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Learning Chess (#08), by A.J. Goldsby I
I have only had a few e-mails and Instant Messages, (so far); but judging by the reaction to last month's lesson, all of you seemed to enjoy it. So this month, we will continue with studying more of the games from Corus 2006, with a few endgames sprinkled in between.
If you are a beginner, or are rusty - you may want to brush up on your endgames. See the lesson for May, 2005.)
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White
to move and draw.
(WK on h8, WP on c6; BK on a6, BP h5.)
Consider the above position, it is White's turn to move, and he is supposed to be able to draw. However, nearly everyone - that I have ever shown this position to - thinks that this is impossible, as the White King is three squares BEHIND the Black Pawn!
Solving this one is hard, but it will definitely teach you a lot about K+P endings. It is also an insight into the true powers of the King, and it's exceptional abilities, a point that Steinitz was the first to really reflect upon.
Work on this one for at least 10-15 minutes, we will come back to it, {and give the solution}; at the end of this lesson.
The following two profiles should NOT be considered complete, or even in-depth. They are more like "brief, current impressions," and the main intent of the next few paragraphs is to simply acquaint you with these two players. Somehow, for me, it always helps if I can match a face with a name. And this introduction, (or brief bio); is something that I plan to make a regular feature of these lessons. It will highlight both of the contestants of the main game that we will examine every month. There are plenty of URL's scattered throughout the following section, if you want to do more research on these two players, all that you really need to do - is to check out a few of these links.
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GM Magnus Carlsen, (NOR) - Born in 1990, this player came to my attention when he was nine or ten. He won a prize in a World Youth tournament ... and played some pretty good chess as well. (I have been following his career ever since.) His teacher is GM Simen Agdestein, a former top player ... who is famous in his country for soccer, as well as chess.
He became a GM at the incredible age of only 13, a feat that can only be surpassed by that of Sergey Karjakin, who became a GM when he was barely 12 years old.
Carlsen really turned heads by his incredible play last year in the FIDE World Cup. [more]
His play was unbelievably mature, he defeated veterans ... some were three times his age.
He tied for first in the "B" Group of the 2006 CORUS Masters ... and as a result, has been invited back next year to play in the top {premier} section.
He is obviously very talented, and many have already predicted that M. Carlsen will one day play for the World Championship of chess. While I believe it is a bit early to make these types of predictions, I am sure that chess fans everywhere will watch his career with great interest.
(A CB article on Carlsen, from 2004. Many of the chess games of this player. His FIDE card.)
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GM Alexander Beliavsky, (SLO) - Born on December 17th, 1953; (The city of Lvov / in the Ukraine); he is currently 52 years old. This player is now living in Slovenia, where he teaches, plays chess, and he also plays for that country's Olympic team. My database has over 2,500 games by this player! (Its the "MEGA" db, but every month I add all the games from 'The Week In Chess,' which you can download off the Internet.) He has played so many fine games of chess ... I am almost at a loss to give you an example of one of his "best" games! (game #1, game #2.)
(Be sure to check out game number one - just above, its a very carefully annotated chess game.)
Obviously an incredibly talented player, (we are fairly close in age, he is just about 4 or 5 years older than me ); while I was struggling to break out of "Class C," he was already one of the world's top junior players. He won the WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP in 1973, thus joining a very elite company. (Spassky, Karpov, etc.) In Leningrad, 1974; he won the USSR Championship (cross-table) ... on only his second try, with a score +7, = 6, -2. (He finished tied for first with TAL, but ahead of Polugaevsky, Vaganian, Romanishin, Dvoretsky, Alburt, Balashov, etc. All legends of chess. It was also one of the strongest national championships ever, at least in my opinion.) He also tied for first with Salov in 1987, (and convincingly won the playoff); joining a very small group of men to ever win the USSR Championships more than once.
He has also won many international tournaments, almost too many to count. A few examples are: Wijk ann Zee, 1974; (tied for first with Korchnoi); Tilburg, 1986; (ahead of Karpov and Ljubojevic); etc. One of his most recent wins was "The 15th Vidmar Memorial Tournament," in 2003. (His score was 6.5 out of a possible nine points. He was at +4.)
Beliavsky has participated in the Candidates cycle many times. He has been a top GM for well over thirty years.
How good was Beliavsky ... at his peak? Its hard to say, I looked up his rating in several FIDE Yearbooks and Informants, he seems to have always been 2600+, at least since the late 70's or early 80's. Then I decided to check his rating on Jeff Sonas's web site. I was surprised to learn that he was once as high as #3 in the world!!! (more)
He is now highly sought after chess instructor and chess coach.
