Supreme Chess

Understanding

Statics & Dynamics

Wojciech Moranda

Thinkers Publishing 2023

www.thinkerspublishing.com
First edition 2023 by Thinkers Publishing
Copyright © 2023 Wojciech Moranda

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means including but not limited to: electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.
All sales or enquiries should be directed to Thinkers Publishing, 9850 Landegem, Belgium.

Email: info@thinkerspublishing.com
Website: www.thinkerspublishing.com

Managing Editor: Adrien Demuth

Assistant Editor: Daniël Vanheirzeele

Proofreading: Bob Holliman

Software: Hub van de Laar

Cover Design: Driedee Plus

Graphic Artist: Driedee Plus

Production: BESTinGraphics

ISBN: 9789464201710

D/2023/13732/2
 Key to Symbols

! a good move ² White stands slightly better

? a weak move ³ Black stands slightly better
!! an excellent move ± White has a serious advantage
?? a blunder µ Black has a serious advantage
!? an interesting move +– White has a decisive advantage
?! a dubious move –+ Black has a decisive advantage
™ only move ‚ with an attack
N novelty ƒ with initiative
‰ lead in development „ with counterplay
ʘ zugzwang … with the idea of
= equality ¹ better is
∞ unclear position ≤ worse is
with compensation for the sacrificed + check
©
material # mate
 Table of Contents

Key to Symbols 4
Introduction 6

Chapter 1 – Bedtime solving for kids... with 10 years of experience 16

Solutions 21

Chapter 2 – Buy this book, they said. It will be fun, they said 72
Solutions 77

Chapter 3 – Even MC can’t touch these 126

Solutions 131
 Introduction

I. Statics & Dynamics

1. General remarks

Statics and dynamics in chess are mostly contradictory phenomena – like Yin and Yang or the
masculine and feminine elements. At first glance, they appear to be the antitheses of each other.
However, this is only partially true as statics and dynamics are more intertwined than one might
initially suspect.

To speak of things ‘static’ in chess means everything that is stable and subject to changes only under
use of a considerable amount of force. Enjoying a static edge usually implies that – if nothing changes
– this type of an advantage is going to allow us to bring the full point home without any undue
adventures. Typical examples of static advantages involve a material edge, a healthy pawn-structure
or the bishop-pair. One way of recognizing that you are doing really well in static terms is that you
find yourself in control of the position with simple non-forcing play being fully sufficient to achieve
further objectives.

By comparison, ‘dynamics’ take place when the balance on the board is disturbed. The nature of a
dynamic edge tends to be more ephemeral – it can be raging at a given moment only to completely
disappear two moves later if mishandled. Some classic signs of great dynamic standing include
material imbalances in return for compensation, powerful pawn-levers, or a significant lead in
development. Compared to static factors, dynamic ones tend to come to fore mostly in open
positions featuring stronger tendencies towards forced play.

However, the above distinctions are by no means exclusive. There are elements present in the game
of chess that can be either static or dynamic in nature such as the initiative. Even more interesting is
the opportunity to use static advantages to obtain a dynamic edge or vice-versa. In other words,
these two elements complement each other more than one might first believe.

Being exposed to positions rich in both strategic and tactical possibilities allows us to obtain a skill
which I personally call ‘static/dynamic balance’, that is the ability to comprehend what kind of action
does a position call for under the given set of circumstances. For example, if our opponent has a
strategically superior position (due to a smaller number of pawn-weaknesses in his camp), you would
usually be advised to ‘wiggle’, that is to destabilize the position by seeking tactical/dynamic
opportunities. However, when finding yourself under dynamic pressure (under attack or when the
opponent has the initiative), the best way of countering this will be to drain the activity out of the
opponent’s position. If successful, whatever remains on the battlefield afterwards should favor us,
especially if the situation was positionally advantageous for us from the start.

6
The ability to always know whether to attack or defend, to sharpen up play, or to carry on in a calmer
fashion sounds like an invaluable skill for any chess player. It is no wonder that many have already
tried to work out some sort of universal formula in this regard, most often in the form of a checklist
to go through as they analyze during the game. The problem with formulas, however, is that the
weighting of the ingredients comprising it varies depending on the situation on the board. And it is
exactly the prowess in determining the gravity of the respective elements of the position in question
that decides about our strength in this respect. Do not get me wrong, I do not wish to discredit
anybody’s previous work on this topic. Over the course of your work with this book we will also be
trying to establish some guidelines for handling double-edged positions. Then again, I do want to
emphasize that any universal formula – however useful it might seem – needs to be applied with a
grain of salt. As experience has taught me many times already, in the area of statics and dynamics
there are at least as many rules as there are exceptions.

Just for the sake of clarity before we move on: terms like ‘statics and dynamics’ as well as ‘strategy
and tactics’ may be used interchangeably over the further course of this book. This does not mean
that these phrases cover each other perfectly. As much as static play will often be strategic (or
positional) in nature, dynamic handling of the position might (but does not necessarily have to) imply
the emergence of tactical motifs afterwards. In general, however, static/dynamic action shall most
frequently represent the ‘framework’ for strategic/tactical events taking place on the board, and as
such will therefore be often used in a similar context later on.

2. Influence of the static/dynamic balance on one’s playing style

But enough of this theoretical tittle-tattle already! Let us get down to business by witnessing what
kind of skills will you have the chance to acquire after working through this book in an honest and
diligent manner. Introducing perfect static/dynamic balance into your playing style shall make a true
‘person of chess culture’ out of you thus granting you a serious edge over your competition. Below
you will find a short description of those abilities together with examples demonstrating their
application in a practical game.

a. Ideal understanding of the concepts of time, material, and coordination.

The game of chess revolves around three elements: material, time, and coordination. If you happen
to possess all of these elements in a single game (or an advantage in this respect against the
opponent), you should inevitably be winning. Yet on a higher level you barely get a chance to obtain
two out of the three items mentioned above. To possess, for example, a material edge as well as nice
coordination should generally suffice to bring the story to a happy end even if your opponent will
make use of every opportunity at their disposal to throw a spanner into your works.

However, there will be situations in which you will be in possession of just one of those three
elements, and you will still need to make a living out of that in a given game. For example, in a gambit
you may grab some material, but your opponent is going to be enjoying an initiative (time) while you
struggle to restore the organization of your forces (coordination). We will also extensively discuss
those so-called ‘time-stops’, i.e. moments in which your opponent happens to own both material and

7
time, being however unable to profit from them in view of the excellent coordination of your forces.
These situations are extremely difficult to handle in practice as they clearly escape the basic principles
of playing chess.

Have a look at the example next page.

Moranda, W. (2636)
Bilguun, S. (2463)
Chennai IND 2022

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bd3 g6 7.f3 Bg7 8.Be3 h5 9.Qd2 Nbd7 10.0-0
h4 11.a4 Ne5 12.Be2 Bd7 13.Nd5 Rc8 14.b3 e6 15.Nxf6+ Bxf6 16.f4 Nc6 17.Rad1 Qa5 18.Nf3
Qxd2 19.Rxd2 Nb4 20.Bd1 d5

21.Ne5!

I analyzed the consequences of this move for about twenty minutes and rejected it at the very last
moment because I was not entirely sure whether I would be able to contain the opponent’s ‘wiggling’
attempts once the dust settles. In other words – I started seeing ghosts. As we shall soon see there
was no reason to be concerned about the correctness of this domination-based concept.

Instead, upon seeing that my colleagues were doing well in their games, I let myself be carried by the
team once again and steered my own encounter towards a peaceful result after 21.exd5?! Nxd5
22.Bd4 Bxd4+ 23.Nxd4 b5=.

21...Bxe5 22.fxe5 dxe4 23.Bg5!+–

Black just happens to be close to being completely paralyzed here. Castling is out of the question
which leaves his rooks disconnected for good. Simultaneously, the inability to contest the d-file or
the dark squares in their entirety allows him to resort exclusively to some ...h4-h3 or ...e4-e3 tricks.
Funny enough, in an attempt to prevent the arrival of the black knight to d5, White could actually
allow it to come to d3 instead after c2-c4, as the knight would have proven to be far less stable there,
subjected to simple attacks like Bd1-e2. In this final position, Black has more material and actually
quite a lot of time available to shuffle his pieces back and forth, but the most important factor here,
coordination, is clearly in White’s hands.

8
 b. Preference for positional elements over material

Another typical feature of persons of chess culture is that they do not treat material as a goal, but
rather as means to an end. In other words, they do not hesitate to part with material if this is expected
to benefit their cause. Simultaneously, this translates not only to extensive use of sacrifices for
strategic purposes, but for enhancing the ‘flow’ of play as well. For example, if confronted with the
choice between defending a passive position of equal material or rather dictating the pace of the
game at the price of a tiny pawn, you would be advised to pick the latter. This way the practical aspect
of the game once again comes to fore as active/attacking positions are typically easier to handle than
passive/defensive ones. The reason for this is that the quality of the moves of both players is nearly
always influenced positively/negatively by how easy/hard their situations are to handle for a human
sitting at the board.

Teclaf, P. (2537)
Mis, M. (2388)
Przeworsk POL 2022

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.h3 g6 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.Qc2 Qc7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Re1
Nd7 11.Be3 f6 12.Qb3 Nb6 13.a4 Be6 14.Bf4 Qd7 15.Nbd2 Bf7 16.a5 Nc8 17.c4 e6 18.a6 b6
19.cxd5 exd5 20.Qa3 Rd8 21.Rac1 Nd6 22.Qxd6 Qxd6 23.Bxd6 Rxd6 24.Bb5 Nd8 25.Nb1 Bf8
26.Ba4 Ne6 27.Na3

27...b5!

A crucial, practical decision. For the price of a tiny pawn Black frees his d6-rook and even makes sure
that it will be White who will need to be careful about the ensuing play along the b-file.

A) Instead, in the game my former student Mieszko went for the passive 27...Rad8? which could have
led to complete paralysis of his forces if only my current student Paweł had decided to go for
something like 28.Nb5 R6d7 29.Rc6 Re7 30.Kf1 Kg7 31.h4 h5 32.g3 Kh7 33.Re3!+– when the
remaining white knight joins the fight via e1-d3-b4 with a decisive effect.

B) The engines claim that White has an initiative after 27...Nf4 28.Nb5 Nd3 29.Nxd6 Bxd6 30.Rc6
Nxe1 31.Rxd6 Nxf3+ 32.gxf3 Kf8! 33.f4ƒ. Black would have indeed had nice chances of survival. The
question is however whether it makes sense to go for a position like this at all. The probability of
Black winning this is probably close to zero, while the white d6-rook will keep on threatening each of

9
the black structural weaknesses on a7, d5 and f6. One could say that it is heavily a matter of taste
which of the two reasonable and equal continuations Black should choose to opt for, but for me, if
something is impractical and difficult to manage in an over-the-board game, it is no longer a viable
solution.

28.Bxb5 Rb6 29.Bf1 Rab8=

With the b2-pawn falling very soon it would have been White who would already need to start
thinking about solving the problem of his offside knight on a3.

c. Dynamic defense as the default method of tackling attacks

The inclination of truly strong players for activity translates more or less automatically into the
manner of how they behave in defensive situations. No surprises here as natural-born attackers never
like to defend and if they have to they will be trying to do it in the least cumbersome of ways. But
there is a deeper point to that than one might initially think. When defending, it does indeed make
sense to do it dynamically (by use of tactical motifs), but rather for economic reasons. What I wish to
say is that dynamic defending will most often involve the use of the least resources possible in the
pursuit of safety. If you can hold off the opponent’s attack by employing two pieces of yours instead
of five – that is awesome! In the meantime, you can make use of the remaining forces to generate
some activity yourself. If you are able to defend without really defending – that can only be better!
Use the time that you saved this way for other purposes.

Kosakowski, J. (2437)
Jumabayev, R. (2631)
Warsaw POL 2021

1.Nf3 c5 2.e4 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Nxd7 5.0-0 Ngf6 6.Re1 e6 7.c3 Be7 8.d4 0-0 9.Nbd2 Rc8
10.e5 Ne8 11.Ne4 cxd4 12.cxd4 Nb6 13.Qe2 Nd5 14.a3 Rc6 15.g3 h6 16.h4 Qc7 17.Kg2 Rc2
18.Qd1 Rc4 19.Qd3 Qc6 20.Bd2 b5 21.Rac1 Qa6 22.h5 Nec7 23.exd6 Bxd6 24.Ne5 Bxe5 25.dxe5
Rd8 26.Nd6

26...Ne8!

Well played by Jumabayev! There was no need to defend the rook as the knight capture on c4 would
have been countered by the discovered double-attack ...Nf4+. Capturing twice with the heavy pieces
fails tactically as well (...Rd8xd6!), so White will need to give up a pawn on d6 for free.

10
A) Neither 26...Rxc1? 27.Rxc1 Qb6 28.Qc2± nor

B) 26...Rc6? 27.Qf3 Rf8 28.Ne4 Rxc1 29.Rxc1 Qb6 30.Qg4± would have granted Black equal chances.
In either case, White’s pieces remain more active, constantly giving the opponent something to think
about on one of the flanks.

27.Rxc4 bxc4 28.Qe4 Nxd6 29.exd6

and now after the most accurate

29...Qxd6!–+

Black could have sealed the deal as capturing on c4 is a no-no in view of the ...Nd5-b6 discovery.

d. Proper understanding of the relationship between pawns and pieces

Some say that the existence of a reasonable plan depends on the availability of a working pawn-lever.
As much as this statement is true and false at the same time, I prefer to paraphrase it by stating: in
chess the pawns and pieces significantly influence each other’s capabilities. A healthy structure can
provide pieces with excellent outposts, while a crippled one shall frequently reduce their efficacy.
The same goes for pawn-levers. A well-executed breakthrough may breathe new life into our forces,
whereas an ill-timed one may debilitate even the strongest of our pieces. Also, in this context hurting
the coordination of the opponent’s pieces by wrecking their structure often comes in handy as well.
All this sounds far from cutting-edge, but then again, would you be so eager to do the same but in
reverse? That is to spoil one of the elements of your own position in order to improve another one?
More specifically, would your hand not tremble before damaging your own structure for the sake
activating the pieces?

Naum 4.6 (3048)

Vajolet2 2.2.15 (2978)
TCEC 2016

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 g6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Bf4 0-0 9.Qb3 Nh5 10.Be3
b6 11.Re1 Bb7 12.a4 Qc7 13.Na3 e6 14.Nb5 Qd7 15.Qd1 a6 16.Na3 Rac8 17.Nc2 Qc7 18.Qe2 Ra8
19.g3 Rfc8

11
20.Nb4!

An exquisite move by the machine! White could have retained a small plus by slowly maneuvering
his light pieces towards the kingside, but this solution forces Black to go for

20...Nxb4 21.cxb4

Where an amateur might see that White’s structure has been badly compromised, but an aspiring
player will surely appreciate new possibilities connected with the opening up of the c-file. The game
continued

21...Qe7 22.b5

when Black faced another dilemma. Pushing through with ...a6-a5 would have given White the
possibility to establish a powerful knight on c6 with Nf3-e5, whereas

22...axb5 23.axb5!±

gives the white rooks additional avenues to infiltrate the opponent’s camp one day. Weaker players
are going to perceive White’s doubled b-pawns as some sort of an inferiority, but those stronger ones
enjoy the manner in which the b5-pawn contributes to restricting the opponent’s light-squared
bishop. Furthermore, one day the said pawn may become an even bigger asset should the black b6-
pawn fall for any reason. Later on, Naum stepped up the pace by creating threats on the kingside
which eventually made Vajolet’s circuits blow out.

e. An open-minded approach to acknowledged chess principles

The role of basic principles in chess is clear – to guide us on the path to finding the correct solution
in any situation. Maxims like ‘Open up the position if ahead in development’ or ‘Bishops are better
than knights in endgames featuring pawns on both wings’ have admittedly served us well over the
course of our chess careers. Unfortunately, there are two fundamental issues with following similar
rules blindly. First, these tend to change over time, even if they are of strategic character. For instance,
Aron Nimzowitsch advised in ‘My System’ to attack the base of the pawn-chain, whereas nowadays
we know that the pawn-chain should be attacked basically wherever it is most vulnerable. The second
one however is of greater importance for the tournament player – it is simply that every single rule
has exceptions or caveats. I will dare to say even more – in chess there are more exceptions than
there are rules. And if there are more exceptions than there are rules, the chaotic nature of such an
environment will require us to remain in a state of constant alertness, being ready to bend (or even
break!) some of them in case of need. Finally, acting in contradiction to even a well-established rule
may be needed to give preference to another, more important one in the given situation, or maybe
just because such an action would work fine from a tactical perspective.

Sethuraman, S. (2623)
Delgado Ramirez, N. (2614)
Chennai IND 2022

12
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.c4 Nf6 7.N1c3 a6 8.Na3 g6 9.Nc2 Bg7 10.Bd3
Be6 11.0-0 Rc8 12.b3 Nd7 13.Be3 Nd4 14.Ne2 Nc6 15.Qd2 Nc5 16.Nc3 f5 17.exf5 gxf5 18.Bh6
Rg8 19.Bxg7 Rxg7 20.f4

20...d5!

Crazy stuff! By playing like this Black opens up the position while his king is still stranded in the middle
of the board. To make things even more ridiculous, just a moment ago his opponent undermined
Black’s pawn-center with f2-f4, which is yet another reason not to further blow up the center in such
a situation. The funny part about all this is that despite violating at least two basic chess principles,
the text move does in fact grant Black a big advantage!

Instead, Delgado Ramirez went for 20...exf4? and now after the precise 21.Rxf4 Qg5 22.Bf1 Ne5
23.Nd4 Bd7 24.Rd1+– White could have obtained a winning strategic edge, based on Black’s
structural weaknesses in the center as well as his misplaced king.

21.Bxf5

This sacrifice is forced, otherwise the combined pressure of Black along the d- and g-files would have
led to even heavier material losses for White. Now after:

21...Bxf5 22.Nxd5 Ne7 23.Nce3 Bd3 24.fxe5!? Bxf1 25.Rxf1 Rf7µ

Black would need to continue playing accurately in order to be able to bring the full point home, but
his advantage would have never been in doubt.

II. Construction of the book

Anyone who trained with my first book ‘Universal Chess Training’ (hereafter “UCT”) will experience
a certain déjà vu feeling while going through this work. This is because – in view of the
overwhelmingly positive responses from the readership – I decided that some constructional
elements of UCT are going to be implemented into ‘Supreme Chess Understanding: Statics &
Dynamics’ (hereafter “S&D”) as well.

13
What remains the same is certainly the endeavor to present you with the most original content,
based predominantly on games from the years 2020-2022. It is my utmost belief that any author who
is seriously interested in helping others excel at chess should treat enriching the public domain with
genuinely new training material as a priority. And yes – paraphrasing the unforgettable Michael
Fassbender from the movie ‘Inglorious Basterds’ – there is a special rung in hell for authors who
shamelessly keep on repeating the same, well-known examples in their books over and over again.

Secondly, you will also notice that most of the puzzles rely on moments when one of the players
missed a golden opportunity. Such exercises carry much more value in my opinion as they allow you
to be challenged to find the answer while trying to understand what flawed thinking patterns led a
strong player to commit a mistake. Additionally, if a grandmaster goes wrong in a certain position,
for me this is a sign that there might be something instructive hidden deep in it that is worth closer
investigation.

Some other rules that I abided by when working on UCT remain unchanged. You will witness plenty
of chess beauty, but never too much to obscure the instructive idea behind the given puzzle.
Explanation will always come trump variations. Moves will inevitably disappear from our minds one
day, but ideas and concepts stay much longer. Also, as chess is an ultra-practical game, I did my best
to mention some interesting training methods for drilling particular elements of the game at times
as well. The same goes for multiple references to chess psychology – we are just human beings, so
ignoring discussions on this topic in the context of particularly uncomfortable situations (e.g. playing
without material or with hanging pieces) would have yielded this work incomplete.

In terms of the specific problems, you will be facing, I did my best to select exercises that not only
require you to indicate the general idea behind the chosen move, but also to prove their value by
means of specific calculation. This is the modern approach to teaching strategy – not focusing on one
element at a time, but rather identifying holistic correlations between one another. Not just making
use of an advantage, but first achieving it, and then only sealing the deal in the face of the opponent’s
most stubborn resistance. Half-jokingly, I hope you did not expect this book to be yet another easy
peasy lemon squeezy, as the best I can do for you going onwards will be more like stressy depressy
solving chessy.

The most disputed attribute of UCT was the division of puzzles into three difficulty levels. My (often
high-rated) interlocutors liked the idea as such, but generally complained either that the positions
given in chapter one were already far more difficult than the indicated 1600-1900 rating range, or
maybe that some exercises from chapters two or three were easier. After serious consideration of
this feedback I decided to eliminate any mention of the proposed rating ranges within the given
chapters of the book. By doing so I have ensured that the puzzles are subjectively arranged from the
easiest to the hardest. Although I believe that this book will mostly benefit +1800 players, I do wish
to encourage those rated below this threshold to try their hand. There is nothing you can lose, but
surely a lot to be learned this way.

As a sort of compensation for this inconvenience, I decided that S&D will feature a more interactive
quiz format. You shall be given points for every exercise you manage to solve – notwithstanding your
playing strength, the thinking time designated for every puzzle may not exceed 15 minutes. Correct
answers to each puzzle from chapters one, two and three are worth two, three and five points,

14
respectively, with specific requirements for awarding points being explained at the end of each
solution. All this means that you can earn up to 200 points in the process. After working through the
entirety of the book, in order to learn what is your estimated playing strength in the area of statics
and dynamics, you should divide the total number of achieved points by two, and refer to the table
next page.
Your Score
Number of points scored divided by two Estimated playing strength
0-9 1800-1899
10-19 1900-1999
20-29 2000-2099
30-39 2100-2199
40-49 2200-2299
50-59 2300-2399
60-69 2400-2499
70-79 2500-2599
80-89 2600-2699
90-99 2700-2799
100 +2800

III. Acknowledgments

No good book can ever be published without the support of the author’s loved ones, friends, and
well-wishers, this work is no exception.

I dedicate this book to my wife Kasia. Without her help and love it would have never come to fruition.
Thank you for constantly encouraging me to go above and beyond!

A big ‘thank you’ goes naturally to the students of my chess school as well, with whom we have jointly
spent hundreds of hours grinding through these exercises. Your comments and suggestions have
been an invaluable source of inspiration for me!

Finally, I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to all who not only read UCT but were kind
enough to also provide me with their impressions on that book so far, as well as friends and
colleagues who supported me through the ups and downs of my playing career over the last couple
of years. I hope that this book is going to constitute a memorable episode on your journey to chess
mastery.

If you feel like sharing your feedback on this work with me one day, please feel free to reach out to
me in this matter online at Chess.com or Lichess.org.

GM Wojciech Moranda
Wrocław, November 2022

15
 Chapter One
Bedtime solving for
kids... with 10 years
of experience

16
 1 4
Mikes, J. – Horvath, D. Balogh, C. – Motuz, K.

□ 22.? ■ 14...?

2 5
Demchenko, A. – Lysyj, I. Grischuk, A. – Wei Yi

□ 18.? □ 15.?

3 6
So, W. – Caruana, F. Shuvalova, P. – Abdumalik, Z.

■ 14...? □ 38.?

17
 7 10
Howell, D. – Esipenko, A. Poelvoorde, H. – Pijl, R.

□ 29.? ■ 21...?

8 11
Van Foreest, J. – Ganguly, S. Korley, K. – Rozman, L.

□ 14.? ■ 19...?

9 12
Gunina, V. – Abdumalik, Z. Abdumalik, Z. – Kashlinskaya, A.

■ 46...? ■ 23...?

18
 13 16
Mamedyarov, S. – Radjabov, T. Brondt, N. – Thybo, J.

■ 15...? ■ 18...?

14 17
Cheparinov, I. – Vazquez Igarza, R. Blakeman, C. – Ye, L.

■ 24...? ■ 22...?

15 18
Wojtaszek, R. – Moranda, W. Vazquez, G. – Liang, A.

□ 26.? □ 12.?

19
 19 20
Artemiev, V. – Ding, L. Balint, V. – Kovalev, A.

■ 13...? □ 18.?

20
 Solutions
1 A) In the game White went for 22.Bg5?! which
Mikes, J. (2373)
Horvath, D. (2446)
Ceske Budejovice CZE 2020
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6
5.Nf3 c6 6.Bc4 Bf5 7.0-0 e6 8.h3 h6 9.Re1
Nbd7 10.Qe2 Be7 11.a3 Qc7 12.Bb3 0-0 13.g4
Bg6 14.g5 hxg5 15.Bxg5 Rae8 16.Qd2 Bd6
17.Nh4 Bh7 18.Kh1 Nd5 19.Ng2 f6 20.Be3
Kh8 21.Bc4 f5
Statics
Relationship between the structure and pieces
White is clearly under pressure in this position.
His pieces may be standing in close proximity of
the center but are neither perfectly organized,
nor perform any important tasks on their own.
Simultaneously, Black’s setup resembles a
merciless war-machine, ready at the very least
to capture material with ...f5-f4. Still, believe it
or not, White is able to save himself thanks to an
unorthodox structural transformation.
22.Bxd5!
A controversial decision at first sight. By playing
like this White would not only be parting with
the bishop pair, but also improving the
opponent’s structure. Fortunately, this
exchange also positively affects White’s position
as we will soon see in all its glory.
21
is, in my opinion, an illogical idea. Why would
anybody try to protect a ‘bad’ bishop from a
trade against the opponent’s excellently
centralized knight? Even more, Black could have
penalized him for this loss of time more or less
instantly after something like 22...Nxc3 23.bxc3
e5 when it turns out that the backward e6-pawn
actually had a lot of potential for improvement.
Any attempts by White to stop Black’s central
initiative would look like trying to stop a tsunami
with a bucket: 24.f4 exd4 25.cxd4 b5! 26.Bd3
Nb6µ with a lovely outpost for the black knight
d5. Black’s only bad piece is the hitherto
dormant bishop on h7, but this one can always
be repositioned via g8 in case of need. White’s
minor pieces, on the other hand, are not only
badly positioned, but I also find it very difficult
to say where I would like to see them being
transferred to even if I had a tempo or two to
spare!
B) 22.f4? does in fact prevent Black from
unleashing a ferocious initiative with ...e6-e5.
This move’s strategic deficiencies are quite
though. It weakens the crucial e4-square and
blunts his own dark-squared bishop. This idea
cannot possibly represent a tangible solution to
all of White’s problems. The fastest path
towards victory for Black is via 22...N7f6 23.Bd3
Ne4 24.Bxe4 fxe4 25.Rf1 Qf7–+ and I do not see
a way for White to defend along the light
squares in the long haul, especially once more of
Black’s heavy pieces reach the h-file.
22...exd5 23.Bf4

Position after: 23.Bf4
Only after this move does White’s idea become
entirely clear. The previous trade on d5 allows
him to establish an important blockade on f4.
What is more, the dark-squared bishops are
about to be exchanged which is another factor
speaking in White’s favor. Sample lines prove
that White has nothing more to fear in this
position.
23...Nf6
The alternative 23...Bxf4 24.Qxf4 Qxf4 25.Nxf4
g5 26.Ne6 Rg8 27.f4!=
Position after: 27.f4!=
perfectly demonstrates the strategic dangers
lurking in this position for Black. A possible trade
on f4 would have now left Black with a terrible
bishop on h7, encaged across half of the board
by its own pawns. A curious mental experiment
that grandmasters often do in similar positions
while trying to evaluate them is to imagine what
would the situation look like if everything was
traded off with White being left with a knight on
22
f4 against the black light-squared bishop. I leave
it up to you to make the call on this question.
24.f3
In closed structures the knights play the primary
role. Thus, to secure his position White just
needs to make sure that the black knight does
not land on e4 or substantially damage our dark-
squared blockade on f4.
24...Nh5 25.Bxd6 Qxd6 26.Rxe8 Rxe8 27.Re1
Re6 28.Rxe6 Qxe6 29.Qg5 Bg6 30.Kg1=
Position after: 30.Kg1=
Black is now able to finally open up his bishop
after ...f5-f4, but not to have it activated
efficiently at the same time because of the need
to defend the h5-knight over a longer time
period.
Just one final thought before we move on to the
next exercise. Drastic modifications of the pawn
structure tend to affect the properties of the
pieces of both of the sides more than they do
the structure itself. The reason for this is that
the structure serves as the spine of position
while the pieces represent the muscles. While
standing still, pawns constitute static elements
of the position while the pieces operate along
them enjoying dynamic opportunities. Once the
structure undergoes a change, the dynamic
properties of the pieces naturally get even more
exacerbated.
Your score: Two points for finding the 22.Bxd5!
& 23.Bf4! sequence. No points if you decided to
take on d5, but without the intention of gaining
control over the dark squares afterwards.
2
Demchenko, A. (2632)
Lysyj, I. (2593)
Sochi RUS 2020
1.g3 d5 2.Nf3 c6 3.Bg2 Bg4 4.0-0 Nd7 5.h3
Bxf3 6.exf3 g6 7.d4 Bg7 8.c3 e6 9.f4 Ne7
10.Nd2 0-0 11.Nf3 c5 12.dxc5 Nxc5 13.Be3
Rc8 14.Nd4 a6 15.Qe2 Qc7 16.Rad1 b5 17.Rfe1
Nb7
Dynamics
Opening up the position for the bishop pair
A very interesting strategic battle is beginning to
ensue in this post Reti middlegame position.
White’s structure makes a slightly worse
impression than Black’s because of the doubled
f-pawns, but his biggest problem lies
somewhere else. If you namely look at both of
the players’ structures as a whole, you will
quickly understand that your bishops are both
close to being ‘brain-dead’. The light-squared
bishop on g2 is effectively contained by the
opponent’s structure, whereas the dark-
squared one is stuck between its own pawns
and pieces. In other words, White’s bishop pair,
which is supposed to represent some form of
compensation for the slightly compromised
structure, is actually a burden as long as the
position remains closed. What is even worse,
the closed nature of the position additionally
23
benefits the black knights which can be quite
calmly repositioned in the direction of the
queenside, for the sake of putting pressure
against White’s pawns. This leaves White no
choice but to try and blast the position open.
18.g4!
The only method to improve White’s rotting
bishops is to carry out a breakthrough on f5. This
way White’s dark-squared bishop would have
been activated along the c1-h6 diagonal,
whereas the light-squared one is going to be
improved indirectly, that is once Black’s central
structure is weakened or starts moving. While
planning similar pawn levers one needs to
consider the potential necessity to part with at
least one of the advancing passers. Fortunately
for White, this sounds like a small price to pay in
return for pouring new life into both of his
bishops.
A) Instead, in the game White went for 18.Ra1?!
which was not only suboptimal but also a tad
silly considering the fact that just two moves ago
the same rook traveled from a1 to d1. Joking
aside, White may have good intentions here
(undermining Black’s queenside pawn-chain by
means of a2-a4), but is simply not in time to reap
the full benefits of such a procedure as after
18...Nd6 19.a4 Nc4! 20.axb5 axb5 21.Nxb5
Qb8 22.Nd4 Qxb2 23.Qxb2 Nxb2³
Position after: 23...Nxb2³
Black would have not only recaptured the pawn,
but also ended up with a superior structure on
top of that. White would have had to work very
hard in order to maintain the balance,
predominantly by looking for tactical
complications capable of making Black’s task of
gobbling up the c3-pawn in the long run as
cumbersome as possible.
B) One of my students recommended 18.h4
Nd6 19.h5 with the idea of slowly building up an
attack along the h-file against the black king.
Knowing this however, the second player would
have inevitably decided in favor of 19...Qc4!
forcing White to exchange queens, otherwise
decimating his queenside pawns. After
something like 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.Bh3 Qxe2
22.Rxe2 Nef5! 23.Bxf5 gxf5ƒ
Position after: 23...gxf5ƒ
White’s position would not have been terrible,
but not great either. There are no visible
structural weaknesses yet, but Black’s
advantage in space and difference in the quality
of bishops is particularly striking. His simplest
approach would now be to start pushing the
queenside pawns (...a6-a5 & ...b5-b4) in order to
use the white c3-pawn as a hook. Once White’s
b2-pawn is exposed the thematic ...Nd6-c4 will
prove to be even stronger.
18...Nd6
Black solidifies his grip over the f5-square but
some things are already well beyond his control
out here.
24
18...Qc4 does not work out so well for Black this
time as White can now simply refuse the
exchange with 19.Qd2! when 19...Qxa2? would
have led to a dead lost position for Black after
the rather unexpected attack of 20.f5 Nd6
21.Bh6 Ne4 22.Bxe4 dxe4 23.Bxg7 Kxg7 24.f6+!
Kxf6 25.Qh6+– and the black king is going to get
hunted down in the center soon enough.
19.f5! gxf5 20.Bf4
The dynamic point behind White’s central
breakthrough. Now Black is pinned along the h2-
b8 diagonal and already needs to watch out for
Nd4xe6! strikes. After the further
Position after: 20.Bf4
20...Rcd8 21.Nxf5! Nexf5 22.gxf5 Qd7 23.fxe6
fxe6 24.Bh2 Rf6 25.Bf3!? Rdf8 26.Bg4ƒ
Position after: 26.Bg4ƒ
the position would have been pretty much
unrecognizable anymore. Instead of Black’s
ultra-solid central structure he has two hanging
pawns left. The white bishops also morphed
from ugly ducklings into alluring swans, exerting
a lot of pressure against Black’s center. Despite
a slight weakening of his own kingside incurred
during the process, White is clearly in the
driver’s seat here.

One last piece of advice before I let you go.

Subject to some sparse exceptions (like the
Pillsbury Bishops), the bishop pair is considered
to be a static element in chess. It takes time to
have it fully activated, but once it is up and
running its mobile nature helps us exercise long-
term pressure against potential weaknesses of
the opponent across the board. Despite its static
nature however, the activation of the bishops is
frequently the derivative of how open the given
position is. All this leads us to the supposedly
paradoxical conclusion that radical structural
transformations (which are essentially dynamic
elements) are typically ‘best friends’ with the
bishop pair, that is by definition a static feature.
In other words, statics and dynamics in chess are
strongly intertwined with each other to the
extent that dynamic measures can easily lead to
static consequences and vice-versa where static
actions may just as well give rise to dynamic
opportunities.
Your score: One point as a reward for
understanding the need to open up the position
for your bishops. An additional point for going
after 18.g4! Nd6 19.f5! right away.
3
So, W. (2770)
Caruana, F. (2820)
Paris FRA 2021
Statics
Neutralizing the opponent’s bishop pair by
means of a structural transformation
The position we have in front of us is imbalanced
in more than one way. White’s kingside
structure has been compromised slightly after
he decided to recapture on f3 with the pawn,
while Black happens to be in possession of an
IQP which is about to become blocked. In terms
of pieces White probably has the upper hand
already as he has the two bishops in a semi-open
position with the dark-squared one making a
particularly good impression. Depending on the
circumstances White could decide between
capturing on f6 one day (in order to weaken the
d5-pawn even more), or to use it for offensive
purposes in conjunction with a possible rook-
transfer to g1. In the absence of equally
attractive plans for the future Black should
therefore act without hesitation.
14...d4!

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 c5

6.Nf3 d5 7.cxd5 exd5 8.dxc5 Nbd7 9.Bd2 Nxc5
10.Be2 Bg4 11.a3 Bxf3 12.gxf3 Bxc3 13.Bxc3
Ne6 14.0-0
Position after: 14...d4!

As we shall see it was now or never for Black if

he wanted to avoid a strategically suspicious
situation to take place in the center. With this

25
move Black sacrifices his IQP while intention of taking the pawn in a ‘structure-
simultaneously damaging White’s central friendly’ manner. The risk of ending up a pawn
structure. If he manages to ‘convince’ White’s down for nothing is obviously unacceptable for
e3-pawn to move to d4, the weakness of the Black, so active play with 16...Nh5 17.Bxd4 Qh4
doubled pawns on the kingside would have 18.Qb5 Nhf4! 19.Bc4 Ng5
started to tell as well. What is worth knowing in
this context is that in a similar structure those
are not only White’s f-pawns that are typically
weak. The same goes namely for the square in
front of them which can no longer be controlled
by other members of his structure.

A) Instead, in the game Black decided to play

14...Rc8? which gave White a golden
opportunity to turn the tables in his favor with
15.Bb4! Nc5 16.Kh1!. Position after: 19...Ng5

would have been called for. Still, after the rather

unexpected 20.Bxf7+! Kxf7 21.Qf5+ Kg8
22.exf4 Nxf3+ 23.Kg2 Nxd4 24.Rxd4² White
would have retained a tiny material advantage
and an active central presence on top of that.
Whether he can win this depends on his
technique as well as the tenacity of the defender,
but one thing is beyond doubt - his winning
chances would have been considerably higher
Position after: 16.Kh1!
than the risk of losing here.
The plan is simple: attack the black king along
15.Bxd4
the g-file. After the further 16...Qd7 17.Rg1 Qf5
18.Bc3 Kh8 19.Rg3± White would be doubling
An attempt to retain the bishop pair with
(or even tripling!) heavy pieces along the g-file.
15.Bb4?! Re8 16.Bb5 Nd7 17.f4 does not help
Black is certainly not getting mated or losing the
White much because of 17...a6 18.Bc4 Nf6
g7-pawn by force, but White could also use the
19.Qf3 Qb6ƒ when White would be getting
said file for inroads into the opponent’s camp.
himself pushed back. The classical bishop pair
For example, a rook brought to g5 would be
(two bishops versus two knights) tends to be a
additionally targeting Black’s IQP. Let us also not
powerful long-term weapon, but here, in view of
forget that in this type of a position the
Black’s immediate pressure against e3 as well as
influence of White’s dark-squared bishop over
his ability to generate even more activity in the
the long dark diagonal would not make things
center, there might not be any ‘long-term’
any easier for Black.
coming for White.
B) Alternatively, 14...Re8?! 15.Qa4 d4 may
15...Nxd4 16.Qxd4
seem like an improvement over the text at first,
as this time Black would not be losing material
16.exd4? would have been, by comparison,
after the immediate capture on d4. The problem
slightly better than 15.exd4?? which would have
is, however, that White has 16.Rad1! with the

26
additionally killed off the white c3-bishop. Still,
after something like 16...Nh5 17.Qd2 Qh4
18.Kh1 Rad8–+ White’s position would have
been hopelessly lost. White’s IQP will probably
survive, but this is a meaningless factor as Black
is more interested in creating mating threats on
the kingside by means of a funky rook-lift along
the sixth rank. However, White’s main cause of
death is the weakness of the f4-square which, in
the presence of queens on the board, takes the
form of a dynamic one. In other words,
establishing a blockade on f4 is going to
contribute to the conception of tremendous
attacking chances for Black.
16...Qxd4 17.exd4
Position after: 17.exd4
17...Rfd8 18.Rfd1 Nd5 19.Rac1 Kf8 20.Bc4
Nf4=
Black achieves equality in a comfortable manner.
He might still be a pawn down, but White’s
passer is not going anywhere. White’s wrecked
kingside in conjunction with a close to eternal
outpost for the knight on f4 will make Black’s life
rather easy over the further course of the game.
The inability of the white bishop to endanger the
knight happens to be a weakness of a static
nature. No mates are being threatened, but the
level of control the knight exercises over the
center and kingside is simply colossal. The only
thing that needs to be done by Black in order to
achieve full consolidation is to double up the
rooks along the d-file while waiting for White to
call it a day.
27
To end on a more humorous note, during my
career as a player I have actually seen more
positions like that being eventually lost by White
than the other way around, often as a result of
the first player pressing too hard for a win
without having any strategic grounds therefor.
White’s d4-pawn is certainly not strong and is in
reality very likely to fall one day as Black is in
possession of three pieces capable of attacking
it, compared to the two defending white rooks.
Finally, before considering trading off all of the
pieces as White in order to ensure a draw in this
position just make sure that the simplified
versions thereof (pure pawn or a bishop versus
knight endgame) do not happen to be
accidentally losing for yourself due to the
damaged kingside structure.
Your score: You receive one point for
recognizing the need to neutralize White’s
bishop pair. Give yourself another one if you
dared to play 14...d4! without any further
preparation.
4
Balogh, C. (2591)
Motuz, K. (2365)
Slovakia SVK 2020
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Be7 4.c3 c5 5.dxc5 Bxc5
6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Ngf3 Nf6 8.Qe2 0-0 9.0-0 h6
10.e5 Nd7 11.Nb3 Bb6 12.Bf4 f6 13.exf6 Qxf6
14.Bd6
Dynamics
Sacrifice for an attacking initiative
This position is a fairly typical sight among
French Defense middlegames. Black managed to
undermine White’s central control by means
of ...f7-f6, thus opening up the f-file and this way
making the thematic ...e6-e5 thrust look very
realistic. At the same time however, he does not
seem to have the time to enjoy such benefits as
his rook is en prise at the moment. The even
worse part of the story is that if Black moves the
attacked rook White will take the e5-square
under control one more time, thus effectively
stripping him of any central activity. But then
again, this is something Black cannot possibly
allow to happen.
14...e5!
Of course! The choice between playing a
hopelessly passive position with equal material
and a hyper-active one after a slight concession
in this regard should not be any dilemma for a
person of chess culture at all. In return for the
exchange Black obtains a powerful initiative
based on his mobile pawn center and rapid
development.
14...Re8?! would have been the more restrained
way of playing. Naturally, everyone would like to
have the cookie (keep the exchange) and eat the
cookie too (push ...e6-e5), but here after 15.c4!
e5 16.cxd5 Qxd6 17.dxc6 bxc6 18.Rad1± Black
would have not been in great shape at all. There
would be no pawn mass steamrolling White in
the center anymore, while the weakness of the
b1-h7 diagonal as well as a potential discovered
attack along the d-file would have forced Black
into a deep defense.
15.Bxf8 Nxf8
28
Position after: 15...Nxf8
Let us stop here for a second and discuss how
the position had changed over the last two
moves. Black is down an exchange, but this is his
only worry compared to White’s rather longish
list of concerns. The latter player is namely
getting himself pushed back in the center,
otherwise being forced to surrender material
after the ...e5-e4 fork happens. Also, Black might
decide not to not yet capitalize on his
investment but instead prefer increasing the
heat a tad more with ...Bc8-g4 followed
by ...Nf8-e6-f4. We cannot forget about the
importance of Black’s dark-squared bishop
either. White does not have one himself, which
means that Black’s pressure along the dark
squares is only going to grow over time. Sample
lines prove that White is walking a tightrope on
the way towards maintaining delicate
equilibrium.
16.Bc2
A) 16.Nbd2?! Bg4 17.Bc2 Ne6 Thematic play.
First by pinning the f3-knight then relocating
one’s own to f4. After the more or less forced
18.Qd3 e4 19.Nxe4 dxe4 20.Qxe4 Bxf3 21.Qxf3
Qxf3 22.gxf3 Nf4³

Position after: 22...Nf4³
White would not need to worry about getting
mated anymore, but this does not necessarily
mean that his life would from now on be strewn
with roses. What we see here namely is a typical,
lovely outpost for the knight on f4, blocking
doubled isolated pawns. Without a knight or a
dark-squared bishop White would be virtually
condemned to tolerating it for the rest of the
game. Also, the absence of queens does not rule
out the existence of dynamic counterplay on
Black’s side as the remaining four pieces are
certainly going to have some ulterior motifs as
regards the white monarch. If I were White here
I would not be paying attention to pawns
anymore, but would be focused on bringing my
rooks to the two open files at all costs.
B) As opposed to the line mentioned previously,
16.Nfd2?! Ne6 17.g3 does look like an
improvement as it avoids the problematic pin
along the d1-h5 diagonal while at the same time
preventing the arrival of the black knight on f4.
In this scenario however, White has wasted so
much time that Black would be very much
welcome to transform the position materially by
means of 17...e4 18.Nxe4 dxe4 19.Bxe4 Ng5
20.Bd5+ Kf8³ when despite the slight material
deficit, Black’s minor pieces would have
probably been able to dominate the white rook
and pawns in the long haul. One more thing that
I dislike in White’s position is that once the black
rook is brought to e8 he will need to give up a
few additional tempi while looking for a safe
haven for his queen. Sadly, all this is just of
29
theoretical importance as in the game Black
went for 16...e4?! and lost after a tough battle.
16...Bg4 17.Qd2!?
The only real attempt for White to untangle and
start playing on equal terms with his rival again.
However, this is also a positionally responsible
decision as White is going to have to live on with
a damaged kingside structure for a longer period
of time.
17...Bxf3 18.gxf3 Rd8!
18...Qxf3?! would have been a little bit too
cooperative from Black’s side as after the
further 19.Qd1 Qf7 20.Kh1 Rd8 21.Qg4„
White would have been in a position to start
exploiting two of his hidden assets: influence
over the light squares and the semi-open g-file.
When playing against doubled pawns of the
opponent it is of critical importance to
anticipate the consequences of capturing any of
them. It might turn out in some less favorable
scenarios that their disappearance will actually
favor the defender on a positional level as they
wanted to get rid of one in the first place.
19.Qd3 Ne7
Now it is time for the black knights to play the
lead role. Another factor that makes Black
barely feel that he is an exchange down in this
position is that, compared to White, his cavalry
is going to be super-effective in exerting
pressure against the opponent’s kingside.
20.Nc1 Ne6 21.Ne2 Ng5 22.f4!

Position after: 22.f4!
Forced, but also very useful. White finally gets
rid of one of the doubled pawns but by doing so
he ensures that Black’s pressure along the f-file
dissipates. In addition, White no longer has to
worry about his opponent installing his knight
on f3. Now after something like
22...exf4 23.Kh1 f3 24.Nd4 Nc6 25.Nxc6 bxc6
26.Rae1
comes the highly original
26...Kf7!?ƒ
and Black keeps a slight pull. This last move is
mostly prophylactic in nature (preventing a
possible exchange of queens on g6), but also
enables Black to carry on attacking the kingside
by means of ideas like ...Ng5-h3 and/or ...Bb6-
c7 combined with ...Qf6-f4. Objectively
speaking, White may be able to equalize with
perfect play, but this is not going to be a
particularly pleasant procedure.
A short, but important disclaimer before we
carry on. There is an abundance of examples like
these discussed in the further course of this
book. If you hesitated before sacrificing an
exchange in the beginning, it might be that your
playing style is too static as even huge positional
gains were not enough to convince you to part
with some material. If this happens to be the
case, apart from studying this book thoroughly
as well as continuously educating yourself on
the topic by using other sources, I advise you to
30
do the following experiment. Select two rapid
tournaments that you wish to participate in in
the near future. These are intended to be
meaningless events, so by definition you should
have no particular expectations as pertains to
your results when going there. During the first
tournament make sure that you play as
dynamically as possible, not hesitating to burn
the bridges behind you if you feel like it. The
second event however needs to be played
carefully all the time, with a lot of attention
dedicated to protecting your pieces and defense
in general. Once you are done, analyze all of the
games in detail and create a list of the types of
mistakes you committed most often in both
cases. This way you shall, on one hand, learn a
lot about yourself by getting to know the
extreme values of your playing style, but more
importantly you will also be able to fine-tune
your understanding of the balance between
statics and dynamics by getting closer to
ascertaining the so-called ‘golden mean’ for
which you should be striving in this respect.
Your score: One point for the decision to play
the sacrificial 14...e5! You may give yourself
another one if your heart-rate did not increase
while doing so.
5
Grischuk, A. (2777)
Wei Yi (2732)
Hainan Danzhou GM INT 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 Nc6
6.0-0 e6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nb5 Nge7 9.Bb3 0-0
10.Nbxd4 Nxd4 11.Nxd4 e5 12.Nf3 Nc6
13.Kh1 Be6 14.c3 Qe7

Statics
Sacrifice for a positional initiative
What we have here is a balanced position
stemming from the Grand Prix Attack of the
Sicilian Defense. The slight structural asymmetry
is a fairly typical sight in such situations, often
convincing White to focus his attention on the
kingside. As opposed to the standard version of
the above-mentioned line, White’s center is too
fluid for him to be able to decide in favor of the
standard ‘caveman attack’ (Qd1-e1-h4 followed
by Nf3-g5).What then should be his alternative
plan in this position?
15.f5!
Position after: 15.f5!
This move is the manifestation of another
popular idea in the Grand Prix Attack. White
temporarily sacrifices a pawn for the sake of
generating play along the newly opened f-file
while simultaneously being able to inflict some
damage upon Black’s kingside structure. At this
point in time, I can imagine that not every player
opting for this solution would be aware of
hitting bullseye by obtaining yet another,
31
probably most crucial positional element, which
we will discuss in detail a little later.
A) The game saw 15.fxe5? dxe5 16.Bg5 f6
17.Be3 Rad8= with comfortable equality for
Black. White’s 15th move is especially
incomprehensible to me as trading pawns on e5
only helped Black get rid of the backward d6-
pawn which allows him to immediately start
fighting for the freshly-opened d-file.
B) However, 15.Be3? would not have been that
much better either in view of something like
15...exf4 16.Bxf4 Ne5 17.Nd4 Bxb3 18.axb3
Rfe8=. In this scenario Black ended up with a
backward d6-pawn as well as a potential weak
square on d5. Remember after all, it is not only
the backward pawn that is often weak, but the
square in front of it may frequently become a
nuisance too. The problem for White is that he
happens to possess a weak pawn on e4 of his
own which tends to cancel itself out with the
aforementioned black pawn. What is even
worse, attempts to install a knight on d5 appear
to be way too time consuming.
15...gxf5
Black has no other choice but to accept the
sacrifice.
A) 15...Bxb3 16.axb3 Rad8 17.Qd5+– leaves
Black completely dominated along the light
squares and in the center. In such situations the
old adage ‘No pawn lever - no plan’ tends to
apply perfectly.
B) 15...Bd7 is equally bad, the only difference
being that here Black would be going down for
the count in a much more tactical manner after
16.Ng5 Bf6 17.Nxf7 Rxf7 18.fxg6 hxg6 19.Bxf7+
Qxf7 20.Bg5+–.
16.exf5 Bxf5
16...Bxb3 17.axb3 f6 looks like an improved
version of one of the previous lines since in this
case Black could potentially try to ‘break the
chains’ thanks to ...Qe7-f7 followed by ...d6-d5.
Still, White may just as well ignore Black’s plans
in the center and focus on the kingside instead
after the geometrically appealing maneuver
18.Ra4! Rad8 19.Rh4 d5 20.Ng1!+–
Position after: 20.Ng1!+–
with a rapid invasion by White’s heavy pieces
along the h-file to follow.
17.Nh4!
Position after: 17.Nh4!
The most difficult move of this exercise in my
opinion. This way White dynamically trades off
his knight for the important black bishop which
was the only one capable of covering the light
squares in the center and on the kingside. In its
absence the remaining black minor pieces find it
hard to compete against White’s monstrous b3-
bishop which is on one hand strategically
powerful (preventing ...d6-d5), and on the other
tactically omnipotent as a kingside attack
32
supported by this piece could be devastating.
Although the idea itself is well-known especially
among Closed Sicilian aficionados, here I can
imagine many white players missing it as in the
previously mentioned opening line the h4-
knight is never in danger thanks to the support
of the g3-pawn. Here the temporarily exposed
placement of the knight could have discouraged
some players from resorting to it.
A) 17.Ng5?! Bg6 18.h4 has been suggested by a
number of my students as the main line in this
position. Their approach would not be static
anymore (control over the f5-square), but rather
dynamic, in a sense that they usually wanted to
take down Black’s light-squared bishop, while
continuously putting pressure against the soft
spot on f7. The only difficult part about this
method of playing is that it ignores the fact that
Black can respond dynamically by engaging in a
pawn-race after 18...e4! 19.h5 e3!
Position after: 19...e3!
when after the more or less forced 20.hxg6 e2
21.gxf7+ Kh8 22.Qd3 exf1=Q+ 23.Qxf1 h6„
the position would have remained extremely
double-edged. The white knight does not have
to leave the g5-square at once in view of certain
mating threats along the h-file, but White’s
momentary lag in development would have
given the opponent 2 – 3 precious tempi to try
and consolidate his position.
B) 17.Bg5?!, on the other hand, is not such a bad
move as after the further 17...Qd7 18.Nh4 Be6
19.Bf6 Bxb3 20.axb3 Qe6 21.Bxg7 Kxg7
22.Nf5+ Kh8 23.Qxd6 Rad8! 24.Qxe6 fxe6
25.Ne3 Kg7² White retains a stable edge in the
ensuing endgame thanks to his superior
structure. At the same time the text would have
allowed him to go for more and without the
need to display excellent technique deep into
the endgame.

