
a4 24 gS
The endgame is lost: 24 Rc1
Qxc1+ 25 Qxc1 Rxc1+ 26
Kxc1. (diagram)
And now Black destroys the
last remnants of the White
pawn chain with 26 .. .f6!
(a move you will see often in
later chapters). 27 exf6+ Kxf6
28 Kd2 Nc5 29 Ke3 (had
White gone into the endin� a
n\ovu uarlier, with 23 Rc1 in­ 28 Qxc1 Rxc1 + 29 Kxc1 bxa2
P4tnnd of 23 Bf3, . Na4 would
. . and queens.
11nw hnve been playable) 29

,e:il �iO b x a 3 hxa3 31 Kd4 (3 1 At one level, a typical g a me

r,d:lloses to 31 . . d4 and . . . e5)
. with players castling on oppo­
:\ 1 N b3+! 32 Kc3 N c 1 33
Kb4 Nxa2+ 34 Kxa3 Nc1 fol­
lowed by . . . Nd3 (variation by
Kovacevic) .
site sides and attacking furi­
ously. At a deeper level, no­
tice how the fortunes of the
game fluctuated according to
the degree of control White
kept on the d4 square . We
shall cover this subject in more
detail in the next chapter. Be­
fore that we consider one of
the rare examples i n wh ich
Black ca n treat the F re nch
Defence in the manner of the
King's Indian.

Game 3
24 hxg5 25 Rg1 b 3
... 26
Gallagher Cro•eh
Rxg5+ Kh8 27 Rg2
•

Krunabaeh 1891

White also loses after 27 axb3 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4

axb3 28 Bd1 Qc4 29 Rg3 Nc5 Bg5 Be7 5 e5 Nfd7 6 Bxe7
followed by . . . Qe4+. Qxe7 7 f4

The game pawn structure as

in the previous game, but with
the dark squared bishops al­
ready exchanged. White's ba­
sic aim with this early simplifi­
cation is to take some of the
s�ing out of the battle for the
d4 square; there is going to be
no tension, for example , be-
27 ... Qc1 +I White resigns.
25
tween a Black bisho p on c5
and a White bishop on e3. Fur­
ther more, the Black queen on
e7 is not particularly well pla­
ced if queenside pressure is
the aim; b6 is the natural de­
veloping square. The immedi­
ate attempt to rectify the situ­
ation by 7 . . Qb4? i s easily re­
.
p u l sed: 8 a3 ! a n d if 8 . Qx
. .
b2?? 9 Na4 traps the q u een.
7 ... 0-0 8 Nf3 c5 9 Q d2
9 dxc5 is perhaps more stan­
dard . With the text White tries
to keep the Black q ueen away
from c5.
9 ... Nc6 1 0 0-0-0?1 c41
A strong move u nj u stly ne­
glected by theory as a result
of a twenty year old game lost
by Black through a positional
blunder! My own analysis had
convinced me Black·s attack
26
wa s s l i g htly q u ic k e r th a n
White's.
For 1 0 . cxd4? see the Larsen
. .
- Bareyev game in the next
chapter.
11 NbS RbB!
My attention wa s drawn to this
variation by a passing mention
of this position by Dolmatov,
who noted that White was bet­
ter after 1 1 . . a6 �2 N d6 . Why·
.
though should Black waste a
tempo with . . . a6 when White
is planning to play Nd6 any­
way? It is more im porta nt for
Black to unravel his queens ide
pieces, and to be prepare d for
immediate attack as soon as
the White knight leaves b5.
1 2 g4-Nb6 1 3 Nd6 Bd7
(diagram)
Black's plan beg i n s to take
s h a p e ; h e i11te n d s to p l a y
. . . NcB, and if White exchanges
or c8, he wil l recapture with
the king's rook, leaving rooks
on both b- and c-files to back
up the pawn storm.
White's kingside pawns are in
fact farther advanced than the
Black q ueen side pawns , but
are l e s s well s u p ported by
pieces. Thus 1 4 f5 is met by
1 4 . . .f6 ! a nd Black is the one
to benefit from the opening up
of lines on the kingside, for ex­
a m p l e 1 5 Q f4 N c8 ! and all
lines look good for Black (in
lnformator I g ave 16 fxe6
Nxd6 here; a slip of the pen !
1 6 . . . fxe5 wins of course).
A radical demonstration of the
power of the ... f6 break, made
even more effective by the un­
prot�cted position of the knight
on f3.
1 4 h4 NcB 1 5 f51eads to a po­
sition from Kapengut- Weste-
27
rinen, Vi lnius 1 96 9 ; the actual
move order after 1 0 c4 was
. . .
1 1 h4 Rb8 1 2 Nb5 N b6 1 3 g4
Bd7 1 4 Nd6 NcB 1 5 f5.
Here 1 5 . . .f6 ! is the thematic
move , when it i s Black, n ot
White, who will be a ble to take
advantage of the o pened lines
on the kingside.
Black is better. In the Kapen­
gut - Westerinen game how­
ever, Black snatched the pawn
with 1 5 . . . Nxd6? , the conse­
quences being 1 6 f6! gxf6 1 7
exd6 Qxd6 1 8 Qh6 Qe7 1 9 gS!
f5 20 h5 f6 21 Rg1 KhB 22 Nh4
Be8 23 g6 (diagram)
23 . . . Rg8 24 Bh3 Qg7 25 Qe3
hxg6 26 Nxg6+ Bxg6 27 Rxg6
Qf7 28 Rh6+ Kg7 29 Rg 1 + Kf8
30 Rxg8+ Qxg8 (30 . . . Kxg8 31
Qg3� Kf8 32 Rh S + Ke7 33
Qc7 mate) 3 1 Rxf6+ Ke7 32
Rg6 Qf7 33 Qg5+ Kd6 34 Rg7
QeB 35 Qf4+ e5 36 Q h6+ Qe6
37 Rg6 Black resigns.

A punchy attack by White, but
with just a little care by Black it
could h ave been repulsed be­
fore it started . I n the Fre nch
Defe n ce B l ack must, if he
can, blunt the spearhead of
the White pawn chain on eS,
otherwise he is g oing to get
overrun on the kingside.
Back to the 1 991 game.
14 c3 Nc8 1 5 Nxc8 Rfxc8 1 6
Qc2
1 6 . f6!
..
Yet agai n , Black plays a well-
28
timed defe nsive move on the
king side , and succeeds in slo­
wing the op ponent's attack to
a crawl.
Ng5 is prevented, and there is
no obvious way for White to
advance his kingside pawns to
batter the Black defences.
When both sides are attack­
ing on opposite sides of the
board , as quite often happens
when pawn chains are length­
ened , the principle of m i ni­
mum defence becomes im­
portant. Most of your moves in
such situations should be at­
tacking m oves, but you should
play just enoug h d efens ive
moves to s low your opponent
down on the flank where he is
attacking. Play too many de­
fensive moves and you will
never get your own attack go­
ing (and fu rthermore it is un­
likely that you will be able to
hold off your opponent's attack
in the long run) . Play too few
.defensive moves and you will
lose - very quickly!
Let us suppose that it takes
three moves to set up a really
big threat ; c3, Qc2 and N g 5 to
threaten Qxh7+. The kingside
is not to be defended in the
long run, so it is not worthwhile
to play a series of fussy l i ttle
defensive moves. It is better
just to pla y one defe ns ive
move - the one preventing the
m ove wh i ch creat e s a b i g
threat. I n this case, it i s better
to prevent Ng5 rather than to
find a c u re for Ng5 once it has
been pla yed . By limiting your
own d ef e n s ive moves to a
minimum . you are giving your­
self more time to develop your On 21 bxc3? Nxb4 is crushing .
own attack. N ow Black must be a bit care­
ful, otherwise the win will slip.
17 h4 b5 18 Kb1?
21 ... Nxb4
A surpri se. The king decides
not to d esert his burning ca­ The endgame after 2 1 . . . Ne5?!
stle ; a m i s placed sense of ho­ 22 Qa3 Nxf3 23 Qxf3 Qxb4 2A
nor! H iding in the forest with Qb3 ! is not particularly clear.
Kd2 a n d Ke 1 offered bette r Had Whit� played 20 Qxc3 im­
defensive chances; the gate­ mediately, without inserting the
way o n b2 could have been pawn exchange 20 exf6 gxf6,
protected by Rh2. Too many then 20 Nxe5 would be a
. . .

defensive moves? Maybe, but captu re . and Black would have

Black's attack is getting too had a clear extra pawn for the
dang erous to ignore. endgame.

18 ... b 4 19 cxb4 c3 2 2 Q a3 Q d6!

Overe laborate. The straight­ The or:-ly clear way. Now the
forward 19 Nxb4 20 Qc3
. . .
f4 square must fall. White the­
Nxa2 21 Kxa2 Rb3 followed by refore seeks counterplay, but
. . . Rxf3 i s an easy technical Black! having control of more
.
w1n. squa res! is quicker.

20 exf6 gxf6 21 Q xc3! 23 Bd3 Q xf4 2 4 Rc1 KhS!

29
So that Bxh 7 is not check. Now
. . . Q xf3 a n d . . . Q e 3 a re rea l
threats.
2 5 Rxc8+ Rxc8 26 Rf1
26 Qxb4 Q xf3 wins for Black.
But now for something a bit
prettier.
26 Bb51 27 BxbS Qe4+ 28
...
5d3 N x d 3 29 Nd2 Qe2 30
QaS Qxf1 + White resigns.
3. Pawns O r Sqaares?
By advancing a pawn in the
center to form an i nterlocking
pawn cha i n . White i nd isput­
ably lays claim to more terri­
tory i n the center. The extra
space for White is perhaps not
s o i m p orta nt; w h a t re a l l y
counts i s Black's lack of space.
If for example Black's pawn
are pinned down to e6 and d5
by the White p awns on e5 and
30
d4, it i s difficult for Black to
deve lop his bishop on cB , or
to move pieces across from
the Gueenside. One way for
Black to deal with this problem
is, a s we h ave already seen,
to bypass the Wh ite pawn
chain with . . . f5-f4 in the King's
I ndian, or, more occasionally,
by . . . c5-c4 in the French. The
skeletc:>n position in the dia­
gram may then be reached.
Ea ch s ide s pe arhead s h i s
pawn chain with a pawn on the
fifth. giving perhaps an i nitia.l
impression of symmetry and of
e q u a l i ty of space . Wh ite's
spea rhead however is in the
center, whereas Black's is on
the fla n k. Laterally therefore
White has more space; he can
develop his attack on a wide
front (a, b, c, d files) whe reas
Black must work in restricted
territory (f, g, h files). For Blac�
this i s quite a handicap, and
for the most part the bypass­
ing maneuver is worth trying
only if the White king presents
a tempting target (as i n the
Korchnoi - Kasparov and Ga­
llagher - Crouch games). I n the
French Defence, this target is
usually not there .
A more common plan i n the
French is a direct att�ck on the
White pawn ch ain. The ad­
vanced pawn on e5 is of co­
urse the real long-term target,
as that is the pawn which is
doing the most to cramp Black,
but no real progress is made
if B l ack attacks s o l e l y the
pawn on e5, as it is well pro­
tected by the d4 pawn. Fir�tly
B l ack must u n d e rm i n e the
base of the pawn chain wit:-.
. . . c5.
To this attack White has two
basi c res ponses. O n e i s to
play . . . c3, preserving the pawn
chain with pawns.
After . . . cxd4, cxd4 White's d­
pawn is effectively isolated .
(diag ram)
Black has various strategic op­
ti on �open with th is type of
pawn formation, usually involv­
ing some combination of direct
pressure against the d-pawn,
play along the open c-file, and
. . .f6 break, opening up the f-
31
file.
A more detailed discussion will
follow in the next chapter.
There is no reason however
for Black to be terrified by this
formation.
White's othe r option is to omit
c3 and to prepare to recapture
on d4 with a piece, as in the
Abramovic- Kovacevic game.
This does not mean that White
is abandoning the pawn chain ;
rather, he i s co nstr�cti ng a
piece-and-pawn chain. What
i s restrictin g Black is not so
much White's occupation on
d4 and e5, but rather his con­
trol of d4 and e5. If White, af­
ter an exchange of c-pawn for
d- pawn , ca n keep th e d 4
square firmly under his control ,
a n d c a n a l s o provid e a d ­
equate s u pp o rt for h i s e 5
pawn, then Black has a diffi­
cu lt position to play, as we
shall shortly see. If however
White loses his g ri p on d4 , a s 1 4 Bb5 Bd7 1 5 Rhe1 Rac8 1 6
in t h e Abramovic - Kovacevic Kb1 Black's pos ition is not par­
game, Black usually has chan­ ticularl y comfortabl e , i n this
ces for counterplay. line, White still has the squares
d4 and e5 wel l covered, while
Ganae 4 Black's backward pawn on e6
Larsen Bareye''
•
is u nder siege .
Bastings 1990191
Black decides instead to get
things moving on the q u een­
1 e4 eS 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 NfS 4 side. And White, what does he
Bg 5 Be7 5 e5 Nfd7 6 Bxe7 do? He must make every ef­
Qxe7 7 f4 0-0 8 Nf3 c5 9 Qd2 fort to consolidate his center,
NcS 10 0-0-0?! cxd4? ! to keep d4 and e5 under con­
trol . If he can do this, his cen­
10 ... c41 tralized pieces will help defend
the queenside and at the same
1 1 N xd4
time attack the kingside.

11 ... N b6 12 Qe3 Bd7

12 . . Qc5? ! 1 3 h4! Bd7 1 4 Rh3

.

Rac8 1 5 - Rg3 ! Nxd4 1 6 Rxd4

Qe7 1 7 h5 f5 1 8 exf6 Qxf6 1 9
Rg5 ! and Black's positio n i s
very u n pleasant, Short - Gul­
ko, H asting s 1 989/90.

The basic central structure is

n ow estab l is hed . Black here
has to decide whether to base
his hopes on an attack on the
q u e e n si d e , o r wh eth er h e
s ho u ld attack th e Wh ite e­
pawn with 1 1 . f6 Here 1 1 .f6
. . . ..

just creates weaknesses; af­

ter 1 2 exf6 Qxf6 1 3 g 3 ! Nb6

32
The maneuvering of the \/Vhite
rook is attractive. From h3 it
protects the White queen on
e3, thus unpinning the knight
on d4. From g3 it pressurizes
the Black king, the move 17 h5
forcing B lack to move his t­
pawn at an incon venient time.
After an excha n ge on f6, the
e5 square is open to the White
pieces, and White's Rg5 move
consolidates White's hold on
the critical square .
Fi rm co ntro l o f d4 a n d e5
with pieces i s least a s effec­
tive as o c cu pati o n w i th
pawns.
1 3 Kb1 Qc5 14 h4 Rac8
1 4 . . . NaSI?, a s suggested by
La rse n , is a n a lte rnative. If
B lack chooses this plan , he
m ust do so while the White
queen is still u n protected .
1 5 RhJ (diag ram)
As in the Short game. How­
ever, White has taken time out
to play Kb 1 , and so Black has
an extra half-tempo to p lay
with.
15 ... Na5?
3- Pawn Chains
A miserable little move of the
type which leaves the French
Defence player so often wear­
i n g a gloomy counte n ance .
Black makes a gesture o n the
queenside, but White can im­
mediately force a n exchange
of queens with 1 6 Nb3. This,
as we shall see, accentuates
White's central advanta g e ;
without the queens Black has
little active play on the queen­
side and he 3till has to decide
I
what to do with his bishop on
d7.
So oftere i n t h e C l a s s i c a l
French it seems that Black is
condemned if he exchanges
queens (a bad endgame) and
condemned if he leaves the
queens on (a kingside attack) ;
and indeed if Black rem ains
passive, then he is h eading
quietly for a loss. To defend,
he must play actively, take ev­
ery possibl e tactical opportu-
33
nity that a rises, before White
can lay the b i g squeeze o n
h i m . A n ifty . . . f6 at the right
time can work wonders, and
h e re is o n e such moment -
m aybe. Ou r fourth readers
�,..�.-cl�c i.:. &.u ct11alyze the po­
sition which results after 1 5
. f6.
. .
Larsen passes over this pos­
sibility without comment!
1 6 N b3 1 Qxe3 1 7 Rxe3
What a contrast to the position
which coul d h ave been re­
ached after 15 .f6 1 6 exf6 e5!
..
White has a stable positional
advantage. There i s no single
feature of h i s position that one
could point to as causing over­
whelming problems to Black,
but there are l ots of little things
which irritate Black.
- Black's bishop is by a long
way the wo rst minor piece
34
on the board . It has little
scope for movement at pre­
sent, and even if the p osi­
tion opens up, it will h ave
little to attack.
- White has firm control of the
dark squares in the center,
with the empty d4 square be­
ing a useful outpost, and the
pawn on e5 cramping Black.
- White has extra control spa­
ce on the kingside, again be­
cause of his pawn on e5.
Black must always beware
an attack on this part of the
board.
- It is difficult for Black to cen
tralize h is king, because of
th� potential weaknes s of
the kingside.
What con nects all these ad­
vantages? They are features
of a position where White has
succes sfu l ly mainta i n ed his
d4/e5 s tron g p o i nts i nto an
endgame. Furthermore it is all
gain; White has no real weak­
nesses for Black to attack.
17 ... Nac4
1 7 . Nxb3 1 8 axb3 m akes it
. .
even more difficult for Black to
gain counterplay; how does he In such posi ti ons White should
bring either of his minor pieces n ever be rel u ct a n t to e x ­
into the game? change bishop for knight; af­
ter all, the White king's bishop
1 8 Rf3?1 is not involved in th. e struggle
for the dark squares; the Blac�
i...at ::,�n �uyy�SL� u·aat 1 8 Ree1 , knight is, though.
keeping pressure on the e-file.
would have bee n more harmo­
nious. Maybe d uring the game
he wanted to avoid having to
spend a tempo p rotecting the
f-pawn with g3 (after 1 8 Ree 1
f6 a� �xi6 Rxf6 20 g3), but this
is not so mething which should
worry White; he can besiege
the e-pawn with Nd4 and Bh3.
If after 1 8 Ree1 Black plays Even so, White would have
passively, th9n White could liked to have played 2 1 g3, but
quietly build up with g3, Nd4, here the drawback of his 1 8th
Bh3, etc. , and leave Black to move shows itself; Black has
worry about the possibility of 2 1 .. . e51 (22 Nxd5 exd4 ) .

f5. Or maybe he could keep

something else up his sleeve . .
21 ... Nxc4
There is no h urry; Black has
no play. 2 1 . . . dxc4 22 Rdf1 keeps uo
the pressure for Wh ite.
18 ... f6 1 9 exf6 Rxf6
22 b3 Nd6
If 1 9 . . . gxf6, White has a stan­
dard reply - 21 f51 wrecking Again if 22 . Nb6 2 3 Rdf1 , or.
. .

Black's pawn formation. even better, 23 Nce2 followed

by Re3. Not thoug h 23 N de2.
20 Nd 4 RefS (diagram) when 23 . . . e51 is again trouble ­
some.
21 Bxc4

35
23 Re3
Yet again 23 g3 is met by 23
. . . e5! White just n eeds to play
one little pawn move , g3, be­
fore he i s in com plete posi­
tional control again.
23 ... bS?
Black ought not to give White
time to consolidate. He can
probably scrape a d raw by liq­
uidating weaknesses with 23
... Rxf4 24 Nxe6 Bxe6 25 Rxe6
N e4 26 Nxd5 Rxh4, as 27 Re7
can be met by 27 . . . Rf7 .
24 a3 a5?
Still 23 . . . Rxf4.
25 g3
At last!
25 ... b4 26 a xb4 axb4 27 Na2
36
Rb8 28 Kb2 Ne4
Presumably the position that
Bareyev been aiming for. He
has blocked off the e-file, and
has reached e4 just in tim e to
keep the knight on a2 out of
the game (29 Nc1 Nc3 etc.).
While Black's b-pawn is obvi­
ously week, it is surprisingly
difficult for White to get a rock
to d4, since 29 Ne2 is met by
29 . . . Bb5. The White rooks
have no inroads e ither. So
Black is safe?
29 Nf31
No. White takes advantage of
a tactical trick (29 . Nxg3? 30
. .
N e5 Nf5 31 Nxd7 N xe 3 32
Rd3!) to gain time to shift the
knight to the other critical dark
square in the center, e5, o r to
challenge Black's own strong
knight with Ng5.
29 ... Be8 30 Ng5 B h5 3 1 Nxe4
Bxd 1 32 Nxf6+ gxf6 33 Rxe6
Kf7 34 Re3 Bh5 35 Rd3 Ke6
36 Rd4
The b:-pawn goes a s well, and
the Black bishop , although no
longer stuck behind pawns, re­
mains targetl ess.
36 ... Rg8 37 Nxb4 Bf3 38 Rd3
Be4 39 Re3 Kf5 40 Nc6 Black
resigns.
The b-pawn is ready to run.
Not quite the smo oth perfor­
mance as it appears to be at
first sight, and for that very rea­
son all the more instructive .
The blockade of d4 and e5
"hangs by a hair", to borrow a
p h ra s e fro m N imzowitsch .
If the b locka d e h ol d s , and
White can p e rm a n e ntly re­
strain the Black pawns on e6
(especially) and d 5 , without
allowing significant counter­
play e lsewhere , the n White
h a s every ch a nce of being
able to congratulate himself on
a smooth positional victory. Yet
the blockade is not always so
easy to maintain, p articularly
if Black is seeking active co­
unterplay.
Two lapses in concentration in
37
the Larsen - Bareyev g ame
co me p a rticu l a rly to min d .
Firstly there was Ba reyev:s fail­
ure to take a d vantag e of a
fleeting opportunity to play . . . f6
before White was prope rly co­
ordinated . H e could have bro­
ken the blockade and created
wild complications; instea d h e
subsided into a clearly infe rio r
position. Then Larsen retumed
the compliment with his care­
less 18 Rf3 ?! leaving several
possibilities open for tactical
breaks by Black with . . . e5; had
he secured the center by re­
treating the rook along the e­
file, and secu red the f-pawn
with an early g3, then Black's
chances of creating active play
would have been minim a l .
Our next game shows the d4
and e5 squares being cle a red
at a very early sta g e, a n d
White successful ly mai nta i n­
ing the blockade . It is of h i s­
torical interest i n that N i m­
zowitsch describes it as lithe
first in which my new phil oso:.
phy of the center was exhib­
ited". Chess historians , or h is­
torians of chess thought, may
di scu ss wh eth e r th e re a re
clear antecedents; the game
itself looks modern enough not
to be out of place here .
 Ganae 5
Nlm.w»wltseh • Salwe
Carlsbad 19 1 1

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3
Nc6 5 Nf3 Qb6 6 Bd3

At the moment the fashion­

able, and controversial move I

IS 6 a3 . White's intention is to
•

pre-e m pt Black's queenside

White's d-pawn is eviden tly
play with an early b4 (6 . . . Bd7
very weak, and should it drop,
7 b4), b ut the weakness of the
Black's d- and e-paw ns will
b3 square allows Black to ex­
beco m e a powerfu l mobile
tend the pawn chain with 6
force in the center. Black also
. c4, bypassing the d4 square.
has the potential for consid er­
· .

able press ure along the f-file,

6 Bd7?1
wh ere Wh ite's g4-g5 th ru st
...

has left m any weak squares.

