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“I ALREADY KNOW IT” (part-2)

By: GM Igor Smirnov

Hi and welcome to the 2nd part of the lesson called:

“I already know it”

In this video we will repeat the ideas from the previous lesson and
also I will illustrate them with the concrete practical example.

Quite often chess players tell me something like this: “I’ve studied
hundreds of chess books and I already know all the well-known tactical
and strategic motifs. So why I am still not a Grandmaster or at least an
International Master?”

In the first part of this lesson I’ve told you the answer.
There are 2 levels of knowledge:
1) When you just know something (you’ve heard about it).
2) When certain knowledge becomes a part of your
personality. When you use it automatically. When it is integrated in
your usual thinking process. In this case, you don’t need to repeat
this knowledge, because you will never forget it.

Only the 2nd level of knowledge allows you to APPLY it and TO

GET PRACTICAL RESULTS. However, it is quite difficult to get such
profound level of chess understanding.

“I already know it” (part-2) by GM Igor Smirnov. http://chess-teacher.com

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Very often it only SEEMS for a chess player, that “he already knows
something”, while he can’t use it regularly in his own games. In fact it
means that such player doesn’t know it at all.

Let’s analyze one concrete example. Here we will talk about a

planning.
Akhmadeev V. – Khismatullin D.
White: Kg1, Qd1, Ra1, Rf1, Bc1, Bd3, Nc3, Nf3, pawns: a2, b2, c4, d5, e4,
f2, g2, h2.
Black: Kg8, Qd8, Ra8, Rf8, Bc8, Be7, Nd7, Nf6, pawns: a7, b7, c5, d6, e5,
f7, g7, h7.
Black’s turn.

What are the plans of both sides? It is quite standard situation and the
plans are well known here. Black will prepare and play f5. He will play g6,
then will transfer the knight to g7 through h5 or e8, and after that will play
f5 and will develop an attack on the king-side.
White is going to attack on the queen-side and he will open the
position there by playing b4.

Now let’s see what happened in the game.

Black played 8…Nh5. It is a logical move, which prepares the realization
of the black’s plan.
White answered 9.Re1. Actually it wasn’t necessary for white to play
it and of course it doesn’t help white to realize his plan. Nevertheless, I can
accept this move. White wants to prevent an eventual move Nf4. Now if
black plays it, white will answer 9…Nf4 10.Bf4-ef 11.e5 getting an

“I already know it” (part-2) by GM Igor Smirnov. http://chess-teacher.com

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advantage in the center. However, Nf4 wasn’t a real threat. As we already

know the knight is rather going to the g7. That’s why I’ve said that 9.Re1
is probably not the best idea.
Ok, let’s go forward. Black played 9…g6 10.a3 everything is good
here; both players are realizing their plans.

10…Ng7 11.Bh6. Here I have a question to the white player. What

was an idea of the move Bh6? It certainly doesn’t realize the white’s plan,
so it can be OK only if it prevents the black’s plan.
Let’s see what happened then. 11…f5 12.Rb1. This move is
definitely a mistake. If white decides to play against the black’s plan, then
white should do it really. Otherwise Bh6 was a mistake and a wasting of
time. The white’s moves show that white player wasn’t sure what to do
and he jumped from one plan to another.

So what was the correct idea for white? As I’ve mentioned before,
white should continue playing against the black’s plan. Therefore white
should attack the black’s central pawns: 12.ef-gf 13.Qc2 attacking the f5
pawn. Of course black can play 13…e4 now, but white will make a
positional sacrifice 14.Ne4-fe 15.Be4. Black has the only move to protect
the h7 pawn 15…Nf6. After 16.Bd3 white saves a strong compensation
and good chances for an attack. For example, on the next move white can
play Ng5 attacking the h7 pawn. This was the right way for white.

However, in the game white played 12.Rb1-Kh8. 13.Qc2. Another

strange move. Black is going to play f4 anyway, thus Qc2 only helps black
to realize his plan. White should finally define what his plan is and start
realizing it. Therefore white should play 13.b4 instead, which creates a
position with mutual chances.

