Skype coaching session, 12 January 2020.
2 Forthcoming coaching sessions in January will be on Sundays: 19, 26, at 14:00
UTC, which is 14:00 GMT.
The game discussed (27 moves) is given below with annotations and without
annotations.
Re-structuring of the sessions now offers the option for guests to bring their
own games for group discussion.
Recordings of some previous coaching sessions can be found at:
http://www.open-aurec.com/Skype/PaulBenson/PaulBenson.htm
Paul Benson.
* * *
Annotated Game.
White: V. Kupreichik.
Black: G. Timoshchenko.
Event: Russia 1968.
Result: 1-0 in 27 moves.
Opening: French Defence, Advanced Variation, Wade Variation, C02.
| Editorial.
FIDE Elo ratings were rare in 1968, the players here are either age 18 or 19,
hardly surprising that no direct information is available.
However by July 1970 ratings were available, White 2490, Black 2360, both went
on to become Grand Masters.
As indicated above, these players are still in their teens.
Despite this, there is a remarkably mature mix of strategy and tactics about to
unfold.
||
1. e4 e6
2. d4 d5
3. e5 c5
4. c3
| So the Plycount = 7and still no pieces moved.
This is breaking advice given to beginners: "Develop pieces as quickly as
possible."
Sometimes the good advice need not be followed.
The closed nature of the position means neither player can attack any weak
points in the opposing camp, in fact there are no weaknesses anywhere to
attack.
So if the Grand Masters appear to be breaking good advice, it is because there
are always exceptions, and experience shows that these precise 7 moves cause no
headaches.
Presumably now that good advice on developing units will be followed?
||
4. ... Qb6
| Welcome to the Wade Variation.
And is it not breaking good advice: "Develop pieces but leave the queen at home
until the correct square suggests itself for her."
The black queen on b6 might appear to be pressuring the white dark squares, a
definite target will be a white pawn on d4.
The system however has a much different intention in mind, as will be revealed.
||
5. Nf3 Bd7
| Beginning to hint at what black aims to achieve.
||
6. Na3
| White prevents the black idea of, Bb5, and so keeps light square bishops in
play.
There is also a future option of, Nc2, giving further support to the d4 pawn.
||
6. ... cxd4
| A tripler.
Firstly, the f8 - a3 diagonal opens up for the black f8 bishop.
Secondly, almost certainly white will recapture with, 7. cxd4, and the c-file
becomes available for, Rc8, if desired.
Thirdly, after white recaptures, cxd4, the new d4 pawn will be a fixed target,
black might be thinking of placing the g8 knight on f5.
||
7. cxd4 Nc6
| Known but in need of much more exploration here before recommendation can be
given are, 7. ... Bb4+, and, 7. ... Bxa3.
The development of the black b8 knight to c6 places pressure on the white d4
pawn, ideas for black of, Bb4+, or, Bxa3, now need to be allowed for by white.
||
8. Be2
| White is deliberately permitting black to gain what many would regard as a
big positional gain.
Instead, 8. Nc2, fighting for the b4 square is more popular, avoiding an
impending royal inconvenience.
||
8. ... Bb4+
| With just a handful of games on the limited database it is only possible to
mention that, 8. ... Bxa3, and, 8. ... Nh6, are known, more examples needed
before any sort of judgement can be pronounced.
||
9. Kf1
| Oh dear, and now another example of good advice seems to have been ignored,
and is receiving due punishment.
The white king loses castling rights, in itself not a disaster, but a
considerable inconvenience.
Furthermore, just how is the white h1 rook going to enter the game?
White must have been aware of this possibility when selecting, 8. Be2, instead
of the more cautious, 8. Nc2, which would have prevented the annoying black
dark square bishop check.
Instead, 9. Bd2 Nxd4, the black queen keeps a guard on both the d4 knight and
b4 bishop, no matter how white replies, a pawn has been lost for zero
compensation.
||
9. ... Be7
| Job done on b4, deflect the white king to the apparently less-desirable f1
square, the black dark square bishop can now settle down to the task of setting
about the white central pawn chain.
White to play will demonstrate why the king was allowed to be pushed to the f1
square.
||
10. h4
| When a unit moves it permits options of movement for other units in that
region.