(Many of the chess games of this player. His FIDE card. A page with more information.)
NOTE: The Oxford companion to chess spells his name as: "Belyavsky," but this is one and the same person.
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And now we move on to the featured game for this month. This is an unusual and interesting chess game - by young Magnus Carlsen - you can replay it (without notes) here.
1.e4 e5; 2.Nf3 Nc6; 3.Bb5, (See the diagram just below.)
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So far, we have a standard Ruy Lopez.
One of the main aims of this opening is to set up a superior center, and White accomplishes this through a series of very subtle threats. (I played the Giuoco Piano for 30+ years, and did not come to grasp many of the finer points of this opening until I made the decision to give up the G.P. and play the Ruy myself. I finally committed - fully - to playing the Ruy Lopez only about three years ago.)
3...a6;
4.Ba4 Nf6; 5.0-0 b5;
6.Bb3,
So far, this is all book. (6...Be7; 7.Re1 d6; 8.c3, will lead back to the main
lines.)
Note how both players: 1.) Control the center; 2.) Develop their pieces; and 3.) Prepare castling with nearly every move.
6...Bb7; (See the diagram just below.)
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This is the "Arkangel" or "Archangelesk Variation." (Originally named after a city in Russia.) Black chooses an aggressive development, developing both of his Bishops on diagonals that point at the White King-side. White has to play carefully to avert disaster. I have some experience with this line, but it is rather limited. (One example.)
Carlsen
chooses a safe and solid response to Beliavsky's openly hostile
strategy.
7.d3 Bc5; 8.Nc3 d6;
9.a4, (See the
diagram just below.)
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I would say that White has a small advantage in this position, but that it is a long way from anything that could be considered as decisive. (The strong commercial program, Fritz 8.0, confirms this evaluation.) As long as Black plays good moves, that adhere to the principles of the opening, he should be OK.
9...Na5; 10.Ba2 b4; 11.Ne2 Bc8; (See the diagram just below.)
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Black tires of his Bishop being shut in, right now it is "biting on granite." (The e4-pawn is defended by its brother on d3.) However, Black has already expended three tempo, (...Na5; ...Bb7; and now ...Bc8;); in a rather frivolous manner. After a while, these things start to add up.
Now
White - with his King safely castled - begins a slow expansion in the
center.
12.c3 bxc3; 13.bxc3 Bb6;
14.Ng3 Be6; (See
the diagram just below.)
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This is all part of his plan formed earlier, (see Black's eleventh move); but Beliavsky begins to ignore the dangers to his King while it remains in the center. (Black should have simply played 14...0-0 here, but perhaps Carlsen's seemingly slow opening has caused the experienced GM to lose his sense of danger. After Black had played 14...0-0; White would have retained an advantage with almost any plan - say 15.h3, followed by Re1 and d4 - but this could not be prevented.)
Sometimes the "big boys" bend the rules, but here Beliavsky will flagrantly flout them. (And this naughty indiscretion does not go unpunished!)
15.d4 Bxa2; 16.Rxa2 0-0; (See the diagram just below.)
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Now Black felt that he was forced to castle and {possibly} gambit a Pawn. (Although Beliavsky might get a fair amount of play if Carlsen chooses to try and win the Pawn on e5.) Fritz says the most pragmatic {but not necessarily the most brilliant} move right now is 17.Qd3, and I would have to go along with that. (White would then have a very large advantage, "+/=" or even "+/".)
Instead of winning the pawn, or playing Qc2/Qd3, Carlsen chooses a completely different tack. Was Beliavsky surprised by Carlsen's 17th move?
17.Bg5 exd4; (See the diagram just below.) This is the critical moment in the game.
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Black's last move was a terrible mistake, (At least - '?'); we can only guess what happened to this GM's normally reliable thought processes - that caused him to play such a bad move.
Now
the game has virtually become a chess problem, "White to move and
win."
(Nothing will save Black from here.)
(All
of Carlsen's remaining moves probably deserve at least one exclam.)
18.Nh5 dxc3;
19.Nh4 Kh8; 20.Nf5,
("+/-") BLACK
RESIGNS.
A wonderful game by Carlsen, who - like a tiger in this clash - knew when to run, when to stalk, when to crouch ... and when to strike!
(I have already annotated this game on the replay viewer, you may study it - complete with analysis and variations - HERE.)
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White to move (and win)
(WK - d5, WP's - a5, & c6; BK - c8, BP -
a6)
It is White's turn to move in the position given just above. Take at least 10-15 minutes, and see if you can solve it. (Do it in your head, without moving the pieces, and then write down your answer.)