17...Bg6
If Black already has to agree to a trade as
unfavorable as this one he might at least want
to have his structure improved very slightly as a
result of White’s capture on g6. As we shall see
in a moment this makes little to no difference
for the evaluation of the position.
Position after: 20...Rad8
but White’s position is so great that even a
transposition into the endgame after
21.Bg5 Qd7 22.Qxd7 Rxd7 23.Rad1 Rc8
24.g4!+–

17...Qxh4 is to no avail either as after 18.Rxf5

h6 19.Rh5 White is in a position to capitalize on
the weakness of the black monarch rather
quickly, e. g. 19...Qf6 20.Be3 Ne7 21.Qg4 Qg6
22.Qh3+– when the h6-pawn falls with
devastating effect for the safety of the black
monarch.

18.Nxg6 hxg6 19.Qg4

Let us pause here for a short while. As a result of
this whole operation White has sacrificed a
pawn for the bishop pair, but also close to full
control over the light squares. A closer look
reveals that Black’s forces are unable to defend
certain light-squared spots (the f7- and g6-
pawns) in their camp for a sustained period of
time. What is even worse, White can from now
on combine pressure against the discussed
weaknesses by doubling the rooks along the f-
file with potential mating threats along the h-file.
19...d5 20.Bxd5 Rad8
Position after: 24.g4!+–
would have to be assessed as winning in the long
run due to Black’s passivity.
Compared to the Balogh – Motuz game we
scrutinized earlier, here White relied on a
dynamic measure in order to obtain static
opportunities. Having eliminated the
opponent’s light-squared bishop led to the
opportunity to establish full control over the
position. This domination-based approach only
resulted in attacking chances appearing later on
the kingside, which was indeed a nice additional
side effect of White’s authority over the position.
If this sounds like a controversial statement for
you, think about this: How do we measure the
dynamic potential of pieces? At the end of the
day is the positional value of the given piece not
a necessary prerequisite for any tactical

33
resources including this specimen popping up?
In other words - do you not agree that the better
your pieces are placed in strategic terms, the
higher the chances are that one of them is going
to conduct a successful tactical strike?
Your score: One point for recognizing the
thematic 15.f5! push. You may add another one
to your stash only if you intended to follow up
with 17.Nh4!.
6 38.Rac1!
Shuvalova, P. (2510)
Abdumalik, Z. (2503)
Astana KAZ 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e5 4.0-0 Bd6 5.c3 a6
6.Ba4 b5 7.Bc2 Nge7 8.h3 Bb7 9.d4 cxd4
10.cxd4 Nxd4 11.Nxd4 exd4 12.Qxd4 Qc7
13.Bb3 Bh2+ 14.Kh1 Be5 15.Qd3 0-0 16.f4 Bf6
17.e5 Qc6 18.Rg1 Bh4 19.Be3 Rac8 20.Nd2
Qg6 21.Qxd7 Bc6 22.Qg4 Nf5 23.Nf3 Bg3
24.Bd2 Rcd8 25.Bb4 Rfe8 26.Ng5 h5 27.Bxf7+
Qxf7 28.Nxf7 hxg4 29.Nxd8 Rxd8 30.hxg4 Nd4
31.Rgd1 Kf7 32.e6+ Kxe6 33.f5+ Kf7 34.Kg1
Be5 35.Kf2 g6 36.Bc3 gxf5 37.gxf5 b4
Dynamics
Freeing oneself from materialistic thinking
In the game, White misplayed a winning
advantage in the middlegame and ended up
fighting for a draw with a rook and two pawns
against Black’s two minor pieces. The problem
here does not lie exclusively in the material
balance as such, but rather that Black’s forces
look perfectly coordinated for the purpose of
34
making the white king’s life harder. Trading off a
pair of minor pieces on d4 would only make
Black even more interested in his opponent’s
queenside pawns, while helping herself to the
b4-pawn gives Black a valuable tempo to shift
her rook towards the kingside, with deadly
motifs appearing almost out of nowhere. As
ignoring the threat of taking on c3 does not
come into consideration... oh wait, why not
actually?!
This move represented White’s last realistic
chance of survival. By leaving the bishop as it is
she could have anticipated the possibility of
simplifying into an easier endgame as the black
knight on d4 is going to be pinned once a
recapture on c3 with the pawn takes place.
Obviously, some lines still need to be calculated
(and assessed properly as well!), but the major
difficulty in playing such situations lies invariably
in the fact that it is a human thing to experience
psychological discomfort once we see our pieces
about to be taken. A similar but reversed
sensation takes place when we see the option of
taking some material from the opponent. Often,
it is even hard to consider other ideas during
such moments. The reason for this is that we are
materialistic beings.
We already learn at an early age that he who has
more material usually wins, and this rule stays
with us till the end of our playing careers. Later
on, we discover that in absence of other major
events taking place on the board a material edge
typically ensures smooth sailing towards victory
as well. On a higher level it is not only that we
need to understand that material is by no means
a ‘primus inter pares’, but rather one of many
positional elements influencing the evaluation
of just about any position. What is even more,
we should also strive to expose ourselves
frequently to positions in which we are cruising
material down. We do this to not only learn how
to handle such situations but not to shy away
from possibilities that are objectively good for
us despite involving the uncomfortable feeling
of being down on material. As a coach I think it
is crucial for the development of my students to
present them with such puzzles on a regular
basis. This way I make them comfortable with
the uncomfortable, but also make sure to teach
them about the real value of material, especially
when measured against other positional
elements.
A) In the game, Shuvalova opened a can of
worms with 38.Bxb4? and took on hostile fire
immediately after 38...Rg8 39.Bc3 Bg3+ 40.Kg1
Ne2+ 41.Kf1 when Black could have more or
less clinched the win with 41...Bb5 42.a4 Bc4–+
and the white king lands between Scylla and
Charybdis.
involving two bishops and a knight against a
lonely rook – it is a win. If only those were two
knights and a bishop...
38...bxc3
38...Ba4 looks enterprising at first but turns out
to be perfectly playable for White in view of
39.Bxd4 Bxd4+ 40.Rxd4 Rxd4 41.Ke3. Now the
black rook should stay along the fourth rank,
otherwise White may activate his kingside
pawns by means of g2-g4. Going for 41...Rh4
enables White to opt for the simplifying 42.b3
Bb5 43.Rd1!= when Rd1-d4 snatches the b4-
pawn leaving Black unable to win as she would
end up with the ‘wrong’ bishop.
39.bxc3

B) For a second there, I thought that White

might have also tried 38.g4 with the point that
after 38...bxc3 39.bxc3 Nc2 40.Rxd8 Nxa1–+

Position after: 39.bxc3

39...Bg3+

Position after: 40...Nxa1–+ Personally, I would have preferred to keep the

bishop pair on the board with 39...Ne2 40.Kxe2
she would have just been a pawn down in the Rg8 even if I have to honestly admit that after
ensuing endgame, with her active rook and 41.Kd3 Rxg2 42.Kc4!?=
connected passed kingside pawns granting
practical chances against Black’s minor pieces
which lack solid outposts. There are a few
certainties here that discourage me from
pursuing this attempt any further though. First
of all, the black knight is going to rejoin the fight
any moment now. Secondly, none of the white
pawns is ever going to make it to promotion.
Finally, even if all of the pawns were to
disappear from the board, the tablebases are
very clear about the assessment of an endgame Position after: 42.Kc4!?=

35
the white monarch would be achieving relative
safety around the c5-square. Please note that
the capture on a2 right now would only be
helping White get her hands on the remaining
a6-pawn, thus enhancing the already strong
drawish tendencies quite significantly.
40.Kxg3 Rg8+ 41.Kf2 Rxg2+ 42.Ke3 Nxf5+
43.Kd3 Rg3+
Position after: 43...Rg3+
When it seemed as if Black was about to start
capitalizing on the activity of her pieces, White
could actually afford to go after the opponent’s
a6-pawn. After:
44.Kc4!? Ne3+ 45.Kc5 Nxd1 46.Kxc6 Nxc3
47.Kb6 Rg6+ 48.Kb7 Nxa2 49.Rc6=
White days would have surely been numbered.
As the rook and knight versus rook endgame is a
theoretical draw, we can conclude that the
starting position of this exercise was indeed very
much drawable.
Your score: Two points for playing 38.Rac1! with
confidence. No points if your efforts revolved
around saving material.
7
Howell, D. (2658)
Esipenko, A. (2720)
Riga LAT 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 b6 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.b3 Nf6 5.Bb2 e6
6.c4 Bd6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nc3 a6 10.Rc1
36
Re8 11.e3 Nbd7 12.d4 Qe7 13.Rc2 b5 14.a4 b4
15.Ne2 a5 16.Nf4 Ne4 17.Ne5 Nb6 18.Nc6
Qf6 19.Ne5 Qe7 20.Nc6 Qf8 21.Qg4 Bc8
22.Qf3 f6 23.Rfc1 Bd7 24.Qh5 g6 25.Qd1 Qf7
26.Bf1 Bxf4 27.exf4 Re6 28.f3 Nd6
Statics
Blockading sacrifice stripping the opponent of
activity
At first glance it might seem as if White is rather
comfortable here with the bishop pair, a battery
set up along the c-file as well as a strong
blockade established thanks to the knight on c6
which should grant White a promising position
in a perfect world. The world is however, exactly
as White’s situation here, far from perfect. The
dark-squared bishop is blocked by its own pawn
on d4 while the rooks and knight tandem cannot
contribute to the development of any effective
plan, maybe with the exception of some
guerrilla warfare ideas against the a5-pawn. In
the meantime, Black remains solid and might
even consider some offensive actions himself.
Be it by invading along the e-file, or maybe even
trying to take advantage of the placement of the
c6-knight in a tactical way. All this should lead us
to the conclusion that White needs to do
something about the tide coming back in his
direction here and now.
29.Ne5!
An absolute necessity as we shall see when we
examine the deficiencies of White’s alternatives.
White sacrifices a whole piece for a pawn but in
return buries Black’s potential counterplay
along the e-file for good, himself obtaining a
considerable level of control over the position as
well as active possibilities along the c-file.

A) In the game, White was successful with

29.Re2? but the result could have just as well
been the opposite had Black decided to go for
29...Ndc4! 30.bxc4 Bxc6 31.cxd5 Bxd5 32.Rxe6
Qxe6–+ with full domination. White’s bishops
stay timid, and the c-pawn is taboo due to the
energetic ...Qe6-e3+ counter. Black’s position is
so great that he could afford to slowly
consolidate his position (take full control over
the e-file, over-defend some weaknesses like
the c7-pawn), and only then carry on playing for
a win by ganging up on the more or less
defenseless a4-pawn.
B) On the other hand, 29.Rc5?! proves to be just
ineffective in view of 29...Nb7 30.R5c2 Re3
31.Re2 Qe8!µ when Black would be smartly
combining his initiative along the e-file with
pressure against White’s knight stranded on c6.
White can certainly trade on e3 and keep on
whistling past the graveyard, but then Black is
going to bring the other rook into play via e8,
and then only start figuring out a way to break
the opponent’s resistance, maybe by shifting
one of the knights closer towards the kingside.
29...fxe5 30.dxe5 Ne8
30...Nf5 might not have been much worse
according to the engines, but it is a natural
human reaction to try to stick to material if
possible, so this is also why we will focus on this
continuation in our analysis.
Position after: 31.Qd4
The key position of the whole variation.
White is still two pawns down here but has no
problems whatsoever of a positional nature. His
dark-squared bishop has opened up a little bit,
while the newly created battery along the long
dark diagonal is certainly something the
opponent needs to watch out for. Usually, such
positions are won by the materially superior side
by simply rearranging their pieces in an optimal
fashion. For this to happen Black would need to
replace the blockading rook on e6 with the e8-
knight, which sounds double as improbable in
view of the constantly hanging c7-pawn or the
threat of e5-e6! looming over him once the rook
tries to move. On top of that, White may want
to recapture material any day now with Bf1-h3,
followed up later on by a possible pawn-storm
with g3-g4 & f4-f5. Having all this in mind, the
best option for Black would be to bail out by
means of a rearranging attempt with
31...Kf8 32.Bh3 Re7 33.e6!

31.Qd4

Position after: 33.e6!

37
33...Bxe6 34.Re1! Bxh3 35.Qh8+ Qg8
36.Qxg8+ Kxg8 37.Rxe7„
A double-edged position would have arisen on
the board. White would be trying to activate his
other rook and generally create as many
dynamic threats as possible, while Black’s best
interest would be to have the position stabilized
by putting his pieces to some safer light squares,
far away from the reach of White’s dark-squared
bishop.
This game featured a rather uncommon
phenomenon, a defensive sacrifice for the
purpose of blocking the position. Everyone likes
to give up a little material for an attack or
initiative, but how would you feel about parting
with a knight just to make sure that absolutely
nothing happens afterwards? Still, as
controversial as it sounds, defensive sacrifices
are a thing and therefore deserve to be
mentioned in a book like this. It is not that in
such a case you are surrendering material for
nothing as depriving the opponent of active
possibilities always comes in handy after all.
Additionally, such devices usually represent a
great opportunity to consolidate your own
position and take the initiative in the arising
position yourself. Please just make sure that the
effects thereof last till the end of the game, or at
least until you are locked and loaded to
generate some play of your own.
Your score: One point for finding 28.Ne5! and
another one for figuring out the further course
of action for White afterwards.
8 damaging Black’s kingside structure. With the
Van Foreest, J. (2691)
Ganguly, S. (2617)
Riga LAT 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3
6.bxc3 Qxf6 7.Nf3 b6 8.c5 Bxc5 9.d4 Bd6
10.Bd3 h6 11.Be4 c6 12.0-0 0-0 13.Re1 Rd8
38
Dynamics
Closed center as prerequisite for a successful
flank attack
This game made headlines in the majority of the
chess news sources towards the end of 2021. As
of move eight of the Mikenas – Carls variation of
the Nimzo English, White employed a surprising
pawn sacrifice in return for time to develop his
pieces and obtained a promising initiative as a
result. Although nobody can deny that White’s
situation is more comfortable here (space
advantage, cramped black pieces on the
queenside), there does not seem to be a
concrete way of quickly obtaining anything
tangible for White. We all know that sacrificing
material is always fun, but the longer the game
lasts the more the chances of the defender
increase. Material is namely a static factor, the
importance of which grows the longer it takes
the attacker to achieve anything concrete in the
position. This is also why drastic measures on
the kingside were already justified by this point.
14.g4!
A bolt from the blue sky! With this move White
could have immediately threatened g4-g5, badly
disappearance of any black pawns on that part
of the board the king would have been exposed
to dangerous attacking motifs such as the rook
invasion along the g-file or maybe even the
queen to h5 as well. This would have allowed
White to finish off the game in a much faster and
prettier manner.
A) The game saw 14.c4 and after a beautiful 32-
move long display of attacking play, White
managed to eventually overcome the
opponent’s stiff resistance. At the same time,
14...Qe7 15.Qb3 Qc7 would have been a much
more prudent defensive attempt with White
probably needing to resort to the ambitious
16.Ne5!?
Position after: 16.Ne5!?
not hesitating to sacrifice even more material if
needed. This would have been a very familiar
sight for adherents of the Vienna line in the QGD
where White sacrifices a pawn in return for
active piece play in the center. Still, in this
specific position Black would be able to manage
White’s growing momentum by means of
16...f5!? 17.Bf3 Bxe5 18.Rxe5 Rxd4 when after
the further 19.Re3 Na6 20.Bb2 Nc5 21.Qc2
Rd8© the white dark-squared bishop would
have constituted a power to be reckoned with.
But having two extra pawns would have
presented Black with a multitude of options to
escape from trouble somewhere along the way.
B) 14.a4 would have been another decent way
of increasing the pressure against Black’s
queenside if not for 14...Nd7! 15.Bxc6 Rb8
returning the pawn in exchange for the smooth
development of the remaining pieces. True,
White could make his opponents life a little
harder with 16.Nd2 Bf8 17.Ne4 Qg6 18.Bf4 but
then Black could resort to yet another pawn-
sacrifice: 18...e5! 19.Bxd7 Bxd7 20.Bxe5 Rbc8©
when I would not dare to say that his position
would have been any worse. Black may have
39
indeed transposed from a +1 to a -1 position in
terms of material, but the bishop pair and fine
rooks targeting White’s hanging pawns
represent more than sufficient compensation
for the missing pawn.
14...Bf4
When under attack one of the basic defensive
methods involves trading off as many pieces as
possible in order to reduce the opponent’s
attacking potential. Here those efforts are going
to be in vain as White’s kingside onslaught
progresses far too quickly.
Evacuating the queen in order to limit the
damage stemming from the aggressive g2-g4-g5
push by means of 14...Qe7 makes perfect sense,
but after the further 15.g5 hxg5 16.Nxg5 Black
would not have been able to handle White’s
attacking initiative. 16...g6 17.Kh1! Vacating
the g1-square for the rook. 17...Kg7 18.Nxf7!
Position after: 18.Nxf7!
As Black was about to start generating some
threats of his own after ...Rd8-h8 there was no
time to waste before annihilating the
opponent’s defenses. White may be down a
whole piece now, but after something like
18...Qxf7 19.Rg1 Rh8 20.Rxg6+ Kf8 21.Bh6+
Ke8 22.Qg4+– Black’s position would have
been dead lost because of his exposed king
finding himself under attack by a whole swarm
of white pieces.
15.h4! Bxc1
15...g5 looks like the most principled way of
putting White’s kingside pawn-storm to a halt
but after 16.hxg5 hxg5 17.Kg2!+– the grim
reaper would be coming for Black along the h-
file via the vertical rook-lift h1 to h5.
16.Qxc1 Qe7 17.g5
Position after: 17.g5
17...hxg5
Trying to keep the kingside as closed as possible
with 17...h5 18.g6 f6 would have not helped
Black too much in view of 19.Qd1!+– with the
intention of removing the knight, capturing the
h5-pawn with the queen, and mating the black
monarch along the h-file.
18.hxg5 Nd7 19.Qf4 Nf8 20.Kg2+–
There is not much Black can do anymore about
the invasion of the white queen plus rook
battery along the h-file.
One last thought before we move on to the next
puzzle. The lines that I quoted above are very
convincing, but we cannot forget that 14.g4! - at
least strategically speaking - violates basic
principles of positional play. Were we not taught
to refrain from carrying out breakthroughs on
wings while the center is still open? While this is
all correct, we may not lose out of sight that
chess is an extremely complex game in which
the rules of strategy (or statics) and tactics (or
dynamics) are often interlaced with each other.
And as much as I hate to admit it, in practical
40
play tactics frequently takes precedence over
strategy. In other words, an idea may be
strategically outstanding, but if it fails tactically
it generally fails as a whole. If the same idea
works tactically, it will typically be correct even
if your strategic understanding suggests not to
touch it with a ten-foot pole. The ability to weigh
between the strategic and tactical pros and cons
of a given move is therefore of crucial
importance for every aspiring chess player.
Finally, if you would like to witness an example
to the contrary, that is a central counter-attack
being a successful response to an initiative on
one of the wings, please consider the game
Danielyan – Ohanyan included in chapter three.
Your score: You get one point awarded for
playing 14.g4! and another one provided that,
while doing so, you understood that any
counterplay of Black in the center will eventually
prove to be futile.
9
Gunina, V. (2421)
Abdumalik, Z. (2472)
Caleta ENG 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5
6.0-0 a6 7.Re1 Nc6 8.Nc3 Be7 9.a3 b5 10.Bd3
Bb7 11.Ne4 c4 12.Bc2 0-0 13.Ng3 Re8 14.e4
b4 15.e5 b3 16.Bb1 Nd5 17.Ne4 h6 18.Ned2
Na5 19.Nxc4 Nxc4 20.Qd3 Bxa3 21.Qxc4 Bb4
22.Rd1 Bf8 23.Qd3 g6 24.Qxb3 Nb4 25.Bd2 a5
26.Qe3 Nd5 27.Qe1 a4 28.Bc2 Bc6 29.Rdc1
Qd7 30.Be4 Reb8 31.Rc2 Ra6 32.h4 Rab6
33.Qc1 h5 34.Bh6 Be7 35.Ng5 Bd8 36.Qd2
Ba8 37.Ra3 Rb3 38.Rxb3 axb3 39.Rc1 Rc8
40.Ra1 Bc6 41.Rc1 Ne7 42.Bb1 Bd5 43.Re1
Nf5 44.Bxf5 exf5 45.Qe3 Rc2 46.Qg3

Statics
Queen exchange as means of stabilizing the
position
Black has been a pawn down for a longer part of
the game. Luckily for her, things have improved
considerably since then. She is in possession of
the bishop pair and about to capture on b2. As
much as the latter would have allowed her to
restore the material balance, the b2-pawn is not
the real target. What she is truly after is
promoting her advanced b3-pawn once the only
obstacle in its way is gone. What complicates
matters here however is White’s incoming e5-e6!
counter, tactically wrecking the pawn shield
around the black monarch and opening the
floodgates for an attack. Is there a way for Black
to have her cake and eat it too?
46...f4!
A highly effective, yet slightly concealed
resource. Black sacrifices a pawn for the sake of
swapping queens. A queen trade is supposed to
reduce White’s attacking potential on the
kingside to zero, thus making static elements
(such as Black’s far-advanced b3-pawn) more
important for the evaluation of the position
than anything else.
A) 46...Bxg5? was played in the game and
should have also led to Black’s eventual defeat.
The reason for this is that after the further
47.Qxg5 Rc6 48.Ra1 Rb6 49.Ra5 Re6 the dark
squares surrounding the black monarch are
hopelessly weak. This was however not the only
item on the list of Abdumalik’s problems. As the
41
black pieces now need to focus on averting
kingside mate, they are simultaneously less
capable of combating other threats, e.g., the
infiltration along the back-rank or the progress
of White’s central pawns. The following line
demonstrates an optimal plan for White to
convert her advantage. 50.Kh2! Escaping any
surprise checks in advance just in case. 50...Be4
51.Qd2 Re8 52.d5!
Position after: 52.d5!
This is possible thanks to the fact that after
52...Rxe5 53.Ra8+ Re8 54.Qd4 Black’s forces
are so stretched that one of White’s advantages
simply has to prove to be decisive one day.
54...f6 55.Rxe8+ Qxe8 56.f3 Bc2 57.Qxf6 Qf7
58.Qd8+ Kh7 59.Bf4+– when Black can throw
in the towel with a clear conscience already as it
is mate on h8 (after Bf4-e5) and the pawn-
promotion that are coming at the same time.
B) Another idea was 46...Qc7 anticipating White
trying to stir up things by means of e5-e6. This
would have been an excellent attempt to cool
off the opponent’s initiative on the kingside
were it not for 47.Nh3! Rxb2 48.Nf4 Bc4 49.d5
when the position would be starting to slip past
Black’s fingers. When converting an advantage
this is probably the worst feeling to experience
and therefore often a moment when the first
player squanders their edge. In this position
Black would need to resort to some very
sophisticated defensive maneuvers in order to
hold everything together. 49...Kh7! 50.e6!
 Position after: 50.e6! Position after: 47...Qg4

50...Bxd5! 51.e7! Bxe7 52.Nxd5 Qxg3 53.fxg3 48.Qxg4

Kxh6 54.Nxe7 Rc2 55.Rb1 b2 56.Kh2 Rd2=
with a cunning draw. The white knight is
supposed to approach the b2-pawn and capture
it in the end. However, this is not trivial as on
one hand the black rook can at least postpone
this by taking away certain squares from the
knight along the c, d, and e-files. On the other,
even if White manages to take the pawn with
the knight, Black will have the possibility to pin
it immediately afterwards along the b-file. This
is also why this ‘Mexican stand-off’ should end
in a draw.
47.Qxf4 Qg4
The alternative 48.Ne4 Rxb2 49.Qf6!? is sadly
much less effective than it is flashy, especially
since after 49...Bxf6 50.Nxf6+ Kh8 51.Nxg4
hxg4 52.Be3 Ra2 53.Rb1 b2–+ even
theoretically drawish tendencies connected
with the presence of opposite-colored bishops
would have not sufficed to save White.
48...hxg4 49.e6
In lost positions, it is almost always the best idea
to destabilize the situation on the board in order
to complicate matters for the stronger side.

The perfect manifestation of Black’s idea. The

exchange of queens is, practically speaking,
unavoidable as moving it back to h2 would make
White lose all the same, albeit for other reasons
(weakness on f2 or even the back-rank
weakness). By taking on g4 White admits
surrender despite being a pawn up as the b2-
pawn is falling, and Black’s b-passer shall be
safely escorted by the rook and bishops to b1.
These sample lines confirm White’s demise. Position after: 49.e6

Just for the record, 49.Rb1 is met by the simple

49...Bb6–+ after which Black would probably
collect all of the white pawns standing on the
dark squares in close proximity of the center.

Now after:

42
49...fxe6 50.Nxe6 Bxh4 51.g3 Bf6 52.Nf4 Bc4– 13.Na3 Nc3 14.Qe3 Nd7 15.Nexc4 Qb4
+ 16.Qd3 Nd5 17.e4 b5 18.axb5 cxb5 19.exd5
bxc4 20.Qe3 exd5 21.Rfb1
the best White could do out here would be to
merely prolong the battle for a few more moves
without any real hope of putting up resistance.

One thing that I would like to emphasize in the

context of this exercise are the implications of
exchanging queens. Players generally do it
either because they anticipate a better
endgame appearing on the board for them right
after, or because they believe that it is safer for
their own king to continue the game without
them. There is a third reason though. As the
strongest and most tactical piece there is, the
queen is a litmus paper with which we measure
the dynamic potential of our setup in general. In
other words, the presence of queens shall
significantly increase the probability of success
for our dynamic ideas, while at the same time
making static solutions appear less encouraging.
Simultaneously, the absence of queens on the
board shall usually be a factor discouraging
dynamic enterprises and giving preference to
more static ones instead. For a mirror like
example on this topic, please refer to the game
Wachinger – Donchenko, discussed in the
second part of this work.
Dynamics
The power of connected passed pawns
This position has arisen out of a topical line of
the Catalan Opening. Black is two pawns up, but
also in trouble from the positional point of view.
His queen is under immediate attack and the
central pawn chain is in danger as well.
Retreating the queen appears to be Black’s only
try for consolidation, but the pressure against
the d5- and c4-pawns might prove to be too
much for him to handle one day. Was it not for
the fact that this was a correspondence game, I
would have certainly described the solution
chosen by Black in the game as simply
exhilarating.

Your score: You get one point for deciding to 21...Nf6!!

play the 46...f4! 47.Qxf4 Qg4! sequence.
Another point goes to you provided that you
understood how busted White would have been
afterwards. Oh, if you wanted to go for the game
continuation 46...Bxg5?, you should feel lucky
that I do not introduce minus points in this book!

10
Poelvoorde, H. (2071)
Pijl, R. (2263)
ICCF 2020 Position after: 21...Nf6!!

1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Very creative play! Black understands the power
Bb4+ 6.Bd2 a5 7.Qc2 Bxd2+ 8.Qxd2 c6 9.a4 of the connected passed pawns, especially when
Ne4 10.Qf4 Qb6 11.0-0 Qxb2 12.Ne5 0-0 strongly supported by the rest of the pieces with

43
the rooks standing behind them and the bishop
arriving in the near future to the b1-h7 diagonal.
From a +2 position in terms of material, Black
transposes into a – 2 one, but this means very
little for the objective evaluation of the position
as White is never going to be in time to take
advantage of those additional points.
21...Qd6?! looked like the most reasonable
alternative at first. But by going for something
like 22.Nxc4 Qe6 23.Qxe6 fxe6 24.Nxa5²
Black would basically be transposing into a
multi-piece endgame with equal material. At the
same time playing it would have certainly not
been a walk in the park. Black is namely
suffering from a ‘bad’ light-squared bishop and
the backward e6-pawn.
Position after: 24.Nxa5²
Additionally, the queenside will eventually be
conquered by one of the remaining white rooks
with its black counterpart forced to switch to
defensive operations along the seventh or
eighth rank. White’s structural defect, the
isolated d4-pawn, is actually not a nuisance at all
as it cannot be attacked and simultaneously
even restricts the black knight. Maybe this
position is still defensible in the long haul, but I
would prefer not to have to prove this as Black
in a practical game.
22.Nb5
22.Rxb4? would have played into Black’s hands
as after the precise 22...axb4 23.Nc2 Bf5!
44
White’s faulty coordination obstructs his
attempts of putting Black’s queenside pawns to
a halt. The following sample line demonstrates
White’s struggles perfectly: 24.Rxa8 Rxa8
25.Qc1 Bxc2 26.Qxc2 b3 27.Qc1 Rb8 28.Qf4
Rc8 29.Qf5 Re8 30.Bf3 b2 31.Bd1 g6!
Position after: 31...g6!
The knight is obviously taboo and after the
further 32.Qb1 c3 33.Kg2 Ra8 34.Qd3 Ra1
35.Bc2 Rc1µ Black only needs to transfer the
knight towards the queenside in order to
overcome White’s resistance for good.
22...Bf5!
Literally ‘force-feeding’ White the queen.
Although White’s b5-knight might not be
directly attacked its usability shall be reduced to
serving as a martyr once Black goes for ...c4-c3.
22...Bd7? has been recommended by some of
my students as a potential improvement over
the text as after the capture on b4 White would
not have been able to safeguard both the knight
and the back-rank simultaneously. Still, White
could throw a spanner into Black’s works with
23.Nc7 Qd6 24.Nxa8 Rxa8 25.Qe5! when after
the further 25...Qe6 26.Rb8+ Rxb8 27.Qxb8+
Be8 28.Bf3± the momentary material balance
would not have been enough to save the game
for Black. The a5-pawn is falling sooner or later
whereas the other black passer can always be
controlled from the rear.
23.Rxb4 axb4
This is the type of position that Black has been
aiming for from the start. Materially speaking,
he is two pawns down, but his dynamic
advantage, stemming from the presence of two
connected passed pawns on the fourth rank,
adequately curtails White’s winning aspirations.
The following sample lines demonstrate that
Black does not even have to hurry too much but
can instead focus on slowly organizing his play
on the queenside:
24.Qc1
24.Rxa8 Rxa8 25.Qe5 should still be OK for
White, and as much as I believe that Black is fine
even after the solid 25...Be6, the tricky
25...Bg6!? might be a more challenging idea for
White, who would still need to stay extremely
vigilant in the endgame arising after the further
26.Bxd5 Re8 27.Bxc4 Rxe5 28.dxe5 Ng4 29.f4
Ne3 30.Bb3 Bc2 31.Nd4 Bxb3 32.Nxb3 f6ƒ.
White can probably hold this, but the need to
keep an eye on the black b4-pawn and the
opponent’s king trying to infiltrate the kingside
at the same time might not be a trivial task at
the end of the day.
24...Rab8 25.Ra5 c3 26.Bf1 Ne4 27.Bd3 h6
28.Bc2 Bh3 29.f3 Nd2 30.Kf2 Nc4 31.Ra6
and here both of the players decided to call it a
day, apparently because
31...Rxb5 32.Rxh6!
Position after: 32.Rxh6!
45
32...gxh6 33.Qxh6 f5 34.Qg6+ Kh8 35.Qh6+
Kg8=
it leads to a draw by perpetual check.
This example demonstrated the power of
connected passed pawns in an instructive and
entertaining way. To me, it is more important to
comment on something that might have
escaped the attention of some of you. Why is it
that this type of a dynamic advantage was so
efficient in its fight against White’s static one?
The reason for this is time. As can been seen in
the sample lines towards the end of the
exercises, White never really got a moment to
spare and stabilize his position by blocking the
opponent’s pawns early enough. Instead, in
order to secure a draw, he needed to resort to
dynamic methods himself (perpetual check).
This brings us to a conclusion that might be
trivial for some of you but is constantly
forgotten about even by grandmasters: no
matter how overwhelming the dynamic
potential of your position might be, before going
for active solutions like this, you might want to
make sure that your opponent is never going to
have the time to consolidate your position.
Finally, if you would happen to be interested in
a similar exercise, but from the defender’s point
of view, please check out the game Studer –
Kamsky discussed in chapter three at your
convenience.
Your score: One point for not chickening out and
playing 21...Nf6!!. The second point can only be
awarded if you tried to max out the position
with 22...Bf5! directly afterwards.
11
Korley, K. (2411)
Rozman, L. (2353)
Charlotte USA 2021
1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 Nc6 5.d5 Nb8
6.0-0 Nf6 7.Re1 0-0 8.Bf1 e5 9.c4 a5 10.Nc3
Na6 11.Bg5 h6 12.Be3 Ng4 13.Bd2 f5 14.exf5
gxf5 15.h3 Nf6 16.g3 Nc5 17.Be3 Nfd7 18.Qd2
e4 19.Nd4
Statics
Sacrifice as a long-term investment into the
position
A typical KID middlegame has arisen on the
board. Material is equal, but certain strategic
factors present in this position should convince
us that the further course of the game is going
to be anything but quiet and peaceful. What I
like about White’s position in particular is the
level of control he enjoys over the central dark-
squared complex. At the same time, even if
Black’s setup involves a slightly compromised
structure, the potential weaknesses on f3 and
d3 just beg to be occupied by the knights. The
problem is his h6-pawn is hanging and
defending it looks like top priority for the time
being... or does it...?
19...Ne5!
There are three types of chess players in the
world. First, the ones who believe it to be
imperative to defend the h6-pawn. These
persons still need to train some more in order to
get within striking distance of the GM title.
Second, the ones who seriously consider playing
the text move but start wondering whether
their initiative is going to be enough to
compensate for the missing material. Those
players, on the other hand, mistakenly consider
the text move to be a ‘sacrifice’. The third group
of players (in particular those well-versed in
Indian openings) will play 19...Ne5! without
46
really noticing that they are sacrificing anything
because they understand that the arising
position is not about material anymore. For
them, material and time in chess frequently
blend together into one indistinguishable
‘currency’ with which they pay the opponent for
the possibility to activate their pieces and
proceed with their plans. So, dear reader, which
group do you belong to?
19...Kh7?! was played by Levy in the game
which ended in a draw after an epic fight. Here,
White could have taken the sting out of Black’s
position by means of 20.f4! Now, capturing en
passant is (technically speaking), forced as
otherwise White would be in a position to slowly
prepare the g3-g4 push on the kingside thereby
undermining and eventually destroying Black’s
central pawn-chain. Still, after 20...exf3 21.Nxf3
Rg8 22.Qc2! (that b1-h7 diagonal is often a pain
in similar structures)
Position after: 22.Qc2!
22...Ne5 23.Nh4 Qf6 24.Kh1„ although the
position certainly remains tense, we cannot
speak about a Black edge or initiative anymore.
White’s king has been weakened, but the same
applies to his black counterpart. Black’s knights
continue to look quite active, but there do not
seem to be so many potential outposts available
for them in the white camp anymore.
20.Bxh6
White’s demise is aggravated probably by the
fact that there is nothing better than accepting
the pawn thereby walking into Black’s hands in
this position.
20.Be2?! Ncd3 21.Bxd3 Nxd3 22.Nce2 Nxe1
23.Rxe1 Kh7 24.Nf4
would have represented an enterprising
counter-sacrifice. Its point is to establish a
perfectly blocked position in which the black
rooks would not be capable of demonstrating
their nominal superiority.
Position after: 24.Nf4
The problem however is that after something
like 24...Qe7 25.Nde6 Bxe6 26.Nxe6 Rg8µ one
sparrow (the white e6-knight) does not make
summer (successful blockade of the position).
What is even worse for White, his opponent
could slowly prepare the removal of said knight
by bringing his rook to e8.
20...Qf6 21.Bxg7
The most logical alternative. As you already
know being up material is a static advantage
that is theoretically increased by ongoing piece
exchanges. Additionally, returning with the
bishop elsewhere would have needlessly wasted
time thus giving Black more opportunities to
arrange his forces on the kingside.
A) 21.Bg5 Qg6 22.h4 Ncd3 23.Bxd3 Nxd3
24.Nde2 Ne5³ cannot be considered as a
serious option for White whose light squares
around the king resemble pretty much Swiss
cheese.
47
B) Then again, 21.Be3?! would have been even
worse in view of 21...Qg6 22.Kh2 Bd7 23.b3
Qh7!µ when Black would not even be hiding his
malicious motifs anymore. The white h3-pawn is
going to be targeted soon with ideas like ...f5-f4
constituting typical devices in this respect.
21...Qxg7
Position after: 21...Qxg7
Time for a short summary of the changes that
have taken place in the position over the last
couple of moves. White is a pawn up but suffers
due to multiple threats coming from the black
knights. The one from c5 wishes to invade d3,
while the other one would like to land on f3
instead. Yet this is just an element of a bigger
picture of problems he is about to face. If White
is to lose this game eventually, the cause of
death will have probably have been much more
to do with his king being subjected to an attack
along the h and g-files. The sample line quoted
below proves how difficult White’s defensive
task is going to become in only a few moves.
22.Kh1 Bd7 23.Re3
In anticipation of Black opening up the kingside,
White should try to establish at least one
defensive layer along the third rank.
23...Qh6 24.b3 Kh7
Vacating the g8-square for the rook, but also
preparing their doubling along the g-file at the
same time.
25.Nce2 Ncd3 26.Kg1
And now after:
26...c5! 27.dxc6 bxc6ƒ
Position after: 27...bxc6ƒ
White’s central control is now close to zero,
while the black knights are entangling his
position like a serpent. Black’s pawn center is
simultaneously so fluid that in practice White
needs to expect all sorts of pawn levers, ...f5-f4
and ...c6-c5 being the most thematic ones. The
inability to contain the situation in the center is
very likely to affect the safety of White’s
kingside, especially as more and more black
clouds (or should I say more directly - rooks?)
are going to be gathering in the neighborhood
of the white monarch. Even if the downfall of
the white king is still several moves away, the
following question needs to be asked: Does
Black even feel that he is a pawn down here?
Your score: You obtain two points for playing
19...Ne5!. However, if you attempted to defend
the h6-pawn first a big fat zero is what you
deserve for this exercise instead.
12
Abdumalik, Z. (2472)
Kashlinskaya, A. (2494)
Caleta ENG 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.Nc3
0-0 6.a3 d6 7.h3 Re8 8.0-0 h6 9.b4 Bf8 10.Re1
Be6 11.Nd5 Nb8 12.Nc3 Nc6 13.Bxe6 Rxe6
48
14.Nd5 Ne7 15.c4 Ng6 16.Bb2 c6 17.Nxf6+
Qxf6 18.d4 Nh4 19.Nh2 exd4 20.g3 Ng6
21.Bxd4 Qe7 22.f3 Re8 23.Bf2
Dynamics
Distinction between a sacrifice and a dynamic
exchange
This position comes from a Giuoco Piano, but
actually looks more like a typical Philidor
middlegame. White has more space with her
only concerns pertaining to the slightly exposed
elements of her structure (the f3- and c4-pawns)
as well as the oddly positioned h2-knight. Black,
on the other hand, is excellently coordinated
but clearly lacking space for her pieces. The
heavy ones have been installed along the e-file
but seem to be bound to remain dormant
without any apparent central breakthroughs
like ...d6-d5 or ...f7-f5 being available for the
time being... or maybe?
23...f5!
An aesthetically pleasing and dynamically
justified move. Black should have put all her
stakes on the dynamic potential lying withing
her heavy pieces accumulated along the e-file. If
the file stays closed, the discussed battery
remains worthless. Also, the more the position
opens up as a whole, the more coordination
starts to matter. Meanwhile White’s h2-knight
becomes more and more of a detriment. From
this perspective, temporarily sacrificing a pawn
sounds like a tiny price to pay in return for the
sizable activation of one’s pieces. I am quite sure
Alina must have considered this idea in different
shapes and forms, with the possible reason for 25...Ne5 26.Bf2
rejecting it being the need to confirm a sacrifice
like this on a tactical basis. 26.Qc2 Qf7!

A) Instead, the game saw the passive 23...Qd7?!,

most probably with the idea of playing ...f7-f5 a
move later and ideally maintaining the material
balance. At the same time, White could have
parried Black’s efforts in this respect upfront by
means of the prophylactic 24.Qc2!² taking the
sting out of Black’s idea and over defending the
c4-pawn on top of that. With no other
reasonable pawn levers being available and
Position after: 26...Qf7!
even the a7-pawn potentially hanging, Black’s
position would have remained unpleasantly
is the move which should have been spotted by
passive in this scenario.
Black from afar. White’s problematic c4-pawn
can be defended twice, but then her e1-bishop
B) On the other hand, 23...h5 24.h4 Ne5 25.Qc2
would not have enjoyed a similar level of
b5!? deserved serious attention. Black’s
security once Black opens up the e-
intention in such a case should be to create an
file ...Ne5xc4!. Just for completeness sake, we
influential outpost for her knight on c4. This
might want to mention that other tries to stick
would certainly not have been to White’s liking
to the pawn would have backfired as well, e.g.,
so attempts to have such a structure dismantled
27.c5 dxc5 28.bxc5 Rd8! 29.Bf2 Rd3 30.f4
by means of 26.cxb5 cxb5 27.a4 would have
Qxf5!µ and the knight is taboo because of the
been understandable. Still, after the simple
discovered check on g3.
27...Qd7= the best White could obtain here
would be a dynamic trade of the b4 and a7-
26...Nxc4 27.Qd4 Qf7 28.Qxa7
pawns, bringing both players much closer to a
peaceful handshake.
White has so far managed to keep the extra
pawn, but the absence of the queen close to her
24.exf5 Rxe1+ 25.Bxe1
monarch as well as open inroads for Black to
infiltrate her camp are going start feeling painful
25.Qxe1 would have been far less tenable for
in a few moments from now.
White who would be losing the c4-pawn much
quicker compared to the text after 25...Qxe1+
28...Re2 29.g4 Qf6
26.Bxe1 Ne5 27.Bf2 Nxc4 while simultaneously
giving the opponent even more liberty of action
on the queenside: 28.f4 d5 29.Nf3 b6µ when
Black would be about to create a pair of
menacing passed pawns already. As a general
rule for all the variations to come in this game if
White’s c4 pawn falls the material balance is
restored, but with a nice positional ‘surplus’ for
Black, who would be clearly benefiting from the
superior structure as well as possibilities to
generate threats on both wings.
Position after: 29...Qf6

49
30.Re1
30.Qd4 looks logical, as trades typically tend to
ease the defense for the side who is under
pressure, but here after 30...Qxd4 31.Bxd4 c5!
32.bxc5 dxc5 33.Bf2 Nb2!µ Black would have
remained much better thanks to the nicely
supported passed c5-pawn, but also due to the
general lack of coordination among the white
forces.
30...Rxe1+ 31.Bxe1 Qa1 32.Kf1 d5
and now White’s best hope would be to aim for
an endgame down a piece in exchange for
pawns after
33.Qxb7 Ne3+ 34.Ke2 Qd1+ 35.Kxe3 Qxe1+
36.Kd3 Qd1+ 37.Ke3 d4+ 38.Kf2 d3 39.Nf1 d2
40.Nxd2 Qxd2+µ
when it is too early to draw conclusions as
regards the final outcome of the battle, but one
thing would have been certain - it is only White
who can still lose this position. Black can try to
snatch as many pawns as possible with checks
along the way, later on introducing the hitherto
dormant bishop into play for mating purposes.
One last remark to finish our discussion on this
game. To a player well-versed in calculation,
23...f5! is going to represent a ‘dynamic
exchange’ of the f5 and c4- pawns, as they
would have been able to anticipate the
recapture on c4 a few moves later. If one does
not see a possibility like this, for them the text is
going to be a ‘true sacrifice’, as it would require
the player to part with a pawn under no
guarantee of return in the near future, except
for positional gains (opening up of the e-file).
This distinction is not purely of theoretical
importance, but rather a meaningful
psychological factor affecting players of all
levels. This is also one of the reasons why
players who calculate better have the tendency
to play more dynamically as the faith in their
50
abilities frequently convinces them to search for
imbalanced positions in which they could
outsmart their more strategically inclined
opponents.
Your score: 23...f5! earns you the first point. If
you furthermore understood that it will not take
long before you get the pawn back, an
additional point travels to you as well.
13
Mamedyarov, S. (2759)
Radjabov, T. (2753)
Stavanger NOR 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7
6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Qc2 b6 9.Nc3 dxc4 10.e4
Nbd7 11.e5 Nd5 12.Ne4 Ba6 13.Neg5 g6
14.h4 Kg7 15.h5
Statics
Relative value of material – to take more or to
consolidate?
What we have here is a position stemming from
one of the main lines of the Catalan Opening. At
a certain point in time White decided to tamper
with the approximately even character of the
line by sacrificing his c4-pawn. In return, he
obtained an attacking initiative on the kingside
where he has also clearly been making progress
over the last couple of moves. Then again, in this
specific position Black is not only on the move,
but also able to increase his material advantage
by means of 15...c3. You could say that two
pawns are better than one, but is it really in your
best interest to chop more wood in this situation?
15...c5!
In general, one surplus pawn is just about
enough to bring the game to a successful end. If
presented with an opportunity to capture even
more, we should carefully consider whether it is
advisable from the positional perspective,
namely whether my opponent is not going to
obtain some chances just because we were a tad
too greedy. Contrary to what some religions
might try to convince you of, greed is not
necessarily bad, but gluttony is self-destructive.
What I mean by this is that increasing your
material edge in a disciplined manner can only
help you bring the full point home, contrary to
uncontrollable swallowing of whatever piece of
material the opponent throws at you. Unless
your winning chances would be going through
the roof after helping yourself to even more
material in the given position, I would advise
rejecting the offer and making use of the
additional tempo gained this way to reinforce
your position in a different manner.
Taking the above into consideration Black
should have tried to improve his position by
generating counterplay that would at least
distract White from pursuing his attack on the
kingside. The quoted variations also seem to
confirm that this was Black’s last call before
things would have gone off the rails for him.
Instead, the game followed 15...c3? when after
16.bxc3 Bxf1 17.Rxf1 b5
18.Qe4 the key position anticipated by both of
the players has been reached. Black may indeed
be a full exchange up, but his situation is close
to being positionally lost in return.
51
Position after: 18.Qe4
There are multiple reasons for this. First of all,
the position is still closed which means that the
black rooks cannot yet prove their superiority
against White’s minor pieces. Additionally,
White’s kingside attack is just getting started
with literally all of his pieces already standing on
or at least pointing at the kingside. Finally, any
attempts by Black to fight back are going to be
in vain as any pawn lever on the kingside would
just lead to a weakening of their monarch’s
shield, while the only source of activity for the
black pieces is in the far and away realm of the
queenside. Sample lines seem to confirm this
statement as well:
A) 18...Qe8 has was chosen by Radjabov but
could have led to a detrimental situation for him
after 19.Qh4 h6 20.hxg6! Bxg5 21.Bxg5 Rh8
22.gxf7 Qxf7 23.Bd2+– when Black looks fine
for the time being but is in fact losing in the long
run as there is very little he can do against the
f2-f4-f5 idea that is to soon come.
B) 18...N7b6 19.Qg4 Nc4 20.Bc1! When one is
already two pawns down losing a third
consecutive foot soldier is most often less
meaningful than dropping the initial two. The
c3-pawn seems to be as expendable after
something like 20...Nxc3 21.Re1 Qe8 22.Nh4
Rh8 23.Be4! Nxe4 24.Rxe4+– Black looks
defenseless against sacrificial ideas on g6 and/or
e6. He may try to reduce White’s pressure by
eliminating the g5-knight, but this would
severely weaken the dark squares surrounding
his king. No matter how you slice it, Black is toast.
16.Qe4 cxd4 17.Qg4

17.Qh4 h6 18.hxg6 would have been decisive

were it not for the cool 18...Rh8! when after the
further 19.Nxe6+ fxe6 20.Qh3 Nc5 21.Nxd4 c3
22.bxc3 Bxf1 23.Rxf1 Qd7 24.f4‚ Black may in
fact be a rook up for that matter, but the
incoming wave of white pawns supported by all
of his remaining pieces could scare even the
bravest of players. Position after: 28.Qe2=

when Black’s biggest asset in the form of the b2-

pawn is falling.

19.Nxf7 Qc8 20.Nxd4 Nc5 21.Bxd5 hxg6!

The bishop cannot be taken due to e5-e6

combined with Nd4-f5+.

Position after: 24.f4‚

The engine claims that with perfect play the

game should end in equality after the further
24...Raf8 25.Qh5 Nd3 26.f5 Bc5! 27.f6+ Nxf6
28.exf6+ Rxf6 29.Be3 Rxg6 30.Rd1 Qd6!?
31.Rxd3 Qxg3 32.Qe2 Kh7 33.Bd2 Qxg2+
34.Qxg2 e5 35.Rg3 Rxg3 36.Qxg3 Rg8 37.Qxg8+
Kxg8 38.Bxh6 exd4 39.cxd4 Bxd4+ 40.Kf1= Position after: 21...hxg6!
with a theoretical draw.
22.Bxa8 Bxf1 23.Rxf1 Qxa8 24.Ng5 Bxg5
17...c3 18.hxg6 cxd2 25.Qxg5 Qd5 26.Qxd2 Rh8

18...hxg6 may be an even calmer way of steering
the game towards full equality: 19.Nxd4 Nxe5
20.Ndxe6+ fxe6 21.Nxe6+ Kg8 22.Qe4 Nf6
23.Qxe5 Qxd2 24.Nxf8 Rxf8 25.Qxe7 Bxf1
26.Bxf1 cxb2 27.Rb1 Rf7 28.Qe2=
and now White can force a draw by perpetual
check with
27.Nf5+!? gxf5 28.Qg5+ Kf7 29.Qf6+ Kg8
30.Qg6+ Kf8 31.Qf6+=.

