I I

PLANNING

Neil McDonald

B. T. Batsford Ltd, London

First published 1995
© Neil McDonald 1995

ISBN 0 7 1 34 7573 0

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A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.

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reproduced, by any means, without prior permission
of the publisher.

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and printed in Great Britain by
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for the publishers,
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A BATSFORD CHESS BOOK

Editorial Panel: Mark Dvoretsky, John Nunn, Jon Speelman
General Adviser: Raymond Keene OBE
Managing Editor: Graham Burgess
Contents

First ideas on strategy and some definitions 5

2 Some rudimentary planning 10
3 The accumulation of advantages 13
4 Weak Pawns 29
5 Open and closed positions 41
6 Open files and diagonals 58
7 How to think during a game 74
8 Playing by analogy 89
9 Planning in a real game 95
Solutions 98
Symbols

8
w 7

5
4

3
2

+ Check
++ Double check
X Capture
# Checkmate
! Good move
? Bad move
!! Excellent move
?? Blunder
!? Interesting move
?! Dubious move
(D) Diagram follows
1 First ideas on strategy and some
definitions

At a recent tournament, the follow­

ing spectacular game was played:
8
1 e4 e5
2 00 lLlc6
3 i.b5 a6
4 ..ta4 lLlr6
5 0-0 b5
6 i.b3 i.b7
7 l:te1 i.c5
8 c3 lLlg4
9 d4 exd4
10 cxd4 (D) pinpointed the weakest square in
White's position: f2. His plan can be
broken down into the following
stages:
1) Play . . .i.c5 and ...lLlg4 to at­
tack f2 twice. White will respond
with d4 to block the double attack.
2) Play . . .lLlxd4! to deflect the
white knight from the defence of the
kingside...
3) . .which allows the black
.

queen to move to h4 to attack the h2

square. White's knight will return to
10 lLlxd4! the kingside to defend h2.
11 lLlxd4 'ft4 4) Then B lack will carry out a
12 OO (D) mating combination beginning with
12 'jj'xf2+ .. 11'f2+.
.

13 �h1 'jj' g1+!

14 :Xg1 lLlnmate A plan with four stages. So what's
wrong with it? The problem is that
This is obviously a great success White is also allowed some moves.
for Black. His strategy has clearly After 9 ... exd4, he can play 10 h3!
6 First ideas on strategy and some definitions
attacking the knight. After it retreats
(e.g. 10...�f6) White can follow
up with 1 1 cxd4. By attacking the
bishop on c5, which must move to
safety, White gains time to seize con­
trol of the central squares.
Hence we see a serious drawback
to Black's plan. If White notices the
threat in time, he can easily defeat it
and then gain time for his develop­
ment by attacking the black bishop.
For this reason, it is seldom a good
idea to attack at a very early stage in
the game. It is much better to mobi­
lize the minor pieces (knights and
bishops) and put them on good (and
safe)central squares. The question
of development is very important.
The logic is simple: the more pieces
you have fighting in the game rather
than slumbering on their starting
squares, the greater is the strength of
your army. Instead of 8... �g4 in the
above example, Black could have
castled, which would bring his rook
into action in the centre.
But didn't Black win the game
above? Yes, but only because his op­
ponent helped him. Black's play was
an elaborate trap into which his un­
witting opponent fell. In other
words, Black's 'plan' did not con­
form to the strategic requirements of
the' position. In particular, he ne­
glected the centre.
This brings us to the question of
the centre. You will not understand a
single example in this book unless
you are aware of the importance of
the central squares:
••••
••• •
•• • •
• ••• •
• ••• •
••••
••••
••••
The centre is the squares d4, d5,
e4 and e5. The enlarged centre is
these four squares plus the twelve
squares surrounding them.
A basic aim of chess strategy is to
gain control of the centre. This is be­
cause pieces that control the centre
have much more power than pieces
at the edge of the board. For exam­
ple, put a knight on d4. You will see it
controls eight squares. Put it on a 1; it
controls two squares.
Pieces that are well centralized
are ready to move either to the king­
side or to the queenside according to
where they are needed later in the
game. They are much more flexible
than pieces on the wings.
Hence, you should try to seize as
many central squares as you can in
the opening. That's why players play
moves such as 1 d4 or 1 e4 (or, if al­
lowed, both: 1 e4 and 2 d4 or 1 d4
and 2 e4). 1 e4 not only frees the
Icing's bishop, it also assumes con­
trol of the d5 and f5 squares. Let's
follow some typical opening moves:
1 e4 eS
2 rn
 First ideas on strategy and some definitions 7
Developing a piece to a centre
square, attacking e5.
2 ••• �
Developing a piece to a centre
square, and at the same time defend­
ing e5.
3 .i.bS
Developing and attacking the
piece that defends the e5 square.
3 ... �6
Developing and attacking e4.
4 0-0
Bringing his rook to a central
square, and at the same time moving
his king into safety behind the row of
pawns on the kingside. As a general
rule, you should castle as quickly as
possible to bring your king away
from the dangerous events taking
place in the centre.
4 ... d6
Defending the e5 pawn and open­
ing the way for this bishop on c8.
5 lbc3
Developing and defending e4.
5 ... .i.e7
Developing and preparing 0-0.
6 d4
Again countering Black's control
of the e5 square, d4 also opens the
diagonal for the bishop on cl.
6 .. . exd4
Black can no longer maintain a
pawn on eS.
7 lbxd4 .i.d7
8 l:.el 0-0 (D)
So both sides are more or less de­
veloped. They have mobilized their
pieces. Note that although White
played 3 .i.b5, moving his bishop to
w
a square outside the enlarged centre,
his thoughts were still on the centre.
The bishop attacks a knight that
guards a central square e5. It was this
pressure from the bishop which per­
con­
suaded Black to play 6... exd4,
ceding the centre. Now White has a
space advantage. White has the
space advantage because he has a
pawn on e4 which is four squares up
the board. Black's pawn on d6 is
only three squares up the board,
counting from his side. In chess ter­
minology, we would say that White
has a pawn on the fourth rank and
that Black has a pawn on the third
rank.
Because White's e4 pawn is fur­
ther advanced, his pieces have more
room to move or manoeuvre behind
his pawn. Hence the superiority in
space. In this position, White has
control of the first four ranks. His
pieces are well established there.
Black's pieces are slightly cramped
by White's space advantage, but they
are in compact formation (or 'solidly
placed') and control central squares.
White's 5th rank in this position is
8 First ideas on strategy and some definitions
the 'no man's land' between the two
armies.
In all, White has a slight advan­
tage in this position. Mobility and
centralization -these are the two key
elements in chess!
We must also mention the idea of
the co-ordination of the pieces. It's
all very well having space and cen­
tral control, but it's not much good if
your pieces do not work together.
(However, if you do have space and
centre control, then a harmonious
co-operation of the pieces often
naturally follows. That is one of the
wonders of centralization.) It is an
over-simplification to regard the
number of squares controlled by a
piece as a measure of its playing
strength. A piece that controls one
centre square can be more useful
than . a piece that controls many
squares on the wing. And a piece that
takes part in a concerted action of all
the pieces is more valuable than a
piece beautifully placed in isolation.
w
Now White can increase the num­
ber of squares available to his rook
on bl by playing 1 :at. True, some
of them are not really available at all,
but basically, the 'square count' of
the rook on al is 8 squares - an
800% increase in efficiency com­
pared to bl. No doubt the rook on al
is in for a productivity bonus, but
what do the other pieces think? It
may be sitting pretty on a 1 , but how
does it contribute to the attack on
Black's king which the other pieces
are planning? So let's put the rook
back on bl and try to get it involved
in the kingside attack. First, we will
play:
1 b3!
This threatens 2 .i.b2+ liJd4
(forced) 3 .i.xd4 :xd4 4 'iig7 mate.
Black must respond by blocking the
diagonal.
1 ... ltJd4
2 .i.b2
With the same threat.
2 •.• 'ii'cS
Adding a defender to d4, but now
White can really bring his rook into
the game.
3 :bel
Another open line, but what a dif­
ference! On al, the rook was cut off
from the action. Here it is in the thick
of things. White now threatens 4
'Wxd7!! :xd7 5 :e8+ mating.
3 'iff'S
4 :e4 'ii'g7
s lb:d4!
And wins: 5 ... :xd4 6 "ilxg7 mate
or 5 .. "ilxg4 6 :xd7 discovered
.
check, winning all Black's pieces.
The rook has the last laugh.
 First ideas on strategy and some definitions 9

On the valuation scale, we usually In this position, from a tourna­

have: ment in Paris, the author played:
Queen 9 pawns or 'points' 18 ... dS!
Rook 5 points 19 exdS .i.fS
Bishop 3 points Black has sacrificed a pawn, and
Knight 3 points in return all his pieces begin working
Pawn 1 point together. White was swept away by
But from the above example, it is their power.
clear that the value of the pieces can­ 20 'ife2
not be taken in isolation. A rook that There are no safe squares for the
is part of a co-ordinated force is queen. If 20 'ifb3 :d3 2 1 'jjb 1 :at,
worth more than a rook that is not etc. Note in this variation how well
co-operating with the other pieces. co-ordinated Black's pieces are.
20 i.d3
21 'iVCJ .i.xfl
22 .i.xfl 'ife7
8
Now the queen joins in.
23 :b1 'ife1
White resigned. He is the ex­
change (rook for minor piece, here a
bishop) down, and all his pieces are
tied up. Resistance is hopeless.

If you can't see what to do, then at

least centralize a piece. Better still,
Black's pieces are all well placed, try to work out which of your pieces
but how can he get them acting to­ is the most isolated and bring it back
gether? to the rest of your pieces.
2 Some rudimentary planning
In what follows, the reader should
bear in mind that, other things being
equal, an extra pawn is quite enough
to win between good players of simi­
lar strength. Although at present, this
may not always be the case, as you
gain experience you will find that
your games are frequently decided
by the smallest of material advan­
tages.
If you manage to win a pawn in
the middlegame, the usual technique
is to exchange off as many pieces as
possible to simplify the situation.
Exchange pieces, certainly, but be
careful about exchanging off too
many pawns.
B
This is because you will need to
try to queen one of your pawns in the
endgame, and the more you have
left, the fewer chances your oppo­
nent has of making a sacrifice to
force a draw. For example, in the
above position, Black can play
1 i.xg4! 2 fxg4 h5! forcing a draw,
...
since after 3 g5 �g6 Black wins the
last white pawn, while after 3 gxh5
�h8 we have the standard bishop
and wrong colour rook pawn draw.
Black simply stays put in the corner
and White can deliver stalemate, but
cannot oust the king.
If in the diagram White had an­
other pawn on e2 and Black had a
pawn on e7, then White would have
winning chances: l .. �i.xg4 would be
impossible. Hence, you must be
careful not to allow too many pawns
to disappear. Note that if you are the
defender a pawn down, you should
do the reverse, i.e. try to avoid too
many piece exchanges and instead
try to exchange off pawns.
The position is balanced except
for White's extra pawn. White's plan
is now as follows:
 Some rudimentary planning 11

a) Centralize the king. In the end­ Part 'd'. The king goes after the
game, the king becomes a powerful, black kingside pawns, while Black's
aggressive piece. There is no longer king has to remain on the queenside.
any danger of mate, so it can roam 11 .!Drs
the board. You must use your king 12 �e8 f6
actively in the endgame. 13 rM7 e5
b) Ad vance the queenside pawns 14 g4 �4
with the protection of the king and 15 hg7
knight and create a passed pawn (i.e. and Black loses all his pawns. We
a free pawn) on the queenside. do not need to witness part 'e'.
c) Tie Black's king and knight
down to the task of preventing the So White's plan was based not on
passed pawn queening. queening his pawn but on using the
d) Penetrate on the kingside and threat to queen his pawn to distract
capture Black's pawns while the Black's pieces from the defence of
black king and knight are tied to the the kingside. This winning technique
defence of the queenside. does not always require a material
e) Queen one or more pawns. advantage. For example:

So:
1 � �
2 �e2 �e7
3 �d3 �d6
4 �c4 �c7
5 �c5 a6
Preventing any 5 .!Db5+. Now
White carries out part 'b' .
6 b4 .!De7
7 a4 lDc8
8 b5 axb5
9 lilltb5+ In this position, White wins by
Rather than 9 axb5. White wants a d istracting Black from the defence
passed pawn as far from the kingside of the kingside. Thus:
as possible, so that if Black blocks it, 1 b4 �c6
his pieces will be the maximum dis­ 2 a4 �d6
tance from his own pawns. Part 'c' 3 b5 h5
now begins. Weakening his pawns, but other­
9 wise the king has to give ground.
10 �c6 4 a5 f6
11 �d7 5 f4 g6
12 Some rudimentary planning

S ... eS+ 6 fxeS+ fxeS+ 7 �e4 �e6 passed pawn that is on the other side
8 b6 wins of the board to the main mass of
6 g3 �d7 pawns. As you can see from the ex­
Black has run out of pawn moves: ample, a queenside pawn majority
6...f5 7 h3 leaves Black weaker, and can be quite an advantage. This is es­
the black king must move in any pecially true in the endgame.
case. When planning in the middle­
7 �cS �c7 game, you must never lose sight of
8 b6+ axb6+ possible endgames. The fact that one
9 axb6+ �d7 player has two pawns against one, or
9 �b7 10 �d6 eats all the king­
... three against two on the queenside
side pawns. may not seem of any significance
10 �b5! �c8 while you are attacking the oppo­
1 1 �a6, 12 �a7 and 13 b7 queen­ nent's king in the middlegame
ing, was the idea. frenzy, but if the game burns out it
11 �c6 �b8 can be the difference between vic­
and now both 12 b7 and 12 �d6 tory and a draw.
win. The keen player should consult
one of the many endgame books
In this example, White had the available for more examples of this
queensidepawn majority (two pawns crucial phase of the game. Mean­
against one) and used it to create an while, we will return to the middle­
outside passed pawn. Loosely de­ game and look at some typical plans
fined, an outside passed pawn is a there.
3 The accumulation of advantages
So-called positional play is based on
the accumulation of advantages.
This expression was first used by a
former world champion called Wil­
helm Steinitz ( 1836- 1900). When
Steinitz was a young man, the popu­
lar conception of chess was that both
players should play as aggressively
as possible, and that the player who
showed the greater skill in the attack
should win. Steinitz agreed that a
strong player should beat a weak
player by playing better attacking
moves, but what happened when two
geniuses meet?
He concluded that to win a game
by attack you have to have the better
game to start with. This means posi­
tional advantages. A positional ad­
vantage takes many forms: it can be
an advantage in development, or
more space, or the better pawn struc­
ture. You will notice in the examples
given in this book how patiently
strong players build up their games.
They do not look for violent attack­
ing opportunities; unless the oppo­
nent has made a very serious error,
they are content gradually to accu­
mulate slight advantages, until the
'moment of truth' arrives. Only then
do they attack.
Moves that conform to the theory
of accumulating small advantages
are called 'positional moves'; moves
that are against this theory are called
'anti-positional moves'. As the
reader gains experience, he will de­
velop a 'feel' for certain positions
and instantly recognize when a move
does not conform to the needs of the
position, but this fine grasp of strat­
egy takes a long time to develop,
and requires a lot of practice. Even
World Champions sometimes get it
wrong!
w
Kasparov - Short
London PCA Wch (1) 1993
Kasparov (White) has slowly
been accumulating advantages a Ia
Steinitz. He has absolute control of
the e-file, the only open line on the
whole board. His rook, queen and
bishop are all more active than their
black counterparts. So, now that he
has all the positional advantages, he
must attack and see if his advantages
14 The accumulation ofadvantages
are enough to give him a win. Kas­
parov played:
31 .ig5 l:c8
32 g4!
Trying to break up Black's king­
side and start an attack on his king.
32 ••• hxg4
33 .if6?
This move is too impatient. White
should simply recapture the pawn
when he would have the makings of
a strong attack. In his notes in lnfor­
mator 59, Kasparov gives the sample
variation 33 hxg4 'ii'xa5 34 .if6
(only move) 34 ...'ii'c 7 35 f3! (with
the idea of mating Black after 36 g5
followed by 37 l:h4 or 37 'ii'h2)
35 ... .ig7 36 .ixg7 �xg7 37 l:e7
'ifaS 38 l:e6 l:f8 39 'ii'xd6. White's
queen and rook completely domi­
nate their black counterparts, while
the d-pawn threatens to rush down
the board to the queening square.
33 .••
gxh3
34 'iVg4 l:aS?
In time pressure Short fails to rise
to the occasion (or perhaps it was the
occasion - the flrst game in a World
Championship match - which sub­
dued his usually resourceful play).
As Kasparov pointed out after the
game, 34 ... .ig7! 35 l:e7 ..txf6 36
l:xc7 l:xc7 draws, since White's
queen has no way of breaking into
Black's fortress. A good example of
a positional queen sacrifice.
35 'ifxh3?!
Threatening mate, but 35 'ii'g5!
was even stronger. During the post­
mortem, Kasparov demonstrated the
beautiful variation 35... 'ii'd7 36 l:h4
..tg7 37 .ixg7 �xg7 38 'ii'h6+ �f6
39 l:f4+ �e5 (39...�e7 40 'ii' g7
�d8 4 1 'ii'f8+ 'ii'e8 42 l:xf7 also
wins) 40 'ii'g5+ f5 4 1 f3!! and mate
by 42 l:e4 cannot be prevented.
35 .•• .ig7 (D)
36 .ixg7?
Here Kasparov goes wrong. 36
l:e7 was correct. Then if 36 ...ti'xa5,
37 l:xf7!! wins- 37 ... .ixf6 38 'ii'h7
mate or 37 ... �xf7 38 'ii'e6+ �f8 39
'ii'e7+ �g8 40 'ii'xg7 mate. So after
36 l:e7, Black must play 36...'ii'c8.
Then 37 'ii'xc8+ l:xc8 38 ..txg7
�xg7 39 l:d7. White wins the d­
pawn, creating a strong protected
passed pawn on d5. Black would
also find it impossible to defend his
pawns on cS and a6. In other words,
Kasparov should have switched his
strategy back to the accumulation of
small advantages. Instead, he played
for attack, but after
36
37 l:h4
38 l:h7+
39 'iVg4

Black still has his extra pawn, and
there are no brilliant moves for
White, who faces a very tough fight
for the half-point, but Short lost on
time in this position! 'The good
player is always lucky' - Capa­
blanca.
Here is a more convincing exam­
ple of the theory of Steinitz:
Capablanca Marshall
- 12... .ixf5, but after 13 gxf5 White
New York 1909
1 e4 eS 2 lLlf3 lbc6 3 .ibS d6 4 cJ
i.g4 5 dJ .ie7 6 ltlbd2 lLlf6 7 0-0
0-0 8 l:te1 h6 (D)
w
White espies a weak point in
Black's camp which he can occupy
with his knight: the f5 square. Black
would not be able to oust a knight
from this square, except by playing
... g6, which weakens his kingside.
So:
9 M!
Starting on a long journey to f5.
9 lbh7
10 lL\e3 .ihS
The accumulation of advantages 15
11 g4!
The reader will become accus­
tomed to such space-gaining pawn
advances. The weakness of White's
kingside is not important, since
White holds the initiative on the
kingside.
11 .•. .ig6
12 lLlfS
Advantage number one. The white
knight can only be removed by
can attack along the g-file. (A typical
conversion of an advantage: the ad­
vantage of a well-placed piece is
converted into that of an open line
for the rooks.)
12 ••• hS?
Better to sit tight, or try 12... lbg5.
The move played allows White to in­
crease his advantage since after ...
13 hJ h:xg4
14 hxg4
... White can use the h-file for his
rooks.
14 .igS
15 lbxgS lb:xgS
16 �g2! d5
Black feels compelled by White's
plan of l:thl, l:th4, .,.1 and l:th8
mate to open the centre. He must dis­
tract his opponent somehow. Yet in
principle opening the centre is some­
thing Black does not want to do,
since White's two bishops will then
prove a potent force. This is typical
of successful planning: if the oppo­
nent has a bad position, he may pre­
vent one plan only at the cost of
allowing another.
16 The accumulation of advantages
17 'iVe2
Guarding e4. The centre is not
closed, but its blocked nature means
that Black can undertake very little
active counterplay as White begins
his onslaught on the king's wing.
17 ... .:te8
18 .:th1
Advantage number two: control
of the h-file as a preparation for an
all-out attack on Black's king.
18 .l:e6 (D)
w
19 'iVe3!
Attacking the knight. Black does
not want to move it since it helps
block White's attack. Black is there­
fore compelled to play ... f6 to defend
it. Now however, a further weakness
appears in Black's position: the di­
agonal a2-g8.
19 ... f6
20 .i.a4!
This move threatens to win at
least a pawn by 2 1 .i.b3. The bishop
is redeployed to the weakened di­
agonal ...
20 lbe7
21 .i.b3
... which constitutes advantage
number three. One by one, White's
pieces find excellent squares.
21 . . . c6
22 'iVg3
Any Black counterplay has been
carefully restricted. Now White's
queen prepares to join the attack.
22 'irg3 also clears e3 for the bishop,
which will in turn clear the way for
the rook on a l to join in the attack.
22 .. . a5
23 a4
Of course not allowing 23...a4,
which would force the bishop away
from its lovely diagonal.
23 ... m
24 .i.e3
Advantage numberfour. White's
bishop develops to a good central
square and, by threatening 25 .tc5,
which would undermine the defence
of Black's centre, obliges Black to
weaken his pawn front even more.
24 b6
25 .l:h4 �
26 .:tah1
Advantage number five. White's
a l-rook develops and greatly adds to
the pressure against Black's king­
side. As Irving Chernev once re­
marked, 'When you double rooks,
you double their power.'
26 ... �g8 (D)
Now what should White do? He
has accumulated five positional ad­
vantages: his two rooks, two bishops
and knight are all excellently placed.
Note that 'excellently placed' means
that they are not only on squares

where they control a lot of ground,
but that they are also on squares
where they can take part in a co-ordi­
nated attack of all the pieces. Re­
member Chernev's remark above. If
doubling rooks doubles their power,
then getting all the pieces together
is going to result in an immense
amount of energy! It is time for
White to attack, but where? Black
has succeeded in fortifying his king­
side and there is no obvious break­
through. However, to achieve this
kingside fortress, Black has had to
weaken his influence on some vital
central squares, most importantly
d5. One of the advantages of having
such a mobile, well-drilled army is
that White can be flexible. His pieces
are ready to act on the kingside or in
the centre. The black pieces, tied
down to defence on the kingside, do
not have this dexterity. Capablanca
played:
27 'lif3!
By attacking d5, he forces Black
to play either 27....txf5 or 27...dxe4
28 dxe4 when the diagonal a2-g8 is
opened. Marshall chose:
The accumulation ofadvantages 17
27 .•• .txfS
28gxf5
Black can now defend the centre
but his kings ide fortress is breaking
down. The g-file is open and g7
looks vulnerable.
28 ... l:td6
29 'libs
The time for gaining positional
advantages is over. Now White must
hit Black as hard as possible. White
must make sure that his attack breaks
through and wins. If it does not, then
Black may launch a counter-attack
and win.
29 l:ta7
30 'lig6 �6 (D)
w
Now comes the final sacrificial
breakthrough. Note that it only
works because White has a big ad­
vantage to start with - the result of
his deep, thoughtful positional play.
Although the end is pretty and dra­
matic, many players of a lower
standard could have found all the
moves that Capablanca now makes.
However, very few players, even of
the highest standard, could have
18 The accumulation ofadvantages
matched Capablanca's positional
play up to this point. Knowing where
to put your pieces is the highest art of
chess.
31 :lxh6! gxh6
32 .i.xh6+ <tle7
Or 32 ... lLlxh6 33 l:.xh6 l:.g7 34
l:.h8+ <tle7 35 'ii'xg7 mate.
33 ....7+
. <tle8
34 'ifxg8+ <tld7
35 ..-..7+ 'ife7
Has Black escaped?
36 .i.f8!
No. A clever move. But, we re­
peat, what is harder to see: this move
or fine positional moves such as 19
'fi'e3 and 27 1i'f3? Given this posi­
tion and an hour on the clock, any
tournament player has a chance of
discovering 36 .i.f8, but he may
spend a lifetime and never play a
move as good as 19 'fi'e3.
36 'ifxh7
37 :lxh7+ <tle8
38 ltxa7
and Black finally decided to re­
sign.
Cifuentes - McDonald
Oviedo 1992
1 d4 lDf6 2 lDC3 g6 3 .i.g5 .i.g7 4
lLlbd2 d6 5 c3 h6 6 .i.h4 g5 7 .i.g3
lLlh5 8 e4 lLlc6 9 'ifc2 e6 10 0-0-0
lbxg3 11 hxg3 lLle7 12 .i.d3 b6 13
lDn .i.b7 14 lbe3 1i'd7 15 l:.h2
0-0-0 16 l:.dh1 c5 17 lLlg4 cxd4 18
cxd4+ <tlb8 19 <tlbl ltc8 20 1i'e2 f5
21lDxh6 g4 22 lbg5 .i.xd4 23 .i.b5
.i.c6 24 .i.xc6 lbxc6 (D)
w
This is a good example of Ste­
initz's precept that when you have
accumulated enough advantages,
you must attack. All White's pieces
(except for his queen) are a long way
from his king. They also have lim­
ited control of the centre. White's
rooks in particular are doing noth­
ing. Black's pieces, on the other
hand, are nicely centralized. So
Black has a very big positional ad­
vantage, but it is White's move. He
played:
25 exf5
Now if Black recaptures with the
obvious 25... exf5, then White can
play 26 lLlhf7, bringing his errant
knight back into the game and reacti­
vating his rooks. So Black must at­
tack immediately. He played:
25 ••• lbb4!
This clears the c-file for the rook
and also opens the e8-a4 diagonal, so
that Black's queen can enter the at­
tack on a4. If White plays 26 1Vxe6,
then 26 ... 1Va4 27 'fi'xd6+ <tla8 and
White has to answer the twin threats
of 27... '1Vxa2 mate and 27... '1Vc2+.
26 '1Vd1

Preventing 26.....a4.
26 ••• lbc2!
Now if 27 o!tlxe6, Black wins
quickly: 27....i.xb2! 28 �b2 �5+.
27 'iVd3
So White prevents 28...�5 in the
above variation. The queen is a very
powerful piece but it cannot be ex­
pected to beat off the attack of all
Black's pieces single-handed. The
white pieces on the kingside may as
well not be on the board.
27 .i.xb2! (D)
w
Nevertheless! Now after 28 Wxb2
'ii'g7+ 29 Wb3 (29 Wbl 'ifal mate)
29... o!tld4+, 30 Wb4 (30 Wa3 :c3+!
31 'ifxc3 o!tlb5+ and 30 Wb2 o!tlb5+
31 Wbl o!tlc3+ 32 Wc2 o!tla4+ 33
Wb3 .J:[c3+ both win the queen, with
mate soon to follow) 30.....e5
(threatening 3l.. ...a5 mate) 31 a4
'ii'c5 mate. White has no defence.
The reader should not worry if the
above analysis seems incomprehen­
sible. These variations have been
given to illustrate that Black has a
winning attack in every line because
of his huge positional advantage. As
The accumulation ofadvantages 19
the reader gains experience, it will
become easier to calculate such a
long sequence of moves. At the mo­
ment, you may prefer to skip over
any long tactical analysis and simply
follow the game moves. In other
words, take the author's word that
Black really does have a winning po­
sition after 27....i.xb2!.
28 o!tlxe6 .i.e5
With the beautiful threat of
29...�5+! 30 ..xb5 o!tla3 mate. (30
11'b3 o!tla3 is still mate.)
29 a3
White sees the threat, but must
weaken himself further to prevent it.
29 ••• 'ifa4
and White resigned. His king po­
sition is about to be decimated.
We will now look at some of the
techniques for gaining a positional
advantage.
Shuttin g a piece out of the game
Tarrasch once observed that if one
piece stands badly, all the pieces
stand badly. So if you manage to cut
off one of your opponent's pieces
from the sphere of action, your army
will be relatively bigger and stronger.
This advantage can be quite enough
to win the game.
Karpov - Kasparov
London Wch (5) 1986
1 d4 .!tlf6 2 c4 g6 3 M d5 4 .i.f4
.i.g7 5 e3 c5 6 dxcS 'ifaS 7 :ct �
20 The accumulation of advantages
8 cxdS lt:lxcJ 9 'iVd2 'Wxa2 10 bxcJ
'Wxd2+ 1 1 <t>xd2lt:ld7 12 .i.bS 0-0
13 .i.xd7 .i.xd7 14 e4 (D)
White has an extra pawn. How­
ever, his development has suffered
somewhat - his kingside is yet to be
mobilized. Also, his king is in the
centre, where it could become ex­
posed to attack: despite the exchange
of queens, the position still bears
many features of a middlegame, so
the king's presence in the centre is a
liability rather than an advantage.
Black's plan is to regain his pawn, at
the same time breaking up White's
powerful-looking centre pawns.
Then his pieces will become very ac­
tive and he can attack White's king.
14 ... f5
The first step in Black's plan.
Now it would be disastrous for
White to allow the opening of the f­
file, so:
15 e5 e6
16 c4 :res
It seems as if Black's plan has
been a complete success. Next move
he will play 17 . . . :xeS regaining his
pawn (as 17 .i.e3? .i.xeS is bad for
White). He can then double rooks
along the c-file and in all probability
win the c4 pawn. (He will always
have the strong move ...bS ! available
if White defends the pawn with
<t>d3, allowing a pin down the c-file.)
Or alternatively, after 17 .. l:lxc5 the
.
rook can swing along the rank and
devastate White in another manner.
White's centre looks very flimsy.
Meanwhile, Black has a queenside
pawn majority and a passed pawn. Is
it all over for White? No ! Karpov
played:
17 c6!! bxc6
Forced.
18 d6 (D)
What has White's manoeuvre
achieved?
1) He has blocked the centre and
in particular the c-file, so that
Black's rook can no longer attack the
c4 pawn. It is reduced to a passive
role. Note that it is greatly to White's
advantage to keep the position as
closed as possible, since he is still
dangerously behind in development.