At first you might think it would be very easy ... but it really is not.
The
above position involves many different {basic}
elements of King-and-Pawn endings.
(Opposition, the "distant opposition," triangulation,
the theory of corresponding squares, losing a tempo, etc.)
After a few false tries, you should become convinced that the most direct method does not work. (E.g., 1.Kd6, Kd8; 2.c7+, Kc8; 3.Kc6 - Stalemate!)
One of the basic keys here (for the position, above) is that White must actually try to "lose a move," i.e. lose time. This contradicts everything that a beginner is taught about chess, especially in the opening phase. ("Gain time, not lose it!" I heard this hundreds of times from Mr. Frank Goodenough, who was kind enough to take me under his wing, when I first joined the Pensacola Chess Club ... some 30+ years ago.)
White must basically "outflank" his opponent. On the battlefield, this means to place your enemy in a position where he cannot cover his vulnerable areas, which are usually the sides or even the rear of his position. In chess, it means placing your opponent in a position where he (or she) does not want to move ... but is forced to do so.
As always, the {direct} opposition will be the technique you use to triumph over even stout resistance. But it takes a little 'setting up' to get there.
OK - enough platitudes. (Did you get the correct solution?)
The solution is: 1.Kc4 Kb8; 2.Kd4 Kc8; 3.Kd5 Kc7; 4.Kc5 Kc8; 5.Kb6 Kb8; 6.Kxa6 Kc7; 7.Kb5 Kc8; 8.Kb6 Kd8; 9.c7+ Kc8; 10.a6 Kd7; 11.Kb7, 1-0
The above line was worked out with Fritz 9 and the latest of the Nalimov Tablebases.
[Replay the above solution.] [Extensive analysis of the problem, above.]
Now we continue with our coverage and review of the grand Corus Chess Tournament that was held January 14th - 29th, 2006. [more]
The very first round was extremely exciting, Topalov defeated Kamsky, Anand defeated young Karjakin, (with the Black pieces); and Ivanchuk defeated Aronian - also with the Black pieces. We already covered Topalov - Kamsky in last month's lesson, so now we turn our attention to the other two games. (Our look at the following two games is meant to be brief, and just general, overall impressions. It normally takes me many hours - or even days! - of analysis to deeply break down a game. Of course, it is my hope that I might inspire budding analysts out there to investigate these interesting clashes on their own.)
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First we take a look at the Indian superstar's sacrificial free-for-all. [replay]
1.e4 c5;
2.Nf3 d6; 3.d4 cxd4;
4.Nxd4 Nf6; 5.Nc3 a6;
A Najdorf Sicilian.
6.Be3 e5; 7.Nb3 Be6;
8.f3 Be7; 9.Qd2 0-0;
10.0-0-0 Nbd7;
Both sides have castled on opposite wings. This usually means that both sides will go "all out" in attempt to
break open their opponent's King position.
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Note how both players immediately launch an attack, to wait would be to give your opponent a head start in the race to checkmate.
11.g4
b5; 12.g5 b4; 13.Ne2,
This could be inaccurate, the simple capture on f6 looked natural here.
[ (>/=) 13.gxf6 bxc3; 14.Qxc3 Nxf6; "~" ]
13...Ne8;
14.f4 a5; 15.f5 a4;
16.Nbd4,
This could be an error, Fritz prefers 16.fxe6 here.
16...exd4;
The play, 16...b3 ('!') looked interesting.
17.Nxd4 b3; 18.Kb1 bxc2+; 19.Nxc2 Bb3!; {See the diagram just below.}
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A
very deep move, meant to fix
White's Q-side Pawns exactly where they are at. (Karjakin must capture in order to restore
material equality, however, now Anand gets an extremely dangerous open a-file.)
20.axb3 axb3; 21.Na3 Ne5;
22.h4 Ra5; 23.Qc3,
White looks to have a very large advantage, all of the pundits in the press room were already
predicting a quick win for Karjakin from here.
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Just for fun, I tried this position on an old dedicated, chess playing micro-processor, an early Novag unit with a 2300+ USCF rating. It considered White to be nearly winning.
Now what Anand does {from here} almost defies belief, the rest of this game is analyzed on my website.
For the record, the rest of the
moves in this
contest were:
23...Qa8; 24.Bg2 Nc7; 25.Qxc7 Rc8; 26.Qxe7 Nc4;
27.g6 hxg6; 28.fxg6 Nxa3+;
29.bxa3 Rxa3; 30.gxf7+ Kh7; 31.f8N+ Rxf8;
32.Qxf8 Ra1+; 33.Kb2 Ra2+; 34.Kc3 Qa5+;
35.Kd3 Qb5+; 36.Kd4 Ra4+; 37.Kc3 Qc4+;
0-1
Anand threw everything ... including the kitchen sink ... at his opponent!
