Let's Take A Look

Lets Take A
Look...
Nigel Davies


by Bruce Alberston
We invite you to submit games to be considered by Nigel in this column. For
all games submitted, please provide the following information: (1) Names of
both players; (2) Ratings of both players; (3) When and where the game was
played; (4) The time control used in the game; and (5) Any other information
you think would be helpful for us to know. Please submit the games (in PGN
or CBV format if possible) to: nigeldavies@chesscafe.com. Who knows,
perhaps you will see the game in an upcoming column, as Nigel says to you,
Lets take a look...
Learning to Suffer
For a lot of people chess is a fun diversion, something that helps them forget
about the stresses and strains of everyday life. Theres nothing wrong with
this attitude chess can be a great hobby. But did I hear someone say that
they want to have fun and improve?
Here we have a problem because chess for fun and chess for blood are quite
incompatible things. You dont believe me? Prepare for your awakening
If you want to improve your chess then forget about having fun. You might
get satisfaction and enjoyment from winning more games, but such superior
results require an element of suffering. The problems we are confronted with
during a chess game are there to be solved rather than avoided and the
discovery of solutions is what enables us to grow as players. Heres what
psychiatrist and author Morgan Scott Peck says about the matter:
Problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes between success and
failure. Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they
create our courage and our wisdom. It is only because of our problems
that we grow mentally and spiritually. When we desire to encourage
the growth of the human spirit, we challenge and encourage the
human capacity to solve problems, just as in school we deliberately set
problems for our children to solve. It is through the pain of
confronting problems that we learn.
So think again before you dive in with that knight sacrifice without spending
enough time working it out. Dont have a beer or two just because the other
players are partaking and find the real reason for your losses rather than
making a quick excuse. Are we having pain yet? If not then try this:
Theres one area in which the ability to suffer is particularly useful, and thats
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Let's Take A Look
when youve got a bad position and have to defend. I wonder if its the
amateurs insistence that he should be having fun that makes him so poor in
defence. I know you want it to be over, but this is where pain tolerance really
comes in. In The Art of the Middle Game by Paul Keres and Alexander Kotov,
the chapter by Keres, on defending difficult positions, provides some
magnificent insights:
The aimin this chapter is not to teach the difficult art of defence. I
have set myself a much lighter task, and in the ensuing pages I
consider some cases where one side has to defend a difficult, or even
possibly a lost, position. Unfortunately, it often happens, as is well
known, that one meets with such situations and perhaps therefore some
counsel drawn frommy own experiences would not be without profit
for the reader.
The latter might now ask: Why concern oneself with positions that are
already lost? Provided the opponent plays the continuation correctly
there is nothing in fact to be done, so why worry oneself to no
purpose? No, lets just try a swindle and if that misfires then give up
the game! However, it is not so simple as all that and it is against just
such a conception that I direct myself in the following pages of this
chapter. Lasker has already said that a position can never be so bad
as not to offer prospects of defence, and therein lies a great truth.
However hopeless the situation appears to be there yet always exists
the possibility of putting up a stubborn resistance. And it is the
players task to find these opportunities and make the best of them.
When the player with the upper hand is continually confronted by new
problems, when, at every moment, one renders the win as difficult as