More accurate is the immedi-
And White does not even have
ate 6 . . . cxd4 7 cxd4, and only
contro l of the eS square , gen­
then 7 . . . Bd7. The theory of the
era l l y the m ost vul n era b l e
day suggested that White then
point fQr Black after the ex­
h ad to play 8 Be2 in order to
chang e of f-pawn fore-p awn .
protect the base of his pawn
White has no central control·
chain, a possible continuation
I

only central weaknesses.

being 8 Nge7 9 b3 Nf5 1 0
Nimzowitsch gives as a likely
. . .

Bb2 Bb4+ 1 1 Kf1 , and now

continuation 1 7 Rg4 Be8 ( 1 7
Nimzowitsch recommends 1 1
. . . Rf8!?) 1 8 Qe2 N cxd4 1 9
. 0-0 ! 1 2 g4 N h6 13. Rg 1 f6
_Rxd4 N xd4 20 QeS BbS+ 2 1
. .

1 4 exf6 Rxf6 1 5 g5 Rxf3 1 6

Kg2 N f5 2 2 Bxd5 exd5 2 3
Bxf3 Nf5. (diagram)
Qxf5 Rf8 24 Qxd5+ Rf7 and
This position is worthy of close
Black wins; White has defi­
study, as it is almost an ideal
nite ly not solved h is problems
French position for Black de- I
of poor development and king
sp1te the missing exchange.
•

expos ure.
38
Shou ld the tempo loss with 8
Be2 n ot appeal ,the Milner­
Barry Gambit with 8 0-0 Nxd4
9 Nxd4 Qxd4 1 0 Nc3 has to
be considered. Black can try
snatch ing the second pawn
with 1 0 Qxe5 1 1 Re 1 QbB;
. . .
White has obvious compensa­
tion but no clear advantage.
7 dxc5 1 1
Nimzowitsch's l l
7 ... Bxc5 8 0-0
White is more concerned to
maintain his strongpoint on e5
than to maintain the integ rity
of his pawn chain. Indeed , cir­
cumstances being right, he is
quite happy to exchange his
d-pawn for the Black c-pawn,
leav i n g the d4 square o pen,
in order to remove from him­
self the obligation of protect­
ing the d-pawn. For this plan
39
to be successful, White must
be in a position to provide the
eS pawn with very secure pro­
tection . Indeed, Nimzowitsch
uses the term l&overprotection", ·
and advises that White should
pile up all h is pieces behind
the strongpoint, defending it so
securely that any atta ck by the
opponent is fruitless.
The two ba sic poi nts about
overprotection are firstly that
the overprotected strongpoint
shall be maintained, and sec­
ondly that the overprotective
pieces themselves have flex­
ibility. If a strongpoint is mini­
mally defended, it can be held,
but the pieces protecting the
strongpoint are tied down to
defence; none can move with­
out abandon ing the strong­
point to liquidation or wo.-se. If
h oweve r the strong p oi nt i s
ove rp rote cted, a n y of the
overprotective pieces may be­
come involved in opportunis­
tic forays elsewhere without
having to worry about the sa­
fety of the strongpoint.
8 .. .f6
"Black swells in triumph and
throws himself hungrily on the
last remaining m ember of the
once so proud chain-family, to
d estroy h i m . H is war cry is
·Room for the e-pawnr but it
h ap pe n s q u i te otherwis e . ··
(N imzowitsch)
9 b4
M aybe Black could have tried
8 . . . aS to prevent this move . .
9 ... Be7 1 0 Bf4
White's plan is beginning to
take dear shape. If he can find
time for Qe2, N bd2 , Nb3, then
m aybe a3 and c4 , Black is
g o ing to s u ffocate . I n th e
m e a ntim e B l ack's kin g s i d e
pieces get in each other's way.
B lack must act very quickly. I n
the game he tries a n immedi­
ate exchange on e5, but this
d oes not help him much . Our
fifth reader's exercise is to de­
termine whether Black could
h ave got a satisfactory game
40
by breaking up White·s queen­
side with 1 0 . . . a5 .
1 0 .. .fxe5 11 Nxe5 Nxe5 12
Bxe5
So the pawns may have gone,
b u t w h o cou l d d o u bt t h a t
White has full control of the d4
and e5 squares? 12 . Bf6
. .
fails to 1 3 Qh5+ and if 1 3 ... g6
1 4 Bxg6+
1 2 ... Nf6 1 3 Nd2
To tighten his grip on the cen­
tral dark square s . W h ite a­
voids d abbling with s h allow
tactical threats (1 3 Qc2?) and
concentrates on strategy. Af­
te r 1 3 Q c2? 0-0 1 4 Bxf6?
Rxf6 1 5 Bxh7+ Kh8 Black is
happy; White's g rip o n th e
·
· center h as gone, h i s q ueen­
side is weak and undeveloped,
and Black is ready to advance
in the center ( . . . e5) and attack
on the kingside. it's not worth
chasing the pawn !
_
1 3 . . . 0-0 1 4 Nf3 Bd6 1 5 Qe2
Con scientious and necessary
_
overprotection of e5 .
White ensures that his outpost
is both occupied and defen-
ded. N imzowitsch points out
th at 1 5 Bd4? Qc7 1 6 Q e2
would be inaccu rate; Black
frees himself with 1 6 . . . Ng�! 1 7
h 3 e5 ! with total freedom for
Black. We leave it as a rea­
der's exercise (number 6) to
determine whether White can
successfully play 1 7 Bxh7+
instead of 1 7 h3; some typical
French Defence tactical sequ­
ences are involved.
1 5 . . . Rac8 16 Bd4 Qc7 1 7
Ne5
The piece chain is complete!
The pawns have gone; long
live the squares!
Of course the piece chain will
not last long as Black will feel
obliged to exchange on e5 at
s ome stage. In s uch an ex­
c h a n g e h o wev e r on e of
Black's "dark square" minor
pieces will be exchanged for
a White 11dark square" minor
41
piece, with the end result that
White will conti n ue to domi-·
nate the dark squares. On the
light squares, White's bishop
on d3, patrolling an important
open diagonal leading to the
Blac'< king, is vastly more ef­
fective than t h e hemmed-in
bishop on d7.
Blaci< may already be position­
ally lost.
17 Be8 1 8 R ae1 Bxe5 1 9
...
BxeS Qc6 20 Bd4 Bd7
Black behind the cathe d ra l
doors .
21 Qc2 Rf7 2 2 Re3 b6
23 Rg3?1
A slip; Nimzowitsch for once
forgets about the iron logic of
overp rotectio n . Now B l a ck
cou l d h ave fo u g ht h i s way
bac'< into the g ame with 2 3
. . . N e4 ! , meeting 24 Rg4? or 24
Rh3? with 24 . . . es. And if 24
Bxe4 dxe4 Black is preparing
to play . . Qd5 and . . . e5 (al­
. We can see this ga;-ne that in
though perhaps 25 Qd2 keeps
a n e d g e) . Fin ally, if 24 Re3
Black can of co urse repeat
with 24 . . . Nf6, whi le the pawn
sacrifice 24 . . . Qd6!? (25 f3 e5!)
looks p rom isi ng; if 25 Bxe4
dxe4 2 6 Qxe4 RfS! and Black's
position is difficult to break.
The correct move is of course
23 Rfe 1 !
23 ... Kh8? 24 Bxh7
S ince if 24 . . . Nxh 7 25 Qg6 win­
ning. The rest :s simple mop­
ping u p; Black is a pawn down
and h i s king is exposed.
24 . e5 25 Bg6 Re7 26 Re1
. .
Qd6 27 Be3 d4 28 Bg5
B lack's attempts at counter­
play h ave come to nothing; a f­
thoug h h e has gained s pace
in the center, his pieces are
p oorly coord inated and his
king i s exposed.
28 ... Rxc3 29 Rxc3 dxc3 30
Qxc3 Kg8 3 1 a3 Kf8 32 Bh4
Be8 3 3 Bf5 Qd4 34 Qxd4
exd4 35 Rxe7 Kxe7 36 Bd3
42
Kd6 37 Bxf6 gxf6 38 h4 Black
resigns.
the fig ht agai nst th e Wh ite
pawn chain, it is not enough
simply to exchange a cou ple
of pairs of pawns, if White can
still keep control of the critical
squares he keeps h is posi­
tional advantages. N aturally a
si milar situation can arise i n
the King's I ndian; "every Rus­
s i a n school boy kn ows th at
Black must not take on e4 in
the King's Indian", but what are
the consequences? Again our
illustrative game is taken from
the history books, for the sim­
ple reason that in modem tou r­
nament practice White is ge­
nerally q�ite happy in the main
lines to play f3 at some stage,
allowing the bypassing move
. . . f4, and seeing h i s play on
the queenside. It is now more
fu lly appreci ated that, fero­
cious though Black's king-side
initiative may be, it is still pos­
sible for White to win on the
queenside first.
Twenty o r t h i rty y e a rs a g o
Black's standard kingside at­
-
tacking plan was much more
feared, and White often tried
to avoid playing f3 , so as to
give Black no kin gside weak­
nesses to b ite o n . I n su ch
cases the e4 square often be­
came the focus of st�uggle.
Twe n ty y e a rs a p a rt , both
Fischer a n d Kas parov have
ut:en great King's Indian aficio­
nados, yet their games in this
opening look com pletely differ­
ent. It is White who has chan­
ged plan though, not Black.
Our next game is a gentle re­
minder that Fischer was not
the only strong player in the
early 1 970s.
Ganae 6
Kerehnol • Geller
Itloseow 1970
(1st mat:eh game)
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4
e4 d6 5 Be2 0-0 6 Nf3 eS 7
0-0 Nc6 8 d 5 Ne7 9 Nd2
Two games later Korchnoi was
to try 9 Bd2, getting somewhat
the b etter of the draw. Ta i�
m a nov, wh e n b e i n g wh ite­
washed by Fischer, also tried
the bishop move, and twice
lost from better positions. It
might be interestin g to follow
one of these games for a bit,
to see how opening was be­
ing handled in 1 970.
43
Taimanov - Fischer {Vancou­
ver, 3rd match game) contin­
ued 9 Bd2 NeB 10 Rc1 ( 1 0
b4 !? f5 1 1 Qb3 Nf6 1 2 exf5
gxf5 1 3 c5, Korchnoi - Geller,
3 rd g a m e . Wh ite h a s h i s
q ueenside play, and Black's
ki n gside attack has had its
teeth drawn, but White h as no
control of e4) 10 ... f5 11 Qb3
b6 12 exf5 gxf5 13 NgS Nf6
14 f4
N ow White i s attacki n g the
Black pawn center! Black has
recaptured on f5 with his pawn
rather than a pi ece , s o a s
avoid giving White long term
control of the e4 square ; this
h owever m a kes h i s pawn
structure a bit vulnerable . It
h as long been appre ci ated
that in such positions as that
i n the diagram , Black gains
very little i n creating a pro­
tected passed pawn with . . . e4;
aft9r Nd 1 -e3 the passed pawn
i s n icel y b lockad ed, Black's
pawn structure lacks mobility,
and White can gradually pre­
pare for a b reak with g4. Even
s o this might have been p ref­
erable to the game : 1 4 . . . h6 1 5
fxe5 ! dxe5 1 6 c5l Nfxd5 (as 1 6
.. . hxg5 1 7 d6+ Kh8 1 8 dxe7
Qxe7 1 9 cxb6 followed by 20
Bxg5 is unpleasant) 1 7 Nxd5
Nxd5 1 8 cxb6 axb6 1 9 Rc6 !
(the threat of Bc4 gives Black
n o time to capture the knight)
1 9 . . . Kh8 and now White ner­
v ously retreated with 20 Nf3?
Bb7 2 1 Rg6 Nf4 ! with a big ad­
va ntage to Black. I nstead 20
Q h 3l N f6 2 1 Bc3 , m a ki n g
maximum use of open lines ,
woul d have been strong.
Among other strategic possi­
bilities, it must not be forgot­
te n t h a t if e n o u g h ce ntra l
points are keenly fought over
b y both sides, a pawn chain
p o sition can quickly become
a n open position.
Back now to our main game.
9 ... aS!? (diagram)
Geller introduces a n interest­
ing idea. N aturally Black must
a i m to play . . .f5, and of course
the knight on f6 m ust move
first - but where?
44
H i s i n te ntion is to p l a ce a
clamp on White's queensid e
acti\li''"�
1.1 •
tu ""'" "',.,,..inn hie!
-
J
,,.., .... �.,��I
llv kn l"g ht on
c5 and pawn on aS. This ef­
fectively eliminates any possi­
bility that White has of playing
for an early c5 break; the p rob­
lem is however one of time.
Black is using his king's kni g ht
as tho ugh it were a q ueen's
knight, but what is he to do with
his quea n's knight, currently
·· on e7? Turn it into a ki ng's
knight by maneuvering it to f6?
Perhaps - the idea is less far­
fetched than it seems, a s we
shall see later.
It would be much eas i e r for
Black if he could have p la ced
a quean's knight on c5 ( Na6-
c5 or N b d7-c5 , rathe r t h a n
Nf6-d7-c5). And this exp l ains
-
why White usually waits for
Black to play ... N c6 before h e
plays d5. The seq uence 1 d4
Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 N c3 Bg7 4 e4
d6 5 Be2 0-0 6 N f3 e5 7 d5
(the Petrosian Syste m) is cer­
tainly playa ble. but White will
have hard work to prove an ad­ .
vantage after 7 . . a5.
. soon be exchanged after 1 9
1 0 b3
Taking things q uietly. A more
obviously thematic sequence
is 1 0 a3 Nd7 1 1 R b 1 f5 1 2 b4
Kh8 1 3 Qc2, and now a recent
try is 1 3 . . .fxe4 1 4 N cxe4 Nf5
1 5 Nb3 axb4 1 6 axb4 Nf6 1 7
B d 3 N xe4 1 8 B x e 4 Q h4
"equal", Stohl - M a ri n, Stara
Zagora 1 990.
If this pos ition is only equal,
does this mean that we can
consign to the d u st bin of his­
tory all Russian schoolboy les­
s o n s ? N ot q u ite ; the p oi nt
about this particular position is
that Black's g ri p o n the d4
square cou nterbalances Whi­
te's grip on the rather poorly
45
supported e4 square. White's
knight on b3 will never be a b l e
to sit proudly o n its favo rite
empty square; indeed it may
Bd2 Bd7 20 Bc3 N d4 2 1 N xd4
exd4 22 Bd2 Rae8 It sho uld
.
be added that in recent games
Whit� ..has preferred to play 1 3
f3 so as to reca pture on e4
with a pawn.
In The French Defence, if the
d4 square is open , an i m por­
tant method of counterplay is
. . . Nc5-e4 ; correspondingly in
th e Ki ng 's I n d i a n , if B l a ck
should find himself forced to
leave the e4 square open, it is
often essential for him to p re­
pare counterpiay with . . . Nf5-
d4. It is hoped that the reader
wil l appreciate that in m a n y
such positions the King's I n­
dian is almost a mirror image
of the French .
10 ... Nd7 1 1 Ba3 NcS 1 2 b4
In the King's Indian it does n ot
matter so ..:nuch which l i n e s
White opens up o n the queen­
side, so long as he ope n s up
some l i n e s . A fter the e x­
change of pawns on b4 White
wil l concentrate his attention
on attacking the c5 squa re ,
and if Black plays . . . b6, then
play for an a5 b re ak. 1 2 Bxc5
dxc5 v;ould ue meaningless;
White wo u l d h av e doubled
Black's pawns, b u t he would
also have cut out his chances
of making space for his pieces.
1 2 .. . c:xb4 1 3 Bxb4 Na6 1 4
Ba3 b6 1 5 N b 3 fS 1 6 Bb2
1 6 .. .fxe4? !
The classic mistake in this type
of pos ition. In his younger days
·
G eller was o n e of the great
pion eers of the King's Indian,
so why does he a p pear to ig­
nore elementary principles?
When a strong player plays an
obviously anti-positional move,
it often means that he is trying
to squeeze something out of
the position that simply is not
there. In this case Geller was
pres umably eyeing up the d4
square, but it t u rn s out that
46
control of this square gives him
nothing .
To play 1 6 . . . f4 would also be
a serious error with Bg4 still a
possib i l ity fo r Wh ite (e ven
though not necessarily i mmP.­
diately strong). After 1 7 a4 N c5
1 8 Nxc5 bxc5 1 9 N b5 White
has a clear plus on the q ueen­
side, while lack of influence on
the light sq uares makes it dif­
ficult for Black to storm tha
kings ide.
T he correct plan is to attack
the base �f the pawn chain,
and this is done by 1 6 . . KhB !
.
followed by . .. N g 8 and . .. Nf6.
Should White find himself de­
fending with f3, then it is time
for the bypassing maneuver
.. .f4 followed by . . . g5 etc.
··1 7 Nxe4 NfS 1 8 a4 N c S 1 9
NbxcS bxc5 20 Bd3
White's strongpoint o n e4 is
now secu re , and giv e n time
White will quite sit on Bla ck,s
p ositi on. Black s h ou ld now
probably play an i mmediate 20
. . . Nd4 (analytical question 7:
what is then happening after
2 1 Bxd4 ?) . Instead he pl ays
for cou nterplay on the king­
side, a doomed effort g iven the
power radiated by the White
knight.
20 Bh6? 1 2 1 a S Qe7? 1 22
...
Ra3! Ba6 23 Re1 Qf7 24 Bf1
The resemblance to a French
D efence is b e co m i n g ever
more apparent. Just as in the
French the ebb and flow of
play depends o n how m uch
control White can keep on the
d4 square (Abramovic - Kova­
cevic; Larsen - Bareyev) , here
a lot depends o n how much
grip White has on e4.
As you play through the rest
of th e g a m e , o b serve how
Black can make no progress
47
whatsoever on the kingside,
despite his massing of pieces
t h e re . Ye t i f both p l a y e rs
knights could be removed from
the board, Black �auld have
the makings of quite a reason­
able attack against the White
king (as in Abramovic - Kova­
cevic).
Black's most immediate prob­
lem is that White's quean's
rook is starting to look good;
therefore he attacks along the
b-file to force an exchange.
24 Rab8 25 Rb3 Rxb3 26
...
Q�b3 Nd4 27 Bxd4 exd4
Or 27 cxd4 28 c5 Bxf1 29
. . .
Rxf1 and there is not much to
stop the White a-pawn. I have
not stressed the importance of
the outside passed pawn in my
notes, since it can almost be
regarded as an incidental fea­
ture of the position; if Black
can have an extra pawn in the
center, White is "entitled" to an
extra pawn elsewhere . Still,
the pawn must be respected.
28 Qb2
Avoiding the cheap threat of
. . . Bd2.
Ndf3 Qb6
The assault st�rts. An interest­
i n g alternative is 7 . . . cxd4 8
cxd4 f5 ! ? (blocking White's
activity on his stronger flank)
with the idea of . . . Nb6 followed
by . . . Kd7-c7-b8. White would
the n have little to attack on the
kin gside, whereas Black has
chances to create pressure on
the queenside.
8 h4
The pawn chain needs a lot of
protectin g ! 8 g3 is the usual
move, but 8 . . . cxd4 9 cxd4
Bb4+ 1 0 Kf2 g51 stops White
stab ilizing the pawn chain; if
1 1 Be3 f6 . We shall consider
all this later in the chapter.
8 ... cxd4 9 cxd4 Bb4+
10 Kf2
50
Th is rather awkward looking
move is forced because of the
weakness of the d4 pawn.
But White cannot have every­
thing; the slight displacement
of the king is merely the price
that White has to pay for all
the time he has spent creat­
ing his formidable pawn cen­
ter. The important question is
what happens next. Quiet play
holds absolutely no future for
Black; he is cramped on the
kingside, his queenside is hard
to develop, and he has less
space in the center. White's d­
pawn is under a bit of pres­
sure , but this can soon be re­
lieved . Black has only one re­
alistic possibility - to explode
the position. Maybe then his
lead in development and the
exposure of the White king will
count for more than White's
space advantage.
10 .. . f6
Now a capture on e5 is threat­
ene d , whi l e 1 1 exf6? N xf6
leaves White seri ously weak
on the light squares. He must
break the pin on the g 1 -a7 di­
agonal.
1 1 Kg3
Possibly 1 1 Be3 is safe r, alt­
hough it gives Black a chance
.
to organize cou nterplay
against the pawn on b2, for
example 1 1 Be3 Be7 1 2 Qd2
0-0 1 3 Rd 1 a5 1 4 Kg3 a4 1 5
Bd3 Qd8 1 6 N e2 f5 1 7 h5 Nb6
with a fully satisfactory position
for Black, Belyavsky - Kinder­
mann, Munich 1 991 .
Plan 8 in action ! White has de­
veloped his pieces, but has not
improved his pawn structure .
Black meanv�hile has played
the blockin g move . . . f5 (com-
pare also the move . . . c5 in the
King's Indian), which prevents
White 's sta n d a rd k i n g s i d e
pawn storm . White would like
to open up the position with g4
but his king on g3 is in the way;
Kindermann i n fact criticizes
White's 1 4 Kg3 in his notes,
prefe rri n g 1 4 Bd3 . On the
queenside Black has the ini­
tiative than ks to his regrou p-
51
ing with . . . Qd8 and . ..NbS; now
. . . a3, . . . Nb4 and . . . Nc4 are all
possibilities. After 1 8 Kf2 N b4
1 9 Bb1 Nc4 20 Qc3 Bd7 2 1
a 3 Nc6 22 Rdg 1 b� 23 g4 b4
it was dear that Black's queen­
s i d e p l a y wa s deve l o p i n g
much faster than White's king­
side play.
A typical example of "full pawn
chain" play, with each player
in a blocked position pressing
hard on his stronger wing; the
King's Indian provides many
mirror images. But the Ljubo­
j evic - G urev i ch. g a m e , to
which we now return, provides
a completely different resolu­
tion to the central pawn ten­
sion.
11 ... 0-0 1 2 Bd3?
Definitely a mistake. Gurevich
g ives as the only move 1 2
N h3, and now 1 2 .. .fxe5 1 3
dxe5 ( 1 3 fxe5? Rxf3+ is a
strong exchange sacrifice, de­
stroying the White center) and
now the position is assessed
as .. unclear". Exercise 9 cla­ -
rify!
In the game something really
unpleasant now happens.