2) The black bishop on d7 has
also lost all its mobility.
3) Black's queenside pawn ma­
jority has been devalued. It is now
split into two isolated units, neither
of which can defend the other. The
attacking blow ... b5 is no longer
available, since Black no longer has
a b-pawn!
18 ••• c5
Clearing c6 for the bishop, but
now the c5 pawn is very weak. Black
however had little choice, since
White intended 19 c5, when both
Black's bishops are shut out of the
game.
19 h4
Ruling out Black's attempts to
free his Icing's bishop with 19...g5 20
.txg5 .txe5. Karpov makes sure that
at least one black bishop stays im­
prisoned. All his manoeuvres now
centre around keeping that bishop
inactive.
19 .•. h6
Still hoping to play ...g5 to free
his bishop. Now what should White's
plan be? He would like to attack the
black pawn on c5. If this pawn falls,
then White's mobile centre pawns
would quickly break through in the
centre and queen. To win the c5
pawn, White needs to put his knight
on d3 and his bishop on e3. How­
ever, White must prevent ...g5 by
Black. So how can White carry out
his plan to attack the c5 pawn and at
the same time rule out Black's ... g5?
The obvious developing move is 20
.!Llf3. This intends .!Lle1-d3 and then
The accumulation of advantages 21
.te3, winning the c5 pawn. How­
ever, Black can answer 20 lLlf3 with
20....tc6. Then if 21.!Lle1, Black can
play 2 l ...g5! 22 hxg5 hxg5 23 .txg5
.txe5 and the bishop sees daylight.
So 20 lLlf3 fails. Karpov finds the
correct method:
20 %3!! aS
21 fJ a4(D)
22 llhel!
Now we see the difference be­
tween lLlf3 and lLlh3. White is able to
bring his rook to e 1 where it defends
the e5 pawn. This means that when
the knight on h3 begins its journey to
d3 via f2, Black's ... g5 response is
useless, since after White's .txg5,
the e5 pawn is defended by the rook.
22 ••• a3
As a rule, passed pawns can be
either very strong or very weak. In
this case, the passed pawn would be
strong if it could be supported by
Black's Icing's bishop, but the bishop
on g7 is a mere spectator. It is com­
pletely shut out of the game. Black is
effectively playing a piece down.
23m a2
22 The accumulation ofadvantages

24 �3 :83
25 l:.a1!
B
If White had continued 25 .te3
then 25 ... l:.xd3+! 26 c.Pxd3 i.xe5
and the bishop comes to life. Karpov
plays with ruthless accuracy, not giv­
ing his opponent the slightest coun­
terplay.
25 ... g5
Now this has no point. Black
could already resign.
26 hxg5 hxg5 bishop on e3 will become very
27 .txg5 <k1 strong.lt has no dark-squared coun­
28 .tf4 l:.b8 terpart. Black ought to keep the posi­
29 l:.ec1 .tc6 tion closed; 14... lbb6 is better. So
30 l:.c3 :as what should White do? We may
31 l:.c2 l:.ba8 quote Tarrasch: 'If you don't know
32 lDc1 what to do, wait until your opponent
Winning the a-pawn. Black re­ gets an idea - it's bound to be
signed. wrong!' Reti therefore played a quiet
move - he should not stop his oppo­
Exploiting a bad plan nent going wrong!
15 l:.fl!
Reti - Spielmann However, this move has a very
Stockholm 1919 deep point. as will be seen.
15 ... l:.g8
1 e4 e5 2 lbf3 lbf6 3 d4 lbxe4 4 .td3 As planned. 15.. lbb6 was still the
.

d5 5 lbxe5 i.d6 6 0-0 0-0 7 lbc3 best move.

.txeS 8 dxeS f5 9 'ii'h5 .i.e6 10 l:.d1
•e8 1 1 'iib4 c6 12 .i.e3 lbd7 13 f4
...t714 lbe2 (D)
Here Black played:
14 ••• c.Pb8
He had devised the following
plan: he will play ... l:.g8 and then ad­
vance his pawn to g5; if White then
plays fxg5, he can continue ...lbxe5.
White's pawn centre will be de­
stroyed. However, the problem is that
when the position opens, White's
16 .i.xe4!
Now we see why 15 l:.fl was a
good move. If now 16...fxe4 17 f5!
.i.xf5 18 g4 wins a piece. Therefore
Black must play:
16 ... dxe4 (D)
But now the d-file is opened for
White's rooks.
17 b3!
An excellent move by Reti. Imag­
ine that White had instead played
17 l:.ad 1. Then Black could play
 The accumulation ofadvantages 23

22 ••• :Se8 (D)

17... .tc4! 18 l:tfe 1 .txe2 19 l:txe2

lLlf8! followed by ... lLle6. Black has
succeeded in exchanging his bishop
on e6 for the white knight and then
manoeuvred his knight to e6. The
knight on e6 is not impeded by the
mass of pawns in the centre. White's
bishop on e3, on the other hand, has
very limited scope in this semi­
blocked position. Hence, Black's
chances would be greatly improved,
though White's control of the d-file
would still give him the better game.
After 17 b3, this variation is pre­
vented. Black's bishop on e6 re­
mains hemmed in, and Black's
knight does not get to the excellent
e6 square.
17 c5
18 l:tad1 b6
19 l:td6 M logical move: it lets Black carry out
20 :t'd1
White has seized control of the d-
file.
20 lt::Jg6
21 'l'el fiJe7
22 c4
23 lLlc3
Now Black should go into heavy
defence with 23... lt::Jc8. Instead, he
carried out his plan - which leads to
complete disaster.
23 ... g5
24 fxg5 lLlg6
Now what? Black intends 25...f4
26 .tel e3 when his pawns are ad­
vancing dangerously and his bishop
on e6 is re-activated; he can play
....tg4, etc.
25 .t el!
So that 25...f4 no longer attacks
the bishop, and White can answer it
simply with 26 lt::Jxe4 (threatening
lLlf6) with a winning position. 25
.tc 1 is also another good psycho­
his bad plan!
25 .•. lt::JxeS
.
Black completes his plan, and it
completely wrecks his position! He
should have simply passed, e.g. with
25. .'1'b7, though White's position
.

Preventing Black using the d5 remains very strong.

square. 26 fiJe2!
24 The accumulation of advantages

Now White puts his knight on the 'exchange' of advantages or 'nego­

excellent square f4. From this van­ tiation' takes place. For example,
tage point, it blocks the black king­ you get to manoeuvre a piece to a
side pawns, is perfectly safe from more useful square; your opponent
pawn attack, and has strong central is allowed to relieve his cramped
influence. White's bishop will go to game somewhat by exchanging one
b2, where it will exert strong pres­ pair of rooks. Who does better out of
sure on the al-h8 diagonal. this 'deal'? If it is you, your position
26 .i.c8 gets better; if the opponent, your po­
27 h4 .:tg6 sition gets worse. Calculation can be
28 .i.b2 �g8 useful here. The moral is: ifyou want
29 .i.xe5! to gain anything, be prepared to give
White says to Black, 'OK, you something away. Here are some ex­
can have my strong dark-squared amples of 'negotiation':
bishop, but in return I will have com­
plete control of the dark squares -
your bishop on c8 will be a useless
w
piece.'
29 .:txe5
30 .:td8+ .:te8
31 �f4 .:tc6
32 �!
A little tactical play to finish with.
32 .:txd8
33 �f6+ �g7
34 lbd8 1Ve6
35 .:tg8+ •xg8 Timman - Karpov
36 �xg8 �xg8 Zwolle FIDE Wch (3) 1993
37 'iVd2 1-0
The rook and knight are no match 24 �5
for the queen. For example, 37....i.e6 'I want to exchange queens.'
38 'iVd8+ �f7 39 ..,f6+ �g8 40 'ike7 24 ••• 1Ve4
(threatening 'ife8+) 40 ..i.f7 41 1Vxa7
.. 'No, not when you can recapture
winning the a-pawn to start with. and win a pawn.'
25 'iVd3
Exchange of advantages 'I still want to exchange queens.'
25 ..• �6
Strong modern opponents do not al­ 'OK, but only if you un-isolate
low you to accumulate advantages my d-pawn at the same time.'
slowly a la Steinitz. So a more subtle 26 1V xe4

'Agreed.'
26 ... dxe4
with an eventual draw.
Short - Kasparov
London PCA Wch (2) 1993
A very complex position. White's
pieces are all mobilized and his king
is safe, but the question is: where
does White go from here? White has
no possible pawn advances.
Black's central pawn mass covers
a lot of important squares and looks
solidly defended. At the same time,
Black's queen's rook is excellently
placed on c8 bearing down along
the semi-open file. Black's queen's
bishop is also well placed on b7, at­
tacking White's central e4-pawn.
Black's queenside pawns are aggres­
sively deployed, and if Black could
get in . . 'ii'a5 followed by ... b4, he
. through in the centre, then Black's
could start an attack against White's
king, but Black's star piece is his
knight on e5. This is beautifully cen­
tralized, and can only be destroyed
by White playing .txe5. This is a
move White would be reluctant to
The accumulation ofadvantages 25
make, since after the recapture
. . . dxe5 Black's bishop on e7 would
come alive along the a3-f8 diagonal
or perhaps the a7-gl diagonal after
....tc5. After ... dxe5, Black's queen
and bishop would also have the d4
square. White does not wish to
weaken his dark squares in this way.
So much for the good points in
Black's position. His main difficulty
is that his king has no safe hiding
place. He cannot castle queenside,
and castling kingside is out of the
question - there is inadequate pawn
cover there. So the king must remain
in the centre. Associated with the in­
ability to castle is the fact that Black
cannot bring his Icing's rook into the
game. Therefore, he cannot co-ordi­
nate the action of this piece with that
of the others. To carry out a success­
ful attack on White's king, Black
would need a huge amount of fire­
power. So an all-out attack is un­
likely to succeed unless the king's
rook can be brought into action as a
reserve.
To sum up, Black has many posi­
tional features in his favour. How­
ever, he also has some serious
problems. He cannot carry out his
logical plan - a queenside attack.
And if White hits on a way to break
king will find itself facing a fierce
attack with nowhere to hide. Black
played:
21 ... l'Dc4
We have just described this knight
as Black's 'star piece', and here he
26 The accumulation of advantages
allows its exchange for a bishop that
is not threatening anything!
If this move had been made by an
amateur, or even a grandmaster, we
would be tempted to call it a posi­
tional blunder, but it was made by
the greatest player of all time. So this
should make us think twice. Surely
Kasparov knows that a knight en­
trenched in the centre is worth more
than White's lame bishop?
In fact, if left in peace, say after
2 1 ...'flc7, White has the option of 22
'fld 1 followed by 23 .th5+ or even
23 .tg4 attacking e6. (If Black
played 23 .A�xg4 he would have
given up his knight in less favourable
circumstances). The bishop turns out
not to be lame after all. It's not cer­
tain that to allow .th5+ would be
disastrous for Black, but clearly it is
a strengthening of White's position­
having to move his king would cut
down Black's defensive options. (For
example, if White broke through in
the centre with a rook sacrifice,
Black couldn't suddenly flee to the
kingside by castling.)
This is a good example of the ex­
change of advantages. In playing
2 1 ...llk4 Black says to White, 'OK,
you can have my beautiful knight,
but in return you must promise not to
play .th5+ disturbing my king.'
In effect, it is the most cunning
negotiators who are the best chess
players: you have to give your oppo­
nent something, but if you are
shrewd you will come out with a
slight (or big?) profit on the deal.
22 .txc4 Jbc4
23 'fld3
Threatening a breakthrough with
24 e5 ! . For example, 24 ... dxe5 25
'flg6+ �f8 26 l:lxf6+ with a quick
win. Or 24...fxe5 25 'A'g6+ �d7 26
l:lf7 with strong pressure.
23 ... e5
More negotiation. 'OK, I'm pre­
pared to weaken my centre; you can
have the d5 square for your knight,
but in return you mustn't mate me
with 24 e5.'
24 l:le2 'flc8 (D )
w
25 .:.rs
White's idea is to play 26 'flf3,
preparing a sacrifice on f6. This
move would rip open the centre and
slaughter Black's king, but Kasparov
gets in first. White had two interest­
ing options. The first is 25 �5
when there could follow 25 ... .txd5
(25 ...l:ld4 !? is also possible, when 26
tDxe7 �xe7 27 'flf3 l:lf8 gives Black
strong counterplay against White's
e-pawn) 26 exd5 �f7 (covering g6).
Superficially, this looks good for
White, but his problem is that he has

no pawn breakthroughs - there is no
cannon fodder to be used as a batter­
ing ram to smash through on the
kingside. The 'cheapest' option is
the bishop but 26 .*.xeS dxe5 27
l:r.xe5 is unconvincing. The other
idea is the at first sight paradoxical
25 .*.el. This is in fact a very logical
move. The bishop on g3 is shut out
of the game by the pawn wedge d6,
e5, f6. Therefore it is re-routed to the
e 1-a5 diagonal. It may even reach b4
with an attack on the d6 pawn. Also,
it rules out Black's next move. After
25 .*.e 1 White could prepare the plan
of l:r.f5 and 'ii'f3 in peace.
25 ••• l:r.xc3
'OK, you can have a rook for a
knight. That leaves you two 'points'
up on the material side, but in return
I will wreck your queenside pawn
structure, and your knight won't be
going to d5 to attack me.'
26 bxc3 We6
27 �b2 �d7
28 .:n Wc4 (D)
w
A very interesting moment. It is a
well-respected chess principle that
The accumulation ofadvantages 27
isolated pawns, especially doubled
ones, are weakest when they stand
on an open flle. Yet Kasparov allows
White to exchange queens and bring
the b5 pawn to c4, where it blocks
any attack by Black on the doubled
pawns. Why is this? Once again we
are negotiating. It runs something
like:
White: 'OK, I' ll let you attack my
doubled pawns with 28 ...l:r.c8 , but in
return I'II play 29 h4! and break open
the kingside for my rooks.'
Black: 'No deal! I'm not inter­
ested in that scenario. I'll play
28 ...Wc4, and if you play 29 Wxc4,
then 29 ... bxc4 and I'll let your
queenside pawns be safe, but in re­
turn for this safety, I will have
strengthened my centre by bringing
the b-pawn to the c-flle. Moreover,
the exchange of queens will allow
me to activate my king.'
29 Wxc4
White agrees to the 'settlement' ...
29 ••• bxc4
30 �a2!
...because he has seen that this
side-stepping king move allows his
rook to enter the game via the b-flle.
Kasparov had apparently missed this
possibility when he began the nego­
tiation with 28...Wc4. After the game
he described his 28th move as 'horri­
ble' and recommended keeping the
tension with 28...i.c6 followed b y
... a5. Such i s the advantage o f hind­
sight.
30 .*.c6
31 l:r.bl .*.d8
28 The accumulation of advantages

Preventing 32 l:lb6. Without this pawn, White would

32 l:lbS :es have few chances of outstretching
33 i.f2 .taS the Black defences, even if his rook
34 :xeS �xeS penetrated into Black's position.
35 �b2 � And if the a-pawn is lost, then Black
36 i.a7 �e6 has a dangerous passed pawn on the
37 g4 a-file himself. So:
This restrains Black's pawns, but 37 ... i.dS!!
after the game Kasparov and Short A world champion's manoeuvre!
preferred the more ambitious 37 g3, 3S �cl i.e7
which aims to create an outside 39 l:le3 d5
passed pawn with 38 h4. Only now. And Short decides he
After Short's actual move, the cannot risk giving up the a-pawn,
position is in a state of dynamic and a draw becomes inevitable.
equality. White still has his nominal 40 exd5 �d5
material advantage, but his rook is 41 �b2 �e6
tied down to the e4 pawn. If White 42 i.b6 i.d6
could bring his king to e3, freeing 43 h4 gx:h4
his rook, and then manoeuvre his 44 l:lh3 e4
rook to the b-file, he would have 45 l:lh4 i.f4!
winning chances, even if (as would Cutting the white king off from
be inevitable), he lost the c3 pawn. the main sphere of action.
As we know, rooks thrive on open 46 l:lh3 i.gS
lines. If White's rook got 'behind' 47 i.d4 aS
the Black position, then the Black a­ 4S l:lh2 a4
pawn and d-pawn would be very vul­ Now White's king is completely
nerable. immured. White cannot offer the ex­
Kasparov finds a brilliant defence change of bishops since then Black's
against this plan. He sees that Black king would quickly enter the game
should not play ...d5 immediately, via f4, winning the g-pawn, with
since it frees White's rook from its good winning chances for Black.
defensive duty. So he puts his bishop 49 l:lhl i.d7
on e7 and then plays ...d5. Then 50 l:lh2 �d5
White's king can only get to e3 to 51 l:th5
free the rook at the cost of the a3 Draw agreed. If 51.. .i.xg4, then
pawn, but the a3 pawn is much 52 i.xf6! i.xh5 53 i.xg5 with a
more vulnerable than the c3 pawn. draw.
4 Weak Pawns
Isolated pawns
An isolated pawn is a pawn that is
cut off from its fellow pawns. This
means that if it is attacked it can't be
defended by another pawn. A simple
example:
w
White can play 1 lla2 liaS 2 llda1
and win the a-pawn. Even if it were
Black to move, he wouldn't be able
to save his a-pawn. One of the gold­
en rules of chess is: if you see a good
move, stop and see if you can find a
better one! A superior way for White
to win the a-pawn is to play 1 lidS !.
White has a material advantage
(rook for knight) so it is good to
swap off a pair of rooks. The fewer
pieces there are, the easier it is to ex­
ploit a material advantage. (See our
section on simplifying.) Black's a­
pawn can't run away so White takes
'time-out' to strengthen his position.
After 1 lidS ! llxd8 2 llxd8+ �h7 3
liaS White wins the a-pawn anyway.
Imagine if White had a pawn on
a2 in this position. Then it would be
harder to attack Black's a-pawn from
the front. White would have to play
lld6, lla6, lld3 and llda3 to achieve
this. This would give Black time to
organize counterplay. Therefore,
as a rule, we can say that an isolated
pawn on an open file is considerably
weaker than an isolated pawn on a
closed file. So if you have an isolated
pawn, try to close the file on which it
stands; and if your opponent has an
isolated pawn, don't block the file in
which it stands. This rule also ap­
plies to doubled isolated pawns, of
course.
As a rule, isolated pawns on the
wing are merely weak - unless they
are well-supported passed pawns. As
Capablanca pointed out, passed
pawns tend to be either very weak or
very strong. As a less general rule,
the further advanced a passed pawn
is up the board, the stronger it is.
This is because it ties down the op­
ponent's pieces, which must prevent
it queening.
In the diagram above, Black's
pawn on a7 was passed, but it was
not advanced and was very weak, but
imagine if White completely mis­
played the position and allowed the
30 Weak Pawns
pawn to advance. Then we could get
the following position:
w
The a-pawn is now extremely
dangerous. It is well supported by
Black's pieces and ties down White's
pieces to the ftrst rank. The game
could continue:
1 g3
To get the king off the first rank
without losing the f-pawn, which
would happen after 1 �h2.
1 ... 00!
2 l:r.e1
Grim but necessary. 2 l:r.dc1 �2+
then 3 .../0xc1 4 l:r.xcl l:r.b l wins, or 2
l:r.d8+ �h7 and again White has no
defence against the threat of ...l:r.bl.
2 ... l:r.b1!
3 �
3 �g2 l:r.xe1 4 l:r.xe1 "0b l ! and the
pawn queens.
3 �
4 f4 �e7
5 Wfl l:r.bl+
White threatened 6 l:r.xa2 !.
6 �
Retreating the king is hopeless for
White. The black king advances and
White's rooks remain pinned down
on the ftrst rank.
6 fS!
7 g4 �d6
8 gxf5 exfS
9 l:r.ed ltie4!
Even better than 9...l:r.b l . The
threat is ...l:r.f2 mate.
10 :n lOd2+
11 �gl lOxn+
12 � l:r.b1+
and wins.
Isolated pawns in the centre are a
contentious issue, on which grand­
master opinion is sharply divided:
'An isolated pawn spreads gloom
all over the chess board' - Tartak­
ower.
'He who fears having an isolated
queen's pawn should give up chess'
- Tarrasch.
'The modem approach to strategy
favours the side with the pawn and
the better dynamics' - Suba.
'The essential disadvantage of the
isolated pawn ... lies not in the pawn
itself, but in the square in front of the
pawn' - R6ti.
Let us consider R6ti's comment.
If the essential disadvantage of the
pawn is the square immediately in
front of it, then the essential advan­
tage is the control over squares di­
agonally in front of it. These are,
after all, also centre squares, and we
know that control of the centre is
what we should aim at (see Chapter
1). As Suba comments above, the
isolated pawn often gives the player
 Weak Pawns 31

possessing it better dynamics. Let us

see how this works in practice:

exchanged off. The black bishop on

h5 is not very good - the pawn on dS
impedes it (see our section on bish­
White's knight on d4 is impreg­ ops). However, in view of the other
nable. If Black plays l ...lbxd4, then pieces still present, Black should
the other one replaces it: 2 lbxd4. draw from the diagram position if he
Black's d-pawn controls c4 and e4. plays accurately.
Black to move can play l...lbe4 im­ If we remove the knight on d4 and
mediately possessing the e4 square, the bishop on h5, then Black's posi­
or he can play l...lba5 with the idea tion would be markedly improved.
of lbc4 (though White could play 2
... On the other hand, if we remove
b3). The pawn on d5 gives Black dy­ the queens, then White's advantage
namic chances. As for the d-pawn's would get serious:
static weakness: well, White cannot
have his cake and eat it ! Either he
keeps a piece on the excellent centre
w
square, or he retreats from this
square and tries to build up frontal
pressure against the d-pawn, but
with so many pieces on the board, a
direct siege of the d-pawn is unlikely
to succeed.
Now let's remove some pieces
from the above diagram (D):
A favourable simplification for
White. The knight on d4 is very Play could continue:
strong; every black piece that could 1 J:tel Wf8
have challenged it - the knights or 2 � ..ig6
the dark-squared bishop - has been 3 f3 ..id3+
32 Weak Pawns

4 � l:le8 �e7 8 �e3 0-0 9 f4 d5 10 exd5 exd5

5 l:lxe8+ �e8 1 1 �e2 l:le8 12 �h1 (D)
6 �e3 �bl
7 a3 �e7
8 h4
White is moving his pawns to
dark squares - a good strategy when
your opponent has a light-squared
bishop.
8 ... �d6
9 �f4 g6
10 lbf5+ exchanging to a good
endgame was threatened.
10 �g5!
and now White wins a pawn by Black wants to assume absolute
either 1 1 �f6 or 1 1 �h6. control over e4, so he played ...
12 ... .tb4
The dark squares in Black's posi­ ... planning to eliminate the knight
tion have become very weak. We let that defends e4.
Black play some bad moves in the 13 �g1 lbas!
above variation just to demonstrate He also wants to utilize the c4
White's plan. 4 ... l:ld6 or 4 ...l:lc8 is square.
better than 4...l:le8, . 8 ...�d6 is also 14 .ib5?
bad: 8 ...�f6 or 8 ...f6 is better. Then Better was I4 lbf3 planning �d4
Black is worse, but not totally lost. to bolster the c3 square.
Note how the exchange of queens 14 ... �d7!
allowed White to activate his king. Once the light-squared bishops
So we can say as a rule that simplifi­ are exchanged, c4 and e4 will be in
cation should be avoided when you Black's possession.
have an isolated pawn. Instead, you 15 �xd7 'iVxd7
should try for attacking chances in 16 'iVd3 lbc4
the rniddlegame. Here is an example 17 l:lb1 �xc3!
where the isolated pawn proved its As planned.
worth: 18 bxc3
Not 18 'ii'x c3 lbe4! and then
Skold - Boleslavsky ...lbd2 winning the exchange.
Helsinki 1952 18 lbe4
19 rn b6
1 e4 c5 2 lbf3 lbc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 20 l:lfd1 l:lac8
lL!xd4 lL!f6 5 lbc3 d6 6 �c4 e6 7 0-0 Stopping the threatened 2 1 'ii'xc4.
 Weak Pawns 33