Your score: Two points for giving preference to

generating counterplay with 15...c5! instead of
taking more material.

52
 14
Cheparinov, I. (2688)
Vazquez Igarza, R. (2556)
Los Cancajos ESP 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3
a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 h5 9.Qd2 Nbd7
10.Nd5 Bxd5 11.exd5 b6 12.0-0-0 g6 13.Kb1
Bg7 14.Be2 Qc7 15.h4 0-0 16.g4 Rfc8 17.Rc1
Qb7 18.gxh5 Nxh5 19.f4 exf4 20.Bxf4 Nxf4
21.Qxf4 Re8 22.Bf3 Ne5 23.h5 Qe7 24.Rcf1
Dynamics
Relationship between strategy and tactics in
chess
White seems to be enjoying himself in this
double-edged English Attack middlegame. Kings
castled to opposite wings increase the winning
chances for the player who is the first one to
start an attack, which is in this case is White.
What is even more, the presence of opposite-
colored bishops favors the side which is capable
of exposing the opponent’s king first, once again
this being White. Black is not completely
defenseless though. On one hand, he may
always offer a trade of queens via ...Qe7-f6, this
way significantly reducing the opponent’s
attacking potential. On the other hand, if things
get really heated up, he may want to pursue
blockading ideas like ...g6-g5, trying to make
sure that all files in close proximity to his king
remain closed. The latter solution is barred by a
serious strategic defect, which is the weakening
of the f5-square. In other words, if Black moves
the g6-pawn his light squares around the king
would have resembled Cabrales cheese,
53
granting White not only something to feast on
strategically, but also some dangerous attacking
possibilities related thereto in the long run. At
first glance, the choice looks simple then, but, as
we all know, in chess, as in life, appearances
tend to be deceitful.
24...g5!
Position after: 24...g5!
A grandiose idea! As scary as it looks, this is the
only move that not only keeps Black in the game,
but also presents him with serious winning
chances. The reason for this is that, despite
giving up near total control over the crucial f5-
square, Black is going to be faster in creating
mating threats against the opponent than White.
The white queen has only two reasonable
squares at her disposal f5 or e4. The
disadvantage of the former is that it allows the
immediate ...Ne5-c4 counter-jump, whereas
the latter lets Black create a powerful battery
along the dark diagonal after ...Qe7-f6. In both
cases the weakness of f5 remains ugly, but why
worry about a static problem if we are winning
dynamically? What is the use of caring about
strategic problems if the opponent is likely to
succumb to one of the two tactical threats that
you are creating simultaneously?
A) In the game, Black opted for 24...Qf6? which
looks like a fairly rational move considering the
fact that the black monarch was about to feel
the heat on the kingside. In reality however,
Black’s position actually became close to losing
after the further 25.Qxf6 Bxf6 26.Be2 Bg7
27.Rhg1 b5
Position after: 27...b5
when Cheparinov tried but was not able to
overcome his opponent’s resistance at the end
of the day. White has a wide front for operations
here though. Repositioning the light-squared
bishop to c2 in order to attack the black pawn
on g6 one more time would have done the trick.
The following sample line demonstrates a
perfect realization of this idea: 28.c3 Rac8
29.Nd4 Rf8 30.Rf2 Rc7 31.a3 Re7 32.Rh2 Rd7
33.Bd1!+– when the said pawn either falls or
Black is forced to critically weaken the f5 or e6-
square somewhere along the lines.
B) In comparison to the text move, 24...Nxf3?
25.Qxf3 g5 would have been strategically
deficient for the second player as by playing like
this Black would not have managed to stall
White’s attack or to conclusively stop him from
bringing his knight via d4 to f5. After something
like 26.Rhg1 Be5 27.Qd3 f6 28.Nd4+–.
25.Qf5
25.Qe4 prevents ...Ne5-c4 for the time being
but allows Black to install a murderous battery
after 25...Qf6 instead. White can try to defend
cleverly with 26.Qd4 trying to cover the long
dark diagonal. But if Black manages to find
26...Nc4! he will eventually be able to bring the
full point home. 27.Qxf6 Bxf6 28.c3 b5 29.Rhg1
Re5 30.Be4 Bd8!–+ with the dark-squared
bishop being transferred to the delightful g1-a7
54
diagonal. After the other rook is brought
towards the kingside, Black will also be able to
activate his king by approaching the white h5-
pawn.
25...Nc4 26.h6 Qe5
26...Bxb2? would have been a little bit too hasty
in view of 27.Bh5 Rf8 28.Bxf7+! when after the
further 28...Kh8 29.Qe6 Qc7 30.Qg6 Be5
White saves himself with the tactically justified
31.Rh5!.
Position after: 31.Rh5!
The point behind this move is to sacrifice the
queen on g7 and force a corridor mate
afterwards along the g and h-files. Having this in
mind, Black would probably need to rely on
31...Na3+ 32.Kc1 Qxc2+! 33.Qxc2 Nxc2
34.Kxc2 Ra7 35.Rxg5 Raxf7 36.Rxf7 Rxf7
37.Rg6= when the game would be ending with a
disappointing draw as Black should rather not go
after the white a2-pawn because this would
have given the opponent time to reorganize his
forces, that is to bring the king and the knight
closer towards the center. If Black tries to hunt
down the h6-pawn White will surely get
interested in the opponent’s queenside
structure in the meantime.
27.Qxe5 Bxe5 28.Rhg1 f6 29.c3 Ne3 30.Re1
Nf5 31.Rh1 Nh4 32.Bh5 Re7 33.Nd4 Rh7–+
If the h6-pawn falls, in the long run White will
not be able to prevent Black’s kingside structure
from marching on. He can certainly try to
establish a temporary blockade on f5, but there
is no way it is going to last forever.
A short comment of mine regarding this game.
My whole chess education used to revolve
around the assumption that there are proper
strategic skills that usually win the game, while
tactical prowess is just supposed to ‘escort’ me
safely towards a well-earned victory. Especially
however during modern times, I cannot help the
impression that the tactical part of the playing
process has been growing in magnitude
compared to its strategic reflection in the mirror.
Funnily enough, even technical play nowadays
seems to boil down to quick and accurate
calculation as well as anticipating the
opponent’s ‘wiggling’ attempts with typical
positional ideas just constituting the binding of
the whole conversion process. Observing how
our game has been morphing over the last
couple of years makes me believe that tactics
happen to be already considerably more
important in chess than strategy. Just think
about it this way: If you create a strategic
masterpiece, but drop a piece somewhere along
the game, you lose. But if you stay tactically alert
while playing some decent moves, maybe your
play will not impress anybody, but you will
certainly not lose your game either. In other
words, in my personal opinion and as hard as I
find to admit this, brilliant tactical skills will bring
you farther in 2022 and afterwards than being
the reincarnation of Botvinnik.
Your score: Two points for daring to play 24...g5!
despite its apparent strategic inferiority. If you
wanted to reduce White’s attacking potential
with 24...Qf6?, give yourself one consolation
point.
15
Wojtaszek, R. (2696)
Moranda, W. (2630)
Kruszwica POL 2022
55
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4
6.Qxd4 exd5 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 0-0 9.Be2 Nc6
10.Qd3 h6 11.Bh4 Qb6 12.0-0 Rd8 13.Rfd1
Be6 14.h3 a6 15.a3 Rac8 16.b4 Qa7 17.Rac1 b5
18.Bf1 Qb6 19.Ne2 g5 20.Bg3 Ne4 21.Bh2 a5
22.Ned4 Nxd4 23.Nxd4 axb4 24.axb4 Rc4
25.f3 Nf6
Statics
Coordination-related drawbacks of winning
material
This was the first game of the semi-final of the
Polish Individuals 2022. My opponent had
defeated me in the final the previous year, so
this time I came back with plenty of motivation
for revenge. What you need to know about
Radek is that he is a world-class technical player
with excellent opening knowledge. Playing
against this type of a rival frequently resembles
walking a tightrope over the Empire State
Building, one slip in an apparently innocuous
position and you’re gone. Because of this, if you
want to get a shot at victory against somebody
who is perfect in many aspects, you need to
steer the game towards the areas at which they
are ‘merely exquisite’. Because of this, I did not
need to be asked twice when I saw the
possibility to drastically change the nature of the
position with a couple of forceful moves, in
particular 19...g5!? followed by 20...Ne4. This
has indeed complicated matters for both players
substantially, even if during the game itself I
could not help the feeling that my actions could
turn out to be as dangerous as they were stupid.
But then again, can you tell me whether this was
objectively advisable for Black or not?
26.Rb1!
Phew, even after so many months since this
game had been played, I still feel the relief of
seeing my strong rival miss such a brilliant
resource. As counter-intuitive as it might sound,
by playing like this White would not be giving in
on the fight for the crucial c-file but rather
emphasizing the inability of Black to carry on
with the realization of the idea he had in mind
while going for 24...Rc4, that is helping himself
to White’s b4-pawn. What White could do here
was exactly to say ‘farewell’ to his own pawn
without regret, but simultaneously taking
advantage of Black’s flawed coordination after
the capture.
In the game Radek went for 26.Qb1?! Rxb4
27.Qc2?! which would have been a perfect
solution considering the multitude of threats to
which Black was exposed as a result (Bh2-c7 or
Nd4-c6 to name a few). Still, I responded with
27...Rc4! 28.Bxc4 dxc4
Position after: 28...dxc4
when a curious position arose on the board. At
the price of an exchange for a pawn Black
obtained a mighty pair of connected passed
pawns on the queenside. These happen to be
nicely supported by the rest of the black forces,
thus being ready to move forward. Due to the
tournament situation (this event was played
under cup format so a game as White was
awaiting me the next day), I did not hesitate for
too long before accepting a draw offer a few
moves later. In fact, White’s position is already
56
rather difficult at least from the practical
perspective, as demonstrated by the following
sample line: 29.Be5!
It was mandatory to bring this bishop back into
play. From e5 it not only contributes to stopping
the aforementioned pawns but will also prove to
be helpful in endangering the black monarch in
certain circumstances. 29...b4 30.Nf5! It was
hardly possible to contain the pawns without
sacrificing a piece for them so giving up the e3-
pawn instead sounds like a great bargain.
30...Rxd1+ 31.Rxd1 Bxf5 32.Qxf5 Qxe3+
33.Kh1 Qc5 and now after the unexpected
34.f4! White will be as quick with generating
counterplay against the opponent’s king as
Black in promoting his queenside pawns. 34...c3
35.fxg5 c2 36.Rc1 Nd7! 37.Qxd7 Other
solutions were available as well. The only thing
White needed to watch out for was not to allow
the opponent to construct a dangerously
looking queen and bishop battery along the h2-
b8 diagonal in some lines. 37...Qxe5 38.Qc8+
Bf8 39.gxh6 b3 40.h7+! A crucial deflection,
otherwise Black would be winning thanks to the
strength of his pawns.
Position after: 40.h7+!
Now after 40...Kxh7 41.Qxf8 b2 42.Qxf7+ Kh8
43.Qf8+ Kh7 44.Qf7+ Kh8= a draw by
perpetual check represents the fairest of
outcomes.
26...Rxb4
If you said ‘a’, you need to be ready to say ‘b’...
but this allows a lovely counter.
A) 26...Bxb4 would cost Black an exchange in
view of 27.Qb3 when after the further 27...Rxd4
28.exd4 Bd6 29.Bxd6 Qxd6 30.Qxb5± he could
still put up some resistance based on the weak
dark squares around the white king, but White’s
advantage should be big enough to bring the full
point home in due time.
B) 26...Rdc8?! on the other hand, would have
been more or less hopeless as after 27.Qd2 Bd7
28.Bxc4 dxc4 29.Kh1+– White would be
enjoying himself in a much better version of the
earlier discussed ‘exchange up’ scenario.
Without an additional pawn, Black would be
forced to watch as his opponent combines ideas
pertaining to establishing a blockade on c3 and
pushing e3-e4 in order to restrict the opposing
minor pieces even more.
27.Bc7!
A powerful geometrical motif both of us missed
during the game. Luring the black queen to c7
allows its white counterpart, after an
intermediate capture on e6, to penetrate the
opponent’s position via g6, when Black’s
position would be falling like a house of cards.
Position after: 27.Bc7!
27.Rxb4?! Bxb4 28.Nxb5 would have also led to
a preferable position for White, but after
something like 28...Qb7 29.Nd4 Bd6 30.Bxd6
Rxd6 31.Ra1 Rb6 32.Qc3 Bd7² we could argue
57
whether the size of his advantage would have
been enough to convert this position into a win
at the end of the day. Black’s knight is
admittedly a tad loose, the weakened f5-square
will probably be exploited by the opponent’s
minor pieces as well, but in the absence of any
decisive infiltration ideas the engines claim that
Black’s situation might still be holdable.
27...Qxc7 28.Nxe6 fxe6 29.Qg6+ Kf8 30.Rxb4
Bxb4 31.Qxf6+ Kg8 32.Qg6+!
The most accurate way of proceeding. In a
similar position, White cannot be chopping
pawns mindlessly but should instead try to force
the opponent’s king towards those most
unfavorable squares where pawn captures
would be coming with checks.
Position after: 32.Qg6+!
32...Qg7 33.Qxe6+ Kh8 34.Bxb5 d4
and now my engines are in love with the
prophylactic
35.Kf1!±
apparently with the idea of moving away from
the dark g1-a7 diagonal before finally taking
down the pinned black d4-pawn. The computer
evaluation oscillates around +1.5 for White on
my hardware but my human point of view tells
me that White’s edge should fluctuate closer to
+1.0 as an opposite-colored-bishop endgame is
approaching with all the technical difficulties
related to its conversion. Still, I think that White
should be able to win this with optimal play,
especially as (except for the advantage of two
pawns) he can also hope for some ideas
pertaining to the exposure of the black king
along the light squares.
dxe5 11.b3 b6 12.Bb2 Bb7 13.Qe2 c5 14.Nd5
Nc6 15.Rad1 Rf7 16.Rd2 Rc8 17.Red1 Qe8
18.Nh4

A tiny reflection on the situation that took place

in this exercise around White’s 26th move.
Chess players tend to forget that winning
material often requires not only an investment
of time, but a temporary sacrifice of
coordination as well. The placement of the rook
on c4 in the game would have been more
compatible with gaining control over the c-file Dynamics
after the further ...Rd8-c8, the additional bonus To suffer positionally or to lose material?
for Black being that he would not have had to
worry about the spectacular Bh2-c7! idea. Then This position has arisen on the board as a result
again, there is a pawn of White standing on b4, of a rather unorthodox handling of the KID by
which, to our inferior human minds, is worth Black. After developing his knights ‘flatly’ to d7
one point, while the c-file is hardly appraisable and e7 he opted for a double-fianchetto as well
in material terms. What I mean to say by all this as shaping the structure in way that led to the
is that to many players winning a pawn like that creation of a mutual weakness on d5 and d4. As
will always seem more attractive than non- much as the last element does not immediately
forcing improvement of their own coordination. infer any positional disadvantage for Black, the
The same players then go back to the hotel room hanging g6-pawn is more of a nuisance. The
after the game and wonder why they lost, question is therefore: how to defend it? Or
especially as all their actions appeared ‘logical’. maybe should I say... whether at all?
The answer is simple: we should understand
that ‘counting points’ applies not only to 18...Nd4!
estimating the material balance but also to
evaluating the position in general as different
strategic or tactical elements happen to have
value which can (and should!) be expressed ‘in
points’ while assessing the consequences of
one’s actions on the board.

Your score: Two points for discovering 26.Rb1!

in conjunction with 27.Bc7!.

16 Position after: 18...Nd4!

Brondt, N. (2226)
Thybo, J. (2573) The most aggressive, and at the same time the
Svendborg DEN 2020 most promising equalizing attempt in this
position. Instead of passively defending the
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nc3 Nd7 5.e4 e5 g6/f5 pawn chain, Black should have gone all in
6.Be2 Ne7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Re1 h6 9.Bf1 f5 10.dxe5 on activity here. White has virtually no other

58
choice but to remove the annoying black knight.
But by doing so he would be improving the
opponent’s structure quite significantly,
simultaneously increasing the dynamic potential
of the rival’s pieces as well.
A) The game saw 18...f4? and now White could
have secured a close to decisive advantage by
utilizing the elementary 19.Nxg6 Nd4 20.Bxd4
cxd4 21.Nh4 Nc5 22.g3+– when it is not only
the white knight arriving on f5 that makes Black
upset, but also the perspective of the light-
squared bishop meddling with the coordination
of his pieces along the h3-c8 diagonal.
B) Trying to hold everything together with
18...Qe6? was the only other theoretically
reasonable albeit ultimately incorrect
alternative. The reason for this rigid assessment
is the position arising more or less by force after
the further 19.exf5 gxf5 20.g3 Nf8 21.Bh3+–
Position after: 21.Bh3+–
Black has managed to save his pawns for the
time being, but in reality the whole position is
on the verge of collapse. Qe2-h5 is coming with
even more pressure against the exposed black
f5-pawn while ...Nc6-d4 ideas fail tactically due
to the pin along the e-file.
Being able to calculate up to this moment as well
as to evaluate this position as ‘statically lost’
should have convinced Black to go for more
dynamic solutions instead. If he loses anyway
tough luck, this means that the game was
already impossible to be saved. At the same
59
time however, a dynamic solution like the text
would have also increased Black’s chances from
the practical point of view as White, instead of
sticking to a simple containing strategy, would
need to continue calculating accurately even in
a position featuring a material advantage. In
other words, if you feel that the position is
starting to slip through your fingers try to
complicate matters even at the price of a small
material investment. This is going to be typically
a more successful counterstrategy than sitting
tight and slowly getting outplayed positionally.
As they say after all, it is better to die in battle
than to live on your knees, and only then die.
19.Bxd4 cxd4 20.Nxg6
White has just snatched the black g6-pawn. This
is a typical moment which decides whether the
player who is up on material manages to
consolidate without handing over too much
counterplay to the opponent, or maybe their
opponent is lucky to generate enough activity in
return, thus making sure that the materially
superior side never has the time to enjoy his
advantage.
20.exf5 gxf5 21.Qh5 Nf6 22.Qg6 looked
problematic for Black at first glance because of
the hanging f5-pawn, but after the accurate
22...Rf8! the position would have petered out
towards equality after the further:
Position after: 22...Rf8!
23.Qxe8 Rcxe8 24.Nxf5 Nxd5 25.Nxg7 Kxg7
26.cxd5 Bxd5= when it is White who in practice
would need to remain careful in order to and just as it seemed that White was about to
maintain the balance in view of his restricted catch a breath of fresh air and organize his
rooks. position properly, Black strikes will strike!

20...Nf6!

The starting point of a more or less forced

sequence, requiring Black to sacrifice an
exchange in return for massive compensation.

20...fxe4?! 21.Qxe4 Nc5 22.Qe2 e4?! looks

conceptually very tempting for Black, and has
also been the primary choice of the majority of
my students. In return for the pawn, Black Position after: 24.g3
obtains a powerful pawn duo in the center. The
only problem therewith pertains to the 24...Rxh4!
possibility for White to use a counter-sacrifice
with 23.Rxd4! Bxd4 24.Rxd4 when the tables when after the further
turn dramatically. Now material has become
equal again, but Black is positionally in trouble 25.gxh4 Qg6+ 26.Kh1 Bxd5+ 27.f3 Qf5 28.Bg2
without his structural asset or control over the Kh8 29.Rf1 Bf6©
dark squares. After something like 24...Bxd5
25.Rxd5 Rd8 26.Ne5 Rf4 27.Nc6 Rxd5 28.cxd5±
White remains better thanks to the passed
pawn and the potential to make use of Black’s
weakened king, even when playing on such low
material. Instead of attacking, Black needs to
start thinking about organizing some kind of a
defensive grid, especially as ideas like ...Nc5-d3
are frequently going to be met by the tricky
Qe2-e3! followed by f2-f3, undermining the
exposed pieces of the opponent. Position after: 29...Bf6©

21.exf5 he may in fact be an exchange down, but his

21.f3? aiming to maintain the solidity of the
white d5-knight would have been desirable
were it not for the tactical refutation of this
attempt in the form of 21...fxe4 22.fxe4 Nxd5
23.exd5 Rxf1+! 24.Rxf1 Qxg6–+ and the two
black passed pawns supported by the bishop
pair are going to decide the fate of the game.
21...Nxd5 22.cxd5 Rxf5 23.Nh4 Rf4 24.g3
position is not worse at all. There are multiple
reasons supporting this assessment. First of all,
he is in possession of a strong center supported
by the even stronger bishop pair. Additionally,
White’s structure is a wreck (the h4-pawn is
hanging) and his pieces remain utterly passive.
Finally, in order to be able to covert his material
advantage, White would need to conquer the c-
file, but this does not look realistic for the time
being. Even if this was miraculously supposed to
happen, Black could always shift his last rook to

60
the g-file, thus turning his attention more
towards the white monarch.
Your score: You receive two points if you played
18...Nd4! because your understood that trying
to stick to the g6-pawn will get you nowhere.
17
Blakeman, C. (2035)
Ye, L. (2104)
Las Vegas USA 2019
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 Be7 5.b3 0-0
6.Bb2 b6 7.Qc2 Bb7 8.Be2 c5 9.cxd5 exd5
10.d4 cxd4 11.Nxd4 Nc6 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.0-0
Rc8 14.Rfd1 Bd6 15.Rac1 Qe7 16.Bf3 h6
17.Ne2 Bb7 18.Qf5 Rxc1 19.Rxc1 Ne4 20.Bxe4
dxe4 21.Qg4 g6 22.Ng3
Statics
Transforming a dynamic disadvantage into a
less dangerous static one
Material is equal but it is clearly White who is
dictating the pace of the game here. All his
pieces are active and seem to be nicely
cooperating for the purpose of putting pressure
on Black’s kingside. The immediate threats are
Ng3-f5 or Ng3-h5, and there does not seem to
be a simple antidote to them available at hand
for Black. In particular, the black queen cannot
afford to abandon the bishops as it needs to
keep on guarding the d7-square. If there are any
moves that could help Black out here, they
always involve some kind of concession which
does not solve the problem but rather
transforms it into another, possibly less
61
troubling one. In other words, what is the least
of evils for Black in this position?
22...Qe6!
Position after: 22...Qe6!
A structurally ugly move, but also one which
perfectly meets the needs of the position. Black
agrees to have his kingside pawns compromised
but ensures he is able to enter a type of
endgame that carries little to no danger for him.
By going for this solution, Black would have
decided that a static deficiency in the endgame
(doubled pawns along the e-file) is less of a
nuisance for him than dynamic dangers (attack
against the king or invasion of the White heavy
pieces on the queenside).
A) 22...Bxg3? was played in the game. This is a
move that indeed neutralizes the Ng3-f5 threat
but the arising weakness of the dark squares
after 23.Qxg3 proves to be even worse in the
long run for Black. The problem is that White
may combine mating threats along the dark
diagonal with infiltration ideas on the queenside
like Rc1-c7. Now 23...Rc8 looks like a reasonable
attempt to prevent this from happening and at
the same time minimize White’s pressure. But
after 24.Rxc8+ Bxc8 25.Qb8 Qe6 26.h3 a6
27.a4!+– Black’s position has to be considered
as lost in the long haul. True, opposite-colored
bishops do suggest drawish tendencies in
endgames, but here Black has to additionally
reckon with the already mentioned mating
threats along the dark squares. In similar
situations, the weaker side rarely gets mated,
but the defensive efforts typically require so
much endeavor from the pieces that they are no
longer capable of fighting off other plans of the
attacker. For example, White will be taking the
b-pawn any day now. This way, a passed pawn
on the queenside shall be created which could
be stopped only if the defender’s pieces were
not absorbed with other tasks. If we add on top
of that the white monarch is comparably safer
than his black counterpart, we will quickly
understand how precarious Black’s state would
have really become.
B) Black could have also considered the
apparently consolidating 22...Rd8 23.Nf5 Qg5?
with the idea of swapping the queens thus
ensuring that his king remains constantly safe.
Still, White can spell an end to those dreams by
means of 24.Qxg5 hxg5 25.Nxd6 Rxd6 26.h4!.
By going for this move, White dynamically
creates an air hole for the king, but capturing
cost Black the game after Rc1-c7. Focusing on
the other threat does not seem to do the trick
though.
Position after: 26.h4!
26...Rc6 27.Rd1! Kf8 28.Rd7 Bc8 29.Rxa7 gxh4
30.b4+– We have reached yet another opposite-
colored bishop endgame featuring equal
material. Compared to the positions arising
after 22...Bxg3?, the drawish tendencies are
even bigger as queens have been replaced by
less tactical pieces such as the rooks. Ironically
Black’s position is still pretty much hopeless as
the b6-pawn is again very likely to be eliminated,
62
with White’s connected passed pawns finishing
the job at the end.
C) Finally, one student of mine suggested
22...Kh7?! as a potential remedy to Black’s
difficulties. The point of Black’s solution is to
meet 23.Nf5 with 23...Qe6 24.Nxh6 Bc8!? This
very interesting concept baffled me for a second
as Black, instead of trying to capture it as soon
as possible, first makes sure that the knight does
not flee via g4 in the end. After the initial shock,
I came to the conclusion that 25.h3!
Position after: 25.h3!
helps White keep a considerable edge. The
knight is taboo in view of mate on h4 so Black
has no other choice but to opt for a much worse
endgame after 25...Be7± as instead 25...f5?
would have been losing because of the
unbelievable 26.Nxf5! Qxf5 27.Qh4+ Kg8
28.Rc6! Be5 29.g4! g5 30.gxf5 gxh4 31.Bxe5
Bxf5 32.Kh2+– and Black’s position is hopeless
as he is about to drop yet another pawn on h4.
23.Qd1
The moment you understand that exchanging
the queens spells an end to White’s dreams of
winning, attacking ideas along the a1-h8
diagonal seem to be the last hope to create
favorable complications. In reality, Black is able
to contain White’s initiative before it even starts
by setting up the structure right and arranging
his pieces properly.
23.Qxe6 fxe6 24.Rd1 Bc7 25.Rd7 Rf7= is a very
short line but one that constitutes enough proof
that Black remains OK here. White finds it tough
to attack the ‘weak’ pawn on e4 more than once
but infiltrating along the seventh rank does not
help much either. What is more, trading off
rooks could result in a transposition to an even
worse endgame for White whose queenside
structure would have all of a sudden started to
be haunted by the light-squared bishop of the
opponent. To make things even worse, White
would then find it hard to include the king into
play in the center on account of ...h6-h5-h4
ideas for Black.
23...h5 24.Rc4 f6 25.Ne2 Rf7 26.h3 Kh7 27.Rd4
Bc7=
I do not see any straightforward opportunities
for White to breach the opponent’s defenses.
Both the seventh rank and the long dark
diagonal are sufficiently covered. The white
knight is not so helpful at the end of the day,
while Black’s light-squared bishop shows some
signs of untapped potential (transfer via a6 to
d3?). With that said, Black has solved all of his
problems and therefore equalized.
Transformation of disadvantages is a topic
which has been, in my personal opinion,
neglected for decades in modern chess
literature. Admittedly, there are numerous
books and courses discussing methods of
making use of particular types but I have been
rarely able to witness authors focusing on
static/dynamic transformations or at least the
relationships between different kinds of
positional elements. Stronger students of mine
are pretty much familiar with all sorts of
possibilities to trade one advantage for another,
but already tend to look slightly surprised when
I ask them to do the same with a disadvantage
(with damaging their own structure in order to
expose the opponent’s king along the g-file
being a cliched example here). Sacrificing an
advantage of theirs to put the opponent at a
63
disadvantage (e.g., using the bishop pair to
wreck the rival’s structure) is never a problem,
but how about modifying the position in a
manner that gives both players an
advantage/disadvantage, while making sure
that theirs is bigger/smaller? In the further
course of this book, you will have lots of
opportunities to put your skills in this area to a
test.
Your score: One point for recognizing the need
to neutralize White’s attacking initiative, and
another one for playing 22...Qe6! specifically.
18
Vazquez, G.. (2536)
Liang, A.. (2597)
Dulles USA 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.c3 Bg4
6.Nbd2 e6 7.Qa4 Nd7 8.Ne5 Ndxe5 9.Bxe5 f6
10.Bg3 Bf5 11.Bb5 Qb6
Dynamics
Central breakthrough as a source of activity
What we have here is a fairly typical scenario
arising from one of the main lines of the London
System. White’s structure is solid, his pieces are
well-placed, but grinding a win out of something
like this is often times as pleasant as a prostate
exam. Here however, there are a couple of
elements of Black’s position that I dislike from
the start. He is clearly behind in development,
with White about to be another tempo ahead in
this regard in a move from now. He also
voluntarily compromised his structure by kicking
out the white bishop from e5 with ...f7-f6.
Finally, the black king has not managed to castle
yet, and requires an additional two tempi to
achieve this. What could possibly go wrong for
him with an approach like that?
12.e4!
Position after: 12.e4!
Hitting Black where it hurts the most! Thanks to
this unexpected central pawn lever White would
have been able to activate his minor pieces and
expose the black monarch in the center at the
same time.
Getting a little bit ahead of myself – I suspect
that the reason why White refrained from this
idea could have been the fact that London
players generally carry out breakthroughs like
this in the center only if they work cleanly, in
particular provided that these do not jeopardize
other elements of their pawn structure. This
also happens to be one of the reasons why I
generally discourage my students from playing
similar openings on a regular basis, especially at
an early stage of their adventure with chess.
Playing the London System may sound fun at
first: logical deployment of pieces, healthy
structure as well as an overall easiness of play
makes it appear to be a great opening for
beginners. What seems to be a blessing may in
fact in reality sometimes be a curse. The limited
number of ideas and structural transformations
may contribute to an eventual drop in strength
as the player eventually stops discovering new
types of positions. I accept the possibility that I
64
may just as well be in the wrong here, and yes, I
am aware that Magnus Carlsen has been using it
with success for a couple of years now. But trust
me when I say that proper development of a
chess player requires them to be exposed to a
broad variety of positional problems till the very
end of their careers.
A) In the game Vazquez preferred 12.Nb3?
which could have proven to be a costly mistake
in view of 12...c4 13.Na5 Rc8 14.b3 Kf7! when
after the further 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.bxc4 Qa6
White’s forces are badly tangled on the
queenside. White would have had to spend the
next couple of moves trying to bring his
coordination back into order, but even his best
efforts in this regard would have ultimately
resulted in a need for humiliating retreat via
17.c5 Be7 18.Qb4 Rcd8!µ and now ...Rd8-d7-b7
intertwined with ...Be7-d8 would have allowed
Black to take full control over the queenside.
This might sound like ‘just about enough’
compensation for the missing pawn but adding
on top of this the fact that White has not yet
been able to castle might make such a trade
sound very beneficial for Black.
B) By comparison, 12.dxc5 Bxc5 13.e4 Bxe4
14.Nxe4 dxe4 15.Bc4 would have been far less
effective owing to the fact that now the black
king would be able to make a run for safety with
15...0-0! 16.Bxe6+ Kh8= and White’s bishop
pair and Black’s lead in development seem to be
canceling each other out. Also, it turns out that
if White wanted to reap the full benefits of the
central e3-e4 thrust, he should not be giving
Black’s dark-squared bishop a chance to move
beforehand.
12...Bg6
As we will soon see Black’s position happens to
already be lost by this point in time, but
touching the e4-pawn in any way would have led
either to an even quicker or more painful form
of defeat for the second player.
A) 12...Bxe4 13.Nxe4 dxe4 indeed temporarily
wins a pawn for Black, but also severely
weakens his light squares in the center.
Weaknesses like that typically need to be
exploited very quickly before they disappear or
become less bothersome for the opponent, so
after the further 14.Qb3! Be7 15.dxc5 Qxc5
16.Ba4! Kf7 17.Qxb7 Rhc8 18.0-0-0 e5 19.Rd5!
Qb6 20.Rb5 Qxb7 21.Rxb7+– White would have
reached a technically winning endgame thanks
to his superior structure and domination over
the light squares. Once White manages to re-
activate his hitherto dormant bishop on g3,
things will have become even easier for him.
Position after: 21.Rxb7+–
B) 12...dxe4 would have been even more drastic
in its consequences for Black as now after the
forced 13.Nc4 Qd8 14.0-0-0! Qc8 15.dxc5 Bxc5
16.Bd6! Bxf2 17.Ba3+–
13.exd5 exd5 14.Nc4!
Position after: 14.Nc4!
An absolutely fabulous resource! It appears that
leaving a pawn on d5 does not protect Black
from getting hit by Nd2-c4 after all. There is no
65
way Black can ignore it anymore, but a capture
on c4 is to no avail either in view of d4-d5
decisively exposing the black king.
One student of mine suggested the flashy 14.0-
0?! a6 15.Rfe1+ Kf7 16.Bc4!? but after the
restrained response of 16...Rd8 17.dxc5 Bxc5
18.Nb3 Be7 19.Bf1 Rhe8² the absolute best
White could claim in this position would be a
small edge based on the ensuing play against
Black’s IQP.
14...dxc4 15.d5 0-0-0 16.dxc6 Re8+ 17.Kf1 Rd8
18.cxb7+ Kxb7 19.h4!+–
and White wins because his problems with the
misplaced king are going to fade soon enough
while the additional c4-pawn that is about to
drop and especially the weakened position of
Black’s king are not going to subside so quickly.
Your score: One point belongs to you for
opening up the center with 12.e4! Award
yourself another one if you anticipated the need
to go for 14.Nc4! against Black’s strongest reply.
19
Artemiev, V. (2704)
Ding, L. (2799)
Goldmoney Rapid INT 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c5 4.0-0 e6 5.d3 Be7
6.e4 0-0 7.Qe2 Nc6 8.a4 dxe4 9.dxe4 e5 10.c3
Be6 11.Nbd2 Qc7 12.Nc4 Rad8 13.Ng5
Statics
Time or timing?
What we have out here is a King’s Indian Attack
(KIA), that is the King’s Indian Defense (KID) with
reversed colors. Personally, I would prefer to call
it a ‘KID with reversed colors gone wrong’ as in
this version of the same KID line White seems to
be something like two or three tempi up
compared to the regular KID. To be more precise,
in order to achieve something similar in the KID
as Black, in this KIA White would need to reverse
two moves (a2-a4 & Nf3-g5), but also probably
hand over one more tempo to Black for ...Ra8-
d8 to be made. This sounds bad enough, as most
players on the planet tend to believe that
respectable openings as Black (in this case the
KID) can only be better if played with reversed
colors a tempo up. However, to make things
apparently even worse throughout this
discussion (which already seems to favor White
considerably) we have not even touched upon
the positional problems Black is experiencing
here already in form of the weak d5-square and
the attack against his e6-bishop. One thing is for
sure - taking on c4 looks strategically suicidal, so
Black should rather seek other ways of solving
the problem of the bishop... or should he?
13...Bxc4!
You might well be asking yourself, “What kind of
a lunatic does one need to be in order to give up
the light-squared bishop in a structure like that?”
True, surrendering the ‘good’ bishop might
rarely be the right idea, but here Black has a
follow-up at his disposal thanks to which he will
get to be the one dominating the opponent on
the queenside so much that White will never get
the chance to take advantage of any chances
along the light squares he has been presented.
A) 13...Bg4?! 14.f3 Bc8 15.f4 Bg4 is a standard
way of reacting in similar positions, at least if we
wanted to apply the knowledge derived from
playing the KID with reversed colors. Still, if
Artemiev had only decided in favor of 16.Bf3!
Bxf3 17.Nxf3 exf4 18.gxf4ƒ he would have
obtained a very dangerous initiative based on
66
the pair of hanging pawns on the kingside. Black
would find it difficult to contain them as almost
every single move with those pawns would
simultaneously be forcing the black pieces back
while giving White even more momentum.
B) 13...Bc8? would have been even worse for
Black. Apart from transposing into the line
starting with 13...Bg4?!, White could have
resorted to the positional 14.Bh3!?. The point
behind it would be to weaken the d5-square by
trading off the light-squared bishops. After the
further 14...Bxh3 15.Nxh3 Qc8 16.Kg2 h6
17.f3ƒ White may still be rather far away from
successfully transferring and establishing a
knight on d5, but that would have already been
a matter of ‘when’, and not ‘if’ it is going to
happen. Black does not seem to be in possession
of any active counterplay.
14.Qxc4 Na5 15.Qe2 Nb3 16.Rb1 c4
Position after: 16...c4
The full extent of Black’s idea has just been
revealed. Black sacrificed his light-squared
bishop but does not even feel that it is long gone.
What we typically fear in similar situations is the
opponent repositioning his knight to d5, but this
might actually never happen here. Also, another
standard problem of Black, remaining with the
‘bad’ dark-squared bishop, is non-existent here
as he has the c5-square available for it in case of
need. The same square may be just as well
utilized by the b3-knight but for the time being
it is standing great as it is by paralyzing White’s
forces on the queenside to a certain extent.
Black’s main idea however is about establishing
even more dominance along the d-file by
doubling his rooks along it. He might also get
interested in White’s defenseless a4-pawn one
day, this being however a thing only if there is
no other juicier positional asset to be snatched
from White in the position.
Unless you have noticed it so far, the reason why
White could have gotten himself paralyzed
virtually out of the opening was the fact that he
played an opening commonly known to be of
decent quality (KID) a tempo up (with a2-a4
inserted). This additional move fueled the
power of 13...Bxc4! as it allowed Black to place
an extremely strong knight on b3 immediately
afterwards. In other words, not every good
opening as Black is going to be even better when
played as White, even with an additional tempo.
Having additional time to carry out plans
stemming from the very same position but with
reversed colors is only going to be helpful if the
timing of the undertaken actions happens to be
just right.
17.Nf3
The knight was completely out of play on g5 so
White does best in transferring it to back to his
own camp for defensive purposes. This is also
one of the reasons why I would personally
prefer to avoid inserting ...h7-h6 anywhere
along the lines here as Black. In the absence of
any serious threats generated by the white g5-
knight, chasing it back would only be helping
White organize his forces at home.
A) 17.f4?! looks like a fair attempt for
counterplay in White’s already cramped
position but this move fails tactically after
17...Nxc1 18.Rbxc1 Rd3 19.fxe5 Re3! 20.Qf2
Qxe5µ when the rook is taboo for White for as
long as his king remains on g1. In the meantime,
however, Black is already threatening to capture
the white knight while destabilizing it might
effectively lead to the fall of White’s e4-pawn.
67
B) 17.Be3? would have been even worse as in
this case White’s response to Black’s growing
pressure along the d-file would have been much
too late. 17...Rd3 18.Rbd1 Rfd8 19.Rxd3 cxd3
20.Qd1 Na5–+ and there would not be much
White could do anymore against the black
passer once the black knight manages to reach
c4 on the very next move.
17...Rd3!
Position after: 17...Rd3!
This looks like a pure loss of time as White is now
going to kick out the rook by means of Nf3-e1
and then pursue some active play based on the
f2-f4 pawn lever. At the same time and under
those circumstances the white rooks would
have remained disconnected, which would
actually increase Black’s chances of winning the
d-file.
By comparison, 17...Rd7? would have thrown
away the edge in view of 18.Bg5 Rfd8 19.Rfd1
Rxd1+ 20.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 21.Qxd1 Nc5 22.Bxf6
Bxf6 23.Bf1! Nxe4 24.Qd5 Qc6 25.Bxc4 Qxd5
26.Bxd5= with a probable draw in view of the
presence of opposite-colored bishops on the
board.
18.Ne1 Rd7 19.f4 Nxc1 20.Rxc1 Re8 21.Kh1
Bd6 22.fxe5 Bxe5 23.Nc2
and now after
23...h5!?³
 Position after: 23...h5!?³
Black would have obtained a solid advantage
based on several positional factors. First of all,
his bishop is superior to its white counterpart as
it controls the important h2-b8 diagonal adding
fuel to the thematic ...h5-h4 push, but also
consolidates Black’s position in general by
preventing a possible exchange sacrifice on f6.
What is more, White’s structure is simply
weaker. Not only as he has three pawn islands
compared to Black’s two, but also because the
isolated e4-pawn obstructs its own bishop.
Lastly, thanks to a potential d3-outpost Black
seems to be better prepared to fight for control
over the d-file in the long haul.
Your score: You receive two points if you did not
hesitate to play 13...Bxc4! despite giving up the
apparently important light-squared bishop.
20
Balint, V. (2296)
Kovalev, A. (2469)
Budapest HUN 2022
1.e4 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nc3 d6
6.Nge2 a6 7.0-0 Rb8 8.a4 e6 9.d3 Nge7 10.Be3
Nd4 11.f4 0-0 12.Rb1 Nec6 13.Rf2 Bd7 14.Kh1
h5 15.Ng1 Qa5 16.Nh3 b5 17.axb5 axb5
68
Dynamics
Starting a kingside counter-attack before the
queenside falls
Black’s play so far can be described as a
‘Reversed Botvinnik success story’. First, he took
full control of the crucial d4-square in this
structure. Afterwards, he managed to achieve
the ...b7-b5 push, thus obtaining a close to
decisive strategic advantage on that part of the
board. In the meantime, White was just
pretending to be on the lookout for any chances
of his own on the kingside. This looks very bad
at first but as it turns out White’s situation was
not yet entirely hopeless.
18.g4!
Position after: 18.g4!
Only like this! White’s queenside is falling apart
and trying to keep on playing out there would
have resembled reanimating a dead cat. Under
these circumstances, the best idea for White
was to switch his attention to the kingside in
search of some counterplay or at least
distracting the opponent from making further
progress on the queenside for as long as feasible.
A) Instead, Balint decided in favor of 18.f5?
which is certainly a typical idea in similar
positions but here is does not work tactically as
White’s h3-knight tends to hang in all variations.
After the further 18...exf5 19.Ra1 Qd8 20.exf5
Bxf5 21.Nxb5 Bxh3 22.Bxh3 Nxb5 23.cxb5
Rxb5–+ White ended up a clear pawn down with
a strategically lost position as compensation.
B) 18.Nxb5?! Nxb5 19.cxb5 Qxb5 20.Ng5
seemed like a reasonable attempt to simplify
the situation on the queenside before going all-
in on the opposite flank. At the same time after
the further 20...Qb4 21.g4 Bd4!
Position after: 21...Bd4!
22.Bxd4 Qxd4 23.Rf1 hxg4 24.Qxg4 Kg7–+
Black will have managed to positionally castrate
White by means of eliminating his dark-squared
bishop thereby neutralizing any consecutive
attacking tries of his on the kingside insufficient.
18...hxg4
A) 18...bxc4 19.gxh5!? It needs to be
emphasized at this point that throughout the
analyzed lines, recapturing on c4 and/or d3 will
always be a decent option for White, but never
one that is ‘in the spirit of the position’. To make
it clearer, White’s queenside is collapsing and
within a couple of moves he is going to get
obliterated there completely. In situations like
these a more practical approach would be to
inflict damage to the opponent somewhere
where it hurts the most instead of trying to
patch up the newly appearing holes and
69
weaknesses in your own camp. If really
necessary you might want to do small mends to
the position here and there, but the main focus
should consistently remain on getting your
hands on the opponent’s king on the other flank.
19...cxd3 20.hxg6 fxg6 21.Qg4!? another
manifestation of the proper attitude in positions
such as these. Recapturing on d3 was by no
means a bad idea, but surely one that ‘a person
of chess culture’ would only consider as a
subsidiary alternative to launching a kingside
attack. Here Black would probably have to
resort to the inconspicuous defensive idea of
21...Qd8!
Position after: 21...Qd8!
when the black g6-pawn is taboo for the time
being in view of ...Qd8-h4! with the idea
that ...Bd7-e8 would be forcing a trade of
queens, thus leaving White with no counterplay
as the disappearance of the strongest pieces
from the board would have emphasized Black’s
static dominance over the position. Now after
something like 22.Rg1 Be8 23.Ng5 Qe7 24.f5
Ne5 25.Qh4 Bf6 26.fxe6 Bc6! 27.Nd5 Bxd5
28.exd5 Qg7„ an incredibly complicated
position would have arisen in which the chances
of both players are assessed as roughly equal by
the engines. White does not yet seem to be
done with his attack, but Black does indeed have
various ways of simplifying at his disposal,
eventually placing his bets on the advanced d3-
pawn.
B) Trying to keep the kingside as closed as
possible with 18...h4? backfires in view of 19.f5!
and in this version the thematic f4-f5 push works
like a charm. Taking material on f5 would have
only expedited Black’s demise due to the
incoming Qd1-h5 & Nh3-g5 motif but allowing
something like 19...bxc4 20.f6 Bh8 21.Bh6 Rfe8
22.Qe1!+–
Position after: 22.Qe1!+–
would not represent a viable option either. Once
the white queen arrives on h4, the stench of
mate would already have been in the air. Even if
the mating ideas were never supposed to really
materialize, Black would have still found himself
in an utterly lost position due to his bishop being
buried alive on h8.
19.Qxg4 bxc4 20.Qh4!
Going straight for the black king’s head.
20...f6
This is required but simultaneously propels
White’s attacking idea of
21.f5!?
Position after: 21.f5!?
70
hoping to make sure of the weakening of the
light squares around the black monarch. Sample
lines provided below confirm that Black would
need to demonstrate excellent defending skills
in order to hold off White’s onslaught.
21...exf5 22.exf5 Bxf5 23.Bxd4 cxd4!
The starting point of a lovely tactical sequence
during which both of the players will be trying to
present each other with exchange sacrifices.
And, as they say, where two dogs strive for a
bone the game ends in a draw.
23...Nxd4?! looks far less convincing in view of
24.Bd5+ Be6 25.Qe4 Bxd5 26.Nxd5 Qa8!
27.Nhf4 Rf7 28.Qxg6 c3! 29.Qg2!ƒ when with
the temporarily idle b1-rook coming to g1,
White’s kingside attack would only be over once
he says it is over.
24.Bd5+ Rf7 25.Rxf5!
Position after: 25.Rxf5!
Black was forced to part with the exchange on
f7 due to the rules of chess, whereas White
simply has to do it just to avoid granting Black
total domination over the light squares as a
result.
25...gxf5 26.Rg1 dxc3 27.Bxf7+ Kxf7 28.Qxc4+
Kf8 29.Qxc6 Qa8 30.Qxa8 Rxa8 31.bxc3 Ra3
32.Nf4 Bh6 33.Nd5 Bd2=
with massive pawn exchanges and a draw being
inevitable here.
While working on similar examples, students
often ask me how to determine the optimal
moment to start an attack. As a rule, once you
have finished development and your pieces are
perfectly coordinated, there should be no
arguments left in favor of postponing offensive
actions against the enemy king. At the same
time however, such scenarios are a luxury as on
a higher level your opponent is never going to
let you reach a perfect organization of your
forces and calmly watch you get interested in his
king. In practice, more often than not, you will
be forced to begin attacking while not yet fully
prepared or sometimes even worse as you start
out from close to losing positions. In such cases
you need to make sure that your pieces achieve
the peak of their attacking properties sort of
‘along the way’, that is by dynamically including
71
one piece after the other into the attack with
possible sacrifices along the way serving more
the purpose of gaining time than to weaken the
opponent’s monarch. In this context I invite you
to have a look later on at the game Erigaisi –
Gupta (discussed in the second part of the book),
where Black might have gone for a line in which
he would seem to be constantly slower than the
opponent and even gradually burning up all of
his material only to end up saving the game ‘just
in time’.
Your score: One point for going after
counterplay with 18.g4. Another point goes to
you if, in the calculated lines, you gave privilege
to attacking lines instead of consolidation
measures on the queenside.
 Chapter Two
Buy this book, they said.
It will be fun, they said

72
 1 4
Blomqvist, E. – Grandelius, N. Wachinger, N. – Donchenko, A.

□ 32.? ■ 19...?

2 5
Warakomska, A. – Matsumura, C. David, A. – Bellahcene, B.

■ 26...? ■ 15...?

3 6
Firouzja, A. – Harikrishna, P. Balinski, D. – Seger, R.

■ 18...? ■ 10...?

73
 7 10
Maghsoodloo, P. – Mchedlishvili, M. Vidit, S. – Grandelius, N.

■ 25...? ■ 18...?

8 11
Vrolijk, L. – Nijboer, F. Kjartansson, G. – Plat, V.

□ 22.? □ 30.?

9 12
Anand, V. – Karjakin, S. Karjakin, S. – Moroni, L.

■ 22...? ■ 20...?

74
 13 16
Puranik, A. – Kollars, D. Asadli, V. – Kovalenko, I.

□ 24.? □ 18.?

14 17
Erigaisi, A. – Gupta, A. Van Foreest, J. – Anton Guijarro, D.

■ 20...? ■ 14...?

15 18
Griffith, K. – Wang, T. Nakamura, H. – Svidler, P.

□ 24.? ■ 26...?

75
 19 20
Santiago, Y. – Niedbala, B. Abdusattorov, N. – Giri, A.

■ 27...? ■ 17...?