1 2 . . . Nxd4! !
I n the Fre nch Defence espe­
cially, it is always worth con­
s idering sacrificing material
in order to destroy an oppos­
ing p awn c h ain . Ofte n the
compensation lies in Black's
h aving a mobile central pawn
m a s s ( p a rticu l a rly aft�r a n
. .fxe5); h e re the payoff is in
.
the form of open lines against
the White king.
1 3 Nxd4
Pe r h a p s W h i te h a d o v e r­
looked 1 3 exf6 g6 ! 1 4 h5 Nf5+
1 5 Bxf5 gxf5. The sacrifice on
h7 h e re i s co m p l et e l y un­
s o u n d : 1 3 Bxh7+ ? Kxh7 1 4
Ng5+ fxg 5 1 5 hxg5+ Kg 8 1 6
Qh5 Nf5 + .
1 3 ...fxe5 1 4 fxe5
52
On 14 Nde2 e4 followed by
. Nf6 B lack has h i s m obi le
. .
central pawn muss, while 1 4
Nc2 exf4+ 1 5 Bxf4 Bd6 1 6
Bxd6 Qxd6+ 1 7 Kh3 eS is not
too happy for White either. fi­
nally, 14 Qh5? e4 is hopeless.
14 . . . Nxe� 1 5 Bc2
The bad positi o n i n g of th e
White king crops u p in tactic
after tactic, for exam pl e 1 5
Bxh7+? Kxh7 1 6 Qh5+ Kg817
Qxe5 Bd6 winning the queen.
1 5 ... Ng6!
A useful move which blocks off
any counterattack along the
b1 -h7 diagonal, prevents Bf4,
clears the b8-h2 d iagonal, and
·
· leaves the Black e-pawn free
to advance, there by ope ning
up a diago nal for th e other
bishop. 16 . . . Bd6+ 1 7 Kh3 e5+
is now a big threat.
1 6 Bxg6 hxg6 1 7 Nde2
Horrible, but how else is White
to save h is extra p iece? If 1 7
Ndf3-Bd6+ 18 Kh3 Qf2 1 9 Qe1
e5+ 20 g4 Rxf3+ wins.
1 7 . Qf2+ 1 8 Kh 3 Bd6
. .

humiliating position for any
_:....
grandmaster to reach! Rarely
has a pawn chain bee� d�­
stroyed with such complete
brutality. Black now threatens
a mating attack with 1 9 . . . e5+
20 g4 Bxg4+ 21 Kxg4 Qf5+ 22
Kg3 e4+ 23 Kg2 Qg4+.
1 9 Qb3 e5+ 20 Kh2 Qxh4+ 21
Nh3 Bxh3 White resigns.
The endgame after 22 Qxh3
e4+ 23 g3 Rf2+ 24 Kg· 1 Qxh3
25 Rxh 3 Rxe2 is not worth
playing.
Quite often Black is forced to
react even more violently on
the kingside in order to break
up the d4-e5-f4 pawn wedge.
Not infrequently this early ac­
tivity backfires completely. My
own advice to players with
31ack would be to forget about
destruction of the White's spa­
�e advantage on the kingside,
53
and then to concentrate o n
queenside play. The more vio­
lent lines are interesting, but
so many games are unneces­
sari ly lost because· one of the
p!,�'�rs seeks to do som ething
.. interesting". Here is one, per­
haps.
Game 8
Pyda Llkavsk,-
•
•
£zeehoslcn'akla 199 1
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 N f6 4
e5 Nfd7 5 f4 c5 6 c3 N c 6 7
Ndf3 cxd4 8 cxd4 Qb6 9 g 3
Bb4+ 1 0 Kf2 g5!?
Boldly pl ayed , i n d e e d o n e
might possi bly suggest o ver­
boldly played? What is Black
trying to do, given that . . . g xf4
will not even break the White
pawn center? Black can o pen
up the g-file, certain ly, b ut if
White develops his bis h o p to
h 3 , the one importa nt e ntry
square, g4, will be safely cov­
ered. The answer is that Black
wants to play . . . g5 and . . .f6,
p re p a ri n g wit h two sets of
pawn exchanges to rip open
lines against the White king.
B ut where does the Black king
g o in all this? One cannot ex­
pect to be able to open up the
position so violently and then
be allowed to play a few quiet
m ov e s to t u ck h i s maje sty
away on the queen side. Nei­
ther is the king safe in the cen­
ter. Surely he cannot be con­
templating kingside castling?
J ust wait and see!
1 0 . .f6 does not look too he­
.
althy after 1 1 Kg2 0-0 1 2 Bd3,
w h i l e 1 0 . . .f5 , the blocking
move . leads to loss of tempo
after the inevitable regrouping
maneuvers with . . . QdB, . . . Nb6,
. . . Be7, etc.
1 1 Be3
1 1 fxg5 is also perfectly play­
able; Black removes the e5
pawn but White gains the e5
,
s q u a re in standard Fre nch
style. O' Donnell - Foisor, Saint
J o h n 1 9 88 , conti nued 1 1
. . . N dxe5 1 2 N xe5 Nxe5 1 3
Kg2 Nc6 1 4 Nf3 Bf8 1 5 b3 !
Bg7 1 6 Bb2 Bd7 1 7 Qd2 wit
54
advantage to White.
White has no real i nte ntion
here of occupying e5; the key
to the position is that Black's
bishop on d7, stuck behind the
Black pawn chain, is extremely
passive, and Black is gasping
for the chance to free it with
. . . e5. So long as White has
good dark square control, this
is not possible, and Black m ust
seek counterplay .. else�here.
·· In the game cited, Black tri�d
to open up the queenside, but
as so often when one's p osi­
tional vulnerability rather than
one's security forces one to
open up lines, it was the op­
ponent who was the ben efi­
ciary: 1 7 . . . a5 1 8 Be2 a4 .1 9
Bc3 h6 20 bxa4 Rxa4 2 1 Rab1
with pressure; note the tactic
21 . . . Qa7 22 Rb2 Nxd4? 23
gxh6 Bxh6 24 Bxd4.
All thi s tempting , but B la ck
may well be able to i m p rove
(1 3 . . . Nc4 can also be consid­
ered). With 1 3 Be3 however,
White gives Black the chance
to destroy his own king�ide.
1� . f6
..
Profess ional p layers will be
well familiar with the concept
of the "ghost variation": a move
is tried once, commended in
p ri nt, and then never see n
again. Neither examples nor
refutation are published. What
usually happens i n such cases
is that a refutation i s found ,
perhaps by every master who
looks closely at the position ,
but is not published. Indeed,
what possible i n centive can
there be to publish? Much bet­
ter to win an easy game armed
with pre-match analysis, and
only later to publish.
One such g host variation is 1 1
. . g4, p l ayed i n J a kovich -
.
Machulsky, USSR 1 985 . Our
tenth reader's exercise is to
ask you to find out why th is
move i s no l o ng er playe d .
Jakovich gives 1 2 Nd2 f6 and
now:
(I) 1 3 Qxg4 Bxd2 1 4 Bxd2
Qxd4+ winning for Black.
(II) 1 3 a3 fxe5 1 4 fxe5 Rf8+
55
1 5 Kg2 Be7 1 6 Qxg4
Ndxe5 and Black, having
successfully broken the
White center, stands
better.
( I l l ) 1 3 Nb3 fxe5 1 4 dxe5 Bc5
1 5 NxcS Nxc5 1 6 Bg2?
( 1 6 Bxc5 QxcS+ gives
chances for both sides)
1 6 . . . d4! 1 7 Bxd4 ( 1 7 Bc1
hS with advantage to
Black was the game) 1 7
. . . Nxd4 1 8 Qxd4 Nd3+ 1 9
Ke3 Qxd4+ 20 Kxd4 Nf2
winning material.
1 2 Bh3
An explosive position! Some­
t h i n g drastic m ust h a p p e n
soon. I n some of the earliest
games in this line, Black tried
to keep the lid on with 1 2 . . . hS,
but the piece sacrifice 13 Qd3!
g4 14 Qg6+ KdB 1 5 exf6 looks
da ;,gerous.
Black's only real o ption is to
castle and attack down the f­
fi le; the question is whether he
wants to preface this with an
exchange of pawns. The im­
mediate 1 2 . . 0-0 used to be
. Qe4+ 28 Kb2 Rab8+ 29 Ka3
quite popular, and there a re
many tactical tricks; a game
Dobrovolsky - Tibensky, Cze­
chos lovakia 1 98 8 , showed
however that with simple de­
velopment ( !) White can con­
solidate his center and m ain­
tain a n edge: 1 3 Bxe6+ Khtj
1 4 Ne2 ! fxe5 1 5 Nxg5! exf4 1 6
Nxf4 Nf6 - 1 7 Kg2. N o quiver­
ing tension , just a safe edge
to White. So:
1 2 . . .fxe5 1 3 fxe5 0-0
i n such position s , Bxe6+ is
rarely especially dangerous for
Black, who usually has freeing
combinations in reserve with
. . . N cxe5 or . . . Ndxe5 or . . . Nf6 .
1 4 Rc 1
D esigned to sidestep a sur­
prising tactical resource found
by Botterill: 1 4 B g4 BcSI I 1 5
Bxe6+ Kh8 1 6 dxcS Qxb2+ 1 7
B d2 g 4 ! 1 8 Bxd 5 (After 1 8
Bxg4 Qd4+ Black regains his
p i ece with a s l i g htly better
56
game) 1 8 . . . Ndxe5 1 9 Bxc6
bxc6 2 0 R b 1 Qd4+ 2 1 Be3
Nd3+ 22 Ke2 g xf3+ 23 Nxf3
Qe4 24 Qxd3 Ba6 ! 25 Qxa6
Qxf3+ 2o Kd2 Rfd8+ 27 Kc2
uxej+ �u Rb3 Qxc5+ 3 1 Kb2
Rd2+ 32 Kb 1 Rxb3+ 0-1
Emms - Kosten, British Cham­
pionship 1 985. The impression
is however given that Black is
using a string of tactics to hold
a fundamentally dubious posi­
tion together. If White can
avoid such tricks then presum­
ably he is better.
14 . . . Kh8 1 5 Bg4
Better ti m i ng ! White d i d not
have this move order option in
Emms - Kosten which went 1 2
. 0-0 1 3 Bg4 a n d only now a
. .
pawn excha nge on e5.
1 5 . Be7
. .
It is now ti me to take stock of ous need for Black to cooper­
the p o s ition . Wh ite's p awn ate· exercise 1 1 - can Black i m-
'

c e n t e r re m a i n s u n b roke n , prove by playing 1 9 . . . R g 8

which must of course p l ease here?
him .
There a re howeve r va rious 1 8 Kxg3 Ndxe5
tactical blows he must watch
o u t fo r, m o s t l y b a s e d on
. . . N d x e 5 and j u sti fi e d by
White's weaknesses o n the
g 1 -a7 d iagonal and the f-file.
T h e b2 pawn a l s o n e e d s
watch ing . Black is therefore
not without counterplay, a nd
therefore his decision to open
u p the king side can not be dis­
missed too badly, except for 1 9 N hg51
that woeful pawn on g 5 , the
m isbegotten chi ld of B lack's Black's little freeing combin a­
king side lust. It is now White's tion does 'lot work. The king­
turn to open up the kingside. side, Wh1te's favoured zone of
operations, is fully open, whe­
1 6 h4 1 gxh4 1 7 N h3 1 reas Black has succeeded i n
only partially open ing the cen­
The point. Black is to be en­ ter, and his queenside pieces
cou raged to open up the h-file are still locked away.
agai n st himself. Such a position casts doubt on
the wisdom of hurling p awns
17 . . . hxg3+? ! forward on the kingside, your
weaker wing, just before cas-
But this seems un necessarily
..

tling there.
cooperative. Pyda gives the If now 1 9 . Nxf3 20 Rxh7+
. .

vari ation 1 7 . . . Qxb2+ 1 8 Rc2 Kg8 and White llmust" be win­

Qa3 1 9 Qe2 hxg3+ 20 Kxg3 ning; this is so obvious that
wi th a d v a n ta g e to W h i t e . Pyda does not even g ive a
Again though there i s no obvi- variation! Not everything is so
57
sim ple though; 21 Rh8+ is met
by 2 1 . . . Kg7 ! , while there are
p o s s i b i l iti e s of a n irritati ng
B l a ck co unterattdck with . . .
Bd6+ or . . . Qc7+.
S o h ow d o e s Wh i te wi n ?
There is a clear method, but it
i s not easy to fi nd; readers
exercise number 1 2 !
19 Rxf3+ 20 Bxf3 Bxg5 21
. . .
B xg S Ng6 2 2 Bf6+ Kg8
The first wave of the attack has
been beaten back, and indeed
it wo u l d appear th at Black
d oe s n o t sta n d too bad ly.
Given the time for . . . Qc7+ fol­
l ow e d p e rh a p s b y . . . Qf7 ,
. . . B d 7 a n d . . . Rf8, h e might
eve n stand rather well. But
n ow comes the second wave
of the White attack, which re­
m oves all hope.
23 Rxh71 Kxh7 24 Be411 Qc7+
25 Kg2
58
The m o re o bvious point to
White's bishtlp sacrifice is to
clear the way for Qh5+; the
less obvious point is that the
knight on g6 is pinned, so that
Black has no real counterat­
tack, . . . Nf4+ being ill.s�z.:. -;-�. :
rest is straightforward, as if 25
. . . Qf7 26 Qh5+ KgB 27 Bxg6
Qxf6 28 Rf1 Qg7 29 Rf7.
2 5 . . . K g 8 26 Qg4 Qf7 2 7
Qxg6+
Liqu idating into an easily won
endgame.
27 . . . Qxg6 28 Bxg6 Kf8 29
R'l1 Ne7 30 Rh8+ Ng8 3 1 Be5
Bd7 32 Rh7 Be8 33 Bd6+ Ne7
34 Bxe7+ Kg8 35 Bb� ReS 3 6
BgS Rc � 37 Be3 e5 3 8 dxe5
d4 39 Bd2 d3 40 Re7 Bc6+
4 1 Kf2 Rh4 42 Bxd3 Black
resigns.
It is sti l l an open q u esti o n
whether White can mainta i n a
meani ngful space advantage
with t h e f4 sy ste m in t h e
Tarrasch. What he is doin g is
to sacrifice time to gain space,
and th i s loss of tim e g ives
Bla ck the opportu nity to a r­
range _counterplay.
Unfortunately, Black's search
for counterplay can itself im­
pede the proper development
of his pieces . To attack the
pawn on d4 Black must . play
his queen to b6; to develop his
queenside he must play . . . Nb6
and . . . Bd7. Alas, double occu­
pation of b6 is not allowed, and
so it becomes difficult for Black
to develop his queenside.
White will probably not have
enough time to keep his pawn
wedge intact. but he is quite
like ly to be able to attack on
the kingside with pieces. Play
.
is sharp.
There is another way for White
to handle the . . . Nf6 Tarrasch;
h e c a n s a y " Sq u a res n ot
pawns" and can concentrate
o n d e ve lopi n g h i s p i ece s ,
rather than rolling his pawns
forward . It still remains im por­
tant for Black to break up the
White pawn cente r, and so
. . .f6 will tend to be played. Af­
ter the exchange of pawn s on
f6 however, White can play for
co ntro l of th e e 5 s q u a re .
A com mon opening sequence
is
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 Nf6 4
e5 Nfd7 5 c3 c5 6 Bd3 Nc6 7
Ne2 cxd4 8 cxd4 f6 9 exf6
Nxf6, leading to the diagram
position.
59
White's knights may look at
first strangely placed. but Nf3
soon comes.
The pawn structure is interest­
ing; both sides have their prob­
lems and their o pportunities.
White'·s d-pawn is dearly weak
and will need to be defended
by pieces. At the same time
the pawn is very useful as it
controls a n important central
square (e5), and also restrains
two Black pawns (dS, e6). The
pawn on e6 is a nuisance for
Black in that it prevents the
free development of the light
squa red bishop; on the other
hand the absence of the �
I
pawn gives Black chances of
real counterplay down the f­
file.
U n til fa irl y re ce ntly, W h i te
aimed to keep pieces on the
board in thi s variation. to keep
things complicated , but Black
seems to h a ve perfectly satis-
factory pl ay. T h i s approach
has more or less been aban­
doned ; White now prefers to
play an early Bf4 , exchanging
b i s h o p s a n d a tte m pt i n g to
k e e p p re s s u re o n t h e e5
square {"squares not pawns").
We consider a game with each
approach.
Game 9
SIDagln Valser
•
Bo rnaul 1984
1 e4 e6 2 d4 dS 3 Nd2 Nf6 4
eS Nfd7 5 Bd3 cS 6 c 3 Bc6 7
Ne2 cxd4 8 cxd4 f6 9 exf6
Nxf6 1 0 Nf3 Bd6 1 1 0-0
1 1 Bf4 is now preferred.
11 Qc7 1 2 Nc3 a6 1 3 BgS
...
0-0 1 4 Bh4 Nh51
Korch noi's move , which takes
away much of the fun from
White f4 is a pleasa nt square
.
60
for Black to aim for with his
knight, wh i l e the open f-file
adds a little bit of pressure.
Black also has in m i n d the
maneuver . . . g6 and . . . Qg7, pil­
ing more pressure 011_ the d­
pawn.
It is i ntere sting to note that
most of Black's play is c;>n the
dark squares, indicating that
perhaps White has not been
very successfu l in carrying
through his pawn chain strat­
egy (pawns the n squares) ,
since the theoretically weak
squares, notably e5, are well
covered. One cannot go much
further tha n to say "perhaps",
since there are stiil some un­
solved problem with the Black
position, notably the role of the
queen's bishop; any sudden
.
simplificatio n of the po sition
will generally favour White.
1 5 B g3? 1
The very move that Black had
su pposedly prevented ! The
exchange of bishop for bishop
would have made good posi­
ti onal s e n s e for Wh i te , a s
Black starts to lose control of
the vital e5 square. Exchang­
ing his bishop for the Black
knight makes less sense how-
ever; the knight on h5 is a use­
ful attacking pieces, but n ot a
linchpin of the Black position;
the White bishop howeve r is
u n q u estionably strategica l l y
important.
I n any position where strong
and weak squares are impor­
tant (and this is parti cu larly
likely where there are decayed
p aw n ch a i n s) , g re at c a re
m ust be taken to distinguish
between pieces which a re
strategically importa nt and
those which a re merely ac­
tive . I f o ne c a n rem ove a
strategically important piece
of the opponent's in return
for a merely active piece of
one's own , that is real posi­
tio n al gain. How can one tell
if a piece is strategically impor­
ta nt? There is n o u n iversal
rule, but if a piece is actively
e ngaged , or likely in future to
be actively engaged , i n the
struggle for a key square, then
its strategical role must be re­
spected .
What then is the correct pro­
cedure from the d iagram po­
sition? 1 5 Re1 is sensible, met
by 1 5 . . . g6. B lack's position
looks perfectly playable, as the
followi ng examples show:
a) 1 6 Rc1 Qg7 1 7 Bf1 Bd7 1 8
61
Bg5 h6 1 9 Be3, and now 1 9
. Rf7 20 g3 Raf8 2 1 Bg2
. .
was roughly equal in Karpov
- Mestel , London 1 984 , 1 9
Nf4! 20 g3 g5 is better for
. . .
Black though; he has made
light of his weakness on e5
a nd is starting to gain gro­
und on the kingside.
b) 1 6 Bf1 h6 1 7 Bg3 ( 1 7 Qd3
Nf41) 1 7 . . . Nxg3 1 8 hxg3
g5 1 9 Na4 Bd7 20 Rc1
Rf6 21 Nc5 Raf8 22 a3
Bxc5 23 Rxc5 Be8 24
Be2 Qg7 25 Rf1 h5 and
again · Black is looking
good, Ye Jiangchuang -
Belyavsky, Lucerne 1 985.
Even the uad bishop is
starting to see the light!
c) 1 6 Bg5 led to a snappy
draw in Kruppa - Dreyev,
USSR 1 985: 1 6 . . . Nxd4 !
1 7 Nxd4 Bxh2+ 1 8 Kh 1
Rxf2 1 9 Nf3 Ng3+ 20
Kxh2 Ne4+ 21 Kh 1
Qg3 22 Bf1 Rxg2 23 Bxg2
Nf2+ �4 Kg 1 N h3+ with a
perpetual. Always B lack
has active piece play to
compensate for his we-
akened pawn structure.
15 . . . Nxg3 1 6 hxg3 g6 1 7 Rc1
Qg7 1 8 Bb1 g 5 1 9 Re 1 Bd7
S u cce s sfully completing his
d eve l o p m e nt, a nd avoi d i n g
the impulsive 1 9 . . . g4? 2 0 Ne5
Bxe5 2 1 dxe5 Nxe5? 22 NxdS !
It is dear that Black is already
better. I n Kudrin - Korchnoi ,
Beers h ev a 1 984, Black won
very q uickly by piling down the
f-file after 20 Qd3 Rf7 2 1 Red1
Raf8 22 Rd2 Kh8 23 N d 1 Bc7
24 Qe3?? (falling i nto a stan­
dard combination , but game
was a l re ady h i ghly un pleas­
a nt) 2 4 . . . Rxf3 2 5 gxf3 Bf4
White resigned . The move that
Wh ite p l ays is no i m prove­
ment.
Maybe 20 Ne5 has to be tried.
20 Q d 2?1
20 . . . Rxf31
Thoroughly thematic.
62
21 gxf3 Nxd4
Black has a big advantage. He
has destroyed the remains of
the White pawn center, and he
has seriously weakened the
White kingside. Furthermore,
now that Black has the center,
his minor pieces become po­
tentially very active. The fine
position of knight is clear to
see, but may be in a few mo­
ves time the knight will want
to trot away, leaving room for
t h e d- p awn to a d v a nce a
square, thereby giving a won­
d e rfu l d i agonal to the l i g ht
squared bishop, no longer a
bad bishop, more a saint. For
all this, Black. has sacrificed no
more than the exchange for a
p awn ; s u ch l i 9. ht sacrifices
(piece for two pawns is a l � o
com.m on) are importa nt d e­
vices in the French for Black
to gain central control.
22 Kg2
22 Re3 fails to 22 . . . Bf41 (re­
member the Kudrin - Korchnoi
game?) . Vaiser gives 23 gxf4
gxf4+ 24 Kh 1 1 Qh6+ 25 Kg2
Qg5+ 2.6 Kh 1 (26 Kf1 e5 ! ) 26
. . . Qh4+ 27 Kg2 fxe3 28 fxe3
Qh2+1 liquidating i nto a wi n-
ning endgame.
22 . . Rf8
. ever. . .
22 . . B f4 ? g i v e s White a
. 25 .. Nh4+11
breather after 23 Bxh7+ ! Kxh7
24 Qd3+.
23 Rh1 h6 24 Qd 1
Looks passive, but White has
a tactical d efence in mind . As
Vaiser points out, 24 Qd3 is
well met by 24 . . . Rxf3 25 C�e
Q x g 6 2 6 Bxg6 Kg7 wh e n
Black has a second pawn for
the exchange, and his bishop
pair and pawn center augu r
well for the endgame. 24 Rxt)6
i s tri cky, b u t a g a i n B l ac k
comes o ut o n top afte r 24
. . . Nxf3 25 Bh7+ Kh81 26 Be4+
(26 Qd3 Qxh6 27 Rh1 Kg7!)
26 . . . Qxh6.
24 . . . Nxf3 25 Nxd5
63
F u l l y prepare d to m e et 2 5
. . . Bc6? with 26 Rxc6 I How­
.
C ��n lines! Open lines !
If now 26 Kg 1 Black gains an
important tempo with 26 . . . Qf7,
e.g. 27 Qc2 Nf3+ 28 Kg2 exd5
29 Rxh6 Nh4+.
The text is embarrassing to
White though.
26 gxh4 gxh4+ 27 Kf1 Bb5+
Any French Defence p layer
would enjoy this move l lf now
'
28 Bd3 Qg3 wins.
28 Ke1 Bb4+
As if 29 Nxb4 Qe5+ wins. But
28 . . . Qg2 ! would have forced
immediate resignation .
29 Rc3 exd5 30 Qxd5+ Kh8
3 1 Kd 1 Bxc3 32 bxc3 Bc6
White resigns.
Qu ite natural ly, i l l ustrative
games tend to exaggerate the
strength and weaknesses of
particular types of p lay; if they
did not, there would be no il­
lustration. White's kingside is
n ot o b l i g ed to cru mble if he
avo ids exch a n g es in the Bd3
Ta rra sch , but it ia d ifficult for
h im to kee p a ny rea l g rip o n
t h e position . Maybe if the d a rk
squ a red bisho ps a re re moved ,
the game is b r i g h te r fo r
W h i te . . .

