T H E C L U BP L A Y E R ' S

LIBRARY

Trainlikea Grandmaster

ALEXANDER KOTOV
Translatedby BernardCafferty

B.T. Batsford Ltd, London

Firstpubtished
1981
Reprinted1984,1986,1990 Contents
@ AlexanderKotov,1981
ISBN0 713436093 (limp)

Typesetby
W.Turner & SonLimited, SymbolsandAcknowledgements 6
Halifax Preface 7
andPrintedin GreatBritainby 1 A littlehistory 9
Billing& SonsLtd,Worcester 2 Howthe Openingis Studied 1' ]
forthepublishers 3 Objectivity in the Ending 24
B. T. Batsford
Limited 4 Competitive or CreativeElement? za
4 Fitzhardinge
Street,LondonW1H OAH 5 Studyingthe MiddleGame 41
6 Annotating Games 63
7 A Philosophy of Chess 68
8 Schoolsof Chess 70
9 Botvinnik's ChessSchool 84
10 Kart'sChessSchool 102
11 Karseladze's ChessSchool 112
12 Withouta School 117

A BATSFORD CHESSBOOK
Adviser:GM R.D.KeeneOBE
TechnicalEditor:lan Kingston
 _=!l-F'-F_

Symbols Preface

+ Check 'What a strangestateof aifairsyou have in chessnowadays;

Goodmove remarked a friendof mine.Hedoesnot knowthefinerpointsof the
tl Very strongmove Kings Indian Defence,but he takes note of all the resultsof
; Doubtfulmove tournaments and matches.
'Whatdo you havein mind?'
?? Blunder 'AlmosteveryVearthereare reportsaboutthe emergence
Whiteto move oTa
new outstanding chess talent. In Moscow, Britain, Yugoslavia, the
B Blackto move
USAl'lt'sthe naturalprogression of the generationsl
'Progression! Yet in the Candidates' Matchesfor overa decade
Acknowledgements theeig6t'oldchallengers for theworld title have almostalwaysbeenthe
selfsame men"
'WhataboutKarpov?'
NOTE:Some minor corrections were made to the text at editonat 'Karpovhasbeenchampion for fiveyearsalready. Wherearethe
sf€ge- R.G.W. other young talents? Compared to the Candidates' seriesof 1965
the averageage of the challengers in the 1980 serieshasgoneup
by almosttwo years.Thereis no challenger youngerthanthirty,yet
o; theotherhandTigranPetrosian is already fifty-one, andsomeof
. . '
the othersare getting close to their half century.
'lt sometimes haPPens thatway
'sometimeslThenagain YefimGellerat the age of fifty-four
outplaysall the youngmenand takesthe goldmedalin the 1979
SovietChamoionship - anotherexample to youthi
We discussed thistopic.and laterI reflecteda greatdealtryingto
answera question whichtroublesthe chessorganisations of many
countries.Aecentlyin Moscowtherewasa gatheringof experienced
grandmastersand young talentedplayers.There were notes of
alarm soundedin the speechesof famouschessexpertssucfi as
grandmasters Smyslov,Polugayevsky, Taimanovand-othersEven
5arlier, serious claimswereexpressed in an articleby Petrosian We
shallget to know his interesting thoughts later, but herewe can
givea resum6:'lt is easyto playagainstthe youngplayers; lor me
theyarean openbooki
What are the reasonsfor the slowingdown in the development
 -.-....-tr-

I Preface
of younggrandmasters both in our countryand in others?The
authorcameto the conclusion that an answercan onlv be oiven
aftera carefulanalysis of the presentstateof chesstheory.Ho-wdo
we play?Whatis the foundation of modernchess? What plavsthe
leadingrolein our creative efforts?Whatarethe chiefprinciples of
modernchesstheory?
My latefriendand trainer,grandmaster Simagin,usedto stress A littlehistory
the needto discussthe philosophy of presentdav chess,how for 1
example \^€ regardthe advantage of Whjtemovingfirst,whatare
the mainguidelinesfor our research work.
Theauthorhasto overcome somediffidence in tacklinothismost
difficulttopic,in tryingto filla gap left by theoreticians:I console
myselfwith the thoughtthatthe traveller who penetrates the thick Chessplayers who devotetheirtimeto the greatandancientgame
forestmayhavea sadfate,but no worsethanthat of the irresolute can be dividedinto two basiccategories. The firstsimplyplayin
who hesitate at thefirstclearing tournaments appropnate to theirstrength.The secondtry to find
In examining thecurrentstateof chessthe authorhasno choice somephilosophical sensein chess,to createchesstheory,whichin
but to copewith anothertask- to talkaboutmodernmethodsof our dayshasbecomea genuinescience. The first becomeworld
chesscoaching,and naturallyof the modernSovietSchoolof championsand leadinggrandmasters, the winnersof top tour-
Chess. lt canhardlybedeniedthatmodernchessisto a considerable naments. Thesecondwritebookson thetheoryof thethreestages
extentSovietchess.By a carefulexamination of chesscoachinqin of the game.Sometimes leadirigf igurescombinebothactivities and
the USSRthe Westernplayercan learna lot,and useit in hisoiwn thenwe getan outstanding personin the worldof chess.
attemptsto improve.For examplehow usefulit is to become Thefirst guidingprinciples of chesstheorywerediscovered by
famlliarwith the organisation and teachingmethodsof Botvinnik's the inventorsof openingsand gambits.Amongsttheseprinciples
famousschool,the SovietTV schoolandothers. the best established is the simplestone: bring out your pieces
quickly,seizefie centreand go for the enemyking with all your
Thuswe getthe mainaimof thisbook: forces.Such 'blitzkrieg'aimsare servedby the EvansGambit,the
To describethe featuresof the modernattitudeto chess,as DanishGambit,the KingsGambitand others.Evennowadays the
largelyworked out by the Soviet School,to try and revealtne seizureof the centreand speedypiecedevelopment area corner-
philosophy of modernchess,andto indicatehowchessisstudiedrn stoneof modernstrategy.
the strongest of the Schoolsof Chess- the SovietSchool. And16Philidor drewattention to yetanotherimportant postulate
ln the lightof thistheauthorhasdividedthe bookintotwo basrc 'Thepawnisthe soulof chess'he stated,andeverybody concurred
parts: in devotingcarefulstudyto pawnchains,the isolated centrepawn
1 How chess theory is studied. andtheweakness of a groupof pawns.
2 Chess schools in the Soviet Union. A significantevent in the developmentof theory was the
teachingof WilhelmSteinitzwith his stresson avoidingweak
squares,the accumulation of temporary.slightadvantages and
their transformation into permanentones. With the arrivalof
theorybecamea realforce;hewasthe onewho originated
Steinitz
aooroach
the scientrfic to chesswhichis now so welldeveloped.
The proponentsof Steinitz'stheory - Tarraschand his
supporters- tried to expressSteinitz's teachingin the form of
laconicrules,andasoftenhappens in suchcases, theywenttoo far.
The laconictendedto become dogmatic, and chess beganto lose
itsfreshness, andcharm.
originality
Theyoungof that timeroseup againstthis.In the earlypartof
the 20th centuryNimzowitsch and R6tiin theirpolemicbooksand
10 A little history
articlesand Alekhinein his practicalplaystartedpropagandising
moreand morethe creativeprinciples to be foundevenearlierin
the gamesof Chigorin. Theirmainpostulates were:Getawayfrom
dogma,playinventively, evenoriginally, andas Blackdo not go for
equality, astheTarrasch schooltaught,but fromthefirstmovestry
to createyourown planof counterplay.Theseaims,an immediate
counterattackby pieceson a seemingly impregnable pawncentre, 2 H o w t h e O p e n i n gi s S t u d i e d
were servedby the inventionof their openings- the Alekhine
Defence, the Gr0nfeldDefence, the Nimzowitsch Defenceand so
on.
Morethan halfa centuryhasgoneby sincethe appearance of
R6ti'sModern ldeas in Chessand Nimzowitsch'sMy Systemin
whichthe principles How do presentday grandmasters playthe first stageof the game?
of theseinnovators are laiddown (theycalled
themselves the hypermoderns). Sincethenchesshasgrownintoa What principlesdo they follow?lf we can answerthesequestlons
massively-popular artandthenumberof chessbooksandmagazines we shallmakerealprogress in understanding allmoderntheory.
in the variouslanguages of the worldcannotbe counted.Yetyou Firstof all the advantageof the first move- Chessexpertswho
will look in vain on the bookshelves for a work devotedto qeneral seemto allegethatWhitehasno advanbgein theinitialposition are
questionsof chessdevelopment. for an accountof thd main wrong.Evenin quick-moving sportsthe startingsidenearlyalwavs
postulatesof modern chessthought. The bookshelves are piled hass6meadvantage, evenif veryslight- for example the rightto
high insteadwith bookson the openings, serveat tennis,or to bully off in hockey. In chess lt ls always
tournamentbooksand
biographies of the greatplayers. preferable to be White.The questionthen ariseswhat sort.of
In thisbookwe try to dealwith a numberof importantpointsof strategicplanBlackshouldchoosein an attemptto neutrallse the
modern chesstheory. What is chessnowadays?How is theory "lt to movefirst and to seizethe initiative.
right
studiedby a leading school? Howaremodernviewson thisancient standsto reasonthatthe methodsof playfor Whiteand Black
gameformed?The readerwill alsolearnhow a generaltheoryof in the initialoositionare different,so we shallconsiderthem
chessdevelopsand how the theoryof the threestagesof the game separately.
is studiedin the SovietUnion.
White
Threemaincurrentsof thoughtmaybe distinguished in the mlnd
of a moderngrandmaster playingWhitein a tournament-.game:
1)Themethodof quietmaintenance ol lrrstmove
of theadvantage
swift strike.
2) The methodof the 'coiled
3) Themethodof the spring:

1) In caseswhena grandmaster doesnothaveto winat allcostshe

tendsto avoidsharalinesin the openingandsticksio clearsensible
lines.Thismethodis alsoadoptedwhenthe opponentis a definite
protagonist of sharpplayand it is advantageous to'keep him in
check:
Thecharacteristics of quletplayareobvious- pawnexcnanges'
the formationof rigidpawnstructures. White'saimis simple- the
maintenance of th-oseadmittedlysllghtbenefitsconferredby the
natureof chessin beingWhite.lam not aimingfor too much,but
what I haveI hold is White'smotto as t were
Examples of suchplaywith Whiteare manyformations of the
Carlsbadvariationof ihe Oueen'sGambit Declined(Diagram 1), the
12 How the Openingis Studied White 13

SlavDefence,
the Caro-Kann
andso on. hereis apparentsiucejust otreincautiouspawnadvanceby Black
"'/z.xg,E atrdWhite'spieceswill great
uncoilwith forceandinflictdamageon
t2 ',.& the erremy.
Examine the gamesof recelttyears.Youwillfind apparentslow
2t"'../1,
'.:L2.,
play by White in a Kingslrldianopenlrlg.
7i/Z
''&.
t "ilat& 3
% "&t
t ^&a%i.,x
'"&t%
2
%"'.2'ut'//h
It is peaceful
in the centre,comparatjvely peaceful
on the flanks. 7 %t%6ru
Thesmoothness
lines.theabsence
of the pawnchains,the limitedavailabiliw
of a directclashis evident:
of open t'&ft' /&a
Sucha methodof playcomesfrom the previouscentury,and
onemightmakethemusical comparison thatsuchpositions
arenot Yet this slownessis deceptive, sinceWhite'sbunchedpieces
the shakeandthe twist,but ratherthe monotonous waltz,or even often unrolland developarl activitythat can bringWhitearrearly
the minuetof chess. win. Orrecanoulyadvisethe readerto be particularlycarefulwhen
hisopponentdevelops hisforcesalongthelirresof a coiledspring.'
2) A sharpcomparisonis providedby the methodof the swift
strike,of brisk'cavalry
raidslThismethodtoo waswidelvadopted Black
in the old days,and keepsits placenowadays. Who will express The advantageof the first moveby his opponentforcesBlackto
surprisenowadays at the sharppawnadvanceg2-94-g5and even adoptratherdifferentapproaches to the opening.Onedistrllguishes
on to 96?lt occursin the SicilianDefence1 e4 c5 2 lf3 d6 3 d4 in modernpraxisthreemethodsfor Black.
cd 4 axd4lf6 5 lc3 e6 6 s4!? 1) Playfor equality.
2) Themethodof carryingout an irldeper]derltplarr'
3) Thecoiledspring method.
t7:.,
'1,11 i"/&
tui ,
',:1.:aa.
'1
) We have alreadynoted that ill the olden days White often
2 2 proceededquietlystrivirrgto maitrtainthe advantageof the move
just as calmlytryingto keep
2 ?) Jl7t
//al
Blackin thosedaysusedto matroeuvre
2)
A A
,)."<(
z Thisis easilyunderstandable
todaytoo at the highestlevel.
it level.Thisancientmethodis applied
sinceBlackdoesnot haveto go for a
win in everygame,often beirrgsatisfiedwith a draw. lrl suchcases
one hasthe OGOwitn Capablallca's simplifying manoeuwe( . '
Havewe not seensuchearlystrikesIn gamesby Botvinnik in the d5Xc4 and Af6-d5) or Defence
Lasker's in the sameopenrtrg
Carlsbadvariation of the OGDand in the Caro-Kann? Othertvpical The same purposetends to be servedby the Oueensh.ldian
attemptsto breachthe defensive ramparts at an earlystagearethe
bishopsacrifice ' Translators Nate ;
AflXb5 in the Sicilian
and variousintuitivekniqht
sacrifices
in the sameopeningsuchas Ac3-d5 or {d4J5 (witha PetrosEnPachman,Bled 1961 is a partcularly
blackpawnat e6). slnKrnaelar|ple I ff 3 c5 2 93 - c6 3 Jg2 96 a
O O-gq7 5d3e6 6e4 Aqe77 Ee I GO8e5d6 9ed
12-U1&bq
g r a 6 t o ) b o z { 9 c l ' 1 r r b 3 lrd 4 ?
3) Sometimesgrandmasterswilldecideto avoidthe deeplv-studied t g , e 5 l o 3 l a l c 4 l g b 5 1 5d b a 5 6 A d 6
booklinesby usinga methodthat remindsone of a coiledsprrng. 5ft17 t!43 &a7 lseedtaaam/ 18 He4 t18
They makejust one pawn advanceto the centrefianchetto s1'6+ r' gxt6-r9 '9
ae5- €)g5 20 Ag/ lorces
the ;atc) 18 :ldg gt '{6+r g'f6 20 Aes+
bishopsand allowthe opponentto occupythe centre.The calm gss 21As7 1o.
14 How the Openingis Studied Black 15

^&
'w &t I
"'/l:z;
'/l:,,t "'//./lt
",iy.
i
% %i t 7t"..&,ft& 7t
i , 6 .././Z
%t % % 7*
%,t<.t &,4 7 ta./: fr"'////7
% :,/.1,,q l t /../,i,
ru + /,&,"/l /.N.
+&
t-I

Defencetoo. shouldnote that this methodis most trequerrtly adoptedby the

Suchopeninglinesarealsousedfor psychological reasons. lf our playersof the oldergerreratiorr. Theyare experienced arrdcareful
is
opponent a confirmed supporterof combinational attacksartd is and do not go beyondthe line bety/eenvoluntaryand forced
it paysto givehimthe
easilyinducedto go irrfor dubioussacrifices passivity. Alsothismethodis oftencausedbytheirlackof familiarity
opportunity to attackformationsso soundthat he will stubhistoe with 'the very latestword in theoryl
againstthem.Sucha methodhasalwaysbeenadvisable and will Openings of thissort arethe variousformsof the PircDefence,
continueto be so. arrdthe KingsIndianDeferrce the wing play . . a6,
involving
c 6 , . . . E a b S a n d .. b 5 .
2) Thismethodwas first adoptedby Chigorin,developed by the Thenexttwo diagrams showtypicalsituations
whichthenarise.
hypermoderns and haslostits air of noveltyso widelyis it practiced
nowadays.Black simply pays no attentiollto the advantage
conferredby the moveand doesnot striveto equalise. t7#.
His objectiveis to carryout his own planof activeplayby his
piecesand force his opponentto adopt measuresto repulsethe zt %iry q.xi7.4t
threatsso generated. Thisin itselfshouldtakecareof the problem t7 t% %,
Thepopularity
of equalising. of the methodamor'rgst contemporary 7 tt<. %^ru,2 /lz
grandmasters is explained by psychological considerations: Black fr%
gets out of beirrgunderconstraint, acts independently
partlyigrrorewhat his opponentis doing.Such independence
and can
is
ffifr vzt&
highlyvaluedin modernchess.
Moderrrtheory notestwo typesof independentplan.The first is Letus moveon to openingquestions fromanotherpointof view
to counter-attack White'spawncentreas in the GrunfeldDeferrce, and in particular
how openings arestudiedin the SovietUnion.
theAlekhineDeferrce. the Nimzo-lrrdianandso or'r.Thesecondisto Thiswork involvesexperienced players, andthroughthenetwork
work indeoerrdentlv orr the flankand is bestseenirrthe Siciliarr of magazines bringsin theordinaryplayertoo in thesearchfor new
Defence, especially whenBlackgoes. . . a6 arrd. . . b5,andin the moves,new systems,new ideas.
ModernBenorriDefencewherethe samemovesirrvolve a pawn The searchfor rrew moveshas alwaysbeengoingon, when
sacrificeby Blackirr the BenkoGambitarrdthe Benoni.Such preparingfor games,at the board,in mutualar.lalysis with the
featuresareseenin Diagrams 5 and6. opponentafterthe gamearrdirrsubsequerrt analysisat home.lt is
oftenthe casethat a movelongheldto be strongestis laterrelected
3) lf the coiledspringmethodbringsbenefitto White then this in favourof another.Thisis a processthathasno errd,an irrevitable
ratherequivocalmethodcan buildup poterrtial energyfor Black processirrthe ongoingdevelopment of chesstheory.
but the risksinvolvedhaveto be clearly
too. lt can be successful, Theory.however,contair'ls manyvariations in whichthe initial
bonrein mind. moveshavebeencheckedthroughso frequently that it hasbeen
By goingin for volunbrypassiVty in the hopeof a subsequent shown that deviationsat the earlierstagesare definitelynot
counter-stroke Blackmay exceedthe boundsof the feasibleand As a resulttheywill be playedout with machinegun
advar.rtageous.
firrishup irra crampedposition
with no remedyfor the cramp.One -likespeedin grandmaster games.For example somevariations of
 -

16 How the Opning is Studied Black | 7

the Chigorinsystemfor Blackin the Ruy Lopez,and of the ooen onlvaftermarryhoursof study Strikingplaynow follows:
systemof defence(5 AXe4) havebeerrworkedout almost 18 . . . ab! 19 Axbs+ A-cG20 9f3
twentv movesdeeo.
Therearesimilarlonglinesin the 8 . . . gXb2 Poisoned Pawn 'rlztlft
lineof the Najdorfdefenceirrthe Sicilian (seediagram14),and in
the Panov-Botvinnik Atbck againsttheCaro-Kann. t%
'r&
Letus takeau example of the development of a longfoicingline 7
in the Siciliarr
Defence. 7:r..
After1e4c52lf3d63d4cxd44lxd4 l f 6 5 N c 3 a 66
AS5 e6 7 f4, Polugayevsky suggested the move7 ... b5. The 7)87../lz'
ramifications of the linehavebeenworkedout irrdepthand have 2t
Iedto the adoptionof the namethe Polugayevsky Variation. In fact
thereis an immenseamountof literature on the subjectcoveritrg 20 ... ab3+l! A phetromenal blow.21 cb Axbs withcheck
variousbooksand manymagazirre articles leaves Blac[a pieceup so preferred
Gr0rrfeld to movehiskingwith
Themainline,of course,arisesfromtheenerqetic corrtinuatlong thesequel 21 &b1 6a5 22 Ed4 trc823 [ed1 9524$xc5+
e5 de 9 fe arrdrrowtheflextble courrter9 . 8c7 gxc6 25 gd3 Ae7 26 Qel O-OandBlack's extrapiecesoonled
Variousattemptshavebeenmadeat the hiqhestlevelto refute to a win.
Black'srisky-looking play. 10 lf3 was triedl when Btackoets The grandeurof Polugayevsky's cotlceptbecomesappaTerlt r11
sat,sfactoryplay by 10 . . . b4. After that most attentionivas the line;hich he pointedout straightawayafterthe game:2 1 ab
devotedto Simagin's move1O$e2 andfor a lor.lgtimeit washeto Ha1+ 22 €d2 g'd7+ 23 Se3 ScS+ 2a @14g5+ 25 €g3
thatthiswasWhite'sstrongest colttinuatiot.r. elle losing.as th-e!e1*)r.can
lr'rvariouseventsWhitetendedto scorequickwirrswrththisand I xat tl tne ontyhove,every'thing gf6
8'n""itor"himseli26 Axco Ex;1 27 AxdT+ €i8 28
otherlitlesinvolving10 ef, but fromtimeto timethe supporters
the variationas Blackshowedthat the suggested
of He3+ 29 &12 E xe5t3o €743[e3+ 3 1€f2 trea+ 32 €g3
improvements Ad6+ 33 €h3 Er.ha T9]9-
were not too formidablefor White.The processof r*assessment
carried.or't with it remaining ur.tclearwhatwasWhite,sbest. /o
_ r ne taresrdevetopments came in 1979.In the USSRSpartakiad 7/:A i 7/,;
of that yearthe questionof first placewas decidedin the match 7,2,,1A
betweenthe Ukraineand the RSFSR.polugayevsky adoptedhis
5

;/L; ',,:&
lrneexpectinghis opponentBelyavsky to adopt 10 $e2, but ...&7//.::,"'/..ttt
instead the grandmaster from Lvovcontirrued 1Oef *eS 1 I A e2 * 7r,/:,' .//,1
5tXgS 12 O-OEe5 and rrow13 Af3. './.N '',.1t
'Thismove
., game and the subsequent planwas specially prepared for t7/t n
lhe with Polugayevsky' writes Belyavsky. Theqame
-AfsSwenton
13.. . .. i"9.1 14 €h1 E,xf6 1s )e4 E/e7 t6 O-O17 You mustconcedethat this is a fineexampleof the methodof
?_)xtl! and Whttereafised his positiorral advantage withouttoo studyingan openingby mearrsof ever deeperpetletration- irrto
muchtrouble. ihis exampleshowsthe great practicalbeneiitof
forcino"lines.
leter_thatyear Polugayevsky ot]ceagainadoptedhis variation prepa;ngbeforea tournamerrt, or just beforea game Therearea
againstGrL.infeld in the Rigalnterzonal. Hewasexpecting € newline nrmb"t 6f casesitrchess historyof a gamebeitrgwotrwithoutany
lrom nrsopponer'tt, butgot in firstwith hisown inuovation involvino real play.The researcher amazed his oppoller]twlth a new move
a remarkable tacticalstrokefoundby the lvloscowgrandmaster ii ai',a*oi with it. Thisis easilyurrderstood sirrcethe
psychologically
the quietof hisstudy. effectof arrurrexpected in the opening
ir]r'lovatiorr is wellknown'
The game went 10 8e2 6fd7 1 1 O-GO4\c6 12 4t xc6 io*"u"r suchatrapproach to the openinghasits negative side
E{g h6 14Ah4 Ab7 151f,e2s'c7 16 trhef)cs
ts_x":919
17
too. The frequertt use of forcing lir'les
becomes krlowrr to vour
€rh3 b4 18 Ab5!7 oDDoner]ts.Thev remember yoLl' favourite lilles alld
rll tnelT ttlrr'l
This movemeetswith a refutationof the sort that can be found prepare convincing rejortrders.As a result the hunter ot today may
 18 How the Openingis Studied Black t9
wellbecomethe preyof tomorrow.arrdVoumavfallvictimto such gc2 d5 variation Deferrce
irrthe Nimzo-lndian //6/.
a lightningstrokeasyou havebeenaccustomed to w ] bv.
So the playerwho goesin for forcingvarrations E,AAg. ....frt o
hasto be botd
and confidentin himself,and mostof all mustconstantly work at
15
t*h7zt/,L '&,t':e,
7:.2;.;
theory.Therearesuchplayers who havecontributed manylinesto 7t7l,,t'fi, 7,2. ,'..,/.
,t..,tt
t^
the Ruy Lopez, the Slav Defence.the Tarrasch Defence,tne 'a/t
77tz, 7. '/tt t /1,2.,
7tia.&
7t"'.&ft':&, ';l
Oueen'sGambitAccepted,the King'sIndianDefer]ce and other '/fu,a7t
7z::t- 7.' 'tlV
open[]gs. '/zl 71.2826''//,.. "//,,, ' 't;l:
As eachtourrrament goesby theselinesbecomemorecompli- 7
cated,and likean oil drill borirrgeverdeeperinto the geological t',&.t'l& ,&ft'/t
"'/t:;l ^t&Wz
2t l!
stratachessthoughtpenetrates ever deeperinto the unknowr]. ib\7../.2,?H
Suchstudy,we r]ote,is |rot rrew.Onceagainwe havetakenit over Oftengrandmaster gameswill reachsuchpositions afterotrlya
from greatfiguresof the past,o'tlytheiranalyses dealtwith other few play
mirrules and then the playerswill settle down for a long
openings suchasthe GiuocoPiarro andthe Kinq'sGambit. think.Sometimes thereis a jokemadeto the judgethat he should
By analogywith the linesjustdescribedthere-aremanvstandard
positions set up the positiorrotr the boardwithoutfurtheradoas the actual
knownwhichdo rrotarisefromforcingvariations but into starting pointof the game.
which the modernplayerwill regularlyentei without any real lf we concedethat the threemethodsof playin the opelllllgwere
thought.Examples are the next two diagramsarisingfrom the employedas earlyas the 19th centurythe methodof looking
Nimzelndian and King'slndianDefences. forwardfromthe openingto plansconnected with middlegameor
even endgamestagesmust be considered an irrvention of the
11
A ',.&
presenttime.
&./z^ /2i t "'.& Themoderrrgrar.tdmaster doesnot confinehimself to tryingfor a
%ix 2 %t good build-upin the opening,his far-seeing glancelooksforward
7,,.rr& ,.2 ftl&t7 fntothe middlegameatrdeventheending.In plantring
pieces pawris in the later
the layoutof
stages o{ the
and he anticipates hisactions
%. % t7 t
2 a2 /z oame.
-
To lookrightto the endingfromtheoperrirrg mustbecollsidered
ft#. /&. 7,4&fr a rare phenomenon. There is Tarrasch's well klrownaphorlsm
waltHrg, 'betweenopeningarrd endingthe gods have madethe middle
game:Yetthe envisaging at sucharlearlystagemust
of the endirrg
_ Thesepositions are takerras the startingpointby theoreticians surelybe a methodof thefuturewherltechrrique ascends to a new
for their further researches. Thereare qiriiea numberof such more
positions(tabiyato usetheArabwordto describe levelof achievement arrdthe mindof a grandmaster becomes
themjr.tat.lcient developed andfar reaching. We canalready quote some examples
chess-_'battle array').For example.one may quote various
positions of thisforesightlookingtowardsthe elrding.
from the ChrgorinSystemin the Ruy Lopez(13),ot the ln Karpov-Browne, SanAntonio,1972andafterthe moves1 c4
l-OlSOlledPawr] Variatior] in the Sicrlian/ /4/.
c5 2 b3 Af6 3 Ab2 g6?
'''/..,/.'
- '. -J!-..////./. .zE , 17
I J
g /&t'Lt'.., 14
t& .'xt
77,,, t7z
.,:. ''L,'1A ./t".::
t;...,,. %
i.*
""/:/, ..&ft/r '/./,12 /& %2,a,l,
"." ,& z\7r.tfr + /,/lt 72,
..ftft /:..2: 7.:/ 7L::7:,,
'/.ft.ft
ft .fu.A.,:.,:
or the star]dardmain line position r the Caro-Kar'l')
(15). or the 4
 20 How the Opening is Studied Black
White unexpectedly played4 AXf6 ef. How can one explainthe
excnangeot what is normallya strong bishop for a kniqht?
calculationis simpte: White gets totai control *";
The ./t glt t../.&,
t&i
Jb %;i; .""
use€ g-srde pawn superiorityin the ending.By accurate .,fr t & a7 f f i i ' . / t
:l?lt1".l
wortd champion managed to expioit these & a&, tl 2 7/2 ?
l]:y_ T: 9oT'nS.
xt'"'/t:'.'.
c','t"l'?:i[:3]'8?;l:%i3E::?;,o,'f.*K,g??Aji3 ,/ Lz)
A, 't 2 t 2 ,:/,,
+ +
I\A

N
+ '/l/zd& ,/t&lL
JI
l^9 sas 14 f,fdl EabsG
Fd2 .,./;rL.Zt aas sxuzTe n'x-d z-ano +J&
.4i

vvnrTewoft the endgame wjthout too much trouble.