76
 Solutions
1 The only try for White to not only prolong the
Blomqvist, E. (2537)
Grandelius, N. (2666)
Malmo SWE 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6
6.Bf4 g6 7.Nf3 Nh5 8.Be3 Qc7 9.0-0 Bg7
10.Re1 0-0 11.Nbd2 Nf4 12.Bf1 Bf5 13.Nb3
Rfe8 14.Qd2 Nh5 15.h3 Nf6 16.Bf4 Qc8
17.Rad1 Ne4 18.Qc1 f6 19.c4 g5 20.Bh2 e6
21.Nfd2 Bg6 22.Nxe4 dxe4 23.d5 Nb4 24.d6
Nd3 25.Bxd3 exd3 26.c5 e5 27.Qc4+ Kh8
28.Rxd3 Bxd3 29.Qxd3 Qc6 30.h4 g4 31.Qf5 b6
Statics
The relationship between time and control in
chess
After a rather timid opening stage Black
emerged an exchange up out of the middlegame
complications. As the battle dust is about the
settle White finds himself on the verge of
dropping the only reason not to surrender in this
position, that is the advanced c5- and d6-pawns.
If c5 falls, d6 is next. What is even worse is that
his forces seem to be scattered across the board
making the task of protecting even one of the
pawns look like mission impossible. Still, where
there is a will, there is a way.
32.Nd2!
77
fight while being down material but to attempt
to play the position for a win. White’s idea is not
to care about the c5-pawn at all, but rather to
improve the sub-optimal knight by swiftly
transferring it to e4. From there the knight
brilliantly supports the remaining d6-passer but
also threatens to take the f6-pawn thereby
creating elements of a mating net close to the
black king. However, all of this only be possible
if White manages to maintain a firm grip over f5
in order to ensure the safety of the knight while
using the time gained due to his central
dominance to introduce his other pieces into
play as well.
A) Instead, the game saw 32.Qxg4? when after
the further 32...bxc5 33.d7 Re7 34.Rc1 Qxd7
35.Qxd7 Rxd7 36.Nxc5 Rc8 37.b4 Bf8–+ White
carried on for just a couple more moves before
resigning.
B) 32.Rd1? would not have been much better in
view of 32...bxc5 33.Qxg4 Rad8 34.Na5 Qa6
35.Nc4 Bf8–+ and the white passer is going to
be eliminated sooner or later.
32...Red8!
The most precise reaction. Strategically
speaking, the rooks belong on c8 and d8 as this
way they are doing their best in stopping both
of the advanced white pawns. In tactical terms
this move is a necessary prerequisite for ...Qc6-
c8 to work. Without the inclusion of the rook
move an immediate attempt to remove the
white queen from f5 would have been punished
by the d6-d7 fork.
A) 32...Qxc5?! 33.Ne4 Qc2 looks like a decent
attempt to obtain counterplay but also allows
White to demonstrate the full extent of his
positional potential. 34.h5! Rf8 35.Bg3! Rad8
36.Bh4 Using Black’s state of paralysis, White
significantly improves his bishop and is already
threatening h5-h6 when the black king is
suddenly in trouble.
Position after: 36.Bh4
True, Black may try to defuse this bomb before
it explodes by means of 36...Qc8 but the
endgame arising after the more or less forced
sequence of 37.Qxc8 Rxc8 38.h6 Bxh6 39.d7
Rcd8 40.Bxf6+ Rxf6 41.Nxf6 Kg7 42.Nxg4 Rxd7
43.g3! Rd2 44.Rc1! Bg5 45.Rc7+ Kg8 46.Nxe5
Bf6 47.Nf3 Rxb2 48.Rxa7² would have left
plenty of practical obstacles on Black’s dicey
road towards equality.
B) 32...Rad8? is not fully satisfactory either as
after 33.Ne4 Rf8 34.Rd1 bxc5 35.d7
Position after: 35.d7
White’s dominance can be seen in full blaze. The
d7-pawn absorbs a whole black rook while the
other rook is unable to attack it via f7 due to
Ne4-g5 ideas.
78
This sort of a concept has the right to work
because of the fact that the whole game of
chess revolves around three elements: material,
time, and coordination. In gambits you may grab
some material, but your opponent is going to be
enjoying an initiative (time) while you struggle
to restore the organization of your forces
(coordination). Here, White is substantially
down material, but the level of control he enjoys
thanks to his coordinated forces gives him
plenty of time to make progress before the
opponent finally manages to restore order
among his troops. When analyzing similar
positions with grandmasters you will frequently
hear them speak about ‘time slowing down’ for
the side with less material, yielding the
opponent’s material edge less important
compared to the things they can achieve with
their excellently placed pieces in the interim.
Coming back to this position my engine
recommends the following line as the best thing
Black can get here: 35...Kg8 36.Rd6 Qc7
37.Rxf6! Rxf6 38.Nxf6+ Bxf6 39.Qxf6 Rxd7
40.Bxe5 Qd8 41.Qe6+ Kf8 42.Qf5+ Ke8
43.Qxg4 Qe7 44.Bg3± and despite material
being level, Black’s position is difficult to hold in
practice as his remaining pawns and exposed
king represent juicy targets for the white queen.
33.Qxg4 Qxc5 34.Ne4 Qc8
34...Qb4 would be best met by the containing
35.Qe2 Rac8 36.g4!²
Position after: 36.g4!²
when the d6-pawn is still very much alive, and
Black cannot expel its defender on e4 by means
of ...f6-f5. At the same time, capturing on d6
with the rook would have been slightly too
drastic to my taste as afterwards Black would be
continuously suffering from the inferior kingside
structure which, on one hand, blocks his own
bishop, and on the other, may be subject to the
undermining g4-g5 idea in the near future.
35.Qh5 Qe6
It might seem as if White’s control over the
position was slowly getting out of hand, but if he
only manages to bring the last reserves into play
by means of
36.f4!
He will certainly stay more than fine. After
something like the following:
Position after: 36.f4!
36...exf4 37.Bxf4 Qxa2 38.Nc3 Qc4 39.Nd5 f5
40.Qf7 Rf8 41.Qe6 Rac8 42.b4!©
White may still be a whole exchange down, but
his pieces remain perfectly coordinated and
therefore ready to support the distant passed
pawn’s journey toward promotion. My engine
insists that Black should be able to hold this with
perfect play but as proof thereof indicates truly
mind-boggling, counter-intuitive lines.
Your score: One point for playing 32.Nd2!,
another one for understanding the point behind
79
it. A third and final one goes to you provided
that you aimed to improve the idle h2-bishop
somewhere along the lines.
2
Warakomska, A. (2276)
Matsumura, C. (2121)
Krakow POL 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5
Be7 6.e3 0-0 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.Qc2 c6 9.Nge2 Re8
10.0-0 Nf8 11.f3 Ng6 12.Rad1 Nh5 13.Bxe7
Qxe7 14.e4 Qg5 15.Qd2 Qxd2 16.Rxd2 Nhf4
17.Nxf4 Nxf4 18.Bc2 Be6 19.g3 Nh3+ 20.Kh1
dxe4 21.fxe4 Rad8 22.e5 Ng5 23.h4 Bc4
24.Rff2 Ne6 25.b3 Bd5+ 26.Kh2
Dynamics
Role of tactics in strategic endgame
Material is equal in this position, but it seems
that Black is enjoying himself a little bit more
thanks to his better structure. White’s structure,
on the other hand, looks inferior here not due to
the higher number of pawn-islands (three
versus two), but rather because she is stuck
defending the backward d4-pawn. In a perfect
world Black’s plan would be comprised of
maneuvering aimed at opening up the d-file,
doubling rooks along it, and eventually taking
down that poor thing together with the
structural leftover on e5 afterwards. However,
this is easier said than done as such a procedure
looks like a rather arduous and time-consuming
task under these specific circumstances. Or
maybe there is something stronger and more
direct available.
26...Bf3!!
Position after: 26...Bf3!!
A real bolt from the blue! The idea behind this
move is to expose the white d4-pawn to an
immediate attack. If White captures on f3, Black
claims the pawn with the knight winning even
more material a move later as the ...Nd4-f3+
fork is coming. This makes it indispensable for
White to sacrifice back an exchange, but in this
already sufficiently complicated material
equation the e5-pawn will constitute additional
collateral damage for White.
None of my students had managed to find this
move during training, at least not without some
hints from my side. The reason for this is that in
strategic/technical positions we tend to seek
solutions which precisely correspond with their
nature. This otherwise logical approach
negatively affects our analysis horizon, and as a
result makes us rarely think about
tactical/dynamic options during calm times on
the board. What is even worse, this type of bias
is very likely to apply in the other direction as we
often times tend to miss ‘quiet’ resources in
sharper positions as well. Interestingly enough,
if you pay close attention to the games of the
contemporary elite you shall observe a major
shift towards the increased usage of tactical
solutions (and therefore also calculation!) in
otherwise technical positions. If carried out
properly such ideas have the tendency to
shorten the conversion process significantly
compared to the procedure of grinding down
the opponent methodically just by moving the
80
pieces back and forth at a slower pace. To those
who have been raised chess wise by mostly
studying the classics, this might represent a
painful change of perspective but at the end of
the day the juice is definitely worth the squeeze.
A) In the game 26...a5 was played with an
immediate handshake following. As much as I
believe that Black must have known that his
position cannot be possibly worse here and that
this was a decision induced by the rating
difference between both of the players I cannot
deny that the position has now in fact become
equal. 27.g4 Re7 28.Kg3 Red7 when after the
further 29.Bf5 g6 30.Nxd5 Rxd5 31.Bxe6 fxe6
32.Rf6= in view of massive exchanges to follow
White would have gotten the slightly less snug
side of the draw.
B) 26...c5?! was suggested by one of my
students as an attempt to damage White’s
central pawn chain and thus to eventually win
her e5-pawn. A good pawn lever never hurt
nobody, but here it would have been
counterproductive as after 27.dxc5 Bc6 28.b4
Nd4 29.Be4 Rxe5 30.Bxc6 bxc6 31.Rd3 Ree8
32.Kg2² the weakness on d4 has been traded
off, not won, whereas the White e5-pawn also
been dynamically exchanged for the c5-
counterpart. If we are playing against a
weakness we should try to win it and not swap
it for something else. The final position in this
line may still be holdable for Black but certainly
less pleasurable to play already because of
White’s 3 v. 2 majority as well as the potentially
unpleasant pin along the d-file.
27.Rxf3 Nxd4 28.Rxd4 Rxd4 29.Bd3
Covering the second rank with 29.Rf2?! does
not help White in view of something like
29...Rxe5 30.Kg2 g6 31.Kf3 Kg7 32.Rg2 f5
33.Nd1 Re1 34.Ne3 Kf6–+ when Black has to
be winning here in the long haul. The main
reason for this is that White’s coordination is
crippled and intended exclusively at preventing
immediate material losses. The white minor
pieces can only continue chewing on granite
(the h7-g6-f5 kingside pawn-chain) while Black
in the meantime proceeds by creating a passer
on the queenside.
29...Rxe5
Position after: 29...Rxe5
Let us pause here for a second. Black is a pawn
up and has a rook and two pawns in return for a
bishop and knight. This circumstance alone
already speaks in his favor, but it is probably not
enough to determine it to be a winning
advantage alone. When evaluating such
positions, we should also consider whether
there are pawns present on both wings. If so,
this is believed to favor the rook which is by
definition more mobile than any minor piece.
Also, it needs to be checked whether the minor
pieces enjoy any safe and stable outposts. In my
opinion, this is not the case here as on d3 and c3
they lack support from the pawns. The good part
of the story for White is that he possesses an
additional rook which, compared to Black, gives
the two minor pieces more diversity and can
help stabilize their placement. Still, one sparrow
does not make summer and the following lines
prove that White is soon going to find himself on
the edge of defeat.
30.Kg2 g6 31.Kf2 Kg7 32.Ne2
Trading rooks with 32.Re3?! would have been
essentially wrong as discussed earlier. After the
further 32...Rxe3 33.Kxe3 Rd8 34.g4 Re8+
81
35.Kf2 f5!–+ by using simple tactics (the f5-
pawn is taboo due to a skewer along the f-file),
Black effectively creates a passed pawn which is
one more thing for White to think about in the
ensuing endgame.
32...Rd6 33.Nf4 a6 34.Ne2 Ra5!?
Position after: 34...Ra5!?
A standard ploy in similar positions. Black forces
the movement of the white queenside pawns.
The farther they move, the weaker they usually
become. If they can be taken down afterwards -
great. If not, their exposed placement is going to
make it easier for us to create a passed pawn on
exactly that wing. Now after the further
35.a4 Re5 36.Nf4 a5 37.Ne2 Rc5 38.Ke1 b5
39.axb5 cxb5 40.Kd2 a4µ
White’s position is slowly becoming critical.
Black’s a-pawn is beginning to run away. It does
not necessarily have to be promoted but can
rather be used as a decoy instead. White’s
forces will then need to devote a lot of attention
to stopping it, at the same time neglecting the
structure on the kingside. One way for another,
insane defending skills would be called for here
if White would like to hold.
Your score: Two points for locating 26...Bf3!!.
The final third point can be awarded only if you
properly evaluated the position arising
afterwards based on the discussed criteria.
 3 A) In the game, Harikrishna went for 18...Ke7?
Firouzja, A. (2759)
Harikrishna, P. (2730)
Chessable Masters INT 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.c3
Nc6 7.0-0 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bg4 9.Nbd2 Nge7 10.h3
Bh5 11.a3 Qb6 12.b4 Nxd4 13.Nxd4 Qxd4
14.Qa4+ Nc6 15.Nb3 Qxe5 16.Bxh5 Bd6 17.f4
Qxh5 18.Na5
Statics
Phenomenon of time-stops
This position is a result of the Short variation of
the Caro – Kann Defense becoming
unexpectedly sharp after Black decided to
capture a poisoned pawn on d4. What followed
next was a series of moves leading to a situation
in which Black is still a pawn up but about to lose
his material edge and witness his king getting
into trouble at the same time. Castling clearly
costs Black a piece after the fall of the b7-pawn
but staying in the center does not sound too
attractive either. What is your contingency plan
for him then?
18...0-0!
Making sure that the black king stays away from
any dangers was priority here. He is about to
suffer heavy material losses on the queenside,
but this does not erase the existence of a
brilliant saving resource waiting for Black a
couple of moves ahead.
82
only to see his king getting into trouble after the
further 19.Nxb7 Rhc8 20.b5 Nd8 21.Nxd6
Kxd6
Position after: 21...Kxd6
Surprisingly enough, Black put up some very stiff
resistance and even managed to pull off an
unbelievable win at the end of the day. But the
score could have been exactly the opposite had
Firouzja decided to forcefully open up a second
front close to the black king by means of
22.f5!+– exposing him to both Qa4-a6+ and
Bc1-f4+ ideas while maybe even intending to
have the f-file opened up for his rooks as well.
B) My engine initially claims that 18...Rb8?! is
losing on account of 19.Nxb7 Rxb7 20.Qxc6+
Rd7 21.f5 only to start gradually reducing its
evaluation to a ‘small advantage’ after 21...Ke7!.
Still, after something like 22.Bf4 Bxf4 23.Rxf4
Qe2! 24.Qc5+ Kd8 25.Rc1‚ Black would have
to reckon with multiple attacking/mating
threats of the opponent with little to no
possibility of having his monarch evacuated
towards some sort of a safe haven. The
computer believes that this position is still
holdable but would you really like to be Black
here?
19.Nxb7 Be7
The g1-b6 diagonal can always be blocked by the
white knight returning to c5 so Black needs to
direct the bishop to greener pastures.
20.Qxc6 Qe2!
Position after: 20...Qe2!
A picturesque moment! White is basically a
piece up, but at the same time close to
defenseless against the incoming ...Be7-f6 idea
of Black. From f6 the bishop would be attacking
the white a1-rook while threatening to go to d4
and help netting the other white rook on f1.
Funnily enough, in the latter case White would
have had two whole tempi to do something
about this but is objectively unable to figure out
any reasonable defensive method.
I call such moments ‘time stops’ - a very peculiar
situation in which having both a material
advantage and a certain amount of time at one’s
disposal does not really yield the given player
much due to the opponent’s optimal
coordination or piece activity at that given
moment of the game. Time stops represent an
exception from the golden rule that he who
possesses two out of three basic elements of the
game of chess (material, time, and coordination)
shall be typically the one claiming an advantage
in a critical position. Despite being clearly static
phenomena (especially compared to situations
of control), time stops are more elusive in
nature as they tend to last maybe two or three
tempi tops thereby forcing the second player to
rush with some immediate defensive or
consolidation measures otherwise having to pay
the price of material.
By comparison neither 20...Rac8? 21.Qa6 Rc2
22.Qd3 Rfc8 23.Bd2+– nor 20...Bf6? 21.Ra2
83
Rac8 22.Qa6 Bd4+ 23.Kh2+– would have led to
any counterplay for Black.
21.Rf2
There is nothing better available for White than
to agree a draw by threefold repetition.
21...Qe1+ 22.Rf1 Qe2=
Your score: ‘Three points to Gryffindor!’ if you
understood the merits behind the line starting
with 18...0-0! and ending after 20...Qe2!. Going
for 18...Rb8?! instead entitles you to just one
point.
4
Wachinger, N. (2334)
Donchenko, A. (2658)
Bremen GER 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3
a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2 0-0
10.0-0-0 Nbd7 11.g4 b5 12.g5 Nh5 13.Kb1
Nb6 14.Na5 Rc8 15.Ne2 d5 16.c3 b4 17.cxb4
d4 18.Nxd4 exd4 19.Qxd4
Dynamics
Avoiding an exchange of queens in a
strategically deteriorating position
This strongly imbalanced position stems from
the English Attack of the Sicilian Defense. One
student of mine stated derisively that it
represented the ‘resultant of White willing to
hand over a dream-like position to the opponent
(15.Ne2?) and Black’s attempt at flashiness in
accepting it (16....b4?)’. What can be said for
sure without unnecessarily insulting any of the
players is that Black has a piece for three pawns
but is also about to face the music because of
White hitting a few targets on the queenside
already. Under these circumstances, what can
Black do in order to maintain an even game in
this position?
19...Qe8!
Position after: 19...Qe8!
A brilliant resource, the roots of which are both
dynamic and static in nature. The dynamic part
manifests itself by leaving the b6-knight
completely en prise but simultaneously
understanding that accepting this sacrifice in its
current shape and size would have had dire
consequences for White. This move’s static
justification, on the other hand, lies in Black’s
ability to anticipate that transposing into an
endgame could only be beneficial for White. In
other words, the moment you comprehend that
you are statically worse, you usually need to
focus on making the most out of the dynamic
factors present in your position. As trading off
queens generally kills off most of the dynamic
potential of one’s position, the text move simply
had to be considered as Black’s last hope in this
situation.
A) In the game, Black played the inferior
19...Bxb4? when after the further 20.Qxd8
Rcxd8 21.Rxd8 Rxd8 22.Nc6 Rd1+ 23.Kc2 Nc4
White could have decided this encounter in his
favor by going for the rather trivial 24.Kxd1
84
Nxe3+ 25.Kc1+–. True, Black’s pieces are still
relatively active and therefore capable of
generating some unpleasantries for White
within the next couple of moves. Containing
Black’s activity would have certainly not been
mission impossible with the material superiority
being instrumental for White in bringing the full
point home at the end of the day.
B) By comparison, 19...Nd7? would have been
theoretically more to the point helping Black
preserve the queens on the board. The problem
with this move lies in concrete variations which
lead us more or less straight to the following
multi-piece endgame. 20.Bxa6 Rc7 21.Rc1
Rxc1+ 22.Rxc1 Bxg5 23.Nc6 Bxe3 24.Qxe3 Qf6
25.b5+–
Position after: 25.b5+–
Materially speaking, Black is doing fine, and
even his pieces do not seem to complain so
much about their coordination. At the same
time, his position needs to be evaluated as
losing due to the menacing white b5-pawn and
its ability to advance in a more or less
undisturbed manner. Black can postpone the
inevitable for a while but White can start making
use of his numerical superiority on the
queenside as well, while regularly inviting Black
to (unfavorably) trade queens time and time
again.
20.Rc1
A) 20.Qxb6?? would have been rather anti-
climactic in view of 20...Bxa2+! 21.Kxa2 Qa4+
22.Kb1 Qxd1+ 23.Ka2 Rb8–+
B) 20.Bxa6 allows the same old thematic strike
but this time the consequences would have
been far less severe for White as after
20...Bxa2+ 21.Kxa2 Qa4+ 22.Kb1 Qc2+ 23.Ka2
Qa4+= a draw by means of threefold repetition
ends the game.
20...Na4 21.a3
Now, just as it seemed that White would be able
to consolidate and start converting his
domination over the queenside into a full point
again, Black could come up with
21...h6!?
Position after: 21...h6!?
The point of this apparently innocuous idea is to
deflect White’s g5-pawn in order to be able to
bring in the cavalry with ...Be7-f6.
Strengthening the pawn by playing h2-h4 leads
to all the bad things associated with the
potential ...Nh5-g3 jump so White should rather
stick to
22.Rxc8 Qxc8 23.Qd1
instead, seemingly not giving Black the time to
realize his enterprising idea. Still, after the most
unexpected
23...Nxb2! 24.Kxb2 hxg5
85
Position after: 24...hxg5
White’s additional pawn would have not meant
so much compared to the acute weakness of his
monarch, particularly susceptible to attacks
along the long dark diagonal. Under these
circumstances he should consider himself lucky
if he manages to find the rather peculiar draw
arising after the further
25.Qc2 Bf6+ 26.Kb1 Qb8! 27.Nc6 Qb7 28.Na5
Qb8 29.Nc6 Qb7=
with Black being interchangeably prevented
from establishing a deadly battery after ...Qb8-
e5 and lethally pinning the c6-knight with ...Rf8-
c8. As White cannot achieve anything himself in
the meantime it would surely be time for the
opponents to call it a day.
Your score: Two points for finding 19...Qe8! and
realizing the strategic reasons behind it. You are
awarded one more point under the condition
that you saw the consequences of 20.Qxb6?? as
well.
5
David, A. (2527)
Bellahcene, B. (2499)
Chalons en Champagne FRA 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nd4 5.e5
Nxb5 6.Nxb5 Nd5 7.c4 Nc7 8.Nxc7+ Qxc7 9.d4
cxd4 10.Qxd4 b6 11.0-0 Bb7 12.Qg4 h5 13.Qf4
Qc6 14.Rd1 Rh6 15.Nh4

Statics
Playing against the opponent’s trapped piece
After a highly original opening stage an equally
unorthodox middlegame position appeared on
the board. White has some more space, but
Black is in possession of the bishop-pair. As we
know, the latter is a long-term positional asset
which means that its significance tends to
increase over time. There is some risk that Black
may not have enough time to make use of it
here, with his flashy rook maneuver being the
thing to blame. It is not immediately clear what
the rook is actually doing on h6. At the same
time, if he leaves it as it is right now he might be
forced to return with it to h8 which would be a
rather depressing necessity. Can you help Black
make use of his offside rook in a manner that
would holistically benefit his position the most?
15...Rg6!
Very smart - the rook is taboo due to mate on g2.
This forces White to cover the long light
diagonal by means of f2-f3, but will this little
detail prove to be of any importance for the
evaluation of the position later on? Let us find
out!
A) In the game, Black went for the ‘self-evident’
15...e6? only to have to face the music after
16.Qg3 Rh8. Even if moving back and forth with
the rook along the h-file does not give rise to any
instantaneous tactical refutation from White’s
side, it does cost so much time that in the long-
haul Black would be paying the price for wasting
so much time. David went for the solid 17.b3
86
here but my personal preference goes to the
more aggressive 17.Bg5!? Qxc4 18.Rac1ƒ
Position after: 18.Rac1ƒ
when the difference between both of the
players in terms of the activity and coordination
of their forces would have been striking. Black
might not be losing by force here but the
perspective of White attacking the d7-pawn
with all the heavy pieces he has got does not
look particularly appealing for the second player.
B) Surprisingly, if Black wanted to equalize
outright more or less, he could have resorted to
15...d6 16.Qg3 when after something like
16...Re6 17.Bf4 Qxc4 18.b3 Qb4 19.exd6 exd6
20.a3 Qb5 21.Bxd6 g6= the material balance
would have been reestablished with the black
monarch most probably seeking refuge on the
kingside. Some players would have abstained
from playing 15...d6 in the starting position as
this way they would be opening up the position
in front of their own uncastled king. But I guess
that being surrounded by a bunch of its own
pieces does create an additional layer of safety
for this troubled piece.
16.f3 Re6
If you already played .. .h7-h5 followed
by ...Rh8-h6 I guess that ...Rh6-e6 is a must no
matter what! But seriously, this move makes
plenty of sense here as it directly endangers the
slightly exposed e5-pawn of White.
17.Be3
17.Nf5 falls short to the simple 17...Qc5+
18.Nd4 Rxe5–+. The black e5-rook might look
slightly odd here but as long as it cannot be
caught in the middle of the board it remains a
decent piece.
17...g6!
Position after: 17...g6!
The jewel in the crown of Black’s plan. Black
could have used some sophisticated
maneuvering efforts not to endanger the white
king or reposition his rook, but rather in order to
push the white knight on the edge of the board
into a state of hopeless apathy. Here, the said
piece cannot come back to f3 or move forward
to f5. Although, technically speaking, it exists
and ‘does something’ on the board, it is not
effectively participating in the game anymore.
Under these circumstances, Black should finish
development and open up the position before
White manages to resurrect that clumsy knight
of his. If Black plays his cards right he will obtain
a position which is materially equal yet
completely winning, for example:
18.Rac1 Bg7 19.Bd4 Rd8 20.c5 bxc5 21.Rxc5
Qa6 22.Qd2 d6 23.Ra5 Qc6 24.Bxa7 Rxe5
25.Rxe5
87
Position after: 25.Rxe5
25...Bxe5–+
when Black would be winning in the long run as
the white h4-knight is not going to be able to
join the fight for the next ten moves or so.
Just to make it absolutely clear: Playing against
a piece of the opponent does not involve the
need to capture it immediately after catching it.
If you can do this without any strings attached,
why not. But then again, in practice there will be
no time for that as the opponent is going to be
doing their best to have the piece untangled.
Additionally, not all types of pieces are eligible
for being trapped. This might well be well the
case with knights, bishops, or rooks, but queens
are far too mobile in nature for that purpose.
Because of that, our primary goal should be
typically to put one of the opponent’s pieces out
of play, constantly making sure it’s ‘flight back
home’ is delayed for as long as possible. Should
this scenario materialize on the board, your next
job would therefore be to seek a direct clash
with your outnumbered opponent, not minding
trading off the remaining pieces while making
sure that the trapped piece of your rival stays
exactly where it is.
Your score: You receive two points for finding
15...Rg6!, provided that you intended to play
against the white knight like this from the start.
Add yourself a third point if you were able to
figure out a way to endanger White’s e5-pawn
immediately afterwards.
 6 What is even more, capturing on c5 undermines
Balinski, D. (2158)
Seger, R. (2312)
Pardubice CZE 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 Bg7 5.Qb3 e6
6.Qa3 b6 7.Nf3 Bb7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bd2 a6
10.Ne5
Dynamics
Boosting development by means of a dynamic
sacrifice
This position has arisen out of a peculiar line of
the Grunfeld Defense. In order to further
support the d5-pawn Black inserted ...e7-e6 as
of the fifth move but this led to the weakening
of the a3-f8 diagonal that we are witnessing
right now. With the white queen standing on a3
Black is unable to castle short. If the black
monarch stays in the center there will be no
possibility for him to effectively finish
development. There are a couple of ways of
making sure that this eventually does take place,
but every single one of them carries some
caveats with it. Still, if something is invaluable,
why worry about the price?
10...c5!
Shifting into top gear! Thanks to this sacrifice
Black gains just about enough time to secure his
king without the need to trade off queens.
Making sure that this is going to happen exactly
that way (without exchanging the strongest
pieces on board) is dictated by Black’s desire to
take advantage of White’s lagging development.
88
the white e5-knight. This would again lead to, on
one hand, further loss of time by White for the
purpose of evacuating it, and on the other, an
opportunity for Black to generate some dynamic
initiative in the center.
Position after: 10...c5!
A) Instead, the game saw the ‘natural’
10...Nbd7 11.Nxd7 Qxd7 12.Rc1 Bf8 13.Qa4=
happening. Black’s position is not any worse but
then again the disappearance of the queen any
moment now will make it more or less
impossible for Black to introduce any promising
imbalance.
B) The apparently creative 10...Bf8?! 11.Qb3
Nbd7 12.Be2 Bd6 seems to help Black kill two
birds with one stone (castle and continue active
play), but afterwards he would be landing under
pressure after the unorthodox 13.f4 0-0
14.h4!‚ when it looks as if the situation on the
kingside is suddenly about to heat up.
11.dxc5
Refusing to capture on c5 is to no avail either as
after something like 11.Be2 0-0 12.0-0 Re8
13.Nf3 c4!µ Black would be obtaining a huge
strategic edge in view of the 4 v. 3 queenside
majority. The black a and b-pawns are going to
start moving any day now (... b6-b5, ...Nb8-
d7, ...Bb7-c6 followed by ...a6-a5 and ...b5-b4
being the standard procedure in this respect),
while the misplaced white queen on a3 would
have made his defensive task even more
hopeless. White admittedly possesses a pawn 15.Nc5 Nxd2 16.Nxd2 dxe3 17.fxe3 Qg5 18.e4
majority of his own, but sadly for him no e3-e4 Bf8!
push is ever going to work in a structure like this.

11...0-0!

Position after: 18...Bf8!

19.b4 Bxc5 20.bxc5 Nd7–+ and the white king is

Position after: 11...0-0! about to get murdered in the center while no
safe haven exists on the other side of the board.
Sticking to the plan. Material is far less
important than the option of going for ...Rf8-e8 12...bxc5 13.Qxc5
and ...d5-d4 quickly. In particular, trying to
recapture the pawn by means of 11...Qd8-e7 13.Na4 Nbd7 14.Nxc5 Nxc5 15.Qxc5 Ne4
(11...Qe7) would have allowed White to bail out 16.Qa5 Nxd2 17.Qxd2 d4!–+
towards much safer waters with 12.c5-c6!
(12.c6!). As we already know, the trade of
queens is kryptonite to dynamics so there was
no reason to help out the opponent in his
defensive efforts by removing from the board
the piece capable of hurting his king the most.

12.Nf3

White’s most reasonable approach is probably

to reorganize his forces in order to avoid the
dreadful ...d5-d4 thrust while at the same time
trying to hold on to the additional pawn so that
he at least knows what he is suffering for. Still,
sample lines confirm that his position is most
probably not holdable anymore as the
mentioned breakthrough often works even
without the support of the c5-pawn.
White would not have managed to survive long
enough in order to enjoy the second pawn if he
decided to play 12.cxb6?! as after the further
12...Re8 13.Nf3 d4! 14.Na4 Ne4 White’s
central setup would have been torn to shreds.
Position after: 17...d4!–+
looks like an apotheosis of a Grunfeld Defense
gone wrong for White. Black may be two pawns
down, but those are his opponent’s days that
are numbered especially once the black rooks
arrive on e8 and d8.
13...Nc6 14.Be2 Re8!
Ironically, now Black is also threatening to catch
the white queen with ...Bf8.
15.Na4 d4! 16.Qb6 dxe3 17.fxe3 Qe7!

89

Position after: 17...Qe7!
No trade!
18.Qc5 Ne4
OK, if you really insist on this trade but on my
terms of your surrender in view of the level of
domination Black would have obtained after the
further
19.Qxe7 Nxe7 20.0-0 Nf5 21.Bc1 Rac8–+.
A little bit of food for thought. A lead in
development is probably one of the most
ephemeral positional elements to be expressed
in pawns/points. On one hand, it is widely
accepted that a single tempo should be worth
around 0.25 of a pawn with this value being
frequently mentioned by programmers of chess
engines in the past. Then again, assigning values
to tempi (this time by humans within their
evaluation process) without very seriously
taking into consideration the character of the
position has to be extremely risky business.
Namely in closed positions ‘time flows
differently’ than in open ones. Also, very often a
single tempo is going to determine the efficacy
or lack thereof of an attack or maneuver; in such
a case its value would surely exceed the
negligible quarter of a pawn. Finally, as
mentioned briefly in the comments to the
Artemiev – Ding Liren game, sometimes it is
more about ‘timing’ of a specific action than
time itself. What I mean to say is that assuming
you are considering a symbolic sacrifice of a
pawn for a lead in development, if I were you I
90
would be assessing the amount of time that I get
as a result rather intuitively, focusing however
on figuring out as accurately as possible the
chances of success of my actions under use of
that time.
Your score: One point for having the courage to
go for 10...c5!. Another one for
counterattacking White in the center
with ...Rf8-e8 & ...d5-d4. A third point can be
awarded provided that you grasped the need
for ...c5-c4 in case the opponent refused to
capture on c5.
7
Maghsoodloo, P. (2695)
Mchedlishvili, M. (2571)
Olympiad Online INT 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bd3 dxc4
6.Bxc4 Nbd7 7.a4 Bd6 8.Nc3 0-0 9.0-0 e5 10.a5
Qe7 11.Qc2 Rb8 12.h3 b5 13.axb6 axb6 14.Bd3
Re8 15.Ne4 c5 16.Nxf6+ Nxf6 17.dxe5 Bxe5
18.e4 Bb7 19.Re1 Ra8 20.Rxa8 Rxa8 21.Qb3
Bc7 22.Bc4 h6 23.e5 Bxf3 24.Qxf3 Ra1 25.Qb7
Statics
Psychological aspects of the static/dynamic
balance
The middlegame did not go too well for Black.
He is experiencing problems with the f6-knight
and his light squares are slowly starting to
resemble Swiss Cheese. As every cloud has a
silver lining at least his rook is active and more
importantly, the knight is taboo for the time
being in view of the hanging white rook as well
as the ...Bc7-h2+ motif, netting a whole queen.
But how long will this situation last? Surely,
Black cannot stay like this forever.
25...Qd7!!
Position after: 25...Qd7!!
An exceptionally phenomenal idea! Black should
have understood that the capture on f6 is not
yet dangerous due to a discovered check, and
that it is White’s ambition to rather infiltrate the
opponent’s position with his queen via c8
instead. On top of that, by putting his queen on
d7 Black would be preparing the ...Bc7xe5
freeing trick when White has no time to take the
bishop but helping himself to the queen first
allows Black to defend that piece with his knight
in the flicker of an eye. Naturally, the fact that
the white rook is stuck defending the c1-bishop
is not irrelevant.
A) In the game, Mchedlishvili decided to play it
safe and hide the attacked knight all the way
back on g8. In this case the word ‘safe’ equaled
‘out of play’, and also constituted the reason for
Black’s further demise. One sample engine line
demonstrating a potential way of breaking the
opponent’s resistance looks like this: 25...Kh8?
26.g3 Ng8 27.Kg2 Bd8 28.Qd5 Ra7 29.Rd1 Bc7
30.f4 Bb8 31.Qc6+– with White finally getting
his hands on the b6-pawn after having attacked
it interchangeably with the other weak black
pawn on f7.
B) If Black really wanted to run with that knight
right away he should have probably tried to hide
91
it temporarily on f8 from where it would be
ready to rejoin the fight via e6 and d4 in case of
need. Having said that, I still refuse to believe
that the situation arising after something like
25...Nh7?! 26.f4 Nf8 27.Qe4 Ne6 28.Rf1!? Nd4
29.Be3 Rxf1+ 30.Kxf1² would appeal to
anybody’s positional tastes. True, Black could
sometimes consider giving up a pawn on d4 for
the sake of enhancing his drawing chances
(opposite colored bishops!). At the same time
the evaluation of the position here mostly
depends on the fact that White’s light-squared
bishop on c4 will keep on being a monster for a
longer period of time while the black
counterpart on c7 is still chewing on granite
against the white e5-pawn. For this reason, I
prefer a straightforward tactical solution carried
by the text move to defending an inferior
endgame without guarantee of success for an
indefinite period of time.
26.Kf1
Not really hoping to get enough time to capture
on f6, but rather a method of over defending the
e1-rook and possibly also stepping away from
some unexpected checks along the dark squares.
Now after the further
26...Bxe5 27.Qxb6 Bd4
White can still try fooling the opponent with
some cheapo like
28.Qb8+ Kh7 29.Bd3+ g6 30.Qf8
but after the mesmerizing
30...Be3!
from my human perspective it would actually be
White who would need to be careful in this
perfectly equal (according to the engines)
endgame arising after

Position after: 30...Be3!
31.fxe3 Qxd3+ 32.Kg1 Qc4=.
All in all I would never dare to turn into an
armchair expert and criticize Black for missing
25...Qd7!!. Psychologically this was a very
difficult move to find since removing the queen
from the e-file represents one reason less why
White should not be allowed to take on f6.
As human beings we tend to feel more
comfortable when more than one argument
speaks in our favor. What is more, strong players
typically try to make sure that their position is
first and foremost alright from the strategic
perspective, switching to tactical means in order
to prove its quality only in extreme cases.
Strategic viability of the position is their primary
line of defense and crossing this barrier also
frequently leads to psychological discomfort as
the player immediately starts believing that
from now on they are just hustling. What I mean
to say is that the contemporary chess audience
is regularly in awe over displays of beautiful
dynamic play by elite grandmasters but rarely
thinks how strenuous it can be for the player’s
psyche to sacrifice material for long-term
compensation or, as was the case here, to
confidently decide in favor of an apparently slow
move in an otherwise very tactical position.
Despite dynamic play being preferred nowadays
as a default solution to many problems, we
cannot possibly forget that every single one of
us represents a unique playing style forged by
many years of individual training. Because of
this, no matter how much one trains, attempts
92
to drastically modify one’s manner of playing (in
particular from static to much more dynamic)
may actually lead to more pain than profit, at
least in the short-term. Do not get me wrong, I
wholeheartedly endorse learning to play chess
in a comprehensive manner as well as
broadening one’s horizon by experimenting
with new ideas.
At the same time however, if a student of mine
mentions psychological reasons as grounds for
rejecting some controversial move, for me as a
coach, this is going to be just as acceptable as
them referring to events taking place purely
within the sixty-four squares as the basis of their
decision.
Your score: The whole three points for
discovering 25...Qd7!! and comprehending the
underlying tactical motifs. 25...Nh7?! bestows
merely a point upon you, and only provided that
your idea was to have this knight transferred via
e6 to d4 soon enough.
8
Vrolijk, L. (2478)
Nijboer, F. (2472)
Hoogeveen NED 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0
6.h3 e5 7.d5 a5 8.g4 Na6 9.Be3 Nc5 10.Nd2 c6
11.Be2 a4 12.g5 Nfd7 13.h4 Qb6 14.Qb1 f5
15.f3 f4 16.Bf2 Qa5 17.Kf1 Rf7 18.Kg2 Qd8
19.b4 axb3 20.axb3 Rxa1 21.Qxa1 Na6
Dynamics
Coordination in open/closed positions
This position appeared on the board as a result
of a tense fight in a typical Makogonov King’s
Indian Defense middlegame. White has more
space in the center and the kingside, but Black is
apparently employing a ‘Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon’ type of a strategy waiting with
some active counterplay for a moment when
White approaches him closer. With the situation
in the aforementioned areas of the board having
stabilized to a certain extent, where should
White be looking for opportunities to increase
his advantage?
22.c5!
The correct answer is on the queenside and only
by playing like this! White would certainly like to
gain even more space in the calmest of ways
(e.g., by playing Qa1-a3 followed by b3-b4), but
this would have been far too optimistic in view
of Black’s possibility to seal the center for good.
The text move therefore not only makes Black’s
queenside entanglements start looking shaky
but first and foremost prevents him from closing
the queenside as well.
A) Most of my students to whom I had shown
this exercise recognized the necessity to
transform the queenside structure but instead
of the text move they tried to make 22.dxc6
bxc6 23.c5 Ndxc5 24.Bc4 work with the
justification that now Black inevitably loses
material. As much is this is true, I somehow
cannot force myself to enjoy White’s side after
the further 24...d5! 25.exd5 e4! 26.b4 Qd7!!
Position after: 26...Qd7!!
93
with a complete mess transpiring on the board.
Black is a pawn down with a lot more material
hanging but the potential of the black queen
starting an attack out of literally nothing
after ...exf3+ would have not been particularly
appealing to me if I were White. Besides,
multiple white pieces also happen to or will start
to be en prise thus White’s material edge may
turn out to be just of a temporary nature.
B) 22.Kh2?! intending to transfer the light-
squared bishop to h3 would have been a great
idea in general but here this maneuver would
have allowed Black to shut down the queenside
effectively by means of 22...c5!.
Position after: 22...c5!
In this manner White would have been stripped
of the possibility to carry out any reasonable
breakthrough on the queenside. As the old
adage goes – ‘no pawn lever, no plan’. Obviously,
White should not be any worse here but the
same goes for Black who is perfectly safe behind
that central wall of pawns. Amusingly enough, it
would be only him who would be left with an
option to influence the opponent’s structure
as ...h7-h6 does come into consideration as a
potential method of weakening the position of
the white king in the near future.
22...Ndxc5
Capturing with the other knight backfires as
once b3-b4 happens it cannot come back safely
to a6 anymore in view of dxc6. Then again, the
other black knight will not be allowed to stay on
c5 for far too long either.
22...cxd5?! does not represent a suitable
alternative either as after the further 23.cxd6 d4
24.Nd5 Bf8 25.Nc4 b5 26.Qa5 Qxa5 27.Nxa5
Bxd6 28.Rc1+– Black would have ended up
completely dismantled on the queenside. Both
the b5-pawn and c8-bishop of his are under
attack but the final cause of his death is going to
be more about the lack of coordination among
his forces in total. In this context the white
passer-to-be on b3 is going to be merely the final
nail in Black’s coffin.
23.Qa3!
Position after: 23.Qa3!
Very consistent with White’s previous move. b3-
b4 is coming and there is not much Black can do
about it. What is even worse for him, while
retreating, his pieces are going to be literally
tripping over each other’s feet causing them to
experience even more difficulties with
coordination. Sample lines confirm that White’s
initiative on the queenside is quickly going to
become overwhelming for the opponent. An
important role in finishing off Black will be
played by the white light-squared bishop. Just
look at how much stronger has it become
without the c4-pawn standing in its way!
23...cxd5
When under pressure, releasing the tension
might often bring at least a little relief to the
94
defender but here taking on d5 only invites a
strong white knight to occupy the lovely central
d5-outpost. Other moves were to no avail either.
23...Nc7 24.b4 N5a6 25.dxc6 bxc6 26.Nc4 d5
might look like a beginning of some counterplay
for Black after all, but after the surgical cut
27.exd5 cxd5 28.b5!+– White would have
managed to crash through on the queenside.
The capture on c4 can be answered by the
simple recapture when the pin along the a1-g8
diagonal would have only aggravated Black’s
demise.
24.Nxd5 h6
Standing still does not sound like an attractive
alternative thus Black might want to at least try
to create some play against the white monarch
on the kingside. However, after the further
25.b4 Ne6 26.Qa5!
Position after: 26.Qa5!
White would have been so dominant on the
queenside that even allowing a queen trade or
sacrificing a second pawn would not have
spoiled his winning chances.
26...Qxa5 27.bxa5 hxg5 28.Nb6 Rc7 29.Bc4
Kf7 30.Rb1!+–
Black cannot avoid heavy material losses along
the light squares once his light-squared bishop
gets eliminated.
Before you check how many points you received
for this exercise; I would like you to contemplate
the following. It is not a particularly insightful
thing to state that the static/dynamic balance in
any position is heavily affected by its
open/closed nature. Open positions lead
namely more often to direct clashes between
the opponent’s pieces (ergo: dynamic play) than
closed ones. No wonder therefore that in the
game keeping the position open with 22.c5!
would have put a huge question mark on Black’s
setup. But then again, why did opening up the
position like this lead to such a dreadful turn of
events for Black? The answer has a lot to do with
coordination. In open positions it is an absolute
must to maintain excellent organization of one’s
own forces all the time as every battle one might
engage in might be their last. At the same time,
in closed positions one may cut some slack on
their own development as the structure
prevents or postpones the pieces from
confronting each other too soon. And this is
exactly when radical transformations of the
structure come in handy. By modifying the
structure in a targeted way, we can very often
not only activate our pieces more, but also
highlight how uncoordinated the opponent’s
forces have become. We do this not by wrongly
regrouping them but rather in view of the
changing environment within which they have
been functioning.
Your score: The first point is awarded for
realizing that you cannot allow Black to seal the
queenside with ...c6-c5. The second one goes to
you for using 22.c5! as a means of preventing in
this regard, while the final third point belongs to
you provided that you took notice of 23.Qa3!
with b3-b4 coming right up.
9 f2-pawn himself but also, as we shall see in a
Anand, V. (2751)
Karjakin, S. (2743)
Baku AZE 2021
95
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0
6.0-0 d6 7.a4 a5 8.Nbd2 h6 9.Re1 Ba7 10.Nf1
Ne7 11.Ng3 Ng6 12.h3 c6 13.Bb3 d5 14.exd5
Nxd5 15.d4 exd4 16.Nxd4 Be6 17.Bc2 Bd7
18.Ndf5 Bxf5 19.Nxf5 Qf6 20.Qf3 Rae8
21.Bd2 Ne5 22.Qe4
Statics
Turning the tables thanks to a petite structural
transformation
What we have here is a very tense position
arising out of the Giuoco Piano. Despite the
symmetrical structure and the only imbalance
being the presence of the bishop pair on White’s
side, both players need to maintain the highest
level of alertness. The reason for this is, on one
hand, that the first player is about to give mate
in two by means of a knight-check on e7, and on
the other, that the white queen does not seem
to be feeling particularly cozy on e4.
Understanding the gravity of the situation, Black
makes a brave decision to part with material for
the sake of the safety of his king.
22...g6!
The most sensible way of taking the sting out of
White’s pressure along the light squares. This
obviously costs Black a pawn but in return he
will be receiving both attacking ideas against the
moment from now, possibilities of fighting
directly against the white knight that is about to
arrive on h6. I cannot help but wonder how a
petite pawn-push like this can single-handedly
kill off the entirety of the opponent’s attacking
play and generate so much counterplay for
ourselves at the same time. Paradoxically,
pawns are nominally the least valuable actors
present on the chessboard but have the capacity
to reshape the balance of power in that very
arena.
Another method of neutralizing the mating
threat along the b1-h7 diagonal was 22...Qg6?
although here White would have had the strong
prophylactic 23.Kf1!+– at his disposal. The point
behind this move is not only to evade any
potential tricks along the g1-a7 diagonal but
rather to make Qe4-h4 possible, reintroducing
various discoveries once again. Black could
easily fight back against this by trading queens
on f6 but this would have allowed White to
infiltrate with Nf5-d6. Computer analysis
confirms that Black’s situation would have
already been critical here so quoting more lines
in this respect is already of lesser importance.
23.Nxh6+
Sadly, for White there was already no way back
even if he had smelled a rat by this point as after
the consolidating 23.Nd4? Black would have
obtained a close to decisive advantage with the
peculiar 23...Nc4! 24.Qxe8 Rxe8 25.Rxe8+ Kg7
26.Bc1 Ne5! when unexpectedly the white e8-
rook gets trapped and consumed by Black’s
forces no matter what. 27.Bd2 Nc7 28.Rc8 Qe7
29.Re1 Qd7–+
Position after: 29...Qd7–+
96
and White needs to give up the exchange and
eventually the game itself.
23...Kg7 24.Rf1
Defending the f2-pawn this way was absolutely
forced. Despite the need to go for this passive
move there does not seem to be any specific
tactical blow available for Black which would
have finished off his opponent. Situations like
these tend to be psychologically uncomfortable
for the player down material as every single
move made without restoring the material
balance seems to implicitly bring the opponent
closer to consolidating and eventually maybe
even prevailing based on the additional pawn.
This is also why in similar moments even strong
players typically seek forced lines which have
the tendency to give the feeling of ‘doing
something’ about their material disadvantage.
As it turned out after the game Black could have
won by relying on more static means here.
24...Qd8!!
Position after: 24...Qd8!!
An extremely difficult move to find, especially in
a rapid game. By playing like this Black would
have emphasized the obscure placement of the
white knight on h6. The said piece is certainly
not safe there, but it cannot run away to g4
either in view of the ...f7-f5 fork. The pawn-
thrust is actually very likely to happen no matter
what White tries to undertake in the meantime,
especially if he attempts to have his queen
evacuated from the danger-zone in the center.
In the game Karjakin went for immediate activity
with 24...Rh8? 25.Ng4 Nxg4 26.Qxg4 Rh4 but
eventually even managed to win after White
blundered with 27.Qg3? and later lost as Black’s
initiative became simply too much to cope with.
Much better was 27.Qg5
Position after: 27.Qg5
Promoting massive exchanges and also the
drawish result after something like 27...Re2
28.Qxf6+ Nxf6 29.Bg5 Rh8 30.Bd3 Rxb2
31.Rab1 Rxb1 32.Rxb1 Rd8 33.Bc2 Rd7=.. Only
after comparing both of the black alternatives at
move 24 does it become obvious that, twisting a
popular slogan, the key to success was all about
catching the rabbit, not chasing it!
25.Ng4 f5 26.Qxe5+ Rxe5 27.Nxe5
And while the position is again materially
balanced, the mobile black queen will be making
all the difference in his favor after something
like
27...Qb6 28.b3 Re8 29.Rae1 Qc7 30.Nd3 Re4µ
When it seems that White might not be able to
fend off the opponent’s pressure in the center
and on the kingside for long enough.
Your score: You receive one point for choosing
22...g6! as the best method of killing off White’s
mating threats. The last two points however go
to you only if you had seen 24...Qd8!! from afar.
97
10
Vidit, S. (2727)
Grandelius, N. (2672)
Wijk aan Zee NED 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nbd2 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.e5
Nh5 6.g4 Nf4 7.Ne4 d5 8.Ng3 Ne6 9.Nf5 c5
10.Nxg7 Nxg7 11.h3 cxd4 12.Bh6 Qa5+
13.Qd2 Qxd2+ 14.Nxd2 Nc6 15.f4 f6 16.exf6
exf6 17.0-0-0 Re8 18.Nb3
Dynamics
Solving strategic problems by tactical means
I remember watching this game live and being
astonished by the depth of preparation by both
of the players. In a wild interpretation of the Pirc
Defense, it was Black who first started thinking
on his own around move 11 while White kept on
bashing out responses for five more moves.
Only around this point in time did Vidit need to
begin figuring out things on his own while Black
was already slowly getting into time-trouble. To
make things even more difficult for Black,
despite being a pawn up his position does not
make a great impression. His additional d4-
pawn is under attack and about to fall. If this
happens its d5-colleague would have surely
been next on the kill-list. Also, the black pieces
seem to be inferior to their white counterparts.
Black’s light-squared bishop is restricted across
the whole board while the g7-knight would
simply like to go someplace else. Is there really
no way for Black to bail out off from this
problematic situation?
18...Bf5!