Game 1 0
E rost • Cro ueb
In such position s B lack m u st
Loodoo 1 9 9 1
a lways a i m fo r co u n te rp lay,

1 e 4 e 6 2 d4 d S 3 Nd2 Nf6 4 nthP.rwi!";P. h is weak e5 squ a re ,

eS Nfd7 5 Bd 3 cS 6 c3 Nc6 7 ba ckwa rd e-pawn a n d b a d

N e 2 cx d4 8 cxd4 f6 9 exf6 bishop will continue to bu rden

N xf6 1 0 0-0 Bd6 1 1 Nf3 0-0 him for a long ti me to come .

1 2 Bf4 Yet if he plays overactively, try­

ing to dru m up a n attack wh ich

B lack cou ld h ave preve nted isn't objectively there , he fa ce s

a rout. To strike the ha ppy me­
th is with 1 1 . . . Q c7 , but if \f\!hite
is i nsisten t h e ca n play 1 2 g 3 d i u m is the tas k . not a lways

0-0 1 3 Bf4 . easy. 1 3 . . Qb6 - is a depend­

.

able enough move , a ltho ug h

Since dark sq ua re control is so
i mpo rta nt for White , g 3 may be one mig ht feel that the q ueen
ought to be doing more to in­
reg a rded a s bei n g a streng th­
fl u e n ce eve nts on the k i n g ­
e n i ng move a s m u ch as wea k­
side .
e n ing move .
A s i m p ler move o rd e r to reach 1 3 . . . Ne4 is a s h a rper p la n ,
with a n excha nge sa crifice in
th e ga me positi o n is 1 0 Nf3
Bd6 1 1 Bf4 Bxf4 1 2 N xf4 0-0
mind . After 1 3 . . N e4 , 1 4 g 3 is
.

1 3 0-0 a safe enough reply. since the

n a tu ra l 1 4 . . . Q f6 ? 1 5 h 4 !
leaves B lack without a g ood
12 . . . Bxf4 1 3 N xf4 (d iag ra m)
rep ly. Atte n tio n h a s con ce n ­

1 3 . Ng4
. .
trated h oweve r o n 1 4 Ne2 ! ?
Rxf3 (ag a i n th e sta n d a rd sac-

64
rifice) 1 5 gxf3 N g 5 . Black has
compensation, but probably
not enough for e� uality, for ex­
a mple 1 6 Kh 1 e5 1 7 dxe5 Nxf3
1 8 Bxh7+ Kh8 1 9 Ng1 Ncd4
20 Nxf3 Bg4 2 1 N xd4 Bxd 1 22
Rad 1 Kxh7 23 Rd3! Qb6 24
b 3 Rca 25 f4 with some advan­
tage to White, Timoshen ko -
G leizerov, Chelyabinsk 89/90.
An i nteresting position. Black,
i n order to avoid a nagging po­
s i ti o n a l d i s ad va ntage, h a s
� sed h i s temporary superior
piece mobility in order to pro­
v o ke co m p l i ca ti o n s . These
complications seemingly tran­
sform the position completely,
yet when everything has sub­
sided White still h as the mak­
i ngs of typical French (or Sicil­
ian) type positional advantage.
N ote for example t_h e roles of
the spearhead pawn on e5 ,
the strong blockading kni g ht
on d4 and the open lines for
� - Pawn Chains
the rooks on the king side. The
Bl ack queen had to perform
acrobatics {25 . . . Qg6 ! 26 Re3
Qb6 27 Rd 1 Qh6 ! 28 Rf3 Qg6 !
29 Re1 Qb6 30 Rd3 Q b4 3 1
Rdd 1 Qc3) for Black to �tay in
the game .
Please excuse the author for
choosing a rather less i nterest­
ing game (and one of his own ,
a s we l l ) as the i l l u s trative
game, but this is the last chap­
ter on the French , and I wan­
ted to show a typical positional
struggle revolving around the
bad bishop.
1 4 Qd2
1 4 g3 g5 1 5 N g2 Qf6 1 6 Be2
N h6 1 7 Qd2 Nf5 1 8 R ad 1 g4
1 9 Ne5 Ncxd4 20 Nxg4 Qg7
.with chances for both sides,
Renet Hertneck, Altensteig
· -
1 987 . A strategy we h ave al­
ready seen in the line without
the bishop swap ; B lack ex­
pands on the king side to cover
over his weakness on e5.
14 . . . Qf6 1 5 Nh5 QhS
No choice really, but White is
happy to be moving closer to
a n endgame. Sti l l , p rovided
Black is determined not to wait
65
passively and let White show
his technical skills, his position
should hold together.
1 6 Qxh6 Nxh6 1 7 Na3?1 -
Overm an euveri n g a bit, 1 7
Rfe 1 a6 1 8 Rac1 is slightly
better for White, one point that
. . . Nf7 can in many cases be
met by Nf4.
17 ..• aSI
A necessary defensive move .
If 1 7 . . . Bd7? 1 8 Bb5! followed
by Bxc6 and White is gainir.g
g round , having exchanged a
p iece that is merely active (the
bishop on d3) for one that is
strate g i ca l l y i m portant (the
kni g ht on c6) . In the positions
which result, the Black bishop
is a dreadful piece which can
attack nothing and which can
do nothing to cover the weak
d a rk s q u ares. Its only Lon-
6B
structive role is to defend the
pawn on e6, and this i s a laug­
hably small role. Almost any
textbook on the endgame will
give an example of how the
bad bishop can be made to
look very silly by a n active
knight.
Anyone who plays the French
Defence will almost inevitably
be occasionally called upon to
d efen d a b ad b i s h o p e n d ­
game. The defens i v e tech­
nique to remember is to keep
your knights, and to keep them
active. In the diagra m position
Black's plan is to d evelop his
q u e e n s i d e , ce n t ra l ize h i s
knight on h6 ( . . . Nf7-d6) , and
then to start counterplay on the
q u eenside. In an o th e rwise
slightly depressi n g positi o n ,
one small detail e ncourages
B l a c k ; Wh i te ' s d - p awn i s
weaker than Black's . This fea­
ture harks back to the earlier
struggle against the base of
the pawn chain ( . . . cS ; . . . cxd4) .
1 8 Ra d1 Bd7 1 9 Rfe 1 Nf7 20
Ne2 NdS 21 Nc3 Rae 8 22 Ne5
W h ite can h a rd l y h o pe to
make progress with out th is
move.
22 . . . Nxe5 23 Rxe5 will set the pace of the game.

There is a case for 23 dxe5,

which would be rather st r o ng
if White could get a knight to
d4. True, Black has a passed
pawn but it is extremely well
,

blockaded, and has little im­

mediate im pact on the game.
How does Black avoid gettir:'g
into a dismal endgame? The
first step i s to put the e5 pawn
under pressure, thus 23 . Nf7;
. .
note that this inhibits White's
Ne2 plan. The obvious reply is
24 f4 , but Black can attack
White's kingside pawn chain
with 24 . g5! 25 fxgS Nxg 5 26
. .
Ne2 Re7 27 N d4 Rg7; some
fairly sta ndard pawn ch ain
strategy. White can try antici­
pating Black's . . . g5 with 24 h4,
but this gives Black time to
change track with 24 NdB . . .
The tactical point is that Black
no longer has to worrv about
Bxh7 , so that . . . Rf4 is going to
be a genuine threat to the d­
pawn (24 h4? Rf4 ! ) . In addi­
tion, a · route to the center is
given to the Black king ( . . . Kg7-
f6). If one adds that the White
knight is tied to c3 because of
the danger of Bb5, it should be
clear that White h as no real
edge.

and . Nc6. Finally if White tries

. .
24 g3
24 Bb1 Black plays for pres­
sure along the c-file with 24 Playing for f4 .
. . . R eB.
With care , B l ack should be 24 ... b5
OK.
Playing for Nc4.
23 ... g6 (diag ram)
25 b3 Rf31
Black's modest pawn mo v e is
actually a bid for the initi ati v e! An unexpected weakness ap­
In the next few moves Black pears i n th e W h i te position
67
( R R - 26 N e2? Nf7 27 Re3
Rxe3 28 fxe3 e5 is well fo r
Black) .
26 Kg 2 RefS 27 Rd2
27 . . . Nc41
After which White is the one
who has to defend . Not how­
ever 27 . . . b4?1 28 Nd 1 Bb5 (28
. . . N bS 29 BxbS) 29 Bb1 t and
Black has overplayed his at­
tack a bit.
28 bxc4 d xc4
Allows a counter-tactic, but 28
. . . bxc4 29 Re3 ! leaves White
in control .
29 Bxc41 bxc4 30 Re3 Bc6
Black has no more bad bishop
problems, and indeed has the
more bad active pieces, plus
a passed c-p awn .
68
However this passed pawn is
itself weak, and it is this factor
which prevents Black p ressing
for a win . The eq u i l i b rium is
soon reached .
31 Kg 1 Rxe3 32 fxe3 Rf3 33
Re2 Kg7 34 Re 1 h5 3 5 N d 1 !
Suddenly White's d efensive
plan becomes clea r. The ex­
chang e of rooks with Rf1 is
threate n e d . and i f this ex­
change is allowed the kn ight
vers u s b i sh o p e n d g a m e is
very good for White . I n such a
position as would be reached,
the bishop would be inferior to
the kn ight, not becau se it has
nothing to attack.
Rather than endure this, Black
tries to swing his rook to the
queens ide . . .
35 . . . Rf5
White parries . . .
36 Nc3
Black return s . . .
36 � . Rf3
.
and the draw is agreed . . .
37 Nd1 Rf5 i2 : %. to m a i ntain the tension . We
have al ready seen an example
5. The Unbroken Chain (Korchnoi - Kas parov) of Ka­
sparov s uccessful ly ram ming
As we have seen, the setting his kingside attack home after
u p of the pawn chain is an im­ an early . . . f4; as a refresher I

p ortant part of White's strategy here is another s a m ple of the

1n the French d efence, while Kaspa rov maneuver.
the d e m o l iti o n of the pawn
chain is an equally important Gan1e I I
component of B lack's strategy. P i ket •Kusparo''
Tllburg 1989
Indeed , French middlegame
�trategy (as opposed to open­
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g 6 3 c4 B g7 4
Ing strategy) i s primarily con­
Nc3 0 -0 5 e4 d 6 6 Be2 e5 7
cerned with the implications of
0-0 N c 6 8 d5 Ne7 9 N e1 Nd7
decayed pawn chains; some
1 0 8e3 fS 1 1 f3 f4 1 2 Bf2 g S
of the pawns which originally
1 3 b4
fo rmed th e chain remain in
place, whereas oth er will have
In our Korchnoi Kasparov
d i sappeared. l eaving vacant
·_

g a m e , Wh i t e t ri e d 1 3 a 4 .
squares for White to use (d4
Korchnoi has a l s o tried th e
and/or e5) , and open lines for
strange-looking 13 NbS a6 1 4
B l a ck to u se (c-fq e , f-fi le ,
N a7 , the idea being that i f the
sometimes the h2-b8 diago­
light squared bishop on c8 is
nal).
exch anged , Black loses con­
By contrast, p awn chains can
trol of the g4 square and thus
have a very l o n g life in the
cannot roll his kin g side pawns
K i n g ' s I n d i a n , e s pecially if
forward , while White still has
Black follows the standard by­
everything open on the queen­
passing strategy with . . .f4. This
side.
strategy is usually justified only
The tactical justification is that
by the uncomfortable situation
White can survive 1 3 . . . a6 1 4
of th e castl e d Wh ite ki n g ,
Na7 Rxa7 1 5 Bxa7 b6: thus 1 6
stuck in front of a n advancing
b4 Bb7 1 7 c5 dxc5 1 8 Rc1 !
pawn roller; otherwise, as in
NcB 1 9 bxc5 BaS (19 . Nxc5
the Fre nch , it is best for Black
. .

69
20 Rxc5 !) 20 c6 Nf6 2 1 Bxb6
N xb6 22 Bxa6 and White has
made ma �sive gains on the
q ueenside before Black has
started his kingside counterat­
tack, Korchnoi - H ulak, Zagreb
1 987. I n that game, Black now
completely mistimed his play,
a nd after 22 . . . g4? ! 23 Nd3 g3
24 h3! his resistance soon fol­
ded .
A won derfully imaginative line.
Sadly, it soon had to be aban­
d oned when it became clear
that after 1 3 . . . b6 ! 1 4 b4 a6 it
i s n ot re a l ly worth th e two
tem poes to provoke the weak­
ening of the queen side. Black
just builds· up on the kingside,
as usual.
1 3 . .. Nf6 1 4 c 5 Ng6 1 5 cxd6
cxd6 1 6 Rc 1 Rf71
· pawn , a n d th en after . . . h 5 ,
A useful defensive move.
White has made progress on
the queenside, and has
70
opened up the c-file , which
exposes various Black weak­
nesses on the dark squares.
These weaknesses must be
covered , at least temporarily,
since Black is not quite ready
yet to play . . . g4. In particular,
Black needs to prevent an in­
v a s i o n on c7 afte r White's
N bS, while he must also bear
i n min d that the passive 1 6
. . . a6? woul d leave a disabling
weakness on b6 (17 Na4 etc.).
Any exchange of knight for
l i g ht s q uared bishop wo u l d
tend to favour White, who h as
his . . . g4 anxieties significantly
reduced.
The point about . . . Rf7 is that it
covers the weak square on c7
efficiently. The next stage in
Black's defensive maneuver is
to play . . . Bf8, coverin g the d6
. . . g4, etc. , the rook i s free to
move to the g- or h-files, while
still covering c7. Thus Black
is not defending purely pas­
sively; he has eyes on attack
as well as defence.
White has also deployed his
pieces carefully. We have al­
ready seen a broadly similar
formation in the game La rsen
- Torre, given in chapter 1 in
the n otes to Korchnoi - Ka-
sparov. There however White 1 8 aS Bd71 1 9 Nb5?
declined to play his rook to the
c-file, preferring instead to ad­ Stra ight i nto the positi o n al
vance his pawn . The result trap. Kasparov g ives 1 9 Kh 1
was that when White fi nally as better, and 1 9 . Qe8 (giv­
.
.
.

played Nb5 it was harmless; ing extra cover to b5) as .. un­

there was no bite on c 7, and clear"; Black is still preparing
Black could nonchalantly roll to roll however.
his pawn on the kingside.
19 . . .

. •
g4!
1 7 a4

Analytical exercise 1 3: what do

you think of 1 7 N b5?

17 . . . Bf81 1

Truly a World Champion mo­

ve ! Most of us would have got
on with our king side attack with
1 7 h5, etc. Kasparov shows
. . .
Observe th i s d ia g ram , a n d
that hS is not even neces-
. . .
think carefully o n the note to
sary; note that the h-pawn re­ 1 7 . . . Bf8 ! ! I n so doing , you
mains on h7 for the rest of the should be a ble to leam some­
game, and that Black saves an thing about the a rt of purpose­
important tempo by leaving it ful maneuvering .
there.
Kasparov reasons that in or­ 20 Nc7?!
der to make progress on the
queenside, White will inevita­ White is a tempo short for all
,
bly have to play N b5 at some this! He also gets throttled on
stage. This however weakens the kingside after 20 Nxa 7 g 3
the e-pawn, and allows Black 2 1 Bb6 Qe7 2 2 N bS (22 h 3
to play . . . g4 without hindrance; Bxh3 !) 22 . . . N h 5 2 3 Kh 1 (to
if Wh ite plays fxg4, Black is meet 23 . . . Qh4 with 24 Bg 1 )
plan ning on e4, not g4! 2 3 . . . gxh2 2 4 Bf2 Bxb5 2 5
71
B x b 5 N g 3 + 26 Bxg 3 fxg 3
( Kasparov) . There is no imme­
d iate mating attack, but the
hole o n f4 and the m o n ster
protected passed pawn on h2
combine to make life hard for
White.
So maybe 20 fxg4 is neces­
sary, but after 20 . . . Nxe4 2 1
N c7 Ba4 22 Qxa4 Rxc7 the
long term chances are clearly
with Black, who has much the
better pawn structure.
20 g3!
. . .
The standard pawn sacrifice;
White is condemned if he ac­
ce pts , condemned if he re­
fuses.
If he accepts, Black loses two
pawns while White loses one.
For each pawn that Black lo­
ses, he gains an open file and
an entry square for a m i nor
piece; White however loses an
i mportant defensive unit.
72
If he declines . . . wel l . just imag­
ine how good a Black queen
on h4 wiJ I look!
21 Nxa 8?!
A stray horseman ransacks an
abandoned castle i n a distant
land, while at hom e the g ates
to th e king's pala ce wi ll no
longer hold, and \l\1h ite's spiri­
tual advisers can g ive no help.
Such is the transitory nature of
the gains made in so many fo­
reign campaigns!
21 hxg3 had more relevance
to the domestic fro nt. Nikitin,
presumably worki n g with Ka­
sparov, giv es deta iled analy­
sis, sum marized n e re. Best
play for Black is 2 1 . . . fxg3 (2 1
. . . N h5? ! 22 g41) 2 2 Bxg3 Bh61
23 .. Nxa 8 Nh 5 1 (not countir:-t g
material !) 2 4 . . . Bf2 Ngf4 (2 4
. . . Bxc1 ! ? 25 Qxc 1 N gf4 is a
perfectly palatable alternative
for those who do n ot like sac­
rificing heavily - CSC ) 25 Nd3 !
(25 Rc7 Ba4! 26 Qxa4 Nxe2+
27 Kh2 Bf4+ 28 Kh 3 N hg3 ! 29
Rxf7 Kxf7 gives B lack a win­
ning attack; dark sq uared con­
trol plus expose d king !) a nd
the rest we give as an analyti­
cal exercise (nu m b e r 1 4) : can
B l ac k w i n w i t h 2 5 . . Nxg 2
.
here? and if not, how should
he play?
In such positions the strategy
is relatively straightforwa rd ,
b u t th e tactics are com p l i­
cated . Black must get at the
Wh ite K. i n y , o Lr u=rwise ile � �
worse. To get at the kin g h e
must sacrifice, maybe only a
pawn to start with, but perhaps
m ore l ater in order to break
down the last lines of defence.
When ever sacrifices occu r,
the question oi sounciness a ri­
ses, and so does the need to
calculate precise vari ati o n s .
There may b e three different
ways to sacrifice, or to follow
up a sacrifice in a given posi­
tion ; one may be tempting but
u nsour.d, one may be unclear,
and o n e may be good. H ow
can a player tell? Often CH:tly
throug h calcu lation , a n d the
calculations involved may be
really d ifficult. So tactical s kill
counts for a lot.
21 . . . N h 5 1
Another reason for Kasparov
to be pleased that he avoided
. . . hS. Control of the g3 square
is crucial to Black's attack; so
l o n g as g 3 is occ u p i e d b y
pawn o r knight the White king
73
has nowhere to go. There is
no escape through 22 Bxa 7
Qh4 23 h3 Bxh3 (another the­
matic sacrifice) 24 gxh3 Qxh3
25 Rf2 gxf2 + 26 Kx.f2 ; the
White king is obviously far too
exposed to survive. The alert
reader will not easily be se­
duced by such words as "ob­
·v iously". To such a reader we
ask the question of" how, if at
all, Black wins (exercise 1 5).
Nikitin gives 26 . . . N h4 27 Bf1
Qh2+ 28 Ng2 Rg7 winning, but
27 Nd3! improves. Remember
the bishop on a7 may still help
the defence; maybe White's
21 Nxa8 had some relevance
to the kingside after all !
22 Kh 1 gxf2 23 Rxf2 Ng3+1
Banged into the same square I
24 hxg3? hxg3 is hopelessly
lost .
24 Kg 1 QxaS!
Cool and calm, Black collects
the knight. White has no time
to reciprocate.
25 Bc4 (diagram)
25 . . . aS!
 A delicate little touch. Now that
the mighty White bishop has
been exchanged , the Black
Queen takes control of the al­
agonal immediately behind the
White p awn ch a i n . Yet the
more orthodox route remains
available if needed: 26 hxg3
fxg3 27 Rb2 Qd8 28 Kf1 Bh6
.29 Ke2 Qg5 30 Rc3 Nf4+, etc.
26 Qd3?1
M i s s i n g h i s l a s t d e fe n s ive
chance 26 Nd3 Qa7 27 Nc5!?,
hoping for 27 . . . dxc5? 28 d6
with complication s . Black can
sidestep this with 27 . . . Bb5! 28
BxbS axb5 29 hxg3 fxg3 fol­
lowed by a capture on c5 and
. . . Nf4.
26 . . . Qa7 27 b5 axb5 28 Bxb5
(diagram)
28 . . . Nh1 1 White resigns.
74
A classic King's Indian game
from one of Kasparov's most
successful tournaments (first
oy � Y2 points!)
White's plan in this game was
particularly uncompromising,
and therefore the play became
unusually sharp. H aving a bi­
shop on f2 is fine for helping
the queenside attack along ,
but it does nothing to hinder
Black's .. -. g4 break. What can
White do to slow Black d own
·· on the kingside? One radical
plan , which we shall look at in
more detail in the next chap­
ter, is for White to play g4 him­
self; the king may look ex­
posed, but he is less likely to
be choked by a Black pawn on
g3. There is another plan how­
ever. When White has pl ayed
f3, the f2 square is open to
a minor piece. If White p lays
a knight there, rather tha n
a bishop, it becomes more d if-
fic u lt fo r B la ck to play . . . g4 .
T h i s s u g g e sts a m a n e u v e r
Nf3-e 1 -d 3-f2 .