.A srgntftcar]t
game is petrosian-Botvinnikfrom the 1963 world
.4t Hr;.:
titlematch.After1 c4 96 2 d4 3 lc3 aS a-afg Hgi7'!"e3 Sincethat time the key positrorl,most often arisil'lgfrom the
-_Af6
9^o 9 ;.".2 dc 7 [x {4 c5 8 d5 e6,WhitewentE a;gl jr + EnglishOperring,has beenstudiediniensively by Sovietplayers,
1O€)Ydl Axe6 t 1 A xe6 fe. advice,who alsosoughtthe bestmethodof
followingBotvinnik's
playagainstthe pawn'cliff'in the cerltre.The bestmethodis to
18 of the pawns- theoneat e4 (eb).
t
"/./z A r undermine the mostformidable
KotovFurman,USSRCh 1948went 1 c4 6)t6 2 Nc.3 c5 3 93
/lr:.t,8t d5 4 cd AxdS 5 Ag2 4lba 6 Af3 6c6 7 O-Oe5 8 d3 Se7 9
'//tttt"
7tfu"..rt7/
Ad2 hd4 10 Ac4 f6

a ra, 21
t ' ",.//,/,r.
i 2 "t'./r.t,r.&. t
tf .tt 7 .,.i "'t/'/t'
Petrosian,relates ^ '"'/:a..,
,, 1"."-,",,
c , o r e r that r r preparrng
u r d Lin
tney assessedthe diagrampositiorras
I J r e p a T l l grthts posittorr
nts p o s l t r o r .wjih
'atmostw
tlth his trainer
*on, lrot
noi"in"
:AAx
,\A
7r/,,,'
*If,. "b.^v
r.ishd"d; one 7:2,,
.,.,&
l:ll9:*R:l
practrce :"1,
Whire lyl thesptittrrris
exptcted
"6,.;;;irnuij
ot Er"cii;;;;;;;i;"il;""
"X'il ,.fu '"'/:.,t',
n
rslands. '/,/r.'tTI
On"
-,
occurred T.r.l. note that if playingfor a. wirrg pawn superiority arrdrrowl 1 f4! underminirrg thecentre.After11 . . ef 12 gf 0-0
in the past- rn oartjcutirEm.Laskei;;; i" J;;;,g" 13 a3 Aec6 14 e3 Adfs 15 Ads+ Whitehadfullcontrolof the
onc6 irrthe BuyLopezInorderto get an "*ti" p.*n
- yet ptayingfor rne opponer.rt i,'lir.r" Eilsiae cer'rtre.
Il^lT.:']_d]iq to have,jstands, rs Onecanfind matrysuchexamples of the openirrg/middle game
creaflya productof our davs. games,and the sameappliesto KarpovThusin
linkin Botvinnik's
_-Playing the,opening with the middlegamein mindis a powerful the RuvLooezhe hasoftenscoredcomparatively easyvictoriesby
weapon in the hands of modern giandmasters. orrbothflanksandinthe
repres€ntatives Tne ieading thesameplanof suffocating theoppolrent
of the scientific planniigstyle,.r"i "rr, Loi)ii,.rr cer'rtre.
and Karpov,have demonstrated impr:essive how
strategy.
u"urpf". ?".ran lam often askedorr my travelsto differentcour'ltrles
|I ""lu oJten,both as Whiteand Btack.usedthe operrings arestudiedin the SovietUtrionatrdwhetherit is truethat
,^-?_o^Y1ll oawrr compuiersare usedin systematising researchor.lopenir.lgs Then
Tormatror't seerrirrhisgamewith Lisitsin in the Vosco* l,ltenia[i,,raf question, matry card-indexfiles on
tounramer'rt againlam often posed the how
oI 1935.-(/ 9) operrirrgsthere are in the USSR.
manouevres clearlyplanneol.t advancehe exploited on which these
- ,With this lcan say straightaway that the irrformation
:9y.:ill1g";Jh9f the stratesy wasrepeated in tnu .are JuJniJr ir.l" questior'rs are based is exaggerated.We do not yet have,
null y"gf rhlstimeas Whrieagairsittl;ent"a rbo) Thereis a cardirrdexir'lthe
l U - r t h e b o a r d rround unfortur]ately,anyopenit'tg computers.
tooIuoll !h-e_ ?oard o u r r d aard
Botv I t rk won elegar]ly.
, r d tt6e pawn
he o a w n lto.ry.tat,or.r
o r m a t r a r r,is
, rder,:rcat.
Here CentralChessClub in Moscow, but its scope,to my mind,is clearly
inadequate.
 -

22 How the Openingis Studied Black 23

The study_of openingsin the USSB is mainlyan indjviduar How do grandmasters and mastersstudyopenings? How many
undenakrng. We publishvariousmonographs olr individual
openrngs ^.ot inot an-dsvstems doesoneneedto know?Thisremindsmeof
and maltymagazine yet them-airr
artjcles, 'reservoir oi my student days when the same questionwas
ot innovations. irio.ais"outes
rs strlll(eptsecret- jn [-e homesof the leadjnqqrandmasters. ooieAiUout our professiotral studies.The final conclusion is the
Theseinnovations - 'You haveto know
are discovered in therrhomei"i"ir.f, .nJ "t Ine oorro*eo from the wisdom of old
trajningget-togethers. Sometimes they are the discoveiyof one Jverything aboutsomething, anda littleabouteverything lApplied
man,sometimes of a orouo. io tness t-nisaOvicemeansihat you have to know everything about
and alsoknow
. Corrstderablehelpi"s given by the hundredsof thousandsof if'Jopenings which you are goingto use regularlv,
in mtnd
chesstanswho sendthetrideasto a chessmagazine or stratqht to a ii.i" qbnetriioeat behrnd allt6e openings One has to bear
grandmaster. Sometimes thesediscovenes a"reremartaUiS. inat"praxis can come up with some strange things,and you cannot
ifrrs
for a.longtimethe knightsacrifice madeUVAfetfrinein nriieturn ouarantee that you will not suddenly comeup agalnstan openlng
matchwtth Euwe,1937,wasconsidered to be correct:_
-- 1 d4 ds ihat you havergnored and not studied.
2 c4 c6 3 lc3 dc 4 e4 e5 S Axc4 ed S at3. 'Everygreatmaster
Thatleading luthority Botvinnik haswritten
will find it usefulto havehis own theoryon the openings, which
22 only he himselfknows,a theorywhich closelyis linked with plans
:tz %i'& for the middle game:
Zt7.z, %
% % . %
72A1&
',*? t%
',..,&, %a:'./z
2_1
% ,&ft
untit-the
amateuiIrGoiihSi6vldt hs anatysis
showing
In:].1*
by dc7 AyrT+ €e7 8 gb3 cblreb"kt.i,il i"i;iE
llul 9.
AteKntnes ldea.
Suchexamples couldbe multiplied
andtheyshowthat research
in the USSBrs conductedby a whotearrv oi-*Lir_quarltiJj1r,,..
yer rne marnresearchers must be considered the leadinqqrand_
ma_sters,who canbe classitiedintovariousgroups.
Firstof all
,
Know .onemust pointto the greatiheoiistswho knewor
everythtng(or more accuratelynearlyeverything)that
appearedin openingarticlesin all the world,schess'magizi;es,
followedup everyinnovrtionin gamestneytaw, *J""l"ri"oi,
an rmmense .'ii iio
amountof privatestudyon theirown or with a few
closefriends.
_ ThesetheoristswereVsevolodRauzer,lsaakBojeslavsky. Semvon
FurmanandVtadimir Simagin.No,,mdays our rea-d;idiilr[il;;ih"
openingis YefimGeller.All-theseprayersvreredeepthankers
'"irjiii-""'
whose
significance is a product of their greai irre"i
knowledge. ,]"r0
Thentherearethoseplayerswho havecontributed to proqress
, reTatntng
oy Inthetrmemoryeverything valuablethat hasaooeireo
so raT,tnpnntor rnactualgames.As examples of these,comouter
mrnos we may quoteyevgenyVasyukov.yuri Balashov, bavid
Bronstein, MarkTaimanov a-ndieveratot tne youn! ge,,eiiii;:'
 --tF--

'AlmostCertain Wins' 25
in rook
2) Four pawnsagainstthree orl one sideoi the board
endings.
bishop
with krrrghtagairrst
Sl n |.;ng"of positrons
A qreatdealol work rn analysing and syslernatising. engames
*rr Suiii"Oout in the multiple volume set of books by Soviet
of Averbakh This is being carTled on
3 O b j e c t i v i t yi n t h e E n d i n g wiitersunde,the editorship
,nJJ *unt to draw particular
attention to the significantcontribution
;;" i; t'h; understanding of opposite-coloured endgames made
bv worldchampionKarpovin
"'One hisremarkable games'
of tf,e mainfeatureso{ endgamequestions in the research
oi Soviet players is the proof that the endgame ls not an
The concludingpart of the gameis the moststableof the three inO"p""J""i iiage out is drrectlvlinkedwith the mrddle gameand
grand'naster at some poirltin
stages.rhemarnmethodsof playln theendgame varylitflewiththe ""i,i*im in" "d"ning.The modern
passage of time,so the grandmasters the earlierstagesoften establishesthat the qulckest way to vlcrorv
use the methods,on the is a curious
whote,ot the past,andthe samewillapplyIn the future. is i ierres ot eicf'anges so asto go for the ending Here
'1979SovietSpartakiad
What doeschangewith time is the technicalarmamentof an example' from the
irrdividual,
hisknowtedge of thewaysto achieve victoryin a varjety Karpov-Lutikov, CentreCounter
of elemerrtary
endrngs andplansfor exploitjng 1 e4 d5 2 ea g,ias 3 Aca grd6 4 d4 A16 5 !f3 96-Ae3
ad\€ntagetn typical
complicated ones.We drawattention to theaahievemerits of Soviet aio z eaZ AsZ 8 As5;5 e d5 Ab4 10 13Ar5 11 lge4
researchersin thisfieldwhileincluding
the work doneby Western *d7
= 120-o-o
analysts. the basisof
eb.k n1i obviouslvplayedthe openingignoring
theoiy.not iustfalling'b;hind but,,more,
in developmerrt important'
'Computer his forcis badly, wrthoutsystem Now there is the
Endgames' hui tjio oui
Thisheading compris€sthoseendings simplethreat13 a3 and Blackhasto letthe centre become operl
wherethemeansof forcrng
a win or achieving a drawhavebeenestablished'to whichalwaystavoLlrs the betterdeveloped side
theveryend'so
thattheycouldbe put,if required, intoa computerprogramme. lt is i - C . . . - t - s r g d c E x d 2 - 1 4 A t d 2 ' ! > e 4'11 5 .'jxx e 4
noteworthythat jn somecasescomputershaveactuall-y beenused :\ x c6 lt worrldbe evenworseto play 15 N > e4 6 fe 66
in determining the outcomeof certainendings,for examplethe fi o Lal and f7 comesL,rlder pressurewhlleBlack's klngcarlrlot
endingqueenandNPagainst queen. qo f,*av irom the cerltreTherewouldalsobe anotl"er'srmpler'
Here is the list: i"u" oi tLtrt,'to 15 . . a,re4, namelythe intermediate move 16
'l "ormation' would collapse
) Two kniqhtsaqainstoawn. cb when Black;s
2) Bishopand RP-aoa'nst pa*n 16 Axf6+ sf 17 -Sd3!
3) P€wnendingsrnvolvrng 'conjugate
squares:
4, uueenandpawnaqatnslqueen. 23 ,r.,./.,/.4
5) Rookandpawnaqainstrook. lll':.t^
, t t r;./.'.,.
6) Bishop andpawnlgainstbishop. A',,';,
t../:.'/;, ,l
'L //:::t:.,.
7) Knightandpawnagarnst kn,ghi. .7"....
'1"/.t:, '/t;:: 'l':..'
u) Hookano otshopagatnstrook
Of coursethe numberof such computerendingswill keep
t
'/:zal&
z:t:z; frt'22..,.
increasing astimegoeson. + + lA H ',../,,t'""e.
'r'rlt
Almost Certain Wins'
Theoreticalanalyseshave establishedpretty accuratelythe A fineresolution in.thecentre
ot-lnepost,onf ne whltesquares
(win,sometimes
out_come draw)in thesepositions: una'on itseligfjl:T-
ir',.g iia" aiewejkanda bi'nopestablishes
1)RP+BPwithonerookeach. demands
and
The static black Pawn massin the cerltreis useless
 26 Objectivityin the Ending Transpositionto the middtegame from the opening 27

constantdefence.Karpovmakesthe simpleaccurateolan of How doesone studysuchconsistency? Theanswermust-again

simplifyingtheposition
furtherintoan endjngwheretheweaknesses bethe examination of games with good notes andanalysis of one's
oecomemoreaooarent. own
- oamesfromthisPointof view.
17 . . . O-O.O18 trhdl gc7 19 c3 h5 20 AfSt No-wthe timehascometo dealwith the middlegame, the stage
Threatening rookto the seventh.Blackhaslo concedea fresh wnen the most important part of the struggle takes place The
disadvantage - the retreatof his knightto the very edgeof the theorv of the middlegame is the theory of chess This will Include a
board. i"iiript'o'i of the re5earch that hasbeencarriedout in the USSR'
20 . . . Hxd221 E xd2 Ab8 22 h4 Ah6 23 Axh6 tr xh6 Firsthoweverwe haveto mentloncertaindeviations from a correct
understanding o{ chess, of the mistakes made by certaln players
these
t'Pff "'/Zz.'t"'/'
24 *ho ar" retiss in their general approach. Having indicated
errors rt will be easierto-depictthe correct path which will lead to
% % '&.4%t
" & " ' H progressand a freshfloweringof the art of chess'
ry
ry%%"/.&
& %^%
& 'H, "/zft
Summingup the resultsachievedby White in strivingfor rne
endingfrommove13 onwardswe noteBlack,s fixedpawi massin
the centreandWhite'sg-sidemajoritywhichhe isaboutto exploit.
MeanwhileBlack'spiecesare badlyplacedand Karpovforcesa
ouackwin.
_ 24-a4 flh8 25 b4 bG 26 bb trg8 27 @c2 abS 28 ab5 fie8
29 c4 1-O.
Transpositionto the middlegamefrom the opening
AS Kan remarkedIn his book From the Openingto the Middte
Gamea playernormallystrivesto create niiaOte'gamepositions
which suit his personaltastesand style,but since- the opponent
fights.againstthrsit is not alwayspossible to getone,sway andir ts
usetutto havereseTve objectivesif the opponentavoidswhat one
hasin mindor considers themainline.
, Thatiswhy theabilrty to playthetransitional phaseis highlyrated
by specialists.Botvinnikcommented on hisopponentin the 1951
worldtitlematchthatin thetransition fromopeningto middlegame
Bronstein hadno equal.
. It is a hopeless sightwhena playerstartsto presson the $-srde
In tne mtddlegamewherthrswholeconductol the openinqhas
beendtrected towardsburldirrg up hisforceson theopposire sideot
the board.Thissoundsexaggerated. butit givesan ideaof whatthe
player's taskis at the momentof transition. ln the middlegamehe
mustfollowup and builduponthosefeatures whichhave"evolved
In the opening,he must be absolutely consistent and accuratein
usinghis plusses and denyinghis opponentthe chanceto exploit
nrsmtnuses.
 7
Competitive or Creative Element? 29

David Bronstetnwrites that he has to state that the sporting

of everythingelse
-F\€rv in modern chessis choklngthe li{eout
-a.i,eni papers
dav I qo down to the grol,nd floor and collectthe
letter day when l-find
""i 'i-r"q"ii;'l"Jtrommy mail b6x lt is a red '64'
ini" ir,Z:ut".aissueol a chessmagazrne or the rrewspaper I
reialniorgh tne other papers and leaw the chessrtemsYordessertl
chess set out and look at the latestgamesin the
4 Competitive
o r C r e a t i v eE l e m e n t? i1"*'f o"i.v
orlceI
urilou.1n".r'tources Thosewhich interest especially me
on
areworked through in detail
ni"" }e.4 through'themmentally
" chessboard
the
Y;f;hui. sadstateof affairsappliesnow ln recentyearsferver
and {ewer qamesreallycatch my attentionGamestrom even
We startwith a quotation from petrosian. I admitthat I choosehrm Iirono iounir."nts arelackirrg in deepstrategvand logic'and rt is
particularlybecause this calmand solidplayercannotpossiblybe a uer\, ,a.e occurrence to find deeplVcalculated combrrratlor'ls
regarded asa playerof thesharply-combinative, Tal-like,
sort.As he by aI the precedlng play
'orepared atterrtiolrto
once commentedof the criticswho examinedhis sportinoand in" o,uqruntirtihe chesi pressdraw the reader's
creativeachievements They knockme for my draws.tbr my"styte, mistat<ei, impte tacticalstrokesandsometimes iust are illustrations
theyknockme for everything I do: - ratherboring
of PlaY.
"irr
. Wellthen thisplayer who was woridchampion for sixyearswho Tnlrr again an attempt to keep up ,the ,reader'sir'lterest
hasnot lost his hopesof winningbackthe tiflewrote i; 1g7g as aor"ho*ih"r" *ill be a pageof dragrams askingthe readerto tlnd
follows: a combinational wayto victoryln the next numberthe answeTs aTe
time early in our
. A noticeable tendencyin modernchessis the predominance of i uu'l.lno,".tingthit the game was played some
the sportingelementoverthe creative. Thefactthat nowadays the 6enturv,
-- sometimes evenir'lthe 1gth
resultts more imporiantthan the contentis our misfortune, a N&"r. tina booksandmagazines At timesyoucanlookthrough
misfortunewhich the indiscriminating publicapplauds.I cannot *noie out". coitections of aiournamentandstillnotfindanything
thinkthata playergenuinely lo\argthe gamecan get pleasure just il;i;."r;;;id ;"li ittractive,or realart Lookthrough'.forexample'
Tromme numberot porntsscoredno matterhow impressive the -ii
lr|eInformators of recentyearsor Matanovi6's bookChessis Chess
total.I wili not speakof myself,but for the mastersof the older *nilf, a iollection of games regarded as the best of recent
generation, from whosegameswe learned, the aestheticsidewas EventhereyouwillrarelycomeacToss comblnatrons w[n
decades.
the mostimportant. Theytoo wantedto win, but they didn,tiust a sparkling finale.
thilrkabouthow to win a game.bur how to win it worthity. Yet how muchpleasure ts grvenby genuineworksof art, Who
Dlows
.. When I startedmy careerthereweTefar fewer chessplayers couldnot fail to be delighted bVthe serils-ofcomblnatlve
thannowadays.Nobodywent jnto chessfor the sakeof woilory Skople,1976
playedin Reshevsky-Vaganian.
benefits.Nowadays chesshasbecomea popularactivity, whichhas
led not onlyto a devaluation of tjfles,but alsoto a proiessionalism 25
of no greatqualrty. Chessis goingthrougha difficultperiod.Onthe /t^7./t &.t
onenar]dtt hasreached a hrghlevel,on theotherit hasgivennseto h'',.//.tl&z:./..'.:
/.///ti7, ',/:/'2,,,
a coldpragmatism. Peoplehaveto learnto distingursh
a s!bstitutefor it, Todisringuish creativitV
r6alart from
trom hack_work. .,& tfu "",/,
. t-rettystrongwordsfrom Petrosian! And it is notjustwordsyou :,'zl:tA7lD&
hear,.dear.reader, buta cry fromthe heartof a manwho hasgiven
hrswholelifeto theart. 7,2,/,D"/./2t.&
Youmightthinkthatthiswastheopinionof oneman,andthat
Y
othersdon'tagree.Yetthe factis thatsuchcallsto rid ourselves of 1 4 . . . e 5 ! 1 5 f x e s ,-,a> es-r o a > .s Ah4 + !! 17-32 h4
heartless professionalism ol the open
grandmasters.
can be heardfrom many authorrtatjve
Letusquoteiustone. BXf3 18 Ef1 g'b4+ fiith energeticexploitation
positionof the enemyking.
 --

30 Competitiveor CreativeElement? An Attemptat AnalYsis 31

19 1[f4 $e7+ 2O1f,g5ge6l21 Afs E xfs andWhitesoon worldon beingintroduced to me peoplehavesaid'Whatinteresting

gaveup the hopeless struggle. ;2mesvou plaved:that queetlsacrifice againstAverbakh,queen
How muchpraisethe playerfrom Erevanheardfor this game, irtes n3, check.rnthe 1953Candidates Tournament. Or the game
possiblymuch more praisethan for winning an international aoainstBarczaat Stockholm,
-"ihe 19521
tournament of average strength.Yes,it is pleasant
to playthrough artisticsideisveryrmportant in chess,is highlyratedby fans'
sucha combination, but how rarelyonecannowadays. Thatiswhy It has always been recognised that chessis an art, ald jts best
we arehearingmoreand morethe commentof expertsthatchess oractrtionershave
practitioners be-endescribed
have been describedas artlsts lhus Rubrnstein
artists.Thus
nowadays iescribed it as as the fir]est
finest of arts
arts and
and this
this grandmaster
grand was
is losingits creativecontent,that few consistent games described
are beingplayed,that deeplycalculated considered a great artist by contemporaries- Tartakower ,was
impressivesacrificesand 'the-rebellious
combinations arerare. inristened artistiwhilewe alsohavethe words of
'l chessan art,andacceptallthoseresponsibilities
As V.Baturinskywrote in Pravda just before the start of the Apmine consider
1979 Spartakiad 'Theparticipants which art placesuponits devotees:
of the Spartakiad will takenote 'Alrioht.chessis ratedas an art, and as a scienceithe sceptic
of the criticalcomments, addressed in particular
at someyounger
masters,aboutexcessive pragmatism which impoverishes chess. miqht;etort'yetit'sthesportlngsidethatdrawsthecrowdslf I win
They will play gameswhich will give aestheticsatisfaction to firsi prizein a tournamentI am f6ted,the paperswrite about.me
connoisseurs o{ the ancientgamel with praise,the ians greetme with applause-Sowhy shouldI go
chasinqafter'|'',e c.ealiue sidewith riskycomplications andcompli-
An Attempt at Analysis cateOiacritices? | can win in quiet fashion, calmly, with the helpof
'baretechnique':
Before trying to determinethe reasonfor a certain creatrve
deterioration in modernchesswe haveto formulatean accurate And that is how we got a'tribe'of grandmasters and masters
definition
of chess.lt has long beenheldin the chessworld that who notonlydon't strivefor fine works of art in chess,butevenrun
- 'Why go for unnecessary stress? Accuracy, logic'
chessis a game,a science and an art. Chesscontestscan be very them down -the
sharpandtheircompetitive naturecannotbe denied. i".hniqu", those aie things which will bring successand
In orderto provethe scientific aspects recognition, andconsequently well-bein g:
of chessit is sufficient to
bear in mind how many bookson chesstheory are publisheo
throughoutthe world,how manymagazines thereare in various How This Arose
languages. Art is inextricably
linkedwiththe production of worksof irom aboutthe beginning the 2fth centuryto the endof the
of'grandmaster'
art whichremainin the memoryof mankindfor centurjes. Thirtiesthe iop chesstitle was never formally
'Evergreen ls it not
the casethat Anderssen's Game'againstKiezeritsky awardedto anyone.'
contrnuesto enthusethe modernchessfan? lf some mastertook first prize in a tournamentwith the
One must be fair and admitthat the variousaspectsof chess participation of the strongestplayersof the time the press,would
attractvaryingcontingents of fans,both in quantityand quality. iutomaticallyadd grandriasterto his name.Alongwrth this the
Comparatively few peoplego in for chessscience; as an art chess best qamesof thi event would be noted, and the strategic
has more recognition.Yet it is the competiti\€side which attracts sionifiiance o{ the play.Therewerefew grandmasters then,but on
peoplein their millions.lt is sufficientto rememberthe interesr in-eotf'erhand doubts weTe never ralsedabout whether the holder
generated throughoutthe world by the recentworldtiflematchin of such a title deserved
really it. From about 195O onwards the idea
Baguio,evenamongstthosewho don'tevenknowwhatthe Kino,a aroseof ratingand gradinglistsin orderto assess the tournament
cahbit is. performanceiof th-eworld's best plaversin numertcalfashton
So the three aspectsof chessdraw supportersin unequal Various methodsof calculationwere suggestedin dltterent
number,but doesit followfrom this that we haveto judgeihe "oun1ii".,and suchdifferentsystemslargelystillholdswaytoday'
worth of eachaspecton numerical At international levelthe so-called Elocoefficients regularlycalcu-
criteriaalone?Obvi6usl-y first set norm Nowadays
pnzewtnnersaTeknownto many,butonemustnot ignorethe fact lui"J uy tr''" Americanprofessorbecame the
-
thatoutstanding gamesenjoygreatpopularity too.
lhustheremustbefew realfanswho cannotremember a finish ,Translatar,s Note Thls seems tO gnorF the use of the trtle.b,V^thc ast-Tsar'
such as that jn Botvinnik-Capablanca, AVRO, 'j939. I trust the
- LasKer'
t'l"i olu. tf. ot tne fLnaists of the St Petersburgtournamentof 1914
readerwill notjudgeme a braggart, but in variouscountries of tne Capablanca. Alekhne, Ta.raschand MarshaI
-I
-