Now 21 'ii'x d5? loses because of the advantage. Furthermore , Black's

knight fod: on c3. bishop on c8 is shut out of the game.
21 :b4 ..g4! Black tried:
Attacking the f-pawn and if 22 g3 11 ... lDe8
then 22 ... ta:3 ! ! wins: 23 i.xe3 'ii'xf3 He is hoping to exchange off a
mate; 23 'ii'xe3 ltlxg3+ wins the pair of bishops and ease the cramp
queen; otherwise ... ltlxd1 wins. So ... in his position. Capablanca then
22 _.xdS ltlxc3 played:
23 ..d3 12 'iih3!
23 'ii'd7 was the last chance, but By threatening mate on h7 Ca­
even then 23...'ii' xd7 24 :xd7 a5 and pablanca wants to convert his space
25 . .lDxa2 wins a pawn.
. and development advantage into
23 lDxd1 something more permanent. If he
24 :xc4 ltlb2 does not act quickly, Black may
25 :xeS 'iVxc8 complete his development with
and Black won easily (39 moves). moves such as ...'iVc7, ...c5, . ..:b8,
...b6 and ...i.b7, when all White's
Backward pawns advantage will disappear. 12 'iih3 !
forces Black to create a pawn weak­
Capablanca - Blanco ness in order to avoid the mate. His
Havana 1913 choice:
1) 12...h6 13 i.xh6 ! gxh6 14
1 e4 e6 2 d4 dS 3 ltlc3 dxe4 4 ltlxe4 'ii'xh6 f5 (14...lDf6 15 ltlg4 ! wins
lDd7 5 lDf3 ltlgf6 6 lDxf6+ ltlxf6 7 quickly, e.g. 15... :e8 16 lDxf6+
lDeS i.d6 8 'iVf3 c6 9 c3 0-0 10 i.gS i.xf6 17 i.h7+ �h8 18 i.g6+ �g8
i.e7 11 i.d3 (D) 19 'ii'h7+ �f8 20 'ii' xf7 mate) 15
ltlg6 with the threat of 16 �8+ �f7
17 ltle5 mate. Now 15 ...i.f6 16
'ii'xf8+ wins, so 15. . .ltlg7 but then
16 �8+ �f7 17 lDe5+ �e8 18
'ii'xg7 regains the piece with two ex­
tra pawns and an attack. The most
sturdy defence is 1 5...ltlf6 but then
16 g4 ltlxg4 (16...fxg4 allows mate
in three after 1 7 �8+) 17 �8+
�f7 18 'ii'h5+ with the threat of a
discovered check is decisive, for ex­
ample 18 ...�g7 19 h3 'iVe8 ! (or
White has achieved a very effi­ 19 ... lDf6 20 'iVg5 and 21 :gt wins)
cient development and has a space 20 lDf4 'iVxh5 21 ltlxh5+ �f7 22
34 Weak Pawns
hxg4 fxg4 23 .i.e2 .l:lg8 24 .l:lg 1 and
White wins a pawn.
2) 12 ...g6. There is no immediate
refutation of this move, but it creates
a weakness in Black's king position.
White could continue 13 .i.xe7
'flxe7 14 0-0-0 followed by 'flh6 and
h4, h5, attacking Black's weakened
king position. However, in this line
Black would not be without chances,
so this is how he should have played.
Black played the third choice in
the game:
12 ... fS?
In principle, if you must create a
pawn weakness, create it asfar away
from the centre as possible. Indeed,
from the strategic point of view,
Black's best move here was 12 ... h6,
since it creates fewer weaknesses:
it only weakens one square (g6)
whereas 12 ...g6 weakens both f6 and
h6. However, the one drawback to
the otherwise good positional move
1 2...h6 is that it loses by force (as we
saw above). Sometimes tactical
features overrule strategic desires.
1 2...g6 was the best move because it
is the least weakening move which
doesn't fail for any tactical reasons.
12 . . . f5? creates an horrendous
weakness on e5 . Remember what
Reti said about isolated pawns. The
essential advantage is the square in
front of the pawn. Here e6 may as
well be an isolated pawn, since it has
no potential pawn defender, and e5
may as well be the square in front of
an isolated pawn, since it too has no
pawn defenders. But while in the
example with isolated centre pawns,
the isolated pawn exerted good con­
trol over the squares diagonally in
front of it, here Black has no solace.
He cannot use f5 or dS to any advan­
tage.
The white knight is said to be on
an outpost on e5. It is very power­
fully placed, free from pawn attack
and near the enemy's line. White
now exchanges off dark squared
bishops. This is correct, since now
Black only has one piece, his knight,
that can challenge White's control of
e5 . Black is left with his miserable
bishop on c8, which is shut in by its
own pawns.
13 .i.xe7 'llxe7
14 0-0 .l:lf6
15 .l:lfel (D)
Beginning his build-up against
the hapless e6 pawn.
15 l2Jd6
16 .l:le2 .i.d7
17 .l:lae1 .l:le8
18 c4
All White's pieces are well de­
ployed, so now he uses his pawns to

achieve a breakthrough in the centre.
If he can advance d5, then Black's
queen on d7 will be very uncomfort­
ably placed.
18 •.• &Dn
19 dS!
The breakthrough.
19 lbxe5
20 .:.Xes g6 (D)
w
Already a sign that Black's bad
queen position is having an affect.
White was threatening 21 .txf5,
hence 20... g6. However, this weak­
ens the kingside and moves another
pawn onto a light square where it
further impedes the bishop on d7.
After 20...g6, the lateral power of the
rook on f6 also vanishes: it can no
longer attack White's queen with
...l:.h6.
There was not much else though.
If Black had played 20... 'ii'd6 then
2 1 .txf5; or 20...'ii'd8 (or 20...'ii'f8),
then 21 dxe6 will win the f-pawn. If
20 ... 'ii'f7, then White could either in­
crease the pressure with 21 1i'e3, or
exchange one advantage for another
and play 21 d6. This would give him
Weak Pawns 35
a strong passed pawn, which could
be supported by c5, leaving Black
with a really bad bishop on c8.
21 'ii'b4 !
The queen is one of the most diffi­
cult pieces to fit into a general strat­
egy. The reason is obvious: she is the
most powerful piece on the board, so
if she does not take part in a plan, it
has little chance of success; on the
other hand, her very strength means
that she must always flee when chal­
lenged by a less valuable piece. The
very first example in this book dem­
onstrates this.
As a rule, the queen should never
lead from the front. She should al­
ways stay back, supporting the other
pieces from the rear. She should 'fol­
low up' the first wave of the attack.
This is all rather vague and countless
examples could be soon found to
contradict this 'rule', but it certainly
applies here. Now White threatens
22 d6 ! creating the strong passed
pawn mentioned above.
21 ••• �g7
22 'ii'd4
Again threatening 23 d6.
22 •.• c5
23 'ii'cJ b6?
Here 23 ...'ii'd6, breaking the pin
on the queen along the e-flle, was
necessary. White would maintain a
strong position (his pressure along
the e-file is intense) but there would
be no forced win.
24 dxe6
Now if 24 ....i.xe6, 25 lbe6 wins.
We see the enormous power of the
36 Weak Pawns
white queen on c3. She is on a per­
fectly safe central square, and exert­
ing enormous pressure along the
al-h8 diagonal.
24 ••• ..tc8 (D)
So White has won the sick e­
pawn, but in some ways this is a re­
lief to Black - he no longer has to
worry about defending it ! He is at­
tacking White's pawn on e6 four
times and it is only defended twice.
So if Black has time to play ... �g8 ,
breaking the pin along the a l-h8
diagonal, he can follow up with
... llxe6 or .....txe6, regaining his
pawn with an equal position. Ca­
pablanca found a brilliant manoeu­
vre. Which white piece is the most
useless in the position? He makes it
the strongest!
25 ..te2!!
'Without doubt, Black had not ex­
pected this retreat', writes Ca­
pablanca with silent glee.
25 ••• ..txe6
Otherwise White puts his bishop
on d5 and the pawn becomes im­
mune.
26 .to �
27 ..tdS
A very pretty position. All Black's
pieces are tied up.
27 .•• li'd6
But White must still find a way to
win. Based on out principle that the
queen should follow up the action of
the other pieces, she should strike the
desired blow. Capablanca finds a
weak chink in Black's position: the
h6 square.
28 li'e3 lle7
28 ... f4 29 li'h3 ! would also make
inroads into Black's kingside.
29 li'h6 �g8
30 h4!
The pawn now advances to smash
Black's kingside.
30 a6
31 hS f4
32 hxg6 hxg6
32 ... 1lxg6 33 'ii' x g6+! hxg6 34
llxe6 llxe6 35 llxe6 and wins.
Wherever Black's queen goes, a dis­
covered check will win it. If you
have a crushing positional advan­
tage, there will always be a good line
available. You must simply look
deeply enough into the position to
fmd it.
33 llxe6
and Black resigned. You can ver­
ify that 33 . .. 1lexe6 34 llxe6 1lxe6 35
'ihg6+ and 36 'ii' xe6 leaves White
with an extra piece.
If you look back at the Ca­
pablanca-Marshall game, you will
see that the entry of the queen on g6

was the prelude to the winning
breakthrough. Once all the other
pieces are positioned well, then the
queen should enter the attack. Ca­
pablanca understood this very well.
If Black (or White) can keep or
gain control of the square in front of
a central backward (or indeed iso­
lated) pawn, he will often have an
excellent game. It will mean he is
controlling one of the four most im­
portant squares on the board; his
backward pawn is exerting influence
on the two centre squares diagonally
in front of it, so that no enemy piece
can move there. Not a bad state of af­
fairs. But first, another example of
losing control of the square.
Smyslov - Rudakovsky
Moscow 1945
1 e4 cS 2 �B e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lillcd4
�f6 5 �c3 d6 6 .ie2 i...e7 7 0-0 0-0
8 .ie3 lDc6 9 f4 'iic7 10 'iie1 �xd4
11 .ixd4 (D)
8
This is an example of a small cen­
tre by Black. It is a very common
Weak Pawns 37
modem pawn configuration. The
pawn structure dictates that White
will seek his chances on the kingside
where he has the space advantage.
He will start a direct attack. That is
why he played 10 'ii'e l . The queen
will move to g3 and then White will
try to advance by e5, driving the
knight from f6 as the prelude to a
piece attack. (The reader interested
in such play should consult one of
the books on the Scheveningen Sicil­
ian.) Black, on the other hand, will
look for counterplay on the queen­
side and against White's centre. His
possession of the c-file is a useful
trump. Black normally plays ... a6,
and then if possible ... b5 and ....ib7
followed by . . . l:ac8 etc., with pres­
sure along the c-file.
However, Black played a move
that radically changes the nature of
the pawn centre:
11 •.• e5
This move neutralizes White's
space advantage in the centre and
clears the e6 square for his bishop.
The disadvantage, of course, is that
the light squares d5 and f5 are no
longer guarded by a pawn. Smyslov
finds a way to exploit this in the
game.
12 i...e3 .ie6?
It would be better to play
12 ... exf4 13 .ixf4 (best) 1 3 ....ie6.
Then in an ideal world, Black could
continue 14 ... �7 and 15 ...�5 fol­
lowed by 16 . . ..if6. All his pieces
would be well centralized and the
knight on e5, besides being well
38 Weak Pawns

placed, would block the attack of the on e7 defends it, and White can
bishop on f4 against d6. Black never get enough pieces attacking it
would stand not at all badly. (unless Black lets him by some blun­
13 fS! J.c4?! ders).
14 J.xc4 'ii':xc4 (D) However, as Tartakower once re­
marked, chess is 'the tragedy of a
tempo' . White has played 15 J.g5
before Black had a chance to play
15 ... h6. It is this pin-point accuracy
that made Smyslov a world cham-
pion.
15 :t'e8
16 J.xf6 J.:xf6
17 � J.d8
Not 1 7 . . .11'xc2 1 8 l:[f2 11'c5 19
:c 1 and White wins the exchange
next move by 20 li:Y;;7 .
15 J.gS! 18 c3 b5
The black knight is the only piece 19 b3 'ii'c5+
that can challenge White's control of 20 �h1 :c&
the d5 square. Therefore, White ex­ 21 l:[f3
changes it off for his bishop, so that The knight on d5 dominates the
his knight becomes absolutely domi­ whole board. Now White moves his
nating on the d5 square. Suppose pieces over to the kingside to start
that White had played a standard the fmal attack.
centralizing move like 15 l:[d1 in­ 21 .•. �h8
stead of the correct 15 J.g5. Then 2 l ...f6 prevents White's next
B lack could have played 15 ... h6 ! to move but would not stop the decisive
prevent J.g5. In that case, Black build-up of White's pieces on the
would have a perfectly acceptable kingside.
position. For example, if White tried 22 f6!
moving his knight to d5, Black could Wrecking Black's pawns. Now if
simply have exchanged it. A white 22. . . g6, then 23 'ii'd2 followed by
rook on d5 would not have the same 'ii'h6 and .:h3 would win quickly.
power as a knight, since the rook 22 ...
g:xf6
would be impeded by the pawn on 22 ... .txf6 23 �xf6 gxf6 24 'ii'h4
d6. Knights, on the other hand, are threatening 25 l:[h3 gives a winning
not impeded by obstacles -they sim­ attack. Here we would have the con­
ply jump over them. Note that the d6 version of one advantage - a domi­
pawn is not really weak - the bishop nating knight - into another - the
 Weak Pawns 39

destruction of the pawn cover in

front of Black's king.
23 �4 l:g8
24 � l:g7
25 l:g3
With the brilliant threat of 26
'ii'xh7+! l:xh7 27 l:g8 mate.
25 J.xf6
26 'l'xf6 l:g8
27 l:dl!
Using his greater mobility to
break through in the centre. This
game is a nice pendant to the Ca­
pablanca-Blanco one above. In both
games, Black's pieces were tied up.
27 ••• d5
28 :Xg7
Black resigned, since 28 ...l:xg7
29 l:xd5 is curtains.
A nice game by Smyslov, but
Black put up very little resistance.
Let's look at a more robust defence
of this pawn structure.
Short Kasparov
- should be occupied by your pieces,
London PCA Wch (6) 1993
1 e4 c5 2 �0 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 �d4
�f6 5 �c3 a6 6 J.c4 e6 7 J.b3
B
b4 15 J.xf6 ( 1 5 llXI5 loses a piece)
15 ...bxc3 ! 1 6 .i.xe7 cxb2 with a
good game.
13 .i.dS
An interesting idea. Note that
Kasparov now avoids 13 ....i.b7??
when after 1 4 .i.xb7 �xb7 1 5 J.g5 !
White has time for J.xf6 and �d5,
'doing a Smyslov-Rudakovsky'
13 ••. l:b8!
Now threatening 14 ...b4 followed
by 15 ... �xd5 . As Tarrasch pointed
out, holes in the opponent's position
not pawns.
14 b4
A committal move. It rules out
14 ..b4 but it leaves the pawns on the
.

�bd7 8 f4 � 9 f5 J.e7 10 '1'0 0-0 queenside, especially the pawn on

l l .i.e3 (D) c2, in a ragged state. However, it was
11 ••• e5 a case of do or die for White.
12 �e2 b5! 14 �d7
A good all-purpose move. It 15 0-0 �dS
clears b7 for the bishop and threat­ 16 ltixdS .i.b7!
ens ... b4, driving away the white 17 ltlec3 �6!
knight and weakening White's hold Black has made sure that he will
on the centre, but what if White always be able to challenge a white
plays 1 3 J.g5 a Ia Smyslov? Then knight on d5.
Black can play 1 3 ...�xb3 14 axb3 18 l:ad1 J.xdS
40 Weak Pawns

19 �dS �d5 weaknesses but no more.

20 :Xd5 22 l:.f3! l:.xc:2
A rook on d5 is a poor substitute 23 l:.b3 :n
for a knight. 24 'W'hs b6
20 .•• l:.c8? 25 "itg6 � (D)
After his phenomenal positional
play, Kasparov relaxes. What could
be more natural than 20. . .l:.c8, seiz­
ing the c-file and attacking the c2
pawn? In fact, Kasparov himself
pointed out later that 20... 'flc8 ! was
better (as shown below). Stereotype
is the enemy !
21 "ifg4!
This threatens 22 J.h6 J.f6 23
J.xg7 ! J.xg7 24 f6 winning. If
Black had played 20 . . . 'ii'c8 instead
of 20... l:.c8, then there would be no 26 l:.xh6 was threatened.
threat now, since the f5 pawn would Now White could try 26 'ii'h7
be pinned and 24 f6?? would be met (threatening mate) 26... �e8 27
by 24 . . .W'xg4. So after 20...1i'c8 21 'ii'g8+ J.f8? 28 J.c5 ! threatening 29
1i'g4, Black would have time to play l:.xd6 with dangerous attacking
2 1 ...l:.d8 and 22... J.f6, safeguarding chances. It is ironic that the 'impreg­
his kingside. Then he could prepare nable' d6 pawn should tum out to be
to exploit the weaknesses in White's a target. However as Kasparov has
queenside pawn structure. Note that pointed out, Black can play the supe­
after 20...1i'c8, 2 1 'ii'g 3 would not be rior 27 ...l:.f8 ! 28 'ii'xg7 'ii'c7 with
equally as strong as 2 1 'ii'g4, since strong counterplay. In this line de­
then the rook from f1 cannot join the fence and attack are in a delicate bal­
attack along the third rank - the ance.
queen blocks its path. Now White 26 J.xh6 gxh6
gains attacking chances on the king­ 27 l:.xh6 'it'b6+
side. 28 l:.c:S! J.d8
21 ... f6 29 l:.h8+ �e7
An unpleasant hemming-in of the 30 l:.h7! l:.xh7
bishop, but there was no good alter­ 31 "ifxh7+ �
native. It seems that White's attack and a draw was agreed because it
now compensates for his queenside is perpetual check.
5 Open and closed positions
Writing in 1 749, Fran�ois Philidor,
the best chess player of his time, de­
scribed pawns as 'the soul of chess' .
Although we may dispute this broad
statement, pawns are certainly the
soul of chess planning. The elements
of time and space, vital to any plan,
can only be understood in the con­
text of the pawn structure. In this
chapter we will examine various
types of pawn structure and pawn
centre, and in each case indicate the
most appropriate plan.
Basically, positions can be either
open or closed or somewhere in be­
tween (when they are described as
semi-open or semi-closed, or half­
open or half-closed, etc.). We will
start with an extreme case.
The centre is completely open. To
use military parlance, the battlefield
is a flat terrain with no naturally
strong defensive features like hills or
high ground. Fighting is hand to
hand, and the numerically superior
force can be expected to win. In
chess, the numerically superior side
has what we call an 'advantage in de­
velopment'.
However, unless the position is
very unusual, the inferior side will
always, if given enough time, be able
to catch up in development (in mili­
tary terms 'bring up the reserves').
The crucial thing here is the proviso
'if given enough time' . ffhe wants to
win, the player with the better devel­
opment must strike immediately. He
must convert his tenuous develop­
ment advantage into something
more permanent. For example:
1 ) he could attack and win a
pawn before the opponent has time
to bring up enough pieces to defend
it. This is converting the develop­
ment advantage into a material ad­
vantage.
2) he could attack a pawn, which
the opponent can defend by advanc­
ing it, thereby weakening his pawn
position. The weak point created can
be assailed in the middlegame. This
is converting the development ad­
vantage into a structural advantage.
3) he could launch a lightning
strike on the opponent's king. This is
converting the development advan­
tage into an attack on the opponent's
42 Open and closed positions

king, or what may be termed a strong acclaimed as the world's strongest

initiative on the kingside (or queen­ player. Posterity has not recorded his
side, if the opponent's king is there). victim's name.
An advantage in development or an
initiative is sometimes referred to as Morphy - Amateur
a dynamic advantage, since it de­ New Orleans 1858
pends on the superior activity or mo­
bility of the pieces. An advantage 1 e4 e5
such as an extra pawn or better pawn 2 f4 exf4
structure (see methods ' 1 ' and '2' 3 00 c:6?
above) is called a static or positional 'A pawn move without a clear
or long-term advantage. A dynamic purpose should always be criticized'
advantage, one that depends on the wrote World Champion Emanuel
initiative, is often of a less perma­ Lasker 37 years after this game was
nent nature than a positional advan­ played. Black's move wastes time
tage. A pawn is a pawn is a pawn, but and takes away the natural c6 square
an attack may fizzle out to nothing. from Black's knight. Perhaps Mr X
Remember that to capture the king hoped to confuse his unsighted op­
requires a huge superiority. On the ponent, but he only succeeded in
other hand, the rewards are so much confusing himself.
higher if your attack works than if 4 lDc3 i.b4
you settle for a mere pawn or struc­ 5 i.c4 i.xc3?
tural advantage. Checkmate is per­ This loses more time, since after
manent! White's recapture he does not need
4) he could try to prevent his op­ to spend a move with d3 or d4 to
ponent from developing perma­ bring his bishop on c1 into the game.
nently or, more likely, make him 6 dxc3 &De7
develop his pieces in a rush, to un­ 7 'it'd6!
suitable squares. Of course, such a With this move White prevents
plan is only a stepping stone to ac­ Black from playing 7 ...d6 and so
quiring one of the advantages ' 1' to hinders the development of his
'3' above. The opponent's pieces are queenside. See point '4' above.
only on unsuitable squares because 7 0-0
they are unable to defend a pawn 8 i.xf4 lbg6
from capture or protect the king 9 i.gS 'tfe8
from attack. 10 0-0 �h8
Here is a good game, which illus­ 11 l:ae1 f6 (D)
trates several of the themes above. It So White has amassed a large lead
was played blindfold by Paul Mor­ in development. However, he had
phy, who in the 1 850s was widely better break through and win, since
 Open and closed positions 43

losing a pawn) but has fallen into

Charybdis (point '2' above, facing a
w
decisive attack).
14 e6! dxe6
15 lLlxe6 .i.xe6
16 .:.Xe6 •ca
Now we have our open centre. 17
.i.xf4 is probably good enough to
win, but the master tactician Morphy
(blindfold notwithstanding) found a
brilliant but logical finish:
otherwise Black will develop his 17 l:.xg6! h:xg6
pieces and avoid the worst of it. The 18 •xg6
more open you make a position, the White threatens mate.
more valuable an advantage in devel­ 18 ••. •rs
opment, or time, becomes. Therefore 19 l:.xf4! •xg6
Morphy played: Taking on f4 allows mate.
12 eS ! f5 20 l:.xf8+ Wh7
If Black had captured the bishop, 21 .i.g8+ Wh8
he would lose quickly: 12 ... fxg5 1 3 22 .i.f7+ Wh7
lLlxg5 l:.xfl + 14 l:.xfl and a careful 23 .i.xg6+
study of the position will show that and Black resigned, since after
Black is defenceless because of the 23 ...Wxg6, 24 .i. f4 wins a piece.
open f-file. For example: 14 ...lba6 Black's queenside pieces never got
15 .i.f7 'ii'e7 16 .i.xg6 'ii'xd6 17 exd6 into the game.
hxg6 1 8 l:.f8 mate. So Black tries to
keep the position closed in order to We don't often see such slugfests
minimize White's advantage. (The in modern tournaments. As a rule,
reason why this is Black's best strat­ strong players prefer to avoid pawn­
egy will be more fully understood by less central positions. It is not be­
the reader when he has examined the cause they fear a fight. Rather they
next section on closed positions.) realise that if the opponent is com­
13 lLld4 f4 petent, he will develop his pieces
If Black had played 1 3 ...lLla6 then rapidly and not fall behind in devel­
14 lLlxf5 and White would have an opment. Then there will be a massive
extra pawn, but now White has bloodbath as one piece kills another.
gained time by attacking the f-pawn. Finally, when the dust has settled,
He uses this time to launch a decisive there will be no pieces left to fight
attack. In other words, Black has with, and a draw will have to be
avoided Scylla (point ' 1 ' above, agreed. ·
44 · Open and closed positions
Some modern openings, though
apparently less exciting than the
swashbuckling aggressive chess of
the 19th century, do in fact lead to
more complex struggles, because an
early simplification is avoided. As an
example of a closed position, we will
look at a modern counter-attacking
opening, the King's Indian Defence.
In this position the centre is
blocked. The pieces cannot fight it
out in the centre; they are hemmed in
by their own pawns. Therefore, the
pieces have got to find active play
around the edges of the centre and on
the wings. Here it is appropriate to
discuss the concept of space. On the
queenside, the a-d files, White can
be said to have a space advantage.
His pawns are slightly more ad­
vanced than his opponent's, but why
is this an advantage? Throughout
this book, continuous emphasis is
laid on the mobility of the pieces as
being one of the most important ele­
ments of a healthy position. If your
pawns are further advanced up the
board than your opponent's pawns,
your pieces have more squares avail­
able to them behind your pawns.
And vice versa: your opponent's
pieces have fewer squares to play
with behind his pawns. As an experi­
ment, try placing various pieces on
the queenside in the above diagram.
You will find that a black bishop on
d7 covers two queenside squares (a4
and c8) which are not attacked by his
opponent's pawns. A white bishop
on c2, on the other hand, covers five
squares unprotected by his oppo­
nent's pawns. A rook on cl has five
queenside squares, while a rook on
c8 covers a mere three queenside
squares. In other words, because of
his extra space on the queenside,
White's pieces' workloads are much
greater than those of his opponent's
pieces. On the kingside, it is Black
who has the space advantage. Thus, a
rook on f8 covers more squares on
the kingside than a rook on f l .
A golden rule o f chess planning in
such blocked or semi-blocked posi­
tions is that you should always un­
dertake active operations where you
have the space advantage. So in the
above diagram, we infer that White
should start an offensive action on
the queenside, and Black on the
kingside. We can talk about separate
spheres of influence here. Note also
the corollary to our above rule: on
the side where you have less space,
you should avoid active operations.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
Here are two games by the World
Champion, Garry Kasparov, which

show how he handles to perfection
such a structure as both White and
Black.
Piket - Kasparov
1ilburg 1989
1 d4 li:)f6 2 00 g6 3 c4 �g7 4 lbcl
0-0 S e4 d6 6 �e2 eS 7 0-0 li)c6 8 dS
t£Je7 9 li)e1 li)d7 1 0 �e3 rs 11 f3 f4
12 �f2 (D)
8
We have the pawn structure of our
last diagram. The battle-lines are
drawn. White's thoughts are some­
thing as follows: 'I must attack on
the queenside - this is where I have
the space advantage. To do so, I will
force through the pawn advance c5
and then after the subsequent cxd6
and Black's recapture with his c­
pawn, the c-file will be opened. I will
then penetrate down the open c-file
with my rooks and queen. Black's
queenside pawns will become de­
fenceless against my rampaging
pieces. The black queen's pawn will
be an easy target. Sooner or later, I'm
bound to win one or more pawns and
Open and closed positions 45
Black's game will collapse.' Kaspar­
ov of course is having none of this.
12 ••. gS!
Preparing his own attack. Kaspar­
ov has in mind a grand attacking
scheme using virtually all his pieces.
13 b4 ll)f6
14 cS li:)g6
15 cxd6 cxd6
16 .:r.ct :n
17 a4 �f8
Kasparov strengthens the d-pawn
in anticipation of an attack and frees
the g7 square for the rook, should it
be needed.
18 aS �d7
The plans of both sides are in full
swing. Black has massed his pieces
on the kingside in preparation for a
pawn breakthrough with ...g4. If he
can blast open the kingside, then
White's king will face the full might
of Black's army. On the queenside,
Black has avoided any unnecessary
pawn moves, so there are as yet few
targets for White's attack.
Kasparov's last move, 1 8 .. � d7,
.
takes time-out for defence. White
threatened 19 li:)b5 attacking the a­
pawn and forcing its advance. After
this pawn advance, the b6 square
would become a useful base for
White's pieces. White now should
also take time for defence with the
simple 19 �h 1 . This makes the re­
treat square g 1 available for White's
bishop should it be attacked. Instead,
White presses on with his own at­
tack. He played:
19 tt'JbS
46 Open and closed positions

Superficially, this looks really his rook. Fortune favours the brave,
strong. The a-pawn is attacked, and and the player who sees moves like
Black does not wish to advance it 20...g3!.
(see note above). The knight also 21 ... �5!
threatens to jump into c7 followed . Do not hurry ! The bishop on f2
by �6 penetrating Black's position. cannot move because 22 .txa7 'ii'h4
Kasparov remorselessly carried out 23 h3 .txh3 ! leads to a quick mate
his plan: on h2. So Black takes the opportu­
19 g4! nity to activate another piece.
20 lbc7 g3! (D) 22 �hl gxf2
23 lbf'2 lbg3+!
With the point that 24 hxg3 fxg3
25 :n 'ii'h4+ 26 �g l 'ifh2 is mate.
w
A common mating pattern. You can­
not make any progress in chess until
you notice such tactical devices. So
if you cannot grasp the idea of this
variation, put this book away and
find one on tactical combinations.
Only then should you return to the
question of planning in chess.
24 �g1 'iV:xa8
21 �aS 25 .tc4
Desperation. Piket realizes that Or 25 hxg3 fxg3 26 :n a6 ! fol-
after 21 hxg3 fxg3 22 .txg3 .th6, he lowed by ...'iVa7+ and ...:t4.
will face a fierce attack on the king­ 25 a6!
side by all Black's pieces. The vari­ 26 'iVd3 'iVa7!
ations are complex (the serious chess 27 b5 axb5
student can find them in Jnformo.tor 28 .txb5 �1!
48), but the thing for us to notice is White resigned, as Black wins
how well Kasparov has laid out his the exchange and emerges with an
game. If he had wasted time in any extra piece. A marvellous blend of
way - for example, with a casual strategy and tactics from Kasparov.
king move or a standard centralizing
move - then his breakthrough with Kasparov Smirin
-

... g3 would have been delayed by a USSR Ch (Moscow) 1988

move and he would have lost;
White's attack would have got in 1 lbf3 lill'6 2 c4 g6 3 M .tg7 4 e4
first. Also, we see Kasparov's cour­ d6 5 d4 0..0 6 .tel e5 7 0..0 llJc6 8 d5
age in not being bullied into moving lbe7 9 lbd2 (D)