Position after: 18...Bf5!
A totally invisible move! Thanks to some special
tactical properties of the position Black is able to
put his light-squared bishop completely en prise
and still get away with it. What is even worse for
White, this idea is not just a one-off trick but
rather represents a holistic solution to the
problem of Black’s passive light-squared bishop.
A) In the game, after less than one minute of
thought (assuming that the timestamps
provided online are correct) Grandelius gave
preference to 18...Ne6? 19.Bg2 Nc7 which
sadly led to a very passive position for Black.
Although Vidit hesitated there was no reason
whatsoever to refrain from re-establishing the
material balance as after something like
20.Nxd4 f5 21.Bf3 Bd7 White could certainly try
to outplay his opponent in the long run based on
the weakness of the dark squares throughout
the board. Or maybe White could opt to expose
the black monarch by means of 22.Nxf5!?
Position after: 22.Nxf5!?
22...gxf5 23.gxf5 as he would have to start
running away from mating threats only to
98
succumb to the unapparent hero of the story,
the white passed f5-pawn, e.g., 23...Kf7
24.Rhg1 Rg8 25.Bh5+ Ke7 26.Rde1+ Kd6
27.Rxg8 Rxg8 28.f6 Nd8 29.f7 Nxf7 30.Bxf7+–
with a technically winning endgame for White
thanks to the additional pawn supported by the
bishop pair.
B) Some students of mine independently
suggested 18...f5?! 19.Rg1 Re3 as a reasonable
attempt to at least make the process of
converting the advantage harder for White. The
problem with this approach is that the first
player has 20.Kd2! available here forcing the
active rook to go straight back into its own camp.
After the further 20...Re7 21.Bg2 fxg4 22.Bxd5+
Be6 23.Bxc6 bxc6 24.hxg4± the material may in
fact still be equal, but it is White who would be
in possession of all the strategic trump cards.
Superior structure, fine coordination of pieces,
pressure along the dark squares as well as the
slightly more active king should jointly be
enough to bring the full point home for White.
19.Bxg7
All of a sudden capturing the f5-bishop backfires
as this would cost the stranded white h6-bishop
his life in return. As we shall see taking the other
piece does not help White much either.
Assuming you were White in this game and
understood why the text does not work as
perfectly as expected in the first place you might
want to give 19.Bb5 Be4 20.Rh2 Re7 21.Bxc6
bxc6 22.Bxg7 Kxg7 23.Rxd4 a try, intending to
create a blockade along the central d4 and c5-
squares. Given enough time, this would even
lead to a favorable knight versus bishop
endgame for White. Fortunately for Black, in this
position he still would have had 23...h5!„ up his
sleeve, generating plenty of counterplay along
the h or g-file, depending what kind of a
structural concession (opening up the g-file or
surrendering the h-file) White decides to live
with for the rest of the game.
19...Be4
The tactical point behind 18...Bf5! is officially
revealed. On top of not being allowed to capture
on f5 a move earlier, White does not have the
time to escape with his dark-squared bishop due
to the attack against the h1-rook. Additionally,
the weakness of the IQP on d5 virtually
disappears as together with the e4-bishop it
now forms something that I personally call a
‘self-defense unit’. Now a logical follow-up
would have been
20.Rh2 Kxg7 21.Nxd4 Rac8 22.Nb5 Rcd8
23.Rhd2 Bf3 24.Nc7 Re4 25.Bg2! Bxg2
26.Rxg2 Re3=
Position after: 26...Re3=
When the position remains balanced as the h3
and d5-pawns are going to be dynamically
exchanged for each other.
One of my students asked me a very interesting
question about this exercise: ‘Coach, how could
Black have found 18...Bf5! during the game?
What would be the thinking methods required
to find and understand the merits behind the
text move?’ As I was about to answer it without
any undue hesitation it suddenly dawned upon
me that the problem might be deeper than
anticipated. The proposed solution is namely
comprised of a dynamic resource (putting a
bishop under attack), justified by tactical means
(capture results in the loss of the h6-bishop)
which at the same time leads to positive
positional improvement of a ‘bad’ bishop and
99
strategic (neutralizing the pressure against
Black’s IQP) consequences for Black’s situation.
After thinking for a while longer I concluded that
Black could have maximized his chances of
finding this move by focusing on attempts to
improve his terrible light-squared bishop and by
understanding that his position is already so
strategically bad that only tactical solutions
might come in handy. And if you take into
consideration that getting yourself into the
psychological state of desperation has the
tendency to further broaden the scope of
candidate moves you are considering then the
probability of at least looking at 18...Bf5! and
not rejecting it instantly would have been
tremendously enhanced.
Your score: You may give yourself all three
points for finding 18...Bf5! and knowing how to
make it work tactically. If instead you preferred
18...Ne6? you deserve one point as you are in
good company.
11
Kjartansson, G. (2443)
Plat, V. (2548)
Terme Catez SLO 2021
1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 e6 4.Nf3 Ne7 5.Bf4 a6
6.Qd2 h6 7.Bd3 d6 8.h3 Nbc6 9.Ne2 e5 10.Be3
f5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.0-0-0 Qd6 13.Qc3 Qb4
14.Qxb4 Nxb4 15.Bc4 b5 16.Bb3 fxe4 17.Nd2
Bb7 18.Nc3 Nbd5 19.Nxd5 Nxd5 20.Rhe1
Nxe3 21.fxe3 Ke7 22.c3 Rad8 23.Bc2 Bd5
24.Bxe4 Bf7 25.Nb3 Rd6 26.Nc5 a5 27.b3 a4
28.Kc2 axb3+ 29.axb3 Rhd8
 Statics
How to treat tactical threats of the opponent
when realizing a strategic edge?
In this position it seems that White should be
enjoying a slight upper hand. Black may in fact
be in possession of the bishop pair, but neither
of them looks entirely happy. The dark-squared
one is blocked by its own pawn, whereas the
light-squared one does not have too many
prospects either. By comparison, White’s minor
pieces occupy more dominant positions. The
bishop is beautifully centralized, while the
knight prevents Black from conducting any
pawn levers on the queenside. At the same time,
it does not seem as if White had any immediate
possibility of taking over the initiative at his
disposal. For this to happen he would need to
invade Black’s camp along the a-file, optimally
by transferring one of his rooks via a1 to a7.
Attempting to achieve this at once would have
allowed Black to infiltrate dangerously via d2
himself. This does not look good but is it really
so threatening?
30.Ra1!
The only way to play for a win for White! In a
moment Black is going to be outnumbered on
the queenside, and therefore not in a position to
cover his pawns over there anymore. White’s
last move does look dangerous but thanks to his
control over the second rank, no further harm is
going to be done. In other words, White has all
the time in the world to outplay his opponent
statically on the queenside (by snatching one
pawn after the other) and Black’s options of
generating dynamic counterplay prove to be
insufficient despite the momentary activity of
his rook on d2.
No wonder Kjartansson did not go for the text
though. 30.Ra1 is a type of a move that every
sane, positionally inclined player rejects for
starters as one that ‘asks for trouble’. This is not
an approach that I can universally recommend
100
to anyone willing to improve at chess, as this
way you would be missing out on plenty of
perfectly viable opportunities in your games.
Being reckless and not paying attention to the
possibilities of the opponent at all does not
come into consideration either - the road to
chess hell is paved with bodies of those who
played like this. Because of this we have no
other choice but to learn how to strike a fine
balance between attacking and defensive play,
especially when facing obstacles on our way
while trying to convert an advantage. This can
be achieved by solving a special selection of
exercises in which you are allowed to gain some
positional advantage but seem to be allowing a
dangerously looking idea of the opponent to
take place. Ask your coach to prepare a few
positions like these for you! Some of them
should feature a chance for you to get away with
it, others should involve situations in which
ignoring the threats of the opponent would be a
big no-no. When discussing them during a
training session make sure that you not only
focus on calculating the respective lines and
evaluating them, but also indicate the emotions
you have been experiencing while doing so. This
way your trainer will get to know you even
better, being therefore able to adjust the type
of every next puzzle that you do together in this
regard to your training needs. In general,
however, I believe that the ‘golden mean’ in this
respect lies in not being entirely ignorant
towards the threats of the opponent and never
assuming that they have to be completely
correct either, even if the rival happens to be
higher rated than yourself.
A) Instead, in the game White decided to
restrain his ambitions and play 30.Rd3, aiming
to first neutralize the opponent’s pressure along
the d-file and only then start fighting for
domination over the a-file. As reasonable as it
looks, if only Black had gone for counterplay
with 30...Bf6! 31.Ra1 Bg5, White would have
constantly been a tempo too late in his efforts
to gobble up material. 32.Ra7 Rxd3 33.Bxd3
Be8!= and e3 is already hanging while the c7- success leads first via dominating the a-file and
pawn is not in view of the neat ...Ke7-d6 the subsequent invasion via a8.
double-attack.
31.Kc1
B) 30.Nd3 is a slightly more demanding
continuation to meet as apart from the standard The dust is beginning to settle, and things start
entry along the a-file with his rooks, White could becoming clearer and clearer. Black cannot take
one day consider repositioning the knight via b4 the g2-pawn, while doubling rooks along the
to c6 potentially creating annoying forking second rank does not grant Black any tangible
threats. Still, Black is able to handle this idea threats. The following sample lines confirm that
provided that he dynamically includes one of his Black is already losing no matter what approach
weakest pieces into play with 30...Be6!. The (defensive or offensive) he takes.
bishop is heading for f5 in order to undermine
White’s central blockade. There is no need to
worry about the g6-pawn, it is ‘defended
tactically’. In other words, it is not defended at
all but if White dares to take it we can
immediately regain material by capturing any of
the white pawns standing in the way of the e6-
bishop. 31.g4 temporarily preventing ...Be6-f5,
but Black can insist with 31...h5! when after the
further 32.Rg1 hxg4 33.hxg4 c5!=
Position after: 31.Kc1

31...Bf6

31...Rf2 would have not been that much better

Position after: 33...c5!=
it would actually be White who would need to
be careful when looking for a method to safely
draw this position.
either as after the further 32.Ra7 Kf8 33.Rxc7
Kg8 34.Rd1 Rxd1+ 35.Kxd1 Bf8 36.b4+– the
presence of the black rook along the second
rank barely affects White’s progress in
converting the extra pawn.
32.Ra7 Bh4 33.Rxc7+ Kf8 34.Rf1 Rf2 35.Rxf2
Bxf2

30...Rd2+

30...Rc8 defends the c7-pawn for now but

would have also allowed White to obtain full
control over the position after something like
31.Ra7 Kf8 32.Bd3 Be8 33.b4! Kg8 34.Rea1+–.
Another weakness on b5 is fixed but the road to
Position after: 35...Bxf2

101
and just when it seemed Black was finally
getting his hands on the e3-pawn, White
consolidates effectively with
36.Nd7+ Kg8 37.Nf6+ Kg7 38.Ng4+–
not only putting an end to Black’s dreams of
restoring the material balance but also adding
even more black pawns (e5 or h6) to his stack.
Your score: You obtain all three points if you
wanted to go for 30.Ra1! and figured out that
Black’s infiltration ideas along the second rank
are a fluke. Any other alternative mentioned as
of the 30th move is worth one point.
12
Karjakin, S. (2743)
Moroni, L. (2575)
Warsaw POL 2021
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 a6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h5
6.Be3 Nc6 7.Nf3 Bf5 8.Be2 e6 9.0-0 h4 10.h3
Bf8 11.Qd2 Be7 12.Nd1 Kf8 13.Nf2 Kg7 14.b3
a5 15.c4 a4 16.c5 Nh6 17.b4 a3 18.b5 Na5
19.Qc3 b6 20.c6
Dynamics
Breaking the rules of static/dynamic balance
When working with my students I like to start
discussing this position half-jokingly with the
words “Here we have a position arising out of a
hybrid of the Caro – Kann and Modern
Defense...”, just waiting for them to start
protesting like ‘But Coach, so why is the black
pawn still on c7 then?’ Oddly enough, barely
102
anyone mentions it. But seriously, Black’s
opening experiment certainly did not work out
well. He has far less space and his knights are
both in a terrible state (‘A knight on the rim is
grim’). On top of that, his structure is also over-
extended in the sense that the a3 and h4-pawns
may easily become targets for White over time.
Still, this is not yet the end of the world provided
that he acts here and now.
20...Nc4!
The only move giving Black chances to save the
game. At the expense of a pawn Black gets rid of
his offside knight and, in the anticipated
absence of the white light-squared bishop,
increases his control over squares belonging to
the said color-complex. But is this enough to
compensate for the material inferiority? Let us
find out!
A) 20...Qf8? was the move elected by Luca
which proved to be too passive to stop White
from making progress in the position. Owing to
time-trouble he lost the thread very quickly
afterwards, but we may still learn something
from his mistake. For as much as activity is
frequently the right way to go, passivity is
almost never the answer. Secondly, White’s
winning plan in this specific position would be
comprised of repositioning the f3-knight via d2
to b1 while the f1-rook should take its place on
the knight’s initial square. Once the dark-
squared bishop is removed from e3 the a3-pawn
will become White’s first victim on the road
towards victory. A sample line could look like
this: 21.Nd2 Bb4 22.Qc1 Qd8 23.Nd1 Ng8
24.Rf3 Ne7 25.Bf2+–.
B) 20...Be4? 21.Nd2 Nf5 has been
overwhelmingly recommended by my pupils as
the most direct way to obtain activity as Black.
This might be true, but the light-squared bishop
used to be Black’s only decent piece so far. If it
disappears from the board all sorts of bad things
may start happening to him, e.g., 22.Ndxe4
dxe4 23.Nxe4 Qd5 and now 24.Nf6!
Position after: 24.Nf6!
24...Bxf6 25.exf6+ Kxf6 26.Bf2+– with the
prophylactic Rf1-b1-b4 followed by ideas like
Be2-f3 & d4-d5+ to come. This must be losing
for Black, who would eventually not only be
losing the a3-pawn but also effectively playing
without a piece (the a5-knight!) while
simultaneously facing an imminent kingside
attack.
21.Bxc4
A) Ignoring the knight with 21.Bc1? does not
help White at all as afterwards Black would be
enjoying too much liberty of action on the
queenside, e.g., 21...Ra4 22.Nd1 Qa8 23.Qe1
Qa5–+ with Black invading White’s queenside,
swallowing the white pawns out there along the
way.
B) 21.Nd2? aiming to remove the knight but
without surrendering the important light-
squared bishop fails tactically to 21...Bb4!
22.Qxb4 Nxe3–+ with a knight-fork incoming to
c2 no matter what.
21...dxc4 22.Qxc4 Qd5!
The difficulty of this move lies, in my opinion, in
its slightly paradoxical nature. We are being
taught that material is namely a static element.
In other words, if we are a pawn down and
nothing changes in the position we lose the
103
game in the long haul. Additionally, when being
down material we should avoid exchanging
pieces (queens in particular!) as this tends to
reduce the dynamic potential of our forces. So
why is such a controversial procedure the best
continuation here? That is because you can get
away with bending one rule only if another,
more important one in the context of the
concrete position, speaks in your favor
afterwards. According to my observations there
are no stiff rules in this regard stipulating
whether it is better to violate static rules in favor
of dynamic ones or the other way around. It is
most probably just that the edge you obtain
needs to be more concrete in nature therefore
influencing the play in a more robust manner
than the one sacrificed on the altar of chess
evaluation.
By trading off the queens Black is going to gain
access to the queenside for his rooks entering
the game via a4 and b4. While doing so, they will
also be endangering the white b5-pawn, which
lacks sufficient protection due to the control
over b1 exercised by the black light-squared
bishop. White is not exactly powerless to stop all
this from happening but will need to dedicate a
significant fraction of his forces to defensive
duties with no room left anymore for realizing
any winning ambitions.
Position after: 22...Qd5!
23.Qxd5
White has no other choice but to take on d5
otherwise it could be used by one of the black
rooks as yet another transit-square for the
purpose of attacking White’s b5-pawn.
23.Nd2? Qxc4 24.Nxc4 Rhd8–+ should already
be considered as a losing position for White as
he would not have been able to protect his
queenside pawns for long enough. Needless to
say, if b5 falls, c6 would be the very next item on
the kill-list for Black.
23...exd5 24.Rfc1
24.Nd1 Bd3 25.Nc3!? would have been a
curious attempt to hold the position together by
White. Instead of playing for a material
advantage, White would be sacrificing a pawn
himself in order to retain control over the
position. Computer analysis proves that Black’s
position remains intact after the capture, but
personally I would value my light-squared
bishop higher, therefore deciding rather in favor
of something like 25...Nf5 26.Kf2 Rhd8 27.Rfd1
Bc4© with ...f7-f6 followed by ...Kg7-f7-e6 next.
White stays superior in terms of material but his
inability to contest the light squares across the
board would most probably lead to a ‘Mexican
stand-off’ type of a draw.
24...Ra4 25.Nd1 Rb4 26.Bf2 Be4!
Position after: 26...Be4!
When facing the dilemma between losing a
pawn but obtaining excellent counterplay or
saving the pawn at the cost of badly passivizing
one’s pieces (in this case after ...26...Nh6-g8?),
a man of chess-culture is going to be almost
104
always choosing the former. The reason for this
is, in general, that a good position a pawn down
is always playable, whereas a bad position on
equal material may just as well simply be losing
on the spot.
27.Nxh4
27.Bxh4 is another option for White that needs
to be considered but after the further 27...Bxh4
28.Nxh4 Rxd4 29.Rc3 Ra8 30.Nf2 Nf5 31.Nxf5+
gxf5!?„ being a pawn down does not bother
Black too much as he would simultaneously
enjoy great central control as well as
possibilities of further expansion on the
queenside. His rooks are going to infiltrate the
white camp rather quickly, wreaking havoc by
means of attacking the opponent’s loose pawns
(b5 is certainly one candidate), but also by
activating the passed d-pawn after something
like ...Rd4-d2(b4).
27...Rb2!
Position after: 27...Rb2!
The neat tactical point behind Black’s sacrificial
idea. His rook is certainly taboo due to the
ensuing fork, whereas the prolonged presence
of heavy pieces along the second rank is nearly
always an insult to White’s honor.
Unsurprisingly, after the further
28.Nc3 Bxh4 29.Bxh4 Rxg2+ 30.Kf1 Ng4!
31.hxg4 Rxh4 32.Nxe4 Rhh2=
There is no way White is going to be able to save
the knight and avoid a perpetual check along the
second rank at the same time.
Your score: Going for 20...Nc4! and following up
with 22...Qd5! gets you two points. A third one
is rewarded for understanding that White can
hardly fight back against Black’s infiltration ideas
and light-squared control.
13
Puranik, A. (2604)
Kollars, D. (2622)
Sitges ESP 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0
Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.d4 Bg4 10.d5
Na5 11.Bc2 c6 12.h3 Bc8 13.dxc6 Qc7 14.Nbd2
Qxc6 15.Nf1 Be6 16.Ng5 Bd7 17.Ng3 Nc4
18.Bd3 h6 19.Nf3 Rfe8 20.Nh4 Bf8 21.Nhf5
Re6 22.Qe2 Rc8 23.b3 Nb6
Statics
Battle of disadvantages
A tense battle in the mainline Ruy Lopez has
arisen on the board. White has clearly invested
a lot of time into organizing a positional
initiative on the kingside (presence of a knight
on f5), while Black has been spending most of
his time so far playing on the queenside, and
partially also in the center. His efforts have not
been entirely fruitless as with his last move
White felt compelled to kick the opponent’s
knight away from c4 by means of b2-b3.
However, this lead to the creation of a weak
pawn on c3 which is currently Black’s primary
105
target. So, the question now is: how to defend
it?
24.c4!
Indeed, an extreme measure by all standards.
When playing like this one has to be aware of
the risk of losing the c4-pawn outright. Even
when considering this move from the long-term
static perspective it cannot possibly be right
either as the pawn further restricts White’s
light-squared bishop. Let us not jump at
conclusions too early, especially before looking
into Black’s possibilities of taking advantage of
such a circumstance or maybe rather the lack
thereof!
In the game, Puranik decided to play 24.Bd2?!
which is a logical move in the sense that it simply
defends the loose c3-pawn. On the other hand,
after 24...d5 25.Rac1 Qb7!³ Black not only
managed to take over the initiative in the center,
but also freed his temporarily buried dark-
squared bishop on f8. From this point on White
is clearly going to be under pressure. Black will
continue with ...Bd7-c6 forcing the opponent to
one day release the tension in the center by
capturing on d5. This, on the other hand, is going
to allow Black to activate the b6-knight which is
very likely to be further repositioned via d5 to f4.
Once this happens White is going to start
experiencing problems not only with his
backward queenside structure, but with the
coordination of his forces in the center as well.
24...bxc4 25.bxc4
Let us stop here for a second and discuss what
exact changes the position has undergone
during the last two moves.

Position after: 25.bxc4
Previously, White had a backward pawn on c3
which required some defending efforts. Now his
c4-pawn is both weak and isolated which
additionally hinders the capacity of White’s
light-squared bishop on d3. This might not
sound like a Warren Buffett type of a deal at first
but there is definitely more to White’s concept
than meets the eye. First of all, the presence of
the white pawn on c4 prevents the freeing ...d6-
d5 push by Black. If this stays the case, not only
will his d6-pawn remain backward but the f8-
bishop is going to be out of play longer as well.
Additionally, together with its colleague on e4,
the c4-pawn secures a lovely outpost on d5 for
one of the white knights. The other knight is
heading for f5 while the rooks are going to be
put to b1 and d1. White may want to consider
locating his dark-squared bishop on a3 in the
near future while the other one serves as a ‘big
pawn’ - a martyr defending the c4-pawn so that
all of White’s other pieces have a fun time.
25...Na4
A) After 25...Nxc4? tactics come to White’s aid:
26.Bxh6! gxh6 27.Rac1+– when the knight falls,
and the e6-rook becomes collateral damage
once the white bishop reaches the c4-square.
Sounds bad enough, and we have not yet
started talking about the weakening of the black
monarch’s pawn-shield.
B) 25...Ree8 is a more resolute attempt to
untangle from Black’s side. Playing like this
would have allowed White to demonstrate the
106
full extent of his idea: 26.Ne3 Be6 27.Nd5 Nfd7
28.Rb1 Na4 29.Bd2 Nac5 30.Bc2 Rb8 31.Nf5±
Position after: 31.Nf5±
with complete domination over the center. His
knights are not only active as such but also
cripple the opponent’s forces, in particular the
bishops and the queen. White’s cavalry
obviously cannot be tolerated for long but
capturing either one of them is going to
significantly improve his hitherto dormant light-
squared bishop.
26.Qf3 Nc5 27.Bc2
Black may count this as a minor achievement
that he manages to establish a blockade right in
front of the isolated c4-pawn. However, at the
same time the pawn is not attacked anymore. So,
if it is theoretically ‘weak’, but cannot be
attacked, is it really a ‘weakness’?
27...Rb8 28.Ne3 Qb6 29.Nd5 Nxd5
and now there would be nothing wrong with
30.cxd5 improving White’s structure and
therefore leaving him just better, but if you are
the more adventurous type you might want to
resort to:
30.exd5!? Ree8 31.Ba3ƒ

Position after: 31.Ba3ƒ
when White’s structure might not be optimal
but opening up the b1-h7 diagonal for the light-
squared bishop seems to be more important.
This, on the other hand, would have led to the
creation of attacking chances on the kingside
which has almost abandoned by the black forces.
Just a few more words before we move on to the
next puzzle. White’s decision to play 24.c4!
might have seemed controversial because it
eventually led to the creation of a weak isolated
pawn. On the other hand, the pawn made sure
that Black continues to suffer positionally too.
All this should make us conclude that sometimes
we do not win at chess because our advantages
are more important than the advantages of the
opponent, but rather because our
disadvantages hurt us less than the
disadvantages of our foe. At the same time, we
cannot forget about the psychological aspect of
such situations either. Humans by nature fear
losing something more than they want to
achieve something else. This is probably also
why handling positions with mutual advantages
(e.g. playing with a bishop-pair against the
opponent’s strong center) is bread and butter
for most of us, while executing negative changes
in the position for both sides at the same time
(e.g. compromising one’s structure in order to
expose the opponent’s otherwise safe monarch)
frequently gives us an uneasiness. Although the
mathematical equation might not lead to a
worse result for us in terms of pure evaluation
(‘plus versus plus’ is no different than ‘minus
versus minus’), it is somewhat easier to justify a
107
potential loss because your assets meant less
than the assets of the opponent, compared to a
situation in which it turns out that as a result of
your very own actions you suffered more pain
than the opponent. Sometimes however
unbalancing the position represents the only
path towards victory and this is also why every
aspiring player needs to learn how to handle
such moments properly. There is one training
method that I recommend to my students in this
regard: When playing blitz games online,
identify moments when exclusively calm
measures are called for. Instead of playing in
accordance with your findings, try introducing
an imbalance instead, e.g., a forceful structural
transformation. It does not necessarily have to
work and you will certainly lose more rating
points from your account this way. But at the
same time you will have the opportunity to
discover possible negative consequences of
your own wrongdoings upon the position of the
opponent and get a chance to experience some
typical scenarios in which such an approach
might exceptionally work. Just remember not to
do it all the time or in serious tournament games!
Your score: One point for spotting 24.c4!,
another one for getting the tactical defense
behind it. Working out the optimal regrouping
of your forces afterwards is what was needed to
receive the third and final point.
14
Erigaisi, A. (2689)
Gupta, A. (2627)
Chennai IND 2022
1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Nbd2
Nh5 6.Be5 e6 7.Bb5 f6 8.Bg3 Nxg3 9.hxg3
cxd4 10.exd4 Bd6 11.c4 0-0 12.0-0 Kh8 13.cxd5
exd5 14.Bxc6 bxc6 15.Qc2 Bd7 16.Nb3 Rb8
17.Nc5 Bxc5 18.dxc5 f5 19.Ne5 f4 20.g4
 22.Qc3 Rbe8 23.b4± when he should probably
be trying to generate a passed pawn on the
queenside while ensuring his powerful knight
stays exactly where it is. A funny fact about this
position, in the future, thanks to his structural
superiority on the queenside, White could even
consider the ‘strategically blasphemous’ swap
on d7 provided that his c5-pawn becomes a
passer quick enough and Black is not able to
Dynamics generate any counterplay along the e-file in the
Sensing the right moment to sharpen things up meantime.

This position appeared on the board as a result B) By comparison, 20...Qh4?! would have
of a slightly unconventional version of the allowed White to eat the cookie and have it too
London System. White’s structure is to be as after 21.Nxd7 f3 White could just return with
considered nominally better than Black’s as he the knight to the defense with 22.Ne5 when
has less pawn-islands. A brief comparison of the after the tactical sequence of 22...Rb4! 23.Nxf3
players’ pieces does not improve the Rxf3!
assessment of Black’s position as his light-
squared bishop is being dominated by White’s
centralized e5-knight. Obviously, optimists will
say that the pawn-shield in front of the white
king is slightly damaged and that the
combination of a rapid inclusion of pieces into
play in that area together with the ...f4-f3 pawn
lever could be of help. Still, Black’s queen is
stuck defending the passive bishop and without
the participation of the strongest piece almost
no attack can ever work. What would you say - Position after: 23...Rxf3!
can the queen be activated here and now or not?
24.Rae1! Rf8 25.f3 Rc4 26.Qd2± White would
20...Qg5! have stayed superior in terms of material and
therefore be on the right course towards victory.
Of course, it can and as a matter of fact it has to
be! Although this move looks at first like a patzer 21.Nxd7 f3!
blunder, White will not be able to get away with
the capture on d7 unscathed. A necessary prerequisite of Black’s saving plan.
Whenever you sacrifice material you need to be
A) The game saw 20...Kg8?! being played sure why you are doing it. In this case, Black will
apparently with the intention of freeing his f8- be giving up a whole rook but in return obtaining
rook from defensive duties regarding a possible plenty of attacking chances against the
fork on f7. At the same time this move is not in opponent’s king. For those chances to
the spirit of the position which required materialize, f2-f3 needed to be ruled out at this
immediate active action instead. After the point in time.
further 21.Rfe1 Qc7 White could have
cemented his strategic advantage by going for 22.Nxf8

108
By comparison, playing 22.Qa4?! without the
inclusion of a capture on f8 would have already
been a tiny stretch as after 22...Rf4 23.Qxa7
Rbf8! Black’s pieces would have been perfectly
prepared to go after the white monarch. White
can certainly continue by finding a series of only
moves after 24.g3 Qxg4 25.Ne5 Qh3 26.Nxf3
Rxf3 27.Qa4 only to understand that after the
accurate 27...h5!ƒ followed by ...Rf8-f4, Black
would be combining mating ideas based on the
cooperation of his remaining queen and his h-
pawn with attempts to start picking up White’s
pawns across the board.
22...Rxf8
Position after: 22...Rxf8
Let us stop here for a second. Black is severely
down material and on top of that it is his
opponent’s turn to move. In theory, an
advantage of a rook and a little bit of time
should be more than enough for the defender to
consolidate and carry on playing for a win
afterwards. This must have also been the reason
why Black did not go for 20...Qg5! in the game
because in similar situations one can never be
entirely sure about the correctness of their
calculations. This is also why, especially the
closer we start getting towards zeitnot, the
more should we start relying on intuition. In the
initial position Black was already in trouble and
he knew that calm positional play was not going
to help him save the game against strong
opposition. This is also why in my opinion he
should have given the text move a chance, even
if being unable to calculate its consequences till
109
the very end. In other words, if you are already
losing why not make the proof thereof stressful
and demanding for your rival? Sure, I can hear
you say that one worse position may very well
differ greatly from another worse position. By
contrast, some utterly lost positions might in
practice not call for drastic actions as much as
other ‘just worse’ ones would. This is also why
every player should, on one hand, train their
evaluation skills based on similar positions. On
the other hand, they should also know their
selves, knowing their own level of tolerance for
inferior positions and to be even more precise,
how bad the position can get before they will
need to pull the emergency handle and burn the
bridges behind them.
23.gxf3
23.Qa4 does not help either in view of 23...fxg2
24.Kxg2 Rf4 as the transposition into two
(uncoordinated) rooks versus (an active) queen
endgame is rather insufficient; White should
probably allow a draw by perpetual check after
something like 25.Qb3 Rxg4+ 26.Kf3 Rf4+
27.Ke2 Re4+ 28.Kd1 Rd4+ 29.Kc2 Rc4+=.
23...Rxf3 24.Rfe1 Qxg4+ 25.Kf1 Qh3+ 26.Ke2
and now after:
26...Qg4
Position after: 26...Qg4
White should beware the discovered check,
with a return to f1 ending in a threefold
repetition. This is also why White should
probably once again put safety above anything
else and let the opponent finish the game in a
draw after
27.Qd1 Rf4+ 28.Kd3 Rf3+ 29.Re3 Qc4+
30.Kd2 Rxf2+ 31.Re2 Qf4+ 32.Kc2 Qc4+=.
Your score: One point for realizing that the
position calls for dynamic means. The second
point is awarded for specifically playing
20...Qg5!. You obtain the third one only if you
reached the position a rook down in the main
line and continued calculating precisely.
15
Griffith, K. (2346)
Wang, T. (2256)
Charlotte USA 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3
Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 Ng8 9.Bd4
Qa5 10.Bc4 Bxe5 11.0-0 Nh6 12.Re1 f6
13.Bxe5 fxe5 14.Qd2 Nf5 15.Rad1 d6 16.Kh1
Rb8 17.Bb3 Rf8 18.f4 Qc5 19.Rxe5 Qb6
20.Ree1 Rb7 21.Ne4 d5 22.Ng5 h6 23.Nf3 Nd6
Statics
Prerequisites for establishing long-term
paralysis
We worked with my student Kyron on this
variation (10.Bc4!?) shortly before the
tournament. Our idea was to sacrifice a pawn in
the opening in return for compensation. While
White was finishing development and about to
make a move in the center with his centralized
110
pieces, Black was supposed to be stuck in the
center with his king and struggling trying to
restore coordination. The preparation worked
out perfectly and (in the aftermath) Kyron
himself ended up cruising towards his first IM-
norm smoother than a Chopin sonata. But here
he missed a golden opportunity not only to net
in a 5/ 5 result in the tournament table, but also
to dominate his heavily underrated rival (who by
the way also managed to clinch his IM-norm at
the same event).
24.c4!
Position after: 24.c4!
At first glance, this move looks strange.
Assuming White was ready to sacrifice material,
24.Ne5 seemed to be more to the point.
However, if White wishes to keep the material
level, 24.Qd4 may appear to be a solid option.
The problem is that none of those moves grants
White an eventual edge. The text, on the other
hand, is not only the most forceful approach but
also constitutes an essential element of a ‘stasis
field’ that White is about to erect almost all over
the board.
A) Instead, in the game Kyron went for 24.Ne5
Ne4 25.Rxe4 dxe4 26.Ba4 Rf6 27.Qd5! and just
when it seemed that White was about to
overcome the opponent’s resistance, Black
came up with the highly creative 27...Kf8! when
after the further 28.Qd8+ Qxd8 29.Rxd8+ Kg7
30.Rxc8 e3 31.g3 e2 both players decided to call
it a day and agree to a draw in view of 32.Nf3
g5! 33.Kg2 gxf4 34.g4 Re6 35.Kf2 Re3 36.Ne1
Rxb2 37.Bb3 Rb1 38.Bc4=
 An important intermezzo. This way we are
deactivating the opponent’s queen as well as
ruling out any counterplay generating tricks
like ...e4-e3 in the future.

26...Qc7

26...Qxb3 27.axb3 exf3 28.Qd3 fxg2+ 29.Kg1!

Kf7 30.Qe4 Rc7 31.b4+– may be materially
Position after: 38.Bc4= more than fine for Black but positionally
speaking his situation would have been pretty
when analysis proves that neither of the sides much hopeless. The white queen is much more
can make any real progress. mobile than any of the opponent’s pieces with
Black’s forces being scattered across the board.
B) If you were scared to death by Black’s threat The only open file belongs to White, and Black
of ...Nd6-e4 it is possible that you elected to should be careful not to accidentally drop the
play the safe 24.Qd4!?. As they say in my c7-rook due to a possible double attack. Also,
country, ‘he who does not take risks, does not the Black g2-pawn is not running away
drink champagne at the end of the day’, and so anywhere so White can take his time trying to
here Black would have been able to effectively convert this position into a full point.
neutralize the opponent’s apparent central
domination by means of 24...Qxd4 25.Rxd4 e6 27.Ne5
26.c4 Nxc4 27.Bxc4 dxc4 28.Rxc4 Rxb2 29.Rxc6
Bb7!? 30.Rcxe6+ Kf7= when the additional
pawn would have meant nothing for White due
to the difference in strength between the minor
pieces on the board. What is more, a rook
endgame would have been the most likely
scenario to arise here, and as we all know, those
endgames do tend to display strong drawish
tendencies.

24...Ne4 25.Rxe4 dxe4 26.c5! Position after: 27.Ne5

Now the full extent of White’s winning idea can

be observed. Despite being a whole exchange
down, White is dominating the game. Every
single piece of his is better compared to every
single Black counterpart. There might not be any
immediate threats (except for the capture on
g6), but Black has way too many inroads into his
camp to guard than he can handle. And this is
exactly what he needs to focus on in the absence
Position after: 26.c5! of any active ideas for himself. At the same time,
White enjoys the luxurious possibility of slowly

111
grinding out a win. He can take his time as the
opponent is close to being totally paralyzed.
This circumstance also happens to mark the
difference between 24.Ne5 chosen by White in
the game and the text move 24.c4!. While the
former one is ‘faster’ ( activates the knight
immediately), it also allowed Black to generate
enough counterplay as White’s control over the
position arising afterwards was far from
overwhelming. The latter one, on the other
hand, looked ‘slower’ (Nf3-e5 came one move
later), but set up the stage for establishing
perfect control across the board thanks to the
involvement of the c-pawn as well. What I mean
to say by this is that, when flirting with the idea
of paralyzing the opponent, rather than hurrying
with your piece play, you should instead focus
on the big picture by making sure that the
superior arrangement of your pieces and pawns
will make the element of time less relevant for
at least the next couple of moves.
27...Rf6
27...Rb5 looks like a principled approach to
create a crack in White’s elaborate setup in the
center but now the first player could carry on
with 28.Qd4! Rxf4 29.Bc4 Rb4 30.a3 when after
the more or less forced 30...Rxc4 31.Qxc4 Qxe5
32.Qg8+ Rf8 33.Qxg6+ Rf7 34.Qxc6+ Kf8
35.Qxh6+!
Position after: 35.Qxh6+!
35...Rg7 36.Qh8+ Kf7 37.Qxc8+– the only thing
preventing White from claiming the win
112
immediately would be the minor side quest to
first contain Black’s e4-passer.
28.Qd4 Rxb3
This might look uncalled for at first but actually
represents the only method for Black to activate
his bishop.
28...Kf8 29.Qxe4 Kg7 would have been a
decent try for consolidation were it not for the
possibility to bring in additional resources by
White with 30.g4!. This way, White not only
prevents any ...Bc8-f5 ideas but also prepares to
expose the black monarch along the long dark
diagonal even more with g4-g5 coming up next.
Simple means do not save Black anymore,
whereas a desperate try like 30...Rxb3 31.axb3
Be6 falls short to the simple 32.Kg1 Bd5
33.Qd4+–.
29.axb3 Be6 30.Qxe4 Bd5
Position after: 30...Bd5
and just when it seemed that Black was getting
back on his feet, White could go for
31.Rxd5! cxd5 32.Qxd5 e6 33.Qa8+ Ke7
34.h3!+–
and by making sure that there is never going to
be any back rank mates appearing on the board
White would have conclusively sealed his
advantage. The white knight dominates the
black rook as well as forms a dangerous tactical
duo with its own queen. If we add the passed c5-
pawn on top of that, we will quickly
comprehend how precarious Black’s state has
become.
Your score: You deserve three points only after
electing 24.c4! and comprehending how big of
an advantage you possess once 27.Ne5 in the
main line is played. By comparison, 24.Ne5 right
away gets you just a point.
16
Asadli, V. (2574)
Kovalenko, I. (2643)
Belgrade SRB 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3
Qc7 6.h3 g6 7.Ne2 Nf6 8.Bf4 Qd8 9.Nd2 Bf5
10.Bxf5 gxf5 11.Be5 e6 12.Nf3 Bd6 13.Nf4
Rg8 14.Qe2 Ne4 15.0-0-0 Bxe5 16.Nxe5 Nxe5
17.dxe5 Qa5
Dynamics
Neutralize the threats or their consequences?
What we have in front of us is a typical position
arising out of the Exchange variation of the Caro
– Kann Defense. Well, maybe except for the fact
that White castled long a couple of moves ago.
Admittedly, such an approach is sometimes
justified in similar lines as going with the king in
the opposite direction might actually jeopardize
him to some attacks along the g-file. One cannot
deny that, in this specific case, the presence of
the king on c1 constitutes the sole reason for
White’s putative misery. The pawn on a2 is
under attack while its c3-colleague finds itself
‘under surveillance’ by Black’s forces as well. In
113
particular, defending the former one directly (by
means of Kc1-b1 or a2-a3) exposes White to
immediate tactical danger. How then to defend
it effectively?
18.Rd4!
Position after: 18.Rd4!
The correct answer is not to defend it at all! In
modern times, defending should be done with
the least involvement of time or energy,
understood as the number of moves or pieces
required to cover a concrete element of the
position. This very economic approach allows us
to shift the remaining forces to other, mostly
attacking tasks, in the meantime, which
undeniably sounds like a most desirable of
solutions to such a problem. Obviously however,
playing like this requires excellent vision and
calculation skills, as well as flawless
understanding of the dynamic balance in chess.
What is even worse, as happens to be the case
with 18.Rd4!, dynamic defending often
demands from us a psychologically burdensome
practice, that is making moves that, optically,
have very little to do with the defensive task
itself.
A) Instead, Asadli decided to ‘mechanically’
defend the a2-pawn with 18.Kb1? only to
succumb to a crafty double attack after
18...Qb6!. The game then continued with
19.Rc1 Rc8 20.Ka1 Qxf2 21.Qb5+ Kd8 22.Rhf1
Qb6–+ and it was only the slightly sloppy
conversion of the advantage by Black that
allowed White to later escape towards a draw.
B) One student of mine wanted to make 18.g4?
work. This move was a product of sheer
desperation, as all of her previous attempts to
defend against Black’s threats in a static manner
backfired. As much as a bit desperation during
the thought process might be sometimes helpful
(see comments to the Vidit – Grandelius game),
in this situation such a random move on the
kingside would have allowed Black to prepare an
even stronger strike on c3 by means of 18...Rc8!
when after the further 19.gxf5 Nxc3 20.bxc3
Qxc3+ 21.Kb1 Qb4+–+ White would be a pawn
down and struggling with the lack of security
around his king.
18...0-0-0
This would have been objectively the strongest
move available in the position but also
simultaneously an admission that Black’s
17...Qa5 may have already been a fluke.
A) 18...Qxa2?? is exactly what White would like
to see happening as now after 19.Qb5+ Kf8
20.Ra4+– the black queen gets unexpectedly
caught. This is dynamic defending at its finest,
defending without defending. The a2-pawn was,
technically speaking, undefended so it falls. But
the price to pay for Black in case he helps himself
to it is an immediate loss.
B) 18...Nxc3? was another idea looming over
White from the start. Actually, once the rook
arrives on d4 the threat of capturing on c3
makes an even more sinister impression
because of White’s piece constituting collateral
damage after a possible recapture. At the same
time after the calm 19.Qe1! White collects the
knight as it is going to get trapped on a2
eventually (should Black decide to take it too). A
more practical attempt for Black at this point
would be to go for 19...Qxa2 20.bxc3 Rc8 with
some chances of stirring up things close to the
exposed white monarch. But after the strong
anticipatory move 21.g3!± White should be able
to successfully consolidate at the end of the day.
114
19.Kb1 Kb8 20.Rhd1 Rc8 21.f3²
Position after: 21.f3²
Suddenly Black is facing a difficult choice. One
option would be to run away to c5, which would
have left his kingside structure in danger of g2-
g4!. The f5-pawn does not look sustainable in
the long run but capturing on g4 would have
opened up the h-file for the white rooks
intending to hit Black’s backward h7-pawn.
Placing the knight on g3 on the other hand takes
away the pawn lever from White, but at the
same time incapacitates this piece leaving it
stranded on the kingside. Such a turn of events
would mean that White would feel very much
encouraged to momentarily switch his attention
to the queenside where he could carry out
active operations. Dynamically speaking White
is a whole piece up.
Your score: You are awarded one point for
deciding in favor of 18.Rd4! with another two
points coming on top of that for spotting the
tactical flaws behind Black’s most direct
responses.
17
Van Foreest, J. (2702)
Anton Guijarro, D. (2693)
Warsaw POL 2021
1.g3 e5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Bg2 Bc5 4.Nc3 a6 5.Nf3 d6
6.e3 Nf6 7.0-0 0-0 8.h3 Ba7 9.b3 Re8 10.d3
Ne7 11.Bb2 Ng6 12.d4 exd4 13.Nxd4 c6
14.Qc2

Statics
Do statically worse positions invariably infer the
need to resort to dynamic means?
A fairly standard position of the English Opening
has arisen on the board. White managed to
build up a double-fianchetto and is now
preparing to organize some pressure along the
d-file against Black’s slightly exposed d6-pawn.
Black, on the other hand, has developed his
pieces harmoniously and is looking forward to
taking advantage of this fact by pointing the
spear of his perception in the direction of the
white kingside. Before he may afford to do that,
there is one more problem he needs to solve.
14...Bxd4!
This looks like a deranged person’s move at first.
Why would anybody voluntarily give up the
bishop pair for apparently no reason? Also, if
Black feels the urge to do so no matter what,
why not surrender the theoretically ‘worse’
light-squared bishop instead?
A) In the game, Black played 14...Bd7? with the
idea of generating counterplay against the white
kingside by means of ...Qd8-c8 followed
by ...h7-h5-h4. This idea could have been killed
off upfront by White with 15.Nf5 when after
something like 15...Bxf5 16.Qxf5 Qe7 17.Rad1
Rad8 18.Rd2 Ne5 19.Rfd1± Black’s position
would have become strategically unsustainable
in the long run. The backward pawn on d6 is one
thing, but the inability to contest White’s
domination over the light squares would have
115
sooner or later brought Black’s positional
suffering to a whole new level.
B) 14...Qa5?! 15.Rad1 Qh5 is certainly an
interesting idea from the purely theoretical
perspective of the static/dynamic balance. Black
understands that he is statically inferior in the
starting position so seeking dynamic
counterplay makes perfect sense. Black’s
problem here is that White can first try to offer
a trade of queens (‘dynamics killer’) to the
opponent with 16.Qe2! and after the stubborn
16...Qh6 take advantage of the misplaced
position of the black queen after 17.Bc1! Bxh3
18.e4.
Position after: 18.e4
The best version of the game Black can obtain
here leads via 18...Bg4 19.f3 Qh5 20.fxg4 Nxg4
21.Bf3 Qe5 22.Bxg4 Bxd4+ 23.Rxd4 Qxd4+
24.Qe3 Qxe3+ 25.Bxe3 Ne5 26.Be2± to a
position in which the white pair of bishops is
most probably going to overpower the black
rook and pawns in the long haul. Materially,
Black might in fact be fine here, but the rooks
cordially dislike bishops as the latter tend to
take away too many squares on the board from
the heavy pieces.
15.exd4 d5!
 Symmetrical positions are mostly interpreted as
‘closed’ ones, and in such the knights typically
tend to prevail over bishops. The engines often
tend to claim that the classical bishop pair (two
bishops versus two knights) is a powerful asset
to have notwithstanding other elements
present on the board like structure or
coordination. Nevertheless, we humans
understand that this is not always the case. If
Position after: 15...d5! you want proof check what the engine thinks
about this position but afterwards have a closer
Another mysterious move. First, Black decides
look at how futile its attempts are to win it
to part with the bishop pair and now he makes
against another machine.
the fate of the remaining bishop apparently
even worse by putting yet another pawn of his
B) 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.Rfe1 Rxe1+ 18.Rxe1 Be6= is
own on the light squares. However, there is a
very comparable to the previous line. The
method to this madness. In the beginning Black
position features an isolated pawn for each of
sealed the d-file thus making sure that White is
the sides respectively with the d4-pawn being
not going to be able to hit the black d6-pawn
much more annoying for the white dark-
anymore along the d-file. With the second move
squared bishop than the d5-pawn is for the
Black simultaneously debilitates no less than
black light-squared one. What is more, the open
both white bishops at the same time! The g2-
c-file seems to (at least temporarily) favor Black
bishop is now chewing on granite, whereas the
as well because of the possibility to quickly
dark-squared one is blocked by its own pawns
transfer his rook to c8.
and pieces. Additionally, if given the time to do
so, Black may consider playing ...Ng6-e7-f5 or
16...Be6 17.Na4
using the placement of the knight on e7 to have
his bishop activated via f5.
and now there should not be anything wrong
with the cautious 17...b6 preventing the knight
15...h5?! would have been thematic in the sense
invasion on c5, but my personal preference goes
that in similar positions Black in fact tries to
to the double-edged
weaken the kingside structure of White by
pushing the h-pawn all the way to h4. Still, in this
17...dxc4 18.bxc4 b5!?
case the move would have been a strategic
mistake as after 16.d5! c5 17.a4± the white
dark-squared bishop would have become a
beast operating along the dark diagonal. Black
may certainly continue playing accordingly
with ...h5-h4, but this would generally be
counter-productive as such pawn levers tend to
open up the position more which is good for the
bishop pair.

16.Rfe1 Position after: 18...b5!?

A) 16.Na4 Be6 17.Nc5 Qc8 18.Nxe6 Qxe6= is when sample lines confirm the viability of this
not worse for Black in this symmetrical position. risky idea:

116
19.Bxc6
A) 19.Nc5 Bxc4 20.Bxc6 Rxe1+ 21.Rxe1 Ra7
22.d5! Re7 23.Ne4 Nxe4 24.Rxe4 f6= when
Black needs to keep on playing precisely for a
couple of moves, but the drawish result stays
beyond dispute - the white d5-pawn is not
strong enough to be pushed all the way to the
promotion square.
B) 19.d5 looks forceful, but after the further
19...cxd5 20.cxd5 Rc8 21.Qd1 Bf5 22.Rxe8+
Nxe8 23.Nc3 Nd6„ Black cannot be possibly
worse. The d5-passer is safely blocked, and the
second player may even contemplate creating
some counterattacking opportunities (...Nd6-c4
and/or ...b5-b4) on the kingside. To be honest,
the less time left on the clock of both of the
players, the more I would start tending to take
Black here because of the simplicity of plans
available for him.
19...bxa4 20.d5 Bxh3 21.Rxe8+ Nxe8 22.Bxa8
Qxa8„
and this position looks like a mess at first sight
but after some initial analysis it becomes clear
why the engine considers it to be an example of
dynamic equilibrium. Black is a pawn up here
and wishes to soon attack the white king along
the light squares. At the same time the pair of
connected passed pawns in the center
supported by White’s heavy pieces cannot be
underestimated either. All three results would
have remained possible here.
Before commencing work on this book, it was
my firm belief that in statically inferior positions
one needs to universally apply dynamic
countermeasures in order to fight back against
their opponent. For example, if our position is
strategically bad due to a damaged structure,
we should first and foremost seek active
counterplay, e.g., an attack against the
opponent’s king. This approach sounds logical –
how are we supposed to win based on strategy
117
if our rival is better at it in the given case? But
there is a catch. As demonstrated perfectly by
the analyzed game, sometimes we can let the
opponent have a taste of his own medicine by
treating his statically superior setup with an
equally static, but more drastic solution. A
solution which affects the properties of the
pieces but does not turn the nature of the game
upside down. A single exchange of pieces
followed by a pawn move do not count as
‘dynamic’ means by any standards, but just look
at how much Black’s position improved
momentarily afterwards.
Your score: You receive two points for spotting
the 14...Bxd4! and 15...d5! sequence, with one
more point being given for grasping the strategic
reasoning behind this type of a transformation.
Instead, 14...Qa5?! followed by the queen
transfer towards the kingside, earns you a single
point.
18
Nakamura, H. (2736)
Svidler, P. (2714)
Saint Louis USA 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 c6 5.Bg2 d5
6.Qb3 a5 7.cxd5 a4 8.Qd1 cxd5 9.0-0 0-0
10.Nc3 Qa5 11.Bd2 Nc6 12.e3 Qa6 13.Re1 Bf5
14.Bf1 Qa7 15.h3 h5 16.Nh4 Bd7 17.Nf3 Bf5
18.a3 Rfd8 19.Bg2 Qa6 20.Bf1 Qa7 21.Rc1
Ne4 22.Nh4 Nxd2 23.Qxd2 Bc8 24.f4 Qa5
25.Qg2 e6 26.Bd3
Dynamics
Starting a queenside counter-attack before the
kingside falls
This position has arisen out a peculiar version of
the Grunfeld Defense. Its untypical nature is
owed to the fact that White no longer has a
dark-squared bishop. What usually sounds
suicidal for White in Indian openings does not
bother him that much here. The reason for this
is that he managed to put nearly the entirety of
his pawn-structure on dark squares thereby
effectively neutralizing the influence of Black’s
g7-bishop over the position. What is more,
White has a very simple plan at his disposal (g3-
g4 with a kingside onslaught to come), whereas
Black is somewhat stuck at square one with his
play on the queenside. Time is inevitably
running out so he needs to do something here
and now, otherwise he will just watch the
opponent blow up his king’s shelter soon
enough.
26...b5!
Position after: 26...b5!
An absolute must! Black needs to sacrifice his b-
pawn for the purpose of obtaining counterplay
along the newly opened file, but most
importantly to deflect White from carrying out
his attacking plans on the kingside for as long as
possible. The text does indeed look desperate,
but as long as the lines work tactically and White
is stalled from his own kingside play, the
objectives are deemed to be accomplished.
A) Instead, the game saw the passive 26...Ne7?
when after the further 27.g4! hxg4 28.hxg4 Bd7
29.Rf1!+– White shifted the vast majority of his
pieces to the kingside and eventually managed
to successfully crash through. For the time being
118
Black’s position looks defensible, but this ceased
to be the case once White included the idle c1-
rook into play interchangeably along the h and
f-files as well.
B) 26...Bf6? was suggested by one of my
students as an attempt to postpone g3-g4
coming from White’s side for as long as possible.
This move is indeed logical but fails to impress
as White’s position is so good that he can always
resort to alternative plans, e.g., 27.Nf3 Kg7
28.Ne5 Rh8 and now after 29.Qc2! Ne7
30.Bb5+– it would be Black’s a4-pawn falling for
no obvious compensation in return.
27.Nxb5
The most principled reply, and at the same time
the only correct way of taking the b5-pawn.
A) 27.Bxb5? would have stumbled upon
27...Nxd4! when the knight is taboo as at the
end of the line it would be White who would end
up down material after Black’s subsequent
captures on d4 and c3. White can certainly
whistle past the graveyard by playing 28.Bxa4
but after the further 28...Bb7 29.g4 Qb6!
Position after: 29...Qb6!
30.Kh2 Nb5! 31.Bxb5 d4–+ his position would
be collapsing on the spot.
B) White could certainly just as well ignore
Black’s counterplay on the queenside and go for
active action on the opposite wing with 27.g4
instead, but after the dynamic 27...hxg4 28.hxg4
b4 29.Na2 bxa3 30.bxa3 Ba6!
 29.Red1 Rdb8 30.Rd2!