RealHarm 33
32 Competitiveor CreativeElement?
all the world'sstrongestplayersare ratedin their order by Elo, achievement Alekhineis saying.Onlythe playerwho setshimself
everybodyknowshis place,who ts aheadof him, who behind. the taskof creatinggameswith realcontentcan reachthe top The
Naturally everyone strivesto moveup the ladderand certainly not Dlaverwho makeschessa gameof arithmetic' a gamethat glves
irim a reasonable living, will never reach the peak of Mount
to fallback.Topeventsaremadeup on theseratings- if you have
a highEloyouarein,if you don'tthenwaityourturn in the queuel Olympus.Lookaroundand you wlll seethat the top echelonof
As in everyaspectof our complicated present-day worldthe Elo cfrbssis titteO by thoseplayerswho scoresuccesses by combining
ratingsystemhasits prosand cons.The prosare clear- some the competitiveelementwith the creative. Follow the improvement
order has beenbroughtinto being,and at any momentpeople achieveC by the present world title holder Anatoly Karpov He hasa
knowwheretheystand.Theplayersgetorientedfor a tournament naturalgift of accuracyand an abilityto thinkclearlyand logically
knowingin advancehow manypointsthey haveto maketo raise and in hisyouthoften beatopponentsby purelytechnicalmethods'
their rating,or in the eventof the absence of success what they No\Madays thoughan elementof romanticism and combinative
'fillino-oui' makei his qames more strikingand full of contentThe
needto keeoit at oar.
Yet,in our view,the drawbackto this'overall spiritof arithmetic' trend of a master oi positional methods to go for tactics and
cancelsout all theseadvantages. The people'waiting theirturn in combinative strikesis becomingeveTmoremarkedThisis shown
the queue'try to improvetheir standingby the most practical by hisincreasing friendship witn the'chessmagician'-M ikhailT€1,it
methods. Thereis littleplaceherefor the beautyand nobilityof the ii'shownbv thi pawn sacrifices and exchange sacrif ices madeby
game.Getasmanypointsaspossible, go up thelist,thatisthemain Karpovin the games of his Baguio match
concernof the majorityof modernplayersand the qualityot the ihere is an6thersideto all this, perhapsthe most important
gamestakesecondplaceor is evenforgottencompletely. Onceduringthe 1972SkopjeOlympiad thetop officials of a certain
ChessFede-ration askedBotvinnik to give advice that would help
Yetwho willcriticise a grandmaster for hisexcessive pragmatism
player'
sincehispointsscore,hisrating,determines hisstandardof living, alonqthe improvement of one certainly talented
his invibtionto the next tournamentdependson it, as do the B6winnitasked the playerif he wrote notesto his gamesThe
'Perhaps not for a magazine, but for y-ourown
simultaneous exhibition engagements. answerwas no.
Nowadaysin the West thereare sometalentedgrandmasters nenetitZ'persistedBowinnik leading on his collocutor' Thenthe
answer camemore decisively, no I don't write notes to my games
who wanderfromcountryto countryen routefromonetournament 'ln thatcaseit is too earlyfor usto talkaboutimprovementLet
to another.Theyplay'athalfthrottle'withoutgivingtheirall.lf they
do badlyin onetournament theywillgo off to the nextone hoping us returnto that in a few Yearstime:
The misfortuneof young peoplein chess,including. many
to do betterthere.Theyplayin SwissSystemeventsandallsortsof This
weekendtournaments. Thereis no time left for analysis qrandmasters is that they cohpletely neglect analy'trcal work
of their the analvsis of
games,sinceit is alreadytimeto be off to the nextevent. ;;;k ili il pioperly understood. we do not mean
thL or that vai'iatbn,we are talkingabouta deep penetration Into
As a resultthe top title of grandmaster has beensignificantly
devalued. OnceI introduced to Max Euwea grandmaster who had il;;"tt Jis"nce oi the chessstruggle,about the {ormationof
plans,about seekingthe most deeplyhiddencombinative possl-
heldthe titlefor overa decade. 'homework'whichall the kingsot chessnaveoone
'Who was that?' bilities.Such
askedthe then President of FIDEwhen the
grandmaster had left us. lAn internationalgrandmaster'; was my qivesone the chanceto discoverthe faultsin one'splay'to go
reply,"youyourselfawardedhimthe title: ieeoerintothe secrets of the gameandto widenone'seruditionin
cheis.
-
RealHarm inln eartierperiodthe basisof success wasresearch ability'but
One could becomereconciled to all this if the arithmeticthat nowadays
-matt"l there is no approach to a game as a whole We.must' as
drivesout creativity
did not do realharmto chess.Alekhine wrote . ot urgency,bring backthe analyticalapproachto chess:
thatto achievesuccess in chessyou hadto makea thoroughstudy {M.Botvinnik). 'l
of yourself
andyouropponent, but mostimportant of allyouhadto And hereis anotherquotefrom Botvinnik personally never
'havea higher purposethan the satisfaction stoodout amongst my contemporaries, because I always had to
of the moment.This example
purposelsee in scientific and creativeachievements whichplace ;;;;;";. by haro"wort. Tal,on the other hand, there is an
chesson a parwith otherartsl ot
- someone who did not have10work at it:
The path to the highestachievements is the path of creative iperionaltycannotagreewiththe secondhalfof thatstatemeni'
34 Competitiveor CreativeElement? What ShouldBe Done? 35
sinceI haveoftenhadoccasion to seehow hardTaldoeswork.You Dd4 41 Hf2 axf3 42 trXf3 Adsland Blackremainsapieceup.
onlyhaveto lookat hisnotesto gamesto seehow muchefforthe
putsin.Thesevariations, fullof a webof complicated combinations, What Should be Done?
couldonlybe producedby manyhoursof studyat home. Howcanwe put rightthedangerous trendwe havedescribed so
Let us sum up our reflections. Our belovedart is becoming as to preventthe furtherdeterioration of the gameinto one of
unfortunately a more'arithmetical' game,notjust in the reckoning arithmetic.Some peoplesuggestextrememeasuTes, such as
up of the full and half points,but in its very essence- in the gettingrid of the Elosystem.Thisis no solution,sincethe ratings
processof thinkingaboutmoves.Thisarithmeticis clearlykilling havea part to play in determining comparative strengthwhen
creativityand thai leadsto sad results.Onlya few grandmasters arrangingthat tournaments are filledwith playersof aboutequal
havebeenableto avoidthisriskytrend,andtheyfindtheirreward strength.In the Sovietpresswherethe questionhasreceived a lot
in the achievement of the highes.tresults,in becomingwortd of attentiontherehaveevenbeensuggestions of somenewsystem
champions andchallengers for thistitle.Themajority,
alas,including of ratingsfor creativity. Thiswouldonly leadto moreconfusion,
manyyounggrandmasters, havecompletely rejectedtheanalytical wth each playerhavingtwo numbersto his name.Yet if we
approach. Forthisiheyarebeingpunished thepunishment
bychess, generalise from the views alreadyexpressedwe can suggest
beingtheir gradualtransformation into hacks,destroyingall the variousmeasures.
brightprospects dueto theirnaturaltalent. Firstof all the liquidation of the 'arithmetical'deviationis the
Thisfailingis intensifiedby the Elo systemin the form it now socialduty of the playersthemselves, a duty theyowe themselves
takessinceit supresses the creativesideof talentand forcesthe as wellas us.Everyone wishesto get the bestresults, andafterall
playerto chaseafterpointsin ordernot to havehisratingfall. 'Thecriterionof realstrengthis a deeppenetrationinto the secrets
We haveto answerthisquestionhere:is it alwayspossible for a a positionl(T.Petrosian).
of 'How
playerto restricthischoiceof movesto safeones,andplavwithout lose?'wasthe questionor
is it that your Karpovcameto '1979
rask,restrictinghimselfto purelytechnical manoeuvring? commentaddressed to me duringthe Spartakiad.My reply
lf you studythe gamesof the greatclassicplayersyou must wasthatno-oneis insured against losseventhenormally unbeatable,
concludethat the combinative method,the searchfor beauWin and that afterthisfirst lossthe champron went on to playsome
chess,the riskypath,not onlyenhance chessbutalsogivechances first-class games.Thiswasmy shortanswerto notveryknowledge-
of victoryin positionswherethe technical approachwould most ablespectators, and it was onlyto a few of the peopletherethat I
likelyleadto a colourlessdraw. went intogreaterdetailovermy reflections on the veryinteresting
lossby the world championto the talentedmasterl.lvanovin the
26
tu r7:r,.t' Uzbekista n-Leningrad match.
It is well known that Capablanca did not alwaysanalysethe
7t 7t 'tt,^ gameshe won,but healwaysdevoteda lot of attention to thosehe
ft'il4 lost.Thisis proofof the factthatthe greatestplayers alwayshada
zWn,/:/it/:,,. criticalattitudeto theirolavand triedto root out errorsand make
theirolavmoreuniversal. Alekhine's hardwork on hisnotesis well
/7:.,, known and every annotatedgame by Fischergivesthe same
2 & A4 AA impression. WhenBotvinnik firstplayedin tournament hisplaywas
ratherdry. Then,whenin the 1933 SovietChampionship he beat
- In his well-knowngameagainstR6ti,Alekhinecould haveplayed Rauzerwith Black,the demanding Botvinnik who wasalwai-shard
26 .. Ea3 restrictinghrmselfto purely technicalplay. lt is not on himselfgavehimselfpraisefor his combinative play,statlng,
clearwhether he would havewon in this case.Yet what a meteor, 'FinallyI haveplayedthe sort of gameI havebeenwantrngto play
like progressthe beautifulgame made throughout the world of for a longtime:
chessafter the moves26 . . . fie3! 27 g1l3 cb 28 gXbE lc3! In tellingthe patientfans of all this I then claimedthat in the
29 g',xb7 gxbT 30 AxbT axe2+ 31 gh2 Ae4! 92 trc4l lvanov-Karpov gamewe had seenin a cedtalnsensea new and
aXf2 33 1!g2 andnowthesbrtlingtenmo\€deepcombinaton specialsort of Karpov.I feelI am not mistakenin alleging that the
99 . . . -4"01A flc2 fls4+ 35 €h3 6e5+ 36 €)h2 E xf3t world championtriedto playthis gamein a mannerhe had not
37 flxe2 ls4+ 39 €h3 Ae3+ 39 €/h2 Axc2 40Axf3 adoptedbeforeagainsttop classopposttion.
 Help from ChessFederations 37
36 Competitiveor CreativeElement)
E '-bietfrom ChessFederations
Help
27 tany yearsI havenotedthe samepatternin a numberof
% %tryitu countries. A y6ungman of talentprogresses qulcklyto the front
t '",&
%t2
z% iink in nis country, wins the national title and goeson to further
t % % .r"cess". at international levelHe is writtenaboutenthusiastically
in the
%t'''&^
%'^a%H% in the pap"tt, and the most radianthopesare expressed
worasusdOto describe him - our Fischer, or a new Karpov fhese
Vlz are not to be condemned outright as thev reflect the
+ & ^%8?Z,i "ornt"nt,
hrddendesires of the chessplayers of thatcountry.
Vetthe yearsgo by, the talentedplayeris an lM andthen-aGM,
Canyou creditit that this positionwasreachedas Blackby the but then . . stop!He doesnotturn intoa newFischer or Karpov
normallyrestrained and technically perfectKarpov?Ratherdoes He doesn't even make the lasteight who qualify for the Candldates
the positionremindme of openingsplayedby Tolushwith his M"t.n".. Insteadhe merelyfiguiesin the middleechelonof GM's
famouswar-cry'Forward,Kazimirovichl'or by Tal.I would have and soonbecomes'one of the also'rans'of chess.
if Blackhad takena draw by perpetual Whatarethe reasons for this? First of all a failureto measure up
easilyunderstood check
The'star'
after 15 Sd2, but Karpovmixedthingsevenmoreby 15 . . . 96 to his responsibilities towards hisnative Chess Federation
16 traf1 ge7 17 a3t5. iiarts to'have a carelessattitudetowardsthe interestsof his
A weird positionlBlack'sking is stuckin the centre,he hasno nationalteam,and also stops playlngin internaltournaments,
saferefugeon the flank.Blackplayedstubbornlyto defendthis carryingthisasfaras non-participation in thenatlonal champlonshlp'
positionin what followedand it tookall of White'sheroicfighting Why s6ould he? The prizes are not very high, the going is tough
spiritto overcomeBlack'sdefence. Farmoreprofitable andfar morepleasant to playin an international
Theworldchampion's attemptto try out sharptacticalmethods. eventof averageor evenmediocre strength. Thishabitof avotdtng
with someslightinfringement of strategicprinciples can only be the reallytoughencounters and looking for easy meatleads.toa
welcomed. We seeherea clearstrivingto adopta moreuniversal drop in the lemands made upon oneself, and therebyto a
style,an obviousdesireto bringin elements of riskand sharpness worsenedstandard of PlaY.
ro nrsgame. Thatis why in the SovietUnionit hasbecomea ruleto applya
Thisshouldnot be takenas meaningthat Karpovformerlywas certainamountof disciplinary pressure on all our grandmaslers to
slow in spottingtacticalchances.Ouitethe reverse.His teamof take part in the.USSR Championship irrespective of their titlesor
helpershaveoften been surprisedby the way he can hit upon recentachievements.
unexpected moves,oftenmuchmorequicklythan it tooka player I haveraisedthistopicthe officials
When'lt's of foreignfederations
of sharDcombinative stvleto find them. I havefound this swift declare all very well for you. Your players get helpfrom the
grasptoo whenI haveshownhimcomplicated positions. SovietChessFederation and are subordinate to it. Nothingworks
The pointto note is this: when playersof a sharpstylespot likethat on our players:
combinations or tacticalstrokesthevflareuo at once.anddescribe Nothingof the sortl Thisis onlyan excuse.lf you examinethe
them in joy'fulemotional tones.'l'vefoundit!' Karpovwouldreact positions6riously youwillfindthat in anycountryanygrandmaster
differently,speakingof such possibilities without any great depends to someextenton hisfederation. He not onlyplayschess,
enthusiasm. Onegainsthe impression that for him the searchfor he writes books, runs a chess column, and is keen to get
tacticallinesisa Derfectlv normalstateof affairs.Thismeansthathe simultaneous exhibitions for whichhe is paid.Thechessrulingbody
worksthroughsuchlines,butthenactson thewell-known principle of a countrycan certainlyhavea say in decidingsuch matters
whv shouldone win bv a ten-movecombination whenthereis a What is neededis a firm handin this matter,i{ only because tne
win bv a ouietlineand in a shorternumberof moves. outcomewill be in the interests of the grandmaster himself Out of
So letnotthe readerthinkthatwe areappealing justfor rollicking character weakness the player may avoid the national championshlp'
complications. The beautyof chessis not exhausted by suchan but it shouldnot be difficultto proveto himthat suchparticipation
approach, but is to be foundtoo in theconsistent, logical,
technical is essential for the encouragement of youngtalent
thingssuchas we tendto associate with Karpov. Do not thinkthat I am only pointing the fingerat torergnplaye's
Thereare quite a few examples like this in the SovietUnron'even
 -

38 Help from ChessFederations 39

Competitiveor CreativeElement?
thoughwe try and make our grandmasters play in the Soviet l5ebesteamej:l*1"".'"'l"T::l"tT"?"J:*'.%."1Jiil.".*:
Champronshrp.
oTlnls oDttgatton,
Usrngvarrolrs excuses
andthisgoeson untiJthe
some.star,
of our playersqei
findsthat can
-heout S?iit'i.:;;;yl*,"::":":l'-ff
^hass L/sud, - ,,a
curI rur''' ''Y''" :.' " ,':-;
liiiii'ng,"o,no'n"t':#
crrikrnq
[:,ftfthe.nade
oua"a with :';i3,*.",."["'JJ
most aftractiv€
start,n
ustart this
In this
rntheir planlllngfi:
l ne r'3#;rB"i'binq';rr;.0"
no,tongerget rntothe SuperLeagueof the USSBChampionship, -*^in I Y / r, Fl6E Corrqress a
'iY^^+;,",l for, the
oe awardeh annuallyfor best
the-best
andhasto startin the FirstDivision or at an evenlowerstaqe. Gold
Gold medals would
_ Thereis no doubtthatsuchtalented grandmasteis is Suutn"nO 3[::f :"#;,Fi;;:;.*:,t'.:,9::"i::,?:*?::.;:f
iiection
;;:'il;";!;giiis:l'::::"P::if.'^":'f ?"""""1i
Kuzminhavenot realised theirpotentraiBoleslavsky
lrregularpatternof successof the latter Ov pointinirouiinat
e"ptain"O
"rnoli
tne i:'ffi
::#iffi ff.::,:il"r#"ii il:'' *' o:
-i::iJ,fl :n
:[T;i:fl
3:":ll
, Ti:::"j."":!
II:TIl-YT but:eadv lo
plav chessat anv trme ano uny 3?"[l,1;,i,i"?;i,."qli,;lqsllT^q';^?":.:*:u",:t;Tjl
?;;,?:;i;i:;i9i1..,i:":!:"^::!:"**:#f
condfttons,
boringbusiness.
considered thatsittingat the boardby oneself
Thisis a seriousm'istake
wasa
as prlvateitujv covers
:h,il13ff hT:
:i.'::H"':ilil,;;i;;;"b"'1s';"-g:,::,':.d-:n:fii':;"':il:l
theother
then
prize'
not only the mechanical
alsoconsrderarion
memorisation of openingvariations, Out 3Hffi11 iJ"#"ri,:"tt'."iv"ai. it notrirst
ot mrddlegameproblemswhi6h helpsone to mainPrlzes
Trnonewapproaches in actualplay.
borvlnntknas hts commentson this too: ,Along with my
retirement fromchessanalytrcal work seemsto haveqo;e to;: *as
nrssad commentat one lecture.We do not aqretentirelvwith +rsFq#i+111"*;ir
:{iirq+illh
nni5i35 iffit';l
events.WhY not.lay
qualifying
thesepessimistic words,but therersan element; truth in ihem.lt
is the duty of playersof the older generationto follow the #;:
li[:.:"#1i,trigx**.'ii::':r:T"';::&",1 arising
to the benefits
development of theirsuccessors andto eicou.agJtf,emto compared
*o"ufJO"insignificant
erudite. justas thistaskalsofallsuponthe game:srulinq 6"cornu
bodies.
I often have occasionto hear from ,i, cofflaqrei il;;;"",
comptaint that the youngergeneration
gamesoT tormer times.po,ugayevsky
are totallyiqnoraniJ tn" :iT:i;3:'f
fliJ*?ff .li:J[,t::::liij,iti
::!i::"13:s:fi
pleasure
tournament.
he got fromanalysing'some
once enthisedover rne
gamesof the Hastinqs-ig95
you don'thearcommentslikethat "voun.,.. Hm""Hhli:*ru::g..::::x.:J:3';:l',fJ
generation.
from the
Ratherdoesonetendto hearthissortoi tnro fi-t tX"i "i?':"l}3$""'!"JJ:L"""lE:
I quoteit from a senseof beingoffended.uut ii .f.,uiX.i"iuii"f
, :lJ,[X]:]",::::"J,ir'3;:fi
Oneplayeronceaddressed
pleasant
me."clearly
to me, thus:- ,Alexander
*inting io
Alexandrovich,
;r; ;;;;fi
i,joi io r.no*
"g TIilxl:,S""3i"."
n*l*i"*,lkT;glul""iT:ilsi::*ffi
yesterday
r-1
thatyoutoo area grandmaste r'.
,r,. quryof the youngptayerto knowthe historyof chess ;:m:i';19
B##*:#:,E"u**' {'}{A:::"*
__
9^:!:9l-thgtobesr
Se:9!91'9n encourage
rossrbty
garnes ot the past.justasrt rstnedutyo;tne-oiOer
suchstudyof the gtoriouspast.
the readercancomeup with betterideas,but hereis a
and
i::"r",i'#q.#i:i'=!li*g:*'*"
'"iffiil:[Ti,l?"',*i:I5:i:s:tril#f
r#f
:ummgryoflhe proposals land my coileagues
FIDE.now led by the grearcnessconnorsseur
Har" in rninO.lurn l*t+'fiJ"'tJ
of the scientificapproacnro
:yi,. Jh"twr gr.ve
y'u-trlonl due,weight to thecomments
to seea betterfuturefor chess,a morecreative
FridnK
of thosewho aspare
aporoach.
:
tx*:,yi$tH.l$:19:':tiu*;:"3':rl','.$
'i currentchamPion
) We mustchangeattitudes. gothoffjcial accounts of tournaments ii"ii]."'
i',."'5"Y' to.same
"oproach i"1:'l: -::?::?i:1"*?:
theircontents
and reportsin the pressshoulddealmorewith the leadingiole o"il"illJii'ifi"L'iffJl"s; in makins
puni"'tiont
of
creatrvtty and shouldcrjticise,those
noticethe harmdoneby the purelycompetitive
unfortunate peopte*tio iiit to '#"'IJfn:HiJ':'i'',jE[il"Yi"*ti-swliehlgY:,!-eTi=::
moreattractiveand interesting'
[oini of view
2) We mustput on a regularfoot,ngthe awardof recognition
f"'.'ff# l):,:J'.:'fi
if;:;ffi;";;i-"G: :glll.::*::;.:9
thatwecan
riii,-.iu' n"ped J?il3J
these
carry
tor li',i'iil! 6?,1,".i'r.j"[i.
 Competitiveor CreativeElement?
ideasthroughandtherebyincrease the numbersof thoseinterested
in the creative
aooroachto chess.lf it succeeds thismovement will
turnthetalented younggrandmasters who arewastingtheirgiftsin
endlessSwissSystemtournamentsinto outstanding sportsmen
and passionate of the creative
supporters art of chess.