Kasparov, playing White, avoids
ltl
9 el as Piket played in the pre­
vious example.
B
Now, Black, a very strong young
master, played:
9 ••• a5
This move is part of a sophisti­
cated modern opening system,
which will be better understood if
we make a thorough examination of
the position. Firstly, White's pre­
vious move indicates that his inten­
tion is to play b4 followed by ltlb3
and then c5, with the same attacking
scheme in mind as Piket tried unsuc­
cessfully to carry out in the previous
game (see the note to move 1 2 of
Piket-Kasparov). Here, however,
Kasparov has not played his bishop
to e3 as Piket did. This means that
Black's plan of attack with ... fS, ... f4
and eventually ... g3 won't gain time
by hitting the bishop, as it did in the
Piket-Kasparov game above.
By playing 9 . . . a5, Black prevents
the immediate 10 b4. So White has
to play this advance in three moves
instead of one: first a3, then l:b1 ,
Open and closed positions 47
and only then b4. And the rook will
be less effective on b 1 than it would
be on c1, where it could penetrate to
the seventh rank after the opening of
the c-file. So in playing 9 . a5, Black
. .
is spending one move to force White
to spend three moves to carry out his
plan.
Note that 9 . a5 is good here only
. .
because White has played 9 ltld2
rather than 9 ltle l . If White had
played 9 ltle 1 , he could answer 9 .aS
..
with 10 ltld3 followed by 1 1 c5. Al­
though we are stressing general fea­
tures of chess structure in this
section, you should never lose sight
of the fact that the slightest differ­
ence between two positions - here
whether a knight is on e1 or d2 - can
mean that they require a radically
different treatment.
So far we have extolled the virtues
of 9 . . a5 . Now for its drawbacks: it
.
weakens the queenside pawn struc­
ture. Is the aS-pawn a barrier to
White's attack, or is it a 'hook' onto
which White can latch his queenside
attack? Pawn moves create weak­
nesses; they must be very carefully
judged. Of course, Smirin does not
expect to prevent White's queenside
attack permanently by playing 9 a5 ...
- that would be impossible. Instead
he hopes to set up barriers on the
queenside which hold out until his
own kingside counterplay is suffi­
cient to distract White from chop­
ping through the queenside. The
chances are roughly equal here.
White wins this game not because
48 Open and closed positions

Black's idea is bad, but rather be­ 20 i.a3 lDe8

cause he is the stronger player. If Black has to play moves like
10 a3 �7 ...li)cS and ...li)eS it shows the com­
11 ltb1 fS plete failure of his strategy. He can­
12 b4 b6 not possibly hope to carry out a
Black continues his barrier policy. successful kingside attack with his
13 f3 f4 pieces pinned down to the defence
14 �4 axb4 of weak pawns. It only remains for
15 axb4 gS Kasparov to find a method of
16 cS li)f6 strengthening his position further:
Pursuing his kingside build-up, all Black can do is wait. If you com­
but White is left with a target on the pare the activity of the black pieces
queenside. Black should probably in this position with that of Black's
have tried 16... bxc5 dissolving his b­ pieces in the Piket-Kasparov game,
pawn. Of course, this would open you will gain a good idea of a suc­
lines for White's pieces, but it was cessful and unsuccessful strategy.
the lesser evil. 21 g4!
17 cxd6 cxd6 It is either profound or ridiculous
18 bS! (D) to move a pawn two squares in front
Fixing the black b-pawn. Now of your king on your 'worse' side.
White plans to build up against this Coming from Kasparov, this move is
vulnerable pawn. certainly not ridiculous. Black has a
choice:
1 ) He replies with a passive
move. This means that the kingside -
B
his natural attacking arena - will be
totally blocked. Therefore, White
can build up his own attack on the
queenside with ltfcl etc., com­
pletely free from any distracting
counterplay. Masters know that you
need counterplay at all costs. So it
must be option 2:
2) He captures en passant and
18 ••• �d7 finds that because his pieces are on
A painfully slow move. 18 ... g4 such passive squares, the kingside
gives Black more counter-attacking has ceased to be his natural attacking
chances, e.g. 19 fxg4 li)xg4 20 arena. White's pieces are so active,
� xg4 � xg4 2 1 'ii'xg4 ltxa4. they can swamp the kingside as well.
19 ltlc4 ltlc8 The game finished:
 Open and closed positions 49

21 ••• fxg3 32 :.Xb5 :.Xa4

22 hxg3 g4 33 ..tg2!
A forlorn bid for counterplay, but Suddenly the piece pressure on f6
as stated above, with such passive is tripled.
pieces, even the kingside has ceased 33 h6
to be Black's friend. 34 ..th4 'ii'e8
23 .tel! 35 ..tf6
An excellent move, re-routing the A Kasparov combination to cap
bishop to the kingside. his strategic masterpiece.
23 gxf3 35 lhr6
24 .to lM6 36 lhr6 'ii'xb5
25 ..tg5 37 l:le6! �g8
This pin is very unpleasant and If 37 ... l:lxc4 38 ..f7 ! and after
will eventually cause Black's down­ Black has made a couple of checks,
fall. White will mate with l:le8 and l:lg8.
25 :S7 38 ..th3! :.Xc4
26 m l:lb7 39 l:lxh6!!
27 l:lb3 l:la7 Kasparov gives his move two ex­
28 l:lb1 l:lb7 clamation marks. I can hardly give it
29 l:lb3 :S7 less.
30 l:lb4 39 ••.
..txh6
White has repeated moves to gain 39... ..c5+ fails to 40 �hl l:lc1 4 1
time on his clock. Now he plans to ..te6 mate.
exploit the pin on the f6 knight by 40 ..te6+ �h8
piece pressure along the f-file. 41 'ii'f6+
Hence he defends his knight on a4 and Black resigned because of
with the rook, thus relieving his 4l...�h7 42 'ii'f7 + ..t g7 43 ..tf5+
queen, which can now go to the at­ �h8 44 'i'h5+ �g8 45 ..te6+ �f8
tacking square fl. All the time, K.as­ 46 'ii'f7 mate.
parov is careful to keep Black's
pieces tied down to defending the We can summarise:
weak pawns. a) When the centre is open, the
30 ••• �h8 emphasis is on rapid development of
31 'ii'n ! ..txb5 the pieces. The instant clash of the
Now the fireworks start. We will pieces can lead to simplification (a
sit back and enjoy them, knowing mass exchange of pieces) which re­
that with all his pieces on optimum duces the winning chances of either
squares the variations, if accurately side, but if one side has a big lead in
calculated, will prove a win for development (a massive mobility ad­
White. vantage) he must act immediately to
50 Open and closed positions
secure a more lasting advantage. So
we can see that an open centre can
lead both to a 'dull' exchange of
pieces or, if one side is much better, a
fierce attacking game.
b) When the centre is closed,
time (i.e. development) becomes a
secondary factor. Play is at a much
slower rate. Both sides plan pawn
advances and breakthroughs on the
side of the board where they have the
space advantage. The pieces are less
likely to be exchanged quickly, so
closed positions give more chances
of gaining a long-term positional ad­
vantage. We witness slow, thought­
ful manoeuvres of the pieces.
However, as we saw in the examples
above, when both sides have com­
pleted their positional build-up and
the breakthrough eventually takes
place, the game can become as vio­
lent and fast-moving as any open po­
sition.
This all seems fairly straightfor­
ward. It's a case of blitzkrieg or
trench warfare. So why can't we
learn these simple rules and solve the
problem of pawn centres?
The problem is that in most
games, pawn centres are not exclu­
sively open or exclusively closed.
They tend to have some features of a
closed centre and some features of
an open centre. Therefore, it be­
comes difficult to judge which rule
applies; for example, rapid develop­
ment or trying for an advance on the
wing. The following game is a good
example.
Kasparov - Yurtaev
Moscow 1981
1 d4 lDf6 2 c4 e6 3 lDcJ i.b4 4 e3
0-0 S i.dJ dS 6 cxdS exdS 7 lDe2
lDbd7 8 0-0 c6 9 fJ cS 10 a3 cxd4 11
exd4 i.e7 12 lDf4 lDb8 (D)
The type of centre in the above
position is sometimes called afixed
centre. One white pawn and one
black pawn are in the centre, block­
ing each other, and there are no
central pawn advances possible to
disrupt this balance.
If we decide the position is open,
then, according to our rule, White
must mobilize his pieces immedi­
ately: l:el, i.d2, 'it'c2, l:e2, l:ael. If
Black is not allowed any moves in
the meantime, this may turn out to be
effective. However, in reality Black
will reply with lDc6, .. lle8, etc.,
... .
developing his own pieces. Despite
White's lead in development, he can­
not strike in the centre because of its
semi-blocked nature.
Suppose we try imagining it's a
closed centre. Our rule here says:

attack on the side where you have the
space advantage, which is . . . no­
where!
Let's think about this logically.
Black has just played his knight
from d7 to b8 to redeploy it to c6
where it will attack the d-pawn, and
also to release the bishop on c8. So
White has a development advantage,
but it is of a very transitory nature.
After a few quiet moves, it will van­
ish. We notice that this development
advantage is also White's sole advan­
tage. We know that a development
advantage can only be exploited by
urgent action. We have already seen
that an attack on the central e-file is
unlikely to be successful. The centre
is simply too blocked to make effec­
tive action possible for White or
Black a very important point. If
-
White had an attack on the wing,
Black would not be able to respond
effectively in the centre. So let's
look again for a space advantage.
Can we create one? Kasparov
played:
13 g4! !
A t first sight this seems ridicu­
lous. Doesn't Kasparov know that
you shouldn't weaken your king's
position in this way? But as pointed
out above, this is a logical move. The
two rules - White has a development
advantage so he must attack; the cen­
tre is closed so he must attack on the
wing - are both relevant here, de­
spite the fact that one rule applies to
open positions, the other to closed
positions.
Open and closed positions 51
13 g4 gains space and introduces
the idea of gS, chasing the knight
from f6, then winning the dS pawn.
If the knight is chased from f6, then
White can also play i..c2 and 'iVd3
attacking the black kingside and
forcing Black to play . . . g6. If White
can force . . . g6, then he would have
converted his development advan­
tage into something more permanent
- a long-term structural weakness in
Black's king's defence, which White
could try to exploit in the middle-
game.
13 i..d6
14 �h1 :ea
15 g5 ..txf4
16 i..xf4 l£lli5 (D)
w
Here Black was probably feeling
very pleased with himself. After
White's bishop moves to safety, he
will mobilize all his pieces with
... ..th3 and ...o&:6. All danger will be
past. Instead, there came:
17 i..xb8!!
Another profound positional
move. After the forced (for Black ! )
sequence . . .
52 Open and closed positions
17 :xb8
18 f4 g6
19 'iVf3
... we see why 17 .txb8 was such a
good move. It may seem paradoxi­
cal, or even absurd, but White has
gained in development by giving up
his bishop on f4 for a knight on its
starting square. Let's look at the time
saved by White in playing 17 .txb8.
First, he removed the bishop from at­
tack by the knight on h5 without loss
of time; second, he cleared the f4
square for the advance 18 f4, which
discovers an attack on the knight on
h5 and so forces Black to play
1 8 ... g6, wasting a move; and third,
the white queen goes to the attacking
square f3, at the same time ruling out
Black's move ....th3, which would
have gained time for Black's devel­
opment by attacking the rook on fl.
The time Kasparov saves by playing
1 7 .txb8 is just the time he needs to
carry out a pawn storm on the king­
side.
19 ... b6
More loss of time, but Black was
worried about his d-pawn.
20 rs
A strong breakthrough. Of course
not 20 lDxd5?? .tb7 21 .te4 :xe4 !
and Black wins.
20 ... :b7
21 f6!
Why does White block the king­
side when he is attacking there? The
answer is, he doesn't. 21 f6 com­
pletely shuts in the knight on h5: it
has no safe moves at all. So from an
active point of view, White has an
extra piece to contest the e-file. Once
he has built up sufficiently in the
centre, he will play .te2 and .i.xh5
(after moving the queen of course).
After Black's recapture ... gxh5, his
kingside will be fatally weak.
21 .te6
22 :ae1 'iVd6
23 :eS :ds
24 'iVe3 bS
25 .tel b4
26 axb4 :Xb4
27 .txhS gxhS
Now that his position has reached
optimum strength (every piece on an
excellent square; Black's weak king­
side) it is time for White to deliver
the knockout blow.
28 g6! hxg6
29 :Xe6! fxe6
After 29 ...'ii'xe6, 30 'ii'h6 mates.
30 'l'b6 :b7
and Black resigned before Kas­
parov could play 3 1 'ii'xg6+ �h8 32
f7 'ii'f8 33 'ii'xh5+ �g7 34 :g1+
�f6 35 'ii'h4+ with a quick mate or
win of the queen.
Many amateurs regard Kasparov
as a supreme attacking genius. Yet
the many examples of his play in this
book will convince the reader that he
is also a complete master of chess
strategy.
Another problem of the centre is
that closed positions can become
more open, and open positions can
become more closed. Most often, it
requires a sacrifice to open a blocked
centre. Here is a good example:

Kasparov - Timman
Hilversum (6) 1985
1 d4 lbf6 2 c4 e6 3 lbf3 b6 4 lbc3
.i.b4 5 .i.g5 .i.b7 6 e3 h6 7 .i.h4 g5 8
.i.g3 lDe4 9 'ii'c2 .i.xc3+ 10 bxc3 d6
11 .i.d3 f5 12 d5 lDcs 13 h4 g4 14
lbd4 'ii'f6 15 0-0 lbxd3 16 'ii'xd3 e5
17 lDxfS .i.c8 (D)
w
From the point of view of devel­
opment, it is all over for Black. He
has only one piece off its original
square and he hasn't castled. Mean­
while, White has castled and has two
minor pieces and his queen in play.
Yet the expression 'in play' needs to
be scrutinized. The bishop on g3 has
one safe move (the 'brilliant' .i.h2)
and the knight on f5 has no safe
moves ! So in fact although, theoreti­
cally, White's minor pieces are de­
veloped, they have very little scope.
This is because of the blocked nature
of the position. As we know, devel­
opment is only a secondary feature
in closed pawn structures.
If now White defends his knight
with the obvious 1 8 e4, Black can
Open and closedpositions 53
play 18 . . .i. xf5 1 9 exf5 lbd7, then
.
...lbc5, gaining time to bring his
knight to an excellent square by at­
tacking the queen. Black can also
follow up with ...0-0-0 when his king
is very safe. The white bishop on g3
remains entombed while all this is
going on. What about White's extra
pawn? Structurally, White is very
weak: isolated a-pawn, doubled c­
pawns, cut-off f5-pawn, to say noth­
ing of his feeble bishop. So if it came
to an ending, the extra pawn would
be a consolation for problems, rather
than a winning advantage. Mean­
while, the f5-pawn would be very
weak; Black could attack it with
. . ..J:lf8, etc. So after 1 8 e4, Black
would be able to develop his pieces
rapidly and remain with various po­
sitional trumps.
White wants to bring his pieces to
life. If the position opened up, he
could slay Black's pieces in their
beds. Kasparov found the brilliant
move ...
18 lDd4!
... offering the knight as a sacri­
fice. Black has little choice but to ac­
cept. Otherwise, White can move his
knight to safety and prepare f4. Then
Black would face a central break­
through without even a piece as
compensation.
18 .•• exd4
19 cxd4
An interesting moment. We have
said White sacrificed his knight to
open the position. Why, then, does
Kasparov recapture with his c-pawn?
54 Open and closed positions
Couldn't he recapture with his e­
pawn and use the e-file for an attack
with lle1+, etc.?
In fact, it is a question of pawn
structure. In recapturing with his c­
pawn, Kasparov creates a powerful
mass of centre pawns which threat­
ens to bludgeon their ways through
the centre, sweeping all Black's
pieces before them. White also keeps
the option of playing c5 or e5 to ex­
tend the power of the bishop on g3
by breaking the resistance of Black's
pawns down the h2-b8 diagonal.
Pawns are a very powerful attacking
force, partly because when they at­
tack more valuable pieces, these
pieces have to flee before them.
After 1 9 exd4, on the other hand,
there is no central pawn mass (or at
least, a much weaker one). White
would be committed to mating Black
using only his rooks and queen (pos­
sibly the bishop but only if it can be
freed). Black would have enough re­
sources to defend, e.g. 1 9 exd4 .i.f5
20 llae 1 + �d8 2 1 'ife3 �d7 and
White has no strong foUow-up.
19 ... 'ifrs!
But after all, Black has an extra
piece. This is a fine defensive move.
Clearly Black needs to develop, but
if he plays 1 9 . . . �d7, then White
plays 20 f4. This threatens to over­
whelm Black with a massive pawn
storm in the centre: 2 1 e4, 22 f5, 23
llae 1 and 24 e5. The pawns would
meet no resistance as they marched
triumphantly to the eighth rank. So
after 20 f4, Black would have to play
20. . . gxf3. White then replies 2 1
llxf3. This reveals another facet to
White's attack: an all-out mating at­
tack with the pieces. After 2 l ...'ife7
22 1Vg6+ �d8 23 llf7 'ifxe3+ (not
much else) 24 �h2 followed by 25
lle 1 , all the central lines are open
and Black's king faces a quick death.
The key to White's success in the
last variation is the white queen's en­
trance on g6, giving check. (If Black
had prevented this with 2 l . ..'ifg7,
then 22 'ife4+ led to similar prob­
lems.) By playing 1 9 ... 'iff5 ! Black
provokes 20 e4 and thus when his
queen retreats to the safe square g6,
the white queen can no longer enter
on e4 or g6. In other words, Timman
realized that 1 9 . . .'iff5, which leads
to a blocking of lines, is better than
the 'standard' developing 19 ...�7.
20 e4 'ifg6
21 'ifc3 0-0
22 llfe1 lDd7
23 e5 .i.b7
24 lle3 bS?
Trying to break up White's pawn
centre and thereby free his bishop
from entombment on b7. However,
Kasparov finds an ingenious way to
demolish Black's pawn structure af­
ter this move, so the centralizing
24 . . . llae8 with unclear play was
called for.
We will not analyse in detail the
remainder of the game. Instead, the
reader should note the enormous
strength of White's mobile pawn
centre, and how Kasparov relent­
lessly attacks Black's exposed king.
 Open and closed positions 55

25 'i'a5! �b6 dxe5 21 c5 ! �d8 22 d6! 'ii'e8 23

Or 25 . . .bxc4 26 'i'xc7 i.c8 27 e6 dxc7+ Wxc7 24 '1Vd5 �c6 25 llf7+
followed by i.xd6, demolishing ..id7 26 llafl lidS 27 ll l f6 �c8 28
Black's centre. cxb6 axb6 29 '1Vb5 and Black re­
26 'i'xbS signed since 29 . . .'it'xf7 30 'it'a6+!
27 exd6 cxd6 Wc7 3 1 ..ixe5 ! �xe5 32 'ika7+ Wc8
28 lle7 .:.t7 33 llxb6 (Miles) is decisive.
29 lhr7 �
30 c5 'i'c4
31 'i'bl! 'i'xdS
8
32 'i'h7+ �6
33 'i'xh6+ rm
34 'i'f4+ Wg8
35 'i'xg4+ Wh7
36 i.f4
White defends against mate on
g2. If now 36 ...llg8, White plays 37
..ig5 followed by 'iVhs+.
36 ..ic8
37 'i'g3 dxcS Plaskett - Speelman
38 lle1 'ikf7 London Uoyds Bank 1993
39 'ikgS �
40 'i'h6+ Wg8 The main question here is: what
41 lieS should White do with his king? He
and Black resigned in view of cannot castle kingside, and on the
4 1 ...'ifxf4 42 '1Vg6+ or 41 ...�xf4 42. queenside he would be exposed to
llg5+. A fine finish. attack. The one safe-looking square
Returning to the diagram position on the queenside is a 1 , but the b-file
after move 1 7, we can chronicle the will shortly be opened and by plac­
final demise of this variation for ing a rook on b8, Black could cut off
Black. One year after the Kasparov­ the flight of the white king. White's
Timman match, Beliavsky dared to best plan is f3 followed by Wf2. The
trace the same steps as Timman in a king is relatively safe on this square
game against Miles at Tilburg. He and the white rook on g1 can then
was utterly destroyed by a different enter the game in co-ordinated ac­
line-opening sacrifice, discovered tion with the other white pieces.
independently by Miles and Nunn Therefore, if left alone, White has a
(editor's note: for the full story, see clear plan to strengthen his posi­
p.66 of John Nunn 's Best Games): tion. So Black must act immediately.
1 8 f4 ! ! 'ii'xf5 19 e4 'ii'h5 20 fxe5 Speelman played:
56 Open and closed positions
13 ••• d6!
Opening lines for our pieces - the
key to chess success!
14 cxd6?
It was vital for White to keep the
position closed. Here he should have
tried 14 ..tf4. Then 1 4 . . . dxc5 15
dxc5 bxc5 1 6 f3 followed by �f2.
B lack has an extra pawn but it's not
worth that much; it is doubled after
all. Or if after 14 ..tf4, Black played
the sacrifice 14 . . .e5 to open more
lines, White would reply 15 dxe5
dxe5 1 6 ..te3 ! again keeping the po­
sition closed. This is not draughts -
we do not have to capture!
14 cxd6
15 ..txd6 :ds
16 ..tf4
Or 1 6 ..tb4 aS.
16 1Wxc3+
17 � :Xd4
18 1tcl 1WaS! (D)
Why is Black winning? He has an
extra pawn in material terms, but in
practical terms he has an extra rook.
The white rook on g 1 takes no part at
all in the game. From the point of
view of mobility, we will claim that
White's rook on a 1 is equal to the
black rook on a8; that White's queen
on c l is equal to Black's queen on
a5 ; and that White's bishop on f4 is
equal to Black's bishop on b7. (In
fact, we are giving White's pieces
the benefit of the doubt here.) So ba­
sically Black has a strong rook on d4
against a useless rook on g 1 . In such
an open position this advantage is
enough to win.
Note that White's problem with
his imprisoned rook on g1 is inextri­
cably linked to the question of king
safety. In this position, his king is
precariously placed (as the game
continuation shows). Move the
White rook from g1 to e 1 , play f3 (to
shut out the action of the black
bishop on b7) and White's king is
fairly safe. Development and king
safety are closely linked.
But Black must act fast. If he dal­
lies, then White will have time to
play f3 and �f2. Then the rook on g 1
will see daylight and he will have
survived the worst. Yet Black played
1 8 ... 1Wa5, avoiding the exchange of
queens. He realises that to carry out a
successful attack on White's king, he
needs tremendous firepower. Hence
the modest retreat of the queen.
19 ..te3 :d7
20 rJ
White is ready for �f2.
20 ••• :cS
Bringing up the reserves with
gain of time.
21 ...,2 :c3!

Now if White plays 22 �f2 then
22 . . . l:xe3 ! 23 �xe3 'ifc5+ 24 �f4
l:d4+ 25 �e3 l:b4+ wins the queen.
So White has to retreat his bishop.
Where to? If 22 .i.d2, then there is
another combination: 22 ...l:xf3+ ! !
23 exf3 l:xd2 followed by ....i.a6+
with a quick win. If 22 .i.f4, the
bishop can be forced back by
Black's pawns. And if 22 .i.c l -
well, we must keep something de­
veloped ! So White finds himself
obliged to play 22 .i.f2, which takes
away the f2 square from his king.
Speelman has defeated his oppo­
nent's plan.
22 .tfl 'ifeS!
Another fine move. Black has
prevented White playing �f2. Now
he takes measures against White's
other attempt to get his rook into the
game: �g2. If now 23 �g2, then
23 . . . l:xf3 ! ! 24 'ifxe5 (nothing else)
24 ... l:f5+ regains the queen with
two extra pawns. Note how Speel­
man continuously uses tactics to
support his strategic plan.
23 l:bl
Defending the queen, so the com­
bination described above no longer
works: White simply captures the
rook. But now how should Black
Open and closed positions 57
continue? Is White able to play �g2
at last, and free his game?
23••• 'ifc7!
No! If 24 �g2, Black now has
24. . . l:c2 followed by 25 ...l:xe2 after
the queen moves. However, Plaskett
has other ideas ...
24 �g2
Anyway !
24•.• l:c2
25 l:gcl
This move is Plaskett's idea. The
reply 25 ... l:xb2 26 l:xc7 l:xbl 27
l:xd7 is not good for Black, while
after 25 . . . l:xb2 26 l:xc7 l:xc7 27
l:xb2 White is still a pawn down but
has solved the problem of his inac­
tive rook. However, Speelman now
reveals the point of his plan:
25••• .i.xf3+!!
The forgotten bishop delivers the
final blow. If now 26 �xf3 'ifb7+
followed by 27 ... l:xb2 wins the
queen; or if 26 exf3 then 26...l:xb2
27 l:xc7 and now, not the automatic
recapture, but 27 ...l:xf2+! 28 �xf2
and only then 28 . . . l:xc7. Black is
two pawns up with an easy win. Fi­
nally, if 26 �gl then 26 ...l:xb2 27
l:xc7 l:xbl with check.
Plaskett resigned. A marvellous
game by Speelman.
6 Open files and diagonals
We have already seen that the pawn
structure defmes the logical plan in a
given position. Now we will con­
sider how the presence of open files
and diagonals within the pawn struc­
ture can best be used to carry out this
logical plan. We will begin with a
simple example.
There is no static weakness in
the pawn structure of either player.
There is only one open flle. The plan
for both sides will be to gain control
of this open file. If one side manages
(through advantage in development)
to seize control of this file and pre­
vent his opponent contesting it, then
he will have the advantage.
Add a white rook on a1 and a
black rook on a8. Put the kings on g 1
and g8.
Whoever moves first has the ad­
vantage. White to move plays 1 l:.c 1
seizing the file. Black would reply
l ...'�f8. Then White plays 2 l:.c7 at­
tacking the b-pawn. Black replies
2 . . . b6. White then plays 3 �fl fol­
lowed by �e2, �d3 and finally �a6
followed by l:.xa7 winning Black's
a-pawn. White then advances his
queenside pawns and makes a queen
with an easy win. While White's
king advances, Black can do nothing
- his rook must stay passively guard­
ing the queenside pawns while his
king must remain guarding the f­
pawn. If Black tries to free his king
or rook by advancing pawns, then his
pawn structure will become weak.
For example, if he plays 3 ...a5 then 4
l:.b7 l:.a6 5 �e2 and rook is just as
tied down on a6 as it was on a8. Note
the particular power of the white
rook on the seventh rank. The sev­
enth rank has long been recognized
as one of the best places for your
rook, since there the opponent's
pawns come most under threat.