“I already know it” (part-2) by GM Igor Smirnov. http://chess-teacher.com

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Let’s come back to the game. 13.Qc2-f4 14.h3. Black is not

attacking, so white should white defend? White can play h3 anytime if
necessary. That’s why it was still better for white to play 14.b4 finally.

Black played 14…Rg8 and the h6 bishop appears in a dangerous

position. It has no way to retreat. Now white has to pay for his previous
mistakes.
15.Bg7-Rg7 This exchange is certainly in favor of black. After that black
is ready to play g5-g4 and to start a powerful attack. This forces white to
switch over to defense.
16.Be2-h5 17.Nh2. White wants to prevent g5, but he becomes totally
passive.
17…Nf6 18. Qd1. White is still trying to prevent the g5 move, but so
passive moves like Qd1 rarely can be good. It was necessary for white to
play 18.b4 finally trying to get some counter-play.
18…Bd7 19.b4. White made this move after all. I’d like to pay attention to
the fact, that white played a3 about 10 moves ago.
19…cb 20.Rb4. Though the white’s position is already bad, Rb4 is
another mistake. After 20…b6 the white’s attack on the queen-side is over.
That’s why it would be better for white to take ab on the previous move.

Now the white’s position is strategically loosing. Black can develop

an attack on the king-side, while white has nothing to do.
21.Qd3-Qc8 (black is preparing g5-g4) 22.Bd1-g5 23.Ba4-g4
24.Bd7-Qd7 25. Kh1-Rag8. And black won the game easily afterwards.
If you would like to see this game until the end, you can look at the
text version of this lesson.

“I already know it” (part-2) by GM Igor Smirnov. http://chess-teacher.com

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26.Rb2-Bd8 27.Ne2-b5 28.cb-Bb6 29.Rf1-gh 30.gh-Qe8 31.Qf3-

Qg6 32.Rb4-Bd4 33.Rbb1-Qe4 34.Qe4-Ne4 35.Nd4-Rg1 0:1.

Now I’d like you to think about this: what would white player
answer, if we ask him: “Do you know about a planning?” By the way,
the white player is an experienced International Master with a rating over
2400.
So what would he answer? He would certainly say: “Yes, of course I
know about a planning.” At the same time our analysis shows that almost
all his moves were wrong. Therefore we must honestly conclude that he
doesn’t understand a planning concept at all.

It is not because this player is so weak. The majority of players don’t

have good planning skills, because it is a hard topic really. And this lesson
is not my intention to criticize this man. I just wanted to show you why
many players don’t progress.
It happens because they don’t know about 2 levels of knowledge.
And also it happens because of the phrase “I know it already”. Such player
is under this delusion and he/she doesn’t understand what his problems
are. Thus he will not be able to solve these problems and to improve
himself.

Let’s recollect the main conclusions:

1. Don’t assess yourself generally. Orient solely on THE
FACTS (your practical results). Then you will really evaluate your
skills.

“I already know it” (part-2) by GM Igor Smirnov. http://chess-teacher.com

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2. Don’t think that you already know something, until you

start using it automatically and start getting RESULTS from it
regularly.

3. Remember about 2 levels of knowledge. You should not

only know something (read about it), but make it a part of your
usual thinking process.
In my courses I give you the complete training system, which
will help you to really get the new skills. That’s why it is so
important to perform all the tasks seriously, even if you think that
you already know something (we’ve been talking a lot about a
negative influence of the phrase “I already know it”).
4. When you study my chess courses – perform ALL the
tasks seriously.

These were the general conclusions regarding to your chess

development. Also we can make one specific conclusion about a
planning:
 You should use your plan as a guideline. Don’t be deflected by some
other ideas. If you follow this recommendation you will play better
and it will even be simpler for you.

If you want to know more about a planning, you may study my

chess course “Your Winning Plan”.
http://chess-teacher.com/plan

It will give you all that you need to know about a planning.
And of course it will give you a great progress, because planning
skills are probably the most important aspect of a chess game.

Thanks for your attention! Talk to you in the next lessons. Bye!

“I already know it” (part-2) by GM Igor Smirnov. http://chess-teacher.com