5 S t u d y i n gt h e M i d d l eG a m e

gameis tly!]:-q.i"
We now turn to the questionot how the middle"J
iJ't9I. _*i,h
in"usbi.asrnlaid $ gilil'i :'.".'J:T i;
"3i;'&5',I:ltif;
especially down bY sleln
summarise-th,e elements
iii-u" tb""o in otherbooks,we merely in analysing and assessrng
i.it,i"n.giuno.rstertakesintoaccount
'ti'"''"t"u
a posltlon.
I elements' 9putt,,1!o
';."Jimportant positiona i -Tu^t:']:l
;#fi;;";-;;;ri and
point''op"nrines'the-centre
b.il;""": pi'""?g-".i-s:
n...noniou,
liiii.iZoili,,iii"'uii 'v
.r:1,^1Pi*s""^?:l:
sDatialadvantage ano natlrlerrruu5r' rw' Prov"
il:il;;l;;; ti" point
of these
.view,or 1"""1"j:.::9-"ljT,::T:9
[o""ni*"r]n. queition which tormentsthe playerat everymove:
wH"'jllt"::Tfl;UTir"!r?'"*l-er atapran
arrived isrormed
for future attackand defence
ri$i;"fi;"": ;i: ".iv'i',"a assessment-have
9:'l 9:"-l"Y::
themostItp?ry:l-f:.1Yj:
f"r";"*T";";;;t"iv"o*-r" o" oav
sl# :1o;""i;# ii i. Jig'"*;l importa
nce)lhP
ilil:;;;i andftheir
gariepositions'
tvticalmid"dle
TlTi^"jy:tYll
classificatron
factors'
iccordingto variousidentifying
n". v"Yi"ni!-*"* nasnoi beenp operlv..ct1l::d^,i
chess
s and
will haveerrors
rit#tule. uJ it'i. po.tiut"that my attempt
in sucha case
'W;ft inevitable
"omissions, canbe
ptetis" thai allmiddlegamepositions
i;;inl
dividedintotwo basicgrouPs:-
a)PositionsWhichcannotoeresolvedbyanalysisbutbyintuitive
decisions.
iiiostiont resolvable or logic
by meansof variations

Positions requiring intuitive decisions worked out' bV

Thereare caseswhen a posii'oncannot be. human mind,We
*ri"'t*.lt"Jif'e baff
massof poisibilities les the
an advanced chess computer (of the sort we
;;.-|ff;;inJr;en
""i u"i nu"ui"uilable)couldcopewith sucha is task,
ii""i;;;;i" a sharpcnange
ieason for thistendsto be that there
 -

42 Studying the Middle Game ' Positionsrequiring intuitive decisions 43

in the materialbalanceas the attackingsidesacrifices a pieceor in theqosilrof''

Whitecarrieson asif therewasnothingspecial 9:
t^*l
lt istheneed!9I19l .",."]T.:
a piece'.
pawn,afterwhichthe normalmethodsof assessment recedeinto r n" nia "ot iiCri.riceo thepsvcholosicalgllylll":i::
thebackground. i.irivlii r"ti"", tharcreates P-"ll
voluntarilyagreeto iakeon suchdiificulties'
A decisive roleis playedin suchcasesbythe'iaste'ofa player,by [..'lfNot
sides. oi "t".von" *ill
his likingor antipathyfor 'unclear'positions.
In suchpositions the 24 . lLd4?!
. .
movesare madenot on the basisof calculating variations
but on i-aufioilto*. 24 Hd6l would leavebetterdefensive
Lnturtron. .n"n"es Wh'tu could continue25 14, but aIler 25 eI 26
Therecognised virtuoso Talwrites'Calculation
positions
of intuitive ;"""!-gxe+ 27 Etxd6 Axh3l the pos;tronis far from clear'
galns-
is only one side of it. In chessno less lmportantis intuition, froweveianother line
attacking would br;ngWhite detlnlte
inspiration,or if you prefer,mood. lfor examplecannotalways 25 Ee 1 Ada 26 c3 fic5 27 c4
explainwhy in one position thismoveis good,and in anotherbad. 25 H.d1..- Ed6
ln my gamesI havesometimes found a combination intuitively Not"zs Ab6 26 E x dg AXdB 27 I4l wirh dangerous
simplyfeelingthat it mustbe there.Yet I was not ableto translate threats for White.
my thoughtprocesses intonormalhumanlanguage: 26 Aa3 Ea6
Hereis an example Moscow,1967:
of hisfantasyin Tal-Filip, in"-8""isG error, vet the alternative26 ' trd8 27 c3 Ab6
29 qxdS AxdB 29 f4 alsoleaves
-"fr Brackin trouble'
2B '/&.t n*Tq to Q7 . ed 28 Ad5 trxa3 29 g'fs+
V;: & finishes it).
w %r.%1b Onecanfindmanvexamples likethisinTal'splay'especiallY
that led his trainer'A
in hts
Koblenz'to
7' ffi % uounq"|.;"rioO lt wasthis ieature
'Never mind about Misha being
ry 7A%
* 2 2
iJilri"ni-oi ir"h positions,
rut"iiir oo*n. lrthere is iust one open lineon the boardhe will
Vzt
ft7/t '&+
"N1 force
- mate!'
riis cui,ousto notethatnearlyeverygrandmaster sooneror later
%zH% hasto olav posltions.
intuitive The most ot
difficult all to Judgeare
sawruns:if
Seeingthat slowmethodswould leadto the peteringout of his if.ror""if',i6ni"torvJihe sacrificeof justa pawn As,the
Whitewent for the intuitivesacrifice19 Axf/!? €)Xf7
initiative vou can weiqhJp the chancesaflera piece sacrlllce on orolnary
20 gXh7. Obviously Tal had calculated the first few movesand ieles vou ndd the most.sensitve scalesto measure theconsequences
weighedup the chances of bringingup hisreserves. - a oawnsacriftce.
of
2O ... e521 EXdB EXdS (21 g x d g i sb a d 2
, 2 ghS) iniuitiueoos,tions aTeso Interestlng that theysometimes attract
22 ghs g€6. the attentronof evensuch ratiorlal players as Anatoly Karpov or
WhathasWhiteachieved?
Blackthreatensto liquidateall the TigranPetrosian.
nroccrrro hr, ??
$94, but Tal had seena way to keepthe
initiative. 29
hAitt
23 h3!
Simpleandconvincing. Whiteprevents the queenexchange and r gtt ,
giveshiskinga flightsquare.
"..X r
23 ... AcS Nfr///./.
It is not possible for the finestchessmind to calculate all the ::1 6 /.'t 'l.l:".
possibilities in this position.Blackfinds it difficultto 'unwind'his tKt?8''&'
piecesand get his king into safety.The possibilities may be .:."1 i$,E,.'a"'r.,.
illustrated by the followingvariation 23
A'/a'
HdO24 fie 1 $fB 25
tre3 6fa 26 $xes SxeS 27 pxeS fld1+ 28 €)h2 AdO 29 Thrsrs KarpovDorfnan, SovretCh Top Leagle'.1-9-76-
AXd6 EXd6 30 trf3+ trf6 31 Ec3 andWhitegetsa material l caasj69l sa*92.F99,il6
",""1
,nJI"t * ^*
l#l?.t" 30
aovanrage.
24 €)h1 ..il'iiil35 ;;;
3H:"'XAlXl:"il'':?Y;;;;; to
;;'rtendedmeet
44 Studying the Middle Game Resolvableposttions 45

Loqicalpositions
l-7 : Ab6 by 18 fle1 AxdS 19 pg2, and 17 . lc5 by 18 Leadinqplayershavelearnedhow to resolvemanypositions by
amusinqfinishtt. . . gf8
fie1 fla7 19 llh3 with the possibte
20 SxcS Axf6 21 ge8+ Ss7 22 sf+-@ha23 gxsE+ carryingthrough a logicalplan basedon exact analysisand
assessment. Afterworkingout the mainpositional factorin a given
flxg8 24 fle8 mate. to enhancethis
positron the playercarriesout operatlor'ts
designed
- 1.8Qxe5 de 19 f4 Afs 20 Ah3 Axh3 21 flxh3 pc8 22 iactoruntilthe growingadvantage letshim'crush'hisopponentor
fe $c4!
Whitehastwo centralpawnsfor the pieceandan extraoneon play a combinative blow that leadsto mate or great materlal
the flank.So, material equality,but the positionis hardto assess. advantage.
Black'spiecesarefairlyactive,thereareno whitemjnorpiecesleft, The great specialistin working out such logacal plans was
and it is hardto forcea penetrationwith maiorpiecesalone. Botvinnik. Hereis his positionagainstLilrenthalafter 15 movesin
23 E1d3 srf4+ 24 Sb1 ftc4l the Moscow,1936,tournament. (seediagram20)
Blackmakesa confidentcounter-attack, Whitehascontrolof the centre,harmoniously placedpiecesand
puttinghis pieceson
excellent squares.yet Karpovmanages occupies morespace. These factorsare used to followthrougha
to provethe superiority
of
ntsposEon. planof 'sutfocating' the opponent.
25d6 8e426 trhe3 Exe32z flxe3gxh428gf3! 16 trfd1 Axd4 17 Axd4 d5 18 a4l
'L//' @"'/l"tH PreGntingto the maximumdegreethe freeingadvance b6-
30 "'..&t//Lt b5, which is Black'sonly way of gettingany sort of activeplay
/.,.4./,-a Botvinnikcontinuesto preventthis, and only permitsit when it
21. /&, t ''/r& leadsto a quickwin for White.
..rt '''.fu, 18 . .. fe8 19 Ads Hc6 20 pxsT Qlxg7 21 h4
...e,
,t 2 Anotherlinkin the plan.Blackis giventhe choiceof playing
'H,47 h7-h5with a weakening of his€-side anda laterpossibilityof line
t openingbyWhitethere,or of movinghisdecentralised knightaway
t/t 2 from 97 andso permittingh4-h5.Blackdecides to temporlse, but
thisis no improvement.
Forcingpenetrationby the queen,so that White now gets 21 . . . Ee8 22 Ec3 ahs 23 gfd4 bs
concretethreats. Thislookslikesomefreedomat last,but it hasallbeentakencare
29 . . . ts' 95 29 [e1 u,g2 30 E1fs Es6 31 Efl g'ds 32 of by Botvinnik. Therewas the alternative 23 . . AJ6 when 24
de €xe7 flxf6 exf6 25 gxf6 is bad because of 25 .. d5! but White
Nowthematerial islevel,
butWhite'sinitiative
forcesa win. couldinstead lust keepthe pressure on by not takingon f6. After
39 gf4l a5 34 gh4+ €eB 35 gxhT gf3 36 gh8+ Se7 37 24 . . . Axdb 25 exdS followedby h4-h5Whitewouldstarta
"" winningattackon the €-side.
ghl+ g€ 38 gc4t glb7 3s b3 tre6 40 Esl trxe5 41
fl98- $e7 42 g"n4+ &d7 43 gf6t fie7 44 gr5+*d6 45 24Cbab 25 Edcl ! trxc3 26 flxc3 ba 27 HcTl
#!9-tr.gs 46 gdsr €e6 47 €b2! f6 48 flf8 gs7 49 &c8+
BdS 50 *c4+ 1-O J I
vH ''&,
t
',/z ',/t
/&
Resolvable positions
Thisisa largesectionwhichinciudes
almost positjons.
allchess
'/t6/z
lr 7t wfr/t
canbedivided furtherinto:-
1) Positions
pos/t|ons
resolvable plansandprecedents
by logrcal _ logical t 7 7 *
2) P_ositions
resolvable - calculable
by calculation positions
2 7:.,,
3) Positionsresolvable
by'tacking to and fro, - manoeuvring
posltrons. to the 7th rankand
The crowningof the planwith penetratlon
dlrect threatsio the enemy king. lt 27 gx b3? then 28
f XeT+ flxe7 29 flc8+ mating.
46 Studying the Middle Game Resolvablepositions 47

27 . . . g'bs 28 ba $e2+ 29 gd2 g/xf2+ 30 €xf2 and Black will establisha knight on the fine square e5. White's
Black has avoided mate but the suoer-activewhite Dieces possibleestablishment of a knighton c6 via d4 could be neutralised
combinedwith the unstoppablepawn at a4 makesit a simplewin sy'lnNd7-bB.
for White. lt must be noted that the possibilityof such an ending that caseWhite would probablyhaveto defer f4 until he had
arose logicallyin the plan of using his spaceadvantage,and rt is preparedit by g3, so as to meetef by gf. Eventhen though Black's
possiblethat rt evenwas envisagedin preparationbeforethe game. concentrationof forceson e5 would give him a chanceto conduct
3 O. . . e 6 ( N o 3t 0 . E a B3 1 E c B +S x c S 3 2 N x e T + ) a most stubborndefence,whereasnow he graduallyslidesdownhill
31 Ab6 AfO32a5flb8 33 fic8+ PXcB34 NxcS le8 35 25 Ac2 t)c7 26 Heal $e7 27 $b1 Ae8 28 Ae2 Ad8 29
a6 fc7 36 a7 tlla837 Axd6 gf8 38 e5 $e7 39 $e3 f6 40 6h2 Ag7 30 f4
-White
&44h641 Ac9+ &17a2&e4 $97 43 Sd4 Nc7 44 $c5 1-0 getsthisin assoonaspossible, thefactthatan
exploiting
This gamewon first prizefor the best playedgame.ldraw enemyknrghlcannotcometo e5.
attentionto the fact that in Soviettraditionthe bestgameprizeis 3 0 . . .f 6
awardednotjustfor a cascade of bnllia
nt sacrifices
butalsofor iron A confession anythingWhitenow
of his inabilityto undertake
logrc. presses the enemyforcesbackto the lasttwo or threeranksand
J ustsucha fineimpression of ironconsistency comesfrom thrs Blackcanonlywait.
effort by a pupilof Botvinnikin the gameKarpov'Unzicker, Nice 31 f5 s5
Olvmoiad. 1974. Blackstillhadsomeslightchancesif he
Thisis totalcapitulation.
keptup the tensionon the €-side.
32
% 33
',ft 2i /, "&,
ft2 t<
',& t7 ^"r/&
',,fu
%)
ffit %
ru %
ry^
Thegeneralimpression is thatWhitemerelystandsslightly'freer'
with hiscentrepawnon the Sth rankgivinghimrathermorespace. 32 Ac2
YetBlackhasno weaknesses andis readyto repelan assault
at any With the simpleplan of usingh5 as a transferpointfor first
partof the board. bishopand then queento get closeto the enemyking.These
Karpovformsa planof strengthening hispositionfudherwhich manoeuvreswould probablynot be so effectiveif Blackwere not
maybe summarised thus:- tied down all the time by White's threat to switch back to the
Block ti,e a-fileby $a7 to preventrook exchanges and a g-side.
simplificationof the position.Underthe protectionof this bishop 32 . . . Af/ 3:] 6g3 4lb7 3a Adl h6 35 q h5l g'e8 36 $d1
concentrate the majorpieceson thea'file,thenat anv momentthe Ad8 37 Ea3 €f8 38 E1a2 €g8 39 Aga gf8
retreatof the bishopwill threatento dominatethat file.However Obviously Blackcannotbke tvviceon h5 because of the knight
this is not enoughby itselfto win. lt willhaveto be combined wrth fork on f6. Sooneror the
later white
weakened squares willtell.
threatson the€-sideanda general crampingof theenemyforces. 40 Ae3 €g8 41 Axfl+ Axf/ 42 g'hs ld8 43 $s6!--
Thepossibility of alternating playon the$-sideandon thea-filewill Capturinglhequeenis badas the whiteknightson h5 andi5 tn
stretchBlack'sdetensive resources. conjunction with the pawnat gOwillcreategravethreats
24 Aa7! Ae8 43 . .. €/f8 44 Ahs! 1-0
Notecarefully that Blackfailsto forma counterplanhere.lt was Theonlychanceof holdingthef 6 pawnis 44 . . gf 7, but then
obviousthatWhite's$-side threatsinvolved the advancef4, since 45 Qga 6eB 46 Ab6 wouldleadto the idealsituation envisaged
he had no otherway of makingprogress. So Blackshouldhave in Karoov's plan.
planned theformationAe8, dd7,,t&e7,whenf4 canbe metby ef
48 Studying the Middle Game Resolvablepositions 49

Capablanca manner.
34 12 . . . aa5 13 Ac3 b5 14 Afl b4 ls Abs €d8 16 Af3
'.&7 &2 irc4
-Capablanca's
planhasbeenfollowedand has broughtBlacka
t 2t& definiteadvantage.
17 Axc4 dc 18 Ad6 AxdG 19 exd6 Ac6 20 AeS AXhl
t7t
*,
21 axf7+ &ea 22 Axhg Ae4 23 d5 ed 24 Ad4 Af6 2s
& 2 @d2 &d7 and Blackexploitedthe extra pawn without much
7 2 trouble.
Anotherexample in the 13thgameof the samematch.
At timesduringa gamethe positionsuddenly remindsthe player 37
%i"N
% 'zr.
that he hasseensomething likethis before.Thisis frequently the
casewith the more eruditeplayer,and occursparticularly frequently
whenplaying'logical' positions. ft:/& 2
Thisis quitelogical;whenwe havetoughcloseconflicts with the
%ft%t:.,
pieces 'mixingit'andgivingblowfor blowit is practically impossible 'r,&t.t
to findan exactprecedent for the concretepositionbeforeone.On
the otherhandlogicalplansmakea deepimpression on the mind 2 % t
and the moreanalytical work one doesthe moresuchprecedents H2'
arefixedin the consciousness. Theusefulness of sucha storageof Botvinnik wasWhiteandwrote'lt is not hardto finda planhere.
knowledge cannotbe over-estimated in its economyof time and It was successfully usedin a similarpositiontn a traininggame
mentaleffort. Boleslavsky-Botvinnik, Voronovo, 1952. and consistsof the
Thisapproachis oftenseenin Botvinnik's gamesand his game undermining of Black'spawn chain by b2-b3 and a2'a4. lt is
notesoftendraw attentionto the feature.Thusin his 1Othgameof surprisingthat althoughWhite openlywent for this plan my
the world titlereturnmatchwith Talin 1961 he writes'Obviouslv opponent,in essence, did not try to counterit:
14 Sc2! Ad7 15 6e2 Af8 15 Aca a6 17 b3 HacB 18
35 Ad3 Ab6 19 Ae2 trd6 20 &b2 f5 21 fldcl fi16 22 a4 ba 23
t%a%i"'& b a a 5 2 4 & c 2 c 42 5 H c b l p b a 2 6 l a 2 S c S 2 7 p x c S f i x c S
ruh'lzi% 28 lc3.
%ir& 7 White'sadvantage is obvious.Whitecouldhavewon bV 28 f 4,
%/&"'&vz but he decidedto achievevictoryby positional
did so.
methodsand duly
%
r u 7 & Yet anotherexampleof this in Botvinnik's
Botvinnik, SovietTeamCh.
'1966:- notesto Spassky-
d%w 1 e4 cG2 d4 d5 3 lc3 de 4 Nxe4 SfS 5 Ag3 Ag6 6 h4 h6
Blackdoes not go for the pawn win by 12 .. ab4 13 €d2 7 Af3 AbdT 8 h5 Ah7 I Ad3 Axd3 10 gxd3 Of6
'This welfknown variation
Exa2 14 flxa2 $1xa2, sinqethiswouldhandoverthe initiative of the Caro-Kannis a favourite
to White.Blackhurriesto advancehis b-pawnin imitationof the weaponof Spassky's. . . . unfortunately for my opponentthe
plandemonstrated in the Janowski-Capablancagame,New York, wholevariation waswellknownto me,sinceas longagoas 1928 |
19161 hadoccasion to writenotesto a gameGrigoriyev-Pa nov,wherethts
That gamehad opened1 d4 Af6 2 Af3 dS 3 c4 c6 4 lc3 sameopeningwasplayed!'
Afs 5 g/b3 gb6 6 g/xb6 ab 7 cd lxdb I AxdE cd 9 e3 Commentis superf luous.
lc6 1O$d2and nowcame10 . . . AdTllwith Capablanca plan- One may find similarexamplesof the exploitationof past
ningto ad\€nce. . . b6-b5and thentransferhisknightto c4. precedents by suchspecialists of planning as Karpov,Petrosian and
So with this gamein mind Botvinniktreatshis positionin the Keresamongstothers.A care{ulexamination of such examples
50 Studying the Middle Game Resolwbleposilons 5l

shouldconvince thereaderof the needto getto knowthegamesof is that the elementof

essentialdifferencefrom combinations
the past.As the proverbputs it'Why inventthe bicycleall over is missing.
sacrifice
again?'Another argumentin favourof thisis the needto avoidthe
dangers of timetrouble.lf peoplearegoingto devoteso muchtime 40 ../;:,:a
7.zt,,&
t
.,/t
to thestudyand memorisation of openinglinesletthemdevotejust '/;2.
^
7 t /:., './t.N
as greata zealto the studyand buildingup of a memorybankof
plans.
logjcal
i'& ,/a )\ ,,/az
Calculablepositions
Thishasthreeaspects:combinational positions,positionswith
JI
'& ./.H
forcedvariations and positions
withalternatingblows.
After quiet manoeuvring or tacticalplay there often arisesa
positionin which a decisioncan be forced by a sacrifice. The FromAlekhine-Vid mar, NewYork,1924.
outcomemaybe eitherforcedmateor extensive win of material. 12 Deb gXc3 (Capturing on eS wouldleavethe g-side too
weakened in the face of attack by White'spieces)13 AXdT
,&i 2 '/rX
38 axdT 14 g'b1
'.& '.tt2
7.:.,,;
Thisthreatens
so Blackhasto
notjusth7, but alsoA-e7-b4irappingthequeen,
givebackthe pawnat once.
2 t " .'H &'lH 14 . . . fle8 15 AxhT+ €h8 16 Ac2!
With ihe doublethreatg-d 1-h5and $a4 winninga pawn.
ft;x
"/t7,,"'N 16 . . . lf8 17 Qa4 fle6 18 g/bs and Whitewon a pawn.
^ 7..., Positions with alternating by this play
blowscan be illustrated
ft',,&tt 7.zA from the 1gthmatchoame.Alekhine-Euwe, 1937.
.t1.

Thisis Agadzhanya n-Farbisovrch,

USSBCh 1977,SwissSystem +t lHi".ry,
qualifier.
Blackexploitstheopenpositionof the king.
1 ... g'h2+ 2&xh2EXfl+ 3 gh3 Ehs+ 4$sa Sf4+ 7 7 t
5 gg3 trffs+ 6 $94 flfgs mate. tl,fl'24
Vz
Thefollowingf inishf rom Westin-Karlsson,
Stockholm,1973 is
alsostriking. ?/z
A.%d%z,
39
71,.'2 H 7t /&n
tu2 13 ... ab4 14 Ab5+ Bf8 15 8e2 Ac5 16 Ad1 Afs 17
it6:tt;: h3 hs 18 Ag5 8bG 19 Ah4 Ae4 20 hg Ac2
t t.,/l: tllt
;,,.,.:. With everymovethecomplexities growin bafflingfashion.. .
7t^ 21 fc3 ad4 22 r&fi \22 gd2 would wtn)22 .. hg! 23
^,fuzw' Aa+ 8cZ Zq Hxeq de 25 $c4 flac8 26 Hacl bG2.7 f]xcS
oi ze gao gxes 29 pxcS gxgS 3o $xcs+ $xcs 31
Blackmadethe shatteringmove 1 SfTl! runninginto a ExcS EXh432 fic4 le2+ 33€/f1 Af434gg1 g3landthe
knightfork,but after2 AXd6+ Se7 3 gxbb camethe fresh gamefinallyendedin a draw.
Heretherewereno combinations, no forcingmanoeuvres,justa
blow3 Af4+ forcingmatenextmove. moveby move
Thesecasesarewellcoveredin existinoliterature. seriesof threats,counters,
andcounter-threats,all
so we do not Manoeuvringpositions
needto laboJrthepornt.
Wins can often be forced bv forcinomanoeuvres wherethe What do manoeuvTes consistof? Obviouslynot comblnative
hlows nor deep,lonq-termplansWe rarelyget forcinqvariattons
52 Studying the Middle Game Resolwbleposittons 53