If it is Black's move in the dia­
gram position, he could get in first
with l ...llc8 and do to White exactly
what White did to him above. This
graphically illustrates the impor­
tance of development. Once again, it
is that 'tragedy of a tempo' . A single
move (or tempo) can spell the differ­
ence between victory and defeat.
Note how White's control of the
c-ftle led to other advantages. In this
position, a better rook means a bet­
ter king. This is often the case. Just
as one badly placed piece can spoil
the whole game, so a well-placed
piece can add extra power to all the
other pieces and impede the power
of the opponent's pieces.
w
McDonald Legki
- about defend against the rook and
Paris 1993
Black has just played 20...c6,
which regains the pawn he had ear­
lier lost. White took the chance to
simplify to a favourable position like
the one described above.
21 'ifeS! 'ifxe5
A forced move.
Open files and diagonals 59
22 :XeS cxdS
23 lle7!
Only thus. If White moves his
bishop instead, then ...�f8 keeps
the rook away from the seventh rank.
Now Black did not relish 23 ... dxc4
24 llxb7 lla8 when, as in the exam­
ple above, White moves up his king
and wins the queenside pawns.
23 .•• llb8!
Although this proves insufficient
to save the game, in principle Black
is right to keep as many pieces on the
board as possible to offset the advan­
tage of White's superior rook.
24 .i.b3 �
25 llc7 a5
Moving his pawn off the second
rank, so it is safe from attack by the
rook, but of course this move has the
drawback that the b6 pawn will be
more of a target to White's king
when it advances. We should also
mention that the d5 pawn is both a
serious structural weakness and a se­
vere impediment to the activity of
the black pieces.
26 �d2!
As in the example above, Black's
position is hopeless. He can just
bishop, but the invasion of the white
king proves too much for Black's de­
fences.
26 ... .i.a6
Setting the trap 27 .i.xd5 lld8 28
c4 .i.xc4 ! 29 llxc4 llxd5+ with
equality, but White simply continues
his plan.
27 �c3 lld8
60 Openfiles and diagonals

28 �d4 i.c4! our discussion, we will not go into

A strong bid for counterplay. them here.
Now White wins a pawn but Black's 31 �bS h4
rook becomes active. It becomes a 32 �b6 a4
race between pawn advances on dif­ 33 �aS l:.b8
ferent wings, and White's 'extra 34 �a4 :.Xb2
king' proves decisive. 35 �aS �e8
29 i.xc4 dxc4+ 36 a4 g6
30 �c4 (D) 37 �a6 �d8
38 l:.c4 �d7
39 aS �d6
40 �a7 �d5 (D)
Black has achieved a lot. He has
activated his king and rook; but alas,
cold arithmetic shows that he is two
pawns down. The end of the game
was:

30 ••. h5
After 30 ....Z:.d2 3 1 �b5 l:.xg2 32
�xb6 .Z:.xh2 33 �xa5 h5 34 b4
White wins easily. As soon as the
black pawn reaches h2, White can
play .Z:.c8+ followed by l:.h8, getting
behind the pawn and capturing it if it
queens. Meanwhile, White's king
shepherds home the b-pawn. If 41 .Z:.c7 f5
Black sacrifices his rook for the b­ 42 a6 �e4
pawn then White has the a-pawn in 43 g3 h3
reserve. If 43 ...hxg3, then 44 hxg3 �3 45
With 30...h5 Black is trying to .Z:.c3+ followed by �a8, a7, l:.b3, �
confuse White. One can only ap­ moves and a8'if.
plaud Black for his tough defence of 44 l:.h7! .Z:.xc2
this hopeless endgame. He realizes 45 l:.xh3 l:.b2
that his only chance is to seek activ­ 46 l:.h6 �
ity and forces White to work out 47 :.Xg6 l:.xh2
some difficult variations. In view of 48 �b7 1-0

The following is a more compli­
cated example of the exploitation of
an open file:
w
Donner - Pomar
Brunnen 1966
White has several advantages in
the above position. His pawn struc­
ture gives him a space advantage; his
queen is much more actively placed
than his opponent's; and finally his
rooks have been the first to double
on the c-file, which means he threat­
ens to penetrate into Black's position
with l:r.c7.
Nevertheless, if Black succeeds
in playing ... We8 and ...Wd7 then
White's advantage will virtually
disappear. The c-file entry point on
c7 will be firmly guarded. Black's
queen will be back in play, and after
the inevitable exchange of rooks,
White's space advantage will be­
come meaningless.
It follows that White must find a
strong continuation. The obvious
move is 23 l:r.c7. However, Black
then has a remarkable way to escape
Open .files and diagonals 61
from his difficulties. He can play
23 ...l:r.xc7 24 l:r.xc7 l:r.c8 challenging
White's control of the open file.
Now 25 l:xb7 wins a pawn, but after
25 ...Wg7 ! (D) Black's game has
come alive.
For example, 26 l:r.xe7 Wb2+ 27
�h3 l:r.c2 followed by ... l:r.xh2+ with
a very strong attack on White's king.
Or if instead 26 We2 then 26 .. .'ii'al !
27 :Xa7 'ibl with the unanswerable
threat of 28 ...l:r.c2. Note how tremen­
dously active Black's pieces become
in this variation.
So going back to the game posi­
tion, what should White do? The
c-file on its own is not enough to
win the game. White must widen the
struggle, and to do so he needs to
employ the following plans:
1) prevent any counterplay by
Black
2) seize the c-file and the seventh
rank
3) prepare the advance e5
4) attack the black king
Donner began with the cunning
move:
62 Openfiles and diagonals
23 a4!
This puts Black in a dilemma. As
we stated above, Black would like to
play .....e8 and then ... 'ilfd7, bring­
ing his queen to cover the c7 square.
Yet as soon as Black plays ... 'ii'e8 he
no longer has the option of ... 'ii'g7, a
vital move in the counter-attacking
variation given above. 23 a4 ! is a
high-class waiting move. Black in
fact could find nothing better than
23 ••• 'ii'e8
Then White pounced with
24 l:.c7!
White's patience has been re­
warded with the seventh rank and
this time there is no counterplay. In
such positions you should never be
in a hurry to win material, if it gives
the opponent active play. You should
simply keep him bottled up. Material
gains will come later of their own ac­
cord.
24 :Xc7
25 :Xc7 l:.b8
26 'ii'c3 'ii'd8 (D)
This completes plan '2' . The c­
file is firmly in White's hands, and
the rook on c7 is well placed to ter­
rorize Black's pawns along the sev­
enth rank. We see another advantage
of 23 a4 ! here: Black cannot now
play 26 ... 'ii'b5, bringing his queen
into the game with the threat of
...'ilfe2+.
Black is tied up but it is not clear
how White should proceed. Black's
rook and queen, though somewhat
constricted, have enough energy to
counter White's threats along the
c-file. All Black's pawns are at pre­
sent guarded.
A golden rule of positional play is
to open as many lines as possible if
you have the more active pieces. If
the battle spreads over the whole
board, the opponent's pieces will
lack mobility to respond in time to
threats in a different theatre of ac­
tion. With this in mind, Donner
played ...
w
27 eS!
... completing part '3' of the plan.
Now 27 . . . dxe5 28 'ilfxe5 wins the e7
pawn (28 ... �? 29 'ilfh8 mate).
27 ••• a6
Hoping for counterplay with ... b5.
28 h4
This begins part '4' of White's
plan. Now Black must act against the
threat of h5 and h6 with mating
ideas. Of course we cannot expect a
grandmaster to let us play h5, h6 fol­
lowed by exd6 and 'ii'g7 mate, but
this thrust is the proverbial slraw that
breaks the camel's back. Black can
just about hold the queenside, but
can he meet threats on both wings
 Open files and diagonals 63

and in the centre? This is too much to The author received a useful les-
ask! son about open files in the following
28 bS game:
29 l:c6 bxa4
30 bxa4 dxeS
31 1i'xeS l:c8
32 1i'c3 l:b8
33 'ii'eS l:c8
After a little bit of cat-and-mouse,
White continues his steady progress
on the kingside.
34 g4 e6 (D)
Black must do something about
the h5-h6 advance.

McDonald - C.Horvath
Zug 1991

Black is better! This statement

may come as a surprise. Doesn't
Black have an isolated pawn on the
kingside and doubled pawns? Yes,
but the isolated pawn cannot be at­
tacked and the doubled pawns are
part of a solid, compact pawn mass
in the centre. And we can ask our key
35 'ii'c3 ! :Xc6 question: how does the pawn struc­
Or 35 . . . l:b8 36 dxe6 fxe6 37 l:c7 ture serve the pieces?
wiMing. White's rooks are trapped behind
36 dxc6 his own pawns, except on the e-file
White's advantage has been trans­ where they are obstructed by the
formed into a strong passed pawn, black e-pawn. So White's structure
which wins the game. This is in the is statically only slightly weak, but
nature of chess advantages: one dynamically bad. There are no open
should always be flexible and be pre­ files for White's rooks at all. Nor
pared to exchange one advantage for does White have any obvious pawn
another. The game ended: advances to clear lines for his rooks.
36 � Now we see that the mythically
37 c7 'ii'c8 'weak' black isolated h-pawn is in
38 1i'h8+ 1-0 fact performing a useful function.
64 Open files and diagonals
Combined with the black f-pawn on
f5, it keeps a pincer-like control of
g4, which prevents White ever play­
ing g4 to activate his rooks.
Black, on the other hand, has free­
dom of movement for his rooks out­
side his pawn structure. His pieces
and structure co-operate harmoni­
ously; and very importantly, he has a
clear strategic plan, which will be re­
vealed as the game develops.
But Black's advantage is by no
means decisive. Material is even, and
White has a solid position. What's
more, White has what Bronstein
calls the most powerful weapon in
chess: the next move! White used it
to force simplification:
28 � i.xe5
Now White made an instructive
positional blunder. In view of what
we have said about White's rooks
needing open lines, 29 dxe5 ! is cor­
rect, clearing the d4 square for a
rook. Then if Black plays 29 .. .'�e7
30 l:.ad I l:.g8, there comes 3 I l:.d4 !
and the rook sees daylight - it can
swing to h4 attacking the h-pawn, or
to b4 or a4 attacking the queenside.
If Black tries to obstruct the rook,
then the game could go: 29 ...l:.c4 30
l:.adi �e7 3 1 l:.d4 (nevertheless)
3 I ... b5? (3I ...l:.xd4 32 cxd4 l:.g8 33
l:.c l or 3 1 . ..l:.g8 32 l:.xc4 dxc4 33
l:.d i are better, but give Black noth­
ing) 32 a4! (D).
This move continues White's
scheme of creating open lines for his
pieces. If now 32 ...bxa4? then 33
l:.xc4 dxc4 34 l:.al wins at least the
front a-pawn with an excellent
game. Or if 32 ... a6, 33 axb5 axb5 34
l:.ai followed by l:.a7+. Notice that
Black's problem is that his rook on
g6 doesn't have time to get into the
game before White's rook penetrates
on the queenside. So after the correct
29 dxe5 ! Black would have to be
happy with a draw.
White in fact played ...
29 l:.xe5?
. . . after which his rooks remain
trapped behind his pawns. Black can
therefore plan his attack in peace.
The most vulnerable target in
White's position is his c3 pawn.
Black can devise the following sche­
matic plan:
I ) put his king on f6 where it is
safe from any checks and at hand to
defend the h-pawn if it is ever threat­
ened;
2) move his rook from g6 to g8,
where it both prevents g4 breaks by
White and prepares to swing to the
queenside when needed;
3) put his other rook on c4;
4) then advance his b7 pawn to
b4 (if White prevents this with a3,

then Black plays ...a5 first and then
... b4);
5) once the pawn reaches b4,
White will either have to capture it
with cxb4 when the d4 pawn is left
fatally weak, or he will have to let
Black play ... bxc3 when White must
recapture with the b-pawn to keep d4
defended; in this case, the c3 pawn
would be left fatally weak.
Black succeeded in carrying out
this ramming pawn attack, which is
known as a minority attack since it is
a minority of pawns that lay siege to
a numerically superior force. The
game went:
29 ••• bS? (D)
One of the golden rules of chess
planning is: do not hurry! There is no
better way to ruin a good position
than to be impatient to win. In this
position, White has absolutely no
constructive plan. Therefore, Black
should play in the methodical man­
ner set out above. First, he should
put his king on f6, then move his
rook to g8, and so on. Black sees the
strong plan of b5-b4 and unleashes
Open files and diagonals 65
it immediately. He should have
stopped to see if he had any better
moves.
30 a3?
A miserable reply. If White had
been on the qui vive he would have
exploited Black's last move by 30
a4 ! . Black has launched his attack
while his rook on g6 is not ready to
enter the game. The king is also on
an inferior square on f8. Therefore,
White should strike immediately.
After 30 a4! b4 ! ? 3 1 lle3 ! for exam­
ple, White certainly has a fighting
chance e.g. 3 1 ...bxc3 32 llxc3 llxc3
33 bxc3 followed by llbl and llb7
winning the a-pawn, or 3 l ...�e7 32
cxb4 (intending llc3) 32...llc2 !
(32...llc4 33 llb3 llxd4 34 a5 is dan­
gerous for Black) 33 �gl llxb2 34
b5 lld2 35 llc3 (threatening llc7+)
35 ...�d7 36 llac l , etc. White has
strong play.
The static features - the weak
pawn structure - favour Black, but
the dynamic features - lack of mo­
bility of the black rook on g6 - fa­
vour White. In all these variations,
the rook on g6 is a mere spectator.
This illustrates how it is not enough
to formulate a good plan. You must
also play the moves or parts of the
plan in the correct order. Fortunately
for Black, White continued to play
passively. We may quote Capablanca
again: 'The best way to defend [rook
and pawn endgames] is to assume
the initiative and keep the opponent
on the defensive.'
30 ••• �e7
66 Open files and diagonals

Now all goes well for Black. and there is no defence to the
White has no constructive plan and threat of ... l:r.c8 and . . . l:r.h8 mate. A
merely awaits his execution. curious finish.
31 �h2 l:r.g8
32 l:r.e3 cM6 The subject of open files and
33 l:r.g3 l:r.b.S! planning is an enormously complex
Black decides his rook has more one. Even the best players in the
active possibilities than his oppo­ world can go wrong, as the follow­
nent's and so avoids the exchange. ing example demonstrates.
Also, by retaining both rooks, Black
makes it harder for White to bring
his king into play.
34 l:r.e3 aS
35 �g3 l:r.b8
36 �h4 b4
Inexorably completing his plan.
37 axb4 axb4 (D)

Salov - McDonald
Oviedo 1992

Salov is a world championship

candidate and one of the strongest of
all grandmasters, yet in this position
he completely misjudged the nature
of the pawn structure. He should
38 l:r.dl l:r.g8 simply play 30 �c2 l:r.xa5 3 1 �4
39 g3 followed by 32 l:r.de2. Then, White's
And now the end comes unex­ more compact pawn formation and
pectedly. To be honest, White had pressure against e6 give him a very
tired of miserable defence and was slight advantage. Instead, he played:
relieved when the final blow fell. 30 f4?
39 ... l:r.g4+! ! The idea is to play 3 1 f5 breaking
4 0 hxg4 up Black's pawns; and if Black re­
Or 40 �xh5 l:r.c8 4 1 hxg4 l:r.h8 plies 30...l:r.xa5 then 3 1 �xd5+ wins
mate. a pawn because of the pin on the e­
40 ... hxg4 file, but Black simply replied:
 Open files and diagonals 67

30 ••• .i.xb4! Beginning the next stage of his

31 cxb4 �d6 plan. The white kingside crumbles
Salov had assessed this position away.
as better for White because of his ex­ 36 l:ld3 h4
tra pawn. In fact, his pawn structure 37 b5 (D)
is so ragged that he finds he cannot A desperate bid for counterplay.
stave off defeat. Black's e6 pawn is
firmly defended and the d-pawn is a
strong passed pawn. Furthermore,
B
Black is able to exert enormous pres­
sure against White's pawn structure
along the f-file.
Black has a clear plan. He wants
to create two connected passed
pawns in the centre, which will
steam-roller through to the eighth
rank. The only barrier is White's f4
pawn. This must be removed. To do
so, Black must put tremendous pres­ 37 ••• l:lgf8
sure on White's kingside pawn for­ 38 llc2
mation. The most important element If 38 gxh4 gxf4 with three central
of this is the use of the h-pawn as a passed pawns.
battering ram to attack the g3 pawn. 38 gxf4
Once the g3 pawn drops, then the f4 39 gxf4 lhr4
pawn will be fatally undermined. 40 a6 llb4!
The game continuation shows how Neutralizing White's queenside
this is done. pawns. Rooks belong behindpassed
32 llh1 .:t'S! pawns, whether your own or your
Much better than 32 ... llh8. Now opponent's.
if 33 llxh6 then 33 ...gxf4 34 gxf4 41 axb7 lbb5
llxf4 and Black has his unstoppable 42 llaJ
passed pawns. If 42 lieS then 42...llfl + fol-
33 lld4 lU6 lowed by 43 ...llxb7
So the rook defends the h-pawn, 42 lbb7
but in a far more active way than af­ 43 lla6+ �d7
ter 32...llh8. 44 lle2 lU6
34 :n llg8! 45 �a2 llc7
Threatening 35 ...gxf4 36 gxf4 46 b4 llc6
llxg2. 47 lla7+ �d6
35 :n h5 48 �b3 :n
68 Openfiles and diagonals

49 .l:b7 d4 will be blocked in by the d-pawn.

The passed pawns finally begin to Black's whole strategy in the French
move. They are a lethal force. Black Advance can centre around his ef­
won after 50 b5 .l:c3+ 5 1 �a2 d3 52 forts to free his queen's bishop. To
.l:b6+ �c5 53 .l:exe6 .l:f2+ 54 �b l do this, he will advance his pawns to
d2 55 .l:bc6+ �b4 56 .l:xc3 �xc3 57 c5 and f6, attacking White's centre .
.l:d6 .l:fl+ 58 �a2 dl1i. Then he will apply pressure with his
pieces to force White to give up his
Here we will end our discussion control of d4 and e5. The bishop can
of open files and consider the impor­ then come to life after the advance
tance of open diagonals. . . .e5. Let's see how this could work
You will frequently hear the in practice.
phrase bad bishop. This has been de­
fined as 'a bishop that cannot func­ Branford - Martin
tion aggressively because it is Westergate 1982
impeded by its own pawns.' We 3 ... cS
could strike out the word 'aggres­ Black strikes at the support of the
sively' since a bad bishop often has obstructive e5.
no defensive function either. 4 c3
Let us examine the French De­ White defends it.
fence Advance Variation after 1 e4 4 lDc6
e6 2 d4 d.5 3 e5 (D). 5 00 i.d7
6 a3 f6!
A very logical move. Black re­
sponds to White's wing move 6 a3
B
by counter-attacking in the centre.
7 exf6?
Voluntarily falling in with Black's
plans. He should have played 7 i.d3.
7 o!l)xf6
8 i.d3 'flc7
9 0-0 c4
Black decides to block the queen­
side, since he plans to castle there.
We see that Black's queen's Besides, he already has his plan of
bishop is blocked in by its own ... e5.
pawns. It cannot escape along the di­ 10 i.c2 i.d6
agonal c8-h3 because of the e-pawn; 11 .l:el! 0-0-0
and if it gets to the a8-hl diagonal 12 'fle2 .l:df8
(after say ... b6 and ... i.b7) then it 13 o!i)eS! (D)
 Open files and diagonals 69

and White resigned because of

20 gxf3 'ii'g 3+ 2 1 �fl l:xf3+ 22
�e2 :t2 double check and mate !

In this game Black's strategy

worked perfectly, but if White suc­
ceeds in keeping absolute control of
e5 and obstructing the manoeuvre of
the queen's bishop to the kingside,
then Black's fate can be ghastly.
Look at the following diagram.
Over the last three moves White
has hit on the plan of guarding the e5
square, thereby preventing Black
w
from playing . . .e5 and bringing his
bishop on d7 into the game, but Mar­
tin finds another way to make the
bad bishop good.
13 •.. .i.e8 !
A fine manoeuvre.
14 f4?
He must develop with 14 lbct2 and
answer 14 ... .i.h5 with 15 f3. The at­
tempt to win a pawn with 14 ltlxc6 Perez - Sanz
would be disastrous: 14 ... .i.xc6 1 5 Madrid 1948
'ihe6+ .i.d7 1 6 'ii'e2 .i.xh2+ with a
huge attack. Black's bishop at b7 may as well
14 .•• gS! be any place except on the chess­
Weakening White's hold on e5 board. It is a mere spectator as events
and opening the f-file. unfold on the kingside (and by the
15 fxgS .i.xeS way, what's the knight doing on
16 dxeS .i.bS! b8?).
The light-squared bishop trium­ White has accumulated so many
phantly emerges. White's inactive advantages that he can finish the
queenside pieces prove fatal. game by direct attack:
17 'ii'e3 ltlg4 18 .i.xh7+ ltlxh7
18 'ii'cS ltlgxeS 19 ltlh6+! gxh6
19 h3 19 . . .�f8 and 19 ... �h8 are both
19 ... ltlg4 was threatened. met by 20 ltlg6 mate.
19 ••• 00+! 20 'ii'g6+ .i.g7
70 Open files and diagonals
21 'iff7+ Wh8
22 ltlg6 mate
Note that a bishop is not necessar­
ily bad because it is on the same col­
our squares as most or all of its
pawns. If it escapes outside its pawn
structure, it can be a strong piece.
For example, if White plays the same
moves as he did in the opening of the
game above against the Caro-Kann,
then the black queen's bishop imme­
diately emerges into active play: 1 e4
c6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 �f5.
It also follows that if we are ham­
pered with a bad bishop and no rem­
edy, then it will become more of an
impediment as pieces are exchanged
off: there are fewer other pieces to
guard vital squares, defend the cen­
tre, etc. So we can set down as a pre­
cept: ifyou have a bad bishop, keep
another piece to defend squares of
the opposite colour.
Black has an extra pawn. How­
ever, his bishop is a dreadful piece. It
is shut in by its own pawns. Nor can
the king do much - it must stay
guarding the b-pawn. Knights thrive
in blocked positions since they are
not obstructed by closed lines - they
can simply jump over the barriers.
Therefore having a bad bishop de­
fending in an ending against a knight
is a particularly miserable affair. In
this position, White can simply shut
his eyes and play Wf3-g4-g5-f6,
capture the e-pawn and then queen
his e-pawn. Black's dark squares are
completely defenceless.
We have added a dark-squared
bishop to either side. Now Black's
dark squares have some support; in
particular, White's king finds its way
to g5 barred. Already Black threat­
ens ... g5 ! removing all danger of
loss. So in this position, White to
move could play 1 ltle4, preventing
. . . g5 . Then after l . . .Wc8? 2 �c5 !
Black finds that he cannot avoid the
exchange of dark-squared bishops
since if 2 . .td8?, 3 lbd6+ wins a
..
piece. Swapping dark-squared bish­
ops would be disastrous for Black,
since he would get the lost end­
game looked at above. Therefore,

after 1 lLle4, Black would have to
play l . . .i.a3 2 i.c5 i.e 1 +. It is still
uncomfortable for Black - the
bishop on f7 is a glorified pawn - but
he has a fighting chance.
We will now examine the signifi­
cance of opposite-coloured bishops.
Imagine in the diagram above it
was Black's move and he played
l...i.xc5 2 i.xc5. Black has an extra
pawn, but his winning chances are
virtually zero. Why? Is it because of
the bad bishop? No. If you wish, put
Black's bishop on a brilliant square ­
say d5 or f5 . His winning chances
will still be zero. The reason is the
blocked position and primarily the
opposite-coloured bishops. If B lack
ever tries to advance any pawn
through a dark square, White can al­
ways ensure he has more units cov­
ering that square than are attacking
it. We can set up positions where one
side has a huge material advantage
but nevertheless, the opposite-col­
oured bishops ensure a draw.
• • • •
w. •.t• •
• .8. •
•• . 8 . 8
• ·�· 8 ·
••••
••••
•• ••
White cannot win. The blockade
is solid. For example, 1 �f3 i.h6 2
Openfiles and diagonals 71
�g3 i.g5 3 �h3 i.h6 (or simply
3 ... �d8) 4 �h4 i.f4 5 h6 i.xh6 6
�h5 i.g5 7 �g6 i.h4 =.
So when you plan your strategy,
you must be aware of the drawing
possibilities of opposite-coloured
bishop endings. There is nothing
worse than to be three pawns up in
the middlegame, exchange off lots
of pieces to make the win simpler,
and end up in a drawn endgame.
But in the middlegame, things can
be very different. The presence of
opposite-coloured bishops often
strengthens the attack since the at­
tacker has, as it were, one piece more
than the defence when he is attack­
ing a key square which is the same
colour as that of his bishop.
B
Carton - Crawley
London 1986
Black completely demolished
White's kingside with:
21 .•. 'ii'g6+
22 �hl l:xf3!!
The opposite-coloured bishops
mean that if the game is conducted
72 Openfiles and diagonals
on the light squares then the bishop
on cl is a mere observer.
23 _.:xf3 l:.xe4!
Much stronger than 23 ....txe4 24
l:txe4.
24 i.e3 (D)
But now what? How does Black
continue his attack?
24 •.. i.c6!!
A genuinely brilliant move. The
bishop is now defended so that
Black threatens to win White's
queen with the simple .. Jie6 (or any
other suitable square). There is no
defence.
25 hS l:.g4!
Another fine stroke. 26 hxg6
i.xf3 mate or 26 'ii'xc6 _.xc6 mate.
26 :n .-r6!
White resigned. A masterly game.
The question for us to ask is: what
did the white bishop do? Absolutely
nothing, since all the critical squares
in the attack were light ones.
Finally, a note on the relative
value of a bishop and knight. Al­
though on the 'points' scale they are
roughly worth three pawns each, in
most -though by no means all - situ­
ations, bishops tend to be slightly
more useful. For this reason, bishops
are sometimes valued at 3 points (or
pawns), while knights are 3 points
(or pawns). As a rule, only in very
blocked positions are knights notice­
ably stronger than bishops. If you of­
fer a master the chance of beginning
a game with two bishops and no
knights against an opponent with
two knights and no bishops, he
would gladly accept.
Kasparov Short
-
London PCA Wch (3) 1993
In this position from the 1993
world championship match, Kaspar­
ov spent three moves to capture
Black's bishop on f8 with his knight
on f3:
13 �4
14 lC!g6
15 lOxr8
As explained above, White has
gained in a general way by this ex­
change, but you may ask, 'What

about the three moves (or tempi)
White has spent in carrying out the
exchanging manoeuvre?' Time is in­
deed very precious in chess. White is
only able to carry out this slow ma­
noeuvre because he has already es­
tablished and developed his game.
Moreover, the central position is es­
sentially, closed (or at least stable).
Black cannot respond to 1 3 lLlh4 - a
decentralizing move - with a hard­
hitting counter-attack in the centre.
The attentive reader will here
smell a rat. 'White is only able to
carry out the knight manoeuvre be­
cause the centre is closed; and yet
you said that knights tend to be bet-
Openfiles and diagonals 73
ter in blocked positions. So why
carry out the manoeuvre at all if the
knight is more at home in this type of
position?' It is a question of poten­
tial. Although the position is, at the
moment, fairly closed, as the game
progresses, lines will become open.
The bishop on f8 may look a feeble
piece with a scope of one square, but
in the future it could become very
powerful. White never gives it a
chance. As the reader may be aware,
Kasparov won the game discussed
here by building up the position in
Steinitzian style and then beating off
Short's desperate kingside counter­
attack.
7 How to think during a game
1 ) A warning
B
Tkachev - Watson
London Lloyds Bank 1993
All Black's pieces are developed.
They are on good, central squares.
His one problem seems to be that
White has a vice-like grip on the b5
and d5 squares. Black therefore can­
not play ... b5 or ... d5 to break up the
white pawn centre and open lines for
his pieces. Nevertheless, Black's po­
sition is very solid - his central pawn
structure is a compact mass, cover­
ing important squares. There are no
structural weaknesses. Black is evi­
dently free from danger, if some­
what passive.
William Watson, the player of
B lack in this game, is a strong grand­
master with an excellent eye for tac­
tics. I have seen him bring off the
most spectacular combinations. He
calculates variations deeply and ac­
curately. Yet in this game, he over­
looks a tactical sequence that leads
to defeat in a mere six moves. How
can this be? Evidently, Watson was
convinced of the solidity of Black's
position and the consequent lack of
danger. He did not see any combina­
tions because he was not looking for
tactical threats. His thinking was in
general terms, not concrete vari­
ations. Otherwise he would have
chosen 19 ... .i.f8.
19 •.• .i.f6?
A perfectly good strategic move.
Black moves his bishop to an active
diagonal and increases his influence
on the centre. The only problem with
this move is that it loses by force !
White replied:
20 lDds!
A bolt from the blue. Now if
20 . . . .i.xb2, then 2 1 li:)e7+ wins the
queen. So Black's reply is forced.
20 exd.S
21 exdS 'iVd7
22 .i.xf6 gxf6
23 llg3+ �h8
Not 23 . . . �f8 24 'it'xh7 winning
easily, but now what can White do?
If he plays 24 llh3 threatening mate,
then 24 . . . f5 defends. White in fact
played the incredible ...
24 'iVxh7+! ! �7
25 lld4 1-0