�ame I Z
£ebalo •Cvltaa Yugoslav
�•••plo nsblp 1 986

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4

e4 d6 5 Be2

It is a lso possible to pre p a re An immediate 1 1 . . .f4 is pre­

to build the pawn chain mo re matu re however s ince Wh ite
dire ctly wit h 5 f3 , the Sa misch has 12 Bg4 ! pre pa ring to ex­
System. S u ch a n idea is allur­ ch a n g e h is bad bis h o p , fo r

ing , but, White's inability to use example 1 2 . . . h 5 1 3 Be6+ Kh8

the f3 sq u a re fo r h i s knig ht 1 4 f3 g 5 1 5 b4 Ng6 1 6 c5 Nf6
makes kingside develo pment 1 7 Bxc8 Rxc8 1 8 h3 Rg 8 1 9
rather more d ifficu lt; ofte n he b5 Bf8 20 c6 Roge rs - D . Pau­
has to try awkward ma neuvers novic, Belg rade 1 988.
such as Ne2-c 1 . The modern
preference is to develop the
king side first, before setting
up the fu l l pawn cha i n : th is
g ives the minor pieces more
flexibility.

5 0-0 6 Nf3 eS 7 0-0 N c6 8

. . .

d S Ne7 9 Ne1 N d7 1 0 Nd3 f5

1 1 Bd2 (diag ra m)
White's m i n o r pieces are now
in pla ce . At some stage he will
play if req u ired f3 , and th e n
Nf2 in respo n se to Black's . . .f4 .
Th is is almost an ideal position
for White ; without the B lack
bisho p o n ca. B la ck's king side
atta ck lacks sting , while W h ite
ca n q u ite h appily l ive without
h is pu re ly defe n sive bis hop o n

75
e2 . Looking forward a few mo­
ves , Black's futur e . . . g4 will al­
most certainly entail a pawn
s a cri"d ce ( o n c P. Wh i te h a s
played Nf2) . But h ow is Black
going to justify this sacrifice if
he has no bishop to keep pres­
sure on the pawn on g4? To
see how important Black's light
squared bishop can be in such
situations, consider again the
Korchnoi - Kasparov game in
the i ntroductory chapter.
Back to the game, and a little
bit of cat-of mouse before the
full chain is finally set up.
1 1 . . . Kh8 1 2 Rc1 f4 1 3 f3
Since now 1 3 Bg4? ! would be
m et by 1 3 . . . h5 1 4 Be6 (no
longer check) 1 4 . . .f3 !
1 3 . . . Ng8 1 4 b4 Ndf6 1 5 c 5 g 5
1 6 cxd6 cxd6 1 7 NbS
As in our previous game, Whi­
te attacks along the open c­
file. The absence of the bishop
from the g 1 -a7 diagonal slows
down the Wh ite initiative how­
ever.
1 7 . . . NeB
Even so, Black must keep c7
76
covered. Exercise 1 6: assess
1 7 Rf7.
. . .
1 8 a4 h5 19 Nf2 Nh6
Extra support for . . . g4.
20 h3 Rg8 21 Rc31
'Nh ite prepares to triple on the
c-file, obviously, but he also
prepares a third rar.!< traverse
for the (ook in the event of
Black playing a later . � . g4.
21 . . . 8f8
N atu ral enough, but Black co­
uld also consider dislodging
the White knight first with 2 1
. . . a6. Cebalo then gives the
thematic variation 22 Na3 Bf8
2 3 aS Nf6 (now that the c7
square no longer has to be
watched) 24 Nc4 g4 25 fxg4
hxg4 26 hxg4 Bxg4 27 Nb6
Rb8 -28 Nxg4 Nfxg4 29 Bxg4
Rxg4 30 Qe2 followed by Rfc1
with , according to Cebalo, a
slight plus to White. But play
on a m ove, 30 . . . Q h 4 , an d
Black is preparing for a stan­
d a rd King's I ndian ga rotti ng
with . . . Rg3 and . . . Ng4. Exer­
cise 1 7: analyze this position .
22 Qc2 Bd7
Too late for 22 . . . a6 because
of 23 Nc7 .
T h e i m mediate 22 . . . g4 was
worth considering though. Af­
ter the inevitable multiple ex­
changes on g4, Black certainly
cannot claim any sort of win­
ning ki n g s i d e attack, but at
least he has some counterplay
along the g-file to offset part
of White's q ueenside initiative.
Cebalo gives 22 . . . g4 23 fxg4
hxg4 24 hxg4 Bxg4 (not 24
. . . Nxg4? 25 Nxa7! - a standard
tactic that is worth remem ber­
ing) 25 N xg4 Nxg4 26 Rh3+
N h6 27 Rc1 with perhaps a
slight edge to Wh ite.
(diagram)
Would the reader wish to d is­
pute this assessment? That is
fair enoug h ; Black has many
chances of creating play, per­
haps starti ng with 27 . . a6.
.
I am not g oi ng to set this posi-
77
tion as an analytical exe rcise ,
although I would certainly not
wish to discc:.Jrage the reader
from trying to work out what is
happening.
There is a general point that
n ee d s to be ma d e . I n the
King's Indian, and particularly
in position with extendecl pawn
chains, the basic strategy in
terms of pawn structure is
straightforward; the detailed
i n te ra c t i o n s a m o n g t h e
pieces a re however very in­
tricate and complicate d . The
full pawn chain structure is one
of the most distinctive pawn
structures th ere i s , yet the
fixed natu re of the ce ntra l
pawns mean that the empha­
sis is very much on piece play
rather than on pawn play, par­
ticularly when both sides have
already made their thematic
pawn breaks (c5xd6; . . . g4) .
Yes, the pawn center is as the
center of everything, but it is
an inert nucleu s . The action
g oes on a ro u nd th e center,
mostly in a n anticl ockwise di­
rection.
23 Rc 1 Rg7?1
A slip or a deliberate waiting
move? In either case, the im­
mediate 23 . . . g4 probably de­
served preference.
2 4 a S g 4 25 fxg4 hxg4 26
hxg4 Nxg4 27 Nxg4 Bxg4 28
Bxg4 Rxg4
A typical position following a
liquidation on g4, although it
has to be added that Black has
been at fault in &loverpreparing" ..
his pawn break. Certainly the­
re was no need to allow White
to d ouble rooks on the c-file
before playing . . . g4; see note
to 2 1 . . . BfB
. has a second kingside b reak
White is momenta rily safe on
78
the kingside, but in order to
claim a secure and stable po­
sitional advantage he m u st
completely block off any hint
of Black initiative on this side
of the board. His next two cen­
tralizing moves do this.
29 Be 1 1 Qg5 30 Qe2!
White is now re ady to p lay
ReB, surrounding Black. Black
now tries to set up some tricks.
30 . . . Bh61 31 ReS Kh71
There is nothing in 31 . . . f3? 32
Qxf3 Qe3+ 33 Qxe3 Bxe3+ 34
Bf2 Bxc1 35 Rxa8.
32 Qf31
Locking the kingside; White
now has a clear positional win.
32 Rxa8? is careless; B l ack
with 32 . . . f3 ! which save s th e
game . Thus 33 Qxf3 Qxc1 34
Qxg4 Qxe 1 + 35 Kh2 Bf4+ 36
g3 Qf2+ 37 Kh3 Qf1 + 38 Kh4
Nf6 ! ! 39 Qf5+ Kg7 4 9 gxf4
Qf2 + 4 1 Kh3 Qf3+ 42 K h 4
Qf2+ with a perpetual.
Ce balo's te ch n i q ue is g oo d
enough to avoid the cheap.
32 . Rx cS 33 Rxc8 a 6 3 4
. .
RxeS axbS 3 5 RbS Qg7 3 6
Rxb7 Rxg2+ 37 Qxg2 Qxb7
�8 Qg4
A typica l winning King's Ind i a n
endga me for White:
(I) White has an outside
passed pawn on the
q ueenside which is very
dangerous, whe reas
B lack's passed pawn on
the kin gside is well cove­
red , a nd has little real
cha nce of queen ing .
(I I) Black's .. bad bishop" is
79
serio usly hemmed in by
his own pawns and has
little mobility (a sim ila r
proble m often arises with
the light square� bishop
in the French), whereas
Wh ite's bishop is fully
mo bile on both side s of
the board .
(11. 1 ) Black i s extremely weak
on the light squares
covered by the White
pawn chain.
It is no surprise that the
game is soon over.
38 .... Qc7 39 Bf21 Qc3 40 Kg21
Wh ite co nso lidate s o n t h e
king siae a n d a l lows t h e a ­
pawn to win the g a me for him
on the queer.side.
40 . . . Qb4 41 QfS+ Kg7 42 a6
Qa 4 43 a7 b4
Now B lack no longer has the
pos s i b i l ity of . . . Qxe4 + , but
wh a t e l se co u l d he h a ve
done? He was in zugzwang !
44 Qc8 Black resig ns.
A h ig h ly thematic Wh ite vic­
tory.
Chess is long , and books a re
s hort, so sadly there is l ittle
scope here for a full discussion
of the various ways in which
the kin gside struggle i n the
Ki ng's I n d i a n m ay d eve l o p .
O n e popular a n d interesting
possib i l ity need s to be d i s­
cussed though ; the parad oxi­
cal g 4 , throwi n g fo rwa rd a
p awn on the flank on wh ich
Black is attacking.
6. The Paradoxical Push
.. N ever push pawns of the bo­
ard where you are weak; you
j u st create furth er wea kne­
sses. " This is one of the main
p recepts of cla ssica l chess
strategy, and it is on the whole
val id. I ndeed , a standard at­
tackin g tech n i q u e aga i n st a
poorly defended sector is to
use piece pressure to attempt
to force a pawn advance , and
t h e n to u se t h e n ewly a d­
vanced pawn as a lever for the
attack; .�ither one can prepare
a pawn advance to force open
some lines (e.g. g4-g5 if Black
has been forced to play . . . h6)
or one can , especially if the
pawn h as advanced in front of
the d efending king , prepa re a
sacrifice (e . g . Bxh6) .
80
Yet someti mes an appare ntly
bizarre pawn advance may be
used to pre-empt an attack, to
stop it before it has starte d .
The d efender makes a bold
push in a beleaguered sector,
and the opponent finds h e is
unable to build up his attack
at leis u re. System s w h e re
White plays g4 have become
quite popular in the King's I n­
dian ; it is, after all, the su rest
possible way of preve nting
Black from playing . . . g4.
H e re i s a simple exa m pl e ;
even a quick draw may some­
ti mes be a usefu l illustrative
game.
Game I!J
Kl1allfman Gelfa11d
•
Regg�o Emilia 199 1192
1 c4 g6 2 Nf3 Bg7 3 e4 d6 4
d4 Nf6 5 N c3 0-0 6 Be2 e5 7
0-0 Nc6 8 d5 Ne7 9 Ne 1 Nd7
1 0 Nd3 f5 11 Bd2 Nf6 1 2 f3
Kh8 1 3 a4 a5
Black does not want White to
gain space wi�h a5.
1 4 g4
The paradoxical push!

White h as no immediate plans
to m a ke any fu rther pawn
m oves o n the kingside; he
merely waits to see what Black
does. B lack has three basic
choices :
(I) He can leave the pawns
as they are, but this would
be a s ign of success for
White : he has halted
Black's kingside initiative.
(II) He can exchange pawn
on g4 or e4. It was poin­
ted out in the introductory
chapter that with the Whi­
te pawn still on g2 this
wou ld be a very bad · ex­
change for Black; he wo­
uld have released all the
central tension , and he
would no points of entry
along the open f-file, while
Wh ite would continue to
have a free hand on the
6 - Pa"' - :- "'ams
queenside. With the pawn
on g4, this argument app­
lies with slightly less force
(White's king is a bit open) ,
but still the play i s in
White's favour.
(I l l) He can block the king­
side with . . .f4, and Whi­
te's kingside remains
under pressure, but much
less so than if Black is
allowed to play . . . g4.
A difficult choice for Black,
out here made easier by
the fact that Black has
done his own pre-emptive
blocking on the q ueenside
(13 . . aS).
.
14 . . . c5!
Closing the q ueenside. N ow all
that Black has to do for com­
plete equality is to close the
kingside as well.
1 5 Kg2
Tak_i ng en passant is not to be
conside red; after 1 5 dxc6?
bxc6 B lack is vastly b etter,
White hav i n g co n s p i cuo u s
weaknesses along the b-file,
the g1 -a7 diagonal, and on the
kings ide.
81
1 5 . . . f4 1 6 h4 h5 1 7 g5 Ne8
1 8 Rh1 Draw agreed.
N ot much chance to play for a
win h ere! Both pl�yers have
s ucceeded in locking the pawn
s t r u ct u re o n t h e i r we a k e r
flanks.
There are chances for livel!er
play though, as we shall short­
ly �ee.
Game 14
Lobron aenet
• was preferable, but White still
Novl Sad 1990
1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7
4 d4 0-0 5 e4 d6 6 Be2 e5 7
0-0 Nc6 8 d5 Ne7 9 Ne 1 Nd7
N ot of course the only varia­
tio n of the King's Indian, but
even so a variation which ex­
presses classical themes ex­
tremely well.
1 0 Nd3 f5 1 1 Bd2 Nf6 1 2 f3 f4
82
1 3 g4!?
The theme of th. e ch apter, al­
th o u g h i n m o s t v a r i a ti v n s
White plays g4 befo re Black
has played . . . f4. l hi s poses
the question of wh ether Black
can profitably play 1 3 . . . fxg3
1 4 h xg 3 . White 's k i n g s i d e
pawn structure i s ug ly,. and the
ki n g ' s pos iti o n i s exposed ,
which reduces his o ptions so­
mewhat. O n th e p l u s s i d e ,
White has the rathe r pleasant
c1 -h6 diagonal for his bishop,
and the h-file may well become
useful. In M. Pavlovic - Vokac,
Trnava 1 988, Black's position
became highly unpleasant af­
ter 1 4 . . . c6 1 5 a4 ! aS 1 6 Ge3
Kh8 1 7 Qd2 cxd5? ! (closing
the queen side with 1 7 . . . cS
has k i n g s i d e p re s s u re ) 1 8
cxd5 Bd7 1 9 Kg2 Rf7 2 0 Rh 1
ReS 2 1 Nf2.
Without that wonderful pawn Nf2.
on f4, Black's kingside sud­
denly seems u ncoordinated
a n d v u l n era b l e , w h i l e h i s
q ueenside problems still· have
not been solved (in the game
cited, White r.z.� �:-.c i-.-.a i-acu­
v e r R a3 - b3 i n h a n d) . I t i s
h ard ly surprising that Black
usually prefers to keep his f­
pawn.
In s uch a case, the fact that ·20 as 2 1 a4 Bd7 22 Bf2 ReS
. . .

White has safely played g4 23 Rh1 Qe8?

may be regarded as a .-.-.i.-.o.­
strategical victory, although
the h4 s q uare will need care­
ful watching.
1 3 . . . g5 1 4 Rc1 h5
Black must open the h-file.
1 5 h3 Rf7 1 6 Be1
White must cover h4.
1 6 ... Bf8 1 7 cS N g6 1 8 cxd6
cxd6 1 9 Q b3 Rh7 20 Kg2
(diagram)
The White fortifications are al­
most complete. R h 1 and Bf2
are to follow.
N ote that Black's attack makes
no progress after 20 . . . hxg4 2 1
hxg4 Nh4+ 22 Bxh4 Rxh4 23
83
Letting White have the i m por­
tant b6 s q uare without a strug­
gle. Lobron suggests instead
23 . . . Rg7, and if 24 Qb6 N h4+.
Maybe Whita i s still slightly
better after 25 Kf1 .
24 Qb6 1 Rg7
Si nce 24 . . . B xa4 2 5 Nxa4
Rxc1 26 Rxc1 Qxa4 27 Nc5 !
is highly favorable to Wh ite.
25 b3
Not just a sim ple defensive
move; White also has ideas of
Nb1 -d2-c4. Slow? Well, what
can Black do on the kingside
in th e meantim e? The whole
pace of the g a m e is slower
than when the kingside is more
open and Black is aiming for
the . . . g4 break himself.
25 .. . Nh4+ 26 Bxh4 gxh4 27
Nf2
The second wave of defence
to forestall the second wave of
attack. White must cover all
potential sacrifices on g4.
27 . . . Nh7 28 Nb1
See note to White's 25th.
2 8 . . . N g 5 2 9 Nd2 hxg4 3 0
·
hxg4
Black is ahead on the kingside,
but he has no barnstorming at­
tack. M eanwh i le he has his
u su a l queenside problems ,
and his bishops a re both ex­
tremely ineffective; one bishop
is blocked by friendly pawns,
while the other is enchained by
enemy pawns . White's knights
84
a re , g iven p a ssive p l a y by
Black, headed towards h3 (to
exchange off the only effective
Black minor piece) and c4 (to
take control of the queen side).
To �ave such a position with
normal defensive play would
be quite an achieveme nt for
Black. Rightly or wrongly (and
Lebron suggests that Black
s h o u l d have p refe rre d 3 0
. . . Rh 7) Black lashes out.
30 . . . h3?1 31 Nxh3 Nxh3 3 2
Kxh3 Qh5+ 33 Kg2 Bxg4 34
fxg4
Not 34 Rxh 5 ? ? Bxh 5 + fo l­
lowed by 35 . . . Rxc1 .
34 . . . Rxg4+ 3 5 Bxg4 Qx g4+
36 Kf2
Black's attack is a l l i l l u s i o n ,
thoug h only because the Whi­
te queen is so wel l p laced on
b6 .
White's extra roo k will soon storm on the kingside Black
.

decide the issue. in return must attack on the

queenside a reversal of the
,

3 6 . . . Rxc1 37 Rx c 1 Be7 38 normal roles.

Rg1 Our example comes one step
removed from the King's In­
38 N f3 ! would have been sim­ dian.
pler.
Game 15
3 8 . . . Bh4+ 3 9 Kf1 Bg3 40 Itllreovle • Todoreevle
Yugeslav Cham pionship
Rx g 3
1991

40 Qf2 ! Qd 1 + 4 1 Kg2 would 1 d4 as 2 e4 Ba7 3 c4 d6 4

have been an artistic finishing
- -

touch, but White would have
wanted to reach the time con­
trol as simply a nd safely as
possible.
40 .. .fxg3 41 Qe3 Qh3+ 42
Ke2 Qh2+ 43 Kd3 g2 44 Nf3
Qg3 45 Ng1 Qg4 46 Kd2 Kg7
47 Ke1 Kg6 48 Kf2 Kh5 49
a5 ·Black resigns .
Nc3 Nd7
Black is cagy about his inten­
tio n s. If White is not careful,
he will find himself in an i nte­
rior King's Indian where B lack
can safely play . . . f5 without
having to worry about getting
the king's knight out of the way.
5 g4?1

Castling kingside and then im­

,

m ediately l a u nching the g­

pawn , is a paradoxi cal but of­
ten effective stratagem. White
can also consider playing g4
b efo re he castle s in which
,

case the nature of the play be­

comes rathe r more violent,
w i t h Wh ite oft e n castl i n g
q ueenside, and u sing the g­
White prepares the big clamp
pawn to support a White pawn