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Young Levon Aronian won the FIDE World Cup, {and sent his rating sky-rocketing}; his fans had to be a little disappointed in his showing at this tournament. Here is his game from the first round. [replay]
1.d4
Nf6; 2.c4 g6; 3.Nf3 Bg7;
4.g3 c6; 5.Nc3 d5;
6.Qb3 0-0; 7.Bg2 Qb6!?;
8.0-0 Rd8;
White appears to have a small edge out of the opening.
9.h3 Be6; 10.Ng5 Bf5; 11.Qxb6 axb6; 12.cxd5! Nxd5; 13.e4 Nxc3; 14.bxc3 Bd7;
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White has just a little more space here.
15.f4!?,
Now Aronian begins a policy of moving a few pawns forward to capture some space, but at some point, he gets carried away.
[ Probably better was: 15.Bf4 b5; "=" (Maybe White has a small plus.) ]
15...Na6; 16.g4!? Nc7; 17.f5!? Nb5; 18.Bb2 Bh6!?; 19.h4 f6; 20.Nf3?!,
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After all of his aggressive posturing, this looks like the wrong decision. (Why back up?)
[ >/= 20.Ne6 Bxe6; 21.fxe6 Be3+; 22.Kh1 Bd2; 23.Rf3, "~" ]
20...gxf5; 21.exf5!?,
(Maybe dubious?)
I always tell my students to: "Capture towards the center," here the GM would have done well to do the same.
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Obviously Aronian wanted play against Black's backward e-pawn.
[ (>/=) 21.gxf5 Nd6; "/+" ]
21...Nd6; 22.Rfe1 Kf7!; 23.Bh3 Rg8; 24.Kf2 Bf4; "=/+"
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Now Black has a very solid advantage. (Maybe "/+")
25.Ne5+!?, (Maybe '?!' or '?') {See the diagram, just below.}
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White "over-sacks," or pushes too hard.
I took about five minutes to go over this game right after it was first played. My first thought was that this move was a mistake, but now I realize that Aronian may have already perceived that he stands worse.
Realistically, Aronian should try to play passive defense here ... but that may not be his style.
[ (>/=) 25.Bc1 Bxc1; 26.Rexc1 e6; "=/+" ]
25...fxe5; 26.dxe5 Nc4;
27.e6+ Kf8!;
It is possible that Aronian under-estimated this move ... or missed it entirely.
White is now lost. Aronian tries one more sacrifice to mix things up, but Ivanchuk
coolly defends and picks up the full point. (Here are
rest of the moves in this clash.)
28.exd7 Nxb2; 29.Re4 Bd6; 30.Ke3 b5; 31.Rb1 Nc4+; 32.Rxc4!? bxc4;
33.Rxb7 Kg7;
34.Bg2 Kf6; 35.g5+ Kxf5; 36.Bxc6 Rab8; 37.Kd4 Kg4;
38.a4 Kxh4; 39.a5 Rxb7;
40.Bxb7 Kxg5; 41.a6 Bb8; 42.Kxc4 Kf6; 43.Kb5 e5;
44.Kb6 Ke7; 45.Bc8 Rg2; ("-/+")
(White resigns.) Nice play by "Chucky," who was once thought to be the player who would take Kasparov's place as the best player in the world.
Now back to the chess problem/K+P ending that we started with. Did you solve it?
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White
to move and draw.
(WK on h8, WP on c6; BK on a6, BP h5.)
Many players want to give up ... or they think that it is impossible. But there is a way.
The solution is:
1.Kg7 Kb6; 2.Kf6
h4; 3.Ke5 h3; 4.Kd6
h2; 5.c7 Kb7; 6.Kd7
h1Q; 7.c8Q+,
("=") ½-½
Believe it or not, this is all a problem composed by none other than the great Richard Reti.
[Replay this solution.] [The above position, deeply analyzed.]
IN CLOSING: I had originally intended to examine many more games of the CORUS tournament ... but time marches on. However, I would like to offer the following contest to you. (03/18/2006)
That about wraps it up for this month! Please check back during the first week of every month for the next installment of this feature.
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I hope you have enjoyed this month's lesson. Please contact me if you have any questions. Also, be sure to contact the webmaster here, and let him know what you think of this lesson. Thank you for your time and attention ... and I will see you next month!
Copyright © A.J. Goldsby, 2006. All rights reserved.