There is no way at all to stop 26
l::th4 mate (except by 25 .....g4 but
then 26 :dxg4 followed by 27 :h4
mate). A fine finish.
Black's disaster in the game given
above is a useful caveat. Do not try
to reduce all your thoughts to ab­
stract ideas of centralization, mobili­
zation, pawn structure, etc. Look at
the position in front of you and do
not rely just on analogy. Check your
assessment and your plan of action,
and make sure your thoughts really
apply to the individual position, and
are not just echoes of former games.
This may be a book about planning,
but don't forget it's a tactical chess
jungle in the real world!
2) A player's thoughts
investigated
Is it possible to devise a thinking
scheme that is appropriate in any po­
sition? For beginners, it is straight­
forward. They can ask themselves
the following questions:
- Can I capture any of my oppo­
nent's pieces?
- Is my opponent threatening to
capture one of my pieces?
- Or does he have a secondary
threat to capture one of my pieces?
- If I move there, can he capture
anything?
- Can I threaten to capture one of
his pieces?
- Can I mate him?
and so on, but the reader has prob­
ably advanced beyond this stage. His
How to think during a game 75
thoughts are on fairly complicated
tactical variations and strategic ma­
noeuvres.
To investigate how players think
during a game, I persuaded two
chess-playing friends graded about
175 (2000) - Steve Rix and Peter
Webster - to send me one of their
own games. I asked that they supply
notes in which they attempt to recon­
struct their thinking processes dur­
ing the game. With permission, I
would then comment upon their
analysis. Their comments are in ital­
ics and so distinguished from my
own notes. The result was as fol­
lows:
Rix - Wise
Dundee 1993
1 e4 d5
2 exdS 'ii'xdS
3 o!Dc3 'ii'aS
4 d4 lill'6
This may not be the latest opening
theory, but it succeeded in getting me
out ofbook. Still, there were plenty of
natural developing movesjust wait­
ing to be played.
A word on theory. Theory is im­
portant. In fact, it is very important.
It is no coincidence that the world's
strongest player is also the world's
most informed player. Kasparov
has a full-time team of seconds con­
tinuously feeding him with new
ideas. Nigel Short is not so far be­
hind: in the recent world champion­
ship match, he played an entire game
76 How to think during a game
consisting of moves that he had stud­
ied at home. The game finished be­
fore his pre-game analysis finished !
It is often said that understanding
an opening is more important than
knowledge of theory. True; but a
player who understands the opening
and knows all the latest theoretical
wrinkles has a considerable advan­
tage over the 'natural' player. It's a
cruel world out there.
Capablanca gives the following
advice to the player surprised in the
opening: 'Bring your pieces out
quickly, and put them in a safe
place.' Good advice, but it's not al­
ways easy to spot that safe place.
s �f3 �rs
6 �d3
Since this game was played, I
have discovered the game Adams­
Ryan, Dublin Z 1 993, which contin­
ued more aggressively with 6 �e5 c6
7 i.j4 e6 8 g4 i..e4 9 �c4 'ikdB 10
l:fu:e4 l:fu:e4 11 'ikf3 (1 -0, 22). The
text move is given as equal by Har­
man and Taulbut in the Batsford
book Winning with the Scandina­
vian. At some point in the game, my
opponent must have decided that this
was not the sort of equality he
wanted, because it offered him only
limited winning chances.
Note that White has checked up
on the theory of this position after
the game. This method of gaining
knowledge is essential. If every time
you play a game you compare the
moves you played with what theory
recommends, you will soon improve
your handling of the opening - and
not just the opening. Questions of a
strategic nature such as 'I wasn't
sure if I should castle queenside or
kingside' or 'I thought capturing the
pawn would be too dangerous' will
be answered when you see how mas­
ter players handled the position.
Your reference work at the start of
your tournament career need only be
a general manual with variations of
all the openings, such as BC02, or
you may wish to buy a couple of
books pertaining to your favourite
openings.
6 i.d3 is a sound developing
move, so it cannot be bad. On the
other hand, the exchange of White's
king's bishop (which now becomes
inevitable) rules out many attractive
attacking ideas. We may quote Tar­
rasch again: 'As Rousseau could not
compose without his cat beside him,
so I without my king's bishop cannot
play chess. In its absence the game to
me is lifeless and void.'
As Steve points out, 6 �e5 is bet­
ter. But you need to be fortified with
theory to play a move like 6 �5.
which, from a general principles
point of view, is wrong since it
moves a piece twice in the opening
before development is completed.
Hence, it can be said that to play suc­
cessful aggressive chess from the
start, you must be well primed on
theory. 'Natural' moves tend to set
the opponent fewer problems.
Nevertheless, as Steve points out,
6 �d3 does have psychological

value. Black is the the higher graded
player and wants to win: how does
he like his equal (and dull) position?
Not much, as the game shows.
6 e6
7 0-0
In the game mentioned above,
White managed to castle queenside
and use his kingside pawns for an
immediate attack on Black's king.
Here he has to be satisfied with a
more modest development.
7 ••• .tb4
This is a blow into thin air now
that White has castled. The immedi­
ate 7 ....td6 (or 7 ....te7) was better.
8 l0e2!
I didn't want to exchange bishops
(. . . .txd3, 'ilxd3 helps White 's devel­
opment) and also didn 'tfancy dou­
bled c-pawns. About this time, I
started to think about knight ma­
noeuvres. The lbe2 can go to g3 (hit­
ting the f5-bishop) or to f4 and then
d3, but on the other hand it is well
placed on e2, overprotecting Black's
most obvious target, the central
pawn on d4.
8 l'De2 has another advantage: it
frees White's queenside pawn which
can now advance and gain space.
8 ... l'Dbd7
9 a3 .txd3
White threatened 10 .txf5 when
Black would have to recapture with
the e-pawn.
10 'flxd3 .td6 (D)
11 .tf4
I do not like this move. White has
a slight space advantage because
How to think during a game 77
w
his d4 pawn is more advanced than
Black's e6 pawn.
Therefore, on general principles,
he should avoid exchanges. Further­
more, he had two good alternatives
in this position.
First, 1 1 .td2 is a good develop­
ing move which gains time by at­
tacking Black's queen. Perhaps
White played 1 1 .tf4 because he
was afraid that Black would answer
1 1 .td2 with 1 1 ...Vh5, planning an
attack on his king. However, such an
attack is doomed to failure - there
are no weaknesses in White's king's
position and Black has no supe­
riority in the centre (a vital prereq­
uisite for an attack). White could
answer 1 l ...Vh5 with 12 c4 or even
better 12 l'Df4! when after 12 ....txf4
(12...'fi'g4 13 h3 'fi'f5 14 'fi'xf5 is bad
for Black) 13 .txf4 the white bishop
is the best minor piece on the board.
Alternatively, White could play
1 1 c4. This threatens 12 c5 .te7 1 3
b4 'ifa6 1 4 b5 'Wa4 1 5 l'bc3 'ifa5 1 6
.td2 when Black's queen is i n seri­
ous trouble. Black could answer 1 1
c4 with 1 l . ..c5, but this looks rather
78 How to think during a game
risky - Black is opening the centre
when he hasn't completed his devel­
opment. White could reply 12 dxc5
.txc5 13 .td2 followed by 14 b4, or
even 1 2 b4 !? cxb4 13 c5 i.e7 14
.td2 followed by 15 axb4, when his
central pawn phalanx is very strong.
11 ..• .t:xf4
12 lbxf4 c6
This pawn structure will by now
be familiar to readers of this book
(see Chapter 5).
13 c4
This is less effective now that the
bishops have been exchanged.
13 ... gS?
This is obviously a very committal
move. Black intends to castle queen­
side and hack the kingside, but this
plan is probably too ambitious.
White has a lead in development, a
slight space advantage and is well
placed for a queenside pawn push;
by playing natural moves, White gets
a strong attack before Black can
shu.fJle his pieces around to the king­
side.
If we remember Steinitz's theory
of accumulation (see Chapter 3) then
it is easy to tell why this is a bad
move. Before you start an attack,
you must have gained some serious
positional advantages. There are no
weak points in White's centre, all his
pieces are developed and the king­
side is completely solid. Why then
should White lose to a kingside at­
tack? He has done nothing wrong !
And i f White doesn't lose, then
B lack must be acting prematurely.
His pieces are not ready to support
his pawn's action on the kingside. It
is only justice that Black is now
driven back. After the quiet 13 ...'ii'c7
or 1 3 . .0-0, the chances are roughly
.
equal.
14 b4 'flc7
15 lbe2 g4
16 �2 0-0-0 (D)
The king is dangerously placed
here, but there's no choice after ...g5.
We see that the real damage inflicted
by the impulsive 1 3 ... g5 wasn't in
Black's pawn structure; rather, it was
in depriving Black's king of its natu­
ral safe haven on the kingside.
17 cS!
Another committal move, White
judging that his attacking chances
and ideas of landing a knight on b6
or d6 more than made upfor the per­
manent loss of the d5 square. There
were tactical motives for the move
too, because Black can no longer
meet the immediate advance b5 with
the highly effective ... c5, hitting back
in the centre. White still has to move
his queen before b5 can be played,

but this is not hard to arrange. I de­
cided to delay this until it became
clear what the queen 's best square
was; c3 (to hold back ... e5) and b3
(intending b6 and 'fia4) were among
the candidates.
Note that White plans his attack
carefully. He does not wildly throw
his pieces at Black's king. Instead he
creates a potential outpost for his
knight on d6. This is in the spirit of
accumulating advantages, or here
perhaps negotiation: 'OK Black, you
can have the excellent d5 square for
your knight, but in return I'll get a
knight on d6 or maybe b6. And you
won't be able to answer b5 with ... c5
any longer.'
17 ... .:bg8
18 lDc4 /t)eS
So Black succeeds in preventing
l 9 l0d6, but this move zreates other
problems. The black pieces get in
each other's way. So White is justi­
fied in hoping for a winning attack.
19 .:&bl .l:.gS (D)
An alternative to this attacking
move was 19 . . . l0e5, intending to ex­
change of! White 's active knight and
hence reduce White 's attacking op­
tions. This is also consistent with the
guide-line 'if in doubt, improve the
position ofyour least useful piece'. I
was not sure whether it would be bet­
terfor White to exchange pieces (20
ll:Ue5 'fixe5 21 'fic2) or to leave it up
to Black by 20 'fic3. This last line
gives Black an option of 20. ..li).f3 +
21 gxf3 gxf3+ 22 llJg3 h5, but this
looks to be too speculative.
How to think during a game 79
19 . . .llJe5 doesn't look much bet­
ter. Black is still left facing a massive
attack after 20 llJxe5 'fixe5 21 b5 ! .
Then 2 l . ..'fixc5 is met b y 2 2 bxc6
winning after either 22 ... bxc6 23
'ii'a6+ or 22 . . .'fixc6 23 .l:.fc l . The
worst thing about Black's position is
that he has no counterplay. The ad­
vice about improving your worst
placed piece is good, but here surely
the knight on d7 is no worse a piece
than the rook on g8. After 19 ...l:.g5,
the rook has options of swinging to
the centre where perhaps it can gain
counterplay by attacking the d­
pawn.
20 'fie3!
On the other hand, this exposes
the drawback to 19 ... .1:.g5. White's
queen side-steps the pin on the d-file
with gain of time. Now White is
ready to launch a winning pawn at­
tack on the queenside.
20 ... h6
If instead 20... .I:.h5, there comes
21 llJg3 .l:.d5 22 llJe4 and 23 llJd6+.
Now that White has moved his
queen, the b-pawn is free to move:
80 How to think during a game
21 bS
If White's queen were still on d3,
then 2 1 .. . .!Oxc5 would be possible
here.
21 .!Odt'6
22 b6
White should prefer 22 bxc6!
when after 22 . . .'ifxc6, 23 .!OaS wins
the b-pawn with a strong attack, so
B lack must play 22 ... bxc6. However,
White can then double his rooks on
the b-file (beginning with l:b2) and
then manoeuvre his queen to a4.
Black would be unable to escape
with his king before White broke
through on b7.
22 b6 is strong, but we can repeat
the advice 'If you see a good move,
stop ! Don't play it! Look for some­
thing stronger.'
22 axb6
23 lbxb6+ �b8 (D)
w
24 l:b4
White doubles up on the b-file,
whilst also overprotecting d4 and
thinking about l:a4 ideas.
Calculation of variations is very
difficult and tiring. Players often try
to avoid this work by thinking in as
general terms as possible, but there
comes a time in every game when it
is necessary to stop thinking in terms
of general principles and to calculate
a winning variation. Here White
should have looked at various attack­
ing options. Then he would probably
have found 24 't!fb3 ! . This threatens
25 'iVa4 and mate on aS. Black would
have to reply 24....!0d5 (or 24 ....!0d7)
25 'iVa4 .!Oxb6 26 cxb6 'ifd6 (any­
thing else would allow 27 'Wa7+
�cS 2S 'WaS+ �d7 29 'ifxb7+). All
Black's moves have been forced up
to this point, which certainly makes
the tactical calculation easier. Now
White can play 27 l:fcl ! bringing
his last piece into the attack. Black is
defenceless. If27 . . ..!Df6, then White
continues 2S 'Wa7+ �cS 29 'WaS+
't!fbs 30 lhc6+! bxc6 3 1 'ifxc6+
'Wc7 32 'Wxc7 mate. The pawn on b6
is tremendously strong.
24 ••• lbds
Now Black avoids the worst.
25 lbxdS l:gxdS
26 :t'b1 l:8d7
27 .!Oc3
This was made possible by the
overprotection on move 24. 27
:Xb7+ 'ik:xb7 28 l::xb7+ l::xb7 is not
an attractive transaction; White
exchanges off his two well-placed
rooks for a relatively quiet queen
and in doing so, abandons his attack.
This idea is only likely to become at­
tractive if the white queen can win a
few pawns before Black 's rooks be­
gins to co-ordinate effectively.

The black h-pawn has led a
charmed life. Previously it was too
dangerous to be captured, but now
that there is no danger, its reputation
lives on. Here or on the previous
move, White could have grabbed the
pawn: 27 'fi'xh6. Steinitz once re­
marked that 'a pawn ahead is worth a
little trouble' . Here ilie trouble is
negligible.
27 ... .:ItS
28 g3 lbf'6
Forced moves are easy to play in
time trouble, but it is not as easy to
pick an option when you have afree
choice. Black's move is very sensible
(headingfor d5) but there is a tacti­
cal drawback.
White's last move created a weak­
ness on f3. Black could try to exploit
this with 28 . . .l:l.f5 and 29 . . . .l:.f3. In
reply, White would probably capture
the h6 pawn. The game would still be
alive. After 28 . . ltlf6, on the other
. at once, and my opponent had been
hand, it is curtains. White finishes
with a pretty combination:
29 llxb7+! 'iVxb7
30 'iVf4+ �c8
30. . . e5 31 :Xb7+ �xb7 looks a
better try as 32 'ilxf6 can be met by
32. . . exd4, gaining a passed pawn
and rook co-ordination in returnfor
the lost piece. Instead, 32 dxe5 wins
the knight under more favourable
circumstances, because of32... ltld5
33 'ilxg4, forking Black's rooks.
In fact, Black has no compensa­
tion for the piece after the first vari­
ation given above. White's knight
will easily blockade the passed
How to think during a game 81
pawns, and all Black's pawns will
drop one by one as in the game.
31 l:l.xb7 �xb7 32 'ilxf6 :rs 33
'ilg7 hS 34 ltle4 .l:.f3 35 ltld6+ �c7
36 'iVh8 .l:.d8 37 'ilxhS llxa3 38
'ilxf7+ .l:.d7 39 'ilg8 .l:.d8 40 Wxe6
1-0
A good example of tournament
chess.
Rice - Webster
London League 1993
1 e4 e6
2 d4 d5
3 lLld2 lbf'6
4 e5 lbf'd7
5 .i.d3 c5
6 c3 lLlc6
7 ltlgf3 fS
8 b3?! (D)
As usual at Bishopsgate, there
were several matches being played
careless enough to sit down opposite
the wrong board 8! In the 20 minutes
or so that ticked away as I waited, he
managed to get a terrible position on
the other board and so he was quite
relieved to discover his error. At
this point in our game (I afterwards
learned), he had vaguely recalled an
earlier game he had lost after 8 exf6,
without realizing that it had been
against me, and that he had got a
good position from the opening be­
fore blundering a piece! The novelty
he comes up with does prepare to re­
inforce d4, but it takes away the b3
square from the knight on d2 and
82 How to think during a game
by abandoning the cl-h6 diagonal,
White makes it easier for Black to
advance his g-pawn effectively.
As is apparent from the above ex­
planation, White's vague fears pre­
vented him from playing the natural
and good 8 exf6. That is why it is im­
portant to study all your games in de­
tail to find out why exactly you lost
(or if you won or drew, what errors
you made en route). Otherwise you
will carry misconceptions and irra­
tional fears into your next game or
tournament. In this example, White
thought (or perhaps felt instinc­
tively) '8 exf6 is no good: I tried it
before somewhere and lost' and was
therefore prevented from judging the
move on its own merits. Therefore
he was reduced to over-the-board
'inspiration', but this is seldom as ef­
fective as a well-worked out (and
trusted !) repertoire. 8 b3?! is a pas­
sive move which prepares to develop
the queen's bishop to a blocked di­
agonal.
8 cxd4
9 cxd4 Wb6
Rather a routine move. The one
virtue of 8 b3 is that it allows the
bishop on b2 to fortify the d4 square.
Therefore, it makes more sense for
Black to abandon the normal plan of
a siege on the d4 square, and instead
develop his pieces with ... ll:!b6 and
... .id7, etc.
10 .ib2 .ie7
11 0-0 M
There is now no other way to de­
velop the queenside since the queen
on b6 prevents the 'natural' ...ltlb6.
12 a3 a5
13 :e1 .id7
14 :ct ,,
And now a routine 'centralizing'
move by White. It was better to play
14 ltlfl at once. Then if Black con­
tinues as in the game with 14 .. .'�d8,
15 lL!e3 g5 16 .i.xf5 ! exf5 17 ll:!xd5
(D) is a dangerous sacrifice.
B
For example, 17 ...11b5 18 ll:!c3 !
'iVa6 19 d5 with two pawns and a
huge attack in return for the piece.
17 ...'it'a6 1 8 lDxe7 lL!xe7 1 9 lDxg5
(or 19 dS) is similar. The idea of
this sacrifice recurs again and again

in what follows. It is the crucial dy­
namic feature of the position. Basi­
cally, if White can destroy Black's
pawn centre with a sacrifice, then his
own centre pawns can advance. This
in turn will free White's pieces from
their entombment, and they will
prove to be well placed after all. The
exclamation mark after 1 4 . . . �d8
would have to be removed; Black's
king would find the centre a very
hostileplace.
We are back to the idea of the ten­
sion in a position between open and
closed features. The reader may wish
to compare the idea of sacrificing a
piece for a central pawn avalanche
with that carried out in the game
Kasparov-Timman (Chapter 5).
So, after the superior 14 �fl .
Black would d o best to play simply
14 ...�g6 and 15 ...0-0 with a reason­
able game. However, even after 14
l:lcl, 14 ...�d8 is by no means clearly
a good move.
14 ... �d8!? (D)
w
Black has been unable to play
... g5 over the pastfew moves owing
How to think during a game 83
to ltlxg5 followed by a queen check
on h5. I wanted to prepare this move
without diminishing the pressure on
d4, which is why I did not castle into
a pin on the c-file. It is difficult to see
how White can avoid the loss of a
pawn after his next move, and so I 5
h4 must have been correct: by the
time Black has played ... g6 (else h5),
... h6 and ... g5, White will have
played � b 1 and �fl, and be hold­
ing d4 with his queen.
Now the sacrifice 15 �fl g5 1 6
�3 g4 17 �xf5 gxf3 ! 1 8 1rxf3
looks bad for White after 18 ...1Wxb3.
He has failed to blast away Black's
centre and mobilize his central
pawns. But if, instead of 1 8 ...1Wxb3,
Black is greedy and snatches the sec­
ond piece then White has a strong at­
tack after 18 ...exf5 19 �xd5 'i'a6 20
�xe7 �xe7 2 1 d5, etc.
Peter discusses 15 h4 here, when
he intended to answer 15 ... g6. Now
the recommended 1 6 �b 1 and �fl .
to keep d4 defended, is totally pas­
sive. Instead White should play 1 6
�fl ! h6 17 �e3 with the sacrifice
on f5 again after 17 ... g5. This is still
unsatisfactory for Black.
We should look in more detail at
15 h4 h6, which Peter rejects for
Black because of 16 h5. Now
16 ... �e8 17 %2 �d4 (D) is a criti­
cal variation.
Here 18 �4 ! dxc4 19 �xc4 �c5
20 �f3 �xh5 (20...�e7 2 1 �xd4
�xd4 22 1txd4 1rxd4 23 �xd4
�xh5 24 .tb5 ! intending l:lc7+ is
bad for Black) 21 �xd4 �xd4
84 How to think during a game
w
(2l....txf3? 22 .txc5+ wins a piece)
22 'ir'xd4+ 'ii'xd4 23 lbxd4 .tf7
(23 ... .te7 24 .tb5 is similar to the
variation above) 24 lbxf5. White re­
gains his pawn with an excellent po­
sition.
The variations are long and com­
plex, but from the analysis it appears
that 14 ... �d8 is very risky, and that
14 . . . lt:Jg6 should be preferred, fol­
lowed by kingside castling. How­
ever, 14 ...�d8 is an interesting move
and against passive play leads to
good practical chances.
15 lbfl? gS!
16 .tel (D)
B
16 h3 doesn 't help, as Black plays
16... g4 17 hxg4fxg4 18 lb3h2 lbxd4,
and now 19 lbxg4 lbxb3, 19 'ii'xg4
lbxb3 or 19 i..xd4 'ii'xd4 20 lbxg4
.txa3.
16 .
.. g4
17 ltJ3d2 l:[g8!?
I was not happy with 17... lbxd4
18 lbc4 and so prepared a follow-up
which would give me play against
the white king. The d4 pawn remains
indefensible.
In fact, the immediate 17 ... lbxd4
is better, for reasons explained be­
low.
18 lt:Jg3?
White should play 1 8 lbe3, threat­
ening our thematic sacrifice i.xf5
and then lbxd5 . After 18 ... lt:Jxd4 1 9
lbdc4 lbf3+ (best) 20 gxf3 dxc4 2 1
.td4 gxf3+ 2 2 �h 1 1W moves 23
lbxc4, White has good counterplay
for the pawn. Black's king begins to
feel a bit draughty. In this sequence
17 . . .:gs proves irrelevant whilst 1 8
lbe3 i s an integral part o f White's
combination. It follows that Black
should have avoided 17 ...:gs and
instead played 17 ...lt:Jxd4 immedi­
ately. 18 lbg3? is much less effective
than 18 .!Z:le3.
18 ... lbxd4
Now or never, as White is ready to
play lbe2, holding on to the crucial
d4-pawn.
19 lbc4 lill3+
20 gxf3 dxc4
21 fxg4?
21 f4 is met by 21 ... c3 and
22 ... i..xa3, but the move played
opens the g-file and loses control of

the d4 square, with the result that
another pawn quickly drops.
In fact, after 2 1 f4 c3 22 .ixc3
.ixa3 23 .id4 White has counter­
play for the pawn. Black's difficulty
in all this is his unconnected rooks
and (potentially) unsafe king. Al­
though he has the better chances, he
must still play with accuracy to keep
control of the position. After 2 1 f4,
2 l . . . .ic5 looks better than 2 1 . . .c3;
for example, 2 l . . ..ic5 22 l:.e2 o!t)g6
attacking f4.
After 2 1 fxg4? White is not just a
pawn down, but also his king is fac­
ing a strong attack. Only now can he
be said to be lost.
21 :Xg4
22 'i'CJ .ic6
23 l:.cd1+ �e8
24 'i'e2 cxb3
25 .id3 o!t)g6
25... .ih4 can be met coolly by 26
�fl.
There is nothing harder than to
win a won position. Here Black
should play 25 ... h5 ! with the unan­
swerable threat of . . . h4. For exam­
ple, 26 h3? l:.xg3+ exploits the pin
on f2; or 26 �fl h4 27 o!t)xf5 .ig2+
(simplest) 28 �g 1 .if3+ wins the
queen. However, 25 ...o!t)g6 is quite
good enough to win.
26 'i'd2 (D)
26 ... l:.d8
Two pawns up, my opponent in
time trouble and the adjournment
justjive moves away, I did not want
to risk 26.. .[4 27 .Lg6+ hxg6 28
.id4fxg3! ?.
How to think during a game 85
In the above variation, the 'bor­
ing' 28 . . .'i'b5 ! wins simply and
quickly. If 29 •e2 then 29 ...'l'd5
threatens mate on g2 or h1 (the
knight being pinned). White would
have to resign immediately.
27 'i'h6 lM4
28 .tn l:.h4
Black could still force a win with
28 ....ic5 (threatening ....ixf2 mate)
29 l:.xd8+ �xd8 30 ..f6+ �e8 3 1
'i'h8+ �f7 32 'l'f6+ �g8 and wins;
there are no more checks.
29 'i'g7 .if8
30 'i'f6 .ie7
31 'i'g7
The sealed move. 3I 'flh8+ �.fl
leads to simplifications. Now I
should play 31... �5 (or 32.. .!i:Jxd5
next move) when the rook on h4 pre­
vents .id4 and .ic4, but even my lei­
sured analysis could not persuade
me to play this 'retreat'.
31 l:.dS?!
32 :XdS .ixdS?!
33 l:.cl �d7 (D)
34 'i'g8
Here White should have admitted
to himself that his position was lost
86 How to think during a game

39 .txc6 bxc6
40 Wxa5+ �b8
41 Wa6 Wdl+
42 �g2 WdS+
43 f3?! 'ii'd2+
44 lbe2 .tc5
45 .tcJ WeJ
46 .tel l:.g4+!
and Black won. A very interest­
ing struggle.

and looked around for the path of 3) A thinking format

most resistance. The most tricky
move was 34 a4! with ideas of 35
.ta3 or 35 .tb5+. Then Black could
play 34...l:.xh2, hoping for 35 �xh2?
Wxf2+ mating. But 35 .i.d4 ! 'ii'xd4?
36 l:.c7+! ! forces a draw - 36...�xc7
37 Wxe7+ and Black's king cannot
escape from check, e.g. 37 . . .�b6
(not 37 ...�c6 38 'ii'd6 mate) 38
1i'd8+! �a7 39 'ii'x a5+ �b8 40
'it'd8+, etc.
If Black responded passively to
34 a4, then .ta3 would be strong.
However, in the variation above, in­
stead of 35 . . .'ii'xd4 Black can play
35 ...b2 ! 36 .i.xb6 bxc lW 37 �xh2
when B lack should win with his ex­
tra pawns. So 34 a4 would not save
White, but he should certainly have
tried it, since after 34 'ii'g 8 he loses
without setting Black any difficult
problems. White's attack eventually
bums out.
34
From the evidence of the games
above, it can be seen that all assess­
ments are based on:
1) king safety
2) piece deployment/development
3) pawn structure
Therefore I suggest the following
thinking framework:
When it's your move, say to your­
self:
1) 'A most interesting position '
even if it's the dullest position imag­
inable! The unconscious doesn't
have a sense of irony.
2) 'Both kings are evidently safe
from immediate attack.' (Discuss)
3) 'Both sides are more or less
developed.' (Discuss)
4) 'There seems to be no real
weakness in the pawn position of
either side.' (Discuss)
5) 'My correct plan therefore
seems to be ...'

35 .tb5+ 6) 'Now I analyse tactically.' If it

36 l:.dl+ disproves the plan/move, then mod­
37 :XdS+ exciS ify the verbal assessment and begin
38 'iVxdS+ �c7 again.