Here the white h1 rook has been given access to the h3 square, and from there
it can swing across the white 3rd rank according to how play continues.
||
10. ... f6
| Pawn chains can be challenged in a couple of ways:
(A). Pressure the base of the chain, black is maintaining a double-attack on
the white d4 pawn, which in turn demands white keep a couple of guards on it,
the f3 knight and d1 queen.
(B). Hit at the head of the chain, encouraging it to exchange itself off with
the challenging pawn.
If this happens, the previously cramping effect of the departed pawn disappears
and an option to develop a piece on the previously unsafe square becomes
available.
||
11. Rh3
| Whiteprefers to keep the central pawn tension.
By choosing to play a developing move which was planned a couple of moves ago,
white hands the choice of commitment back to black.
||
11. ... Nh6
| Black cannot leave the kingside undeveloped for long and so decides to, "Risk
It".
Such h6 knight developments in the Advanced French can be met with the
double-edged white capture of, Bxh6, imbalancing the position.
The White Gain: Long term - The black kingside pawn formation is shattered,
those doubled h-pawns will be headaches in any endgame.
The Black Gain: Short term - A semi-open g-file, and maybe a semi-open f-file
as well, will offer opportunities for a doubling of rooks, as appropriate
according to how white plays on the kingside.
Which gain is the better?
Only time will tell, black must create kingside activity as quickly as
possible, making sure the outcome of the game is sorted before the endgame
begins.
Instead a black plan of, O-O-O - Kb8 - Rc8, taking the fight to the fully-open
c-file was another idea.
||
12. Bxh6
| White solves the problem of how to move the c1 bishop without losing the b2
pawn, as black, 12. ... Qxb2, seems too risky.
The idea runs, 12. Bxh6 Qxb2 13. Bxg7 Rg8 14. exf6 Bxa3 15. Rb1 Qxa2 16. Ra1
Qb2 17. Ne5, threat pawn f7+ winning, 17. ... Nxe5 18. Rhxa3, and black must
move the e5 knight, after which 19. Rb3, traps the black queen.
||
12. ... gxh6
13. Qd2
| The white queen nibbles at the black h6 pawn, fine, but surely white is not
actually thinking of taking it?
||
13. ... O-O-O
| Black says take the h6 pawn if you want, I shall have the b2 pawn, and you
have ridded me of a long-term weakness while I have a queenside pawn majority
for the endgame.
Black now also has the simple idea of doubling rooks on the g-file, which must
force some defensive concession.
White is about to play a move which totally transforms the game.
The complete consequences of this move are very difficult to assess.
Perhaps this is not a true test of, "Tactical Event Horizons", but more a test
of, "Strategic Judgement Horizons", as to what is available to both players,
and whether or not the opposing attack can be countered.
If you are asking: "Does this mean white is about to have a gamble?", then
perhaps think again.
Matters are far more subtle than that.
It comes down to experience of what can and cannot be allowed, or if thinking
in terms of gambling is still in mind, just what can be risked, and such a
decision is made without full calculation.
A mixture of personal experience combined with study of top Grand Master games
giving the necessary, "Feeling", of what the position can provide for both
players.
||
14. exf6
| Well, after such a build up perhaps nothing less than a rook sacrifice was
being anticipated, right?
Games can be transformed by the simplest of moves.
Here white converts a static centre into a dynamic centre.
When a unit moves it vacates a square for someone else.
In the many times this phrase has been used in the session and repeated in the
notes, this referred to a player moving a unit so a different unit of the same
player can take the vacated square.
Here by vacating the e5 square, white has handed an opportunity for black to
play, pawn e5, releasing the black d7 light square bishop.
This is the, "Game Changer", which sets both players into a mutual test of
tactics combined with strategic understanding.
||
14. ... Bxf6
| And another consequence of white trading pawns on f6 emerges, black is handed
by force a triple-attack on the backward white d4 pawn.
There is however in return a weakening of the d6 square, when a unit moves it
loses control of some squares in return for control of different squares.
||
15. Nb5
| A doubler.
Firstly, the white d4 pawn is now triply-defended.
Secondly, the weak black d6 square is available for, Nd6+, with a possible,
Nf7, follow-up, depending on tactical considerations over the entire board.
||
15. ... e5
| A curious position.
Here we have an opposite-wing castling middlegame, which usually indicates each
player hurling pawns at the opposing king.
But this would make no sense here.
The symmetric queenside pawns means white cannot force further open lines over
there.