either.Insteadthe playis quitedifferentand consists

of tackingto io findthe speckof goldthat makesup a positional
advantage.
and fro move by move,often combinedwith separatequickly 29 .. . Hc4?
changing short-termplans.Thisisbestseenfroma concrete example. Black'spatiencegivesout and he makesa bad slip.By 29
b5 30 Ab3 flbb7. or 30 ab trxb6 Blackcould maintaina
42 'nerfectly position.Nowhe getsintodifficulties
reasonable
t % "&artt
'lfr %t/& 30 As3 llfg 31 h4! AfG 32 Ab3 E xcl 33 fl xcl $d7 34
d5!
43
, t%&&%
rr yy2 7 2tllg121'7r;t
t'//2,.&.AXt
'&ffia%a%tt
w &t1/,
"& 7::.,tt7 7 '.&
''/;/:
2 Tlt\tg t
A deepanalysis of the position(Alekhine-Fergrn, Kemeri,1937) 'w7at&
will indicatethat it is a levelposition.Fromvariouspointsof view,
&.ft.::
weaknesses, occupationof open lines,space,the centre,piece
placing,the sidesare aboutequallyplaced.As a resultthereare Whitehashadto manouevre to andfro for almost20 movesto
long regroupings with the aim of achievingsomeslightbenefit. makethis slightadvancewhichcrampsthe enemyminorpieces.
Short term plansare mixedin with playmoveby move - one Thislongwaiifor something concreteillustratesboththedifficulties
playerattacksa bishop,the opponentmovesit away,one player andspecial features of playin levelposltions.
occupies an openfile,theopponentresists thisby puttinga rookon 34 . . . Afs 35 g/b4 Ae4
thatfiletoo. This too is not best.35 . . . Ae4 would offer betterchances.
This cat and mousegame goes on until one side gets the Now a pawn sacrificedevelops a dangerousinitiative as White's
advantage asa resultof hisexcellent playanda slipby theopponent. piecesgetsomerealscope.
15 Hfel gd7 16 Ah2 36 gd4l Eds 37 Ad2 Axds 38 Axd5 Axds 39 Ae4!
Thefirstshorttermplan- transferring the knightfromc3 to f4. The point. The threat of 40 $xds and 41 Nf6+ allows
Notthat I canseeany realadvantage in this,but you haveto make penetration of theenemycamP.
movesof somesort or other. 39 . . . Ss7 40 Axd6 8e6 41 *d2 AfG 42 t8c2 b6? -.
16 . . . Afds 17 6e2 trfd8 18 Af4 Af5 19 Axds Leadsto --quickloss.Blackhadto showinventiveness and find
It seemsto methatthisexchange couldhavebeenmadewiththe the variation42 . . . Ah.< 43 Ah2 b:-cl44 6xI7 trfB 45 Ad6
sameeffectwith the knightfrom c3, but playin levelpositions is Ad4 46 Ef 1 ge7 with somecounterchances.
subjectto suchcommentssinceit cannotbe of an absolute logic. 43 $c7!
19 . . . AxdS 20 Ac4l Ae6 21 a4 HacS 22 Ab3 8c7 Whiteforceshisway in to the 7th rankand it is alongthis line
23 a5 thatWhitewins.
White has achieveda littlebut not enoughto bring abouta € . . . ad7 M axfTl HlB 144 gixfT 45 Hd1 etc.)45
changein theassessment as level.Whatfollowsis minorregrouping Adg grf6 46 Edl l 1-0
and simplywaiting.Playin levelpositionsoften involveswaiting I must return here to the questionof the dangeroustrend
moves.As Tarrasch wrote'Whenyoucan'tseewhatto do it is best towardspurepragmatism whichI havealreadymentioned, marked
to give the opponenta chanceto move and you wait for his by regularparticip;tion in tournaments but lackingallotherpositive
mistake: factoissuchas studyof the creativeheritageof the pastand the
23 . . . ,Wd7 24 Al4 $e7 25 Ag3 Hc7 26 Ab3 '{gd7 27 writingof notesto one'sgames.Thepointis that suchplayers tend
Ah4 Eb8 28 Sa4 Sc8 29 flacl to drif-tintothe'tackingtb and fro, move by move'styleof play in
Onceagaina seriesof movesand nothingchangedin essence. practically all positions,whereas the method is onlyappropriatefor
What boring play might be the comment,yet chessis not just levelpositions. Nor is thisa newfeature,sinceBotvinnik criticisedlt
prettycombinations andlogicalplans.lt isalsohardwork,realgraft in an articlewrittenin 1951 aboutthe SovietSchoolof Chess.
and grind,whenyou haveto work overmanytonsof ore in order ln orderto demonstrate the helplessness of suchdry practical
 Studying the Middle Game DeeoAnalvsis 55
54
playwhenemployed againstan experienced grandmaster we may -DeePAnalysis
quotethis example- Sokolsky'Botvinnik, from the semifinalof Ai this point we wish to demonstrate to the readerto what
heiqhtsthe art of analysis can go, and what pleasure it can give l
the 1938SovietChamoionshrP. to settle downto a
1 c4 {lf6 2 i1c3 d5 3 d4 s6 4 Nf3 Ag7 5 e3 truit theexamples I quote wrllrnspire the reader
deep analysis of his own games or of those of the leading
Noi tbad move in itself,but here it is the precursorof really
straightforward passive and stereotyped play. olayers.
'
5... O-O6 Ae2 e6 7 O-Ob6 8 cd ed 9 b3 Ab7 10 Ab2 Plaversarecalleduponto analyse at alltimes,in preparing for a
qame.throughout the whole of the playing session,bu't most of all
White developshis pieceson naturalsquares,but he has no period of time one has
consistent planreadyfor the middlegame. irhen a game rsadjourned. Then in a short
1 O. . . A b d T1 1 8 c 'Gradually
2 to put in an immense effortin an attemptto penetrate deeplyinto
Botvinnik commented lt becomes clearthatWhitehas the positionandexamine manypossible variations.
merely'developing'his pieces Amongstthe variouscases of adjournment analysis the most
no real plan and is occupied with
interesting is analysis of games in team events There is no
Possibly onecouldplaylikethat50 or 60 yearsago,but in ourtrme
wheneverymasterformsa planfor the middlegamefrom about restriction on the numberof peopleinvolvedin the work,you can
haveas manyhelpers as youlike,andwiththe interests of theteam
the 6th to 8th moveonwardsthereis no'better'wayto get Intoa his contribution
crampedand passivepositionthan by just strivingfor better beinginvolved everyteammember is keen to make
Fl6wever it haslongbeenknownthat the increase in quantityin
development.'
'At this pointWhitecouldoccupythe centralpointe5 with his leadto improved
the participants of analysis doesnot necessarily
qualitv,ofienthe reverse. Howeversensible organisation canmake
knightwhichwouldleadto a fight with chancesfor both sidesA -
coupleof moveslaterthis no longerprovesfeasible and control suchgroupeffort very effective
overthecentralsquares passesoverto Blackl I havealreadydescribed on variousoccasions how the taskwas
11 . . . a6 12 Hacl flac8 13 Efdl ge7 14 s.b1 EfdS 15 tackledby the SovietOlympiadside.Our trainerlsaakBoleslavsky
nevervisitedthe tournamenthall; he slept during the playing
af1 (he
session wasalwavskeenon sleep) and then 'witha clearhead'
but thatis whatloseshim
White'smovesaresimpleandobvious,
the game! he would meet his colleagues who broughthim theiradiourned
(44\
15 . .. c5 15 dc bc 17 QSe2 posrtrons.
ManySovietplayers are pastmastersof analysis. Please forgive
44 methishighpraise, but I canshowthatthisisthecaseby takingthe
aw,t/&t
'qfri"lt readerthr-ough theforestof variations examined
Spartakiad was
whenthe Karpov-
adjourned in thts
7i Romanishin game from the 1979
t z 2 posrtron.
45 7r%
2 ',&aVZ
,.t2 ''//lfr7Lz.'t
atr& 7/tt.,z
E A € 7t 7::"z:.1,.1
17 .. . Ah6! 7z)
A concreteattackbasedon exactconsideration of the most 7zH'"&ft
At this pointthe attackis directed
minorfeaturesof the position. ":'a"a'/a
againstthe weakpointat f2.
18Sa3 ls4 19Stl3AdeS20 lxes$xes21 lgor Zaitsevdescribes the chancesseenby the anal}ticalteam
Ag3gf6! position
where he is
22 ah1 tryingto f inda \ /infor theworldchampion in a
Hereis the sort of abnormalmovethat Whiteis forcedinto.22 a oawnuo.Inaccordance with procedure
established Black's
candl-
Ec2 tha 23 h3 Axe3 is clearly bad.
22 ... d4t 23 8 e2 €)e5 24 ed cd 25 lxcS $xc8 26 'Edttar's Nate The E,rgrshtearl DrocedLrre
s that ro more tharr t\\'o peooe
Edel d3 27 8d1 Ag4 28 $al d2 and Whitesoonresigned. togethei
shoud analysaan aolourrrm(]rrt
56 Studying the Middle Game DeepAnalysis 57

datemovesin thispositionwereestablished. Therearethree:- a) 44 Sd5 (threatening 45 pc6) 44 . . Eal !rts Ac6 frxa4 46
4 3 . . S f 4 + ; b ) 4 3 . . E a 1 a n d c ) 4 3 . . . S g 7 w h i c hw e -$xe8 fl xaS 47 e7 flxb5.
examrne Inturn. Thisisan obviousline,andit wastheonelookedat in greatdetall
a) 4il . . . Af4+ 44 s3 Sc7 45 e7+ $h8 Firstof alltherewasthe straightforward
It was established that 45 . . €S7 is worse in view of 46 rtg Axbs AxbS 49 e88 AxeS 50 trxe8 €f7 51 trcg (51
Qlxc7 pxe2 47 lXeS+ $h6 48 SdS withan easywhite wn. H hB h 07! 52 HxnT q5! is bad)51
"+e $f8, or
46 lc6 (46 Af7 Qxa5 47 SxeS lf,b7 with the matethreat TlO trbg 49 e6g gxes. In both casesWhite'swrn is
at h1 is no good)46. . . c4 doubtful. 'We managedto find a remarkable
Beforeit was decidedthat this movewas Black'sbestdefence Then as Zaitsevputs it
othermoveswereexamined e.g.46 . . . Ab7 47 1}dSand White resource in the diagrami
should wine.g.47 . . . Ab648Ad6 lxd649e8g+ Axe850 zl8 Axg6!! HbB 49 Eb2 winninga vitaltempo.Nowif 49 . .
fi xe8+ Sg7 51 Ee7+ winningboth bishops,or 47 . . . Ab6 trS8 50 eegr H xee 51 AxeS c4 52 $a4 and wins without
48 ld6 Qxc6 49 Sxc6 AxdO 50 PeOand Blackcanresisn. muchtrouble.
46 . . . c4leadsto a sharpstruggle, but it is not hardfor Whiteto Blackalso losesafter 49 . . tr xb2 50 e88 Sfa+ 51 93
realise hisadvantage. Hxt2+ 52 €g 1 tr{ 1+ 53 Sg2 hg whenthereis the simple54
47 axcT AxcT 48 Ac2! " andalso54 ge7+ €2hO55 C/f6.
qf
Thisstrongmovewasadoptedonlyaftertheanalytical teamhad Havinqdealtwith 45 . E xa4 in answerto 45 $c6 theteam
established that the obvious48 e8g+ getsnowhere- 48 startediookinqat other defensivepossibilities and were almost
OxeS 49 ExeS+ gg7 50 Sc2 [xc2 51 Ab4 HxI2+ 52 stymied .
by 45-. . AfOl
'someone 46 e7 fixa4.
Sg 1 [f3 53 Bg2 fla3 54 Nxa6 E xa4 and it is practicay suggesfed 47 He6, but Karpovquicklyrefutedthisby
impossible for Whiteto win. somesurprisinjlacticalstroTes - 47 &47t148 fl xf6-$xe7
48 ... Ae8 (a8 . . $97 49 e8g lxeS 50 lb4! is worse and neitherknightcan come to the helpof the rook e g-^49 flrc7
for Black)49 Ad4! Ab7 50 f3 Af4+ {not wnit Wnitehopedfor e.g.49 E xas 50 Ads+
Whitehasnow builta soundfortressout of hisminoroieces and 6og
- si Hxeot), or 49 lc3 fid4!
hisrookwill penetrate the enemyrearwhichmustdecide. On thJ point o{ decidrngthat 47 HeO did not wtn an
imorovement for Whitewas fbundafter46 1}c6 E xa4, namelY
b) Thencamethe turn of 43 . . . Hal threatening 44 . . AXbS. 4j abTl Doesit forcea win?Theansweris givenby thisanalytical
It was established that White has three ways of realisinghis treei,hich is basedon two candidatemoves.47 . flb4 and47
advantage - b 1) 44 Ac6, b2)44 A)2 andb3) 44 Ha2 whichwe
lookat in turn. Thenwe haveotherpossibilitiestoo:-
b1)44 ac6 Ab7 45 Ad5 Hxaa {a5 €97 46 Hb2\ 46 47 . . . Hb4 48 tre6 €f7 49 ld8+ with an easywn.
f e 7 + S f 8 4 7 N x g 6 + h g 4 8 e 7 + g g 7 4 9 S x b 7 . H o w e v ei tr 47 ... exbs
47 +a gxns
exbs 48 Eb4 4e
axbS Eb4 49 tre6
tre6€rZ 50 -trIf6+
€f7 _59
soonbecameclear that 44 Ac6 can be stronglymetby 44 . . . c4l g xe7 51 Ebo Ai4+ 52 g3
HbO Af4t52 5a $a6 and
q3 Ac7 53 Hc6 Ab8 54
Theattemptedimprovement 44 e7+ @g7 45 lc4 is met by the hitewins.
quietmove45 . . . Ab7 with White'skingin a criticalposition- 47 ... AxbT 48 AxbT Eb4 49 treO €rf7 50. EYf6+
4q f3 Af4+ 47 s3 pxf3 48 sf Sxe2 49 lbd6 Qxca. SxeT 51EuO anothe rookis now sate(51 Ata+ 52 g3
b2) 5o,44 1\a2 c4l (44 . . . trd 1 45 e7+ is weaker)4b Sxc4 Ac753A7c7 Hxb6
-The 5 4 Ads+).
EXc4 or 45 lXc4 l}b7 and Blackhasunpleasant threats. cralestcomplicationsarlseafter47 . . . Ee4' Thepersistent
b3) Thenthe declsionwas madethat Whiteshouldmeet43 analystsfound a surewin heretoo by 48 fl xe4 (an!'thing else
Ha3 by 44 [a2 goingintoa minorpieceendgame of thesortthat leadsto the lossof one of White's minor pieces, his mainfighting
actuallyoccurredin the game.lt is curiousthat the Ukrainian sioe forcein thisoosition).
did not expectKarpovto go intosucha minorpieceendgame. Thencomes48 le 49 Ad8! (49 A7d6 is weaker.49
A"nS SO eef + lxeS 51 AxeS-u €{8 SZAxnS Af4+, 53
c) Of coursetheWhiteteamdid not knowwhichmoveRomanishin F A"a 54 &-g2 A 55 €f 1a3). A{terthe text,however.Black
had sealedand had to considerall possibilities.
The move that i^rittGu"to lo-sJa piecewhichmustresultin eventual victoryfor
causedthemmosttroublewas4il . . . $g7. White.
 _..F

TheX-ravEve 59
58 Studying the Middle Game

A superbanalysisl Yetin theeventKarpovpreferred anotheriine combinative blows.

of play. Doesthat meanthat the whole night of analysas was ln ShakhmatnyL/stok number 12' 1931' P Romanovsky,
HonouredMasterof Sport,published an articleX-raysin Chessin
wasted?By no meanswastedlTheworldchampiongaineda clear quoted of a little known Leningrad
insightintothe possibilities
of the position and thishelpedhimfind which he the analysis
hismovesin theadjourned session. Thegameendedthus:- mathematician B.Baskovconcerninghis discoveryof fantastic
combinative in the gameTartakower-Alekhine,
possibilities New
43 . . . €97 44 93 (goingintothe minorpieceending)44 . . .
York,1924.
Hal 45 Ha2t flxa2 46 Sxa2 $f6 47 Nc6 pc8 48 a5 Sd2 Romanovsky commented admiringly that Baskovhadachieved a
49Ac4 h5 50€g1 f4 51 gxf4Axf4 52 gf 1 Aa6 53€e2 g5
5413 Q1c755 e7 Ae8 56 €7d3Ab7 57 $1ba7Ah2 58 a6 Aa8 greatsuccess by puttingin entirelydifferentlighta positlon which
6ad beenassessed bv a numberof authoritiesTheconclusion of
59 Ads As 1 60 Ac8 c4+ 61 Sxc4 Q1c762 Q1b41-O. put in doubt.
Masteryof analysisby the SovietSchoolis developed by all Alekhinehimselfwas
possible means.Thisvitalfeatureis impartedin the chesscirclesin Alongwith Romanovsky \^/estressthat suchpositionswherelong
establishedconclusions arerendered dubiousor totallyrefutedare
the PioneerPalaces by chesscoaches. In thechesspressthereare of suchcrucial
regularcompetitions set- findthe bestwayto win or drawin this not rarecasesbut comein droves.Theexamination
positionsin the lightof concreteanalysis freedfrom thetyrannyof
or that position.The positions set are not just solvable
by combi- development of a creative
nationalmeans,someincludeplanning andanalysis. oeneraI considerations leadsto enhanced
A featureworthyof noteisthatsparksof genuineinspiration and course In chess.
anal!,ticaltalentare seennot only in the centraltownsand cities,
but also in the most isolatedsettlements.
publications
The editorsof chess
receivestacksof mailfrom suchdistantspots,some
47
t /# t+ w 7t
'w
,ft,8%i ,2t.
refutingwell-known combinations, othersfindingnew pathsin the 2t
mostestablished openinglines.With suchenthusiasm for analysis 2 Wlz7.2 /1,/.,.
amongstwide sectionsof the public it is considereda very
worthwhileundertaklng. Here are some examplesof the fine 7 zt/t
discoveries madeby suchanalysts % 2 2rl
The X-ray Eye '1 an exclamationmark,
ln the earlydays of its development the SovietSchoolwent HereWhiteplayed $e4 and appended
as beingthe only move to maintain his advantage and keep the
through a seriouscreativecrisis.At the start of the 1930's, that 1 $94 wouldleadto
apparentlyunderthe influenceof Capablanca who had lost his pressur6 on Black.Hef urthercomments
worldtitlematchto Alekhineand subseouentlv somewhatlosthis a quickdraw.
interestin chess,some Sovietmastersdabbledin stereotyped Vet Baskovdiscovered anotherlineof attackstartingwith the
methods,whilesomewoefultheoreticians evensupportedCapa- apparently 1
stupid c6! when the reply
blancain his viewson the 'drawdeath'of chessand the needto a) f . . . gxc6 seeming to win a pawnis met by 2 fle7ll
Here is the move which Romanovsky callsthe X-ray move,
changethegameby introducing newpieces on an enlarged
board. position.The variations
Suchtrendswere bitterlyresistedby true loversof the art of penetrating into the very essenceof the
which no,,ifollowand leadto a win for White are exceptionally
chess.A numberof articles appearedin the magazine Shakhmatny
Lrbfokin whichthe harmdoneto chessby suchviewswasshown. pretty.Obviously Blackcannotcaptureon e7 with rook or klng,
since'helosesthe queen.Whitegetsa simplewin after2 gSq
War was declaredagainstpot-hunting, arrogance and superficial, rules
out 4
ill-thought-out'reformslThis battlewas taken up by the young 3 Ef XfTl *c1+ 4 Sh2 andthe matethreaton 97
Sovietmastersof the time who showedin theirgamesthat they E xe7.
were supportersof the creativeprinciples Thearticlegoeson with the keyline2 163 HxsTtt (48)
of the natve school If 3
proclaimed by ChigorinandAlekhine. The rook siillcannotbe takenfor the samereasons.
The movementfor a creativeboost in the contentof chess E xds then4 H xf6+ E)xg/ 5
)+ SxgT €sB o6 gs41
h6+ Wgtt
a, nO-1- tj'g'+-1-
recerved masssupport,andlettersstartedcoming1nfrom themost Thereremains3 . trd6, but then comesthe fresh blow 4
distantpartswith openinganalyses, strikingnew ideasandstartling Eg8+ ! winningqueenor rook 14 . . €xS8 5 $94+ 4
60 Studying the Middle Game TheX-ray Eye ol

48
ru EI t
%.,&
2
i.%
it&
Vt %
%t:,,. 7Z
t& ,'%l:.,
% ..2% & /r&.
% %,//Z
% %2,,.
%t;,, 7 $" .€-i
7lz.,H
gr7 5 dc). Thewinafter2 $h6 is shownby thesevariations,
Havingprovedthat 1 gxc6 losesBaskovgoes on to 2 . . . f 6 3 E X f 6 a n nd o w
demonstrate winningmethodsagainstthe threecandidate moves a) 3 ... Exf6 4 gxf6 h5 5 th6! Ag6 6 trf1 gxeS 7
withthe rook. gxg6+ Bg7 8 Ae6+ €/hg I gixh5+ €,h7 10$e5+ $97
b) 1 Ee7 2 HxeT €xe7 3 8e5+ €fB 4 $xc7 $e3+ 5 1 1t r f 6 .
$h 1 $e7 6 $f ! andthetwo unitedpassedpawnsensurethe win. b )3 . . . 6 g 6 4 A e 6 + € h 8 5 t r c f1 t r x f 6 6 t r x f 6 l x e 5 7
c) 1 . EdO 2 grb4! Not onlypinningthe rook,but creatingthe cxd4l pc2 B dXeS]196t h4withthewinning threat10h5.
powerful threat3 $b7. Black's bestdefenceis 2 . . Ec8, to meet c)3 . . . €h8 a flcf 'l andBlackhasnowhere to gowithhisrook.
3 9b7 by 3 trdd8! with a sound defence. HoweverWhitehas d)3 . . . Ac4! 4 flc2! Ng6 5 Se6+ @hB6 ficf2 dxc3!
a w i nb y 3 H e 6 l8 g 5 4 f l x d 6 c d ( 4 . . g e 7 f a i l s t oy e ta n o t h e r
finetouch- 5 E Xf 7+ ll seediagram49). 5t ''//:;t
7 7
49 'g'i 7 2AH.A&
"'H &.t tzt& 7
7t 2 7z 2A % 27
7 frvlz 2+ & 7 &
iM,
E 2 % z 7/:...
2 ,ru ,ft
vl,z.,.
7
2 7tZ"/:aatH
7 2 7 [xg6 (not7 ExfS+ g,xfg 8 trxt8+ Exf8) 7 . ge7
I E x f S + E X f S I E f 6 ! H x f 6 1 0e x f 6 $ c 5 + 1 1S h 1 a n d
and now 5 gbTl ge3+ 6 q7h1 ge8 7 flxf7+ SgB 8 mates.
flxs7+ €fg 9 trg3!grxhs+ 10 trh3 g/d1+ 11 $h2 Ss4 OtherBaskovanalyses appearedlater.For examplehe founda
thequeen.
12 Ef3+ winning win for Blackin Rubinstein'Yates. BadKrssinoen. 1928.
d) 1 EdB trefs Hacg12 f6?3 E xf6+ etc.)3 E xfT+
2
€g8 8e5 EfB {Othermoves
4 5 fl xf B-rr
aTeno improvement) 52 'ffit
ExfB 6 EXfS+ €xf8 7 $f5+l $e7 I C.d7+€lf8 I grdS+ &t%
'%i/& %
w;nnrng.
In the samearticleRomanovsky quotesyet anotheranalysis
BaskovwhoseX-rayeye enabledhim to find a win in the game
by 2 2 t"'&86
7
Mieses'Bogoljubow, BadKissingen. 1928.(50)
%
Miesesplaved 1 cd which led to a draw after Black'sbest /&.t7/.r
' N 2,&tr
W
defence1 Ac4. Yet the startlingline 1 Ef 5l Ne7 2 $h6!l
wouldgiveWhitethe chanceto successfully crown hisattackon
the king.Othersecondmovesareweakere.g.2 e6 AXf5 3 AXfs Here Blackhad the chance 1 Axf4 2 HxI4 fl xe3 which
f xe6 4 Axe6 Ef7 5 Hf 1 fldd7 andBlackis safe. Baskovbackedup with a largenumberof complicated
variations.
62 Studytng the Middle Game

/,t ', ./.,

53
:l ":zt ,.:@
,.,t,: tr.../:
n /.::'',,.
'.r, fu, /:/,;
/., fu'
';ft.t
/;/,;
t
t8ta"'/,;.,
. t ,:tt l:..:, /./,8
..al/.",./t 7..,€)''2..t
Paris,1929,in which Blacktried 1
Thisis Koltanowski-Lazard,
. 9g3 and got nowhereafler2 $14 gc3 3 gxfT+ gh6 4
gf8+. YetBaskov's1 . . $c3! wouldforcea win.
refutationof a studv bV the
Then there was the sensational
Platovbrotherswho normallycomposedimpeccablyaccurate
studies.
54
z
% 2 ///t '/z
ffii. %
71,2, 2 t .g
7 7:,, .a//, 2
',f<,
+ "Z7lt ,z)./t 7
7L"
Baskovfoundthat after 1 €d6 Ac8+ 2 €d7 Ab6+ 3 €c6
hc8 4 AfS gh7 5 gb7 €sO 6 Ah4+ €g5 7 Af3+ gra I
$xc8 $xf3 9 a4 Blackhasnot L . . h4?whenWhitequeens
w i t h c h e c k . b u t 9 . f S l 1 O a 5 f 41 1 a 6 $ e 2 1 2 a 7 1 31 3 a B S t 2
and no seriesof checkscanbe foundto breakBlack'sresistance.
The aulhor hopesthat the examplesquotedwill inducethe
readerto sitdown himselfto find suchdeeplvhiddenpossibilities.
can claimthat nothingelse is so effectivein encouraging
groMh of chessstrengthas suchindependent
gamesof the greatplayersand your own. Try this out and I can
assurevou that vou will soon feel the benefitof it, both in
understanding chessand in resultsagainstyour peers.
Onealliedtopicis thewritingof notesto games* yourown and
thatof others.Suchpractice isalsoverybeneficial
to how thisis donein the SovietUnion.
6 A n n o t a t i n gG a m e s
Your Own Games
A considerable part in chesscoachingin the USSRis playedby
writingnotesto games.Thebestnotesare published in magazines
and newspapers, but thisis not the mainaim.A developing player
hasto write notesto his gamesin orderto developthe habitof
havinga self-critical approachto his play.By spottingthe flawsin
hisplayhe willmoreeasilyeradicate them.
So we requireyoungplayersto write notesto their gamesin
theirworkingnotebooks. lt is of no importance
thatthesenoteswill
be written'for the drawer'andnct seethe lightof day.Thefact
theytheywillnot be published isevenan advantagesincetheir'btte'
can be enhanced. I can claimthat the notebooks containingmy
game notesin my youth containvery sharpcommentsindeed.
Many of my colleagues can say the sameand carriedthis out
regularlyaftera certainlapseof timewhensetbacks forcedthemto
carry out an overalisurveyof their progress,in orderto devise
meansof rootingout persistent failings.
Of coursetheseindividual notesvaryaccording to the character
of the writer,but thereis muchin commontoo.
I
the Fourtypesof gameanno*€tions
maybe mentioned:
analysis, bothof the 1) Descriptive
notes.
2) Analv,tical
comments.
3) Positional
comments.
4) Svntheticcomments.
andwe nowturn 1l Descriptive,ofes. Here the commentatorwrites out all the
movesand then putsdown an extendedprosedescription of the
courseof the game.He notesthe turningpointsin the battleand
assessesthe accuracyof the ideasshown.Sucha verbalaccount
devotesa lot of attentionto the psychologyof the struggleandthe
attitudesof the players. Actualvariations
maybe totallyabsent,or
arerestricted to justa few movesat certainpoints.Sucha method
is bestsuitedto the popularpresswherethe courseof the game
64 AnnotatingGames Yourown games 65