Then move !
Let's see how this thinking frame­
work can be used in a game.
McDonald - lkonnikov
Douai 1993
1 e4 c5 2 ll!f3 lllc6 3 d4 cxd4 4
ll!xd4 lDr6 5 lllc3 e5 6 ll!db5 d6 7
..ig5 a6 8 llla3 b5 9 ..txf6 gxf6 10
ll!d5 i.g7 1 1 ..id3 llle7 12 lllxe7
'ifxe7 13 c4 f5 14 o-o o-o 15 'ii'h5
J:r.b8 16 exf5 e4 17 J:r.ael ..ib7 18 f3
d5 19 fxe4 dxc4 (D)
w
'A most interesting position ' (and
it really is).
'Both kings are evidently safe
from immediate attack.' Hmmm . . .
Black's king has lost the cover of the
g-pawn. It looks slightly vulnerable.
White's queen is placed aggressively
at no great distance. If the e and f­
pawns can quickly get out of the
way, then the bishop on d3 and the
queen on hS will both attack h7.
White's rooks are also ready for
quick action on the kingside. So, no,
Black's king is not 'evidently safe
How to think during a game 87
from attack' . White's king is in no
danger, though the weakness of the
a7-gl diagonal could prove impor­
tant.
'Both sides are more or less devel­
oped.' White's rooks are centralized
and ready for action; the queen is
placed aggressively, ready for attack.
White's bishop on d3 is attacked,
and this must be taken into account.
The knight on a3 is out of the game
and will take at least two moves to
get back into active play. Black has a
powerful dark-squared bishop which
has no counterpart. His bishop on b7
is also a good piece. However, his
rooks have not yet joined battle.
'There seems to be no real weak­
ness in the pawn position of either
side.' Black has established a strong
pawn majority on the queenside.
However, he has lost his g-pawn so
his king's position is weakened. We
also notice that White has an extra
pawn. However, in view of the
weakness of the b-pawn and Black's
actual queenside pawn advantage,
it will be difficult to exploit this in
the endgame. White has dangerous­
looking mobile central pawns. Black
hopes to be able to blockade and
thereby neutralize them. So we con­
clude that the pawn structure of each
side is a jumble of strengths and
weaknesses.
'My correct plan therefore seems
to be . .' It is White's move but his
.
bishop is attacked. The most impor­
tant central square is evidently eS. If
Black succeeds in firmly blocking
88 How to think during a game
this square and preventing White's
pawn advance e5 he will have an
undoubted advantage - the white
bishop (say after 20 .i.b 1 ) would be
shut in by its own pawn on e4. White
should do something fast to exploit
his active rooks before Black con­
solidates in the centre. Therefore, we
must examine moves such as 20 f6
and 20 e5.
'Now I analyse tactically.' 20 f6
.i.xf6 2 1 e5 'ii'c5+ (the only move; if
2 1 . . . cxd3, then 22 exf6 threatening
both the queen and mate with 23
'ii' g5+) 22 �h 1 cxd3 23 .:txf6 .i.e4 !
(bringing the bishop to defend the
kingside) with the following situ­
ation (D):
w
Now 24 .:txe4? allows 24 ...'ii'c l ,
mating. So is the attack over? No;
White can play 24 'ii'g 5+ .i.g6 25
h4 ! with a dangerous attack, e.g.
25 ... .:tbd8 (25 ...�h8 26 h5 and the
bishop bas no squares) 26 h5 d2 27
.:td 1 'ii'c 1 28 .:tffl repelling Black's
counter-attack. The bishop on g6 is
now lost.
Therefore, 20 f6 was very strong.
In the game, the author played 20
.i.b1? but then 20 . . . .i.d4+! 21 �h 1
f6! blocking the centre pawns was
excellent for Black. Obviously I
needed this thinking scheme !
You can only use such a thinking
framework a couple of times during
a game; it is simply too time-con­
suming to use every move. A good
time is when the theory has just
ended, since it will force you to con­
centrate. Another good moment is
when the position feels critical.
Above all, the thinking scheme
makes you notice what is before
your eyes. You cannot forget to con­
sider the safety of your king if you
make the statement 'both kings are
evidently free from immediate at­
tack.' Maybe there is no relevance or
truth in the statement, but it is a step­
ping stone to a deeper exploration of
the position.
8 Playing by analogy
One of the best ways to improve
your understanding of chess is to
study the games of the great masters.
There are many game collections of
players like Kasparov, Karpov and
Fischer, but I would recommend that
you begin with one of the old mas­
ters such as Rubinstein (who was the
world's best tournament player just
before the First World War) or Ca­
pablanca (who was world champion
from 1 92 1 to 1 927). Capablanca's
style of play was simple and logical
and not as difficult to understand as
the tactical genius of Kasparov. Of
course, we do not mean to imply that
because Capablanca's style is sim­
ple, it is easy to play like him!
Another advantage of studying
the old masters is that their oppo­
nents were often weaker than present
day grandmasters. This means that
when Capablanca devises a plan, he
is allowed to carry it out in its en­
tirety, which makes the game of
great instructional value (even if it is
one-sided). In contrast, we are often
left in the dark as to Kasparov's in­
tentions at various points in the
game, since his opponents will make
subtle concessions rather than allow
the world champion to carry out a
strong plan. Here are two games il­
lustrating the precise strategic play
of Rubinstein and Capablanca:
w
Rubinstein Sc:hlec:hter
-
Berlin 1918
White's pieces are all efficiently
developed and he has a strong pawn
centre. But it is not enough to have a
good position: you must work out a
plan of attack. If White does nothing
active, then Black will play moves
such as . . . lilg6, . . .'ii'b6 and ...ltad8,
completing his development and
avoiding the worst of it.
13 ciS!
This central advance suggests it­
self for a number of reasons:
1) the black queen is opposite the
white rook on d 1 and will therefore
be made uncomfortable by the open­
ing of the d-ftle.
2) the absence of Black's light­
squared bishop means that White's
bishop on c4 will greatly profit by an
opening of lines. Note that White's
queen on f3 will bear down on the
90 Playing by analogy
vulnerable f7 square once the central
barriers are removed.
3) in a general sense, the player
with two bishops opposed by a
bishop and knight should attempt to
open the position as much as possi­
ble, since bishops love clear diago­
nals, whereas knights prefer blocked
pawn positions.
There followed:
13 exdS
14 exdS 'ifb6
Black hastens to remove his
queen from the firing line. If instead
1 4 ... cxd5 then after 15 �xd5 �xd5
1 6 i.xd5 (threatening i.xf7+) 1i'b6
1 7 i.xb7 Black loses at least a pawn.
15 d6 i.d8 (D)
Notice how White's space advan­
tage has been converted into a differ­
ent type of advantage - a strong
passed pawn and open lines for his
pieces. The passed pawn is valuable
here because it constricts Black's
pieces, depriving them of central
squares. Its ability to queen is of sec­
ondary importance.
But if White does nothing, then
Black will blockade the passed pawn
with ... �f8 and ...�7. and gradu­
ally unwind his position. Knights are
excellent blockaders. They lessen
the power of the blocked piece with­
out being at all impeded themselves.
White must act quickly. What is
the weakest point in Black's game?
Undoubtedly the f7 square. Yet it
seems impossible to get at it ...
If we remember the game Don­
ner-Pomar (Chapter 6), then finding
White's next move will be easy.
White has done everything he can in
the centre, and now he must start a
kingside pawn advance. Only by
widening the struggle can he break
through and win.
w
16 g4!
The weakness created in White's
kingside by the g4 advance is of no
importance since his pieces domi­
nate the centre. If Black now tries
1 6 . . .h6 then 17 h4 follows. Mean­
while White threatens, amongst other
things, 17 g5 �(f6)d7 18 i.xf7+
�xf7 19 i.e3+ winning the queen.
16 ... �
Trying to cover the f7 square, but
now the black knight has been di­
verted from the natural blockade
square d7. The consequences are fa­
tal.
17 d7 :e7
18 i.d6 :Xd7
19 i.:xe6 fxe6
20 gS!
Now the knight cannot move be­
cause of 'iff8 mate. Black therefore
cannot avoid losing material.
 Playing by analogy 91

20 lhd6 a brilliant defensive plan, which can

21 lhd6 ..cS be summarised as follows:
22 lhd8+ lhd8 1) the black knight retreats to c8,
23 gxf6 allowing the black queen to reach the
and White soon won with his ex­ safe squarea5.
tra piece. 2) the knight then moves to d6
and the queen to a6. This double at­
In the example above, Black tack on the c4 pawn will provoke the
failed to co-ordinate his pieces prop­ advance c5.
erly, and was therefore unable to re­ 3) Black's position will then be
sist White's attack. Now we will free from danger, since the d5 ad­
look at how Capablanca defended a vance wiU no longer be possible.
cramped position. 4) Black will then play his knight
from d6 to f5, and double up his
rooks on the d-file. This will win the
d-pawn and ultimately the game.
B
Capablanca managed to carry out
his plan in its entirety, with just a lit­
tle help from his opponent:
14 �8!
15 :d3 ..aS
16 a3?! lDd6
17 .tgS hd8
18 :Cd1 ...6
19 cS lOis
Chajes - Capablanca 20 •o lDd5
New York 1915 Black has carried out his plan.
White should have tried 16 b3 ! to
Once again White has a strong strengthen the c4 square. Now Black
centre. Black's one consolation, com­ exchanges off the minor pieces and
pared to the example above, is that then chips away at the weak d-pawn.
White doesn 't have a strong light­ The game ended:
squared bishop. There is no obvious 21 �dS lhdS
target in Black's position. Neverthe­ 22 .txe7 �e7
less, Black's queen has no decent 23 ..e4 - li)g6
square and White can gradually pre­ 24 f4?! :rd8
pare a breakthrough with d5. In 25 �h2 �eS
short, Black's position looks dismal. 26 fxeS b6
However, world champions are a 27 cxb6 axb6
hardy breed, and Capablanca found 28 g3 cS
92 Playing by analogy
29 'ft4 g6
30 :0? 'irxd3
and White resigned.
What a difference to the Rubin­
stein-Schlechter game above ! The
most striking feature is the retreat
14 ...li)c8 ! which shows a strategic
creativity for which Capablanca was
justly famous.
The reader may still be sceptical.
What possible use can a game played
in 1 9 1 5? I'll never get exactly the
same position! Shortly after writing
the notes to the game above, I played
in the Lloyds Bank Masters tourna­
ment in London. In round 6 I played
against the Australian grandmaster
Ian Rogers:
Rogers - McDonald
London Uoyds Bank 1993
1 e4 e6 2 d4 dS 3 M dxe4 4 �xe4
.i.d7 5 �f3 .i.c6 6 .i.d3 �d7 7 0-0
lbp6 8 lbed2 lbd5 9 l:le1 .i.e7 10 c4
ltlf4 1 1 .ion o-o 12 'ifb3 ltlg6 13
'ire3 .i.:xf3 14 � c6 15 b3 (D)
B
The reader will notice the similar­
ity in pawn structure with the Cha­
jes-Capablanca game above. The
pieces are on different squares, true,
but it's the pawn structure that de­
fines the plan. Knowledge of the Ca­
pablanca game made it much easier
for me to find the correct deploy­
ment for my pieces. Black played:
15 ..• 'ii'aS!
Copying Capablanca's queen
move. The queen is well placed here
and safer if White ever tries for a d5
breakthrough.
16 .i.d2
Since White has more space, it
was probably best not to allow the
exchange of bishops. 16 a3 followed
by 17 .td2 or 17 .tb2 may have been
a better try for advantage.
16 .i.b4
17 .txb4 'ii'xb4
18 .td3 l:lad8!
Preparing to besiege the d-pawn
just as Capablanca did. Chess is easy
when you can copy a world cham­
pion!
19 l:lad1
20 .txg6
White cannot find an active plan
since his breakthrough with d5 is
thwarted. Therefore he is content to
exchange pieces and keep his slight
space advantage.
20 hxg6
21 l:ld2 a5
22 a4
White did not wish to allow
22... a4, nibbling at his pawn struc­
ture, but now of course the b3 pawn
 Playing by analogy 93

is weakened. However in view of the A beautiful square for any black

blocked nature of the queenside, this piece.
should not trouble White. 29 ltles gS!
22 ... :d6 Black now starts playing for ad­
Increasing the pressure against d4 vantage. If 30 •xg5 :xd4 3 1 :xd4
by doubling rooks. White responds :xd4 is strong - 32 :xd4 'ife1 mate.
by doubling rooks himself. 30 'ife3 lDd71
23 :edt :td8 The point of 29 ...g5. Black has
24 :d3 ll)g4 forced the white queen away from
25 ...e4 ffi the f-file. (30 •f3 would have lost
26 'ife3 lDg4 the d-pawn.) So Black is now able to
A draw is the natural result. Nei­ challenge the strong knight on e5
ther side can make any advances without allowing 'flxf7.
without undermining their own posi­ 31 00
tion. Rogers however decides to play 3 1 lDxd7 :sxd7 leaves White
to win. This is understandable for permanently tied down to the d­
two reasons: first, White had the in­ pawn with no counterplay.
itiative to start with, so a draw is a 31 ... eS!
moral victory for Black; and sec­ Breaking up White's centre.
ondly, grandmasters do not like to 32 dxeS �c5
draw with masters. 33 lbdS :xdS
21 •r4 �6 34 lbdS cxdS
28 c5? 35 •xg5 ltle6
The same weakening move that 36 'ife3 d4 (D)
Chajes played against Capablanca. White has won a pawn but the
Rogers, however, plays it of his own passed d4 pawn is very strong.
choice. Of course 28 1Ve3 or any Black's pieces are well placed to
other solid move is equal. force it through to the queening
28 ••• :ciS (D) square.

w w
94 Playing ITy analogy

37 'it'd3 'it'c3! 39 'it'c2

38 'it'd1 40 'it'el lOgS!
If White exchanges queens then 41 li:)d4
he can only stop the pawn queening 4 l ll:ld2 is met by 4 l ...'it'xd2 ! with
at the cost of his knight. a knight fork on f3. And of course 41
38 ... d3 ll:lxg5 d2 allows Black to queen his
39 g3? pawn.
39 h3 was better, though Black 41 .. . 'it'bl
has a clear advantage after 39...l0c5. 42 e6 fxe6
After 39 g3, the undefended knight and White resigned.
on f3 becomes vulnerable to tactical
tricks. So the moral is: study the classics !
9 Planning in a real game
In Chapter 7, I suggested a possible
thinking scheme to the reader. He
or she should engage in an internal
dialogue, making statements about
the position and then questioning
these statements, e.g. 'Both kings are
safe.' 'I disagree ! My opponent's
king lacks pawn cover' . By making
these statements, even if they are
patently untrue, and then question­
ing them, the reader will carry out a
rational examination of the position
and may stumble upon things he
would not otherwise have noticed,
e.g. 'I already knew that my oppo­
nent's king lacked pawn cover, but
I've been so busy trying to exploit
this that I've been forgetting my own
king is also a bit exposed. Perhaps I
should spend some moves safe­
guarding it?' . However, is chess re­
ally such a rational game? Or must
our thought processes remain ob­
scure?
I remember giving a simultaneous
display in London a couple of years
ago. One of my opponents was a
young boy who, just before play be­
gan, asked me the key question: how
does a master think during a game? I
gave the usual reply: he calculates
variations, he works out a strategy,
he decides in what order to play the
moves, and so on. I was quite satis­
fied with my answer, and play com­
menced. My young interrogator
made some obvious blunders early
on, and I beat him within the fust
half an hour, barely spending a min­
ute at his board. Certainly no vari­
ations were being calculated and no
deep strategy was being devised.
This exasperated my young oppo­
nent, who, on resigning, asked "How
does a master really think?"
I could sympathize with his feel­
ings. Many years ago, I played
against Karpov in a simultaneous
given when he was the absolute
World Champion. I was British Un­
der- 18 Champion at the time, and re­
garded myself as something of a hot
shot. I worked really hard during that
simultaneous, calculating variation
after variation and working out a
multitude of plans, but all to no avail.
Karpov only needed one brief pause
at my board to hit upon the correct
strategy. In doing so, he took a step
backwards, as if to better compre­
hend the scene of action, and made
his move after a few moments of
hesitation. He was then immediately
preoccupied with the next board
where he was mating my neighbour.
Meanwhile, I was free to spend the
96 Planning in a real game
next fifteen or so minutes looking at
my ruined position and wondering
what could have gone wrong.
Of course, these are extreme ex­
amples. A World Champion beats a
boy; a master beats a novice. How­
ever, a great deal of chess ability
does depend on your instant grasp of
the position. At a single glance, most
international class players can tell
who stands better, unless the posi­
tion is unusually complicated or
there is an unexpected tactical blow
concealed in the position. A lot of
possible moves and plans are re­
jected at an intuitive level.
And yet this instant judgement of
a position is fraught with danger! It
is necessary to calculate variations
and work out a decent strategy if
your opponent is anywhere near
your class of play. If you have a post­
mortem with a strong player you will
realize that he has calculated a mass
of variations, even if he has a reputa­
tion as being a 'positional' player.
The danger is when the player seeks
to replace a concrete analysis of the
specific position with a vague as­
sessment based on his previous ex­
periences. Then a quick sight of the
board becomes responsible for a su­
perficial appraisal of the position or
stereotyped thinking.
I have selected eight positions
from my own games where I relied
incorrectly on my initial judgement
of the position. The test for the
reader is to look deeply into the posi­
tion and - rejecting what seems good
at first glance - try to penetrate into
its real essence. Of course, the reader
may spot the correct move instantly,
in which case he can congratulate
himself on his fine positional under­
standing! However, it will not al­
ways be so easy. After the reader has
exhausted his analysis of the posi­
tion, he can compare his thoughts
with my own opinions which can
be found at the end of the chapter.
Alternatively, he can cheat and go
straight to the solutions (which,
however, aren't really solutions). In
doing so he will learn something, but
not as much.
Below each diagram the previous
move is given.
1
Black to move after 14 f4.
 Planning in a real game 97

2 5

White to move after 12 ...f6. White to move after 23 ...'ifb6

3 6

Black to move after 1 3 .i.xc3 Black to move after 16 1Vxg6

4 7

White to move after 28 ... c4 Black to move after 17 1Vf3

98 Planning in a real game
8
White to play after 23 ....J:lad8
Solutions
1 . Legki-McDonald, Douai 1993
The position was reached after the
moves 1 d4 lDf6 2 c4 g6 3 lDc3 J.g7
4 g3 0-0 5 J.g2 d6 6 e3 c5 7 lDge2
lDc6 8 0-0 J.d7 9 b3 'ii'c8 10 .J:le1
i.h3 1 1 J.h1 h5 12 J.b2 h4 13 'ii'd2
'ii'f5 14 f4.
White has a space advantage in
the centre and his pieces are soundly
developed. However, we notice that
the g3-pawn has been undermined
by Black's advance ..h5-h4, and that
. dissolve then White's king could
Black's queen and bishop on h3 are
aggressively placed near White's
king. Therefore, our first impulse is
to look for a way to carry out a direct
attack on White's king.
The attacking moves 14 'ii'bs,
••.
14 lDg4 and 14 lbbs all suggest
••• •••
themselves, but then White can play
1 5 d5, when Black's knight on c6 is
forced away from the centre; it can­
not join in the attack for a long time,
if at all. Also, Black's rooks cannot
be easily brought into the attack.
This means that after the plausible
14 . . . 'ii'h5 15 d5 lDb8, Black is at­
tacking an only slightly weakened
position with queen, knight and
bishop, while his opponent's centre
is still intact, his pieces reasonably
placed and his kingside by no means
devoid of defenders. Therefore, un­
der these circumstances, it is highly
doubtful that a direct attack on the
kingside would work. So we must
think again.
A logical alternative to a directly
attacking move is 14 e6. Then 15
•••
d5 can be answered by 15 ...lDe7, and
the knight remains in a fairly active
position, but it would be difficult to
find a plan after the solid alternative
1 5 .J:lad l . 14 ...e6 is a somewhat de­
fensive move.
It is not only the g-pawn that is
subject to attack. There is a certain
lack of cohesion in White's central
pawn structure. If the centre were to
find itself exposed to pressure along
the a7-g1 diagonal. This reasoning
suggests the move 14 e5!?. Then
•••
we can analyse:
a) 15 dS lDe7 16 fxe5 (if 16 e4,
then 16 ... 'ii'h5 17 fxe5 J.h6 is very
awkward for White) 1 6...lDg4 17
lDf4 lDxe5 with an excellent game
for Black. The knight is beautifully
placed on e5 and White's centre has
started to crumble.

b) 15 f:xe5 dxe5 16 d5 tl:Jg4 ! 17
tllc l (if 17 :n , then White loses
material after 17 . . . .txfl 18 l:r.xfl
'ii'd7 !) 17 ... tl:!d4 ! and the knight en­
ters the attack strongly, since 1 8
exd4 .th6! looks fatal for White.
After any other plausible con­
tinuation, the centre opens. Black's
rooks can then become involved in
the attack. If White loses control of
the d4-square, then he faces ruin.
Therefore, 14 ... e5 seems to suit
the requirements of the position.
In the game Black played the
weaker 14".cxd4? and after 15 tl:Jxd4
followed it up with 15 tl:Jxd4?. This
•••
is a very bad mistake. The exchange
of knights greatly helps White, since
after 16 e:xd4 his bishop now attacks
b7 and the rook attacks e7. Black
should simply have played 15 .. .'•'d7,
when after 16 l:r.ad l White is well
placed in the centre, but some struc­
tural weaknesses remain. 16 hxg3 ••.
17 hxg3 'iVg4. Black still believes he
is attacking. After 17 ...'iVd7 he is
only slightly worse. 18 l:r.e3 e5. Too
late and therefore best avoided !
18 . . . g5 was the last chance to create
complications. 19 d:xe5 d:xe5 29
fxe5 tl:Jd7 21 tl:Jd5 tl:J:xe5 22 l:r.ael.
White's build-up of pieces in an
open centre proves overwhelming.
Now Black has to try 22...f6. Instead
he reached a lost endgame after
22 'iVg5 23 'iVh2! ltlg4 24 ltle7+
•••
'iV:xe7 25 l:r.:xe7 ltl:xh2 26 ..t:xg7
�:xg7 27 �2 l:r.h8 28 �gl! l:r.ad8
Planning in a real game 99
29 ..txb7, and after a few moves he
had to resign.
2. McDonald-Riand, NeucMtel
1993
The initial moves were 1 e4 e5 2 f4
exf4 3 ltlf3 d5 4 exd5 ltlf6 5 .tc4
tl:!xd5 6 0-0 .te6 7 .tb3 .te7 8 d4
g5? (8 . 0-0 is safer) 9 c4 tl:!b6 10 d5
..
(10 tl:!c3! is even better) l O.....tg4 1 1
tl:!c3 tl:J8d7 12 �hl f6?.
This last move is very weak, but
after the alternative 1 2 .0-0, the re­
..
ply 1 3 .tc2, intending 'iVd3 looks
dangerous for Black. This indicates
that the attempt to keep the gambit
pawn with 8 ...d5 has badly damaged
Black's game. Even so, Black should
try 12 ...0-0 or maybe 12 .....th5 !?.
12 ...f6 is bad on many counts.
First, it weakens the diagonal a2-g8.
This means that Black's ...0-0 can al­
ways be answered by d6! followed
by c5, when the bishop on b3, im­
mured by 10 d5, gets its revenge.
Secondly, the e6-square is weak­
ened. White would like to play a
knight to e6 when he would have a
crushing position. If Black stops this
by exchanging his light-squared
bishop for the knight (i.e. .....txf3)
his light squares will be left very
weak. And thirdly, 12 ...f6 deprives
Black's minor pieces of the use of
the f6-square itself.
So we can classify 12 ...f6 as 'a
bad move' and give it a plump ques­
tion mark. However, there is a good
100 Planning in a real game
idea behind it! Black's plan is to
strong-point the e5-square, his pride
in the position, which White has
weakened with his impetuous 10 d5.
If Black has time to play ...lhe5,
. . ..i.d6, .. .'fle7, ...lhbd7 and ... 0-0-0
(or ...0-0) he will have an excellent
game. So White must prepare an at­
tack, since against indecisive play
1 2 . . . f6 will suddenly become virtu­
ous. But what can White do?
13 lhel would plan ltld4 (either
one) but this leads to nothing clear
after 13 ...lhe5 14 lhed4 'fld7, etc.
White cannot break through by
piece-play alone. His c 1-bishop is
restricted by the pawn on f4; his own
pawns obstruct his b3-bishop. The
direct 13 d6 .i.xd6 14 c5 lhxc5 leads
to nothing clear.
The only logical move is 13 h4!. It
is difficult to persuade yourself to
look at such a move, but a moment's
thought soon makes its merits clear.
The threat is to break down Black's
strongpoint on e5 with 14 hxg5.
Black's king would then be exposed
to an attack down the e-flle. If Black
responds with 1 3 ... h6, then 14 'flc2
threatens 'flg6+. Here we see an­
other drawback to 12 ...f6 - the natu­
ral move . . . h6 suddenly becomes
fatally weakening. After the plausi­
ble 1 3 ...h6 14 'ifc2 .i.h5, 15 lhd4 fol­
lows and the knight goes to e6 (note
that 14 'ifc2 is better in this variation
than 14 'fld3, since Black cannot
play 15 ... lhe5, attacking the queen.
Instead, 15 . . .lhe5? would lose to 16
lhe6 followed by 17 lhg7+, winning
a piece.
So 1 3 h4! was best. In the game
White didn't look deeply into the po­
sition and instead played 13 llel?.
Routine centralizing moves of this
type should always be criticized. The
position required a clear plan based
on an examination of its specific fea­
tures. After 13 ...lhes! White saw
that Black was threatening to con­
solidate his position with ... lhbd7,
etc., and so attacked immediately
with 14 cS. This move should be eas­
ily refuted, but in any case White
has a bad game. Probably 14 lhe4
lhbd7 15 i.a4 was the best chance.
14..-.i.xcS?. Black comes to White's
rescue with a bad blunder. Simply
14 ... i.xf3 15 gxf3 .i.xc5 16 lhe4
i.d6! leaves White two pawns down
for nothing in particular. 15 lhxe5
i.xd1 16 lhc6+ � ( 1 6 ...Wd7 was
much more testing) 17 lhxd8 lbd8
18lbd1 and after some more adven­
tures White eventually won with his
material advantage.
3. Todorov-McDonald, Douai 1993
The game began 1 lilf3 lilf6 2 c4 g6
3 b4 i.g7 4 ..tb2 0-0 5 e3 a5 6 b5 cS
7 .i.e2 b6 8 0-0 ..tb7 9 d4 cxd4?!
(9...d6 is better) 10 lhxd4 dS (this
makes matters worse; 10 ...d6, keep­
ing the position closed, is better) 1 1
cxd5 lilxd5 12 lhc3 (12 ..tf3 ! is
much more dangerous, for example

12 . . . e5? 13 ltlc6 winning; 12 . . . l:.a7
would be the best answer) 12 ...ltlxc3
1 3 .i.xc3.
We reach the diagram position.
Both kings are evidently safe from
direct attack, and the pawn structure
is balanced. Black is only one move
from completing his development.
One would therefore at frrst glance
assess the position as completely
equal.
However, we soon notice the
weakness of Black's c6-square. If
White could establish a piece on this
square then it would exert strong
pressure on Black's queenside. And
crucially, such a piece could only be
challenged and exchanged at the cost
of allowing White a strong passed
pawn after the recapture b5xc6.
Black must therefore try to prevent
White from conquering this square.
In the game Black ignored all the
special features and satisfied himself
with the modest developing move
13."lLld7?. Now c6 became weak af­
ter 14 .i.fJ!. Play continued 14 Jr.c8
••
15 l:.cl .i.xfJ 16 1V:xf3 lLleS (Black
now realizes the danger and does his
best to bolster the c6 square) 17 'ii'e4
1Vd6 18 h3 l:.c4 ( 1 8 ...e6 looks better;
then if 1 9 l:.fd 1 , Black replies
1 9 . . . l:.fd8, pinning the knight and
completing his development) 19
.i.al! (now if 19 ... l:.fc8, 20 l:.xc4,
and Black has to either allow a dis­
ruptive check on his back rank after
20 ... l:.xc4 2 1 WaS+, or an awkward
Planning in a real game 101
c-file pin after 20 ...ltlxc4 21 l:.c1 )
1 9 1VcS 20 :Xc4 1Vxc4 2 1 'irb7!
.••
'iVcS 22 lLlc6!. White finally wins
control of the key square. 22. WxbS.
..
Black immediately destroys its
pawn support - therefore, c6 ceases
to be an important square. However,
White calculates that although he
loses the c6-square as an outpost for
his pieces, he receives 'compensa­
tion' in the form of Black's weak­
ened queenside pawns. This is a
typical example of cashing in one
advantage for a more tangible ad­
vantage. And quickly this new ad­
vantage becomes converted into an
even more tangible advantage - an
extra pawn. 23 ltlxe7+ �h8 24 tbd5
hS?. 24 . . . 'ii'd7 is best, when 25
'ii'xd7 ltlxd7 26 .i.xg7+ �xg7 27
l:.c 1 l:.d8 offers reasonable drawing
chances. 25 lLlxb6 �g8 26 1Vc7 and
White eventually won with his extra
pawn.
Returning to the diagram posi­
tion, we should try to find a better
defensive plan for Black. The reader
who has played through the game
continuation above will have noticed
that White's knight on d4 proved un­
assailable. It dominated the centre,
helped White win control of the c­
file and only left the d4-square at the
precise moment it wanted to (22
lLlc6 !). In fact, the d4 square proved
as valuable an outpost as c6 - indeed,
perhaps more valuable, since Black
had no pieces to challenge White's
102 Planning in a real game
d4-square. And yet we cannot really
call d4 an outpost, since one of the
definitions of an outpost is that it
cannot be attacked by enemy
pawns . . . This reasoning should give
as a clue as to what Black should
play. 13 e5! drives the knight from
••.
its wonderful square, since 14 i.f3?
loses after 14 ...exd4 15 .ixb7 :a7.
14 lLlf3 may be the best retreat, but
then Black can follow up with
14 . . .'ii'e7 intending . . . :ds, ...lLld7,
...:ac8, etc., with a perfectly good
game (this is why White should have
played 12 .tf3 rather than 12 lLlc3).
Hence, 1 3 ...e5 ! was the move,
when all Black's problems are over.
Instead, he suffered for the whole
game after the careless 13 ... lLld7.
I repeat: you must look at the posi­
tion in front of you, and not make
perfunctory developing moves just
because they 'look right '.
4. McDonald-Lanka, Douai 1993.
A very confusing position. White
has a slight material advantage - a
rook for a bishop and pawn. How­
ever, his kingside looks very fragile:
the king is exposed to discovered
check along the a8-h1 diagonal, the
black knights have various sacrifi­
cial options (for example, ... lLlf4+,
...lLlh4+ or ...lLlxg3 after relevant
preparation) and Black's rook is well
placed for attack on the f-file.
Black's own king is meanwhile per­
fectly safe. Furthermore, the black
central pawns are very strong and ·
mobile. Should Black fail to win by
direct attack on White's king, then he
can create a passed pawn to give him
at least a draw.
Thus it would all seem to be over
for White. However, he should not
despair!
All his pieces are on more-or-less
useful squares. His kingside, al­
though weak, can only be breached
by a sacrifice. So the win, if there is
one, will require care and accuracy
from the opponent. And as we know,
positions have an inherent defensive
capability. It requires a great supe­
riority to demolish all but the weak­
est of positions. That is why players
often prefer to attack a weak square
or pawn rather than risk an all-out at­
tack.
In the game, White sought to drive
Black's queen from the a8-hl diago­
nal, since he was afraid of a discov­
ered check. However, after 29 :a6?
•cS! Black was suddenly threaten­
ing 30...lLlh4+, when if 3 1 gxh4 then
3 1 ...•xf2+ with mate next move. At
the same time, Black also threatens
30 . . . cxd3 destroying White's centre
because of the attack on c2. So
White had no choice but to give up a
pawn with 30 d4. Black's centre
pawn phalanx then carried the day:
30...exd4 31 •a3 •c8! 32 �gl
•ds 33 �n •gs The completion
.
of an excellent manoeuvre to bring
Black's queen into action against