The doubled black h-pawns cannot make contact with any white pawn.
So black chooses a dynamic central pawn break which is most likely to further
open up the centre, expect the resulting fight to involve very few pawns, it is
now up to the pieces to combine to create threats and supply defences.
Instead a precautionary defensive move backfires badly, 15. ... Kb8 16. Qf4+,
picks off the unprotected black f6 bishop.
White to play must, "Do Something", about the black d7 bishop attack on the h3
rook.
||
16. dxe5
| Aha, so, "Doing Nothing", is, "Doing Something", right?
Technically correct.
White is offering material for positional gain.
Assessing the full consequences here is not possible for the average club
player.
However just internally talking-over some of the plusses which could emerge
might be enough to find the same move as a 2400+ player can find.
||
16. ... Bxh3
| Black effectively says: "Show me."
A different set of complications could have been entered by capturing on e5
with a minor piece, some ideas run:
(A). If, 16. ... Nxe5 17. Nxe5 Bxb5 18. Bxb5 Qxb5+ 19. Kg1 Bxe5, white has
blundered a piece away, this should not happen.
(B). Or if, 16. ... Nxe5 17. Nxe5 Bxb5 18. Nf7 Bxe2+ 19. Qxe2 Rhe8+ 20. Qd2 Rd7
21. Nxh6 Qxb2 22. Qxb2 Bxb2 23. Rd1, looks like heading for a draw.
(C). Or if, 16. ... Nxe5 17. Nxe5 Bxe5 18. Rb3, many options for both sides,
the analytical tree is ready to expand, not easy to assess.
(D). Or if, 16. ... Bxe5 17. Nxe5 Bxh3 18. Nf7 Rhg8 19. gxh3, the
opposite-colour bishops middlegame would be an interesting mutual test.
(E). Or if, 16. ... Bxe5 17. Nxe5 Nxe5 18. Qxd5 Bxh3 19. Qxe5, white threatens
a very powerful, 20. Rc1+, which looks crushing.
By taking the exchange black is guaranteed some material gain, simply absorb
whatever pressure white gains in the short-term and expect an advantageous
endgame to bring in the full point.
If only chess were so simple.
||
17. exf6
| The first plus for the passively-sacrificed exchange emerges, a passed pawn
on the 6th rank.
||
17. ... Bg4
| Black saves the bishop with a little tactical threat in need of neutralising.
||
18. a4
| The white b5 knight was in need of an extra protection if a kingside pawn
weakness was to be avoided.
||
18. ... Bxf3
| Black understandably starts trading down to achieve that
materially-advantageous endgame.
However as white had little productive to do with the f3 knight, perhaps, 18.
... Rhf8, pressuring the white f6 pawn was worth consideration.
||
19. Bxf3
| Had white omitted to play, pawn a4, then the e2 bishop would need to stand
still, meaning white would have to play, 19. gxf3, creating tripled f-pawns.
A downside of black trading down in this manner leaves white with an
unchallengeable light square bishop, unless black feels like giving an exchange
back to eliminate it, and this assumes white will permit black such an
opportunity.
||
19. ... a6
| Giving the well-posted white b5 knight a prod.
White to play must, "Do Something", about this attack, but what?
||
20. Qf4
| Yet again white ignores an attack on a piece in order to make a positional
gain elsewhere, and this time it is a massive plus.
The white queen on f4 is fighting for control of the d6, c7, b8 dark squares in
front of the black king, who if now receives a check will be very short of
flight squares.
Also on f4 the white queen supports the advance of the passed f6 pawn, though
as it happens the white piece activity indicates keeping up the attack on the
black king is the correct strategy.
||
20. ... axb5
| Finding a more sensible move here for black is not easy.
So yet again black is effectively saying: "Show me."
Giving the black king some flight-room fails as follows:
(A). If, 20. ... Rde8 21. Bg4+ Kd8 22. Qd6+ mate.
(B). Or if, 20. ... Rde8 21. Bg4+ Re6 22. Bxe6+ Kd8 23. Qd6+ Ke8 24. f7+ mate,
hey a passed pawn can do more than just promote.
(C). Or if, 20. ... Rdf8 21. Bg4+ Kd8 22. Qd6+ Ke8 23. Qd7+ mate.