hasto be explained who arenotfamiliarwiththe

for non-specialists 4) The Syntheticmethod. fhis method of explaininga game
finerpointsof chess.Suchan approach employed
wassuccessfully combinesboth manydeepvariations and verbaldescriptions of
by its then
from time to time in the magazineShakhmatYv SS.S/q strategicideas.The world of chesshas come to recognise this
editor, former World Correspondence Champion,the late methodas best,and it is no accidentthat its principalexponent,
Vyacheslav Ragozin. Alekhine, was recognised in his time as the bestannotatorliving.
Theworkwhichgainedthe mostplaudits washistournament book
of NewYork, 1924.In our dayssuchpraiseis rightlygivento the
2\ Analvticalcomments In this case the stress is on actual oamenoteswrittenby Botvinnikand Karpoy,both to theirown
variations, with all the notesconsisting of a massof variations,
(or in the lames and to the gamesof others.Anotherexampleof such
some long,some short,which the playerconsidered excellentsyntheticwork is Bronstein'sbookof the 1953 Candidates
opinionof the comment€tor shouldhaveconsidered) duringthe Match-Tournament in Switzerland,TheChessStrugglern Practice,
game.Proseis veryslighthere,consisting justof linksbetweenthe Batsford1980,recently translated intoEnglish.
variations.
A supporterof such a styleof notesin the lastcenturywas Annotation Competitions
Chigorin,and in our day this approachpredominates in Fischer's Recognising the valueof annotating gamesas a meansof self-
notesto hisgames. Thismethodhasbecomeverypopularin recent improvement we often see in the USSR competitions for the best
decades, and one may pointto the particularly abbreviated style setof notesto games.Normally to putallthecompetitors on a level
used in the Yugoslavlnformator,while observingthat here the footingthe gamesset are little-known examples from the past.A
commentator of describing
in his opportunities
is restricted plans goodexample wasthecompetition arranged as longagoas 1937.
and positiona I considerataons. At the end of that year the Soviet Trade Unionschessclub
It is hardto oblectto sucha stylesinceit is compactandenables announced a contestfor firstcategoryplayerslivingotherthan in
one in the restrjcted spaceof a bookor magazine to quotea larger Moscowand Leningrad. All relevantorganisations werefurnished
numberof games.HoweverGod helpthe playerwho triessucha with the gamesof unknownplayerswith a setof tasksto be carried
methodin trying to improve,or ratherrestrictshimselfto this out in the courseof annotatingthesegames.An authoritative
method.Thereis a graverisk that his play will dry up and the commission consisting of Ruymin,Blumenfeld and Yudovichwas
variationshe analyseswill be short, formal and not reallya set up to monitorthe entriesand determine whichwerethe best.
reflection of thecourseof an actualgame.Unfortunately in modern Of coursethe demandsmade on the commentatorsls what
booksone tendsto find only such notesand this is one of the interestsus most. Thesebecomeclear from the report of the
reasons for the 'fading'andpovertyof styleof a numberof modern commission from whichwe quote:
olaveTs. 'Commonfaultsamongstthe entriesincludea) unsubstantiated
allegations, b) referenceto too generalconsiderations without
3l Positionalcomments.This method,the mirror imageof the reference to concreteassessment of the position,
c)justificationby
previousone,hasa longhistory.Thecommentator givesa limited meansof longabstract variations. Variationsshould be worked out
numberof variations,onlyusingthemto underline hisviewof the carefully.and one shouldnot go too long down any variation
gameandthevalueof theplansadopted. lt is somewhat reminiscent withouthavingmadeabsolutely surethat the introductory moves
of method1, but the proseis not collectedtogether,ratheris it are forcedf(Aswe put it in the book Thinklikea Grandmaster You
spreadout throughoutthe game. have to decideon the candidatemovesand only then start
Thiswasthe methodadoptedby manygreatplayers- Steinitz, analysing eachin turn.)
'1937
Tarrasch,Laskerand Capablanca. Nowadays too it is a favoured The iury then went on to pointout that long unforced
methodamongstthosegrandmasters whoseplayis markedby a variationsnot only encumberthe courseof exposition, but are
depthof strategyand logic,but who rarelyget involvedin bitter oftenfaulty.A commonerrorwasto go in for suchlongvarlatrons
'hand-to-hand'struggles. which were not all that relevant,so infringingthe principleof
Naturally
enoughin viewof thedrametricallyopposed of methods economyof form andcontent.
2) and 3) there havebeenattemptsto bring them together,to The 1937 exoeriment was hailedas a new tool in self-improve-
producea synthesis,whichleadsusto whatis in our viewthe most mentand hasbeenusedsinceby the magaztne ShakhmalyruSSS,Q,
universaland rationalmethod. alongwith quizzes to testreaders' knowledge of chesstheoryand
66 AnnotatingGames AnnobtionCom@titrons 67

history.Nowadays everysixmonthsthe magazine givesthe moves dxes

- gd8.
of a gamewithoutindicating whereor by whomit wasplayed. The 20 . . Ae7 21 Ab2 d5 2213 Ead823 6f4 trhg8 24 Ahs
.
task of the readeris to providenoteswhich will illuminate the .glh425t6tgxhs 26 f xe7 Ed7?
turning point of the game,and to back this up by an overall
description of itscourseand by variations essentialto thisaccount. 55
Feaders'lettersare workedover bv an exoerienced masterwho &H&.
'",82t%t:.,
selectsthe bestentrjesand then the magazine reprintsthe game /4r.2%
witha selection
the notesof leading
of the bestand mostrelevant
authorities.As an example
comments. aswellas
of sucha competition lz 'ffit %
we quotethe 1979 effortbv readersto annotatethe Blackburn- +
Steinitzgameplayedin London,1863.The noteswerechecked ',&%8%
% %
and synthesised by A.Magergut.
1 e4 e5 2 Af3 AcG 3 {c4 ScS 4 b4 {Metlinfrom Gorky
comments'The EvansGambithaslostitstopicalitv, but it wouldbe Thecommentators havebeengivingshortand longvariations to
a mistaketo writeit off sinceall its attackingpossibilities havenot backup theirviews.At thispointmanyof themindicate theerrorof
yet beenfullyrevealed. lt is pla!€dvery rarelynowadays, but not Black'slast moveand expresstheir surprisethat Whitedid not
because it is unsound- in factmanyplayers avoid3 . . . $c5, just noticethe bcticalstroke27 flxg7+ @x 97 2a flg 1+ $95 29
g/h6+ €88
to avoidfacingitl. $e3 flxe7 3O flxg5+ hg 21 $xg5+ €f8 32
4 .. . AXb4 (After4 . . Ab6 thereis the awkwardSokolsky 33 $xc6+ aridBlackis in a badway.
line5 a4 a6 6 lc3 intending 7 ld5) i ed+? g6 28 Eael Ee8 29 EeS gh4 20 [f5! $xe7
5 c3 Ac5 {Nowadayspreferenceis givento the retreatto a5 31 dc
withthefollow-up6 d4 d6 7 g/b3 grdT I de Ab6 - returning the The amateurcommentators makea fresh assessment of this
extra pawn at the appropriate momentis the bestantidoteto a position comparedto exisitingsources* and pointout {for the first
gambit- and if 9 ed theng . . Aa5 10 8b5 lXc4 witha level timein chessliterature)the errorof thispawncapture.Aftertheir
game. ) suggestion 31 Aa3l the outcomeis far f rom clear.Black'sbest
6 d4 ed7 O-O(7 cd Ab4+ I gf 1 is goodfor White.) move is givenas 31 . . Se3 which would leaveBlackwith
7 . . . dG8 cd4 1\b6 {Thenormalposition of the EvansGambit. adequate nces.
counter-cha
Whitecanpressforwardby 9 d5 asAnderssen regularly played,or 31 . . . EddS 32 Aa3 8e6 3:l Ef4 f5 34 trh4 !5! 35 Ab2
go 9 Ac3 as introducedby Morphy and then taken up by gb3 g&5 38 8c3 tre239 {4 trxd4
Eds!36 r&cz88.e237
Chigorin.) 40grf3g/dsO-1.
9 A€ Aga (Syntheticassessment - White is a pawn down,
but has betterdevelopment and a strong centre.This central
controlmeansWhitecanswitchpieces from onewingto the other
easily.Black'spieces.for examplethe bishopat b6, can be
transferred to the€-side onlywith considerable lossof time.
So Whitehasto try for an attackon the $-side,whileBlackhas
to createthreatsto the enemycentre.Moreover, as is normalin a
crampedpositionBlack will strive for exchangesto ease his
position. After this generalcommentthe annotators subsequently
go overto variations. )
1OAbs $f8 11 Qxc6 bc 12 Qa3 Axf3 13 gf $95+ 14
€hl Ae7 15 le2 Ag6 16 trsl gf6 17 grd3 €gB 18 Acl 'Translatar's
h6 19 f4 €zh7 20 f5 Not-. See for example Rel s Masters of the ChessBoard 1933 ol
Neyshatadt's197 I book o|l Ste n tz Pervy ChempDn M/ra Ret m ssedboth tact ca
To save spacewe do not quote shorter notes concerning lil)es Nevshtadtgave the fi.st mprovement 27 Z/.97+. whlch had been
individual moves.Forexample at thispointonewriterindicated that dscoveredLnthe West many yea.searler - See Bruce AaydensCabbageHeads
after 20 e5 Blackgetsa reasonable gameby 20 ... dxeS 21 and Chess Ktngs
 A Philosophvof Chess 69

Batherlong-winded, is it not? What can one do about that

A P h i l o s o p h yo f C h e s s
possiblyour successors will needwhole volumesto expressin
6ppropriate
-'Witn fashlonthe nature of chessof theirtime!
tnisexcursion intotheorywe hopethat we haveprepared
thereaderto moveon to thequestion of theeducationalprocessIn
chessin the USSR.In particularwe dealwith existingchessschools
and the relationship between study in such schoolsand the
independent work of the individualplayer.

After our investigation of featuresof modernchesstheoryvvehave

the chancenow to try to givean answerto the question'Whatrs
chesstoday?'Orin otherwordsto describe a'philosophy'ofthe
chessof our tjme.Onethingis alreadyclear.You can no longer
restrict yourself to the sort of short formulationsthat vvere
accepbblein previous centuries. 'Thepawnis the soulof chess'or
'Seizethe centre
and get your piecesout' - suchphrases do not
express a tenthof theaimsthata moderntournament playerhasin
mindd uringa game.
A chesscontL.st of ourdaysisa lery complicated battleof minds,
of strategical plans,basedon extensi\r'e preparation, eruditionand
deepknowledge of chesstheory.In our belovedart we havethe
sameprocessof additional complication that appliesin lifeand in
science.Artificialintelligence, for example,or the structureof
matteror cosmology arethe productof knowledge in manyfields.
In chesstwo thinkingbeingsarearmednow with a knowledge of
theory,with the experience of previoustournamentsand are
preparedspecially for a givengameby concreteplansand even
tacticalconcepts.
lf we try to formulate a 'philosophy'of modernchesswe might
settleon thefollowingformulation:
A moderngameof chessis a logicalor tacticalclashof concepts
which ha\€ beenwidelystudiedand weighedup in preparation
made long beforethe actualgame.This preparation takesinto
accountthe experience of the best theoreticians of the past,as
codifiedin textbooksandencyclopedras, as wellas taktngaccount
of competitive and psychological aspectsdepending upon speclal
teaturesof the opponent's character.Theopeningof the gameis
playedaccordingto one of threemethods:quietplayaimingfor
equality,headlong attackor the coiledspring.Moreoverthe initial
stageof the gameis playedin conjunction with plansfor the middle
gameor evenfor theendgame. Themiddlegamestruggleiscarried
out by the method of logicalplans,of concreteanalysisof
combinations andvariations, or bv intuitiveoressuTe.
 Everything Staftsfrom Childhood 71

^hversare selected to take part in inter-school tournaments and

inoll oo on to competitlons at localand naLlonal lpvel
" -ihire
ur" manysucheventsin the USSRThe mainone is the
.WniteRoot' competition. Eachschoolf ieidsa teamof f our boys
and one gid from the 3rd to 7th classes ii e. in the age groupo{
;bout 1O:15). Thrs team meets other local onesand the wlnner
ieeps going forward to higher levels at city, regional and republic
S c h o o l so f C h e s s centres.
--The
finalis playedat national levelfor the'WhiteBook'prize, and
takesplacein the capital or in one of the hero-cltles ot wartlme
iime. npproximately five millionchildrena yearcompetein this
event. lt goes without sayingthat the roundsare playedin out-of-
Everything Starts from Childhood ichool tifrreand during vacationsso as not to interferewlth
'lt'salrightfor you.Youhavechesstaughtin the schoolson the schoolwork.
samefootingas mathematics, physics,geography. That'swhy a Thenthereis the competition for PioneerPalacesEachteam
youngsteronce leavingschool is ready to play in top class consists of seven boys and a girl up to theageof 18 andin thefinal
tournamentsl theytakepart in a most unusualtype of event Eachteamhasa
I haveoftenhad occasion to hearsuchwordsfrom the lipsof cap'tain who is a grandmaster or stronginternational masterand is
'graduate'-of that particular Palace. The captains give-clock
foreigners who are keenon thedevelopment of chessin theirown itso a
country.We haveto disillusion suchpeopleby pointingout that iimultaieous exhibitions against all the remaining teams These
they are mistakingthe desirable for reality,that chessdoesnot oamesaTealwaysverv sharplycontested and the leadinggrand-
figureon our schooltimetables. Our childrenbasically havethe iiasterscanbe expected to droppointsrnthem.Thepointsscored
sameschoolprogramme, and studythe samegeneraleducational by thecaptainand by his team against theothercaptarns areadoed
subjects as in schoolstheworldover. up to determine the winner.In suchan eventteamsplrltbeNveen
Thenwe go on to tell how we do havespecialestablishments individual membersand the captainplaysa big role,and useful
which do immensegood work in coachingour young chess experience is passed on from onegeneration to.another' The most
players. Thoseschoolboys and girlswho get interested in the game popularcaptainsare Karpov who heads the Chelyabinsk Pioneer
whileat schoolandshowthe bestresultsin schooltournaments get Faiaceteam, Petrosianfor Tbilisi,Tal for Riga, Smyslovfor
the right to loin the specialchesscirclesin their local Pioneer Moscow,Bronstein for Kievand so on.
Palace, just in the samewayas theirclassmates enrollin circlesfor The sharpness of the contestcan be shownby the fact that in
sport,aircraftmodelling, botanyor whathaveyou.In thesePioneer 1979the finalwinnerwas Kharkov(V.Savon wascaptain)coming
Palaces the childrenhavethe rightconditions for studyas chess aheadof a numberof teamsfrom the largestcities.and republics'
mastersexperienced in chesscoachingkeep an eye on their The next stageonwardsas the playersget olderis the USSR
development. Thechesscirclesof the PioneerPalaces havebeen JuniorChampi6nship for playersup to eighteenyearsold The
the workshopof our chessdevelopment for manydecades. champions of the variousrepublics qualifyfor thisevent,with the
Manyof our leadinggrandmasters havestartedin thesecircles furtherprospectof takingpartin the WorldJuniorand European
rightdown to AnatolyKarpov,and havehappymemories of them JunrorChampionships.
evenwhen they havepassedon to highereducationand got a Finallyfor ihe highestagegroup- up to twentyfive- therels
qualificationor profession. the annualtournamentof youngmasters.Thisis the eventlrom
Obviously our youngstersareattractednotjustby thechanceto whichwe get mostof thosewho go on to challenge theexperienced
study theory but by opportunities to play in eventswhich will grandmasrers.
developin them the correct qualitiesneededin a competition Thiswellorganised and carefully controlled systemof coaching
player. Aftera numberof experiments andtrialswe haveestablished and competitiv!eventsensuresthat the youngergeneration gets
a unifiedsystemof tournaments for youngplayers, andthissystem the chanceto perfect its play and get experience in rough and
hasnow beenin operation for quitea longtime. tumble competitionagainstcontemporaries The whole system
The startingpoint is the schooltournament.Here the best takesin a massivenu-mber of players,and the most talentedof
 --F -_

TelevisionTuition 73
72 Schoolsof Chess
The TV school has attracted tens of thousandsof viewers.
them come under even more carefulcontrol,since they are Bykovawho answers
schoolswhosefamehasspread
enrolledin one of the theoretical FormerWomen'sWorld ChampionYelizaveta
throughoutthe world. First placeamongstthese ls taken by viewers'lettersand dealswith the answersto the homeworkalways
Botvinnik'sschool. comesto the studiowith a huge casefull of readers'Ietters.
Particularly touchingare the lettersfrom invalidsand the bed-
TelevisionTuition riddenwho onceagainget the chanceto participate activelyin
Morethana decadeagoa seniorfigurein theworldof SovtetTV chessandto try to raisetheirqualification status
lessons of chesstheory The programmegoesout overvariouschannels and at various
hadtheexcellent ideaof startingsystematic
on TV. Sincethen it has become a popular programme In every differenttimesin orderto coverthe wholeof the vastcountrywith
home giving entertainment to those who enloy chess in theirleisure its differenttime zones.The programmelastshalfan hour since
aftervariousexperiments we cameto theconclusion thatthisis the
time. aindi-nstruction and a chanceto improvechessstatusfor programme.
optimumtime for such a
thosewho takeit moreserlously. The four levelsof instruction are shownin turn, eachoncea
After variouschangesand improvements the TV ChessSchool
now has a set format. The period of instruction is threeyearsand month.So each of the four goesout on differentchannelsat
anyonewho wantsto enrollfor formalinstructionhasto senda differenttimesbut at the rateof oncea week.The showlastsall
postcardbeforethecoursebeginsgivingshortpersonal detailsand vear roundwith the seriousstudycoveringthe nine monthsof
his chess qualification (beginner,4th category, 3rd category etc) autumn,winterand springand the threesummermonthsglven
the degreeto which o\,/er
over ratherlighter
to ratherliohtermaterial I andrevision.Thenthereisan attempt
This informationis neededin assessing elements of theatre,humourand populartales.
homeworkhasbeendonesuccessfully and alsoin orderto make at introducing
qualification ticket' For examplegrandmaster Averbakhhas often sharedwith
theappropriate entryon the student's in the field of the historyof chessin
Therearefour divisions in the school.Theyoungestviewersare viewershis discoveries
'WhiteRook'schoolunderthe directionof chess particularthe historyof the chesspieces.He hasalso writtena
enrolledin the
masterLyudmillaBelavenets (daughterof the famousMoscow screenversionof an ancientchesspoem.
masterand methodician of the 1930's).Separate lessons applyfor The author of this book has done severalprogrammeson
Of course the humourin chess.Oneparticularly successful programme combined
beginners wheremasterBorisShashin is in charge
part is that for category players which works instruction and entertainment by callingon actorsfrom the Gogol
ma-in of the school Theatrein Moscow.Thiswasthetheatrewhichputon the play'The
undertwo headings - the endgamewlth YuryAverbakhand-the
WhiteandtheBlack'based on my longnovelof the samenameancj
middlegamewitii Kotov.Thisis {or playersfrom 4th up to 2nd devotedto the liteof the great Russian playerAlekhine.An extract
category. f rom the playwasshownon TV in summer.
Eaih courseis scheduled to lastthreeyearsand a personwho exhibitionagainst
hasenrolled for a coursemaycarryon in the nextthreeyearcycle. This depictsAlekhinegivinga simultaneous
rtu Germanofficersof the GeneralStaffin occupiedPrague
thirty Praquein
Averbakhdealswith simplepositionsand then goeson to the 1943.The last game is
to finish againsi Obersturbannfuhrer Spak
methodsof exploitingmaterialand positional advantage in more 'l resignideclares
game course deals with three the Germanofficer,'Mypositionis hopelessl
complexexamples.The middle Alekhineturns the board round,and takesthe black pieces
topiis,combinations, analysis and assessment of position and the
himself,and says'Playonl'Two movesfollowand the German
calculation of variations. againdeclaresthat, believeit or not, he must resignas White's
One of the specialfeaturesis the use of tests.Positions for
gameis hopeless.
solvingare seton eachtopic.Thusthereare ten testpositions on
OnceagainAlekhine turnsthe boardroundand now announces
the endoame.and the successful solver of six out of the ten is
matein threeon White'sbehalf .
awarded4th categorystatusby virtueof a specialdecisionof the An amusingtouch - the championhaswon with both Whtte
SovietChessFederation. Thosewho sendin eightcorrectsolutlons andBlack,but howcanthisbeexpressed in chesslanguage for the
aregiven3rd categorystatusandthosewho solveallten correctly TV screen.I mustadmitit tookme two weeksto figureit out,but I
- 2ndcategory. At theendof eachyeardocuments grantingthese
solvers got therein the end./56l
awardsare sent out and some of the most successful
It is Blackto playand he can seeno defenceagainstthe threat,
receive theirqualification certficatein the MoscowstudioThisfinal sinceafter 1 gO 2 .$h7+ gf8 3 gh8+ he is mated.When
awardceremonyrstransmitted widelyon vartouschannels
74 Schools of Chess Teleision Tuition 75

Systemusedfor the Otborochnii).

From here qualifiersmove on to the First Divisionof the
7:,27.:.,t Championship with only the winner of the Otborochniiseeded
7:., A '
.E;: directto the Top League.Then the leadingfew from the First
7:.2 7l/ra Divisionqualifyfor theTop League heldat theendof theyear.Thus
a strictprincipleof promotionand relegation
''/.t .L7
Hr accordingto actual
resultsis observed.
Duringthe restof the yearthereis an extensive programme of
tg, 2 events, both individual and team. The chief onesare the Soviet
Soartakiad, the USSRCup and variousinternational tournaments
Alekhine takesBlackhe makesthe re1oinder 1 ... flh4l when suchas the CentralClubtournament, the ChigorinMemorlal, the
White can only take the rook with knight- 2 fl Xh4? ge 1+ KeresMemorial in Tallinnand so on.
mates.So 2 4ixh4 $c3 and Whitecouldseeno defenceto mate As is well known our grandmasters competein international
at b2, sinceif 3 $c1 $a 1* winningthe rookandthenthe pinned tournaments throughouttheworldaswellas helpingcountries that
knight. are backwardin chessby meansof lectures,exhibitions and
OnceagainAlekhine takesWhiteandgoes3 gh8+l gXhS 4 coaching.
196+ and mate next move. Ourtop players aredoubtless affectedby the massiveness
of our
Thewholevalueof thisexample wasbroughtout aftertheactors organisation and theconsciousness thattheyservethe peopleand
had performedthe scenewhen the play was examinedfrom a so havespecial obligations.Thescaleof Sovietchessis immense -
technical pointof view.Thisis an excellent example of combinative more than three millionorganisedplayers,one millionof them
playexploitingopen lines.The finalcombination with the queen categoryplayers,spreadthroughout 148,0OOcollectives and
sacrificeon h8 is a tvoical 'ambush'combination.Thus an 1.5OO clubs.Thereare nearly7O0 masters, 61 grandmastersand
entertaining episodeis usedfor instruction purposes.' 13 worldchampions out of 18.Thework of popularisingthe game
Beforepassingon to the topicof sp€cialchessschoolsin the in the outsideworld is alsoimmense- morethan 25 countries a
USSRwe follow the path of ihe improvingplayer.When he yeararevisitedby our chessrepresentatives.
becomesan adulthe passes on intoadultcompetitions whichare
basedon strictcompet,tion and qualification. Only in very rare Different Nuancesof the Word 'School'
casesdoesthe SovietChessFederation makeso boldas to try to ln art and literaturethe word 'school'can be understood as a
correcttheconsequences of badluckor misfortune. definitecreativetrendwhichunitespeoplethroughoutthe worldin
The main event of the year for all playersis the Soviet their views on the subjectin question.Then there is also the
Championship. No matterwhat a player's highstandingmaybe a meaningof a combined organisation head,
havrngitsown building,
grandmaster can be authorisedto missthis event only by the teaching staffand programme of studies.
Praesidium of the ChessFederation. On the otherhandif the top In the period of the 192O'sto the 1940's there were no
playersfind it hardto get out of competingin the championshrp, organised schoolswherechesswastaughtin someform or other,
aspirants to takepartin it findit justas hardto get in. yet from the very first stepsalongthe road to creatinga nattve
Thequalification systemworksas follows:- Schoolof Chessthreetrendsemergedas regardsunityof views
The list of entrantsfor the Suoer Leaouestarts with tne and principles. Thesewere the Leningradschool,the Moscow
Otborochnii(Selection) tournamentor from specialquarter-final school andtheUkrainian school.
groups (The Chess Federationhas not yet come to a final A leadingrole was playedat once by the Leningradschool,
conclusionwhich tournamentsare better but more and more althoughin assessing the resultsof Leningrad-Moscow matches, of
protestsare being madeagainstthe 13-round.64-man Swiss tournament performances work
of the timeand evenin analytical
we notea prolonged sharprivalrybetweenthe representatives of
'Translatar's Nate A,254 page thecapitalcityand Leningrad.
book Chess Schoo/ was ssued n 1976 to
accompafy the TV course Apart from contrrbutonsby Kotov and Averbakhrt After the OctoberRevolution Leningrad maintained
its massot
contans an BO pageaccoulltby Yudovlchof the hrstoryof chessand the theoryof strongand theoretically experienced masters.Thesegreatconnois'
the opef ngs seursand strongpracticians work to a high
raisedtheir research
 _-