85
on the ki ngside.
5 . . . e5
It is tempti ng to adopt a Dra­
gan/Be non i formation with 5
. . . c5, but the knight on d7 is
misplace d for this plan; Black
needs to p ressurize d4. White
ca n q u ite h a p p i ly keep the
central ten sion with 6 Be3 fol­
lowed by Q d 2 , f3, etc.
6 d5 Ngf6
Black opts for a pseudo-King's
Indian, but White can prepare
a pawn sto rm.
The sharpest way to play is to
play for a n early . . . f5, notwith­
sta n di n g Wh ite's attempt to
eliminate th is move. After a
double exchange of pawns on
f5, White will have complete
control of several key l ight
squares, particularly along the
b 1 -h7 d i a g onal , and he will
also have possibi lities of attack
along the g-file. It should not
be forgotten though that White
will be weak along the f-file,
a n d t h a t B l a c k h a s d a rk
square control, with . . . Nd4 or
the pawn sacrifice . . . e4 being
interestin g possibilities. So for
exerci se 1 8 we ask what is
86
happening after 6 . . . Ne 7 7 Ne2
f5 .
7 h4
Most certainly not 7 g5? Nh5,
possi bly fol lowed by . . . Nf4
and/or the opening of the f-file
with . . . f6. White's pawn struc­
ture wou l d have l ost all its
natural elasticity.
With t h e next move Wh ite
threatens to extend his grip on
the light squares by playing h5.
This is a good move, whether
Black allows the h-file to be
opened, or whether he tries to
keep the h-file closed. If for E)X­
ample Black tries 7 . . . h6, then
8 �5 ! ? g5 9 f3 gives White a
very favorable pawn structure.
In such a position the kingside
is completely blocked with only
White having chances of play
(Nf5), while White still has his
traditional advantage on the
queenside. O n ly White can
wi n , a nd Bla ck's defensive
task is burdensome.
Black decides h e must prevent
h5.
7 . . h5 8 g5 Nh7 9 Be3 0-0
. queenside, on h is .. unnatu ral"
1 0 N ge2 Qe7 1 1 Ng3
Advertising the possibility that
a sacrifice on h5 might later be
available. It helps that Black is
press�d for space on the king­
side.
Furthermore a n y attempt to
break free with . f5 or . . f6 can
. . . nored as a matter of princi ple.
be met by exf6, after which the
Black pawn on g6 will be very
weak . Note that the bishop on
e3 effectively protects the oth­
erwise weak White pawn on
f2 .
There is also a m ore immedi­
ate tactical p roblem; if now 1 1
. . .f6? 1 2 N xh 5 ! gxh5 1 3 g6 is
strong . So Black is uncomfort­
able.
1 1 . . . Rd8 1 2 Be2
Now 1 3 BxhS followed by Nf5
is a threat.
1 2 . . . N dfB 1 3 Q d 2 c5
The "block a n d break" theme,
87
discussed further i n the next
chapter. With White standing
bette r o n th e k i n g s i d e . a l­
though obviously preparing to
castle queenside, . Black m ust
prepare counterplay on the
wing. To do this, he m ust firstly
block with . . . c5, then break
with . . . b5.
1 4 0-0-0 aS 15 Rdg 1 b 5 1 6
Qd1
Black's sacrifice s hould be ig­
After 16 cxb5? axb5 1 7 Bxb5
White gains a pawn, b�t so
what? Black's two open files
o n the q u e e n s i d e p rovi d e
ample compensation, and 1 7
.. . Bg4 followed by . . . Rdb8 will
bring to a halt White's attack,
a n d h a n d t h e i n iti a t i v e to
Black.
16 . . . bxc4 (diag ram)
1 7 Bxh 5 !
Th ematic a n d v e ry stro n g .
White i s aiming a few pawns
at Black's congested kings ide.
Without this sacrifice, White
would h a ve n oth i n g o n the
kingsid e . and would have to
content h i mself with closing
down the q ueenside , some­
thing clearly not possible when
B lack h as already played . . .
bxc4.
Seen in this light, it is clear that
White must already have de­
cided that this sacrifice was
promising when he castled on
move 1 4, otherwise he would
have tucked his king away on
the kingside, maybe on f2, and
prepared to meet . . . bS with b3
and a likely draw.
17 . . . g x h 5 1 8 Qxh5 Rb8 1 9
Nf5
And this is why the sacrifice is
strong . Every pawn removed
from the board means that at
least one square is weakened ;
here the weakening of Black's
fS is highly significant. White's
newly foun d control of h5 is not
so important of itself; the real
88
point is that the road is clear
for the h-pawn.
1 9 . . . Qb7 20 Qe2 Ng6
21 hS?!
Sometimes it is the mistakes
that are instructive. The move
played gives Black a fleeting
opportu n ity for counterp !ay
(can you see it?). The correct
.. move is 2 1 N xg7 ! A. player
would be naturally reluctant to
exch a n g e off h i s exce l l e n t
kni g h t so soon afte r it h a d
reached its strongest square,
but the bishop on g7 is cru cial
to Black's kingside d efence;
White has no need to fee l
guilty here about exch�nging
good knight for llbad" bishop.
After 2 1 Nxg7 ! Kxg7 22 h 5
Black is u nable to move the
knight away from g6 because
White's g6 move would be ter­
rifi cally strong . Black w o u l d
have noth ing better than 22
. . . N hf8 23 hxg6 Nxg6 24 Rh6,
but White would then have lev­
e l led material and kept his
king side initiative.
Some examples of what hap­
pens if Black tries to keep his
extra piece (based on analy­
sis b y Mirkovic) :
(a) 22 . . . Nf4 23 Bxf4 exf4 24
g6 fxg6 (otherwise 25 h6+
is too strong) 25 hxg6 Nf6
(25 . . . Nf8 26 f3! Nxg6 27
Rxg6+ !) 26 e5! dxe5 27
R h7+ ! Nxh7 28 gxh7+
Kh6 29 R h 1 + and a • been swept open, and so it
q ueen check decides.
How easily the king's
cover is stripped bare
once the bishop has
gone!
(b) 22 . . . N e7 (22 . . . Ngf8
merely leaves an extra
target after a later g7) 23
g6 fxg6 24 hxg6 Nf6 (24
. . . Nxg6 25 Rxh7+) 25 Bh6+
Kg8 26 Bg5 Kg7 (26
. . . Rf8 2 7 Bxf6 Rxf6 28 g7)
27 Bxf6+ Kxf6 28 Rh7
with a winn 1ng attack.
2 1 . . . B xf5 22 exf5 (diagram)
22 . . . Nf4?
89
B l ac k m i s s e s a s p l e n d i d
ch ance to bre a k fre e . A n y
Ki ng's I n d ian aficionad o wil l
have a fond understanding of
the power of the I ndian bishop
once the long diagonal has
proves h ere. 22 . . . e4 ! is the
mov e , th rP.ate n i n g . . . Bxc3 ;
Black is not scared of 2 3 hxg6
Bxc3 24 gxh7+ Kh8. Whi te
can of course throw a cloak
over the bishop with 23 f6, but
then the knight takes over the
open e5 square : 23 . . . N e 5 !
Mirkovic gives 24 fxg 7 N d3+
25 Kd 1 as ��unclear'' ; it is also
an i nteresting position to ana­
lyse (exercise 1 9) . The first
q uesti on to ask is w h e th e r
Black stands better.
23 Bxf4 exf4 24 f6
Back to n o rmal afte r s o m e
missed opportunitie s . White's
ki n g s i d e p re s s u re i s form i­
dable; Black's q u eenside at­
tack i s merely i rritating . The tension reaches a peak as
24 . . . B h8 25 Qc2 ReS
M i rkovic shows that the co­
u nter-sacrifice o n f6 avai ls
nothing : 25 . Bxf6 26 gxf6+
. .
Kh8 27 Rg6 ! fxg6 28 hxg6 Rd7
29 Ne4 Qxd5 30 f7 and the
Black king is defe nseless.
26 g6?!
This could have wa ited a bit;
26 Rh4! was strong.
2 6 . . . Nxf6 2 7 g7
Painful ! Of course 27 . . . Bxg7
28 h6 loses quickly, but Black
must rrepare the counter-sac­
rifice somehow.
27 . . . Nh7 28 Rh4
90
28 . . .f5?
White prepares Rhg4 followed
by a capture on h8 and a n at­
tack down the g-file. In addi­
tion, Black was getting short of
time. He makes the mistake,
common in such situations , of
seeking a premature rel ease
of tension, when everythi n g
subsides , White has a clear
positional edge.
Exercise 20; can you suggest
a better defen sive p l a n fo r
Black? Examine this position
carefully and you will see how
knife-edged these pos!tions
with �ttacks on opposite wings
can be.
29 h6 Re7 30 Rxf4 �xg7
The release of tens ion .
3 1 Rxg7+ Rxg7 32 hxg7
Qxg7 33 Qxf5
(diagram)
Illustrating the theme of ata-
..
vism in chess. Looking at the
diagram, one of the most ob­
vious points is that Wh ite is
ta ki n g co n trol of the l i g h t
squares.

Th is becomes even clearer in
few m oves tim e , wh en th e
VVhite knight will have reached
e4 and the rook g4, while the
advanced d5 pawn will con­
tinue to highlight the weakness
of the e6 square. A lot of wood
h a s crossed a lot of squares,
but the position is one which
i s highly characteristic of pawn
ch ain strategy. I n particular,
th e s pearhead pawn on d5
stays in placs, and while the
e4 pawn has long since dis­
a p p e a re d fro m th e boa rd
White still has control of the e4
square.
S o does this mean that White
h a s been consistently follow­
i n g a cl assical pawn cha i n
strategy, and i s finally reaping
the benefits? Even if one ig­
nores the various mistakes in
the earlier play, · such an inter­
p retation does not hold. After
al l . one can also deduce from
91
the diagram position, perfectly
correctly, that there h a s re­
cently been a sharp battle with
both sides trying hard to open
up lines and create attacks
against kings castled on oppo­
site flanks. This is, if you like ,
the ��father'' of the position. The
immediate paternity of the po­
sition is currently not so impor­
tant; White may have the oc­
casional threat down the g-file,
.
but it is not going to be thi s that
decides the game. The strate­
gic features which are most im­
portant now, are throwbacks to
an earlier "generation", atavis­
tic features . The basic tone of
the position has been set by
the sequence 5 g4 e5 6 d 5;
White has aimed for ambitious
control of the light squares,
while Black has tried to hold
steady on the dark squares.
White has been m o re s uc­
cessful than Black, but that is
because he has played better
than Black.
It would be a mistake to think
that White's light squared con­
trol has been an enduring fea­
ture of the position , a n d an
even bigger mistake to con­
sider it merely accid entaL It is
atavistic, a genetic trait (this re­
lating to the genesis of the po-
sition) wh ich has not visi bly
m a n ifested itself for a few
"generations" (phases of play) ,
but which suddenly appears at
a much later date. If you the
reader are not convinced by
t h i s l i n e of rea s o n i n g , and
would wish to argue that White
was always better on the light
squares, I would refer yo u to
the position set in exercise 1 9,
where Black had just estab­
lished h i s knight on d3, and
had pawns on c4 and e4 - not
real ly sign s of White dom ina­
tion ! So what is the particular
s i g n i f i c a nce of ata v i s m i n
chess? Perhaps the most i rr.
portant point is that it is worth
accumu lating positional ad­
vantages even i n situ�tions
where it can be for seen that
the game will soon be d omi­
nated by tactics and by com­
plicated sequences of attack
and counterattack. However
messy the complications ap­
pear to be at the time, they will
eventually subside, and there
is a f�ir chance that ancient
strategic features of the posi­
tion wil l assu me new promi­
nence. Beli eving in chess ata­
vism , one can says as a mat­
ter of faith , I like my position ,
" sive grip on the central light
and I want to preserve my ad-
vantages. If he wants to com­
plicate, let him! Though every­
thing see ms confused ; I be­
l ieve that I go into complica­
tions with a good position, I will
emerge with a good position."
A long p h ilosophical digres­
sion. How does atavism work
in practice?
33 .. . KhB
33 . . . Qg 1 + is wel l met by 34
Nd1 .
34 Rg4 Qh6+ 35 Qf4
·
White is happy with an end­
game, _and indeed is prepared
to meet 35 . . . Q h 1 + 36 Kc2
Qa 1 with 37 Qc1 ! White's d­
a n d f-p aw n s a re stro n g ,
.. Black's d-pawn and front c­
pawn are weak.
35 ... Qh 1 + 36 Kc 2 RfB 37 Qe3
Qh2 38 Ne4! (diagram)
The th rowback to cla s s ica l
pawn chain strategy is com­
plete. Black's ineffective attack
down the f-file and modest
control of dark squares do not
compensate for White's mas­
squares.
92

The threat of Qc3+ now forces
a n endgame i n which t h e
Black pawns are genetically
predisposed to drop off. (Curi­
ously, I have never seen ripe
apples fall like pawns.)
38 ...Qe5 39 Qc3 Qd4 40 f41
Rf7 41 Nxd6 Rd7 42 Qxd4+
cxd4 43 Nxc4 Rxd5 44 Kd3
There is no real difficulty her�.;
White is a pawn up and has
the better pawn structure and
the more active pieces; the
endgame win is simply a mat-·
ter of time.
44 ... Nf6 45 Rg5 Rd8 46 Ne5
Kh7 47 Ng4 NeB
If Black allows any exchanges,
the win is even easier.
48 b3 Ng7 49 Nf6+ Kh8 50
ReS Rf8 51 Nd5 Nf5 52 Ke4
93
Nd6+ 53 Kxd4 NbS+ 54 Kd3
Rd8 55 a4 Nd6 56 Kd4 aS 57
KcS Nf7 58 Re7 Kg8 59 Ra7
Black resioned.
.....
Not the most accurate game
in this book, but of theoretical
and thematic interest.
The ..paradoxical push" can
also occur in the French De­
fence, for example 1 e4 e6 2
d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3
Qb6 6 a3 Bd7 7 b4 with ad­
vantage to White. Black can
prevent this with 6 ... as or the
bypassing move 6 . . c4.
.
A more important case is that
of the Nimzo-lndian. There are
many variations in this open­
ing where White forms the
pawn chain f3-e4-d5, while
having doubled pawns on c3
and c4. The shape of White's
pawn chain suggest queen­
side activity, but the doubled
pawns rule this possibility out.
White's most promising plan,
unlikely and paradoxical tho­
ugh it might seem at first sight,
is to keep his king in the cen­
ter and use his f3 pawn as a
pivot for a general kingside
pawn advance. Maybe in a fu­
ture volume we shall consider
the doubled pawn complex in
more detail; in the meantime
here is an example of White
gaining an edge with this plan.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4
f31 ? c5 5 d5 B xc3+ 6 bxc3 d6
7 e4 e5 8 B d 3 N bd7 9 h4
The kingside advance starts;
White p ropo ses h5 and h6,
while if Black prevents this with
9 . . . h5, the g5 square is weak­
ened , and White can aim for
Bg5, N e2-g3-f5.
9 . . . Nf8
C a stl i n g k i n g s i d e , i n to the
pawn storm, is too dangerous.
1 0 h5 h6 1 1 Rb1 Qc7 1 2 Qb3
Kd8
The first sign of planlessness,
but · what improvements a re
there? If 1 2 . . . b6 1 3 a4 White
p re p a re s to attack o n t h e
queen side.
1 3 Ne2 Ng8 1 4 Ng3 Ne7 1 5
Be3 (diagram)
A very p l easant position to
play for White, Gutman - Am.
Rodri g u ez, N ew York 1 988.
Black has been unable to take
the initiative on the queen side,
94
so the doubled c-pawns are
not weak.
·v·v'i 1ii� i lC:t::; piay along the b-file,
and his kingside pawns clamp
Black very effectively. Note
that whereas in the King's In­
dian the key push is g4 (to re­
strain . . . f5) , in the Nimzo-, n­
dian the leading pawn is gen­
erally the h-pawn (White must
provoke weaknesses).
7. Bloek aad 8reak
In a book this size, it would be
impossible to give full cover­
age to all major pawn chain
themes. The best that can be
hoped for is that the examples
and discussion in this book will
h ave improved the reader's
positional fluency when d eal­
ing with what is undoubtedly a
rathe r co mplicated ty p e of
pawn structure. There is one
th eme that definitely should
not remain undiscussed and I ample is a game that Petrosian
that is the "block and break"
theme.
Our last chapter showed ex­
amples where White pushed
h i s kn i g h t' s pawn o n h i s
"opponent's" flank, either re­
straining . . .f5 (or . . . c5) or ac­
tually attacking the opponent's
f- (or c-) pawn. Black can also
p l ay p a wn moves on t h e
'wrongn s i d e of the board; . . . c5
in the King's Indian or . . .f5 in
the French . The primary mo­
tive i s clear; Black wants to
p re v e n t White g a i n i ng too
much s pace on his stronger
flank. With this blocking move,
Black can prevent White's c5
in the King's Indian, or his f5
i n th e F rench ; on the other
h a nd it is m a d e easier for
White to open up lines (b4 and
bxc5 in the King's Indian ; g4
and gxf5 in the French). Yet
Black ca n also open up the po­
sition, with . . . a6 and . . . b5 in the
King's I ndian (as we have al­
ready seen in Mircovic - To dor­
cevic) , o r by . . . h6 and . . . g5 in
the French.
It is probably in the block-and­
b re a k typ e of position that
similarities between the King's
I nd ia n a nd F re nch become
most n oticeable. H ere for ex-
95
won shortly before beco ming
World Champion; the g a m e
starts a s a French, but the su­
per-subtle strategist so com­
pl etely wrong-foots a world
class opponent that Olafsson
finds himself playing a grossly
inferior King's I ndia n , M irror
Variation.
G•me 16
Olafsson Petroslan Bled
•
1961
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4
The Winawer Defence, strate­
gically the most complicated of
all the F 1 ench variations.
Black's pressure on e4 forces
an immediate decision from
White. Normally he plays 4 e5
here, even· though this invol­
ves n o gain of tempo.
The m a i n l i n e 4 . . . c5 5 a 3
Bxc3+ 6 bxc3 Ne7. {diag ram)
A pawn chain position, but with
a diff9rence; White has doub­
led c-pawns ! The pawn struc­
ture is highly unsta ble; thi s is
shown in extreme form in lines
such as 7 Qg4 !? Qc7 8 Qxg7
Rg8 9 Qxh7 cxd4 with great
complications.

In this line Black has destroyed
the Wh ite pawn center, but
has had to sacrifice his king­
side to do thi s !
B lack's kingside is undoubt­
edly wea ker i n the Winawer
than in the Classical (3 . . . Nf6),
and the absence of h is dark
squared bishop might well be­
come a p ro blem (a4 followed
by 8a3 is a standard pian for
White ) . On the other hand,
White's center is considerably ..
m ore vu l n erable than in the
Classical , his c3 square being
particularly weak (square, and
not just pawn; a sudden open­
i n g of t h e c-f i l e ca n leave
White wea k on c3 and c4 be­
cause of the a bsence of the
b-pawn).
Who do these d ifferences fa­
vour? There is no simple an­
swer; perhaps best to say for
the tim e being that both sides
have something to play for.
96
4 e5 Qd7 ! ?
Avoiding the main lines. The
purpose of this move is simply
to facilitate queens ide castling .
4 . . . b6 5 Qg4 8f8 ! ? is another
possio iii ty. 1 ne retreat of the
bishop looks strange at fi rst,
but Black has provoked e5 in
a situation where the pawn on
d4 is poorly protected . and in
such circumstances the White
queen is indifferently placed
on g4. indeed a game Blatny ­
Psakh i s , Amsterd a m 1 99 1 ,
saw a quick return to: 6 h4! ?
h 5 7 Qd 1 ! (the queen i s a tar­
get after 7 Qg3 N h6) 7 . . . c5 8
Bg5 Qd7 9 Bb5 Nc6 1 0 Nge2
a6 1 1 Bxc6 Qxc6 1 2 Nf4 cxd4
1 3 Nce2 Qc7 1 4 Nd3 with an
unclear. position. It is perhaps
more logical for White to play
5 a3 Bf8 6 Nf3 Ne7 7 h4 h 5 8
Bg5, and now Portisch gives
after 8 . . . Qd7 9 Bb5 c6 1 0 Ba4,
with the idea of Ne2 a nd c3,
and the White pawn cha i n is
well secured.
5 Qg4 f5 !
Th� kingside block.
6 Qg 3 b6

7 h4
A reasonable move, or the first
step down a slippery path? It
all depends on how seriously
White needs to take the pos­
sibility of . . . g5.
7 N�3 is definitely worth con­
sidering, when 7 Ba6 led to
. . .
White's advantage in H_i artar­
son - Adams, Reykjavik 1 990:
8 Bxa6 Nxa6 9 0-0 c6 1 0 Nf4
( pressure o n the backward
pawn) 1 0 Nc7 1 1 Nce2 ! Qf7
. . .
1 2 b3 followed by c4. Yet the
King's Indian player might well
l egitimately ask why it is so
necessary to exchang e the
b a d b i s h o p , when Black is
s o l i d e n o u g h after a " real"
fianchetto. 7 . . . Nc6! looks emi­
ne ntly p la yable; . . . Bb7 and
. . . 0-0-0 are to follow. The
trouble with playing a knight to
h3 so early is that White is ne­
glecting his important d-pawn .
7 - Pawn Chains
7 . . . Bb7 8 Bd3?1
This routine developing move
is q uestionable; the bis h o p is
misplaced on d3 as White i m­
plicitly admits four moves later.
Clarke, in Petrosi a n 's B est
Games of Chess, suggests 8
Bd2 Nc6 9 Nf3 0-0-0 1 0 0-
0-0 followed by Ne2 and Nf4.
8 a3 also looks reasona ble.
There is a distinction to be
drawn between devel o p ment
and merely getting pieces off
the back rank for the s a ke of
moving them.
8 . . . Nc6 9 Nge2
M aybe 9 Nf3; who k nows?
White's game is slippi n g , and
a p p ears to be slippi n g with
every ruove . When this hap­
pens, every move l ooks like a
mistake at first, when i n fact
there may only be one or two
real mistakes. Perhaps i n the
next few moves it is White's
position that is bad , n ot h i s
moves.
9 . . . 0-0-0 1 0 Bd2 N h 6
As 1 1 Bxh6 will give B la ck the
g-file.
97
1 1 a3 Be71
The bishop retreats to its best
square, regardless of the pos­
sible loss of a pawn. White is
set a challenge: snatch the
pawn, or forever play a slightly
inferior position. Exercise 2 1 :
the critical line is 1 2 Qxg7 Ng4
1 3 Bg5; has Black got any­
thing concrete here?
1 2 Bb5
Admitting that his 8 Bd3 was
ill advised.
1 2 . . . Rdg8 1 3 Qd3
The d rifting continues . This
move looks ugly, but how else
d o e s W h ite s e c u re h i s d ­
pawn ? Black's piece move­
ments are much more harmo­
nious.
1 3 . . . Nf7 1 4 0-0-0 (diagram)
1 4 . . . Kb8 1 1
Petrosian was renowned for
the subtlety, and occasionally
the oversubtlety, of his posi­
tional maneuvering. Here his
play is subtle yet comprehen­
sible, altogether charming.
98
The point about this position
is that the natural side for de­
veloping the Black i nitiative is
the queenside, not the king­
side. Furthermore this initiative
is potentially a powerful one in
that Black has the right piece
development to start a King's
Indian style pawn roller on the
queens ide. Sc Petrosian turns
it into a King's Indian !
Stage I - clear the c8 square.
1 5 Nf4 Qc8!1
Stage II - major piece to the c­
file.
1 6 Nce2 Ncd81
-
Stage I l l ; knight out of the way
so th at the p awn m a y a d ­
vance. (diagram)
Black's last few moves may
look mysterious, when taken
one by one, but it is the posi-
tion at the end of the maneu­ Petrosian was never a King's
vering that counts. Black's po­ I ndian advocate, but this posi­
sition is 1 00% solid - there is ti on is perhaps most easily
not a ghost of a weakness that grasped in King's .lndian terms .
White can attack - and the ac- To com pensate for Black's
" "' ' . ... . ,.. ...... , - . • ;
t"''-- J s J· ust ab out queenside play White ought to
+i, , ,..
.., , • .._. � ""' -..,. I I ., ..., I I

to start. be developing a h uge advan­

tage on the kingside, the flank
of his spearhead pawn, but h e
has nothing : Black's . . .f5 and
N h6-f7 have very effectively
blocked off White's play on his
stronger fl ank, wh ile h i s . . .
RdgB announces the possibil­
ity that Black can break (with
. . . g5) as well as block. Black
is so strong on the queenside
Black's . . . c5 '.Nill express both however that th i s possibil ity
French and King's Indian the­ remains merely hypothetical .
mes. I n French style, Black is
th reate ning to de stroy the 1 7 Qb3?
White pawn center by a sus­
tained attack on d4, which After this White is clearly lost.
would undermine the spear­ 1 7 Nh�_! the only chance, pre­
h e ad pawn on e 5 . S h ou l d paring to buttress the e-pawn
White decide to complete the with f4. An important mini-tac­
pawn chain with 1 7 c3 , then tical point is that 1 7 . . . c5 may
Black attacks in King's Indian safely be met by 1 8 dxc5 be­
style, e.g. 1 7 . . . c5 1 8 Kb 1 c4 cause 1 8 . . . Nxe5? is answered
1 9 Qe3 (Qc2? loses a piece by 1 9 Bf4. To gai n the maxi­
to 1 9 . a6 2 0 Ba4 b5) 1 9 . .
mum from the position , Black
. . Bc6 ! ? 20 Bxc6 Qxc6 and
.
has to prepare to recapture on
Black's maneuvering need no c5 with a kn ight. Thus 1 7 . . . c6
longer be so subtle; . . . Nb 7-a5- 1 8 Ba4 Ba6 1 9 Q e3 N b7 !
b3, . . . Ka8, . . . Rb8, . . . a5, . . . b5- leaves B l a ck i n the d riving
b4, etc. , is annihilating. seat; for example 20 Kb 1 c5
99
2 1 c3 Na5! is strong. Black still has to think carefully,
despite being piece and pawn
17 . . . c61 up. Petrosian plays according
to the principle .. protect every­
Forcing the bishop to deprive thing", but there is a suspicion
the knight of the d3 square. that this move is over-subtle.