(D). Or if, 20. ... Rdg8 21. f7 Rf8 22. Bg4+ Kd8 23. Qd6+ mate.
Trying to prevent white, Bg4+, does not help.
(E). Or if, 20. ... Rhg8 21. f7 Rg6 22. f8=Q Rxf8 23. Qxf8+ Kd7 24. Bg4+ Rxg4
25. Qf5+ Kc7 26. Qxg4 axb5 27. b3, white is an exchange up and should convert
this.
(F). Or if, 20. ... Rhg8 21. f7 Rg6 22. f8=Q Rxf8 23. Qxf8+ Kc7 24. Nc3 Qxb2
25. Nxd5+ Kd7 26. Rd1, white, a piece up, must be overwhelming black here.
(G). Or if, 20. ... Rhg8 21. f7 Rg6 22. f8=Q Rxf8 23. Qxf8+ Nd8 24. Rc1+ Kb8
25. Qf4+ Ka8 26. Qd4 Qxd4 27. Nxd4, white has liquidated queens, the extra
piece will soon count.
(H). Or if, 20. ... Rhg8 21. f7 Rg6 22. f8=Q Rxf8 23. Qxf8+ Qd8 24. Qxd8+,
queens are again off, the extra white piece will provide a win.
||
21. Bg4+
| Black is a rook up but it is not always the amount of material on the board
with counts.
White has all remaining units excellently-placed to coordinate against the
black king.
Yes, even the undeveloped white a1 rook is on the best possible square, to
assist the final attack once it starts.
Meanwhile the extra black h8 rook is standing by ready for action, should the
call to arms ever arrive.
Which means the queenside / central battle is going on with equally-matched
pieces, fine, but their respective coordination is far from equal.
||
21. ... Rd7
| The only legal move.
An important change in the prospects of the black king has occurred.
A frequently overlooked defensive plan of sprinting the king out of the danger
zone to the other side of the board is not going to be available to the black
king here.
The lurking presence of the white f6 pawn is not just a promotion opportunity
in waiting, it controls the e7 square.
This forces the black king to remain on the back rank in order to reach
whatever safety the f7 / g8 squares might offer.
||
22. axb5
| And the unmoved white a1 rook threatens a mate in 2 moves.
This can be countered, but in doing so black becomes even further tied up.
||
22. ... Na5
| Blocking the a-file, is black about to have a free move to get the inactive
h8 rook into play?
Other choices give white great joy, a couple of ideas run:
(A). If, 22. ... Na7 23. Rc1+ Kd8 24. Qb8+ Nc8 25. Rxc8+ mate.
(B). Or if, 22. ... Na7 23. Rc1+ Nc6 24. bxc6 bxc6 25. Qd6 Qb7 26. Rxc6+ Kd8
27. Bxd7 Qxd7 28. Qb8+ Qc8 29. Qxc8+ mate.
White to play has several good plans available here.
Opportunities to win a piece combined with picking up the exchange on d7,
leading to a strongly favourable ending seem to be there, or are they?
Or with precision can this be wrapped up before move 30?
||
23. Qb4
| Hitting on the black a5 knight in the most efficient manner.
The only other attacking option to consider was, 23. Rc1+, which is less
efficient than game, some ideas run:
(A). If, 23. Rc1+ Kd8 24. Qb8+ mate, looks fine, providing black complies.
(B). Or if, 23. Rc1+ Nc4 24. b3 Qxb5 25. bxc4 dxc4 26. Rxc4+ Kd8 27. Qb8+ mate,
but again black is complying.
(C). Or if, 23. Rc1+ Nc4 24. b3 Qxb5 25. bxc4 dxc4 26. Rxc4+ Qc6 27. Rxc6+ bxc6
28. Qd6 Rhd8 29. f7, and black must lose both rooks.
(D). Or if, 23. Rc1+ Nc4 24. b3 Qxb5 25. bxc4 Qa6 26. Kg1 d4, 27. Qxd4 Qa4 28.
Rd1 Rhd8 29. f7 Kc7 30. Bxd7, and when all pieces trade off on the d7 square
white promotes on f8.
There could of course be ideas for white involving, 23. Bxd7+ Kxd7 24. Qg4+,
and that analytical tree expands again, but white seems to have quite good
chances, the vulnerable point in the black position is the g7 square.
With the game move, 23. Qb4, white is setting up another knock-out punch.
||
23. ... Qc7
| A desperate try to grab something from a completely lost position.