'School' 77
Schoolsof Chess Different Nuancesof the Word
76
havedonean immenseamountof goodin developing talent.ln this
levelespecially sincetheircity was the placewherein thosedays
the only chess magazineShakhmatnyLr.slokwas published.A reso€ctwe must namefirst of all the schoolsof Botvinnik,of
leading iole wasplayedby players who becameSovietChampions andof Kart.
Karseladze,
-number
on a of occasionsor took high placesin the national
championship - Levenfish, Romanovsky, llyrn-Genevsky, l.Rabino- Soviet lmmortals
vichand so on. Beforedealingwith these schoolsof a new type and their
'oraduates'we would liketo takea look in passingat the recent
Naturallv with the presence of suchpedagogues thereemerged
a wave of young talents headedby the leaderof Sovietchess aihievements of those playerswho may be calledveteransor
'candidate-veteransl Thesearethe players who for almosta quarter
MikhailBotvinnik. Herewe find Ragozin, Chekhover, Lisitsynand
of a century have been defending the country's coloursand still
others. Later on came a fresh generationof grandmasters, best in the world.
graduatesof the LeningradPioneerPalacewho weretaughtby the figure
-We high up in the listsof the
trainerZak - Taimanov, Spassky, Korchnoi andothers. are interestedmoreover not so much in thetr sporting
is seen in Moscow. After the October results. Age hasnot dulledtheirkeenthought,or deprived themof
A simrlardevelopment
Revolution chess\6s supported by Nenarokov, Grigorilev,and their inventiveness and fantasy.They play suchdeepconvincing
'193O's we havethe emergence of a oamesthat theirplaystillattractsthosewho esteemtheelementof
A.Rabinovrch. Then in the
group of young talentedmasters- Ryumin.Kan, Belavenets, 5rt in chess,for whom the questionof how a gamewas played
Yudovich,the theoretician Simaginand so on. They competed playsas greata partas what its resultwas.
with the Leningradplayersboth in matchesand We trustthe gameswe now demonstrate will act asa compass
successfully the bestthat thereis in
theoretical research. for the readerin his strivingto assimllate
The Ukrainian schoolprovidedmassivereinforcements. Herea chess,will stimulatehim to work at improvinghis play and
leading rolewas played by the outstanding theoretician Rauzer who understanding.
inventedmany systemsin variousopeningsalong with another MikhailTal remainsfull of force in his inventivethinking.His
theoretician Konstantinopolsky. Thesewerefollowedby new names gameshavealwaysbeenartisticand excitingwith theirrevelationof
who were to makethe Ukrainefamousthroughoutthe world - {he struggleof the pieces,yet the keenstudentwill find other
Boleslavsky, Bronstein, Geller.Steinandothers. hiddenfacetsin them.Certainly hisgamesstillgetrave noticesfrom
'Theex-world
The Great Fatherland War broughtsignificant changesto the his felloworandmasters. As Taimanov once wrote
geographical location of our schools of players. By the middleof champion's= combinations oftenexerta sort of paralysing influence
-194O's on the opponent's play.lt wouldseemthat the elementof surprise
the there had been a movementof peopleto Moscow
Botvinnik, Levenfish and Romanovsky from Leningrad, Bronstein, playsa big partin this:
Konsta ntinopolskvand Geller from the Ukraine This rather How minv surprise movesthereareln thisgamef romthe 1979
weakened thetwo areasmentioned, thoughtheystillput upa good Yuooslavia-USSR match.
resistanceto the capitalin team matches.We must be honest
thoughand saythatthe Leningrad schoolhasfallenbackfrom the Tal-Velimirovi6 EnglishOpening
pointof the development of leading players. I c4 c5 2b3 Ac6 3 Pb2 e5 4I g3 93 d6 5 Ag2 AeG 6 Ac3
has playeda big part in 7
€/d7 Al3 Ah3 Axh3 8 gxh3 I Ads
In our days The RussianFedeation
producingsuch namesas Polugayevsky, the late Bondarevsky, Black'sopeningplaycannotbe approvedof. Whiie hasa slight
Tseshkovsky, Sveshnikov, Krogiusand others Therehas beena but definiteadvantage.
growthof talentin the BalticRepublics wherethe namesof Taland 9 . . . gd7 1Oe3 lceT 11 lc3!
keresspeak for themselves. We shall have occasion laterto speak Avoidingexchanges and maintainingsuperiordevelopment.
of the special featuresof the Georgian schoolwith itsfloweringof 11 .. . af6 12O-Oe/.13 Ag5 d5 14cdW5 (57)
femaletalent. 1 5A x r !
Thatis an outlineof thevariousschools fromthe pointof viewof Talas everwas! When he hasthe chanceto makean intuitive
distribution. On top of this in our daystherehasbeenthe ptecesacrificehe neverretreats.
territorial
favourable development of schoolsin the propersenseof theword 15...€)xf716f3
Lineopening, of theenemykingin the centre
sothatthe position
'195O'slimitations.
withoutanyterritorial
becomesa primefactor.
Fromthe onwardswe havehad certainschoolswhich
78 Schoolsof Chess Sovietlmmortals 79

consistingof threeislands. Petrosian considers

thisa considerable
oositionalplus and has frequentlyexploitedsuch an apparently
xtru
,x
t %'/12.,. slightadvantage.
%,&A 21 fic4 .{.gb222g9c2 gxc2 23 $xc2 Qd4 24 $fl e5 25
%v"il Ae €g7 26 flc2 PcdS 27 g3 Ads
'bad'bishop
% 7.*t %+)
4 .f\
After this Blackis leftwith a againstWhite'sactive
knight.Why bad? Becausethe pawnson blacksquaresin the
t\ v)
_;(
JFt
./a,t
lY ru centrerestrictBlack'sbishopwhileopeningup manywhitesquare
optionsfor the knight.Thisfactoris exploitedby Petrosian from
2H& now on which is why Blackwould havedone betterto retaina
16 ... Aexds 17 fe lxc3 18 $xc3 gxe4 19 ghs+ knightfor thedefenceof theseweakwhitesquares.
€e6
.-Avoidinq 28 Axds! H xds 29 Sg2 g16 30 Ad2 trb8 31 Ac4 trb4
the nicefinish19 .. gSg 20 AxfO gf 21 flxf6 32 Hdz Hb7
ge7 22 8$.d5+Sg7 23 $95 mate. Black permitsa strikingfinish,but other moveswould not
20 gh3+ €/d6 21 b4! prolongresistance for long.
A veiy cunningmovedoubtless foreseenby Whitein assessing 33 Ae3 trd734 Ag4+ gfs
hischances afteithe knightsacrificeNow filesareopenedon the 34 $e6 35 Nxe5 {xeS 36 trde2trd5 37 f4 leaves
$-side andthe poorblackkingcanfind no refuge.. Whitea pawnup,whereasnow comesa strikingf inish.
21 . . . &c7 22 trcl trcg 23 Efs!894 24 peS+ &d7 25
gfl ge4 59
-
SpeiOsup the end,but therewere no realchancesof savingit
/// -t 7 t
'./tt
evenafterthe right move25 . . c4. 2 ....&,
'.//r/ t t 7
"/&@'/.:t",:
26 Ec4 8c6 27 th3 8e6 28 Axf6 gf 29 Ee4! t '.,/lt:.,.A,
76t/:..
'&,
.E-
58 /:/. f 7
./
ft L, H. 'r&&'/&
%"r& ::lrt
H 2
'/&t 35 Exd4! 1-0.Any recaptureat d4 allowsmatein two.
The performance of 54-yearold YefimGellerin winningthe
7 Super Leagueof the Soviet Championship at Minsk, 1979,
%t, produceda real furore.The point was not just the easyand
convincing victoryby the veteranin takingthe goldmedal,but the
A strikingfinishto a strtklnggame. strikingnatureof hisvictories, possibilities.
mostlyfullof combinative
29 . . . $xa2 3O flxcS+ 1-0 Hereis oneof thern.
lf MikhailTal makesthe fan ecstaticwith hisfine combinations
theotherex-champion. continues
TigranPetrosian, to impresswith Geller-Anikayev SicilianDefence
the accuracyof his manbeuvres and his filigreetechniqueThe 1 e4 cS 2l{3 e6 3 d4 cd 4 lxd4 lf6 5 lc3 d6 6 $e2
samematchagainst Yugoslavia sawthefollowinginteresting game: Ae7 7 O-OO-OI f4 Nc6 9 Se3 a6 10 a4
The well-knownScheveningen wriation.White tries to slow
Petrosian-lvkov SlavDefence down Black'sexpansive on the g-side whilepreparing
activities to
1 d4 d5 c4 c6 3 Af3 lf6 4 e3 eG5 Ads AbdT 6 Abd2
2 stormthe g-side.
c5 7 b3 96 8 O-OAg7 9 Aa3 b5 10 cd axd5 11 Ae4 O-012 10... Ad7 11Sf3 las128e28c7 13g4!
The start of a bold stormingoperationwhich is playedwith
trcl 15 i3 AdG &t r+ Axcs EaxcS 15 He1.€2hB16 e4! youthful vim. Gellerconsiders that Blackmust now continue13
te tz Axea At+ te Ecz g'f5 19 dc lxcS 2o $xcS bc
TheExchanqes in a splitpawnformationfor Black
haveresulted Ac4 14 95 le8 15 Afs Ad8. EventhenWhite'satbck looks
80 Schoolsof Chess Sovietlmmorbls BI

Drettvforceful. ludgmentWhitehassatisfied
Wth characteristic himselfthatthe
a4 wrllgivehim advantage
definite in the endrng
13 . . . [fc8 14 95 Qe8 15 f5 lc4 16 Ahs g6 17 fg fg 18 ou.i"J pu*n at advantage
slrght
apparently is
9f2 6e5 [OJrvd witn admrration how this
Thereis no otherwayof supporting f7, but White'sinitiative
now "^i9 withamazlngaccuracY'
cxolotted
t 21 E'11ad2zz, --1at.-'a8-?3
becomes formidable. .. ieS 2o as .;tc
'-c3
19 Af3 Ag7 20 Axes trfg 21 Afl/ Axhs *ii =azAq a6 g"f825 9526 -;a4
\
!d427-.1d1e52a
A decisive mistakeleading
to a stormyfinish.AIter21 . . . gh 22 fi"S
""iniiou*n Yd8+
naA 29 i..:'b3tl.b6 30 E -e- d8 31 a7!
$d4 White's attackremains
threatening, but Blackhaschances of ,snowalmosta queen,andf inallytiesdownallBlack's
resrstrng. {orceswitha decisive In theoiflng
breakthrough
60 31 . . . ;b6 32; xb6 lxb6 33 i 'a5!
iw
7L2., ary
/&r.772,t
t z ol
tlt 2t'17..,
2
7.2., 2 AI 'XL'/.tt/.'/L,,,
f,
7,2, 7.,,ft
'.E-< 7.2..
.,,N 71,,t& ./Y.
72.,,z) Tl/.,
a th
la a
A A z d&
t ,
,& ././r./r.
22 adsl ,&,
A piecesacrificeclearing thewayfor thebishopat e3 to takethe
longdiagonal. Blackhasto takethe knight. Thetriumphof methodical and accurateplayin the glqlorla1lon
22 ... ed 23 Ah6+ &s7 24 947+! trxf7 25 HxrT+ The
of slightadvantages. c6 pawn andwithltsfallall
is indefensible
€)h8 26 Ad4+ Af6 27 E xf6 1-0 hopesof successful disappear.
resistance
LevPolugayevsky too,alas,is a candidatefor thetitleof veteran. 5s . . . €"2 34 Axc6+ €/d6 3s ab4 ae6 36 Ad5 Aa8
In hisgamesyouwillnotfindthe intuitive sacrifices
of a Tal,northe 37 af6 h5 38 $ds NecT 39 le8+ 1-0.
fearsome attacksof a Geller,but the truechessfan is won overby
the accuracyof his manoeuvres and hisboldness anddecisiveness ChessTrainersand their Background
at the crucialstagesof his games.Thusthe lVoscowgrandmaster The chessorganisation of everycountrysooneroTlatercomes
managedto win this game at a key stageof the '1979 Riga up againstthe q"uestion of chesscoaching andthe trainersneeded
Interzonal againstan opponentwith immenseexperience of top- to rJn it. Where can thesetrainers be got from, what sort of
levelcontests. qualifications and training do they need? Does the trainerhaveto
be a strongplayerwho-is now no longerplayingin top,,events
Polugayevsky-Larsen SlavDefence Oecauieof"tAeage factor?Can a youngmastercope.withsuch
1 Af3 6f6 2 c4 cG3 d4 d5 4lc3 dc 5 a4 la6 5 e4 Sg4 7 *o*? tn" experiSnce ol Sovretchesswill be helpfJlin findrnglhe
Axc4e68Ae3Ab49grd3Axf3 10gf lc7 11 flsl lhS answerto these questions, so we havedecidedto devotesome
12$.e2 spaceto it.
Boldand unusual playin the opening.
Thewhitepawn'fist'is Firstof all let us definetermsand restrictour taskto the proper
veryformidable and sweepsawayall Black'sattemptsto get the senseof coaching.During top class events,especiallythose
initiativein thecentre. involvinqthe worl6 championship qualifyingcycleone seesthe
1 2 . . . s 6 1 3d 5 ! players iegularly accompanied by a well'knowngrandmaster or
Not fearingany shadowsWhiteopensfilesin the vicinityof his master.lnis persor]is the secondwhosetaskit ls to helptheplayer
king.Thisis Polugayevsky's concreteassessmentat work. in-nisprepaiatior.r beforethe eventand beforeeachgame'often
13 . . . Ad6 14 dc bc 15 gd4 O-O16 trdgl Axh2 iar..i"q;ait ,n Lhecho:ceol openingvariations and-givrng advice
The Danishgrandmaster himselfhurriesto exchangequeens "ltur""*n qame is rinishedand rs 6erng ana'ysed The-main rask
sincefurtherplayin the middlegamewouldbe riskyfor Black. i"nOs-toUeiitistingin theanalysis of adjburned gamesThe'period
17gxdg EfxdS 18 trxd8 EXdS 19SxaT of service'ofsuchsecondsis not longand duringthe llext such
 -7---

82 Schoolsof Chess Trainerand PuPil

eventthe playermayinvitesomeone elseto be hissecondthistime. charge

-
Whatarethe qualities o{ a goodsecond,and is it reallyessential In-studyingopeningsit is harmfuland too much likerote learnlng
to haveoneat all?Possibly it is betterto try to do it allon yourown? to consider a]ttheopenings,but it is alsowrongto restrictworkto
Doesa secondalwayshelp,or canhe actuallybe a hindrance? ^-^. .'. t*o
one o. tr.ryo
or)entnos
openlngswhlch makes
whtch easvfor the opponentto
makesit too easy
The simpleanswermust be that if a potentialsecondnot only ^.onare
prepare.A ooodgood deal of attention
attention ought
ouqht to be givento typical
recalls, 'When. I was pr,eryri.ns.19r
ole
knowsthe gamewellbut is a friendof yoursthenmakeuseof his ..dnames. As
Snoiitu, Kasparov
As Kr
services. lf you can be surethat you can rely on him for good ierni's*ort in the BotvinnikschoolI hadto spenda lot of timeon
overnightanalysisof an adjournedgame while you get your tlnq and pawnendingsso when I cameto a trickypositionin my
valuable sleepthenit is worthhavinghim. ow-n
- qamesI knewthe winningmethodl
Howeverif you haveany fearsthat as soonas you go to bed iet"it standsto reasonthatthe malnattentionmustbe focussed
yoursecondwillnot be longin followingyourexample aftera quick on the middlegame,the principal phaseof the game ln suchstudy
lookthroughone or two variations for the sake of form and will it is usetutto riork throughthe analysis of all sortsof gamesand
makeout next morning that he has slavedthrough the night, then oositions and to annotate games, both one'sown and thoseof
sucha falsehelperis betterdonewithout. others.
'ln chessas in any otherform of sportthe guarantee
Moreovercan sucha helperfor one eventbe calleda trainer? of future
Certainlynot! A traineris a personwho is concernedwith his successis a prop€rlylaiddown trainingprogrammelnere are
chargeday by day,and paysa lot of attentionto the work We manyhabitswhiih haveto be inculcated such as the abilityto
the
variations, correctassessment of position,theaccuraie
cerbinlyneedsecondsfor certaine\€nts but they must not be calculate
choice of
confus€dwith trainers. iealisation of advantage, the correct psychological
It is an interesting featureof chessthat the opportunities for continuation. All theseCanbe,and mustbe,developed by specBl
buildingup a group of training personnel are greaterthan in other traininql(Dvoretsky).
ln mostof the lattera personbecomes a trainer Wh;n a trarnerhasseveral pupilshistaskbecomes moredifficult,
sportingactivities. A knowledge
or coachafterfinishing hisactivecareerat sometimein histhirties sincehe has to have an individualapproach to each.
In chesson the other handa trainermay well continuehis own of eachpupil'sstrengths and v\,€aknessesis essential in orderto be
careerand carryon gettingexcellent results.For examplethereis ableto buildon the oneandtry to reducethe other'
theexcellent playat Madrid1973by the lateSemyonFurmanwho Here are some other commentsby Dvoretsky:- A player's
competedthere along with his famous pupil Anatoly Karpov. attentionshouldbe constantly fixedon the backwardpartsof his
Several of our youngergrandmasters haveas trainerinternational play,and specialexercises on thesethemesshouldbe constantly
masterl\4arkDvoretsky who is stillactivein tournamentplayand i'epeated. Tb quotea few examples {rom my own pupilsI canpoint
has hopesof the grandmaster titlefor himself.Botvinnikhad as out that Cheki-rov was poor in endgametechnique so I constantly
trainerfor a longtime that charmingpersonVyacheslav Bagozin workedon drawing his attentionto standard methods ot endgame
who combined a bigworkloadwith participation asa competitor in piay in variedpositions. As a resulthe madeswift and obvious
the 1948 Interzonal tournament. Drooress.
'
'l T"hen aoainDolmatovwaslackingin physical stamina, so he had
Dvoretsky haswrittenthus:- feelthat it is no lessinteresting
to bea trainerthanto playoneself. I eventakegreaterdelightin the to Ooa tot of sport (running, swimming
foot6all, and so on) and
tournament successes of my ladsthan I do in my own. HoweverI water treatment*in order to strengthenhis nervous -.system
haveno intention of givingup practical play,I enjoymeettng strong Nowadays he hasenoughstaying-power to lastout a tull tlvenour
playersat the boardand my impressions as a practicalplayercan playingsession anda wholetournament.
be oi useto me as a trainer.Possibly otherstrongplayersfrom
amongstour grandmasters and masters wouldliketo combinethe
two 'specialities'?
Afterallcreative contactwith taiented, cleverand
curiousyoungsters canbringgreatpleasure!'
sm
'Translatar's Nole Water treatmerri A system ol strengthellrrg the or-ga|
Trainerand Pupil *,O"iv i"iorn'""nO"O rrrSovretsportslterature The bodv rs rubbedwth coo arra
in theSovietUnionhasgivensomeguidellnes sw m'nlnq
Experience to help latercoldwateaand spongeunt I rt becomesusedevento co d bathsand
a trainerworkingregularly peopleunderh1s
with one (or several) i11the openarrdurrngirosty weatner

-L-
 Botvinniks ChessSchool 85

monmumental strategy.Justasthevisiblepartof an icebergmakes

up onlyonesixthof its height,so too in thisbattlethe greaterpart
of the ideasare not broughtout. ln sucha casethe consequences
of the slightest misbkeare quiteconsiderablel
It is easyto understand that the schoolof sucha greatexpert
attractedthe best talent from throughoutthe country.These
includedwhat are now very well-knownnamessuchas Anatoly
9 B o t v i n n i k ' sC h e s sS c h o o l Karpovfrom Zlatoust,Yury Balashovfrom Schadrinsk, Yury
Flazuvayev from lvoscow.Lateron they were jcinedby Yelena
Akmilovskaya from Krasnoyarsk, HarryKasparov from Baku,Artur
Yusupovand SergeiMakarichev from Moscow.All partsof our
largecountrywererepresented.
The chessorganisation of SovietTradeUnionshad the excellent It did not takelongto settlehowtheworkshouldbeorganised. lt
ideain 1963of settingup a smallschoolthatwouldcoachsomeof wasdecidedto meetfaceto face in shortsessions two or three
the mostgiftedyoungplayers of thecountry.Formerworldchamp- timesa year.Theseget-togethers normallytook placein Moscow
ion MikhailBotvinnik,our greatesttheoretician, and a Doctorof duringthe schoolholidays at NewYearand in the spring,whilein
Technical Science expressed thedesireto runthe schoolwherethe the summerthe venuewasa holidayresortor healthcentre.The
studiestakeplaceby post.For nearlytwo decades thisschoolhas administration of theschoolrealised how difficultit isto teachchess
been turning out 'gfaduates'who havea fine grasp of chess at a higher level,especially on the basisof a correspondence
strategyand tactics,experience of practicalplavand the routtne course.Thestudieshadto be adjusted to the individual features of
neededfor this.Mostimportantof all they havehaddeveloped in each student,his character,age, health,style of play and
themthe knackof workingindependently at chessstudy. preferences. A greatdealhadto be takenintoaccountin particular
Therecan be no doubtthat the mainfeatureof the schoolis its howto developa lovefor thegameandhow to stimulate hisstrong
head.Botvinnik's name has figuredin the world of chess,and oointsanderadicate hisweakones.
outsideit too,for morethanhalfa centurv.The'oatriarch'of Soviet The standardstudymethodis simpleand convincing. Whenhe
chess,as we lovinglycall him, has gone throughan tmmense goeshomefrom a sessioneachstudentgets his own individual
experience of matchand tournamentplay.He took part in more assignment which has beencarefullythoughtout by the coach.
thanfiftytop-class tournaments in hisfortyyearsof activeplav,was Duringthe long breakbetweensessions the studenthasto work
worldchampion for thirteenyears,winningor defending thetifleon throughthisassignment. and at the nextsession he mustmakea
fiveseparate occasions, and playedfor our winningOlympiad side reporton what he hasdone.Theprinciple is thusstrictlyfollowed
srxtrmes. that the assignments are individual but the reportson them are
He isa playerwho to an unprecedented extentpenetrated deepiy collective.
into the possibilities of the game,more than all the remaining So the daysof the sessionfly by as the keenstudentsgivean
grandmasters of hisday.Anotherworldchampion TigranPetrosian accountof theirprogress and takepartin the groupassessment of
haseloquently described theemotions of a playerwho hadto siton theothersin turn,allthe whiletakingnoteof thecriticalcomments
the othersideof the boardfrom Botuinnik. He oncetoldhow hard by the coach.At the end of eachsession a freshassignment is set
he found it to playagainstFischer,but thenwent on, 'Yetit was whichmustbe carriedout beforethe nextmeeting.
harderto playagainstBotvinniklYou got a feelingthenof having Thestudents arenotfrightened of toughassignments, but rather
no wayout.Thisvr,as a !€ry unpleasant feeling.Oncein conversation welcomethem,knowingthat suchhardtasksare a freshstepon
with KeresI told himaboutthisand evendrewthe comparison of the roadto p€rfection.
Botvinnikas a bulldozerclearingever!,thing away from its path. Duringhislifea pupilhasto learnfrom manyteachers. He learns
Keressmiledand commented 'Justthinkwhat his nativelanguage, mathematics, naturalsciences. Oftenteachers
it was likefor those
who hadto playhimwhenhe wasyounger': willtell how they learnedand studied.Yet in the chessschoolthe
No lessexpressive arethewordsof Geler,describing hisfeelings pupilshavea teacherof the highestclasswho can passon the
as he satdownat the boardto playl\likhailMoiseyevich. lessons learnedin top classtournament playas wellas the secrets
'Gamesaganst Botvtnnik, of theoryworkedout by the mostoutstanding researchers in this
as a rute, are a batfle aqainst
86 BotvinnikbChessSchool Botvinnik'sChessSchool 87

field over the last half century.That is why the time spent in Karpov-Botvinnik Caro-KannDefence
Botvinnik's schooland the counselhe givesis remembered so Clocksimultaneous playedNovember13th, 1963, in Moscow.
vividlyby hispupils. 1 e4c62d4 d5 3 lc3 96
AnatolyKarpovrecalls'Mystudieswith Botvinnikbroughtme Let's get away from standardplay to see how he thinks
immensebenefit,particularly the homeworkassignments which independentlv of theorY.
forcedme to referto chessbooksandto work indeoendentlv: 4 at3 Lg7 5 ;f4;94 6 ed cd 7 1\b5
HarrikKasparov, a studentof the nextgeneration backshim up Now there is the simple defence 7 . . . Aa6. butwhatif we try to
'ln 1973whenI wasstilla boywho just likedplayingchessMikhal
oosemore difficultproblemsfor the lad. Go deliberately for an
Moiseyevich invitedme to join hisschool.Thereis no priceI could inferiorposition to seehow he goesaboutexploiting an advantage.
namefor thethingsI gotfrom it in thecourseof thefiveyearsI was 7 . . . &8I h3 Axf3 9 g'xf3 lc6 1Oc3 Af6 11 Ad3 a6
there.He doesnot usehisauthorityto beardown too hardon the 12 ba3 Bb6 14 8e2 Ahs 14 Ae3 {9c7 15 O-OAf4 16 g'd2
pupilsand to imposehis viewson them.Botvinnikis the person AX€ 17$.xd3 h5 18lc2
who confirmedin me theviewthatAlekhine's chessis my sorttoo. Thisladmanoeuvres well,as I havenoticedearlier. Theknightat
At eachstagehe suggests hisapproach. At the beginning ot 1977| a3 wasawayfrom the centre,so he bringsit overthereto the real
becameSovietJuniorChampionfor the secondtime scorlng8l/2 sceneof activity.
out of 9 and winningthe title with a roundto spare.I went to 18 . . . Af6 19 f4 e5 20 6)e1 h4 21 4lfs Ae7 22 Aes Afs
Moscowwith the ideathat everything was goingswimmingly for 23 Ac1 €97
me.Thereat the schoolMikhailMoiseyevich congratulated me on Artificialcastlingachieved, now it is time to expelhis outpost
my victoryand suggested that I go throughmy winninggames. knightby . . f 6 .
HereI wasseverely criticisedat somepointsin themby hrm.yet to 23 Ht2 Ae7 25 gd3 b5 26 Ad2 b427 He2 a5 28 Eael
hearfrom Botvinnik that the qualityof my playin the recentevent Aha! Karpikis gettingreadyto presswithallhis pieces on e6, so
gavehimgreathopesfor me wasthe heightof happinessl for the timebeingI do bestto avoid. . f6.
A point to note here is that the pupil is not automatically 28 . . . Ea6 29 grd3 grbT 3O flcl fic8 31 Pel a4 32 c4?
permitted to makehisreporton theassignment. Beforethisisdone What'she doing?Hedoesn'tseethe simpleknightcaptureat d4.
his overallprofileand progressbetweensessions is assessed bv Possibly I shouldn't bke the pawn?l'd preferto playthegameon to
experienced teachers. Theseaskthemselves whatare hisresultsin check his plav more deeply,yet that move would producea
tournaments, whatare hisexamresultsand academic progress at resignable position. Well,there'snothingonecando aboutthat.The
school,is hefit,doeshetakepartin sport,doeshe knowthehistory lad makeselementaryoversights.l'll exploit it, and after the
of chess?They also check up all his games,assessing their exhibition l'llgivehima tellingoff.A plaveraimingat masterymust
strndard.Onlyif all thesethingsare in good ordercan the pupil ruleout allslipsandchanceoccurrences from hisplay.
aopearbeforehisfellowsand relatehow he hastackledthe tasks 32 ... Axd4
assigned to himby Botvinnik. Now he'sseenit and is perplexed. Thereare eventearsin his
Thissuperbschoolis organised by wise pedagogues. lt is the eyes.Nevermind,he hastc toughenup.
dreamof thousandsof boysand girlsto qualifyfor it. Boysare 33 Ed2 AfS 3a trdc2 Ne3 35 Ee2 dc 36 Axc4 Axc4 37
admittedfrom the 11-18 age group.girlsf rom 13-18. Onlythe E xc4 Hd6 38 ge4
mostpromising talentsareadmitted.
In additionto theoretical assignments thereare practicaltrials 62
suchas simultaneousexhibitions.
Hereis an example from onesuchexhibition whichwillbe useful
for allchesscoaches to workthrough.Thethoughtsattributed here
to Botvinnikmaynot be exactlythosethoughtsthat he hadat the
time,but this is the directionin whichtheywill havegone,as he
bothtriedto discoverwhat hisopponentknewand triedto playin
sucha waythatthe pupilwouldextractthe maximumbenefitfrom
the encounter.
Well now, exchangingon e4 finishesit. lf he takeswith the e2
 -V