possible, then it is likely that his powers will eventually weaken and he
may make some mistake.
Lasker won many games from bad positions because of his willingness to
search for resources in positions that many other players would just want to
get rid of. Modern grandmasters know this only too well and will fight tooth
and nail in bad positions. Its amazing how many can be saved.
The following game was sent to me by a player in his 60s, who in this game
plays with the verve of a teenager. He clearly understood Whites plan (f2-f4-
f5) and when the screw tightened his opponent lashed out 16...Nxe5?. Not that
it was looking too pleasant for Black at that stage, but you can just sense that
Black wanted to get away from it all.
Krombeen - Motram
England 2004
Caro-Kann [B12]
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 Bf5 4 Ne2 e6 5 Ng3 Bg6 6 h4
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Apparently White had picked this line up from an article by my partner in
crime (UK seminars), IM Andrew Martin. Its quite interesting, though not at
all bad for Black if he knows what hes doing.
6...h6
Not the best.
Although it exposes the h-pawn, Black
should stop White in his tracks with 6...h5.
In the game Spassky - Adams, Cannes
1989 the former world champion then
played 7 Bd3 (Spassky was evidently
discouraged from playing 7 Be2 because
of 7c5! 8 c3 Nc6 9 Be3 Qb6 10 dxc5
Qxb2 11 0-0 0-0-0 12 Qb3 Qxb3 13 axb3
a6 - as in Spassky - Dzindzichashvili,
Tilburg 1978) after which 7...Bxd3 8 cxd3
Qb6 9 Ne2 Ne7 10 Nd2 Nf5 11 Nf3 c5 12 dxc5 Bxc5 13 d4 Be7 14 Bg5 Bb4+
15 Kf1 was about equal. It makes a big difference for Black to have his pawn
on h5 rather than h6, not least because a knight can be posted on f5 without
Black having to worry about g2-g4. And from a long term perspective,
stopping g2-g4 means that White will have trouble organising the key pawn
lever, f4-f5.
For more on these issues I suggest reading about the super quart grip in
Hans Kmochs Pawn Power in Chess.
7 h5 Bh7 8 Bd3 Bxd3 9 cxd3 Qb6 10 Be3
Happily sacrificing the b2-pawn. The big question is about where Black will
put his king; the queenside is not a comfortable place with the b- and c-files
open.
10...Qxb2 11 Nd2 Qb6
There have been quite a few games in this line. In Kuzmin - Bordonada, Nice
1974 Black played 11...Bb4, but after 12 0-0 Bxd2 13 Rb1! Qxa2 14 Bxd2 he
faced massive pressure in return for the two snatched pawns. The Russian GM
went on to win in fine style after 14...b6 15 Bb4 Ne7 16 Qg4 Rg8 17 Bxe7
Kxe7 18 f4 Nd7 19 f5 Qd2 20 Rf4 Qxd3 21 Qh4+Ke8 22 Rbf1 c5 23 fxe6
fxe6 24 Qg4 Kd8 25 Qxe6 Re8 26 Qxd5 Rc8 27 Kh2 Qe3 28 Rf7 Rc7 29
Qa8+Rc8 30 Rxd7+! 1-0.
12 0-0 Nd7 13 Rb1
White has also played 13 Nb3 in this position, in order to inhibit ...c6-c5.
Pirog - Pakula, Krynica 1998 continued 13...Qc7 14 Qg4 0-0-0 15 f4 Ne7 16
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f5 Nxf5 17 Nxf5 exf5 18 Qxf5 Bb4 19 Qxf7 with the e-pawn giving White a
clear advantage.
13...Qc7 14 Qg4
Simple and direct. White wants to play f2-
f4-f5, prising open the f-file. And as Black
cant play ...g7-g6, theres not that much
he can do about it.
14...Ne7 15 f4 0-0-0 16 f5 Nxe5??
Desparation! When club players are under
pressure they reason that they might as
well try and shoot their way out of trouble,
even though the odds are stacked against
them. Black has to try and hang on with
16...exf5 17 Nxf5 Nxf5 18 Qxf5 Be7 19 Qxf7 Nb6. Its lost, but at least hes
not a piece down.
17 dxe5 Qxe5 18 Bd4 Qd6
Another pawn is falling after 18...Qb8 the e-pawn goes with 19 fxe6 etc.
19 Bxa7 g6 20 fxg6 fxg6 21 hxg6 h5 22 Nxh5
White could also rub it in with 22 g7,
winning another piece. But by now there
are many roads to Rome.
22...Nf5 23 Rxf5 exf5 24 Qxf5+Rd7 25
Nf3 Bg7?
White can just take this, of course. So... 1-
0
Recommended Reading
The Art of the Middle Game by Paul Keres and Alexander Kotov (Dover
1989)
Pawn Power in Chess by Hans Kmoch (Dover 1990)
Laskers Manual of Chess by Emanuel Lasker (Dover 1969)
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Let's Take A Look
Copyright 2005 Nigel Davies. All rights reserved.


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