Overprotecting the sensitive b2-pawn.

30...Bxb5 31.Bxb5 Nxd4!

Position after: 30...Ba6!

White would have never been in time to

generate any serious threats against the black
monarch. 31.Bxa6 Qxa6 32.f5 exf5 33.gxf5 Ne7
34.fxg6 fxg6 35.Nb4 Qd6= and I like in particular
how versatile of a defender the black queen has Position after: 31...Nxd4!
become - covering literally all of Black’s
potential weaknesses despite initially being 32.exd4 Bxd4+ 33.Kg2 Be3 34.Nxg6!
stranded somewhere on the edge of the
queenside. Opening up a second front on the kingside out
of the blue, but after:
27...Ba6 28.Qe2 Qb6!
34...fxg6 35.Qd3 Kf7 36.Rc6 Qd4!=
This move needed to be planned before going
for 26...b5!. Black seems to be wasting time this
way but even in dynamic positions while being
down material, sometimes we simply need to
take one step back if the next two are supposed
to be forward. As a result, the black c6-knight
does not have to worry about anything anymore.
More importantly, Black prepares the creation
of a battery along the b-file targeting the b2-
pawn which shall be enjoying even less
protection once an exchange of bishops takes Position after: 36...Qd4!=
place on d3. A sample line could go like this.
the whole fiery sequence peters out towards a
peaceful rook endgame.

Some of you might have noticed the

Position after: 28...Qb6!
resemblance of this example to the Balint –
Kovalev game discussed in chapter one. The
scenarios in those two games are nearly
identical. In either case, unless you managed to
generate counterplay on the opposite flank, you
were doomed. There is however one major
difference between both exercises, that is the

119
part of the board on which the counterattack
was supposed to be launched. In case you
wondered, counterattacks on the queenside
should in general be fiercer than the ones on the
kingside as playing on the kingside implicitly
assumes going after the opponent’s king.
‘Counterattacks’ are by definition slower than
‘attacks’ so if they take place on the queenside,
they need to be more ferocious than the
opponent’s initial attack. At the same time when
facing a queenside attack, kingside counterplay
may be a little slower as time depreciates in
value compared to the value of the target that
you are after. In other words, when confronted
with a queenside attack, do not worry that your
kingside counterplay is a little less expeditious
as, at the end of the day, your rival annihilates
your queenside, but you are just in time to mate
his king on the opposite wing. And in such a case,
who is going to be the one declared the winner
of this encounter after all?
Your score: Only 26...b5 gives you the right to a
first point. Two further points depend on how
accurate you determined the consequences of
both of White’s captures on b5. Without seeing
28...Qb6! however, the most you can get is two
points.
19
Santiago, Y. (2509)
Niedbala, B. (2384)
Prague CZE 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.Bd3 Nc6
6.Nf3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 d6 8.0-0 e5 9.Nd2 0-0
10.d5 Ne7 11.Qc2 Ng6 12.f4 Ng4 13.Nf3 f5
14.h3 e4 15.hxg4 exd3 16.Qxd3 fxg4 17.Ng5
Qe8 18.Qb1 h6 19.Ne4 Qe7 20.Ng3 Qh4
21.Kf2 Ne5 22.Rh1 Qf6 23.Qb3 b5 24.cxb5 c4
25.Qc2 Nd3+ 26.Kg1 Bb7 27.e4
120
Statics
Relative value of material – how to measure it
properly?
White has misplayed the Huebner variation of
the Nimzo rather badly and was even close to
facing the music a bit earlier during the game.
Black is a pawn down here but is certainly ahead
in terms of development. The white center looks
especially fragile, and its deconstruction would
probably lead to a full-blown invasion of the
black forces. The only thing that I would be
concerned about would be Black’s idle bishop
on b7 which is currently staring at the
opponent’s d5-pawn and doing nothing. The
position looks ripe for action, but how to get the
absolute most of it?
27...Bxd5!
The logic behind this move is surely much easier
than executing it during a tournament game.
Laying one’s hand on the white king was
obviously the objective and it was
understandable that the black b7-bishop is a
dispensable piece in this structure. For an
average chess Joe however, even combining
those two circumstances together is not going
to immediately lead him to the conclusion that
a sacrifice on d5 needs to be made here and now.
What is even more, after the recapture it still
takes Black at least two moves before he can
finally reach the white king with his pieces. Two
long moves during which everything can happen:
simplification, unexpected defensive resources,
you name it. Still, if your calculation skills are top
notch, verifying the credibility of such a resource
will come rather easily, furthermore cementing
your confidence in your own dynamic skills for
the future, when you need to act similarly in
another game of yours like that.
A) Instead, in the game my student Bartłomiej
went for the naturally looking 27...Nxf4?! only
to end up in need of continuously accurate play
in order to maintain equality. 28.Nf5 Qxc3!
29.Qxc3 Ne2+ 30.Kh2 Nxc3 31.Nxd6 and now
Black would need to sacrifice a piece in return
for activity with 31...g3+! 32.Kxg3 Rad8
33.Nxb7 Nxe4+ 34.Kh2 Rxd5©
Position after: 34...Rxd5©
The position is equal according to the engine
despite the slight material inferiority as Black’s
play still happens to be easier. White must
watch out for ...Rd5-h5+ and/or ...Ne4-f2 ideas,
while at the same time his pawns need
protecting and he must contain Black’s c4-
passer.
B) I can imagine a more positional player opting
for 27...Rae8?! with the idea of opening up the
e-file by means of a very similar version of the
bishop sacrifice, save for the risk of capturing on
d5, and only then preparing to take advantage
of the newly arising avenues leading into
White’s camp. The problem with such positions
is that the window of opportunity frequently
happens to be very narrow, with the ‘safe
solution’ leading us typically also to a ‘safe
result’, that is a draw at best. To put it a little
more concretely though, White could now
respond with the prophylactic 28.Rh5! when
121
after something like 28...Re7 29.Be3 Rfe8
30.Bd4! Qxf4 31.Kh2„ the tables would have
turned substantially on Black as, all of a sudden,
he would need to start worrying about the
safety of his queen once Ra1-f1 comes. Do not
get me wrong, the position probably remains
balanced. Still, when under pressure because
you were too greedy earlier, giving back
material in order to get some of those positional
goodies too is one of the oldest tricks in any
grandmaster’s handbook.
28.exd5 Rae8
Position after: 28...Rae8
White is a full piece up but there are many signs
in the sky saying that something is simply not
right. Black dominates the center and is already
threatening to infiltrate the opponent’s position
with ...Re8-e1+. Evacuating the king towards h2
right away bumps into ...Qf6-h4+ counters while
doing nothing at all might lead to serious mating
threats once the white f4-pawn gets eliminated.
Sample lines confirm that the best thing White
can get from life here is a close to hopeless
endgame.
29.Bd2
29.Rh5 Re1+ 30.Kh2 would have certainly been
White’s most creative attempt to hold the
position but apart from some tedious tries to
open up the h-file by means of 30...g6!?, Black
would have had the unbelievable 30...Qd8!!

Position after: 30...Qd8!!–+
when there is almost nothing White could do to
prevent the transfer of the black queen via b6 to
g1.
29...Nxf4 30.Bxf4 Qxf4 31.Nf1 g3
and now White needs to part with material and
transpose into a difficult endgame with the
following line:
Position after: 31...g3
32.Nxg3 Qxg3 33.Qd2 Qg4 34.Re1 Qf4 35.Rd1
Qe4 36.Rh3 Rf4–+
when Black should be winning in the long haul
as his central domination allows him to combine
continuous threats against the white monarch
with pressure against the opponent’s structural
deficiencies, in particular the ones standing on
d5 and c3.
A few closing thoughts if I may: By playing
27...Bxd5!, Black could have sacrificed a piece
for a pawn while obtaining a close to decisive
advantage as a result. Nominally speaking, he
122
could have therefore given up two pawns, but
would end up in a position assessed close to ‘ –
2.00’ by the engines. So how did exactly ‘two
pawns down’ turn into ‘two pawns up’ for Black?
It is all about the relative value of pieces. In the
starting position Black’s bishop was indeed
worth three pawns in nominal terms, but from
the practical perspective did not influence the
evaluation too much as it was not really helpful
in any way. At the same time, what Black was
dreaming of was to open the e-file in order to be
able to infiltrate White’s position resulting in the
white monarch getting into serious trouble. And
how much is mating the opponent’s king worth
in chess? Naturally, an infinite number of points
(if the mate eventually happens), or the value of
pieces and positional elements that the rival
needs to return to avert such a negative
scenario. This leads us to a few interesting
conclusions. First of all, we need to look at
pieces on the board beyond their nominal value.
Secondly, even the relative value of pieces
needs to be assessed holistically, that is in
conjunction with the value of other positional
elements available on the board that the piece
affects. Third and finally, do not forget that even
the most precise mathematical equations in this
regard have to be verified by means of
calculation.
Your score: If you saw 27...Bxd5! followed by
28...Rae8, you get two points. The third and final
point depends on your assessment of the
position afterwards - if you still happen to have
any sympathy for White’s cause by that point of
time, you stay at two points. Finally, choosing
either of the analyzed alternatives to Black’s
27th move gets you one little point only.
20
Abdusattorov, N. (2634)
Giri, A. (2776)
Krasnaya Polyana RUS 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 4.e4 e5 5.Nf3
Be7 6.Be2 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.d5 Nc5 9.Qc2 a5
10.Be3 Qc7 11.a3 Ng4 12.Bxc5 dxc5 13.Ne1
Nf6 14.Nd3 Bd7 15.b3 cxd5 16.cxd5 b5 17.Nb2
Dynamics
Simulated exchange as a method of fixing the
structure favorably
Black has managed to win the bishop pair but is
structurally inferior due to the need to contain
White’s supported passed pawn on d5. On top
of that, his b5-pawn is under attack right now,
which circumstance might grow into an even
larger problem should it be forced to move. In
the game, Giri comes up with an absolutely
exquisite solution.
17...c4!
A pawn sacrifice aimed at opening up diagonals
for the dark-squared bishop. Additionally, this
way Black intends to modify the white structure
so that the elements thereof would be
debilitating their own pieces.
17...Qb8? would have been a strategically
suspicious venture as after 18.a4! b4 19.Nb1
White would be in total control of the position.
All of a sudden, both of Black’s bishops look
terrible in this closed structure while White
plans to establish one of the knights on the
crucial blockading square c4. Black could
certainly try to fight back by means of 19...Ne8
20.Nd2 Nd6 21.Nbc4 f6 but this sort of clash
would inevitably lead to a trade meaning that in
this closed position White would remain with a
helpful knight while Black could use the
impotent dark-squared bishop merely for the
123
purpose of defending c5. What is even worse, in
similar positions 22.h3!?+–
Position after: 22.h3!?+–
followed by Be2-g4 with the intention to
exchange the light-squared bishops would have
represented the next step for White on the path
to a clean positional victory. It is not that there
is such a significant difference in the power of
both of the bishops. It is rather that by trading
off the other two minor pieces standing on the
board the dominance of the white knight over
the black bishop on e7 would have become even
more striking.
18.bxc4
18.Nb1 would have been an interesting attempt
to delay capturing on c4 for the sake of a timely
reintroduction of the b1-knight into play via d2
and (eventually) b3, but here Black has the
unbelievable 18...Nxe4! 19.Qxe4 cxb3
Position after: 19...cxb3
when despite being a piece up, White would be
struggling to finish his development. The b1-
knight is unable to move so the rooks cannot be
reconnected either. White could certainly try to
stir up things with 20.a4 but after the further
20...bxa4 21.Nxa4 Rab8 22.Nb2 Rb4 23.Nc4
Bd6 24.Nba3 Rfb8³ Black would be defying the
rules of chess in a sense that, at least in theory,
the longer the game lasts the more material
inferiority should become a burden for the
weaker side. Here as long as Black keeps on
threatening to promote his queenside pawns,
White’s forces cannot coordinate efficiently
therefore granting Black even more time to
carry on with his plans.
18...b4
Clearly taking on c4 would only be helping White
activate his bishop and/or the b2-knight. Black
would rather like to see both of those pieces
chew on granite while he makes use of the b4-
passer as well as c5 as a transit-square for his
dark-squared bishop.
What we can observe here is a so-called
‘simulated exchange’, that is a situation in which
we are pretending to offer a trade of pawns of
the opponent, only to change our plans at the
very last moment, usually obtaining some other
positional element in return. This has been
naturally widely disputed in chess literature, but
the part of the analysis that follows afterwards
is hugely a manifestation of a phenomenon
known in various sciences as ‘meta-knowledge’.
In chess, this is going to be the wisdom and
experience we acquire by analyzing well known
position beyond everything that can be
obtained from chess books. For example, in this
case 17...c4! followed by 18...b4 is a typical
theme, widely seen in openings like the Benoni
Defense. The problem with the development of
a chess player is that very often our knowledge
will end with that, and all of sudden we find
ourselves in a position that we are positive
about but have little clue as regards what needs
to be done next. This, as I call it, ‘knowledge
about knowledge’ is also the element that marks
124
the difference between strong players and the
world elite. In other words, if you want to
become really good at chess you might want to
constantly go beyond what sounds reasonable
or common sense in your analytical work, as this
way you will be getting a huge edge compared
to your rivals who just rely on widely available
information.
19.axb4
19.Nb1?! played with a similar idea as a move
before would have been promising for White
were it not for the unexpected 19...b3! 20.Qxb3
Nxe4.
Position after: 20...Nxe4
Black has just parted with his pride (the passed
b4-pawn), but instead managed to choke up
White’s central e4-pawn favorably. Even a pawn
up it would be White who would need to remain
careful not to land in a very bad situation. His
development is still crippled, and the minor
pieces are far from impressive. More specifically,
White’s pieces standing on the b-file would have
been constantly exposed to attacks coming from
the black rooks while ideas like ...Be7-c5
followed by ...Qc7-b6(a7) would be making
White’s life even harder. The engines suggest
21.Qc2 f5 22.Nc3 Nxc3 23.Qxc3 Bc5µ as the
least of evils for White but as they say, if this is
the best you can get, there is no point anymore
in asking about the worst-case-scenario.
19...axb4 20.Rxa8
Abdusattorov went for 20.Nca4?! only to find
himself badly tangled after the further 20...Ra5!
preventing c4-c5 and bringing in reinforcements
along the a-file at the same time. After 21.Bd1
Rfa8 22.Qd3 Bc5 23.Bb3 h6 24.Qc2 Qa7 25.h3
Bd4 Black’s position looked like a testimony to
his ingenious play.
Position after: 25...Bd4
Sadly, after 26.Ra2 Giri did not go for the
winning 26...Bxb2 27.Qxb2 Bxa4 28.Rfa1 Qd4!
29.Qxd4 exd4 30.Rxa4 Rxa4 31.Rxa4 Rxa4
32.Bxa4 Nxe4 33.Bc2 Nc5–+, instead
squandering the full point deep in the endgame,
out of a game that should not have possibly
been lost.
20...Rxa8 21.Nca4
Position after: 21.Nca4
This appears to be a slightly improved version of
the game for White, as this way White manages
125
to establish a temporary blockade of the a-file
while simultaneously not ending up pinned
along it due to the presence of his rook on a1. At
the same time instead of trying to overcome the
opponent’s resistance along it, Black could
switch plans by means of
21...Bxa4!? 22.Nxa4 Nd7
when after the further
23.g3 Nc5 24.Nxc5 Bxc5 25.Kg2 Qb6³
Despite being a pawn down, Black would be
playing for two results here. First of all, White’s
central pawns are going nowhere thanks to the
excellent dark-squared blockade.
Simultaneously, the black b4-passer is by
comparison in a clearly more privileged
situation. Secondly, Black’s dark-squared bishop
is a beast while the light-squared one of the
opponent is hardly dazzling, to put it mildly.
Furthermore, there is only one open file
available in the position and it is occupied by
Black. If he only managed to infiltrate the
opponent’s camp along the second rank
successfully White’s days would have been
numbered. I am far from saying that Black is
winning here but I do think that White’s position
represents a long-term strategic nightmare. Last
but not least, if you would like to examine a case
of a simulated exchange serving more attacking
purposes, please consider having a look at the
game Mis – Czopor number 16 in the Chapter 3.
Your score: Knowing the thematic 17...c4!
followed by 18...b4! gets you a point. Two
further points depend on the accuracy of your
responses to various counter-ideas of White
afterwards. I leave it up to you to decide how
much you deserve for your efforts in this regard.
Chapter Three
Even MC can’t
touch these

126
 1 4
Ivanisevic, I. – Sargissian, G. Vachier Lagrave, M. – Duda, J.

■ 28...? ■ 33...?

2 5
Grzesik, G. – Fiedorek, M. Smirin, I. – Shevchenko, K.

■ 13...? □ 20.?

3 6
Gvetadze, S. – Lomaia, D. Suleymanli, A. – Indjic, A.

■ 24...? ■ 31...?

127
 7 10
based on Bocharov, D. – Yuffa, D. Balakrishnan, P. – Burke, J.

□ 36.? ■ 11...?

8 11
Dubov, D. – Radjabov, T. Song, E. – Gauri, S.

■ 23...? ■ 21...?

9 12
Predke, A. – Demchenko, A. Danielyan, V. – Ohanyan, E.

□ 13.? ■ 14...?

128
 13 16
Studer, N. – Kamsky, G. Mis, M. – Czopor, M.

■ 19...? ■ 24...?

14 17
Kuzubov, Y. – Iturrizaga Bonelli, E. Gajewski, G. – Dziuba, M.

□ 22.? ■ 19...?

15 18
Artemiev, V. – Onischuk, V. based on Gierden – Razumikhin

□ 20.? ■ 26...?

129
 19 20
Banusz, T. – Fedorchuk, S. Costa, L. – Nurgaliyev, S.

■ 33...? ■ 27...?

130
 Solutions
1 This was necessary as Black cannot afford to
Ivanisevic, I. (2599)
Sargissian, G. (2681)
Dubai UAE 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.e3 c6 4.Nd2 Bf5 5.Bxf6
exf6 6.c4 Qb6 7.Qc1 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bd6 9.Ne2 0-
0 10.0-0 Qc7 11.Ng3 Bxg3 12.hxg3 Nd7 13.b4
Nb6 14.Bb3 a5 15.b5 a4 16.Bc2 Bd7 17.Ne4
Nd5 18.Nc5 cxb5 19.Be4 Bc6 20.a3 Rfc8
21.Qb2 Nb6 22.Rfc1 Nc4 23.Qe2 Bxe4
24.Nxe4 Qe7 25.Nc3 Nxa3 26.Qb2 Rxc3
27.Rxc3 b4 28.Rc5
Statics
Prophylaxis as a static weapon
After a wild middlegame, an equally imbalanced
endgame appeared on the board. Nominally
speaking, material is equal but the advanced
black pawns on the queenside do in fact look
menacing. However, things are however not
that easy as the knight standing in front of them
is more of an obstacle than a helper. What is
even worse is that the b4-pawn may start
hanging any moment. Standing still is not an
option but going forward jeopardizes the knight.
Is it really a catch 22 situation?
28...Qf8!!
A wonderful idea! Instead of trying to push the
queenside pawns right away, Black starts off
131
with a mysterious backward move of his queen.
drop b4. As it turns out the loss of the pawn
would have only been the beginning of his
future problems.
A) In the game Sargissian went for 28...b6?
when after the further 29.Rc6 b5 30.Rc5! Black
needed to decide as to whether he wished to
lose the b4-pawn or the a3-knight. Facing a
choice between a losing move and another
losing move, we should always pick the one that
is at least a tiny bit tricky. This must have been
exactly Black’s motivation behind playing
30...Qf8 to which White responded with the
careless 31.Qxb4??. For the time being I leave it
up to you to understand why this move is such a
big blunder, I feel obliged to merely indicate that
31.Rac1 Nc4 32.Qxb4+– was more accurate
when White is winning as Black’s queenside
infrastructure is collapsing.
B) 28...g6? would have solved the problem of
the back-rank but leaves the queen subjected to
discovered attacks: 29.Qxb4 Nc2 30.Rc8+!
Position after: 30.Rc8+!
30...Rxc8 31.Qxe7 Nxa1 32.Qxb7+– and White
would pick up the a4-pawn with confidence.
Perhaps White would also net the offside knight
along the way. Only now does the idea behind
Black’s 28th move appear in full blaze. Black
should have predicted White’s tactical motifs
resulting from capturing on b4. Upon
recognizing them, pulling the queen to f8 where
it would be defended while covering the back
rank happened to be the optimal solution.
C) Finally, 28...Rf8? would have been a move
that conclusively deals with White’s discovered
attack motif but also one after which his
opponent could highlight the drawbacks of
passivizing the rook with 29.Rac1 b3 30.Ra1! b6
31.Rcc1!+– when the a4-pawn would once again
be a victim of the white rooks.
29.Rc7
Black’s b4-pawn is taboo in view of the ...Nb4-
c2! fork which simultaneously represents the
answer to my previous little riddle. As we shall
see in a second, doubling up rooks along the c-
file is not an option either, so the text move
attacking the b7-pawn constitutes the most
principled try from among all of White’s other
possibilities.
As mentioned, 29.Rac1? fails to impress as it
allows 29...b3! when after 30.Qxa3 b6–+
Position after: 30...b6–+
the pin along the a3-f8 diagonal is one of
exceptional beauty to my taste. With the black
queenside pawns as advanced as they are no
one would consider White’s resignation
premature at this point.
29...b6 30.Rc6 Rd8!?
132
After having have covered several positions up
to here I am sure that you are not surprised at
all by the manner in which Black should be
defending his b6-pawn in this position.
31.Qc1 g6!?
Position after: 31...g6!?
This time Black would be sacrificing a pawn for
real, but not for nothing as after the further
32.Rxb6 Rc8 33.Rc6 Rxc6 34.Qxc6 b3=
we would reach a razor-sharp endgame in which
the two passed black queenside pawns would
effectively keep White’s central majority at bay.
White should now probably put the queen
behind Black’s b-pawn and stay tactically alert
until the end of the game, as he would never
know when and how Black might want to start
making progress on that wing again. With Black,
objectively speaking, unable to activate the
pawns at will the position needs to be
considered as a curious case of a quasi-
zugzwang.
Black’s 28...Qf8!! would have been a result of
deep prophylactic thinking. Prophylaxis is
namely the ability to recognize the threats of the
opponent, determine whether they are
dangerous, and if so, to prevent them. Despite
the fact that prophylactic thinking is advised in
more or less any type of position that can arise
on the board, by definition it is going to be
mostly useful as a form of insurance against the
opponent’s ideas, therefore making it a mostly
static element of the game. A close relative of
prophylaxis is anticipation, but those
phenomena are not exactly the same. For more
guidance on the latter, please refer to the game
Artemiev – Onischuk discussed within this
chapter.
Your score: Two points for playing 28...Qf8!!,
and one point for each refutation of the
mentioned alternatives you were aware of while
going for the text move.
2
Grzesik, G. (2208)
Fiedorek, M. (2317)
Sypniewo POL 2022
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 g6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4
Bg7 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.g3 Ne7 8.Bg2 0-0 9.0-0 d6
10.Qa4 Bd7 11.Qa5 Nf5 12.e3 Re8 13.b3
Dynamics
Stretching the defense - attacker’s perspective
What we have here is a fairly typical position
stemming from the English Opening.
Structurally speaking, White managed to obtain
the upper hand as Black’s doubled c-pawns
mean that his formation has been at least
slightly compromised. However, White has not
completed his development and must care for
the loose knight whose only defender is the
white queen that is awkwardly placed on a5. If
there is any dynamic potential lurking in the
position it must have something to do with
winning the knight. While Black does not have
an immediate way to take advantage of this
133
situation there may be a different way of
utilizing these elements.
13...Nh4!!
Position after: 13...Nh4!!
A most unexpected resource! Black seems to be
putting his knight completely en prise. What is
even more, at first glance it is hard to say what
is the logical relationship between such a
sacrifice and the potentially hanging knight on
c3. Let us simply see what happens next.
A) In the game, Fiedorek decided in favor of
13...h5?! with the slightly optimistic but logical
idea of exposing the white monarch along the h-
file. After the further 14.Bb2 h4 15.Na4 Bxb2
16.Nxb2 hxg3 17.hxg3 he should have probably
opted for the geometrically appealing
17...Nh6!?² with the intention of installing the
knight on g4 as well as the subsequent transfer
of the queen along the h-file all the way to h2.
Still, as White does not have to sit and wait for
this to happen Black may, objectively speaking,
be a little worse in the ensuing position.
B) Personally, while solving this exercise, I
wrestled with temptation to make 13...d5?!
work. The point of which is that after 14.cxd5
cxd5 the d5-pawn is taboo (15.Bxd5?? c6!–+).
Still, White could just continue playing calmly
with 15.Bd2 d4 16.exd4 Nxd4 17.Rae1² when
Black’s damaged queenside structure would
simply have to start telling in the long run.
C) To be completely fair, it has to be mentioned
that Black could have also achieved an
advantage by inverting the order of moves by
going for 13...Re5 14.Qa3 Nh4! The only caveat
I would have in this respect is that, in this version
of the line, White does not need to capture on
h4 at all costs and could continue with 15.Bh1
Bh3 16.Qa4!?
Position after: 16.Qa4!?
when after something like 16...Bxf1 17.Kxf1 Rf5
18.Bd2 Nf3 19.Bxf3 Rxf3 20.Qxc6 Rf5 21.Rd1³
he would have been materially worse, but still
enjoyed some practical chances for salvation.
The position is closed so the white knight is
going to be more useful than any of the black
rooks. Also, the usability of Black’s only minor
piece would have been limited in a structure in
which it cannot pressurize any of the opponent’s
pawns, or simply be traded off.
14.Bh1
14.gxh4? Re5! 15.Qa4 Rh5
Let us admire the true point behind Black’s
winning idea. Instead of trying to win the c3-
knight Black should have forced the opponent to
defend it while he goes after the weakened
position of the white king. What is even worse
for White is that his knight is pinned which
means that it cannot join the defense on the
kingside.
134
Position after: 15...Rh5
The game could continue 16.Bd2 Qxh4 17.Rfe1
Qxh2+ 18.Kf1 Rg5 19.Bxc6 Bg4! 20.Bxa8 Bh5–
+ with inevitable mate in five according to the
engines.
14...Bg4!
We do not care about the h4-knight or the c6-
pawn for that matter. All that counts right now
is establishing a powerful knight on f3.
Alternatively, Black could have opted for the
more positional solution of 14...Qf6 15.gxh4
Qxc3 16.Qxc3 Bxc3 17.Rb1 Rab8 18.Bb2 Bxb2
19.Rxb2 c5µ with ...a7-a5 and doubling up along
the b-file coming next. This could surely be
considered as a very safe solution yielding Black
excellent winning chances in the long run. Why
would we like to win the game in 20 – 30 moves
if we can achieve the same in 4 – 5 thanks to
more dynamic play and a tiny bit of additional
accurate calculation?
15.f4
The only move that demands accurate play from
Black.
15...d5!!

Position after: 15...d5!!
With this move, on one hand we prevent
Bh1xc6 ideas for good while gaining the option
of using the pawn as a battering ram (...d5-d4!).
I can imagine many grandmasters faltering at
this point for psychological reasons. It is
extremely hard to play a move like this when
your knight has been hanging for a couple of
moves on the other side of the board!
15...Nf5? would have thrown away the win in
view of 16.Bxc6 Nxe3 17.Bxe3 Rxe3 18.Nd5
Rd3 19.Rae1„ and all of a sudden it would only
White who would be creating nasty threats.
16.cxd5
16.gxh4 d4! 17.Nd1 Qd7!–+ and White is a full
piece up but at the same time completely
helpless. Apart from the further movement of
Black’s d-pawn he has ideas behind ...Bg4xd1
which White must watch out for as any
recapture on d1 would fail due to a double-
attack from g4 coming next.
16...Nf5! 17.Re1 Bd4! 18.Kf2 Qf6!–+
Position after: 18...Qf6!–+
135
and White could give up with a clear conscience
as he is unable to maintain his defenses on
multiple fronts.
As in other sports/games, overcoming the
opponent’s resistance often involves stretching
his defenses across the playing field/board. Even
a concentrated attack against a singular weak
spot may not be enough to bring the full point
home. Attacking two elements of the rival’s
position on two different parts of the arena
forces him to distribute his forces, accordingly,
often leading to problems with coordination. If
we add on top of this that both targets can be
attacked interchangeably, the fate of the
defender in such a case will prove to be far from
enviable. If you are interested in how to deal
with such attempts from the less privileged
defensive side, please refer to the game Vachier
– Lagrave – Duda analyzed a couple of pages
later in this book.
Your score: Give yourself two points for finding
13...Nh4!! as well as another two points for
understanding the tactical justification behind
this move. Additionally, a final point would be
earned by remaining precise till the very end
and therefore going for the direct 14...Bg4!
instead of the tedious 14...Qf6. For inverting the
move order by starting with 13...Re5 the best I
can do is two points in total.
3
Gvetadze, S. (2309)
Lomaia, D. (2068)
Tbilisi GEO 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nb5
d6 6.c4 a6 7.N5c3 Nf6 8.Be3 Be7 9.Be2 b6
10.0-0 Bb7 11.Qb3 Nd7 12.Rd1 0-0 13.f3 Qc7
14.Na3 Rac8 15.Rd2 Nce5 16.Rad1 Kh8 17.f4
Ng6 18.Qc2 Nf6 19.Kh1 Rfd8 20.Qb1 d5
21.exd5 exd5 22.Nxd5 Nxd5 23.cxd5 Nxf4
24.Bf3

Statics
Mixed approach to dynamic defense
This position has arisen out of the Taimanov
variation of the Sicilian Defense. White
responded with a plan based upon applying the
so-called Maroczy structure, which Black
managed to tackle with ...d6-d5 at a certain
point of the game. As a result, a white passed
pawn has appeared on the board. Black needs to
take it seriously as d5-d6 ideas are already
starting to hang in the air. What is even worse,
any attempts to improve coordination would
require her to pay double as much attention to
the b6-pawn and f4-knight which both look
fragile and thus are likely to be attacked by the
opponent’s pieces. The issue is now solving all of
these problems in one move.
24...Qe5!
When there are two problems, there is usually
one solution! By playing like this Black seems to
be forgetting that her b6-pawn is en prise. What
is even more, the queen on e5 looks a tad
exposed with moves like Rd1-e1 already looking
sufficiently unpleasant. In reality however, this
was the only way for Black to maintain the
balance in this situation. There are simply times
when static means are not enough to keep the
position together. Black was either getting in
trouble with her knight on f4, dropping the b6-
pawn or forced to face the music after d5-d6.
Under such circumstances we should typically
resort to more dynamic means, which in this
case implied defending against some of the
136
threats ‘mechanically’, and against others in a
more tactical manner.
A) The game witnessed the logical, albeit flawed
24...Bd6?, and now White could have obtained
a close to decisive advantage after 25.Rd4! Ng6
26.Nc4 Bc5 27.d6! Qb8 28.Bxb7 Qxb7 29.Rd5±.
Position after: 29.Rd5±
The farther the pawn goes, the worse for the
defender. Here White’s passer has already
reached d6, forcing the opponent to block it
unfavorably with the rook instead of the knight.
While Black struggles trying to contain the pawn,
White is going to be slowly turning his attention
to the kingside in search of attacking
possibilities.
B) A reasonable yet not fully sufficient
alternative would have been 24...Re8
anticipating the fact that the movement of the
white d5-pawn would have cost White his dark-
squared bishop at the end of the day. Still, after
something like 25.Rc2 Qb8 26.Rxc8 Rxc8
27.Qf5 Ng6 28.Qxf7 Bxa3 29.bxa3 Ne5 30.Qh5
Nxf3 31.Qxf3² White would again be playing
exclusively for two results as Black finds it
difficult to arrange a blockade on d6 due to a
possible infiltration of the white queen
via f7.
25.Bxb6
Other alternatives were interesting as well, but
taking material outright is usually the most
principled continuation. Still, this gives Black the
chance to demonstrate an excellent
counterattacking idea.
A) 25.Re1 looks very dangerous at first. White
seems to be threatening a discovery and skewer
along the e-file combined with a double-attack
with the bishop from b6 or f4. However, after
the ultra-cool retreat 25...Qd6! it turns out that
26.Bxf4 Qxf4
the arising endgame cannot be won by any of
the players. White’s minor pieces admittedly
enjoy solid outposts, but the black rook is simply
too active. Also, any attempts to snatch Black’s
b6-pawn would inevitably result in the white
counterpart on b2 falling as well.
25...Rxd5! 26.Bxd5 Bxd5

Position after: 26...Bxd5

Position after: 26...Qxf4
All of a sudden the tide goes out and it is White
who is swimming naked. Black may be down the
makes the white d2-rook hang in the meantime,
exchange but at the same time he exerts
effectively forcing White to head straight for a
immense pressure against White’s g2-pawn.
draw by perpetual check after 27.d6 Bxd6
Capturing twice on g2 gives rise to plenty of
28.Rxd6 Bxf3 29.Rxd8+ Rxd8 30.gxf3 Qxf3+
chances to force out a draw by means of a
31.Kg1 Qg4+=.
perpetual check, but why should Black go for
this right away if she could first test the
B) 25.Qe4 Qxe4 26.Bxe4 would have been a
opponent a little bit more by throwing even
great try for White as going into an endgame
more pieces (...Qg5 for sure) at the enemy king?
with a guarantee of being material up sounds
like a decent idea. Then again, here Black could
27.Rc1
resort to the rather unexpected 26...Bb4! when
after the further 27.Bxf4 Bxd2 28.Bxd2 Bxd5
The only other feasible approach for White here
29.Bg5 f6 30.Rxd5 Rxd5 31.Bxd5 fxg5 32.h3
would be to give back the exchange by taking on
Rc1+ 33.Kh2 Rd1=
d5. This would have left Black on the better side
of equality as his pieces would have remained
substantially more active than their White
counterparts. The white queen and knight
stranded on the edge of the board make a
particularly bad impression.

27...Rxc1+ 28.Qxc1 h5!

Position after: 33...Rd1=

137

Position after: 28...h5!
He who is in control is usually in no hurry.
Despite being an exchange down, Black creates
an air hole for his king, but most importantly
threatens to use his h-pawn for attacking
purposes. If I were White here, I would have
definitely started looking for ways to exchange
as many pieces as possible, trying to convince
Black to steer the game towards peaceful waters
e.g.,
29.Bc7 Qe4 30.Bxf4 Qxf4 31.Rc2 Qh4 32.Nb1
Bd6 33.Qg1 Bxh2 34.Qxh2 Qe1+ 35.Qg1
Qh4+=
with a draw by threefold repetition.
Your score: Two points are due for
understanding that Black has nothing better
than 24...Qe5!. An additional point will be
awarded for the proper reply to each of the
discussed White alternatives as of the 25th
move.
4 all about any of the opponent’s threats. Maybe
Vachier Lagrave, M. (2749)
Duda, J. (2738)
Zagreb CRO 2021
1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Bg4 4.h3 Bxf3 5.Qxf3
e6 6.Be2 Nd7 7.d4 dxe4 8.Nxe4 Ngf6 9.Ng3 g6
10.0-0 Bg7 11.Rd1 0-0 12.a4 a5 13.c3 Qc7
14.h4 h5 15.Bc4 e5 16.Bg5 Rae8 17.d5 e4
18.Qe2 cxd5 19.Bxd5 Nb6 20.Bxf6 Bxf6
21.Nxe4 Bxh4 22.Bb3 Bxf2+ 23.Kh1 Bh4
24.Qf3 Kg7 25.Nd6 Re7 26.Qf4 Bf6 27.Rf1
138
Be5 28.Nf5+ gxf5 29.Qg5+ Kh7 30.Qxh5+ Kg8
31.Rxf5 Bg7 32.Raf1 Nc4 33.Bc2
Dynamics
Stretching the defense – the defender’s
perspective
After a misplayed middlegame, White found
himself in need of going berserk in order to
avoid losing in a more straightforward manner.
For this purpose, somewhere along the way he
decided to sacrifice a whole knight and now
seems to have a strong position. His opponent
naturally enjoys a solid material advantage, but
what use is a knight if the dreadful Rf5-c5 is
about to come with White regaining what he
had or even landing mate on h7 soon thereafter?
How to defend when the opponent has created
two threats on opposite sides of the board, and
you are unable to parry them both at once?
33...Rfe8!!
A most unexpected move! At first glance, by
playing like this Black does not seem to care at
mate on h7 after the anticipated discovery is
less probable but putting the rook on g5 would
again be making the Qh5-h7 threat extremely
dangerous.

Position after: 33...Rfe8!!
Additionally, let us not forget that this way Black
would also be weakening the vulnerable f7-spot
at times. Interestingly enough the play is going
to escalate so quickly afterwards that White will
not even have the time to consider pressurizing
f7.
A) Instead of the text move, Duda went for
immediate counterplay with 33...Ne3? only to
land in a close to losing position after the further
34.Rc5 Nxc2 35.Rxc7 Rxc7 36.Qe2 when the
knight is trapped. Here, Black played 36...Nb4,
but White converted his advantage in a rather
confident manner by first helping himself to the
knight and afterwards transposing cleverly into
a winning rook endgame. In lieu, Black could
have tried out one last trick in form of 36...Na3!?
when it turns out that the position arising after
the capture right now might not be winning for
White at all as it would have been quite difficult
to promote any of those doubled pawns in the
long haul. However, make no mistake that
White could postpone the consumption of the
knight by one more move with 37.Rf4!
Position after: 37.Rf4!
139
as after the further 37...Rfc8 38.bxa3 Rxc3
39.Qh5 R3c7 40.Qd5!+– the tempo that he
would have gained by improving the rook from
f1 would have probably been instrumental in
obtaining full control over the position. In the
final position, White could interchangeably
harass Black’s queenside pawn and attack his
king with both heavy pieces and then come back
to the other flank trying to generate a passed
pawn. All of this until his opponent finally cracks
under pressure.
B) 33...Rc8? looked great for a second there.
What could be better than preventing Rf5-c5
and mating ideas on h7 at the same time? Still,
White has the simple 34.Rg5 when in order to
avoid the mating sacrifice on g7, Black would
have to give up his queen with 34...Qe5
transposing into another version of a losing
position after something like 35.Rxe5 Nxe5
36.Qg5 Kf8 37.Rd1+– when Black’s cause
would be slowly becoming indefensible in view
of White’s pressure about to increase even
more once Bc2-b3 and an infiltration of the d-
file by the white rook finally happen.
34.Rc5
34.Rg5 Re4!
Position after: 34...Re4!
One lovely point behind Black’s mysterious 34th
move is that with the b1-h7 diagonal being
physically blocked by the body of the black rook,
the best White could get after giving up the rook
on g7 with 35.Rxg7+ Kxg7 36.Qg5+ Kh8
37.Qh6+ Kg8= would be a draw by perpetual
check.
34...Re1!
So that was what the inclusion of the other rook
into play along the e-file was all about!
Position after: 34...Re1!
It turns out that Black did not need to care about
the double-attack from c5 at all as his
counterattack along the first rank will force the
white monarch to go to h2 where it is exposed
to the ...Bg7-e5+ idea. In conjunction with the
idea of blocking the scope of White’s light-
squared bishop with ...Re7-e4, we arrive at a
conclusion that sometimes defending will have
very little to do with ‘mechanical’ prevention of
the opponent’s threats but will rather involve
creating a set of circumstances in which the
consequences of those threats are neutralized.
This approach is particularly useful in cases in
which multiple threats are taking place on
opposite parts of the board. The reason for this
being that then the defender is usually unable to,
on one hand, defend everything ‘mechanically’,
and on the other, to achieve this in time for all
weaknesses. An alternative approach would be
to mechanically defend the weakness that we
cannot possibly afford to drop while other less
important ones are guarded tactically. This was
the method that we were able to observe during
the analysis of the game between Gvetadze and
Lomaia.
140
To be fair, 34...Qxc5!? 35.Qxc5 Ne3 would have
led to equality according to the engines as well,
albeit a more complicated and less practical one
as after something like 36.Rf2 Ng4! 37.Bh7+!
Kh8! 38.Bd3 Nxf2+ 39.Qxf2 Kg8= Black would
still need to be careful in order to keep an eye
on the f7-pawn as well as his remaining ones on
the other side of the board. In similar positions,
having rooks against a naturally mobile queen of
the opponent would only be exacerbating the
pain.
35.Rxc7 Rxf1+ 36.Kh2 Be5+ 37.g3 Bxc7
and now White wins back some material with
38.Qg4+ Kf8 39.Qxc4
but so does Black after
Position after: 39.Qxc4
39...Rf2+ 40.Kh3 Rxc2 41.Qxc7 Rxb2 42.Qxa5
b6=
with this whole material grabbing spree ending
up in a completely equal position. White is
unable to create and then effectively make use
of a possible passed pawn on the queenside but
still has enough fuel left in his tank to arrange
suitable conditions for some perpetual check.
Your score: Discovering 33...Rfe8!! alone wins
three points for yourself, with each of the
correct responses to 34.Rc5 and 34.Rg5
respectively being worth an additional point.
Going for 33...Ne3? is worthless, but as a
generous author I am willing to take the hit and
offer you two points for that, obviously under
the only stipulation that you wanted to make
36...Na3!? work.
5
Smirin, I. (2616)
Shevchenko, K. (2633)
Olympiad Online INT 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3
Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Bd7 9.f3 Nxd4
10.Qxd4 Be7 11.Kb1 b5 12.h4 Qc7 13.h5 h6
14.Be3 Rb8 15.Qd2 b4 16.Ne2 a5 17.g4 Bb5
18.Nd4 Bxf1 19.Rhxf1 a4
Statics
Dynamics at the service of statics
This position has arisen out of a topical line of
the Rauzer variation. White has been making
good progress with his structure on the kingside
while Black has not been goofing around in this
respect on the opposite wing. The real deal is
the center, in particular it is Black who must
have already been contemplating the
thematic ...d6-d5 pawn lever. Even if it does not
immediately lead to dramatic consequences for
White (White could always try to respond to it
with the crafty e4-e5!), we would rather this did
not happen at all. Then again, is there a way for
us to prevent it from happening?
20.c4!
An impressively cheeky move! White defies the
rules of physics (and chess at the same time), by
141
apparently giving up his c4-pawn for free, but
also doing it in a straight up suicidal manner
when you consider that en passant (...b4xc3) is
on the agenda.
Position after: 20.c4!
Assuming that such an automatic reply would
have been barred by some tactical
repercussions, Black would have to continue
playing this position without the ...d6-d5
possibility which would place him at a serious
static disadvantage.
A) By comparison, 20.Qd3 with the idea of
promoting c2-c4 ‘mechanically’, or maybe
rather pursuing the Nd4-b5 idea, would have
not been half as effective due to the simple
20...Qb7„ thus merely postponing Black’s
breakthrough in the center by just one tempo.
In such a situation, White would probably be
forced to switch to a plan involving f3-f4
followed by e4-e5 or g4-g5, but this would have
been rather difficult to achieve as the white
kingside structure could just as well become
very fragile during the whole process.
B) Another idea involved playing 20.Rg1 in order
to discourage Black from castling in the near
future. Yet after something like 20...a3 21.b3 d5
22.e5! Nd7 23.Bf4 Rc8„ Black would have been
absolutely fine even with his king stuck in the
center. There are several reasons for this. First,
White is temporarily unable to conduct the g4-
g5 push without dropping his central e5-pawn.
Secondly, switching to f3-f4-f5-related plans
instead would have badly weakened the e4-
square, therefore allowing the black knight to
invade it. Finally, the vulnerable b2 and c3-
squares around White’s king are like an anchor
attached to his leg, frequently preventing him
from going for a full-blown attack.
20...bxc3
The pawn simply needs to be eliminated one
way or another, otherwise Nd4-b5 would have
brought the day of reckoning upon Black soon
enough.
A) 20...Qxc4? would have been highly
cooperative from Black’s side as after 21.Rc1
Qa6 22.Nc6 Rb7 23.Rfd1 0-0 24.Nxe7+ Rxe7
25.Qxd6 Qxd6 26.Rxd6+– the arising endgame
should be a win for White with even average
technique. Black’s queenside pawns are going to
get targeted here. What makes things even
worse for him is that every single white piece is
more active than their black counterpart, with
the superiority of the bishop against the knight
about to unfold.
B) 20...0-0? would have been ill-timed as White
could simply turn his full attention to the
kingside: 21.g5 Nxh5 22.gxh6 g6 when after the
most accurate 23.h7+!
Position after: 23.h7+!
23...Kxh7 24.Qd3! Rbc8 25.Rc1+– there is not
much Black can do about White bringing his
rooks to the kingside while simultaneously
trying to make f3-f4-f5 or even Nd4-f5 ideas
work. The black monarch will sooner or later
142
need to start running. Where he can run to is a
real problem as the center is not a safe haven.
21.Rc1!
The impossible has happened, White managed
to survive ...b4xc3 and live to tell the tale. Black
would like to capture on b2, but this would cost
him a whole rook. Helping himself to the queen
on d2 instead would not be winning material,
but just giving up the c-file for free at the end of
the day. Sample lines confirm that White
remains slightly better everywhere.
Position after: 21.Rc1!
21...Nd7
21...cxd2?! leads all the way after 22.Rxc7 a3
23.b3 Bd8 24.Rc4 d5 25.exd5 Nxd5 26.Bxd2± to
a cheerless endgame in which White would be
playing for two results. Black’s a3-pawn is
weaker than it is strong and the proximity of the
white king to it is a circumstance that cannot be
underestimated. Finally, White will find it much
easier to create a passed pawn on the queenside
than Black in the center.
22.Qxc3 Qxc3
22...Nc5 would have been an attempt to keep
queens on the board in order to pressurize the
white king. But after the powerful 23.e5! dxe5
24.Nxe6 fxe6 25.Bxc5 Rb5 26.Bb4 Qxc3
27.Bxc3² White would certainly be better in this
endgame thanks to his superior structure.
23.Rxc3 Ne5 24.Rg1!?
Position after: 24.Rg1!?
Necessary if White wants to go for f3-f4. After
the further
24...Bf6 25.f4 Nf3 26.Rd1 0-0 27.e5! Nxd4
28.Bxd4 dxe5 29.fxe5 Bg5 30.Rc4 Ra8 31.Bc3²
Position after: 31.Bc3²
a tough defensive task would have awaited
Black. His a4-pawn is already in danger, whereas
his ability to generate counterplay depends on
the ...f7-f5 move yet this creates another
weakness on e6. One might obviously speculate
whether this would be enough to bring the full
point home. In any case it is White who is much
more comfortable here as he is the one who
enjoys a risk-free game in this situation.
All this means that 20.c4! was a static solution
with a nice, dynamic twist. By playing like this,
White would have obtained static dominance
over the center provided that Black refrains
from capturing the pawn in fear of tactical
consequences. It is no coincidence that strategy
143
and tactics are frequently intertwined like this.
Those are not two completely distinct and
independent devices; they are more correlated
with each other than one might believe. This is
also why deep strategic concepts always have a
more concrete tactical justification some moves
ahead, while tactical opportunities regularly
stem from the exemplary placement and
coordination of ones forces. For a mirror like
example on this topic, please move on to the
game Dubov – Radjabov commented on in the
latter part of this chapter.
Your score: I give you three points alone for
discovering 20.c4! and sticking to it despite its
eerie appearance. Two more points shall be
rewarded for grasping the tactical motifs that
hold this idea together.
6
Suleymanli, A. (2474)
Indjic, A. (2622)
Moscow RUS 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6
6.Bd3 Bg6 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.b3 Bb4 9.Bb2 0-0
10.Ne2 Qe7 11.Nf4 Bxd3 12.Nxd3 Ba3 13.Qc1
Bxb2 14.Qxb2 Rfc8 15.c5 a5 16.a3 Ne8 17.Rfc1
Nc7 18.Nd2 Re8 19.e4 Nb5 20.e5 Qg5 21.Re1
Reb8 22.Re3 b6 23.Rc1 Qe7 24.Rg3 Rb7 25.a4
Nc7 26.cxb6 Rxb6 27.Qc3 Qf8 28.Nf4 g6
29.Qe3 Ne8 30.Rh3 Ng7 31.g4
Dynamics
Dynamic defense – preemptive strike against
the attacker
Black initially equalized rather effortlessly out of
the opening only to start getting gradually
outplayed over the course of the game. White
has just played 31.g4, trying to contain Black’s
g7-knight, while simultaneously signaling the
further direction of his play. One thing that Black
surely does not want to see happening in this
position is the intended arrival of the white
queen to h6, but is there anything he can do
about it?
31...h5!
Position after: 31...h5!
A most surprising idea. Instead of patiently
defending, by covering the h6-square, Black
voluntarily tears the pawn shield in front of his
own king to shreds. This is by no means a suicide
attempt. By deflecting the g4-pawn, Black would
have managed to activate his constricted g7-
knight by sending it immediately into action via
f5. Now White will never have the option of
doubling up heavy pieces along the h-file. Last
but not least, as we shall see, Black does not
have to allow the position of his king to sustain
any more damage as he can always make use of
the tension between the h5- and g6-pawns in an
instrumental fashion.
A) In the game Indjic decided it was high time to
cut the Gordian Knot and went for 31...f5? The
problem with this move is that it does not solve
any of Black’s problems but actually creates an
additional one as after something like 32.exf6
Qxf6 33.Nd3+– on top of all the issues Black
already had to deal with, the backward e6-pawn
144
as well as the weak e5-square in front of it would
have been added to the problem list.
This is actually a common mistake on the highest
level which I personally refer to as ‘toxic activity’.
Grandmasters are perfectly aware of the fact
that sitting tight and waiting for salvation in a
passive position is rarely a good idea. Instead,
they are constantly on the lookout for
possibilities to generate counterplay. In doing so
however, instead of patiently waiting for the
real deal and simply improving their position in
the meantime, they reach for the first spark of
activity they can get their hands on sometimes
ending up creating even more weaknesses on
their side thereby heading even faster than
before towards the positional abyss. Seeking
counterplay in chess resembles dating in your
early 20’s. While actively seek opportunities do
not throw yourself completely at the very first
one that catches your eye.
B) 31...Ne8? would have not been much better
either as after something like 32.Nd3 Rab8
33.Nc5 Nxc5 34.Rxc5+– White would have
retained all of his positional pluses on the
kingside and would have even been ready to
start harassing the opponent on the opposite
flank as well. In particular, it is not immediately
clear to me how Black is supposed to defend the
a5 and c6-pawns effectively if he needs to keep
his queen on f8 for the time being in order to
continue preventing Qe3-h6 ideas.
32.gxh5
White needs to pick up the gauntlet in this case
otherwise Black gets enough time to start
pressurizing the opponent’s center.
A) 32.Qg3 hxg4 33.Qxg4 Nf5 34.Kh1 Qg7
35.Rg1 Rb4„ may not be necessarily worse for
White, but with his center beginning to hang so
badly I would be slowly losing trust in his
prospects for victory.
B) 32.f3 was the approach applied (in a slightly
different position) by Suleymanli in the game,
but this move also grants Black counterplay
after the exemplary 32...Qa3! 33.Rf1 c5 34.gxh5
cxd4 35.Qd3 Nxe5 36.Qxd4 Qd6 37.hxg6 Nf5„
when Black’s position is certainly no walk in the
park, but White’s situation has been
destabilized as well. His center is gone already,
and so is his coordination on the kingside and
without coordination hardly any attack can ever
end successfully.
32...Nf5 33.Qf3!?
As an old Polish proverb goes, ‘do not feel sorry
for the roses when the woods are burning’. In
the long haul, White’s center should be
collapsing no matter what so throwing
everything he has got towards the kingside with
the intention of mating the black king would
have probably been his best shot after all.
33.Qc3 g5! 34.Ne2 c5!„
Position after: 34...c5!„
is a perfect manifestation of Black’s strategy
commenced as of the 31st move. Some players
would have classified it as the signal for
counterplay but to me it is more of a preemptive
strike as it takes place geographically in the very
heart of White’s area of focus. As a result of the
pawn-sacrifice on h5 White’s pieces have been
pushed back from the kingside. What is even
worse, as the d3-square is unavailable for White
(...g5-g4 would then net an exchange for Black),
the thematic ...c6-c5 suddenly becomes very
145
possible. Finally, taking on c5 now would only be
exacerbating the collapse of White’s center as
well as giving Black a valuable tempo to proceed
and soon conquer the c-file. Maybe White can
still maintain the balance here but his play
would have definitely become much more
difficult from a practical point of view.
33...Nxd4 34.Qg2 g5!
Even here Black should ensure the h-file remains
closed. The white h5-pawn is being used here as
a so-called ‘human shield’ as the black monarch
shall always feel more or less secure on h8. The
following sample line confirms that although the
position remains very tense, Black no longer has
nothing to fear.
Position after: 34...g5!
35.Rg3 Rb4!
The g5-pawn was dead already so why even
bother defending it?
36.Rxg5+ Kh8 37.Kh1 Nf5 38.Nd3 Rd4
Unexpectedly, White is starting to experience
some difficulties with his undefended knights on
the d-file. Now, after the apparently logical
39.Rc3
Black could go for the enterprising sacrifice
39...Rxd3! 40.Rxd3 Nxe5 41.Rh3 Qb4ƒ
 Position after: 41...Qb4ƒ
After which the position remains roughly
balanced according to the engines, but it is
certainly tougher for White to handle in practice.
The reason for this is that White’s rooks find it
impossible to infiltrate Black’s position
effectively. What is more, the white king is not
entirely safe with the black queen and knights
maneuvering in the neighborhood. Finally, the
quality of our structure also means something as
White must constantly remember that those
central pawns of ours can eventually start
moving.
Your score: I give you three points for deciding
upon 31...h5! with counterattacking motifs. You
also receive an additional point for spotting
each of the ...g6-g5 and ...c6-c5 ideas on suitable
occasions.
7 with?
Bocharov, D. (2530)
Yuffa, D. (2595)
Sochi RUS 2019
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6
6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5 8.e4 Re8 9.h3 exd4
10.Nxd4 Nc5 11.Re1 Bd7 12.Bf4 h6 13.Kh2 g5
14.Bc1 a5 15.f3 c6 16.Be3 a4 17.Rb1 Nh5
18.Qd2 Qe7 19.Rbd1 Rad8 20.Bf2 Be5
21.Nce2 Qf6 22.Be3 Qg7 23.b4 axb3 24.axb3
b5 25.cxb5 cxb5 26.b4 Na4 27.f4 Bf6 28.Bf3 g4
29.hxg4 Bxg4 30.Bxg4 Qxg4 31.Nf5 Bg7
32.Ned4 Rxe4 33.Bf2 Rde8 34.Nxd6 Nxf4
35.gxf4 R8e5!?
146
Statics
Quasi fortress as an extreme example of statics
in chess
In this game Yuffa played 35...Qh5+ and after
some complications, Bocharov eventually
managed to hold on to the draw. While
analyzing this position with one of my students
we started looking for alternatives, soon
producing the idea to instead tactically shift the
rook along the fifth rank by means of 35...R8e5!?
in order to land a corridor mate to the white king.
The rook is obviously taboo as one thing White
does not want to see happening is the inclusion
of Black’s dark-squared bishop into play with a
check. This is also why White’s options are
practically reduced to preventing the
aforementioned rook-lift or making sure that
there is no mate once the heavy piece arrives on
h5. But which move specifically saves White
here and what defensive idea is it connected
36.N4f5!
The only way to save the game for White. The
fifth rank is covered for good and sometimes
White could even count on counterplay thanks
to a possible skewer along the g-file after Re1-
g1. But what happens if Black decides to invade
the second rank with his rooks?
A) 36.Bg3?! would have provided White’s
monarch with enough safety against any attacks
but at the same time also gotten his queen into
trouble after 36...Rxd4! when the d4-rook is
taboo due to a discovered check on h5. The best
he could do at this point in time would be to
limit the damage with 37.fxe5 Rxd2+ 38.Rxd2
but after the further 38...Qxb4 39.Rg2 Nc5
40.Rf1 Ne6! 41.Nxf7 Kh7 42.Nd6 Qg4µ
40.Rd2 Nd5!–+ (or the equally illuminating
40...Ne4!) making all the difference. The knight
is taboo in view of ...Qg4-h5+ with a double-
attack but leaving it alone would have carried
even worse consequences for the white king.

