Week 21-The Drawback Destruction

In this session, GM R.B Ramesh comes up with an unique idea and tells us,
when we or our opponent make any move on the board then we should not
only look for its merits but also for its demerits. For every action, there is an
equal and opposite reaction, in such a way every move has its merits and
demerits.Hence it is our responsibility as a player to pay close attention to
every single move made by our opponent and by doing so we can gradually
get an ‘upper hand’ in the game.
• Whenever there is a move being made on the chessboard, it doesn’t
mean, that move must be having only a merit that move comes with a
demerit as well which we call the ‘drawback’.
• Whenever a piece moves from its initial position, it leaves behind
some weak squares or abandons some of the crucial squares. Then it
becomes the responsibility of the player to pounce on that weakness
and make the most out of that ‘drawback’.
• In some cases drawbacks are hard to find as they are not evident at
first sight but one needs to dive deep into the position in order to spot
that hole.
• While we are on the attack, whenever there are forcing moves and while
calculating long variations.
• If two or three good looking moves are there then also one should play
for the drawback.
• Drawbacks don’t come alone they usually come in succession, so one
should keep looking for them.
• Whenever the opponent is defending we should keep attacking them on
their drawbacks.
• Whenever there is a complicated position on the board we should make
a list of moves and then try to figure out the drawback move.
• We should always analyze forcing moves first before making the move.
In the upcoming slides we will look into some of the positions explained
by R.B Ramesh and will try to understand what are the methods by which
Ramesh tells us to spot the ‘drawbacks’ of our opponents and how we
should capitalize on those drawbacks.

So let’s dive deep into the positions one by one and try to decode
what Ramesh has to say about the drawbacks.
In this position black just played Nd7 and
Ramesh says after this move white needs to
spot the drawbacks of this knight move in
order to capitalize on those drawbacks. So
in this position he says, when the knight left
the c5 square he lost the control of squares
like a4,b3,a6 ,d3 and e4.So now white
needs to understand that if he wants to
seize the initiative he needs to utilize those
squares effectively. Hence, the line went
like this Qa4,Qxa4(as rejecting the trade
offer would lead to loss of ‘a7’ pawn)
Bxa4,Rd8 and Rxe7 here black won a pawn
and with dominating rook on 7th rank
managed to win the game as well.
In this position black played ‘e4’ and now it’s
the responsibility of white to find the
drawbacks of this move in order to get the
hold of the position. Here Ramesh says the
move ‘e4’ has severely weakened the f4
square, so white need to pounce on that
weakness. Hence the line went like
this,Nf4,Qf7,Nb5(drawback of Qf7 d6 is
unguarded),Rd8,fxe4(Rook left the e file
another drawback),Nxe4,g4!..since knight left
the f6 square g4 square becomes weak. Here
after ‘g4’ by white he has already got an attack
rolling on the kingside and has gained
substantial advantage in the game.
In this position black played Bc4.Here
Ramesh says, although black has posted his
bishop on an active square he has left the
diagonal h3-c8 which was exploited by white
by Bh3.So the line went like this
Bh3,e6,after e6 black has weakened the
dark squares around his king so white went
‘Nf3’ going for the e5 square,Qe7,Ne5,b5
only move to save the bishop,Bg2! attacking
the new weakness on c6 ,Nb8.Here Ramesh
says, after Nb8 ‘b’ file has become the new
drawback for black as he can’t put his rook
on b8 square. Hence white continued Nxc4
,bxc4,Rb1 exploiting the ‘b’ file,c5? a
questionable move as this opens up the light
square bishop and creates new drawback
which is a3-f8 diagonal. Here white went
Qa3,Rc7 supporting the queen,e3,cxd4,exd4 as
(cxd4 would give black a strong passed pawn
on c4). After exd4 ‘c4’ is now a weak
pawn.Rc7,Re5,Nd7,Ra5(keeping an eye on a7
pawn and also Rook can post itself on a4
square attacking the weak c4
pawn).Nb6,Rbb5,Rdd7,Kf1!(taking king closer
to take care of weak c3
pawn).h5,Ke2,Kf6,Kd2,Ke7,Nc8,Bf3,Nd6,Rc5,Rx
c5,Rxc5,Kd8,
Kc2(improving the king),Rc7,Ra5(avoiding the
exchange as white rook is more
active)Nc8,Kb2,Kd7,Ka3,Kd6,Kb4,Nb6,Rc5,Re7,
a4!,e5,Rxe5,Rxe5,Kxe5,a5,Nd7.Here white won
the pawn and eventually the game.
• Every Piece should be assigned a different task
• We shouldn’t rush in the endgame
• We should always have a positive frame of mind
• To become a good player one should always keep on ‘learning’
• It’s ok not to make best move every time.
• We should have faith on our potential and shouldn’t underestimate our
opponent irrespective of their rating.