White's king. 34 :aa �4 35 :xt8+
i.:dB 36 'irf3?. This is a complete
blunder, overlooking Black's reply.
36 1Va8 was the best chance, pinning
the bishop and attacking d5. The at­
tack on d5 proves important in vari­
ations such as 36 ...'irg4 37 �2
1Vb3? 38 gxf4 �4 39 'irxd5+ and
White wins. However, instead of
37...'ii'h3, 37...li)xe2+ probably wins
for Black. In any case, White should
try 36 'ira8. H it loses, so does every­
thing else. 36 d3! 37 exd3 cxd3 38
•••
lbc:e3 lt)d4 39 'irdl i.b4! 40 li)bl
i.xel and Black won easily with his
extra pawns. A fine finish by Lanka.
So what should White have done
in the diagram position? His best
move is very logical yet also very
difficult to find. He should play 29
e4!. This move has many good
points:
a) It blocks the diagonal a8-h1
and so rules out a discovered check.
Hence it achieves what White tried
to achieve in the game with 29 :a6?.
b) It blocks the diagonal a1-h8,
so that Black cannot play ...e4 him­
self and unleash his bishop on g7.
Hence White's queen on a1 will be
safer.
c) It attacks the knight on fS and
forces it to declare its intentions.
Black must either sacrifice the
knight or retreat it; he is given no
time to prepare an attack.
d) Lastly, it prepares to break up
Black's strong pawn centre.
Planning in a real game 103
However, all these positional ad­
vantages in playing 29 e4 count for
nothing at all if the move isn't tacti­
cally sound. So it must be carefully
checked!
Firstly, if Black meets 29 e4 with
29 cxd3? then the reply 30 li)b4
•••
wins a piece. That's simple enough.
Retreats by Black's knight also ap­
pear harmless: 29 li)d6 30 lt)e3 !;
•••
29 lt)d4 30 li)xd4 exd4 3 1 e5!?; or
•••
29 lt)e7? 30 lt)e3 cxd3 31 exdS and
•••
if now 31...li)xd5? then 32 'ira2! and
Black is in great danger because
32...li)f6?! loses to 33 :a6, intend­
ing to play :xf6! after the queen
moves. The critical reply appears to
be 29 dxe4. If 30 :Xc4? then Black
•••
answers 30...'irf6! when the threat of
3 l ...li)h4+ or 3 l ...lt)e3+ (with mate
in two the consequence of capturing
the knight) means that White has no
time to prevent 3 1 ...dxe3. Black
would therefore have a winning po­
sition. It follows that White must an­
swer 29 ...dxe4 with 30 dxe4 when
he has a reasonable position after the
plausible sequence 30...lt)d4 31 'ira2
or maybe 3 1 li)xd4 exd4 32 'ira2
:cs 33 :c1 1rxe4+ 34 �g1 when
White will capture on c4 with an un­
clear position.
So 29 e4 would have saved White.
As the player of White in this game, I
can honestly say I never even consid­
ered this move. I think there is an in­
teresting psychological explanation
for this oversight. which is relevant
104 Planning in a real game
to the whole question of how players
think during a game. White was wor­
ried about the loose position of his
kingside pawn structure, and there­
fore rejected at a subconscious level
any move which would weaken his
pawn structure any further. It is the
subconscious mind which suggests
to the conscious mind which moves
to examine. If this preliminary 'sift­
ing' didn't take place, then the player
would be overwhelmed by the num­
ber of moves he would have to ex­
amine. The stronger player often has
the advantage over the weaker player
in that he wastes less time looking at
'rubbish' variations - he recognizes
what moves deserve attention. After
analysis, i.e. checking, these moves
may prove good or bad, but all would
have had some initial capacity to be
good.
If the player examines too many
variations, he will be wasting time
and energy looking at irrelevant
moves. Sometimes, a beautiful idea
can captivate the player and - al­
though he soon discovers it is un­
playable - he still cannot resist
examining it. And then perhaps he
becomes so excited by his analysis
that he forgets it is unplayable and
plays it anyway !
On the other hand, if there is too
much 'pruning' of variations at a
subconscious level, then the player
may fail to consider an unusual idea:
it is outside the range of what his
intuition considers to be a sensible
possibility - and this unusual idea
may be just what he needs to save his
position.
It is also interesting to consider
the question of good or bad sporting
form in this context. When in bad
form, players speak about 'missing'
things. They miss the opponent's
threat, even if it is staring them in
the face. They simply do not see
things. This bad form may be due to
a variety of causes: for example, the
player may be tired or fed up of
playing chess or distracted by other
concerns. Could it be that in such
situations the subconscious mind
militates against being compelled to
play chess, and refuses to help the
player by suggesting good moves to
him? And could it go even further ­
that is, punish the player by deliber­
ately suggesting bad moves to him
so that he loses?
This may sound far-fetched, but
everyone knows what it is like to be
in good form, when it is impossible
to do anything wrong. Then perhaps
an accident occurs - a piece is care­
lessly blundered, for example, and a
game is lost. The player feels angry
with himself; perhaps he is also
afraid, since he realizes he is not in­
vincible after all. The next day he
plays badly and a second game is
lost. The spell is broken and he stops
being lucky. I repeat: there is more to
chess than rational thought!

5. McDonald-Rotshtein, Val Thor­
ens 1992
White is threatened with 24...1Vxb4.
A discovered check by the black
knight could also prove awkward. So
let's sacrifice the exchange, espe­
cially since it is the strongest move:
24 bxc5! 1Vxa5. But now comes the
real test. Can you resist playing 25
c6? I couldn't in the game, and after
25 .i.c8 26 � .:.b8! 27 �h1
•••
(making the attack on the d6 pawn
real) 27 '1Vb4 28 .i.d3 a5 the posi­
•••
tion was unclear. White managed to
achieve a breakthrough with c5, but
meanwhile Black's own passed
pawn and control of the b-file gave
him adequate counterplay.
25 cxd6! is better and gives White
a winning advantage. White intends
to defend his d6-pawn with 25 �4
so Black's reply is forced: 25 ...11Vc5+
26 �h1 'ifxd6. Now 27 � follows
anyway and if 27 ...11Vb4, then 28
..c2 with the threat of 29 .:.b1 is
very strong. Or if 27.....d8 then 28
lbc5 attacks the bishop and also pre­
pares l'Lle6. The two central passed
pawns give White a crushing advan­
tage.
At a superficial level 25 c6 looks
right since it seems to gain time by
attacking the black bishop. In fact,
25 c6 loses time. Black wants to
move his bishop from b7 so that he
can gain counterplay along the b­
file with his rook. Also, on b7 the
bishop is more exposed than on c8.
Planning in a real game 105
Furthermore, after 25 c6 White had
to spend a long time engineering the
breakthrough with c5 in order to get
his passed pawns moving. Black was
able to use this time to generate
counterplay of his own. After 25
cxd6 White has already achieved the
breakthrough and so Black has no
time to advance his a-pawn or organ­
ize a counter-demonstration on the
b-file. There is no black d-pawn to
hold back White's advance tempo­
rarily.
A very instructive example of
stereotyped thinking.
6. Dorenberg-McDonald, Douai
1992
1 e4 d6 2 d4 g6 3 lbc3 .i.g7 4 f4 l'Llf6
5 l'Llf3 c5 6 .i.b5+ .i.d7 7 e5 l'Llg4 8
e6 .i.xb5 9 exf7+ �d7 10 l'Llg5?! h5
(even better is 10 ...%6) 1 1 ..f3
l'bc6 12 d5 l'Lld4 13 1i'e4 .i.a6 1 4
l'Lle6 l'Llxe6 15 dxe6+ �c8 16 •xg6
and we reach our diagram position.
White has sacrificed a piece to
gain a strong protected passed pawn
on the seventh rank and displace
Black's king. However, we are enti­
tled to be sceptical about the sacri­
fice. Surely it can't be sound? Black
was very sceptical; but his scepti­
cism cost him the game: 16....i.d4?
17 .i.d2 ..fB 18 f5 .i.f'l+ 19 �d1
.i.h4. Here I thought the game was
over. Black threatens both 20... lbes,
winning the queen, and 20...M+.
However, White has a nasty surprise
106 Planning in a real game
waiting: 20 .tf4 lDfl+? (20...b6 is
better) 21 �d2 lbxh1 22 Axh1.
Black has achieved his aim and now
has a whole extra rook. However, his
pieces are either tied up or scattered.
Meanwhile White has a clear plan: to
prepare a breakthrough with f6. I do
not know if Black is now losing or
drawing this position, but it is cer­
tainly very difficult. Black eventu­
ally went down in time-pressure:
22.....dB 23 g3 .tf6 24 lbds .tc4 25
�6 e:xf6 26 l:te1 ..e7 27 b3! .tdS
28 �cl .tc6 29 .tgS! (White finds
a brilliant way to break through)
29.. fxg5 30 f6 ..dB 31 e7 ..aS 32
. in the sector of the board where the
eB..+ �c7 33 ..e7+ �b6 34 ..d3
..xa2 35 ..c3 :tadB 36 b4! and
B lack lost on time in this hopeless
position.
Instead of the dramatic, brilliant
and unsound attempt to refute
White's play with 1 6....td4, Black
should have moved the bishop one
square further along the diagonal:
after the move 16....txc3+! Black
would eliminate the most immedi­
ately threatening white piece. Then
he could improve the position of his
king and eventually hope to seize the
initiative and win the game.
A spectacular attempt to force a
win in a double-edged position is al­
ways dangerous, unless one exam­
ines the position very thoroughly. It
turned out that Black's knight was
much more important than the rook
he won for it.
7. Gallagher-McDonald, Zug 1991
Black's extra pawn on d3 is indefen­
sible, so White will soon restore the
material balance. White will then
have all his pieces more or less ready
for action, while Black still has to
solve the problem of how he is to
bring his rook on h8 into the game.
White will try to organize a break­
through into Black's position before
Black has had time to activate this
undeveloped rook. If such a break­
through can be achieved, then White
will have a clear advantage, since he
will have an advantage in frrepower
main battle will rage .
However, it is by no means obvi­
ous where White can hope to achieve
a breakthrough. The centre of the
board is blocked, so there is no pos­
sibility of a breakthrough there. The
kingside at first glance doesn't seem
any more promising. Black's posi­
tion there is very solid and well de­
fended and, besides, action on the
kingside may give a role to the rook
on h8, when White wishes to prove it
is badly placed. However, should
Black weaken his pawn structure
on the kingside in order to bring out
his rook (for example, with ...h6 and
... g6 followed by ...�g7) or if Black
should move away his defensive
pieces, then an attack would prove
feasible. The third possibility of a
breakthrough is on the queenside.
This would involve forcing through

the advance c4. However, the c4
square is already defended by three
black units (queen, rook and pawn)
and if White puts intense pressure on
the c-file - for instance by doubling
rooks on c2 and cl - then further 're­
inforcements' can be brought up to
cover c4: a knight can be stationed
on a5 . So the possibility of a c4
breakthrough also looks remote. So
what can White do?
The reader may have noticed a
'clue' to White's correct strategy in
the above reasoning. An attack on
the kingside won't work because it is
well defended; an attack on the
queenside can be stymied by Black
putting his knight on a5. But what if
White attacks on both the kingside
and queenside? Black must then
either move his knight to a5, in
which case his kingside loses a de­
fender and becomes more vulner­
able; or he must leave his knights on
the kingside when the c4-square
has one less defender and a white
breakthrough with c4 would become
much more plausible. This was
White's strategy in the game, which
continued as follows: 17 ltlc6 18
•••
o!ilxdJ � (Black has played his
knight immediately to a5, but now
the kingside is more vulnerable) 19
ltlf4 Wc6 20 b4! �e8 (Black finds
he has no good plan, since if he tries
to bring his rook on h8 into the game
with ...g6 and ...�g7 he will create a
serious dark-square weakness in his
Planning in a real game 107
kingside) 21 �5 ltg8 22 'li'g3! (all
the same Black is obliged to weaken
his kingside) 22 g6 23 ltlr4 �d8 24
•••
o!ilb3 (now the threat of 25 ltlg5 com­
pels Black to weaken his dark
squares further) 24 b5 25 Wf3 �e8
•••
26 a4 Wc4 27 :aJ ltlc6?. The begin­
ning of a losing manoeuvre. As long
as the knight is on a5 the queenside
is relatively safe. Although miser­
able, 27 ...o!ilf8 should be played.
White would still have to fmd a way
to break through. 28 i.g5 ltle7?. It
was still not too late to return to a5 .
The knight h as returned for the com­
fort of the king, but it is immediately
eliminated. 29 ltb4 •c6 30 i.xe7
(now Black's strategically vital
knight vanishes and there is no way
to prevent an eventual c4 break­
through) 30 he7 31 ltlg5 ltgf8 32
.••
We3 aS (desperation; if Black does
nothing then White can combine
ideas of o!ilh7 and 1i'g5+ with a
queenside breakthrough) 33 ltb5
�dB 34 M �c7 35 c41 (the long­
awaited advance) 3S dxc4 36 l0dl
•••
�b7 37 ltcJ (now White regains the
pawn he has temporarily sacrificed
and wins by direct attack on Black's
fugitive king) 37 �a6 38 :Xc4
•.•
'ii'a8 39 'li'd3 ltxc4 (39 ...�a7 was
the last chance to fish in troubled
waters) 40 ltlxc4 Wc6 41 ltlxb61 (a
pleasant finishing combination)
41 'ii'cl+ 42 �b2 •r4+ 43 g3! and
•••
Black resigned since 43 ...'1i'xf2+ 44
�h3 ltlxb6 45 ltb2+ wins the queen.
108 Planning in a real game
A convincing display by White.
However, Black's play was very sus­
pect, beginning with his first move:
17 ... li::x:,6. The idea is commendable:
Black wants to make sure White
never achieves the c4 breakthrough.
However, the knight was needed for
defence on the kingside. Did you no­
tice how useless Black's knight on
d7 proved in the game continuation?
It didn't make a single move: virtu­
ally all the squares to which it could
move (b6, c5, e5 and f6) were either
blocked or attacked. Nor did it do
much from the d7-square to prevent
White's attack. The knight on e7, on
the other hand, would have been well
placed to fend of White's attack. So
what a pity it is that one of the
knights is needed for two functions,
while the other knight has no func­
tion at all!
Actually, this is not true, since
Black could have used the knight on
d7 to cover c4: 17...ll'lb8! would be­
gin a manoeuvre via c6 to a5. The
useless knight would find an impor­
tant strategic function, and the other
knight would remain to bolster the
kingside. A possible continuation
would be 18 ll'lxd3 ll'lbc6 ( 1 8 .. Ji'd7
may be better, but I wish to demon­
strate what happens if White is al­
lowed to adopt the same plan as
occurred in the game) 19 ll'lf4 �e8
20 ll'lbS :g8. Black is now ready to
evacuate his king with 2 1 ...�d7,
when the f7 pawn is immune. And if
White tries 22 •g4, then 22 �d7!
.••
follows anyway (but not 22...ll'lf5 23
ll'lf6+) and since 23 ll'lxg7? loses a
piece after 23 . . .ll'lf5, Black is not
obliged to weaken his pawns. This is
a vital difference which shows the
superiority of having a knight on d7
rather than e7.
Hence 17 ...ll'lb8 ! was the only
correct move.
8. McDonald-Berg Hansen, Arhus
1990
The game started 1 e4 c5 2 ffi d6 3
d4 cxd4 4 ll'lxd4 ll'lf6 5 ll'lc3 g6 6
i.e3 i.g7 7 f3 ll'lc6 8 'ifd2 0-0 9
0-0-0 d5 10 exd5 ll'lxd5 1 1 ll'lxc6
bxc6 12 .td4 e5 1 3 .tc5 i.e6 14
ll'le4 :es 15 h4 h6 16 g4 ll'lf4 1 7
'it'c3 i.d5 18 'ifa3 'it'c7 19 g 5 .txe4
20 fxe4 hxg5 21 hxgS i.f8 22 .tc4
i.xcS 23 'ii'xc5 :adS.
This is a Dragon where Black has
voluntarily opened the h-file and ex­
changed off the dark-squared bish­
ops. His reasoning is as follows: "I
will give White an isolated pawn on
g5 and exchange off pieces down the
d-file. I will also challenge White's
queen with ... 'itb6! when, since a re-
treat allows ...'ife3+ dominating the
position, White must exchange
queens with 'it'xb6. Then after the re­
capture . . . axb6 my pawn structure
will be improved. I will then have an
excellent endgame position." This is
exactly what happened in the game.
Play continued 24 c3 �g7 25 b4

(White sees no way to prevent
Black's next move, and so prepares
immediately for the endgame)
25 ... 'ifb6! 26 'ii'xb6 axb6 27 a4
:xd1+ 28 �xd1 (White was afraid
of 28 ...�h3 in reply to the natural 28
:Xdl ; his kingside would then seem
to be collapsing faster than Black's
queenside) 28 :as 29 .i.b3 c5 30
••.
:b2 :a7 31 :d2 (at last White feels
it is time to jettison the kingside)
31 ... �h3 32 :d6 �xg5 33 :xb6
�xe4 34 �c2 cxb4 35 cxb4 g5 36
a5 and the race between the oppos­
ing pawn armies ended in a tie:
36...g4 37 .i.d5 lbr6 38 .i.g2 e4 39
:d6 e3 40 a6 lDes 41 :d4 (if 4 1
:c6, then 4 l ...f5 is unclear; the ac­
tual move played acquiesces to a
draw) 41 ... :xa6 42 :xg4+ �6 43
b5 hl+ 44 �d3 :aJ+ 45 �e2 l0d6
46 b6 :b3 and a draw was agreed. It
is possible that improvements can
be found for both sides in this end­
game, but for practical purposes it
must be described as 'dynamically
balanced' - unless of course one of
the players is a Pentium computer!
We return to the diagram position.
Black succeeded in justifying his
plan, but some questions must be
raised about his strategy. Wasn't it
highly risky to open the h-fLle and
then exchange the bishop on g7?
After all, this is a Sicilian Dragon!
Couldn't White have somehow
launched a kingside attack, without
allowing the exchange of queens?
Planning in a real game 109
The answer is 'yes' - always as­
suming that White plays correctly.
His bishop on c4, queen on c5 and
rook on h l are all poised for the at­
tack. In the game, White was at­
tracted by the possibility of a .i. xf7
sacrifice. This, however, would not
work immediately, since after 24
:Xd8 :Xd8 (not 24...'iWxd8 25 'ii'xa7
attacking f7) 25 .i.xf7+ �xf7 ! (if
25 ... 'ifxf7, then 26 'ifxe5, though
even here Black has a defence based
on White's vulnerable back rank:
26 ... 'ii'h7 !) 26 :b7+ �g8 27 :xc7
White is suddenly mated on the back
rank after 27 ...�e2+. However, if
Black didn't have this mating possi­
bility then he would be lost. So
White saw that if he made an escape
square for his king before making
the combination, then J.xf7 would
be a strong threat. After 24 c3 he
calculated the variation 24...�g7 25
:xd8 :xd8 26 J.xf7 winning at
once after both 26 ... �xf7 27 :b7+
and 26...'ifxf7 27 'iWxe5+. However,
White had missed that Black is by
no means obliged to capture the
bishop: he can play 26....�3+ !
forking White's king and queen. Ob­
viously, the fact that the d3-square
was covered three times by white
pieces in the initial position
blinded White to any danger of a
fork. White only saw the possibility
of a fork after 24 ...�g7 ! . By then it
was too late to avoid an endgame af­
ter 25 ...'iWb6.
110 Planning in a real game
White moved the wrong pawn;
24 b3!! was correct. This move de­
serves two exclamation marks since
it would have turned the course of
the game. Now d3 remains covered
by a pawn, and a hole is made for
White's king, so if 24."�g7 then 25
l:xd8 l:xd8 26 .i.. xf7 ! really does
win. Black has no good continu­
ation, e.g. 24".1ib6 25 l:xd8! 'ii'xc5
26 l:xe8+ �g7 27 l:hh8 'ii'e3+ 28
�b2 'ii'd4+ 29 �a3 'ii'c5+ 30 �a4
and White will mate. Black's best
continuation seems to be 24...lhdl+
25 lhdl lbe6! (and not 25 ... 'ii'e7 26
'ii'xc6) 26 'ifd6 l:d8 (not 26...'ii'xd6
27 l:xd6 llJxg5? 27 l:xg6+) 27
'ii'xc7 l:xdl+ 28 �xdl tt:.xc7 when
White 'only' has a good endgame.
So 24 b3 is good for White, while
24 c3 is at best 'unclear' . White
partly rejected 24 b3 since 'holes'
appear at a3 and c3 - but they are of
course entirely irrelevant! However,
the main fault was overlooking the
fork on d3.
This game demonstrates how ac­
curate you must be. You must try to
pinpoint the errors in your oppo­
nent's plan and then carefully de­
cide how to exploit them. No one
makes a wholly bad plan. In fact,
all strong players choose plans
which they think are promising, but
which occasionally fail for an un­
foreseen tactical or strategic reason.
They underestimate the strength of
the opponent's counterplay, or the
power of a disrupting sacrifice, or
play 'good' moves which fail to a
tactical 'shot'.
That is why many apparently ex­
cellent strategians and tacticians
come to grief against Karpov and
Kasparov. Other top class players
make errors which are almost imper­
ceptible to the rest of us, but which a
World Champion knows exactly how
to exploit. It there is any drawback to
an otherwise excellent deployment
of pieces, a World Champion will hit
on the right plan to benefit from it.
And he will play moves that are tac­
tically accurate and keep the oppo­
nent from correcting the espied fault
in his camp - unless this fault can be
converted into another fault.
Of course, this is an ideal for a
World Champion. No one has abso­
lute mastery of chess. However, I am
sure that if Karpov had played this
position instead of the author he
would have found 24 b3 1 ! - and
when playing through an imagi­
nary Karpov-Berg Hansen game the
reader would have passed over the
move 24 b3 without a second glance,
while he would have marvelled at the
cleverness of a subsequent 26 .i..xf7 .
Often the most difficult moves at­
tract the least attention when looking
from the 'outside' .
Conclusion
There are many general precepts in
chess. In the opening, these include
'develop your pieces rapidly' , 'cas­
tle kingside as soon as possible' and
'don't play more than two pawn
moves (i.e. 1 d4 and 2 e4 or vice
versa) before development has been
completed' . Let's examine the three
rules cited here.
a) 'Develop your pieces rapidly '.
Advantages. The modem rules in
chess were introduced around the
year 1480. Looking through the
games of Morphy, it seems that the
average-to-strong player of the
1 850s often failed to appreciate the
importance of a quick mobilization
of the pieces. So if it took chess play­
ers nearly 400 years to comprehend
the importance offastdevelopment,
the beginner is doing well if he
learns this in his first lesson!
Disadvantages. What does the
beginner think of this rule when he
sees that Kasparov allows himself to
open as Black 1 e4 c5 2 lDf3 d6 3 d4
cxd4 4 lDxd4 lDf6 5 lDc3 a6 6 i.g5
e6 7 f4 1Wb6 8 Wd2 Wxb2 in a World
Championship match against Short ?
b) 'Castle kingside as soon as
possible '.
Advantages. The king is signifi­
cantly safer on the wing than in the
centre. This is a fact not always ap­
preciated by the beginner, who will
save himself from many a disaster by
following this advice.
Disadvantages. A tempo spent
castling kingside may squander the
chance to carry out a more forceful
manoeuvre. Or there may be the
chance to castle queenside and then
launch an attack on the opponent's
king which has castled kingside.
Pillsbury's advice is worth quoting:
'castle because you must or because
you want to, never just because you
can'.
c) 'Don 't play more than two
pawn moves in the opening '.
Advantages. This is a variation
on the advice to develop rapidly. Be­
ginners often play thoughtless pawn
moves such 1 f3? or 1 h3? or else
make five or six pawn moves in the
opening, before summoning up the
confidence to attempt a more 'diffi­
cult' move. So the advice to play just
two pawn moves certainly intro­
duces discipline to a beginner's
openings.
Disadvantages. Pawns are the
building blocks of any position, and
112 Conclusion
often it is a bad idea to obstruct them
by developing the pieces too rapidly.
The best example is after 1 d4 dS,
when the developing 2 ltlc3 ob­
structs the c-pawn which could oth­
erwise instigate a positional attack
on dS after 2 c4.
So much for the infallibility of
rules in the opening. The same doubt
can be cast on rules in the endgame
such as 'a rook is best placed on the
seventh rank', 'a queenside pawn
majority is an advantage in the end­
game', and 'a passed pawn increases
in value as the number of pieces di­
minishes' .
In fact, every positional rule can
be placed under the same scrutiny,
and not one will escape with its vir­
tue intact. Chess is too complicated
to be bound by a few straightforward
rules.
The conclusion is unavoidable.
Rules and precepts are valuable and
any ambitious player must assimi­
late all the positional laws, and make
them part of his chess intuition. But
then he must 'forget' them at a con­
scious level and look closely without
any prejudice at the position in front
of him. It is the specific features of
the position, evaluated and checked
by reasoning and calculation, which
the player must attempt to compre­
hend. Only then will he truly under­
stand chess.
 THINK LIKE A C H ESS M ASTE R

P LAN N I N G
The a b i l ity to form good p l a n s is o n e of the key
aspects of chess mastery. It is o n ly by fo rming a
coh erent plan that b ri l l ia n t sacrifices a n d fien dish
cou nte ratta cks can be devised.

M a ny players can obta i n good positi o n s from the

o p e n i n g ; d o they a lways know what to d o next?
studyi n g this book wi l l h e l p players of a l l sta n d a rd s
t o th i n k m o re c l e a r l y a bout w h a t is important i n
t h e i r g a m e s a n d t h u s p l a n m o re successful ly.

'Th i n k Like a Chess Master· is a new series of books

for those relatively new to competitive ch ess,
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I nternati o n a l M a ster Neil McDonald is an

experienced p l ayer, having gai ned a 2495 rati n g
w h i l e sti l l a teenager. H e has recently i nflicted
defeats o n wo r l d C h a m pionship cand idates Va l e ry
Sa l ov a n d Sergey Tiviakov a n d won the first three
Baroque I nternational to u rnaments i n London. H i s
· first book f o r Batsford, Winning With the
'
Katashnikov, wa s p u b l ished in 1 995.
Oth e r Batsford books for the aspiring chess player:

Gambits Pawn Power

Gra ham Burgess Angus Dun nington
Piece Power Opening Play
Peter wens C h ris ward

- - - - -�-•
--•....... &; ....., ,...� t-Moc.o

ISBN 0 -7
7!

111
9 7807 1 �
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