1 8 Bd3 c5 1 9 dxc5 Bxc5 20

Nh3 Nxe5

This pawn may safely be sna­

tched as the pin is not as dan­
gerous as it looks, for example
21 Bf4 Nf7 22 Ng5 Bd6 ! 23
Nxf7 Nxf7 and Black has con­
solidated his extra pawn.
Exercise 22 is two parts. firstly,
2 1 Bf4 Ndf7 22 Bb5 is 25 . . . Qf8 a clear win? Clarke
gives as the main line 26 Bxe6
Having lost the strategic battle Be5 27 Bxd5 Bxd5 28 Rxd5
in the center, Wh�te aims for a QbB! and Black keeps his ex­
lightni ng attack against the tra piece; you might want to
Black king . It fails, but it had to loo k fo r · i m p rove m e n ts fo r
be tried. White . Secondly, has Black
got any simpler alternative to
22 Ka8 23 Nd4 Ng6 24 Qa4
. . .
25 . . . Qf8?
Bxd4
26 Rxd4?
Before White can fl ick in Nc6 .
Now it is easy for Black.
25 Bd7 (diagram)
26 . . . e5
25 . . . Qf8
To meet 27 Rxd5 with Nxf4
Wh ite has done wel l in ran­ and 27 Bc6 with Qc8.
d o m i z i n g the position , an d
100
27 Rb4 exf4 28 Rxb6 Nfe5 29
R x b 7 Kxb7 3 0 h 5 Q d 6 3 1
h x g 6 Qxd7 3 2 Q xf4 N x g 6
White resigns.
A memorable game.
ercises ! Here are the positions
again, with my own attem pted
sclutions.

Here reluctantly, it is time to

bring the book to a close, oth­
erwise a short book will be­
come a long one. There are
several recent games that I
would have liked to include,
given more space (notable ex­
amples being Shirov - Bare­
yev, Hastings 1 99 1 /92 and
lvanchuk - Kasparov, Linares
1 992), and it would have been
interesting to incl ude a few
games from other openings,
such as the Ruy Lopez and the
Advance Variation of the Caro­
Ka.ln . I hope h owever that I
have done enough to acquaint
the reader with some of the ba­
sics of pawn chain strategy in
th e two cla ssic pawn cha i n
openings, the F re nch and the
King's Indian. I hope that the
reader will enjoy exploring the
issues further, both in playing
through printed games , and in
h i s o r h e r o v e r-th e - b o a rd
chess. There is still one p iece
of unfinished business in this
book; all those analytical ex-

1 01
 A nalytical Exer�lses

There is only so much that one c�n learn from the pas­
sive study of texts; all top trainers are agreed that indepen­
dent analys i s is the real key to improvement. S uch analysis
does not mean simple calculation of combinations; what is
req u i red is that one should take an i nteresting position (or
even a boring position) and study it i n depth, to find out what
i s real ly going on. Only so is it possible for the reader to gain
a more subtle appreciation of the rel ative importance of par­

ticu lar types of strategic feature in game-li ke settings. Deep

analysis i mproves both tactical and strategical judgment!
The exercises that fol low have arisen from the discussions in
the text. Each exercise represents a point in the notes where
the sources I have used (mostly lnformator ) fail to clarify
a critical position. S ince in my own notes I have wanted to
concentrate on strategical themes rather than analytical d i s­
cussion, I have not written in deta i l on these positions in the
main text, but have left them as analytical exercises for the
i nterested reader. In this chapter, I present a l l the positions
again, and give my own tentative solutions to the questions
I have raised .. If you the reader d i sagree with my answers,
then excel lent! Analyse more deepl y !

1 02
1 . Korchnoi - Kasparov (note to White's 1 7th)

White to move

A typically razor-sharp Classical King's I ndian

What is happening here? Who is better?

2. Korchnoi - Kasparov (note to White's 2 1 st)

Wh ite to move

" U nclear" accord i ng to Kasparov.- Comments?

103
3. I ntroduction to C hapter 2

Wh ite to move

B l ack has just castled. Is the standard sacrifice 1 3 Bxh7+

good , bad or i nd ifferent? In the French Defence it often takes
very fi ne judgment to be able to decide whether to al low thi s
sacrifice o r not.

4. Larsen - Bareyev lnote to White's 1 5th)

White to move

B lack has just broken with 1 5 . f6 (an opportunity that B areyev

. .

neglected) . What is happening?

104
5 . N i mzowitsch - Salwe ( note to White's 1 Oth)

White to move

Can White establ ish an advantage after Black's 1 0 . . . aS?

6. N imzowitsch - Salwe (note to White's 1 5th)

Wh ite to move

Another Bxh7+ comb i nation to calculate. Is it strong?

1 05
7 . Korchnoi - Gel ler (note to White's 2 0th)

White to move

Does 2 1 Bxd4 g ive Wh ite a stable positional edge?

8. Korchnoi - Geller (note to White's 36th)

Black to move

B lack lost on time here, yet 36 . . . Kg7 1 sti l l gives White tech­
nica l problems. Can White win this _endgame? I s G ufeld's
suggesti'on o n 3 7 Re6 Rf6 38 Rc6 correct?

1 06
9. Lju bojevic - M . Gu revich (note to White's 1 2th )

Black to move

Who stands better?

1 0: Pyd o - Likavsky (note to Black's 1 1 th}

White to move

This vari ation was once recom m ended as good for Black,
but h as been avoid ed in master chess. Why?

1 07
1 1 . Pyd a - Li kavsky (note to Black's 1 7th )

Black to move

I s this position d efensi ble after 1 9 . . . Rg8?

1 2. Pyd a - Likavsky (note to Wh ite's 1 9th)

White to move

A trad itional "find the combination" exercise. Whit•

and wi n . Not as easy as it looks.

1 08
1 3. Piket - Kasparov (note to Wh ite's 1 7th)

Wh ite to play

White played 1 7 a4. Assess 1 7 NbS. I s 1 7 . . . h5, as suggested

in Encyclopedia of Ch ess Openings the correct reply?

1 4. P i ket - Kasparov ( note to White=s 2 1 st)

Black to p l ay

Does 25 . ·Nxg2 win? If

. . not, how should play conti nue?

1 09
15. Piket- Kasparov (note to Black's 21st)

Black to move

If the win is "obvious", you will surely find it.

16. Cebalo- Cvitan (note to Black's 17th)·

Black to move

Black played 17 ... NeB; assess 17 . Rf7.

. .

110
17. Cebalo- Cvitan (note to Black's 21st)

Black to play

Slight advantage to White, according to Cebalo.

But \Vhat is happening after 30 .. . Qh4?

18. Mirkovic- Todorcevic (note to Black's 6th)

White to play

What is happening?

111
1 9. Mirkovic - Todorcevic (note to Black·s 22nd)

Black to play

" Unclear, according to Mirkovic. C larify.

20. Mirkovic - Todorcevic (note to Black•$ 28th)

Black to play

How should he defend?

112
2 1 . O l afsson - P etrosian ( note to Black,s 1 1 th )

Black to move

Can White be punished for snatchi ng the pawn?

22. Olafsson - Petrosian ( note to B lack,s 25th )

..

B lack to move

How shou l d White have met 25 . . . Qf8? Can B lack i mprove?

e - Pawn Chams 113

 Exercise I

May be a draw is a fair result, with 2 1 c7 being the critical

move. After 21 . . . Qd7 22 Rxa7 (22 Nxa7 leads to simi lar varia­
tions, but without the preparatory exchange of rooks) 22
. . . Rxa7 23 Nxa7 gxh3 24 Ne1 Rg7 25 Bxh6 hxg2 26 Nxg2
N h4 27 Rf2 Nxg2 (27 . . . Qh3? 1 2B Bf1 1 ) 2B Rxg2 �"�2 -r 2�
Kxg2 Q h3+ 30 Kg1 Qg3+ 31 Kh1 is perpetual check.
2 1 hxg4 hxg4 22 fxg4 Nxe4 23 Bf3 would be i nteresting, with
White battl i ng for control of e4 and hoping to use his passed
pawn, except that Black has 23 . . . Ng3 with a crushi ng king side
attack.

Exercise 2

White has just given back his extra pawn to save a tempo,
b ut what can he usefully do with his extra move? Certainly
s omething quiet like 23 a5? g4 'Nould be total ly wrong.
A White attac!� on the queens ide wi l l not be able to outspace
a B lack kingside attack. What is necessary is to undertake
prophylactic measures on the kingside._ I n the actual g ame
White defended agai nst Black's sacrifice on g4 by Re1 , Bf3
and attempting to run .hi s· . king to e2: however he had not
p repared this sufficiently early, and lost as a result.
Therefore an immediate 23 Re1 !? Rh7 24 Kf1 is worth con­
s idering, and if 24 . . . g4 25 hxg4 hxg4 26 fxg4 Bg5 27 Bf3.
After 27 . . . B h4 2B Ra2 Bg3 Black sti l l has good prospects
though, and there also alternative methods.
Another idea for White is 23 Nc6 QfB 24 N a7 , hoping for a
draw by repetition after say 24 . . . Bd7 2S N abS ReB 26 N a7
Rb8 27 NabS ReB. Black can sacrifice the exchange how­
ever: 24 . . . Rxa7 25 Bxa7 c5, when after 26 B b6? ! N h4 White
has too l ittle covering the kingside. So 26 N bS ( i dea Bb8 ) 26

. 114
. . . g4 27 hxg4 hxg4 28 fxg4 N h4 (But not 28 . . . Nxe4? 29 Bd3)
and Black has very good play for the exchange, for example
29 Bf3 Rg7 30 Bb8 Nxf3+ 31 gxf3 Nxg4 or 29 Bb8 f3 ! Maybe
29 Ra3 Nxe4 30 Rh3 Bg5 i s best, but B lack still ha� excellent
play for the exchange. Black is looking good.

Ex-ercise 3

This i s most spectacular of the analytical exercises ! The

sacrifice is strong. 1 3 Bxh7+ 1 Kxh7 1 4 Ng5+ Kg8 ( 1 4 . . . Kh6
wou l d lose quickly to 1 5 Qg3) 1 5 Qh4.
N ow B lack must make a flight square for the king. If h e
counter -aiial,;k� with 1 5 . . . N d3+, then simply 1 6 Kf1 Qf2+ 1 7
Qxf2 Nxf2 1 8 Kxf2 f6 1 9 exf6 Rxf6 20 g3 leaves White a
pawn up. If B lack tries instead 1 5 . . . Rd8, then � n i mportant
fl ight square is blocked after 1 6 Qh7+ Kf8 1 7 Qh8+ Ke7 1 8
Qxg7.
After 1 5 . . . Re8 ! White must be careful; the impulsive 1 6 Qh7+
Kf8 1 7 Q h8+? Ke7 1 8 Qxg7 Nd3+ 1 9 cxd3 Qe3+ 20 Ne2 Nd4
2 1 Qxf7+ Kd8 22 Qh5 Ra7 hands over the attack to Black.
White does better to spend a move getting his king into safeiy.
1 6 0-0-0 ! ! Now Rxd5 is a possibi l ity, for example 1 6 . . . Ne7
1 7 Qh7+ Kf8 1 8 Qh8+ Ng8 1 9 Rxd5 ! b4 20 Nh7+ Ke7 2 1
Qxg7 with a mating attack. So Black tries to dislodge the
knight immediately.
1 6 . . . b4 ( 1 6 . . . Na4 ! ?) 1 7 Q h7+ Kf8 1 8 Qh5 ! Now if 1 8 . . . Ra7
1 9 Nh 7 + Ke 7 20 Rxd5, winning; 1 8 . . . Nd8 receives the same
punishment and 1 8 . . . Qa7 or 1 8 . . . Qb7 are not much better,
too.
1 8 . . . Q c7 ! ( Black foresees a later . . . Qxf4+ in a critica l line) 1 9
Nh7+ Kg8 20 Nf6+ ! gxf6 21 Qg4+ Kf8 22 exf6. Now Black
has a choice of losing variations, the second one being par­
ticularly attractive.
115
( a 22 . . . Rd8 23 Qg7+ Ke8 24 Qg8+ Kd7 25 Qxf?+ N e7 (25
. . . Kd6 26 Rxd5+1 ) 26 fxe7 ReB 27 Nxd5 exd5 28 Rxd5+
Kc6 29 Qxe8+ Kxd5 30 QdB+ winning.
(b 22 . . . Re7 23 Nxd5! exd5 24 Qg7+ Ke8 25 Qg8+ Kd7 26
Rxd5+ Ke6 27 Qg5 t ! and Black, although three p ieces
ahead, is helpless. If this game hasn't already been played ,
then no doubt one day it wi ll be l

Exercise 4
The position is screaming out for 1 5 . . . f6, a thoroughly
thematic move to break White a grip on the center.
After 1 6 exf6 B lack might also be tempted by the wil d 1 6
. . . e5? ! whi ch works out wel l in the sharp lines (e.g . 1 7 Rg3
Nxd4 1 8 _Rxg7 + Kh8 1 9 Qxe5 Nf5 ! ), but fails to the m u ndane
1 7 Nxc6 ! Qxc6 1 8 fxg7 Rxf4 1 9 Qxe5 Rf7 20 Bb5.
Black's position seems perfectly adequate after 1 6 . . . Rxf6,
which amongst other things puts pressure on the pawn on f4.
If 1 7 Rf3 Na5! with real queenside play, since unlike the game
1 8 N b3 loses � pawn.
An object lesson in the importance of . . J6 in the French.

Exercise 5
This is basical ly a question of strategy rather tha n one of
tactics. White plays 1 1 b5 ! , not worrying about the surrender
of c5 square, and then prepares Nbd2 and c4, opening up
the center rather than queen side. White's advantage in space
and development should then prevai l . And White does not
even have to spend a move playing a consol idatory a4; after
1 1 . . . Na7 1 2 Nbd2 ! Bxb5 1 3 Rb1 Black must lose m aterial .
While on 1 2 . . . Bc5 preparing to meet 1 3 c4 with 1 3 . . Ne7,
.

then 1 3 a4! , played as a semi-waiting move, is strong . Black, s

bishop on c5 is badly placed, and if 1 3 . . . Ne7 1 4 N b 3 gaining

116
the bishop pair i n a position wh ich will soon be opened u p
(c4, maybe exf6, etc. ).
White stands better. Th_e general opening strategy is i nter­
esting. First of a l l Wh ite closes the position to gain space .
.Then when shortage of space has constricted the movement
of the Black pieces, White opens up the position aga i n to
exploit his lead i n development!

Exercl�e 6

1 7 Bxh7+
(a 1 7 . . . Kxh7 1 8 N g5+ Kg6 ! 1 9 Qxg4 Rf4 ! ( 1 9 Bxh2+? ! 20
. . .

Kh1 , and 20 . . . e5 21 Ne6+ Kf7 22 Nxc7 Bxg4 23 Kxh2 ! or

20 . . . Rf4 2 1 Q h3 Kxg5 22 Qxh2 Rh4 23 Be3+ Kh5 24 g4+
Kxg4 25 Rg 1 + wi nning) 20 Qh3 Kxg5 2 1 Qg3+(2 1 Be3 Kg6
leaves B lack better) 2 1 . . . Rg4!(21 . . . Kf5 !? 22 Qd3+ Kg5 2.3
Qg3+, etc. ) 22 B e3+ (22 f4+ Bxf4) 22 . . . Bxf4 . Good enough
reason already for rejecting 1 7 Bxh7 +.
(b 1 7 . . . Kh8 also seems amply playable for Bl ack, e. g . 1 8
Ng5 Bxh2+ 1 9 Kh1 e5 20 BcS Qc6 2 1 Bxf8 Rxf8 22 f3?
Ne3 23 Qxe3 Bf4 with a big advantage to Black. Alterna­
tively 1 8 Bc2 e5 and B lack has taken over the center.

Therefore 1 7 Bxh7 + is not strong, and so Black stands wel l

i n diagram position N imzowitsch of course d i d not reach the
diagram position, which resulted from a hasty l ine which left
i nsufficient control of the cente r .

As a matter of g eneral principle, it is usual ly best to p l ay the

positionally l ogical move (e. g overprotection of one's own
_
.

strong points, restraint of the opponent s position) rather than

'

to play "attacking" moves and rely on rando m tactics to back

up the attack Often as here random tactics do not work.
.

117
 E:xerelse 7

Not an easy position to assess, or to analyze. 20 Bxd4 is

certainly the natural move for White, giving B l ack the choice
between stabi l izing the pawn structure with 20 . . . exd4 or un­
blocking the queenside with 20 . . . cxd4.
After 20 . . . exd4, B lack's e6 square is exposed, and he must
be very careful n ot to exchange his l ight squared bishop too
l ight-heartedly. After 2 1 f4 Bf6 (to prevent Ng5) 22 Re1 Be7
23 g3 White stands better and can play to increase the pres­
sure with Qd2 , a5 and Ng5. Black's only real chance of play
is if VJhite rushes things too quickly, for example 23 . . . Bd7
24 h4? ! (24 t:aG) 24 . . . Bxh4. · Sight advantage to White then.
if 20 . . . cxd4, White's main responsibil ity is to keep his strong
point on e4, and indeed to overprotect it. With B lack having
no real play in the center or kingside, White can turn his
attention to the queenside. After 2 1 Qe2 White can consider
Rfc1 or even doubling rooks on the a-file to push the pawn
forward to i nduce . . . Ba6 leaving some weak light squares on
the ki ngside. If B lack wants to force opposite colored b ish­
ops with 2 1 . . . Bf5, then let him I The bad bishop on g7 can do
l ittle to guard the queenside, a·· perennial problem in the King's
Indian.
I hope you did not try calculating too many variations in this
exercise ! Analys i s can be as much about strategy as about
tactics.

E:xerelse 8

The first point to consider is that Gufeld's suggestion of 36

. . . Kg7 37 Re6 Rf6 38 Rc6 Rxc6 39 dxc6 is unnatural; White
is voluntarily weakening his pawn structure ! After 39 . Kf6 . .

B lack should a lmost certainly be able to draw by picking off

the c-pawn with his king if the White king should move to the
118
queenside, and by keeping guard on g5 if White tries Kg2-
g3-g4.
A more logical approach is to force the exchange of rooks
without compromising his pawn structure, by playing 37 Re7+
Rf7 38 ReB. Now 38 . . . Rxf4 is hopeless: 39 Ra8 Rf6 40 Ra7
Kh6 41 Kg2 1 (cutting out the last g l immer of counterplay) and
Black can resign. Black must therefore fal l in with White's
plan by playing 38 . . . Rf8 39 Rxf8 Kxf8 .
Although White is an outside passed pawn u p , the win is
very difficult s ince the bishop is tied t o the defence of the c­
pawn, and since the kingside pawn majority is compromised
by the doubled f-pawns. The natural plan is 40 f5? 1 gxf5 4 1
f4; we must see why this does not work. After 4 1 . . . Ke7 42
Kf2 White's king is in range of the Black pawn on c5, mean­
i ng that 43 Bxf5 is a threat.
Thus if 42 . . . Kd6 43 Bxf51 Bxc4 44 Bxh7 1 and Whitels three
widely scattered passed pawns count for more than Black's
tightly bunched pawns. Neither though is defendi ng passively
an opinion for Biack: 42 . . . Kf6? 43 Ke 1 Kg6 44 Be2 followed
by playing the king to d3, covering the vulnerable c-pawn, .
and then playing the bishop to b5. ·
So how does Black defend? He must get h i s h-pawn to a
dark square, beyond the reach of the White bishop: 42 . . . h6 1 I
I have been unable to find a White win here. A typical l ine is
43 Bxf5 (before Black can play . . . Kd6) 43 . . . Bxc4 44 Bc8 Kd6
45 a6 Bxa6 46 Bxa6 Kxd5. B lack's queenside pawn phalanx
i s sufficient to_hold the game, as wi l l readi ly be seen by play­
ing out a few variations. A critical technical poi nt needs to be
noted here; Black draws the game if he can win the f-pawn,
even if he loses a l l his queenside pawns, as the bishop is the
wrong color square for the rook's pawn. In the other words,
preserving the h-pawn is of no help in White's bid for a win .

1 19
The u ltimate useles�ness of the White's h-pawn is not so
easy to see in advance, especi ally on move 40, but it does
help bring · to m i nd � possible alternative p l an. White must
attack Black's kings ide pawns with h4-h5, th rowing away the
expendable h pawn rather than with f4-f5. Therefore 40 h4 ! !
- ,

is the move . If Black now tries 40 . h5, the s implest is 4 1 to

. .

gxf5 42 f4 fol lowed by bringing the king to b3 or d3 protect­

,

ing the c-pawn, and then winning either the f-pawn or the h­
pawn. It fol lows that Black cannot preven t h5 .

If 40 . . . Kf7 4 1 . h 5 gxh5, White has a fairly straightforward win

by marching the king up the h-fi le, gobbling pawns and even­
tua l ly squeezing through the king up the h-fi le. Black must try
to preserve a pawn on g6. So: 41 . . . Kg7 ( it is also desirable
not to allow White to play h6 ) 42 Kg2 Kh6 43 Be2 Kg7 44
Kg3 Kh6 45 Kh4 Bc8 (45 . . . Kg7 46 Kg5! ) 46 hxg6 hxg6 47
Bd3 Ba6 48 Kg4 BcB+ (48 . . . Kg7 49 Kg5; the Black king is
m isplaced) 49 f5 ! ! gxf5+ (49 . Bxf5+ 50 Bxf5 gxf5+ 51 Kf3; 49
.