C) Finally, 36.f5? is tantamount to capitulation

because of 36...Qh5+ 37.Kg2 Rg4+ 38.Bg3
Rxd4! 39.Qc2 Rg4!–+ with White unable to
create any real counterattacking chances before
the black forces get their hands on the white
king.

36...Re2 37.Rxe2 Rxe2 38.Qxe2 Qxe2

Position after: 42...Qg4µ
All this has been forced so far. Reaching this
White’s chances of survival would have looked position in one’s calculations should not have
gloomy. Once the black knight reaches g5 it will been too much of an arduous task but the
constitute a fantastic attacking duo against the difficulty in solving this puzzle lies in the ability
rather artificially defended white king. What is to comprehend that after the further
even worse, White is not really in a position to
focus on this defensive task completely as his
opponent can always start pushing his b5-passer
or at the very least using it as a decoy for the
rooks.

B) For a second there I thought that 36.N6f5?

would be a better version of the text move. The
reason for this being that leaving a knight on d4
might be helping White prevent ...Re4-e2. As it
Position after: 38...Qxe2
turns out Black still obtains a winning position
after 36...Rxd4! 37.Qxd4 Rxf5 38.Qd8+ Kh7
39.Rg1! Qxf2+ 40.Rg2 Qxf4+ 41.Kg1
39.Bg3 with the non-obvious inclusion of the
hitherto dormant knight into play via 39...Nc3!

Position after: 41.Kg1

Position after: 39...Nc3!
White may in fact be six (!) pawns down, but still
pretty much safe and sound. The reason for this

147
is that he is threatening to capture on g7 with
his rook which might even lead to mate if
ignored. Black has multiple methods of
defending the bishop but all of them seem to
lead to an ultimately drawn endgame. In the
absence of any smart ways of disturbing White’s
coordination, Black can either give a perpetual
check or go for one of the sample lines analyzed
below.
Just for the record 41.Kh1?! does not lose but
just happens to be inaccurate from a practical
point of view as after 41...Qf3 42.Kg1 Qxg2+
43.Kxg2 Nc3 in order to make a draw White
would have had to go after the black b5-pawn
right away with 44.Ne7+! Kf8 45.Nc6 Bf6
46.Na7 when after the further 46...Na2
47.Naxb5 Nxb4 48.Nf5 Bg5 49.Nbd6= the
engines claim that Black is unable to make any
progress provided that the white king takes an
active part in putting the black pawns to a halt
as early as possible. A pure knight endgame here
could be often times lost, but there is nothing
wrong with trading off a pair of knights
especially the second white horsy which would
be sacrificed for the f7-pawn directly thereafter.
Still, I would not like to be White here especially
if it were the last round of a team competition
and the distribution of medals would depend on
me holding this position or not.
41...Qg5
41...Qe5 42.Rxg7+ Qxg7+ 43.Nxg7 Kxg7
44.Nxb5 f5 45.Nd4 Kf6 46.b5= should be easily
defendable for White as the black knight is
unable to support the disconnected pawns on
the kingside without letting the white passer go.
42.Rxg5 hxg5 43.Nxb5 Bf8 44.Nbd6 Bxd6
45.Nxd6
Despite the fact that Black managed to sacrifice
material back in a rather convenient way
(reconnecting the kingside pawns and getting
148
rid of the useless dark-squared bishop) the
position arising after something like
45...Kg7 46.b5 Kg6 47.Kf2 f5 48.Kg3=
is still a draw. I particularly like the placement of
White’s knight on d6 which, on one hand, can
support the movement of the white b5-pawn,
and on the other is constantly very close to the
black kingside structure.
Although I typically use similar exercises for
calculation training purposes with my more
advanced students, I decided to include this one
in the book on statics and dynamics because of
the level of understanding that was required to
solve it. In the key position after White’s 41st
move, we are not talking about a fortress, but
rather something that I personally call a ‘quasi
fortress’ that is a static phenomenon in which
perfect coordination of one’s forces prevents
the opponent from capitalizing on his at times
even overwhelming material advantage.
Studying typical fortresses from chess books
would have probably not helped White produce
such a solution during the game, as it was more
about making sure that he emerges out of the
chaos of the middlegame not only with all of his
pieces defending each other but also working
together for other active goals. Also, fortresses
in general require very little calculation skills
while White’s approach demonstrated in the
solution would have forced him to calculate all
possible ways of Black trying to cope with the
opponent’s defensive concept.
Your score: It is all or nothing here. Five whole
points for figuring out the consequences of
36.N4f5! all the way to the end and not giving
up mentally along the way despite (at times)
being six pawns down.
8
Dubov, D. (2702)
Radjabov, T. (2765)
Airthings Masters INT 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 Be7 5.g4 0-0
6.g5 Ne4 7.Bg2 c5 8.dxc5 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Bxc5
10.h4 Nc6 11.h5 dxc4 12.Qc2 e5 13.Rb1 Bb6
14.Nh4 f5 15.gxf6 Qxf6 16.e3 Be6 17.Be4 Qh6
18.Ba3 Rf7 19.Qe2 Rd8 20.Rg1 Qf6 21.Nf3
Bd5 22.Bxd5 Rxd5 23.Ng5
Dynamics
Statics at the service of dynamics
Black is a pawn up in this position but does seem
to have a couple of tactical worries. His f7-rook
is under attack, the same goes for the c4-pawn.
What is even more a possible capture of the
aforementioned pawn might lead to the
creation of a nasty pin along the b3-g8 diagonal.
Returning with the rook to f8 is a no-no nor does
moving it over to d7 solve any of his problems.
What should he do then in order to maximize his
winning chances?
23...e4!
A brilliant resource! Black does not seem to care
about losing the exchange on f7. Instead,
putting emphasis on the inclusion of the
somewhat idle knight on c6 was the way to go.
Once it reaches the e5-square it is going to
become a menace as its landing on d3 or f3
would have left the white forces virtually
paralyzed and unfit for future combat.
A) In the game Black opted for the
counterattacking 23...Qf5?! smartly putting
pressure on White’s b1-rook. In a situation like
this, forking the black pieces with e3-e4 looks
nasty but this would have resulted in an instant
149
blow on f2. This is also why White should have
tried the anticipatory 24.Rxb6! enabling White
to effectively fork his opponent from anew. The
position would have still remained ultra-
complex and balanced with the following line
representing a manifestation of the players’
best options along the way 24...Rfd7! Switching
to ...Rd5-d1+ threats instead. 25.Rb2 over
defending the f2-pawn in anticipation of the
white king being deflected away from it. 25...h6
26.e4 Rd1+ 27.Qxd1 Rxd1+ 28.Kxd1 Qf6
29.Ne6!
Position after: 29.Ne6!
The knight was lost anyway so White should
optimally surrender it in a manner that at least
passivizes the black queen in case of its capture.
29...Qxe6 30.Rxb7 g5! Whatever happens, the
white rooks cannot be allowed to infiltrate the
seventh rank at the same time. Now after the
further 31.hxg6 Qh3!= Black should be able to
force a draw by perpetual check before White
manages to promote his g6-pawn.
B) When it comes down to generating
counterplay for a second there I really liked the
recommendation of one of my students in the
form of 23...Ba5? with the idea that after
24.Nxf7 Bxc3+ 25.Kf1 Rd2 White would
probably need to give up his queen in a move or
two as the e1-square would have been no place
for a lady. Imagine our surprise and disbelief
however upon discovering that White could still
pull off a shocker here in the form of 26.Nh6+!
Kh8 27.Be7!!

Position after: 27.Be7!!
which would have led straight to a winning
position for White. The fine point behind
White’s lovely sequence is that helping himself
to the bishop either lets go of the f2-pawn (in
case of a queen capture), allowing the white
queen to escape, or allows White to start
creating mating threats of his own along the
back rank after 27...Nxe7 28.Rxb7 when Black
clearly has no time to feast on the white queen.
The following sample line confirms the viability
of White’s position: 28...Rd8 29.Ng4 Qh4
30.Qf3 e4 31.Qg3 Nf5 32.Qxh4 Nxh4 and now
after the technically impeccable 33.f4! exf3
34.Kf2+– White would be getting much closer
to a successful conversion of his advantage
thanks to the fact that his king no longer fears
any threats of entanglement in the center.
24.Nxf7
24.Nxe4? wins back the pawn but loses the
game after the more or less forced 24...Qf5
25.Qg4 Qxg4 26.Rxg4 Ne5 27.Rg2 Nd3+
28.Ke2 Ra5!–+ with White getting hit decisively
from the least expected of angles.
24...Qxf7
But not the greedy 24...Qxc3+? 25.Kf1 Kxf7 as
after the accurate 26.Bb2 Qd3 27.Rc1! Rxh5
28.Rd1! Qxe2+ 29.Kxe2 Nb4 30.Rxg7+ Ke6
31.Rg4± it would be Black facing a tough
defensive task in the endgame. One thing that I
have noticed over the course of my playing
career is that if you already decide upon a
150
positional idea featuring a long-term sacrifice,
changing your intentions halfway in order to
capture material instead does not usually bring
anything good with it.
25.Rd1 Ne5 26.Rxd5 Qxd5
Position after: 26...Qxd5
The position has clarified. Materially speaking,
White is doing OK. From the positional
perspective his situation is a mess though. The
king can never feel safe when the queen and
knight duo is around. Additionally, White’s
heavy pieces are immobilized and therefore
unable to reach enemy lines. His only active
piece seems to be the bishop but even this one
is simply shooting into empty space. Thanks to
tactical means (an exchange sacrifice) Black now
obtains strategic domination (depriving the
opponent of active opportunities). All this
should bring us to the conclusion that 23...e4!
was ultimately a dynamic solution resulting in
the emergence of a statically winning position.
The following line demonstrates on one hand
that Black can take his time to outplay his
opponent and on the other hand that he has
various ways of doing so at his disposal.
27.h6 g6 28.Kf1 Nf3 29.Rh1 Bc7 30.Kg2 Kf7
31.Qd1 Qc6 32.Qb1
 Position after: 32.Qb1
and now after
32...a5!µ
Black prepares to create a passed pawn on the
queenside. In the long haul, the passer will serve
as a decoy for the purpose of deflecting the
attention of the white forces from the necessity
to defend their king. White was already barely
hanging on in this respect but the appearance of
additional sources of worries on the queenside
will yield his defensive task impossible at the
end of the day.
Your score: Three points is what I can give you
for the confident implementation of 23...e4!.
Another two points would be owed for the
correct evaluation of the arising endgame
together with the application of the ‘do not rush’
rule by Black. In case you happened to prefer
something else to the text move I feel obliged to
let you win back some lost points with the
consequences of 23...Qf5?! and 23...Ba5? being
therefore worth two points each.
9 understanding, were probably spinning in their
Predke, A. (2676)
Demchenko, A. (2632)
Sochi RUS 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nbd2 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Bd3
0-0 6.0-0 c5 7.c3 cxd4 8.cxd4 e5 9.d5 a5 10.Nb1
Nbd7 11.Nc3 Nc5 12.Be3 Bg4
151
Statics
Methods of impairing the opponent’s pieces
Here we have a fairly typical position from the
King’s Indian Defense. White enjoys a relatively
solid central structure and in general more
space, whereas Black tries to respond to the
opponent’s ambition in this regard by means of
active piece play. In this context it is already
worth mentioning that Black is threatening to
capture on f3 thereby damaging White’s
structure. Such a turn of events would have
resulted not only in a static kingside weakness
(doubled pawns and a potential outpost for the
black knight on f4), but a dynamic one as well
(compromised pawn shield in front of the white
monarch). After the further ...Nf6-h5-f4
followed by ...f7-f5 and ...Qd8-h4, White would
not live long enough to regret having allowed
Black to inflict so much damage. So, if you know
this, it is safe to assume that you already know
everything that is required to solve this puzzle.
13.Bxc5!
Capablanca and Botvinnik, former World
Champions famous for their deep strategic
graves at the time this move was played. Why
would anybody give up the dark-squared bishop
as White in a KID structure after all? Even if you
are not a KID player yourself, you can still
understand that the e3-bishop was a ‘good’ one
as it was surrounded by light-squared pawns of
his own kind. What is even worse, White’s last
move results in a new possibility for Black to
improve his coordination by transferring his
knight to the beautiful blockading d6-square.
Before we bring in the torches and pitchforks to
crucify the white player for violating basic chess
principles, I suggest that we first have a look at
what followed on the very next move.
13.Bc2 would have been the most ‘standard’
way of reacting as White in similar structures.
However, the price to pay to preserve the light-
squared bishop is time. Black can play 13...Rc8
with the immediate threat of ... b7-b5!, creating
active counterplay on the queenside almost out
of nothing. White could then certainly respond
with 14.h3 Bd7 15.a4 but after the further
15...Ne8 16.Nd2 f5„ Black would be enjoying
himself more as he is the first to generate an
initiative on the board. White’s position is far
from hopeless as his pieces are placed properly
and Black is still far away from launching a
kingside attack. Still, with Black’s queenside
defenses being arranged solidly White would
have to adjust to his opponent first before being
able to start any play of his own.
13...dxc5 14.Bb5!!
Position after: 14.Bb5!!
‘OK, enough is enough, who gave this guy the
GM title and such a high rating!’ is probably
what you are thinking right now. Why would
anyone first commit a dramatic positional
blunder and then follow up with a mysterious
bishop move which shoots into empty space?
Well, I am going to explain not only this, but also
why White’s position is already strategically
winning by now! First of all, by taking on c5
152
White not only nullified Black’s dynamic
pressure against his position but also achieved a
passed supported pawn on d5. Such a pawn is
constantly a force to be reckoned with, a villain
that should be kept under lock and key.
Secondly, White understands that Black will be
trying to blockade the pawn by means of ...Nf6-
e8-d6 so he takes precautions against this very
maneuver. Once the knight reaches e8 it will be
simply traded off for the light-squared bishop.
Last, but not least, White anticipates that the
modified structure heavily favors knights over
bishops notwithstanding whether Black
exchanges a pair of minor pieces on f3
afterwards or not.
I furthermore would like to draw your attention
to the fact that by playing like this White
combined two methods of affecting the
coordination of the opponent’s pieces in one go.
First, he modified the structure and then
immediately afterwards prevented Black from
adjusting to the new circumstances with piece
play. As much as structural transformations
have the tendency to influence the potential of
pieces globally, piece play is much more likely to
be directed against a singular maneuver of the
rival. The final nail to Black’s strategic coffin in
this game was the fact that apart from spoiling
the pieces of the enemy White was also
simultaneously improving his own knight(s),
which proved to be instrumental later on in him
achieving victory in a smoothest of manners.
14.h3?! as suggested by a large number of my
students would have spoiled the whole idea as
after 14...Bxf3 15.Qxf3 Ne8! Black manages to
install the knight on d6, the crucial blockading
square without much trouble. In similar
Grunfeld/ KID structures the discussed knight
frequently becomes a multi-purpose ‘octopus’
as it not only stops White’s passed pawn, but
also supports literally all thematic pawn levers
for Black (...c5-c4 followed by ...b7-b5-b4, but
also ...f7-f5). Under these circumstances White
would need to resort to 16.Nb5 Nd6 17.Nxd6
Qxd6= thus transposing into an essentially even
multi-piece endgame. Some players would
remark that opposite-colored bishops imply
drawish tendencies only without heavy pieces
being present on board, but in the absence of
any important weaknesses or invadable open
files, this just has to end in a draw sooner or
later.
14...Ne8
A) 14...Qb6?! with the intention of deflecting
White’s c3-knight after ...Nf6xe4 is not only
naive, but also ineffective. There followed
15.Qd3 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Rac8 when White applied
a brilliant plan based on total light-squared
domination on the queenside, which I quote in
a slightly improved, engine-based version: 17.b3
Rfd8 18.Qd3 Bf8 19.Na4 Qa7 20.Rac1 h5
Position after: 20...h5
21.Nb2!+– White’s idea involves transferring
the knight to c4 where it prepares the
movement of the d5-pawn, but also attacks
numerous squares and pawns in Black’s camp.
B) If I were Black here I would have probably
opted for the apparently drastic 14...c4!?. This
move indeed hands over the pawn to White on
a silver plate, but after 15.Bxc4 Ne8 16.h3 Bxf3
17.Qxf3 Nd6 18.Bd3 Rc8± lets Black not only
establish the knight on d6, but also organize his
defenses along the dark squares by means
of ...Qd8-b6 and ...Bg7-h6. If allowed, I would
have furthermore tried to create some active
counterplay along the c-file by doubling my
153
rooks along it. The odds would have still been
stacked in my opponent’s favor, but at least I
would not be going down without a fight.
15.Bxe8 Rxe8
15...Qxe8?! would have been even worse as
after the further 16.h3 Bxf3 17.Qxf3 b5 18.a4 b4
19.Nb5 Qd7 20.Rac1 Rfc8 21.Rfd1+– on top of
White’s central passer, Black would additionally
have to worry about the fate of the backward
c5-pawn. Moving it forward equals losing it,
whereas leaving it as it is negatively influences
the already limited mobility of the black rooks.
16.b3
What White wishes to achieve next is full control
over the b5 and c4-squares. Success in this
regard would have allowed him to completely
incapacitate Black on the queenside.
16...Rc8 17.h3
Position after: 17.h3
17...Bxf3
17...Bd7?! would have been even worse on
account of 18.Qe2 Bf8 19.Rfc1 b6 20.Rc2 h5
21.Nd2+– with complete control of the light
squares on the queenside belonging to White.
a2-a4 and Nd2-c4 are to come next and would
have virtually sealed Black’s fate. If I were Black,
I would immediately sacrifice the c-pawn, just to
have my dark-squared bishop activated via c5,
not hoping however for any form of sufficient
compensation.
18.Qxf3 c4
An understandable approach, but after the
further
19.Nb5 cxb3 20.Qxb3 Qd7 21.a4 Rc5 22.Rac1
Rec8 23.Rxc5 Rxc5 24.Rd1±
Position after: 24.Rd1±
White is statically much better, if not winning
already. Black’s dark-squared bishop is no match
for the white knight and no effective blockader
of White’s passed pawn. His biggest problem is
that there is no reciprocity between the two
minor pieces. The knight can attack the bishop
one day, but this does not work in the other
direction so much anymore. White’s d-pawn is
supported by all of White’s pieces and there is
nothing Black can do to stop it for long.
Your score: Finding 13.Bxc5! dxc5 14.Bb5!!
guarantees you five points but also my personal
admiration as a modest bonus. Then again, not
following up with 14.Bb5!! makes you deserve a
slap on the wrist, or even worse, a mandatory
course on the London System for White!
10
Balakrishnan, P. (2524)
Burke, J. (2567)
Dulles USA 2022
154
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4
Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Be3 c5 8.Qd2 Qa5 9.Nf3 0-
0 10.Rc1 Bg4 11.d5
First of all, I would like to apologize to anyone
who happens to already be acquainted with this
theoretical position. I usually try to avoid puzzles
problematizing situations involving the opening
stage, but the concept I would like to explain in
this exercise requires a discussion stretched
over a longer sequence of moves. Hence, this
time we start off a tad earlier.
Dynamics
Twisted nature of a sacrifice for long-term
dynamic initiative
This situation has arisen out of one of the most
topical lines of the Grunfeld Defense. True to its
nature, Black allowed White to construct a
strong pawn center, just to start undermining it
immediately afterwards. However, in doing so
he cannot give the opponent a second to catch
his breath, otherwise White would be able to
consolidate his static advantage and continue
playing for a win based on his reinforced center.
How does Black find a way to keep the flame of
his initiative going here?
11...b5!
I am going to be honest with you. Had I not
known this idea before, I could only imagine
myself going for the text move as a result of me
missing that the c5-pawn is hanging. Upon
closer inspection however, I think that I would
be able to quickly appreciate what a serendipity
the disappearance of the c5-pawn represents
for Black in this position. Once the pawn is gone
the c-file opens up for the black rook making it
possible to exert a tremendous amount of
pressure against White’ c3-pawn. Coming back
to 11...b5!, it needs to be mentioned that this
move simply had to be played if Black wanted to
prevent his opponent from stabilizing his central
pawn structure. c3-c4 would now be met
with ...b5-b4 followed and Bg7-c3 with a huge,
if not outright winning advantage for Black.
A) Theory considers the naturally looking
11...Nd7?! inferior to the text as after 12.c4 Qa3
13.Be2 White comes very close to achieving a
serious strategic edge due to the fact that Black
would be running out of effective pawn levers
against his strong center. Modern theory
believes that Black’s best chance lies with
13...Bxf3 14.Bxf3 Bd4!? trying to keep the fire
burning at all costs, but the position arising after
15.Bxd4 cxd4 16.0-0 Ne5 17.Qxd4 Nxf3+
18.gxf3 Qxf3 19.e5² simply does not appeal to
me at all for Black. White’s center looks
impressive, and it is going to be child’s play for
him to generate a passer along the d-file. Maybe
the engines are able to hold this with perfect
play, but I cannot imagine any strong player
entering a position like this on purpose straight
out of the opening.
B) One student of mine insisted that 11...f5?
needs to be played here with the justification
that the standard reply 12.Ng5 targeting the
freshly weakened e6-square fails in view of
12...f4 and White cannot take twice because of
an eventual mate once c3 is taken down by the
black forces. In reality White wins after the
unexpected 13.Bxf4 Rxf4 14.Bc4!!
155
Position after: 14.Bc4!!
when it turns out that Black is unable to defend
his f4-rook, prevent d5-d6+, and maintain
satisfactory coordination of his pieces at the
same time. For example: 14...Rf6 15.d6+ Kh8
16.dxe7 Nc6 17.h3+– and the black light-
squared bishop has officially run out of
retreating squares.
12.Bxc5
Calm development with 12.Be2 Nd7 13.0-0 is
certainly possible but I do not think that White
would have obtained any chances for an
advantage by playing like this. After the further
13...Rac8 14.Rfd1 Nb6„ he would need to
watch out for intermediate captures on f3 as
means of deflecting the white light-squared
bishop away from the f1-a6 diagonal.
Additionally, despite White’s structural edge in
the center, if anyone would be able to create a
passer here it would only be Black after the
further ...b5-b4.
12...Rc8 13.Bb4
13.Bd4 would have allowed Black to restore the
material balance after 13...Bxf3 14.Bxg7 Bxg2
15.Bxg2 Kxg7 with the position arising after
16.e5 Nd7 17.0-0!?„ representing excellent
calculation training material in the opinion of
the author. As this topic is clearly outside of the
scope of this book I encourage you to investigate
the consequences of Black capturing on e5 on
your own.
13...Qc7!
Position after: 13...Qc7!
Black’s intentions are clear. He is interested in
hitting the c3-pawn hard with everything he has
got and even more after ...a7-a5 comes.
Because of this going back with the queen to b6
instead in order to provide cover for the b5-
pawn would have been equal to a lack of
understanding of the needs of the position.
14.Nd4
14.Bxb5 would have just amounted to
unnecessary risk for White as after 14...a5
15.Ba3 Bxc3 he would need to consider himself
lucky to have the saving 16.Ke2! when
16...Bxd2 17.Rxc7 Rxc7 18.Kxd2 Bxf3 19.gxf3
Na6„ engines indeed evaluate the position as
balanced, but it would certainly be White who
would have to be vigilant due to his material
inferiority.
14...a5!
When down material there is usually no time to
waste. Black needs to hurry and destabilize the
opponent’s defensive entanglements on the
queenside.
15.Ba3
15.Nxb5? would have not been another free
meal for White but rather guaranteed dyspepsia
in view of 15...Qe5 16.Ba3 Qxe4+ 17.Qe3 Qxd5
18.c4 Qh5 19.Bd3 Ra6!
156
Position after: 19...Ra6!
20.0-0 Re6 21.Qg3 Nc6µ when the
incoming ...Bg7-e5 would have been extremely
unpleasant to meet even with a tempo to spare
for White.
15...b4!
Not taking any prisoners! If your opponent is
down in terms of development opening up the
position is often the way to go. Here Black uses
this pawn lever for the purpose of destabilizing
the white d4-knight as well.
16.Bb2
16.cxb4 is best countered by 16...Qe5 when
after 17.Rxc8+ Bxc8 in order to maintain
equality White would have to find 18.Qc2! as
after the further 18...Qxd4 19.Qxc8+ Bf8
20.Qc4 Qa1+ 21.Qc1 Qd4= White probably
needs to agree a draw by threefold repetition,
otherwise he must watch the black queen going
on a vicious pawn killing spree.
16...Qb6 17.c4 Na6 18.Nc6
A crucial point of the game. This move not only
offers a (favorable for White) trade of bishops
but is also annoying for Black due to the threat
of a fork on e7, as well as the apparent need to
tolerate such a powerful piece of the opponent.
Luckily for Burke, he was perfectly prepared
theoretically for this game and therefore knew
the best way of dealing with such an unwanted
guest.
18.Qe3 with the intention of killing off the black
g7-bishop with e4-e5 would have been a little
too ambitious as after the extraordinary 18...b3!
19.axb3 a4ƒ
Position after: 19...a4ƒ
Black would be getting close to actually crashing
through on the queenside. Even if this were to
happen at the cost of yet another pawn, the
investment would have certainly paid off in the
form of more and more tempi being lost by the
white forces while trying to relocate to safer
defensive positions.
18...Bxb2 19.Qxb2 Rxc6! 20.dxc6 Nc5!
Position after: 20...Nc5!
A fantastic transformation of advantages as well
as modification of the nature of the position at
the same time. After sacrificing a pawn and
offering the opponent another one as alms on
multiple occasions, Black is ready to part with an
exchange as well. At first glance this type of an
investment might seem suspicious taking into
consideration that Black’s dynamic initiative is
slowly coming to an end as there are less and
157
less pieces left on the board with every single
move. This would have been a very superficial
assessment. It is true that Black’s chances of
mating the white monarch are already very slim
but if you have a closer look at Black’s play, you
will discover that over the course of the last
couple of moves his dynamic initiative has been
morphing into static control over the position.
His queenside initiative turned into structural
superiority while the piece activity resulted in
most of his forces standing much better than
their white counterparts. This brings us to the
somewhat surprising finding that, while
developing a dynamic initiative, we do not need
to have exclusively a mating attack in mind as
our end goal. More often than not, while
carrying on with our dynamic play, we should
already be eyeing a transition into a strategically
dominant middlegame position, if not simply
even a favorable endgame thanks to our better
coordinated pieces. I quote the rest of the game
below for your consideration.
On a sidenote it needs to be mentioned that the
hasty 20...Qxc6?! would have been slightly
worse as it allows the ‘bad’ white bishop to be
deployed quicker with 21.Bd3. Now after the
further 21...Nc5 22.Bc2 Nxe4 23.Qd4 Bf5
24.Bxe4 Bxe4 25.f3 Bf5 26.0-0 a4 27.Qe3 Rb8
28.Rf2² White’s conversion process is surely not
going to be a walk in the park, but objectively
speaking we would have to agree that his
position would have been slightly better thanks
to the material edge, as well as the possibility of
creating a passed pawn of his own on the
queenside.
21.h3 Be6 22.Be2 Na4
Aiming to transfer the knight to c3 as soon as
possible. A monster like this cannot be tolerated
but returning an exchange on c3 only increases
the probability of the game ending in a draw.
23.Qb3 Qxc6 24.Bf3 Rc8 25.e5
and here a draw was agreed, probably because
after the further
25...Qe8 26.0-0 Nc3 27.Rxc3 bxc3 28.Qxc3
Rxc4 29.Qxa5 Ra4=
Position after: 29...Ra4=
there would not been much left to play for.
The analyzed game featured quite a curious
phenomenon that is a long-term dynamic
initiative. The words ‘long term’ and ‘dynamic’
seem to rule each other out as dynamics are
believed to be ‘short term’ in nature. This is not
always true. As we could already see a dynamic
initiative may last for a longer period of time
provided that one of the players consistently
fuels it with more and more forcing moves
involving threats and captures in particular.
What happens when the fuel starts running out?
Then the side developing it will need to resort to
other means as described below. But this leads
us to a final paradox in this context; unless the
initiative can escalate into some concrete
tactical result like mate it needs to be remolded
into another more static type of an asset.
Your score: You receive three points for
indicating 11...b5!, and an additional two for
explaining the ideas behind it once White
captures on c5. Also, unless you are a GM or IM,
11...Nd7 followed by 14...Bd4!? still gets you
two points.
158
11
Song, E. (2365)
Gauri, S. (2325)
Charlotte USA 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6
dxc6 6.Nbd2 0-0 7.Nc4 Nd7 8.Ne3 Re8 9.g4
Bb4+ 10.Bd2 a5 11.h4 Nf8 12.a3 Bc5 13.Nf5 f6
14.Be3 Ne6 15.Qd2 Bf8 16.h5 h6 17.N3h4
Ng5 18.f3 Be6 19.Qf2 Bf7 20.Kf1 a4 21.Kg2
Statics
Psychological burden of static solutions
involving a sacrifice
Here we have a typical middlegame arising out
of the topical 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 Ruy Lopez Berlin.
Black possesses the bishop pair and is in general
very solid, whereas White has a superior
structure and has managed to expand on the
kingside quite a bit. White’s basic plan to make
progress in this position requires him to open up
the d-file by means of d3-d4 with the purpose of
infiltrating the opponent’s position along it
afterwards. This is obviously not in Black’s best
interest thus Black needs to find a scenario
whereby he can prevent this plan.
21...c5!

Position after: 21...c5!
Preventing d3-d4 was a must and a pawn sounds
like a small price to pay compared to the
prospect of losing the game in the long run. If
you think about it by giving up his c6-pawn Black
would technically speaking be investing a mere
‘half a pawn’, as before Black’s c-pawns were
doubled and therefore nominally worth only 1.5
points. What is even more, a keen eye would
have noticed that this way Black would also
receiving additional small bonuses like the trade
of his ‘bad’ bishop on f8 or enough spare time to
organize his defenses. It is important to free
oneself from similar biases that stop us from
going for great ideas just because we mistakenly
believe that they ‘do not feel right’ or that ‘it
simply cannot work’.
A) Instead, in the game Gauri went for 21...Ra5?
which was clearly not in time to stop 22.d4 exd4
23.Bxd4 c5 24.Bc3 Ra6 25.Rad1+– from
happening. As ridiculous as it might sound,
Black’s position does not look savable anymore.
There is very little he can do about the white
rooks invading his camp via d7 because trying to
shift his light-squared bishop to e6 for this
purpose would have allowed White to invite
even more friends to the party after Nh4-g6.
B) If Black is mentally not ready for the text
solution his best shot might have been
21...Qd7?! when after something like 22.d4
exd4 23.Bxd4 Rad8 24.Rad1 Qe6 25.Bc3± this
would have been a clearly better version of the
line quoted before. In this case Black would have
enjoyed substantially higher chances of survival
159
as there is still a long way to go before White
overcomes his resistance along the d-file. As this
is certainly going to happen Black would need to
continue playing very actively from this point on
in order to avoid a slow and painful death by
rushing his queenside pawns as soon as possible.
22.Bxc5
Funnily enough, upon witnessing this position,
my engine ceases to be a ‘pawnivore’ and
recommends 22.Ng6 b6 23.Rad1 Qd7 24.c3
instead, probably appreciating the importance
of opening files for his rooks. Objectively, after
the further 24...Bb3 25.Rd2 Ne6 26.d4 cxd4
27.cxd4 exd4 28.Nxd4 Nxd4 29.Rxd4 Qf7= I do
not share its optimism regarding the capture on
f8 at all. The presence of opposite-colored
bishops implies strong drawish tendencies in
simplified endgames, and here the heavy pieces
are very likely to start being traded off against
each other. In such a scenario, even a loss of one
of the pawns on the queenside would not have
stopped Black from smooth sailing towards the
draw.
22...Bxc5 23.Qxc5 Ne6 24.Qe3 c5©
This is exactly the position that Black should
have had in mind when deciding in favor of
21...c5. White cannot play d3-d4 immediately,
and if Black arranges his pieces properly it might
not take place at all. Black has plenty of options
to sabotage White’s attempts at making
progress in this position. For example, doubling
rooks along the d-file, distracting the opponent
with random attacks against the b2-pawn, but
also some guerrilla warfare measures
like ...Ne6-f4+. Sample lines confirm that Black
is doing fine here.

Position after: 24...c5©
25.Rhd1
If White concludes that he has no interest in
slowly grinding out the win, he may instead
want to try out 25.Nxh6+ gxh6 26.Qxh6 Still,
after the most accurate 26...Nf4+ 27.Kg3 Qe7
28.Nf5 Qf8 29.Qxf6 Ra6 30.Qg5+ Kh7„ Black
seems to be capable of fending off White for the
time being. He would still need to be very
careful here but the same goes for his rival as
White is no longer up on material the cost of a
mistake would have substantially increased for
him as well.
25...Kh7 26.c3 Qb6 27.Rd2 Red8 28.Rad1 Rac8
29.Kg3 Rc7
This looks like Black’s optimal defensive setup to
me. There are no sacrificial ideas on h6 available
for White anymore and White’s knights are
being effectively kept at bay.
Position after: 29...Rc7
Black’s queen is targeting the backward b2-
pawn but also contributing to preventing the
160
opponent’s most thematic pawn lever. Finally,
the placement of the second black rook on c7 is
no coincidence either. Black can keep on shifting
it between c7 and d7, depending on whether he
wants to mechanically stop d3-d4, or actually
make use of it for counterattacking purposes
once the c-file opens up.
30.d4
30.Ng2 Rcd7 31.f4 looks like the only alternative
plan available for White in this position. Still, this
would have allowed 31...exf4+ 32.Nxf4 Qc7
33.Kf3 Nxf4 34.Qxf4 Bb3= which could cost
White the d3-pawn and thus also his chances of
bringing the full point home.
30...cxd4 31.cxd4 exd4 32.Nxd4 Nxd4 33.Rxd4
Rc4 34.Nf5 Rdxd4 35.Rxd4 Qxb2 36.Rd7 Rc3
37.Qf2
Position after: 37.Qf2
37...Qb3=
the position would have resembled a Mexican
stand-off as the white queen is pinned to the
defense of f3 and thus unable to get closer to
the black monarch.
All of this confirms the viability of 21...c5!, but
the real question that needs to be asked is the
following: If this is such a great idea, why did
Black not go for this in the game? My theory on
this one would be that sacrificing material is
psychologically difficult for the given player to
manage, but still possible if there are concrete
bonuses that you achieve immediately after you 12
part with material. The point I wish to make here Danielyan, V. (2332)
is that in this example Black could not have Ohanyan, E. (2373)
obtained any sort of an initiative in return for Yerevan ARM 2022
the pawn-sacrifice, but rather could have made
sure that he manages to have his current 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 d5 5.Qa4+
problems solved. In other words, you give up Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Qc2 Re8 8.Bd2 h6 9.a3 Bf8
material, you know that you are doing fine, but 10.0-0-0 a6 11.Rg1 dxc4 12.g4 b5 13.g5 hxg5
the fact that you are not obtaining anything 14.Nxg5
concrete for the future might be a huge
psychological burden for some. For such players,
being material down without any immediate
reward (compensation) represents an invitation
to losing the game in the long haul. Such players
are therefore less likely to sacrifice material in
practice thereby frequently missing out on great
opportunities just because they involve playing
materially down a little bit for a couple of moves.
If you suspect yourself of being such a player,
constantly remind yourself of the fact that Dynamics
material is just one of many elements Counter-attack in the center against the
influencing the evaluation of the position. You opponent’s kingside initiative
may be up material, but losing, or severely down
on it yet winning outright. Furthermore, it is not Here we have a Ragozin Defense position gone
a sin to surrender material for the right cause. If completely bonkers. Instead of the typical plans
you need to give up a pawn to avoid mate just involving castling short and a tense central
do it, this is a great deal! Be aware of the fact battle, White opted for long castling combined
that the value of positional goodies that you with an advance of his g-pawn. In order to
obtain as a result of parting with material can achieve this, he needed to pay the price of the
also be expressed in material terms. So, in case c4-pawn being lost along the way but it does not
of doubt, never hesitate to try and reinforce seem as if he has any further reasons to
your willingness to sacrifice by explaining to complain at this moment. The g-file has been
yourself what the real value of your investment opened up, Nc3-e4 resulting in a mating threat
is going to be compared to the nominal price of on h7 is also hanging in the air. Is there anything
the pawn with which you part. Black can do about this? If so, should his efforts
focus on defending the kingside or
Your score: Gathering the courage to go for counterattacking on the opposite flank?
21...c5! with the discussed defensive setup in
mind earns you five points as well as my deepest 14...e5!
respect. Any other slower attempt to pursue
same idea wins you a mere two points, under
the condition however that you truly grasped
the grave consequences of d3-d4 while trying to
prevent it.

161

Position after: 14...e5!
None of the above! The old rule says that every
wing attack should be countered in the center
and Black needed to adhere to it strictly in this
position. The central pawn lever might look
rather scary at first as it simultaneously exposes
our queen in some lines but ...e6-e5 simply had
to be done as an attempt to cut the
communications between the white pieces
standing on opposite sides of the board.
A) Instead, the game went 14...b4? when after
15.Nce4 g6 16.Bxc4 bxa3 17.Nxf7! Kxf7
18.Ng5+ Kg7 19.Nf3!+– White obtained
excellent attacking chances which he also
confidently converted into a full point at the end
of the day. The remnants of Black’s king shield
on g6 are not going to last any longer and when
they disappear the black monarch is going to get
itself into a deadly draft along the g-file.
B) Another idea I evaluated with some students
of mine during training was to first reduce
White’s attacking potential by means of
14...Na5? 15.Nce4 Nb3+ 16.Kb1 Nxd2+
17.Rxd2 and then cleverly remove the knight
from f6 with 17...Nd5 in a manner that would
not make any discovered attacks combined with
the mating threat on h7 possible. The problem
with this approach is that White can bring the
cavalry into play with the discreet 18.Be2!+–
when Black would be unexpectedly on the verge
of defeat as there is not much he can do about
the coming Be2-h5.
15.dxe5
162
Opening up the d-file seems logical for White as
it is his rook standing face to face along it with
the black queen. Still, this also helps Black with
developing his dynamic counterplay as the
arrival of the rook on e5 all of a sudden
promotes the threat of ...Bc8-f5.
A) 15.Bg2 is by no means worse than the text
move but after 15...exd4! 16.Bxc6 d3 17.Qb1
Rb8 18.Bxe8 Qxe8©
Position after: 18...Qxe8©
we would have arrived at a position in which
despite being a rook down, any strategic player
would have inadvertently had a lot of
‘sadistfaction’ (pun intended) to be Black.
Statically speaking, he may in fact be three
pawns down but with the white queen out of
play for a longer period of time the purely
dynamic assessment of the very same situation
needs to be revised strongly in Black’s favor. If
Black wants to go for more he can just push his
queenside pawns forward which sounds like the
simplest plan ever. At the same time the engines’
advice for White would be to slowly start
untangling by means of the elaborate Qb1-a2,
b2-b4 & Nc3-b1 maneuver which looks just
ridiculous to the human eye. In any case, the
computer assessment oscillates somewhere
around equality here which means that Black
has just about enough resources available to
generate sufficient dynamic counterplay before
White manages to stabilize his position and start
playing for a win from anew.
B) One student of mine desperately tried to
make 15.Nce4? Bf5 16.d5 work. The point being
that Black cannot capture the d5-pawn in view
of the Bf1-h3! idea based on the fact that the
removal of his light-squared bishop from the b1-
h7 diagonal would have led to mating threats on
h7 once again being a thing. Instead, Black could
counter these plans with 16...Nd4! which would
have amounted to a dynamic exchange though
as after the further 17.exd4 exd4 18.Re1 Nxe4 Position after: 20...Bc2!µ
19.Nxe4 d3 20.Bxd3 cxd3 21.Qxd3 c6!–+
with a close to total paralysis of the white forces.
This time White would be two pawns up, but the
level of control exercised by Black over the
position is just staggering. Consolidation ideas
like Ng5-f3-d4 are out of the question for now
as the white e1-bishop is under protected. At
the same time Black is going to fianchetto his
dark-squared bishop, transferring his e5-rook to
the c-file soon thereafter in order to make
White’s life even more miserable. With the
Position after: 21...c6!–+ white f1-bishop pinned to the defense of the c4-
square and the white queen trapped in a ‘golden
Black would not only be regaining material with cage’ on b2, I cannot imagine this game ending
a big positional advantage on top of it (just look in anything else than a victory for Black.
at Black’s control over the light squares!), but
also actually winning yet another white pawn 16...Bf5 17.e4 Re8!
while probably also obtaining a winning position
at the same time.