Black is hoping that white gets careless and allows a queenside defence with,
24. b6, after which the h8 rook centralises, black would be fighting to win.
Moving the threatened a5 knight does not assist, some ideas run:
(A). If, 23. ... Nc4 24. Qe7 Qd8 25. Ra8+ Kc7 26. Qc5+ mate.
(B). Or if, 23. ... Nc4 24. Qe7 Qc7 25. Ra8+ Qb8 26. Qxd7+ mate.
(C). Or if, 23. ... Nc4 24. Qe7 Qxb5 25. Bxd7+ Qxd7 26. Ra8+ Kc7 27. Qxd7+ Kxd7
28. Rxh8 Ke6 29. Rxh7 Nxb2 30. Rxb7 Nc4 31. f7, and white is easily winning.
(D). Or if, 23. ... Nc4 24. Qe7 Rhd8 25. f7 Qxb5 26. Bxd7+ Rxd7 27. f8=Q+,
white has a decisive material plus of queen over knight.
(E). Or if, 23. ... Nc4 24. Qe7 Rhd8 25. f7 Qxb5 26. Bxd7+ Qxd7 27. f8=Q, white
again has a material plus of queen over knight.
White to play should be thinking of restricting the black king again.
||
24. b6
| A very important part of the attack.
When the white queen slid sideways to b4, doubly-attacking the black a5 knight,
she lost control of the h2 - b8 diagonal, giving the black king a potential c7
flight square.
But now c7 is again owned by white, the constriction of the target c8 king is
regained, and black has twin problems of attacks on the c7 queen and a5 knight.
Instead, 24. Rxa5, to be followed by, Bxd7, when the extra white pawns plus
better position should win, but searching for a quick kill is the name of the
game now.
||
24. ... Qh2
| Looks frightening, but as black does not yet have a rook on the e-file the
white king can only be pushed around.
Instead, 24. ... Qc2 25. Qxa5 Qd3+ 26. Kg1 Qa6 27. Bxd7+ Kxd7 28. Qxd5+ Kc8 29.
Rxa6, and a quick mate to follow on c7.
||
25. Rxa5
| With the threat of termination, 26. Ra8+ Qb8 27. Qc5+ Kd8 28. Rxb8+ mate.
||
25. ... Qh1+
| Defending fails, instead, 25. ... Kb8 26. Bxd7, controlling both the c8 and
e8 square, so that after, 26. ... Qh1+ 27. Ke2, black has no sensible means of
preventing white, 28. Ra8+ Kxa8 29. Qa4+ Kb8 30. Qa7+ mate.
||
26. Ke2 Re8+
| White to play and please the crowd...
||
27. Qe7
Black resigns, 1-0
| Whoever said: "Attack is the best form of defence!", is yet again proved
correct.
A multiplicity of threats arise as the white queen offers herself to further
the cause, in contrast the black queen is stranded on h1.
Pick any of the following to finish the game:
(A). If, 27. ... Red8 28. Ra8+ mate.
(B). Or if, 27. ... Kb8 28. Qxe8+ Rd8 29. Qxd8+ mate.
(C). Or if, 27. ... Rexe7+ 28. fxe7 Kb8 29. e8=Q+ Rd8 30. Qxd8+ mate.
||
* * *
## Unannotated Game.
White: V. Kupreichik.
Black: G. Timoshchenko.
Event: Russia 1968.
Result: 1-0 in 27 moves.
Opening: French Defence, Advanced Variation, Wade Variation, C02.
1. e4 e6
2. d4 d5
3. e5 c5
4. c3 Qb6
5. Nf3 Bd7
6. Na3 cxd4
7. cxd4 Nc6
8. Be2 Bb4+
9. Kf1 Be7
10. h4 f6
11. Rh3 Nh6
12. Bxh6 gxh6
13. Qd2 O-O-O
14. exf6 Bxf6
15. Nb5 e5
16. dxe5 Bxh3
17. exf6 Bg4
18. a4 Bxf3
19. Bxf3 a6
20. Qf4 axb5
21. Bg4+ Rd7
22. axb5 Na5
23. Qb4 Qc7
24. b6 Qh2
25. Rxa5 Qh1+
26. Ke2 Re8+
27. Qe7
Black resigns, 1-0
* * *