. . . Kg7 50 Kf4 ! gxfS 51 KeS) 50 Kf4 Kg6 51 Ke5 Kg5 52 d6!

cxd6+ 53 Kxd6 and White soon mops up.
There was a lot of fight left in the position when Black l ost on
time.
··

Exere bie 9

White stands better! He has maintained his pawn chain,

since sacrifices on e5 are unsound, and he is ready to sort
out his kings ide development and take the i nitiative.
Main variations:
(a 1 3 . . . Ndxe5? 1 4 fxe5 Nxe5 1 5 Nxe5 Bd6 1 6 Qe1 !? Qd4 1 7
Bf4 Rxf4 ! 1 8 Nxf4 Bxe5 is unclear, �espite Black's heavy
sacrificing: There is however an unusual twist: after 1 4
Nxe5 ! Nxe5 1 5 fxe5, the fact that White has a pawn rather
than a knight on e5 means that Bd6 is u nplayable White
. . . .

1 20
 is simply a piece ahead.
( b 1 3 . . . Nc5 concedes that the pawn cha in cannot be broken;
B l ack decides instead to acti· 'late his own pieces. White's
most appropriate response is to get his king into safety,
avoiding random tactics. Thus 1 4 Kh2 is indicated, and if
1 4 . . . N e4 1 5 Nfg5 knocks out Black's e4 strong-poi nt. Black
must avoid 1 5 . . . Nf2? 1 6 Qc2, but the alternatives seem
good for White. If 1 5 . . . Nxg5 1 6 hxg5, White develops with
Bd3, etc.

Ex�rt-lse 1 0

I do not know in how much detail this position has previ­

ously been analyzed, but the critical l ine would seem to be
1 3 Nb3 fxe5 1 4 Qxg4 1 N ow:
(a 1 4 . . . Nf6 1 5 Qg7 Rf8 1 6 dxe5 Ne4+ ( 1 6 . . . d4 1 7 exf6 is
good fer White) 1 7 Kf3 d4 1 8 Kxe4 ( 1 8 Qxh7?? N g5+) 1 8
. . . dxe3 1 9 B e2 and B lack's king on e8 is more exposed
than White's king on e4 1 P l ay is of course extremely sharp,
but probably in White's favour after for example 1 9 . . . Ne7
20 Bh5+ Kd7 {Hop_i ng for 2 1 Qxf8? Qc6+ when Black is at
least equal) 2 1 Rc1 I { B l ack stands wel l after 2 1 .Rd1 + Kc7
22 Rd6 Bxd6 23 exd6+ Qxd6 24 Qxf8 Qd5+ 25 Kxe3 Nf5+
26 Kf2 Qxh 1 27 Nf3 b6 1 ) 2 1 . . . Rg8 22 Qf7 Qb5 23 Nf3 ! ,
and White wins the race to complete his development ( ! )
and give a ki l l ing check.
(b 1 4 . . . exd4 1 5 Qxe6+ Kd8 1 6 Bxd4 Nxd4 1 7 Qxb6+ Nxb6
1 8 Nxd4 B c5 1 9 Ngf3 Bg4 20 Rd 1 gives White a solid extra
passed pawn. B lack's bishop pair and superior develop­
ment offer only transitory compensation.
(c 1 4 . . . Nxd4?? 1 5 fxe5 is s i mply · a blunder.

121
Some tactical sequences here which are typical of the French
Defence, and of the f4 Tarrasch in particular, in that B lack is
desperately trying to create tactiLal mayhem before White
can consol idate and make use of his considerable space ad­
vantage. One should not be dogmatic, but on the whole such
position ought to favour White.

Exercise I I

Yes ! Black stands wel l , thanks to a few thematic d efensive

combinations:
(a 20 Bxe6 Ndxe5! 21 Bxg8 Ng4+ 22 Kg1 Nxe3 23 B xh7 Bg4'
( not 23 . . . Nxc2 24 Bxc2 Bg4 25 Qd2 ! ) 24 Qd2 Bxf3 25 Rc3
Bb4 ! etc . . White has alternatives of course, but B lack al­
ways comes out ahead.

( b 20 Nhg5 Bxg5! 21 Nxg5 (21 Bxg5 Nxd4! ) 2 1 . . . Rxg5 22

Bxg5 Nxd4 and White's position col lapse�.

( c 20 Nxh4 avoids immediate disasters, but White has l ittle

to show for the pawn he h�s sacrificed.

Does thts mean that White's whole idea is wrong? N ot so;

White's play is fine, but it is his note that is wrong. F rom the
diagram position, retract White, s last move, 1 9 Qd 1 -e2, and
play instead the more aggressive 1 9 Nhg5 ! An extra tempo
for the attack matters more than the bishop on e3 ! 8 lack gets
mated if he tries 1 9 . . . hxg3+ 20 Kxg3 Qxe3 2 1 Rxh 7 + Kg8 22
Bxe6+, so the defence of the bishop is wholly unnecessary,
yet if Black t r ies something else, White opens up the h-file
anyway.

1 22
 Exercise 12

2 1 Bxf3 Bxg5 22 Be4! (Since 22 Bxg5 Qxd4 ! or 22 Bxd5

Rf5 is fine for B lack; RR - 22 Qh1 ! is also strong) 22 . . . dxe4
and now White can choose between 23 Rh8+ ! ? Kxh8 (23
. . . Kg7 !?) 24 Qh5+ Kg7 25 Qxg5+ Kf7 26 Rf1 + Ke8 27 Qg6+
Kd7 28 Rxf8 Qxb2 when White sti l l has to prove the win , or
23 Qh5 ! Rf3+ 24 Kg2 Qxb2+ 25 Kh1 with a winning attack,
e.g. 25 . . . Bxe3 26 RhB+ Kg7 27 Qh7+ Kf6 28 RfB+ Kg5 29
Qg7 + Kh5 30 Rh8+ and mate·next move.

Exercise 13

1 7 Nb5? is a weak move, since in abandoning control of

the e4 square White allows an immediate 1 7 . . . g4! in repy. 1 8
Nxa7 is of course met by 1 8 . . . g3, and 1 '8 Bxa7 is met by 1 8
. . . Rxa 7, so the threat to the a-pawn is shallow.
ECO ( E99/4), note 22, gives the strange sequence 1 7 N b5(?)
h5(?) 1 8 Nxa7 Bd7 1 9 a4 g4 20 a5 g3 21 Bb6 gxh2+ 22 Kh 1
Qe8 23 Nd3 h4 24 Nf2 Nh5 25 Kxh2 Ng3 26 Rg 1 h3 unclear
( B l ack has compensation for the sacrificed material), Piket -
V. S pasov, G roningen 1 989.
A checking of sources shows however that the position after
1 7 . . . h5 was reached by transposition, and that neither player
in fact made an obvious positional blunder. The sequence of
moves was 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 0-0 5 Nf3 d6 6
Be2 e5 7 0-0 N c6 8 d5 Ne7 9 N e 1 Nd7 1 0 Be3 f5 1 1 f3, and
now not 1 1 . . . f4 1 2 Bf2 g5 1 3 b4 Nf6 1 4 c5 Ng6 1 5 cxd6 cxd6
1 6 Rc1 Rf7 1 7 N b5(?) Rf7(?) as suggested in ECO, but rather
1 1 . . . h5 1 2 b4 f4 1 3 Bf2 Nf6 1 4 c5 g5 1 5 Rc1 Ng6 1 6 cxd6
cxd6 1 7 N b5 ! ? Rf7. Such an i ncident shows the need for
care when consulting reference works on the opening.
On the subject of transpositions, it is perhaps only fair to point

1 23
out that in the Korchnoi - Kasparov game i n chapter 1 , the
move order to reach the position after move 8 was not the
standard King's Indian move order, but rather 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4
g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 d4 0-0 , etc.

r;xerclse 14

25 . . . Nxg2 is of course the thematic move, thoroughly ex­

posing the White king, but B lack is so far behind in material
that the best he can t,ope for is a draw. Thus 26 Kxg2 Rg7+
27 Kh2 Ng3! (always sacrifices . . . ) 28 Bxg3 Qg5 29 Rg1 Qh5+
30 Kg2 Be3 3 1 Rh 1 Rxg3+ 32 Kxg3 Qg5+ with a d raw. I have
to admit t�::t ! ::t th i s exercise not believing that B l ack had
"only" a draw after 25 . . . Nxg2; I wanted a further opportunity
to examine the positron. It is important to note that in the
above l ine 28 . . . Rxg3 is not a win; 29 Kxg3 Qg5+ 30 Kf2
Q h4+ (with White being two rooks and a piece ahead, the
king cannot be allowed to escape to e 1 ) 3 1 Kg 1 and now the
rational way is 31 . . . Qg3+ with a d raw, since 3 1 . . . Be3+ is
met by 32 Rf2 .
So if B lack is aiming for a win he should try 25 . . . Rg7. Para­
doxical ly thi s looks even b o lder than the piece sacrifice since
B lack, a whole rook down, gives White a tempo to close down
the kingside. Sti l l , Black has his opportunities to reduce the
material i mbalance ( . . . QxaB, maybe later . . . Bxc1 ), and the
White kings ide is stil l leaky. Kasparov gives in N ew in Chess
the l ine 26 Nxf4 Bxf4 27 g4 (27 Rc7? Ng3 ! - the fam i l iar py­
thon grip - 28 Rxd7 Qh4 29 Rxg7+ Kxg7 30 Bxa7 Nxe2+ 3 1
Qxe2 Bh2+ 32 Kh1 Bg3+ and mate next move) 27 . . . Bxc1 28
Qxc 1 Nf4 29 Qe3 h5 and the material deficit is under control
with B lack sti l l having a kingside attack. Kasparov suggests
that White can still defend with 30 Rc1 hxg4 3 1 fxg4 Nxe2+
32 Qxe2 Bxg4 33 Qe3, but here is the only point where I can

1 24
d isagree with his analysis. Why should Black exchange his
dominating knight for White's weak bishop? 3 1 . . . Qxa8 lev­
els the piece count and continues to maintain the tension on
the kingside.
There is however a third alternative at move 25, m entioned
by neither Kasparov nor N i kitin: 25 . . . Bh3 ! ? It gives nothing
clear though after 26 Nxf4 Nxf4 27 g4: and if 27 . . . Q a8 28
Rc3!
25 . . . Rg 7 is best.
One of the few analytical exercises where even after pro­
longed thought I have been able to add nothing of real sub­
stance to the published analysis; but should this be surpris­
ing when the analysis has been done by a world C h ampion?

Exerelse IS

Quite a ta.1tal izer! Black is only a piece down and appears

to have the White king at his mercy, but it is i ncredibly d iffi­
cult to find the way o� landing the ki lling blow when there are
so many tempting alternatives. The problem is that since Black
is working on a very narrow front his pieces are l i able to get
i n each other's way, for example 26 . . . Be 7 27 Bf1 ! B h4+ 28
Kg 1 and suddenly Black is wishing he had h4 for the knight
or queen.
An important practical point: B lack is not worse. If u nable to
find a win he can always settle for a draw with 26 . . . Qg3+ 27
Kf1 Qh3+ 28 Kf2 (28 Kg 1 ? Nh4 and . . . Rg7+) 28 . . . Qg3+.
26 . . . Ng3 is tempting, but the White king escapes after 27
Nd3 ! Qh4 28 Ke1 !
26 . . . Qh4+ 27 Kg 1 is also unconvincing, since with h4 un­
avai lable for a B l ack knight White can stick a m inor piece on
g2, for example 27 . . . Ng3 28 Ng2.

1 25
26 . . . N h4 ! , as suggested by Kasparov and Nikitin, is in fact
the winning move, and if 27 Nd3 Qg3+ 2B Kf1 Ng2 ! ! The
escape route via e 1 has been b:ocked off, and Black has
time to bring more pieces in to finish everything off, for ex­
ample 29 Q d2 (29 Bf2 Qh2 ! ) 29 . . . Qh2 30 Bg1 Ng3+ 3 1 Kf2
Nxe4+ 32 fxe4 Qg3+ 33 Ke1 Ne3+ 34 Bxe3 fxe3+ and wins.

Exerelse 16

G iven that Black is playing for . . . g4, there is an obvious

presumption that 1 7 . . . Ne8, playing the knight away from f6,
i s a gross waste of time. And yet . . .
If White were to play exactly as in the game, then clearly 1 7
. . . Rf7 would appear as a great improvement on 1 7 . . . NeB.
The reason why B lack preferred 1 7 . . . NeB was anxiety about
another plan, the "paradoxical push". On 1 7 . . . NeB 1 8 g4
fxg3 1 9 hxg3 Bd7 B lack's pieces are reasonably wel l coordi­
nated, b ut after 1 7 . . . Rf7 1 8 g4! White is better, much as in
the i l lustrative game Lebron - Renet. Black is going to spend
a tempo defending d6 before he can remove the knight.
A puzzl ing decision can thu.s be explained by the fact that
the opponent has flexibility of plans; what is good against
plan A i s not necessarily 990d against plan B.

Exercise 17

White is in fact very comfortable, dangerous though B lack's

attacks may appear. After 30 . . . Qh4 31 Rff3 ! Rg3 32 Rxg3
fxg3 33 Qf3! White's king wi l l escape without trouble via e2.
The mai n l i ne i·s 33 . . . Bg7 34 Rc8+ RxcB 35 Nxc8 Ng4 36
N e7 ! (36 Nxd6? Nf2 37 Kf1 Q h 1 + 38 Ke2 Qd1 + 39 Ke3 B h6+)
36 . . . Qxe7 37 Qxg4 and White wins the endgame.
So Wh ite did the right thing, in Cebalo's note, by getting on
with h i s queenside play, watching the center, and meeting
126
B lack's kingside break when it came.

Exerelse 18

A lot of pawn exchanges follow, with White trying to get a

grip on the empty e4 square. 9 gxf5 gxf5 1 0 exf5 ( fO Rg 1 0-
0 is also worth considering, but the attempt at exposing the
king with 1 1 Bh6 Rf7 1 2 Bxg7 Rxg7 1 3 Rxg7+ Kxg7 simplifies
the position too much) 1 0 . . . Nxf5_ 1 1 Ng3 ( 1 1 Nf4 Nf6 ! is u n­
clear) 1 1 . . . Nf6 1 2 Rg 1 !
Often White has to be very careful in preparing the doub l e
exchange on f5, especially when he has spent a tempo pre­
paring g4 with h3, since B lack has plenty of targets along the
f-fi le. Here though the tempo count is very much in White's
favou r, and he wi ll soon gain a massive grip on the e4 square,
the b 1 -h7 diagonal and the g-file, fo.r example 1 2 . . . 0-0 1 3
Bd3 N d4 1 4 Nh5.

Exe:-clse 19

It looks at first as though Black is making a lot of ground i n

the center and o n the queenside, but appearances are i l l u­
sory. B lack's big problem is that he cannot bring his knight o n
h 7 into the game; none of White's pieces i s similarly restricted.
25 . . . Nxb2+ is met not by Mirkovic's 26 Kc2?! , when 26 . . . N a4 !
i s dangerous (27 Nxa4 Q b4), but rather by 26 Ke1 ! After some
minor tactical chaos, White stays in control , for example 26
. . . Q b4 27 Qc2 ! Kxg7 (27 . . . Na4 28 Bd2 Nxc3 29 Bxc3 Q b 1 +
30 Kd2 is hopeless for B lack; g6 is coming) 28 g6 fxg6 (28
. . . Nf6 29 Bg5! Na4 30 h6+ Kxg6 31 Bh4+ Kh7 32 Bxf6 wins)
29 Bh6+ ! and Black has no satisfactory reply (29 . . . Kxh6 30
Rxg6 mate).
Which leaves 25 . . . Qxb2 26 Qxb2 Rxb2, assessed by Mirkovic

127
as "unclear. . . The simple 27 Nxe4 is probably winning for
Wh ite though ; i n one move he has taken a pawn, protected a
key square (f2 ) and advanced his own attack (g6 is now dan­
gerous for B l ack).
Since 27 . . . ReB and 27 . . . Kxg7 both lose quickly to 28 g6, it is
wise for Black to play the decoying move L t . . . c�. li 1�1 � lu i ­
lows 28 Nxc3 Rxf2 (28 . . . Nxf2+ 29 Bxf2 Rxf2 30 g6 Nf6 3 1
gxf7+ Kxf7 32 h6 must ultimately be a win for White) 29 g6 !
(29 Bxf2 is unclear) 29 Nf6 (There is nothing to be gained by
an i m mediate check on b2; B lack holds back) 30 h6! (An
important zwischenzug, threatening 3 1 h7+ Kxg7 32 h8= Q +
Rxh8 3 3 gxf7+) 3 0 . . . fxg6 31 Rf1 N b2+ 32 Kc1 Nn3+ 3 3 Kb 1
Rb8+ 34 Ka1 Rxf1 + 35 Rxf1 . White with his two mighty passed
pawns would seem to be winning; if 35 . . . Nb4 36 a3 Nc2+ 37
Ka2 N xe3 38 Rxf6 with total control .

Exercise 20

If i n doubt, centralize, and remember which color squares

you are strong on ! Therefore 28 . . . ReS ! fol l owed by . . . Qe 7 i s
the a ppropriate plan. There i.� a lot of fight left i n the position,
and a lthough B lack's kingside is a l ittle wobbly, it should n ot
col lapse. For example 29 gxh8=Q+ Kxh8 30 h6 Ng5 (to pre­
vent Rg7)n31 Rxf4 Qe7 32 Rf5 (32 Rxc4 Rb4 ! ) and B l ack i s
comfortably barricaded on the dark squares, while White i s
begi n ning t o look i nsecure.

Exercise 2 1

The intrusive White queen cannot quite be won, but there

is no easy escape either. With ac�urate play B lack is very
much i n control of the game.
B lack plays 1 3 . . . h6 1 4 Bxe7 Nxe7 1 5 Nf4 ( O n 1 5 Qf7 Rdf8
1 6 Q h5 c5 ! is very strong) 1 5 . . . Rdf8 (to prevent the queen

1 28
attacking the e-pawn) 1 6 N g6 Nxg6 1 7 Qxg6 Rhg8 1 8 Qh5
Qg7 and White is i n massive trouble. 1 9 . . . Nxf4 is a d i rect
threat, whi le White must also be careful not to allow the ma­
neuver . . . Bc6-e8.

Exercise 22

I n the l ine 25 . . . Qf8 26 Bxe6 Be5, White can improve o n

the suggested 27 Bxd5? 1 b y playing 2 7 Be3 1 with the threats
of Bxb6 and a capture on d5, and possibly als�Qd7. B lack's
pieces are so badly tied up _on the kingside that White is
better, despite bei ng a piece down . U n less you the reader
can suggest something else . . .
B l ack also has defensive problems after 25 . . . Qf8 26 Bxe6
Nxf4 27 Nxf4 Be5 28 Nxd5, g iving strength to the impression
that 25 . . . Qf8 is too passive . If you want to defend by curl ing
u p l i ke a hedgehog, it is better to do s o in front of the kin g ,
and not on the opposite side of the board !
The outgoi ng 25 . . . Qc5! is better, the main line being 26 Bxe6
Nxf4 27 Nxf4 Bxf2 28 Bxf7 Bc6 29 Qb3 (29 Bxd5 Qxd5 ! ) 29
. . Rf8 and B lack regains the extra piece; or 29 Qb4 Qxb4 30
.

axb4 Be3+ 31 Kb1 Bxf4 32 Bxg8 Rxg8 where White reaches

an endgame but a prospectless one.
Even in his best games, Petrosian was occasional ly l i able to
play over-defensively.
 QU.rleh_ G•hD ehess llooks and magazlns
for everylaody
Russian Chess Review No.1
A successful Russian-German cop rod u-
ction. Russian Chess Review (or, from the third
issue, I nternational C hess Review) aims to
become the leading collection of the most
impo rtant ga mes from the theoretical and
c�eative viewpoints, played by the world's
foremost chessplayers. The Wor1d Champion
Garry Kasparov writes in our foreword, ,.I wish
success to your new publication which may
bec�me a reliable guide in the turbulent stream
of today's chess theory".
430 pages with 1 200 games, 1 300 diagrams
and 85 photographs.
ISBN 3-929324-00-8
International language DM 3A 80
Russian Ches4t Reviev No.3
The "I..J ew C hess Periodical". A successful!
German-Russian cooperation Russian Chess
Reviev is an international periodical. Starting
with the 3rd issue, RCR deals also with chess
theory and convinces through its coverage and
quality. Besides its 400 matches together with
extensive commentaries by Russian grand­
masters and masters each issue contains
approximately 800 additional matches without
comments. It will be publish from Sept. 1 994
430 pages, 1 200 games, 1 000 diagrams.
ISBN 3-929324-1 6-4
International language DM 36.80
J an Przewoznik
Teat Your C hess Fantasy
A collection of 1 20 chess exercises of varying
degrees of difficulty in which the player may
work to examine and improve this chess play­
ing strength, unencumbered by stereotypical
thought patterns.
1 50 pages, 1 20 diagrams.
ISBN 3-929324-09-1
English or German language DM 24.80
Russian Chess Reviev No.2
.. The resounding success of the first issue has
paved the way for the continuation of this pu­
blication, which-with its theoretical coverage
is unique in the wor1d.
420 pages, 1 000 games and 65 photos.
ISBN 3-929324-07-5
International language DM 36.80
Karpov/Gagarin
Secreta From Russia
C hess Theory and Analysis
This new publication gives a comprehensive
insight into the private laboratory of the
Russian chess school. The team of authors
wort<ing alongside Champion Anatoly Karpov
has over forty grandmasters!
480 pages, 650 books of the year!
ISBN 3-929324-1 3-X
English language DM 39.80
Dobosz/Oibrich/Przewoznik
Kandidatenfinale '93
Short - Timman
For the first time in 21 years a western grand­
master will challenge for the Wor1d C ham­
pionship. But was it going to be the English­
. . man Short or the Dutchman Timman? The
Candidates Final between the two has been
thoroughly analysed by a practical players,
Henryk Dobosz, Marina Olbrich-Sokolova,
and a theoretician Jan Przewoznik. In their
commentary they pose the question of how
Wortd Champion Gany Kasparov would him­
self have reacted to the various match
situations . Also, specially for the English edi­
tion, a supplementary chapter asks what
chanses Short has got in the big match later
this year.
1 60 pages, 1 20 diagrams and photographs.
ISBN 3-929324-04-0
German lang uage D.M 24.80