15...Rxe5 16.f4

16.Be1 should be met by a counterattack with

16...Bf5! when the engines believe that a
‘counter counterattack’ with 17.f4! would have
represented White’s best shot at equality. It is
quite instructive and pleasing to see what would
have happened if White decided to consume Position after: 17...Re8!
that black queen right away. 17.Rxd8?! Rxd8
18.Qe2 Na5 19.b4 Forced as mate was already As long as the f5-bishop is taboo Black can afford
looming over the white monarch. 19...cxb3 to make even backward moves, at least for as
20.Qb2 when White’s situation might seem long as they serve some rearranging purposes.
under control for the time being were it not for
the constricting 20...Bc2!µ 18.Be3

163
White should take control over the d4-square
before Black get a chance to play the dangerous
looking ...Nc6-d4.
18.exf5?? loses on the spot in view of 18...Nd4
19.Qb1 Nb3+ 20.Kc2 Qd7–+ and trying to
defend the f5-pawn with the white f1-bishop
would have resulted in instant mate on d3.
18...Qe7
and now after the most accurate
19.Re1! Nxe4 20.Ncxe4 Bxe4 21.Qxe4 Qxe4
22.Nxe4 Rxe4 23.Bg2
23...Re6 most probably leads to an eventual
draw but personally I would have decided in
favor of
23...Rae8!? 24.Bxe4 Rxe4„
Position after: 24...Rxe4„
with a materially equal, but still imbalanced
endgame, leaving lots of room for creativity
from Black. White has two rooks but not nearly
as many open files available for infiltration. At
the same time, his bishop is a joke with all of the
pawns standing on squares of the exact same
color. I am not saying that Black is any better
here it is just that my preference here goes
strongly to the black side.
Your score: Understanding the necessity to go
for 14...e5! makes you score two points,
whereas the right reaction to every white 15th
164
move alternative mentioned gives you the right
to an additional point respectively.
13
Studer, N. (2581)
Kamsky, G. (2658)
Biel SUI 2021
1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nf3 d6
6.O-O O-O 7.Nc3 c6 8.Re1 Na6 9.a3 Ne4
10.Qb3 Kh8 11.Be3 Nxc3 12.bxc3 e5 13.Bg5
Qe8 14.e4 f4 15.gxf4 h6 16.fxe5 hxg5 17.exd6
g4 18.Nd2 Qf7 19.Re2
Statics
Neutralizing the opponent’s connected passed
pawns
This highly unorthodox position is the result of
White’s structurally enterprising reaction to the
Leningrad variation of the Dutch Defense. In
return for the bishop, White obtained a
powerful central pawn mass which is about to
roll over Black’s position in a couple of moves.
The pawns are strong not only because they will
be moving very fast towards their promotion
squares, but rather on account of the nature in
which they are restricting the enemy’s pieces
along the way. Black must have understood how
difficult his situation would have become if the
white pawns managed to reach the fifth rank so
he embarks on a solution that would stun even
the most experienced of grandmasters.
19...Nc5!!
A most unexpected resource requiring not only
a touch of genius to make it work but also a bit
of madness to even decide to play like this in a
serious tournament game. One can only wonder
whether/when did Studer see this one coming
and what his subjective evaluation of the
position was during the game, especially the
more he would start looking into its
consequences. As we shall see Black’s idea is not
only fully viable but simultaneously constitutes
the only reasonable try to hold the position
together.
A) An ‘average mortal’ would have surely opted
for something like 19...Bh6?! instead, only to
get oneself dominated by White after 20.e5 Bf4
21.Nf1 Bf5 22.Ng3 Rae8 23.Rb2 Bc8 24.Re1±
when White is much better as his opponent can
do very little to stop the central pawn rush or
generate any other type of counterplay in the
meantime. As mentioned earlier, Black’s minor
pieces are severely crippled here but in the
absence of any promising open file his rooks
make an equally bad impression.
B) One of my students suggested 19...Be5? as a
possible alternative to the text. The idea
remains more or less the same: stall the
movement of the white pawns as well as to
establish a powerful central outpost for one of
the remaining minor pieces. Still, White could
respond by means of 20.dxe5 Nc5 21.Qb1 Be6
22.f3 Qf4 23.Qe1 Qxe5
Position after: 23...Qxe5
when after 24.Qf2!+– the white queen is
transferred to d4 with the purpose of
165
conducting a beneficial trade of queens to
remedy White’s structure. If you compare the
consequences of 19...Be5 and 19...Nc5 you will
arrive at the conclusion that in this specific
position the bishop would paradoxically be a
better blockader than the knight, even if the
situation technically continues being classified
as a closed one.
20.dxc5 Be5©
A very telling moment. Black is three pawns
down.
Position after: 20...Be5©
On top of that he needs to cope with a far
advanced white passer on d6. Finally, Black’s
chances of launching a kingside attack are
illusory at best as White finds it trivial to defend
both h2 and f2 at the same time. Does it mean
that he is losing though? Absolutely not. First of
all, White has triplets which means that we
cannot really speak about him being three
‘healthy’ pawns up. A fractured structure will
usually also mean less opportunities for a
breakthrough and therefore smaller chances of
undermining the opponent’s defenses. Secondly,
Black’s dark-squared bishop prevents the
opponent from moving on with his e4-pawn,
which pawn on the other hand also thwarts the
activity of three white pieces altogether (Re2,
Bg2, Nd2). This means that the blockade
established by Black on e5 stabilized his position
to the extent that he does not need to worry
about his material inferiority anymore. We
could also put it differently – White has become
a prisoner of his own material edge as it seems
that only getting rid of the aforementioned
pawn would have allowed him to awaken his
pieces. Ultimately, although Black cannot really
hope for any mating attacks the pressure along
the h and f-file should be sufficient to keep
White’s forces at bay forever. The game saw
21.Rb1
after which Black eventually won due to a
massive tactical blunder from White. My
suggested way of arranging the pieces by Black
would involve going for
21...Qf4 22.Nf1 Rf7 23.Rd1 Be6 24.Rd3
Kg7!?ƒ
Position after: 24...Kg7!?ƒ
when the hitherto dormant rook on a8 could be
shuffled between h8 and f8 in case of need
thereby continuously giving White something to
worry about. The final position may be equal
according to the engines but is certainly harder
to play from the practical standpoint. At the end
of the day a total lack of plan combined with the
necessity to watch out for Black’s threats
against the white king and damaged queenside
structure must have not been the most enviable
of tasks for Studer.
Your score: Yet another ‘feast or famine’
situation. 19...Nc5!! 20.dxc5 Be5 scores not
only five points but also very highly on the
author’s scale of chess aesthetics.
166
14
Kuzubov, Y. (2627)
Iturrizaga Bonelli, E. (2630)
Linares ESP 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.cxd5
exd5 6.Bf4 c6 7.Qc2 Nbd7 8.h3 0-0 9.e3 b5
10.Bd3 Bb7 11.0-0 a5 12.Rac1 a4 13.a3 Rc8
14.Rfd1 g6 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.Bxe5 Nd7 17.Bh2
f5 18.Ne2 Nb6 19.Nf4 Bd6 20.Be2 Qc7
21.Kh1 Rfe8
Dynamics
Importance of calculation while playing
dynamically
This position has arisen out of a Carlsbad
Queen’s Gambit Declined. Over the course of
the game Black has been clearly focusing his
attention on the queenside where he is about to
install a quite powerful knight on c4. For
structural reasons, such a piece is usually
untouchable but tolerating it for a longer period
of time would definitely not be to White’s liking.
Because of this, in order to generate any activity
White should seek his chances on the opposite
wing right away.
22.g4!
 Position after: 22.g4!
The only move granting White an edge, but also
a very responsible one. Ripping open the
kingside might indeed look very logical as he
clearly has more pieces at his disposable there
with the black king looking even kind of
abandoned on g8. On the other hand, however,
Black can defend in a couple of ways one of
which is by taking advantage of the pinned
white knight on f4.
22...g5
Black decides to call White’s last move, hoping
that it is just a bluff. I do not think that he had
any better response available here anymore
than to just take the material he is being given
and see what happens next.
22...fxg4 23.Bxg4 Nc4 would have been an
invitation for White to win an exchange, but this
would also make a huge chunk of his dynamic
advantage go to waste. Although engines do not
rule out the possibility to capture material here
completely, as a piteous carbon-based life form,
I would have rather opted for the attacking
24.Rg1! with Black facing complete annihilation
of his kingside after something like 24...Qf7
25.Nxg6! Bxh2 26.Kxh2 hxg6 27.Bf5!+–
167
Position after: 27.Bf5!+–
when there would not be much he could do
about the invasion of the white rooks along the
g-file. Dodge this, Stockfish.
23.Nh5 Bxh2 24.Qxf5
The correctness of White’s concept starting at
the 22nd move depends on one hand on the
quality of his intuition, is White’s attacking
initiative going to pay off heftily here, or is he
going to soon need to resort to a perpetual
check? With the latter representing a possibility
all the time some would say that 22.g4! was a
no-brainer. At the same time however, if you are
opting for the said move with cruel intentions
against the black monarch in mind, you might
want to calculate all the lines arising afterwards
with extreme precision.
24...Bd6
For its own sake, the bishop needs to try and
return towards safety. Even so White is just
getting started with his attack and the said piece
might not make it to the party in time.
The engine indicates 24...Be5!? as a decent
consolidation attempt. Capturing on e5 would
have resulted in Black being able to cover his g5-
pawn so White should rather prefer 25.Qxg5+
Bg7 26.Nf6+ Kh8 27.Nxe8 Rxe8 and now the
key move 28.Qh5! would have been the only
way for White to prove superiority in this
position.

Position after: 28.Qh5!
In lieu of helping himself to Black’s b5-pawn,
White signals the intention of creating mating
threats after Be2-d3 to come next. After the
further 28...Rf8 29.Bd3 h6 30.Qg6 Kg8 Black
seems to be hanging by a thread thanks to the
temporary inability of White to benefit from the
b1-h7 diagonal but preparing to open new
avenues for the attack with 31.Rg1! would have
again put Black under serious pressure in view
of g4-g5. Funnily enough, the most obvious
31...Rxf2 leads to the appearance of mating
threats for White as well, but there is a catch
White actually wanted the opponent to take on
f2 in order to make use of the f-file for attacking
purposes directly afterwards! Therefore, after
the further 32.Rg2 Rf3 33.Qh7+ Kf8 34.Be2!
Rxh3+ 35.Kg1+– it would have been time for
Black to pack his bags once the white rook
arrives on f1.
All this was extremely double-edged but also
more or less forced. White’s success or demise
in this line would depend not only on his
understanding of dynamics but the accuracy of
his calculation as well. This is also why if you
want to play more dynamically in general make
sure that your calculation skills are top notch too.
The more complicated the position gets, the less
useful pure intuition is going to be, save
obviously for decisions of a general nature
regarding the further course of action.
Otherwise, going for aggressive lines while
playing just intuitively or barely calculating the
consequences of your deeds during such
168
moments will make you look like a person
smoking cigarettes while fueling their car.
25.Qxg5+ Kh8 26.Qf6+ Kg8 27.g5!
Position after: 27.g5!
White could force out a draw whenever he
wanted to but instead he bravely picks up the
gauntlet and continues attacking. Achieving g5-
g6 with a white rook already standing on g1
would have marked the end of Black so no
wonder that Iturrizaga rushes to reinforce the
defenses around his king.
27...Qe7 28.Rg1 Rf8
This was the best Black could do within just two
moves. Offer an exchange of queens and try to
deter one of the attackers. Sadly, for the
defender the attacker does not need to comply
at all.
In the game, 28...Qe4+ 29.Rg2 Qg6 was played,
but after the further 30.Bd3! Re4 31.f3+– Black
found himself on the brink of defeat. Consuming
the knight would have been met by the dreadful
g5-g6 whereas hoping to claim the white queen
would have just led to a dynamic trade as after
g5xf6 the pin along the g-file constantly allows
White to recapture any material lost this way.
Unbelievably, Yuriy, who is my teammate at the
Polish Ekstraliga, allowed some unnecessary
complications and even lost while trying to
squeeze water out the stone called ‘a drawn
position’.
29.Bd3!!
Position after: 29.Bd3!!
A beautiful resource that needed to be seen
from afar when going for 22.g4!. The white
queen is taboo whereas letting it live would
have been equally lethal due to the Qf6-h6 &
Nh5-f6+ threat. The line provided below
confirms that White’s advantage has already
grown to decisive proportions.
29...Qxf6 30.gxf6+ Kh8 31.Rg7 Rc7 32.Rcg1
Rcf7 33.Bxh7 Rxg7
Otherwise, White simply retreats the bishop
followed by the Rg1-g6-h6# maneuver.
34.fxg7+ Kxh7 35.gxf8=Q Bxf8 36.Nf6+ Kh6
37.Rg8 Bd6 38.h4!
Position after: 38.h4!
the threat of mate after h4-h5 followed by Rg8-
g6# would have forced Black to bring his light-
squared bishop over to the kingside. This, on the
other hand, would have left his other pieces as
169
well as the queenside pawns exposed to attacks
from the active white rook, e.g.,
38...Bc8 39.Rd8! Bb8 40.h5 Kg5 41.Rg8+!
Kxf6 42.h6 Bf5 43.Rxb8 Nd7 44.Rc8+–
White is going to decimate most of the black
queenside pawns before Black even manages to
reach the white h6-passer with this king.
Your score: You obtain two points for deciding
in favor of 22.g4! and the same number of
points for bringing the full point home. The fifth
point belongs to those who at least considered
Black’s alternative defensive method of
24...Be5!?.
15
Artemiev, V. (2699)
Onischuk, V. (2622)
Terme Catez SLO 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.0-0 d6
6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.a4 a5 8.b3 Re8 9.Bb2 c6 10.e4
e5 11.Qd2 Qb6 12.Rfe1 exd4 13.Nxd4 Ne5
14.Kh1 h5 15.h3 h4 16.g4 Nfxg4 17.hxg4 Bxg4
18.Re3 Bh6 19.Rg1 Qc5
Statics
Anticipation as a static weapon
I remember seeing this moment of the game
while walking down the aisles of the playing hall
at the European Teams that took place in
Slovenia in 2021. During the round I did not have
too much time to ponder over the possibilities
of both sides here, but something felt fishy
about this position already before checking it
with the engine back in the hotel room. White is
a pawn up (a piece for two pawns) but pinned
along the c1-h6 diagonal. What is even worse,
Black’s intention is not to recapture material on
e3 as soon as possible but rather to torture his
opponent even more by means of ...h4-h3
followed by ...Bg4-f3+ or ...Ne5-f3. In a perfect
world White should do his best to prevent this
from happening but there does not seem to be Position after: 26.Qd4
a method available to contain Black’s initiative
while at the same time consolidating his the position suddenly loses most of its charm for
situation on the kingside for the purpose of Black, unless he manages to find 26...Re5!
launching a counter offensive. Then again, the 27.Rf2 Qg4+ 28.Rg2 Qf3= when the game
word ‘offensive’ (implying ‘forward-playing’) would have again ended in a draw, albeit this
will sound perplexing in conjunction with the time a slightly more entertaining one.
impression the only winning move in this
position makes... C) One of my students recommended 20.Nf5?
here with the idea that after the further
20.Nb1!! 20...gxf5 21.exf5 Black would have been
stretched between avoiding a deadly ping along
If I had witnessed this move in a live broadcast, the g-file after Bg2-h3 and making sure that
I would have immediately thought of it as a Nc3-e4 does not kill him on the spot. There is
software error resulting from the players only one such move that fulfills both of those
agreeing a draw and putting the pieces back to criteria, and that is the strongly anticipatory
their initial squares. Before you throw the book 21...Qb4!!–+
away in disgust, please let me explain!

A) In the game White saw nothing better than a

repetition of move after 20.Bf1?! Bf3+ 21.Bg2
Bg4 22.Bf1 Bf3+ 23.Bg2 Bg4=.

B) Trying to neutralize the pin along the c1-h6

diagonal with 20.Nce2?! h3 21.f4 deserved
attention but after something like 21...hxg2+
22.Rxg2 Nf3!? White would have had no other
choice but to temporarily part with the Position after: 21...Qb4!!–+
exchange after 23.Nxf3 Bxf3 24.Rxf3 Qh5+
25.Kg1 Qxf3 when admittedly, after 26.Qd4 This way Black would have not only over
defended his g4-bishop, but also taken out the
sting out of the knight jump.

20...h3 21.Bf1 Bf3+

170
21...Nf3 can be met by the daring 22.Qe2! when
after the further 22...Bxe3 23.fxe3 Rxe4
24.Rxg4!
Position after: 24.Rxg4!
24...Rxg4 25.Nxf3 Re8 26.Bd4+– White may still
be a pawn down in nominal terms but is
completely winning positionally. It is not about
the misplaced g4-rook or White capturing the
h3-pawn. There is simply no way the black
monarch can survive a future attack of four
white minor pieces supported by the queen.
22.Nxf3 Nxf3
Position after: 22...Nxf3
Going all the way down the rabbit hole but there
is a surprise waiting for Black at its bottom.
If material were the only factor Black would
have been winning after 22...Bxe3 23.fxe3 Nxf3
24.Qf2 Nxg1. Sadly, for him 25.Qf6! Kf8
26.Bc4+– is a line that, in the absence of ...d6-
d5 motifs countered by Bb2-a3, reminds him
about the existence of something that we call
‘mate’.
171
23.Rxf3!
This was the point behind White’s shocking 19th
move! If it is impossible to prevent a certain
negative event from taking place, we need to
make sure that the results thereof are not that
bad after all. In other words, it was not about
keeping the black pieces away from f3, but
rather about making sure that once it happens
we obtain enough material for this as
compensation. Let us however make a couple
more forcing moves and evaluate the arising
position only once the dust settles.
23...Bxd2 24.Nxd2 Qxc2 25.Bc3
Position after: 25.Bc3
All this had to be foreseen before. It turns out
that despite his material advantage, there is
nothing Black can do against multiple threats of
mate along the h-file, or direct hits against g6 or
f7 once the white bishop arrives on c4. Some
would say that the offside placement of the
black queen is to blame here but I believe that
even if it was a little more centralized it would
have still been difficult for Black to withstand
White’s growing initiative. Now Black’s best
practical try is probably
25...Rad8 26.Rxh3 Re5
but after the prophylactic
27.Be2!+–
taking away the ...Re5-h5 idea, Black’s days
would have certainly been numbered.
The keen eye will have noticed that 20.Nb1!!
would have constituted a manifestation of deep
anticipatory thinking. Anticipation is the ability
to predict the further course of action on the
board and adjust one’s position accordingly so
that once the worst happens the player will have
been prepared to fight back. Reading this
definition out loud already should convince us
that anticipation has to be overwhelmingly
judged as a static measure. The reason for this
is, notwithstanding whether the anticipated
change of the position is tactical or strategic in
nature, predicting it will naturally result in
enhanced safety of the player who
simultaneously prepared against it. Compared
to prophylaxis, anticipation does not necessarily
demand the rival’s threats to be prevented, it is
more about yielding their consequences
harmless. This statement is incidentally
confirmed by the outcome of this puzzle. Black
has no possibility to make use of winning the
opponent’s queen right after it happened.
Your score: Five points are undoubtedly
awarded to those of you who at least considered
20.Nb1!! as a means of neutralizing the
opponent’s kingside counterplay. Unless you
happen to be one of those lucky devils, I suggest
you try and collect the booby prize of three
points (one per line) for indicating why the other
White alternatives as of move twenty failed to
do the trick.
16
Mis, M. (2366)
Czopor, M. (2239)
Szklarska Poreba POL 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 d5 5.Nf3 0-0
6.Bd2 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Rc1 Bb7 9.Bd3 a6 10.0-
0 Bd6 11.Ne5 c5 12.f4 Nc6 13.Ng4 Be7
14.Nxf6+ Bxf6 15.dxc5 bxc5 16.b3 Nb4 17.Bb1
172
a5 18.a3 Na6 19.Na4 Rc8 20.Qe2 Rc6 21.Rfd1
Qe7 22.Bxa5 Re6 23.Bd2 g6 24.Qb5
Dynamics
Simulated exchange as a prelude to a powerful
attack
Having just snatched a pawn on a5 a couple of
moves ago White was doing relatively fine until
this moment. As time trouble was slowly
starting to approach he decided that it was
exactly at this point of the game when he should
exert even more pressure against his opponent
by trying to help himself to yet another pawn.
His opponent, who had even less time left on the
clock, decided that he had no other choice but
to force matters by tearing up White’s central
structure in an attempt to expose his
abandoned king. Sadly, for him he was right
about the concept but wrong in its execution.
24...c4!
Only this way! As we shall see this tiny inclusion
is like duck fat for steak frites – makes all the
difference.
Instead, the game saw the most direct 24...d4?
when after 25.e4! Rxe4 26.Bxe4 Qxe4 27.Qf1+–
the long light diagonal might be weak, but not
weak enough to justify Black’s material
investment. Black tried to generate counterplay
over the course of the next couple of moves but
White’s win was never in doubt.
25.bxc4 d4!

Position after: 25...d4!
Only now is this move truly effective and strong.
By first sacrificing another pawn on c4, Black
managed to cut the communications between
the f1-square and the white queen on b5.
Without its assistance, any infiltration of
White’s position via e2 is bound to end badly.
26.e4
Blocking the aforementioned diagonal is an
absolute necessity for White’s survival in this
position. Still, Black can load even more ammo
into his gun before he decides to fire.
While training with one of my students for a
second there we believed that White might just
be able to fend off the opponent’s attacking
initiative after 26.f5 Re5 27.c5 dxe3 28.Be1 e2
29.Rd7 but the ruthless silicon beast highlighted
the shortcomings of our protein-based
considerations with the lovely 29...Rxf5! 30.Bd2
Bd4+!
Position after: 30...Bd4+!
173
31.Rxd4 Qf6! with Black gaining a decisive
material advantage after the further 32.Qxe2
Qxd4+ 33.Be3 Qxa4 34.Bxf5 gxf5–+.
26...Rb8!!
Position after: 26...Rb8!!
By far the most difficult move of this exercise to
find. As will become clear in a couple of moves
from now White’s position was hanging by a
thread, this thread’s name being ‘the light-
squared b1-bishop’. Once it is gone the light
squares across the board will be at Black’s mercy.
Naturally, this was by no means an obvious
resource but having a fine understanding of
attacking play, especially the need to include all
of your pieces into the attack, would have at
least helped make it one of the candidate moves
to be considered.
26...Rxe4? was already very tempting but after
27.Bd3! White would have again been in time to
cover the sensitive g2-pawn. In order to
continue the fight Black would probably need to
resort to something like 27...Re3! 28.Bxe3
Qxe3+ 29.Kh1 Bf3!

Position after: 29...Bf3!
but after the ultra-accurate sequence of 30.Rf1!
Bxg2+ 31.Kxg2 Qxd3 32.Qc6!± White would be
holding the position together thanks to the
heroic effort of his queen. With the a4-knight
defended and the h1-a8 diagonal under control
as well, there would be relatively little left in
Black’s tank to complicate his opponent’s
winning procedure.
27.c5
The idea of blocking the menacing black bishop
is surely enterprising but this simply comes too
late to make any difference.
A) 27.e5 Qxa3! 28.exf6 Re2–+ is a short but
certainly tricky line to spot. The reason for this
is that subconsciously every strong player would
consider the capture on a3 as irrelevant from
the perspective of the needs of the position
(creating mating threats against the white
monarch). As it turns out the arrival of Black’s
rook to e2 happens to be additionally
problematic for White in view of ...Re2xd2. For
this reason, training the skill of (as I personally
call it) ‘global vision’, that is the ability to spot
tactical possibilities across the whole board,
should be trained by any aspiring players on a
regular basis.
B) Stepping away from the discovery with
27.Qa5 would have made perfect sense here for
White were it not for Black crushing through
with 27...Rxe4! when not even the engines
would have been able to do anything about
174
Black’s attack, e.g., 28.Bb4 Nxb4 29.Qxb4 Re2
30.Qxe7 Rxg2+ 31.Kf1 Bxe7 32.Rc2 Rg4–+.
27...Bxe4 28.Qc4 Bxg2! 29.Kxg2 Rxb1!
and now after the most human-like
30.Rxb1 Re2+ 31.Kf1 Qe4!–+
Position after: 31...Qe4!–+
capturing on e2 results in mate in two, while
letting the presence of the black rook on e2 slide
would result in just a postponed death sentence
for the white king. Once we see the final position
and how omnipotent the black queen appears
to be on e4, only then do we start appreciating
the importance of having eliminated the white
b1-bishop in the first place.
Your score: The proper order of pawn
breakthroughs in the beginning of the exercise
is worth two points, exactly the same as the
ability to lock in 26...Rb8!!. The fifth and final
point belongs to solvers with a keen eye for
detail who managed to refute either 27.e5 or 27.
c5.
17
Gajewski, G. (2596)
Dziuba, M. (2583)
Bydgoszcz POL 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2
Bg4 6.c3 e6 7.Qb3 Qc8 8.Nh4 Be7 9.h3 Bh5
10.g4 Bg6 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Nxg6 hxg6 13.g5
Ng8 14.0-0-0 Nge7 15.h4 a6 16.Be2 e5 17.Bg3
Qf5 18.e4 dxe4 19.Qc4
Dynamics
Calculation-based time-stop
It always amazes me how apparently lame
openings like the London System can potentially
escalate into full-fledged dynamic battles, just
like the one we have in front of. A move ago
White sacrificed a pawn for the sake of taking
advantage of the black king still being stuck in
the center. Admittedly, Black can help himself to
a second pawn (which he also did), but
afterwards will have to pay the piper once the
white knight transforms into a monster on e4.
Was there any reasonable alternative available
for him instead?
19...Bd4!!
Position after: 19...Bd4!!
Yet another time stop at your service!
Compared to the one we have seen in the game
Firouzja – Harikrishna, this one is more
calculation-based in nature. Black can afford to
throw in a spanner like this into White’s works
175
not because of some inevitable tendency that
will materialize on the board in a moment from
now, but rather just that the variations turn out
to work in his favor. By playing like this Black
could have prevented White’s basic idea at its
source. After this move the e4-pawn is still alive
and kicking. Simultaneously, the bishop happens
to be taboo in most of the lines as the exposure
of the white king and queen at the same time
might be lethal for him at the end of the day.
Then again, if White cannot take on e4 or d4 but
is unable to reorganize his forces effectively
either, how can he continue playing on for a win?
A) Instead, in the game Black got a little too
greedy with 19...Bxf2? when after 20.Nxe4
Be3+ 21.Kb1 0-0 White could have obtained
excellent attacking chances with 22.Qd3! Ba7
23.Rdf1 Rfd8 24.Qc2 Qe6 25.Bd1!+–
Position after: 25.Bd1!+–
as the incoming h4-h5 push, opening up the h-
file, is going to be much stronger once the white
queen arrives on h2. What is even worse for the
black king, running away towards the queenside
is hardly advisable as White is already exerting
pressure along the f-file and always in a position
to bring his bishop to the h3-c8 diagonal in case
of need.
B) 19...Rc8? 20.Nxe4 Nd4 would have been a
decent counterattacking attempt were it not for
21.Bd3 b5 22.Qxc5! when after the further
22...Rxc5 23.Nxc5 Qc8 24.cxd4 exd4 25.Bd6
Qc6 26.Bxe7 Kxe7 27.Rhe1+ Kd6 28.b4+–
White consolidates his position making it
possible to go after the black king soon
afterwards.

20.f3

The most challenging continuation for Black in

my opinion. Unfortunately for him, if Black
generates immediate counterplay against the
white king he might never be in time to profit
from this type of a positional advantage. Position after: 20...Rd8!!

A) 20.cxd4?! would have been just too much in
view of 20...Rc8 when White should most
probably already be bailing out into a slightly
worse endgame by means of a knight sacrifice
on e4. In particular, he should avoid 21.Kb1? as
after 21...Nxd4 22.Qa4+ b5 23.Qxa6 e3+
24.Ne4! Black does not have to take on e4, thus
succumbing to the cool Be2-d3 reply, but could
rather decide the game in his favor tactically
with the stunning 24...Rc1+!!
after which going down the rabbit hole with
21.cxd4 b5 22.Qxa6 0-0 23.Nb3 could lead to
pain and misery for White after 23...Rd5!ƒ when
taking on e5 would have been murderous for
White because of ...Nc6-b4 combined
with ...Rf8-c8+ and ...e4-e3+ to follow. Leaving
the d4-pawn as it is does not seem to be a
tangible solution either as after the
further ...e5xd4, Black’s central pawn duo would
make an intimidating impression on even the
fiercest of defenders.

20...exf3 21.Bxf3 Rc8 22.Rhe1 b5 23.Qe2

and just when it seemed like White was about to

bounce back with the dangerous Bf3-g4 and/or
Nd2-e4-d6+ threats, Black could unleash the
most unexpected

23...Bxc3! 24.bxc3 Nd4

Position after: 24...Rc1+!!

when after 25.Rxc1 Qxe4+ it turns out that the

white king is not safe at all in the corner due to
a smothered or back-rack mate. Now only
26.Bd3 prolongs White’s life, but also leads to a
lost position all the same after 26...Qxd3+
27.Ka1 0-0–+ as the ...Nd4-c2+ threat is not
going away anytime soon.

B) 20.Qa4?! on the other hand, is a move

Position after: 24...Nd4
designed to take the sting out of a possible
skewer along the c-file, while at the same time
resulting in a transposition to a dynamically
preparing the Qa4-c2 maneuver as a sort of
balanced endgame, as demonstrated by the
consolidation measure. Still, Black could go for
following sample lines:
the dazzling 20...Rd8!!

176
25.Qe4 Rxc3+ 26.Kb2 Qxe4 27.Rxe4
27.Nxe4 Rxf3 28.Bxe5 Ne6 29.Bxg7! looks very
enterprising, but in reality the position arising
after 29...Nxg7 30.Nf6+ Rxf6 31.gxf6 Ne6
32.fxe7 Rxh4
Position after: 32...Rxh4
could be rather scary for White in practice. Black
is the only player in this position capable of
creating a passed pawn, and on top of that,
White will not be capable of seriously harassing
the opponent’s king. A likely development of
events would be 33.Rd6 Rb4+ 34.Kc2 Ra4
35.Kb1 Kxe7 36.Rb6 g5 37.Rf1 when after
37...Rf4!?„ I am pretty sure that White could
hold this with precise play, but I doubt whether
this would have been such a thankful task.
27...Rd3! 28.Nb3 Rxf3 29.Nxd4 exd4 30.Bd6
Position after: 30.Bd6
his position appears to be hanging by a thread,
but thanks to a sequence of smart moves Black
can equalize without any undue adventures.
177
30...Re3! 31.Rdxd4 Rxe4 32.Rxe4 Kd7!
33.Rxe7+ Kxd6 34.Rxf7 Rxh4 35.Rxg7 Kc5
36.Rxg6 a5=
With the insane middlegame complications
finally petering out towards a drawish rook
endgame.
Your score: I value 19...Bd4!! at two points, with
every mentioned option of White being worth a
point each. Alternatively, if you managed to find
the first move and focused on figuring out the
consequences of 20.cxd4?! and 20.Qa4?!
afterwards, I am willing to give you the full five
points as well, obviously provided that you got
those lines right.
18
Gierden, H. (2370)
Razumikhin, A. (2445)
ICCF 2019
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3
a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 h6 8.Bh4 Nbd7 9.Qe2 e5
10.fxe5 dxe5 11.Nf5 Nb6 12.Qf2 Bxf5 13.Qxf5
Be7 14.Rd1 Nfd7 15.Bg3 Rc8 16.Be2 0-0 17.0-
0 Bb4 18.Nd5 Rxc2 19.Nxb4 Rxe2 20.Nd5 g6
21.Qg4 Rxb2 22.Bh4 Qe8 23.Nc7 Qc8 24.Rd6
Kh8 25.Rc1 Nc5 26.Qf3
Dynamics
Using tactical motifs for defensive purposes
This position has been taken from a piece of
analysis that I did for a student of mine a while
ago. In the stem game Black went for 17...Rc7.
This is certainly a good move but in search of a
possible improvement I turned my attention to
17...Bb4!? and then... let us just say that I got a
‘wee bit’ carried away in my research. At this
point in time Black is two pawns up, but also
under severe pressure. His c5-knight is en prise
and claiming that his king is safe would have
been a huge understatement. Without looking
deeper into the matter, it might seem that
capturing the white c7-knight solves all of his
problems right away even leading to victory
once White’s attacking possibilities on the
kingside are contained. But this is just too good
to be true.
26...Nc4!!
It turns out that only this unbelievable decoy
gives Black chances of survival. As White’s
knight was taboo and other solutions were not
sufficient, Black would have been forced to seek
active counterplay instead. By sacrificing a
knight like this Black not only prepares to
capture on c7 in a more favorable manner but
also lures the white c1-rook away from the first
rank setting the stage for a short, but really
bumpy ride of the white monarch to commence.
Position after: 26...Nc4!!
Sometimes when defending, we do not face the
choice whether we should continue doing so
passively or actively, strategically or tactically,
but we rather start understanding that we are
about to fall into the abyss if the character of the
position does not change. In such cases we
should not hesitate to start utilizing more
tactical means. Additionally, situations like
178
these are never pleasant for the other player
who might have gotten psychologically used to
being the attacker (or comfortable with the
thought of being the one who is pressing), and
because of this not ready to abruptly change his
previous mindset into a more defensive one.
Then again, based on observations when
working with my own students, I came to the
conclusion that this way of defending is not only
particularly demanding from the point of view of
accuracy, but also not such a frequent sight in
practice at all. The root problem may be because
tactical motifs are being taught rather in the
context of training calculation skills or attacking
exclusively. As much as using tactical puzzles for
calculation training is very often just baloney
(there are tactics without calculation and
calculation without tactics after all!), reducing
the practice of tactical motifs just to attacking
scenarios can do a lot of harm to the defensive
abilities of any given student.
A) Neither 26...Qxc7? 27.Rxg6! fxg6 28.Qxf8+
Kh7 29.Be7+– nor
B) 26...Nbd7? 27.Nd5 Qb8 28.Be7+– look
particularly encouraging for Black. Those two
sample lines simultaneously highlight the basic
winning ideas for White (annihilation of the
opponent’s king’s pawn shield or elimination its
defenders). Despite both of these threats about
to materialize on the very same wing, Black was
unable to prevent them at the same time under
use of strategic defensive measures like
exchanges of bringing in reinforcements.
27.Rxc4
27.Be7 would have been quite a reasonable
attempt to maintain the tension in the position
for a little longer was it not for 27...Nxd6
28.Bxd6 Rb6!= when White could continue
torturing his opponent for a couple of moves by
moving his bishop back to e7, but the position
would have objectively not been any worse for
Black. At the same time going for immediate
simplification with 29.Bxe5+?!

Position after: 31...b5!!=

when White has nothing better than to

Position after: 29.Bxe5+?!
would have even led to a risky rook endgame for
White after the further 29...f6 30.Qe3 fxe5
31.Nd5 Qe6 32.Nxb6 Qxb6 33.Qxc5 Qxc5+
34.Rxc5 Kg7! 35.Rxe5 Kf6³. Now White will
need to be careful not to accidentally drop his
weak e4-pawn, while at the same time avoiding
any ‘bad’ trade of rooks which could possibly
lead him right into a lost pawn endgame.
dynamically exchange rooks and spend an
additional tempo afterwards in order to
neutralize Black’s threats along the g1-a7
diagonal although this throws all the attacking
momentum he had into the sewer.
28...Rb1+ 29.Kf2 Nxe4+!

27...Qxc7 28.Rxg6

We have seen this idea before but in this version

of the game Black is in a position to generate
some swift counterplay against the white king
before the rival is in time with the deadly Qf3-
f6+. Position after: 29...Nxe4+!

28.Rd1 b6 29.Bd8!? was a curious alternative.
The bishop is defended tactically, so the black
queen needs to move, but after the further
29...Qa7 30.Bf6+ Kh7 31.Bxe5 White is again
too late with establishing a murderous battery
along the a1-f6 diagonal with Qf3-f6 in view of
the foxy discovered attack 31...b5!!=
A lovely double attack! Suddenly the situation
on the board gets very sharp.
30.Ke3!
An absolute necessity. Capturing the knight in
any manner would have resulted in his
immediate defeat. Instead, White goes for a
walk towards the center with his king. The
unkeen eye might say that on e3 the white
monarch is surprisingly secure against any
checks, but I suggest that you keep your
seatbelts fastened for a second more.

179
30.Rxe4? would have been punished by
30...Qc5+! 31.Kg3 fxg6 32.Bf6+ Kh7–+. The
black rook on f8 was first defended then it was
hanging for a longer while and now it is
protected again. Pure magic!
30...Re1+!
Position after: 30...Re1+!
Deflection is the last chord in this short, but
turbulent variation. By calling the white bishop
back towards e1 Black gains just about enough
time to help himself to the white c4-rook while
not having have to bite his nails worrying about
it arriving on f6 instead. After the further
31.Bxe1 Qxc4 32.Rxh6+ Kg7
as you can see for yourself, White should
probably conclude the game peacefully by
forcing out a perpetual check with
33.Qg4+ Kxh6 34.Qh4+ Kg6 35.Qg4+=.
Your score: 26...Nc4!! is priced at two points
while consecutive sequence of 29...Nxe4+!
30.Ke3! Re1+! grants you another three.
19
Banusz, T. (2631)
Fedorchuk, S. (2598)
Biel SUI 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b6 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.0-0 c5 5.c4 g6
6.d4 cxd4 7.Qxd4 Bg7 8.Nc3 d6 9.Rd1 Nbd7
10.Be3 Rc8 11.Rac1 a6 12.b3 0-0 13.Qh4 Re8
180
14.Bh3 Bf8 15.g4 e6 16.Bf4 b5 17.cxb5 d5
18.g5 Nh5 19.Bd2 Ba3 20.Rb1 Be7 21.Qg4 Bc5
22.a4 d4 23.Ne4 axb5 24.Nxc5 Nxc5 25.Nxd4
Be4 26.Rbc1 bxa4 27.Be3 Bd5 28.Nb5 Nxb3
29.Rxc8 Qxc8 30.Rxd5 Qb8 31.Ba7 Qb7
32.Re5 Rd8 33.Qe4
Statics
Resisting the temptation for forcing play
After playing a little too overly ambitiously
during the middlegame Black found himself a
piece down for a pawn. What is even worse,
White has just centralized his queen not only
inviting Black to agree to an unfavorable trade,
but also seemingly neutralizing any mating
threats connected with ...Rd8-d1+ Black might
have had. Then again, at first glance this
happens to be the only shot at glory Black might
have left in this position as once the white king
is pushed to g2, another consecutive knight
check from f4 could follow. All this looks better
than nothing so no wonder that this is exactly
how the game progressed, but it did not have to
end like this!
33...Qa6!!
One of the difficult moves to find in this book for
sure! Instead of going for a forced (and
apparently promising) line starting with
33...Rd1+, Black could have resorted to this
mysterious move. From the psychological point
of view it must have been twice as hard for Black
to even consider this option, especially as
grandmasters of his stature are well aware of
the need to play actively when down material.
The text move certainly has a point to it:
promoting the a-passer. Then again, this idea
looks slow and ineffective unless we combine it
with other ones too!
Position after: 33...Qa6!!
A) Literally all of my students to whom I had
shown this example followed in the footsteps of
Fedorchuk and tried to make 33...Rd1+? 34.Kg2
Nf4+ 35.Kg3 Nd5 work in various ways. As
much as some of those attempts need to be
considered as very creative (e.g., chasing the
white king to h4 and attacking him afterwards
even more with something like ...h7-h6
& ...Qb7-e7), it needs to be noted that White
had a direct and ultra-beautiful way of earning
the whole point available in 36.Rxe6! fxe6
37.Bxe6+ Kf8 38.Qe5 Qxb5 and now after the
lovely finale of 39.Bb8!!+–
Position after: 39.Bb8!!+–
the black monarch can run, but he cannot hide
(at least not without parting with his queen).
B) On the other hand, 33...Qc8? would have
been a comparable try to the text move without
181
involving his a4-pawn in the fight. Despite Black
being able to infiltrate White’s kingside with his
heavy pieces he does not seem to be in a
position to change his fate after something like
34.Be3 Nd2 35.Bxd2 Rxd2 36.Bg4 Qc1+
37.Kg2 Rd1 38.Qxa4 Rg1+ 39.Kf3+– when the
white monarch might be going for a walk, but it
will be more like the POTUS going for his usual
jogging session at New York’s Central Park with
bodyguards and snipers all over the place.
34.Be3
Going ‘all in’ as well was White’s promising
chance in this situation. As we shall see in a
moment retreating with the bishop is not as
much about having it evacuated, but rather to
free the b5-knight for attacking purposes.
A) 34.Qc4 played with the intention of
discouraging ...a4-a3 is inaccurate as it allows
34...Qa5! 35.Qc3 a3! by which time White
should most probably agree a draw after the
geometrically pretty 36.Qxa5 Nxa5 37.Nxa3
Nc6= when one of the white pieces falls and
there is quite surprisingly nothing he can do
about it.
B) 34.Qb4 would therefore look like a clear
improvement over the previous alternative, as
this way White would be taking away the a5-
square from the black queen. Upon witnessing
such a move some players would have given up
on the idea of pushing it but hopefully not you!
34...a3! Although this is not yet fully visible this
further sacrifice of material is designed to
deflect the white queen away from controlling
some central squares along the fourth rank.
After the further 35.Qxa3 Rd1+ 36.Kg2 Qc6+
37.f3 Qc4!

Position after: 37...Qc4!
the black knight from h5 would be unexpectedly
joining the fight via f4 with a potentially
devastating effect. White’s wisest choice in
practice would therefore be to allow a draw or
if he really needs to continue playing for a win
to proceed cautiously after 38.Re4 Qxb5
39.Qe7 Rd2 40.Kg1= with an equal, but still
playable position all the same.
34...a3 35.Nc7 Qxe2
But not the tempting 35...a2? as after the
further 36.Nxa6 a1=Q+ 37.Kg2 Qxa6 38.Rxe6!
fxe6 39.Bxe6+ Kh8 40.Bxb3+– the black
monarch would have ended up in a
slaughterhouse made of the two butcher like
bishops operating along the adjacent a2-g8 and
a1-h8 diagonals. Eventually, Black would have to
give up his rook for one of those thereby
transposing into an equally hopeless two pawns
down endgame.
36.Bf1 Qd1!
Position after: 36...Qd1!
182
Precision till the end! With the 36...Rd1??
venture ending up in mate in eight, Black
needed to reach a decision regarding the
specific placement of his queen. Under these
circumstances the text move is best as it not
only avoids the deficiencies related to 36...Qe1?,
but also keeps some hopes of pursuing a
potential perpetual check by means of ...Qd1-
g4+ in the future.
A) It is instructive to understand why by
comparison 36...Qe1? fails. 37.Nxe6 fxe6
38.Rxe6 a2 39.Re8+ Rxe8 40.Qxe8+ Kg7
Position after: 40...Kg7
and if you went for this line on purpose in your
calculations with the intention to snatch the
black queen with a discovered check on d4, I
suggest that, for your own good, you do a
thousand tactical puzzles as self-punishment.
Instead, the point would be to get your hands on
the a2-pawn by applying a couple of smart
checks and then only transposing to a winning
endgame after 41.Qe5+ Kf7 42.Qd5+ Ke7
43.Qb7+ Kd6 44.Qb8++– when the black king
does not have any safe squares to go to
anymore.
B) Oh, and if you believed that 36...Qxf1+?
37.Kxf1 a2 works for Black, make it double:
38.Ra5! Nxa5 39.Qa4+– when there are no
tricks left for Black as the white queen stalls the
pawn and simultaneously prevents ...Rd8-d1+
as well.
37.Nxe6 fxe6 38.Rxe6 a2
and White does not seem to have anything
better at his disposal but to force a draw by
threefold repetition after
39.Re8+ Rxe8 40.Qxe8+ Kg7 41.Qe7+=
Position after: 41.Qe7+=
Before we move on to the next example, I would
just like to mention one more thing in the
context of forcing moves. The vast majority of
my younger students have a strong preference
for positions featuring them, be it in the opening
or middlegame stage. The reason for this might
be that in the opening, forced lines are often
associated with the necessity for the opponent
to find a series of only moves which sounds very
good at first. Towards the endgame however,
solutions involving sequences of forced moves
are another favorite as they are much easier to
be evaluated than positions which carry some
more complex trees of variations with them. If
you add on top of that the cult of ‘instant
gratification’ among the younger generation
you shall quickly understand the preference of
the chess populace in overall for forced lines. At
the same time however, what many players
seem to forget about is that forced lines
typically also involve higher drawish tendencies
than those non-forced ones. How does, for
example, Magnus Carlsen score so well in calm,
positional endgames, and avoids forced
theoretical lines like the plague? Thus, a
paradoxical conclusion is reached: if you want to
play for a win, statistically speaking, non-forced
lines should become your friends, with forced
183
ones being sensible only if you are certain that
they lead to a better position in the given game.
Your score: Already seeing 33...Qa6!! together
with some murky possibilities of pursuing ...a4-
a3 ideas grants you the full five points here. If I
wanted to be really fair, this exercise would
need to be worth twenty points, but the rules of
our little contest clearly disallow this. However,
those of you who managed to calculate
everything till the end are sincerely encouraged
by the author to start treating chess as their day
job.
20
Costa, Leonardo (2316)
Nurgaliyev, S. (2201)
Dortmund GER 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3
a6 6.h4 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f4 exf4 9.Bxf4 Nc6
10.Qd2 Be7 11.Be2 0-0 12.0-0-0 Ne5 13.Nd4
Bd7 14.Nf5 Bxf5 15.exf5 b5 16.a3 b4 17.axb4
Qb8 18.Na4 Rc8 19.Rhe1 Qb7 20.Be3 Qc6
21.Nc3 Rab8 22.Qd4 Qb7 23.Bg5 Nc6 24.Bf3
d5 25.Nxd5 Nxd5 26.Bxd5 Bxb4 27.Qg4
Dynamics
How comfortable are you with hanging pieces?
This position has arisen out of a pet line of mine
against the Najdorf with White.
Just days before the tournament I shared my
annotations with Leonardo, and it worked
wonders as directly after the opening he was
close to winning. Afterwards however, the
situation started getting unnecessarily
complicated with Black gathering forces on the
queenside with some attacking motifs in mind.
Leonardo’s 27th move constituted an attempt
to call his opponent to order as taking on e1
directly would have had dreadful consequences
for Black after Bg5-f6. So, what do you think -
should Black indeed back down here?
27...h5!
Not at all! This move is a product of a very useful
phenomenon in chess that I personally call
‘retroactive thinking’.
Position after: 27...h5!
Let me explain. The idea of Bg5-f6 looked
particularly threatening only with White’s
queen standing right in front of the black
monarch. The same tendency might look
considerably less bothersome if it does not
result in immediate mate on g7 - this is also why
this deflecting move was an absolute must. This
leads us to the conclusion that the capture on e1
does not need to be dismissed. What we should
rather do instead is to identify the circumstance
preventing us from doing that and have it
amended accordingly.
A) In the game, Nurgaliyev went for the rather
anti-climatic 27...Kh8? which could have been
refuted by the prophylactic 28.Re3! with the
idea that every attempt of Black to attack White
along the b-file would be countered by Re3-b3,
e.g., 28...Be7 29.Rb3 Qc7 30.Rxb8 Nxb8
31.Bb3+– with a completely lost position for
184
Black as there is probably not a single positional
factor available here that would be speaking in
his favor.
B) Before making his 27th move, White certainly
needed to consider a trick at least briefly like
27...Ba3? 28.bxa3 Qb2+ 29.Kd2 Nd4 but here
the white king could pull off a Forrest Gump on
the opponent, which is to simply run towards
safety after 30.Ke3! Nxc2+ 31.Kf2 Nxe1+
32.Kxe1+–.
28.Qxh5 Bxe1 29.Bf6!
Black’s 27th move was designed to prevent this
from happening, but White’s dark-squared
bishop arrives on f6 nonetheless! White shall
soon repeat his mating threat by putting the
queen on the g-file.
Position after: 29.Bf6!
Apart from the need to be very well-versed at
calculation, the main difficulty in playing such
moves is psychological in nature. Hanging pieces
are namely perceived by most players as chaotic
features of the position. They are elements that
can represent a statement of our tactical
prowess (if handled properly) or cost us many
painful defeats (should the situation on the
board start getting out of control). It is relatively
easy to leave a piece of your own hanging if you
know that it is and continues to be untouchable
for some reason. But how do you start feeling
during your tournament games once a couple of
pieces of yours stand loosely and the position is
furthermore about to sharpen up even more?
29.b3? would be completely missing the point as
in ultra-sharp positions one cannot simply
afford to play moves that ‘just defend’ or ‘just
attack’, but should rather strive to squeeze out
the maximum of potential from every turn he
takes. Here, the way to penalize White’s
monothematic play would be 29...Qc7!
Preparing a battery along the c-file. 30.Rxe1
Ne5 Opening up the said file while
threatening...Ne5-d3+ at the same time.
31.Qd1 Rb5!
Position after: 31...Rb5!
Aiming to deflect White’s defender of c2 in a
conclusive manner. After the further 32.Rxe5
Qxe5 33.Bxf7+ Kxf7 34.Qd7+ Kg8 35.Qxc8+
Kh7–+ Black wins due to the terrible exposure
of the white monarch.
29...Bg3!
This precise move should have been predicted
already when deciding upon 27...h5!. The point
behind it is to redirect the bishop dynamically to
h6 for defensive purposes. It looks as if Black
was playing with fire by going for something like
this, especially as this seems to be walking
straight into Qh5-g4. Is it really so important
though?
A) 29...gxf6?! would have been much too
cooperative from Black’s side who would have
to assume a gigantic risk of loss in case he
wanted to continue playing for a win, e.g.,
30.Qg6+ Kf8 31.Qh6+ Ke8 32.Rxe1+ Kd7
33.Qxf6 Re8!.
185
Position after: 33...Re8!
The only saving resource. Black would have to
combine ideas pertaining to simplification as
well as deflecting the white queen away from
defending the b2-pawn in order to make it safely
through the maelstrom of complications.
34.Qxf7+ Kd6 35.Rxe8 Qxb2+ 36.Kd2 Rxe8
37.Qxe8 Qd4+ 38.Ke2 Kxd5 39.Qe6+ Kc5
40.f6= with a draw either by means of a
perpetual check, or just because Black manages
to take down as many pawns of the opponent as
possible before he finally sacrifices his knight for
the dangerous f6-passer.
B) In the postmortem analysis with Leonardo we
also considered the mirror-like alternative to
the text in the form of 29...Bf2? The idea stays
the same, and optically speaking, this move
could have even looked like an improvement for
a moment there as compared to the ...Bg3-f4+
maneuver, on f2 and e3 the bishop would have
been outside the radar of the white queen
inevitably coming to g4. This ‘visual’ method of
comparing moves during the calculation process
is a fallacy that I have been warning my students
about for ages. Unless in time-trouble we should
always examine the candidate moves concretely
and not merely by scrutinizing their benefits
appearance wise. Here the problem with the
discussed move would be that after 30.Bxg7!
Be3+ 31.Kb1 Kxg7 White could go for the
clearance sacrifice of 32.f6+!

Position after: 32.f6+!
when after the further 32...Kxf6 33.Rf1+ Ke7
34.Rxf7+ Kd6 35.Rxb7 Rxb7 36.Bf3+– Black
may be materially fine, but his exposed king and
disorganized pieces hardly make it possible for
him to avoid defeat in the long run.
C) Black could have tried to bring in the cavalry
towards g7 via a different route, which is by
means of 29...Bb4? In such a case White could
act accordingly for a while with 30.Bxg7 Kxg7
31.f6+ Kg8 but at this point he would need to
switch to 32.Rd3! trying to include the rook into
the attack along the third rank. After the further
32...Bd6 33.b3! Qa7 34.Kb1!!+–
Position after: 34.Kb1!!+–
with the devastating threat of Rd3-e3!! would
have been a pretty ballsy sequence to find, but
the evaluation remains the same – White is
winning.
30.Bc3!
A totally inconspicuous move and exactly
because of that the most difficult one to find in
186
my opinion. The bishop started actually being in
danger on f6, so now it retreats to c3 from
where it performs both its attacking and
defensive duties better. Even when being
heavily down material, we should not refrain
from playing apparently slow moves, especially
if we are unable to refute them by playing devil’s
advocate (looking at the position with the eyes
of our opponent to gain more psychological
insight into his own intentions and possibilities).
Position after: 30.Bc3!
30.Qg4 Bf4+! 31.Kb1 Bh6–+ perfectly
demonstrates Black’s defensive idea. White is
never in time to conduct the thematic Bf6xg7 &
f5-f6 motif because of the mating threat on b2.
30...Bf4+ 31.Kb1 Rd8!
Black’s winning chances depend heavily on the
removal of White’s light-squared bishop from
the board. Without this happening Black would
not be able to respond to the incoming f5-f6
with ...g7-g6.
31...Bh6?! looked safer as it would be over-
defending g7 and making sure that the bishop is
not hanging at the same time. The problem with
this move is that after the further 32.f6 in order
to achieve a draw he would have had to find the
hyper accurate 32...Qc7! when after 33.fxg7
Bxg7 34.Bxg7 Kxg7 35.Qg5+ Kf8 36.Qh6+ Ke7
37.Qg5+= there would be nothing better for
either of the sides but to agree a draw by
perpetual check.
32.f6 Rxd5! 33.Rxd5 g6 34.Qg4 Be5!
White has effectively no other choice but to
head straight for an inferior endgame with
35.Rxe5 Nxe5 36.Bxe5 Rd8µ
Position after: 36...Rd8µ
when Black enjoys nice prospects of victory
despite some pitfalls that he would need to
avoid along the way. White does not have the
time to generate any mating threats from h6 for
the time being so we should probably focus on
centralizing our heavy pieces, simultaneously
making sure that any exchanges taking place as
a result thereof still lead to an even more
favorable version of the same endgame.
Then again, the question remains: is there a
method to learn how to manage hanging pieces
better? In my opinion, the best way to improve
187
your skills in this respect is to solve studies. As
much as I am skeptical regarding the importance
of chess composition for the development of a
chess player (I will spare you my usual rant on
this topic), I need to admit that well selected
exercises might be a game-changer in this area.
Make sure you ask your coach to find similar
exercises for you that, on one hand, are practical
in nature (could have arisen in a normal over the
board game), and on the other, require you to
keep accurate track of the placement of your
pieces during the calculation process. For
example, these might involve positions in which
a rook needs to chase minor pieces of the
opponent across the board in search of skewers
or a double attack. The pieces of the opponent
do not want to make your task easier and
instead of simply running away begin to give
intermediate checks or attack other pieces of
yours in the meantime. Usually, studies like
these escalate into a pretty finale due to some
sort of a time stop where one of the pieces of
the opponent gets unexpectedly caught in the
middle of the board.
Your score: As we are speaking about a more or
less forced line in this case you get awarded one
point for each of the moves 27...h5!, 29.Bf6!,
29...Bg3!, 30.Bc3! and 31...Rd8! you might have
managed to find.