Yuri Balashov 89
88 Botvinnik's ChessSchool
Then there are his resultsin the USSF Championshipwhere he
rook then a further exchangeon c4 and it is a purely technlcal - enviable
matter. What has he shown so far? Calm play in the opentng was second in 1976 and equal third-fourthin 1979
without strivingfor too much, reasonablemanoeuvringplay, but stability.Finallyhe has often takenfirst placein stronginternational
then a pawn givenaway.So the gameendsand I haven'tlearnedall tournaments.
He hasa fine knowledge of theory,and by thiswe dc not iust
that much about him. PossiblyI should give him the chance to ,an onenino variations.
variatlons lt was for nothing
not for
not that Karpov
nothinqthat chose
Karpovchose
show a bit more? What if I give up the queen?| could check his mean opening
him as hischief second in the 1978 world title match at Baguto i
techniquethen. So let'sseewhat the lad from the Uralscan do.
38 ... Exc4? g,xb7 Af640 Axb47 nive naa occasionmyselfto seehow hard he worksat this ln
'1970| was headof the Sovietdelegation at the Fischer Taimanov
Oh, oh, yet anotherbad slip.He'slosingagain,and Tolyahas and Yuri was there,along with Vasylkov, as
tearsin his eyesagain.As soonas he got winningchanceshe mitcn in Vancouver
iii.rnou't second. He had brought with him almost all Fischer's
blundersaway a bishop.Obviouslyhe is still young and inex- withallsorts
perienced and hisnervesgiveway. gamesandfor dayson endhe keptfillinghisnotebook
40 . .. AaA+ 41 €lh2 trb6 42 8e7 Ecxb4 of analyses.
So hb onlyhasto overcome thefinalhurdlein perfecting hisplay
At thispointthe gamewasbrokenoff andadludicated a drawby
make it to the very top. What is this slight detail that
theappointed thirdpafi. in order to
holdshimback fromthis?Possibly theanswerllesin thesewordsof
Such coachingsessions go on yearafter year,and the staff 'YuriBalashov
formerstudents of the schoolare Botvinnik: studiedwith me for elghteenmonths I
changes littleby little.Sometimes
enrolledto be teachersthere.Nowadaysthereare quiteyoung feelthat the obstaclewhich is holdinghim back rsan Inadequte
naturalfeelfor position. To someextenthe hasovercomethrsby
boysand girlsstudyingthere.Who knowswhat will becomeof tactician andwhrle
themin thecourseof time? hardwork.On the otherhandhe is an excellent
siillin the schoolhe amazedevervbodv by his tactlca I conceptions:
Ourchessfanshavebecomeaccustomed to seeingthereference tactician hasottenbeen
'studiedin Botvinnik's chessschool'when theyreadaccounts of the Botvinnik's commentaboutan excellent
echoed.Here an is example from the 1979 USSR SuperLeague
tournament performancees of thisor that youngchesstalent.Yes, seriesof tacticalblows.
his studentshavereachedthe top in variouseventsand someot whichhasa firework-like
themareexertingthemselves to reachthefinalstage- an attempt
to takethe chesscrown from the mostdistinguished studentof 63
2 g, |&t
themall.AnatolvKarpov.
So we shalltry to introduce the readerto the leading'graduates'
t a/L,ia
./t/z
of this legendary school. Perhaps theirgamesand biographywjll
7./r.7,',.,
stimulate the readerto strivehimselito improvehis play.Youare 7./2,,.ft't&,
,.//,
aboutto go througha picturegalleryof players whoselongyearsof AANA
hard studyunderthe guidanceof an experienced teacherfinally + ft28'"'z.t/.:
'aat\
paidoff in theirmasteryof thetheoryand practiceof chess. ',,/t
Thisis Romanishin Balashov, in whichlt is levelfor the moment
Yuri Balashov to go for activeplay on theg-sideandopensup files
With the exceptionof Anatoly Karpov himseifthis calm, Whitedecides
taciturnoupil of Botvinnikis the one with .thebest
restrained, to helpthis.
tournament recordoverthe Vears. 13 a3 b4 14 Aa4 4)d7 15 c3 ba 16 b4
yingeventsfor theworld
Hehasa particularlyfinerecordin qualif White'sideaiJcleai He hopesbv E xa3 and then Efa 1 to
championship - in the lasttwo cycleshe tookfirstplacein special attackthe a6 pawnoftenenoughto win it. HoweverBlackhasa
USSRZonetournaments to determineour representatives for the breathingspaceand whileWhitetakestwo movesto re-establish
FIDEInterzonals(in 1975 he was in a fourfoldtie for first place). material6qualityBlackcancreateplayln thecentrelt is w€ll'known
Theannoyingthingis that he hasfollowedthesesuccesses up in that suchcentreplayis more importantthan playon tne wrngs
White'smisfortune is that Blackcansoonextendhiscentralplayto
mediocrefashion,and so has neverqualifiedfor a placein the
Candidates'lvlatchesthat his other resultswould indicateas a the $-side with threatsto the king
Balashov demonstrates thisin mostinventive style'
leoatimate
outcome.
90 Botuinnik'sChessSchool YuriRazuwyev 9l

16 . . . dsl 17 e5 96 18 942 f6! 19 ef $xf6 20 $a2 $h8 oeriodof studv\&asnot very long.Many yearslaterRasurayev
21 gxa3 e5! becamethefriendandhelperof AnatolyKarpov. To spendyearsin
Sinceseveral whitepiecesare strandedon the othersideBlack the companyof two suchtitansof chessls the sortof thingothers
can hurryto playon the S-sideand usehis superiority therenot canonlydreamaboui.
worryingaboutlossof material. Someprettyplayis comingup. Thegeneralopinionof commentators on Razuvayev is that he is
'baggage'was
22 fe Ncxe5 23 lxeS lxeS 24 fladl an excellenttactician,but that his strategical
A betterchanceof successful defencewas24 ]\e2 whenBlack inadequate for a long time and this held him backfrom getting
wouldcontinue24 flae8 creatingmanyawkwardthreats. goodtournament resultsand the grandmaster title.Howeverhard
24 . . . d4l25 cd lf3+ 26 tr xf3 Axf3 work finally
brought him intothe ranks of our strongest players and
Whitehasto be verycarefulas the queenentryon 93 can be in the 1976tournament in Cubahe gainedthe long-awaited title
'Ratherbelated'was theviewof thesceptics, 'Razuvayev getsthe
decisive.
27 HrI Axg228€xg2 yet
title at the age of thirty-one, in our day there are even some
sixteenyearold grandmastersl
64 Howeverthereare no obstacles for thosewho reallylovechess.
7 . 9 , 2 7 t Thenew'old'grandmaster continued andcontinues to work hard.
t/t:'. t /&t7z
',1', ln particular he hasdevoted@rticularattentionto the playof the
greatstrategistof the pastAkibaRubinstein. Theresultof his study
7 Z 7
^/fu,fu 7 '/',,
alfu, '.". is the new bookon Rubinstein in the Moscow'Fizkultura
series,but evenmoreimportantthe authoris stilllearning
i Sport'
and so
W tr,tN1.&
zfr canreckonon freshsuccesses in thefuture.Alongwithtournament
/.:/.,t 7@"'/,1,/ appearances Yurihasrecently beencoaching himself asan assisbnt
H :;.t:'2tr2 to Smvslovin a soecialchessschool.So this is the third world
28 ... Ah4!! champion with whomhe hasworked.
Annotatorsnormallycall such moves'quiet'sincethey do not Not just tournament successes impressthe true chessfan.The
involvecapturesor check,yet,asthe quotegenerallygoeson.they sort of finecombinative attack which Razu\€yevproducesenthuses
areoftenmorepowerfulfor allthat.Theabilityto find suchhidden him and induceshim to spend hours working through their
tacticalblows,especially
to foreseethem longbeforethe event,ts ramificatons.Here is an examplefrom the game Razulayev-
grvento Tew. Lputvan,FirstDivision, SovietChampionship, Frunze,1979:
29 $c1
a.//
% "&,.
Both29 Qf2 tr xf2+ 30 fi xf2 $93+ and29 Ef3 E xf3 30 65
€/xf3 g'h2! 31 b5 treB leavethe kingtoo exposed.
29 ... &g3+ 30 ghl g,xh3+ 31 €91 8g3+ 32 €/h1 %2,,.
tn
n
Ef3! % %)
Any experienced playerknowsthat in such positionsthere is AI\
i2
l\ .?)
hardlyevera wayout for thedefender
suchgreatmobility.
astheattacking pieceenloys z../, 2 /.&
33 Af3 g'h3+ 34 Ssl {$94+ 35 ghl Eh3+ 36 Ah2
t r x h 2 +0 - 1 2 H ,// H

Mateor lossof the queenis inevitable

after37 $xh2 l\g3+ playerwillnotea
Black'spositionlookssolid,but theexperienced
whole set of weak squaresin Black'scamp. This enablesthe
Yuri Razuvayev energeticRazuvayev attackinvolving
to carry out a combinative
Whenstillveryyounghe hada strokeof luckthat manyothers someunexpected moves.
dreamof. Hewasfortunateenoughto turn out on theluniorboard 2O lfS! gf
for the'Trud'teamin the champtonshipof the voluniarysports
Trud'stop boardwas Botvinnlkand soonyoungYurr
societies.* 'Trcnslator's &ote.
These Inc ude the bettef kno$,rr names of Dlfamo Spartak
becamea studentin the school.thouohfor variousreasonsthrs k who f e d teams n ai competrtve actrvtles
Lokomotrv.BLrrevestn
92 Bouinnik'sChessSchool Artur Yusupov 93

Blackis forcedto acceptthe offer.Perhapshe thoughtWhite Bowinnik's pupil than anyoneelse.He worked directlyunder
check,but he is soondisabused.
\ €s goingfor perpetLral Botvinnikfor three consecutive years,and then the rest of his
21gxfs trcs career since then under Mark Dvoretsky, but you haveto bearin
Therookis badlyplacedhere.Movingit to d8 wouldgivebetter mindthatrnternational masterDvoretsky isalsoa pupilof Botvinnik,
defensive chances. andin recentyearshasbeenassistant to hisoldcoach.
22$95+ €h7 23 &f5+ €98 24b4 Hc7 25 gss+ gh7 Thecreative co-operation of Yusupovand Dvoretsky givesgreat
26 g'fs+ oleasure to both of them, and the coach hasoftensaid what a fine
Th! plaverwho hashadsuchpositions himselfwillforgiveWhite bupilhe hasand what loy he geis from their get-togethers. We
this repetitionof moves which helps to keep away the spectreof havespokenof the friendship of thesetwo, but we reallyshould
time trouble.However the repetitton leads him astrayas he could speakof three,sinceanotherBotvinnikpupilSergeiDolmatovhas
alreadydecidethe gamein a few movestry 26 6S4l hg 27 fldS beena regularcompanionto Yusupov.The closeness of their
andth; threatof 28 gh4+ is killing.Shouldwe deprecate thisslip? careers canbe gaugedfrom thefactthatat the l9TBWorldJunior
No, sincethe inaccuracy gives the opportunity to admire an Championship the gold medalwent to Dolmatovand the silverto
exceotionallv f inetinish. Yusupov, whilein the previouseventin 1977 Yusupovhad been
26 . . . €gB 27 $s5+ &h7 2A 9f5+ €g8 29 trd6! recipientof the gold medal.So the threeplayersare olten seen
Anotherline stroke.lf the rook is capturedwe get a quickwin togetherandthecoachcangivethemthesametasks,especjally the
f rom the linewe alreadyknow - 29 $xd6 3O $94! So keyassignment - to playin boldfashionand to continueto learn
Blackhasto be reconciled to this strengthening of the attacking allfacetsof chessmastery.
forces. Yusupovbeganquiteearlyandhasonlyrecentlylefthisteensln
29 . . . Ac8 30 gss+ €h7 1973at theageof thirteenhe represented Moscowin theall-Union
Youth Gamesand four years later he took the World Junior
66 Championship so becomingan international master.Ouitesoon
t 2 /t@ afterthat he beganhis push to go furtherand he scoredhis first
, f r H ', x
X grandmaster normin a tournament in Holland.
A realtriumohcamehisway in the 1979 USSRSuperLeague at
2 f f i'2 wr.
.,&t.,/tzlt7 Minskwhereninefamousgrandmasters werein contention for the
'2 '2 ,.fu ?r..lt Soviettitle,amongstthemTaland Geller.YoungYusupovkepton
leveltermswith them throughoutand only Geller's fine playjust
'.& 2 &, A / I . t outdistanced his rrvalwho camesecond.Theimpresston madeon
his teachersand commentators was immense, and they notedln
31 Ad7!! particularhisfineendgameplay
Theknightis put en priseto four differentpieces,
yet cannotbe Hereisan example in hiswin overTal:
takenby any of them!A fine position, whichshowsthe immense
forceof the harmoniouslyplacedwhitepieces. 67
31 . .. gtxdT
Tryingto prolongresistance by a queensacrifice.lf 31
E Xd7 then 32 E Xf6 AXf6 33 AxfG with forcedmate.lt is
easyto seethe win againstother movese.S.?2 , Eg8 33
Axf6+ Axf6 34 gxh5+ gs7 35 Axf 6+ el8 36 g'h6+
32 EXdT!
Avoidingthe trap 32 flxf6 whichlooksa simplewin, but then
comes32 AxfO 33 Qxf6 $g4l
32 . . . AxdT 33 Axf6 Axf6 34 $xf6 fl xc4 35 ge7 1'O White'sadvantage does r]ot seemso greatand you can only
plus.
admirehow Yusupovmadeuseof thisinsignificant
Artur Yusupov 21 Edl ! h6 22 $c4! g/b7 23 l9ds!
more
The MoscowplayerYusupovcan probablybe considered Onecannotbut markthe threepartsof the queenmanoeuvre
94 Botvinnik's ChessSchool Arthur Yusupov 95

with exclamationmarks.White intendsto exchangequeenssincert Thischangeof frontby the rookto keepthe passedpawnsunder
is in the rook ending that he can best exploit his positional controlfrom thesidebringsno easingof thesituation.
Whitesimply
advantage.Black cannot give way with his queen, say to b8, as playshisfreedkingto supportthe passed a-pawn.
then White'spieceswill occupy the 7th rank with greateffect. 53 €c2 Hd7 54 Sc3 h5 55 €c4 gh3 56 f6 h4 57 $cb
23 . . . grxds 24 E xds f6 25 Hd7 a5 26 a4 e4 €h2 58 Eh8 1-O
Thereis no doubtthatthisweakens the e-pawn,but Taldecidec Althoughthrsendgamedoesnot containany strikingmovesor
on this concession only after a long assessment of this difficuLt manoeuvresit is an eloquenttribute to Yusupov'sexcellent
position. To leavethe pawnon e5 wouldletthewhitekingcomeIn technique.
viathe whitesquares to e4 and thenceeitherpenetrate furtheron
the €-side or go overto win the a5 pawnso forminga winning Harry Kasparov.
Dassedoawn. Flohrhadthe quizzical comment'Asfar as I can understand this
27 trds Bf7 28 g4 g5 29 €g2 €96 30 h4! gameif Kasparov cannotyet be calledan Academician yet the title
Onceagainaccurateplay.Thethreatis to forcethe enemyking of professor is certainly hisalreadyl
backto the lastrankand havea strongcrampingpawnat h5. So Thiscommentreferredto a playerwho was onlysixteenat the
Blackhas to captureat onceand so weakenhis $-side pawns timeyet hadalready an impressive listof tournament successes. Tal
further. claimedthat any successby the lad in the 1979 SuperLeague
3 0 . . . s h 3 1g h 3 E b g wouldbe a sensation. ln the eventhe shared3rd-4thplacewith
With heavyheartTal decidesto surrenderan importantpawn Balashov,yet it is no secretthat somepeopleexpectedevenmoTe
but he had no choicebut to go for an activerook position.lf he from him,esoeciallv afterhis threewinsat the start of the event.
remains passive Whitetakeson h4 andthenplaysthe kingroundto Howeverthe youngman hasnot yet learnedfullyhow to control
f4 to {orcethe win of thee-pawn. hisemotions and makesslipsoccasionally.
32 €xh4 Ebl 33 EXaS trh1 + 34 €s3 trsl + 35 €)h3 Botvinnik'scommenton this is that evervonemakesslipsfrom
trhl+ 36€g2 tra1 37€h2 Ha238€g3 Eal 39€g2 Ea2 timeto time.ThehardworkingYusupovoftenhasthem,so Harry's
40 €g3 Eal 41 tra8! occasional onesshouldnot worry usespecially, he will matureand
Thiswas the sealedmove.Analysisof the adjournedposition theywilldisappear.
enabledWhiteto find a winningplan.Firstof all he advances his ln fact Kasparov's playhasalreadymadesuchan impression that
passedpawnasfar as possible to reducethe mobilityof theenemy hisstyleandhisvictories area talkingpointnotjusiin the USSRbut
kingand rookby the threatof queening. alsoabroad.
41 ... f5 His greatestsuccess abroadwas the spring1979 BanjaLuka
After manyhoursof analysis that passiveplaywtli
Tal realised tournamentwherehe took first placeaheadof a fieldof strong
lose.Thusif Blackremainspassive Whiteadvances the pawnto a6 grandmasters including Petrosian,
Andersson and Browne.Hisplay
with the threatof a7 followedby Eg8+ queening.Thisforces was the high spot of tne eventand the spectatorscrowdedin to
Blackto keephis king on 96 or 97. ThenWhite will go $f4, watchhim.We shalldoubtless readmanybooksandarticlesin the
exchange hisf2 pawnfor the e4 prawn and penetrate with hisking futureabouthisplay.A guarantee of that is thecontinuing friendly
ertheron the S-sideor by gorngoverto theaOpawn. contactwhichKasparov is maintaining with BoWinnik. He worked
42 gf+ $xf5 zlil a5 fl91 + 44 gh3 Ehl + 45 €g2 Ea1 formallyin the schoolfor five years,and stillregardshimselfas a
46 a6 $94 pupil,in the sensethat after nearlyeverygame he phonesup
lf the kingretreatsto 97 or h7 to preventthe standard win (say Botvinnik hopingto hearhismentor'spraise, butalsoreadyto hear
with Black'sking on f7 or e7J oI a7 followedby fih8 fi xa7 with gratitude anycriticalcommentsthat maycome.
Eh7+, thenWhitesimplyexchanges thea6 pawnfor thee4 one Flohrpointsout that the youngmanis full of concentration and
andthe two united passed pawns ensure an easywin. seriousin hisattitude.Someplayers preferto walkroundwhenit is
47 a7 @h44aftl theopponent's turn to move,andevenchat(thoughnotaboutthe
In thispositionthe simplest winningmethod.lf now 48 . ef+ gamein progress, of course)wth friendsandcolleagues. Kasparov
thenthee3 pawnwillsoonadvance andtorcea win.
zl8 . . . fla2+ 49 $1 flal+ 50 €e2 Ea2+ 51 €dl tra6 'franslatar's
ryole RussLal]
soL-rrcesgve the frsl name as Gary or Gark. but
52 f5 Hd6+ (asparovhassgned h msef Harry n ettefswf tte \ n Erg sh to a Westerrrpublsher.
 Harry KasProv
Harry Kasprov 97
Botvinnik'sChessSchool

sitsat the boardand thinksin the way that Botvinnikusedto. Only Now the queenhasto be savedf rom the threatof 22 HSa'gho
when he has a clear advantagedoes he permit himselfto get up "r*tl*dlt'1#ifrI*uor 25*tl '.c726
24 Eczts'h6
and takea quick strollround the stage.Then it is noticeablethat he
is nervousand excitedand he has not yet learnedhow to hidethis Hc€
o6
'&x E
'ili2 i&,
The expertshave someadmiringcommentsto makeabout him
though tinged at times with exp€ctation.Petrosian,for example
'Harry is greattalent.In terms of talentI would comparehim wlth
a
7Z /&,
& ""///tt
Tal,buttalentalonedoesnot guaranteethe highestachievements. A
greatdealwill dependupon his reaction,especially how he reactsto /E. 1
'tria
the I by fame". 7l'r.z7,/t13
Despitehis youth Kasparovhasalreadyplayedmany fine games.
We selectone of the latestfrom the 1979 Spartakiadwhere his
% :,//t:..
7,/..2:,t:
'marble'
stylewas shown to perfection.
Whitehasbuilta threetoldbatteryon thef'tileand Blackhas.no
Kasparov-Butnorius, Aueen's lndian Defence counterto this.White hasachievedthis with simplemovesthat
1 d4 af6 2 c4 eG3 Af3 Ab4+ 4 Abd2O-o 5 e3 bG6 Ad3 strong impressiontaken singly With hls
a"f." no particularly
Ab7 7 O-Od5 8 a3 Sxd2 9 Axd2 AbdT lO cd Axds 11 b4 deiensiveschemerefutedBlackhasto losematerlal'
c5 12 flacl cd 13lxd4 26 ... t5 27 ell
Whitehas playedthe openingunpretentiously, achieving nicely -i;;6asthepassedpawnwillcosta greatdealof material'
ihe simolest
placedpieceswithout any noticeablead\€ntage.One senses ii. .. td i+ &n 2e Ae7 es ao gxta er st
White'sdesireto makethe middlegamethe sceneof the real AxdG g/xd6 32 gd3l
-The Whiteimproveshis
struggle.Well, that is a normalapproachby playerswho aTe siirplest hisadvantage
wayof realising
placinq, are
which in to
contrast
stark theenemyforces
-
consciousof their strategical ability.White'sconfidenceis soon 'oiece
justifiedaftersomecomplicated strategicalclashes. i,".: . S"i ss gc4 €?h694 svt4 )e6 35 ercSE/do35
13 . . . AeS 14 Sa5 [e4 15 Ael 8g5 16 f4l gtg-+ €,g"e-iire5+ Srfs 38 ijxrg Ed1 + 39 $f2;5d2-r
An accuratelycalculated pawn thrust.White therebylifts the aO€s3 $e1 + 41 gh3 1-O
piecepressure against92.
16 . . . 8g6 17 fe lcS 18 Ag3 6xa6 19 Afs! Serqei Dolmatov
Black'schosenlinecannotbe approved- he hasforcedhis Aiterthe 1979SovietChampionship Dvoretsky wasaskedabout
performances of his two charges, Yusupovand
knightto theedgeof theboardfromwhereit doesnot getintoplay the comparative 'Recently hard.,at
to the very end of the game.PossiblyBlackassumedthat the Ooftitot. His rebly - Artur has been wo-rking
thewideninqof hrsopeningrepertoireand I was confldenl tnal Ine
spoiledwhite pawn formationwas compensation for the distant
say that he
knight.Yet Kasparov hasassessed the positionmoredeeply.Apart i"iurti*ouio show.As io-rSergerDolmatov I cannot
hasworkedas hard,even though his results up to thlsev€nt were
from the knightat a6 thereis the slightlyawkwardplacingof the pornt
queenand the generallack of co operationof the blackpieces oooO"nOhe hadjusttakenfirstplaceInthe FirstLeagJeThe
meansthat Whiteis ableto developa threatening initiative.
In tact is that for the Super Leaguehls theoretlcalbaggage was
the basisof White'spressure is the apparently weakpawnswhich inadeouate:
-iri"l"
createsoundsupporttor White'spieces. "otrn.nts are valuablein their stresson independent
Whitecouldgenerate hispressure in variousways,oneof which work,the sortof criticalcommentthatyou rarelyhearin theWest
wouldbealongthec-file.Instead theyoungmasterdecides to act in .ii.i .'i.irri" by one of theirgrandmasters Of courseDolmalov's
thevicinityof the kingand movesall hispiecesin thatdirection. .n'"r"0 i+in- r sin' placein thiTop Leagueevenif sharedwith Tal
19... flae8 wasan unpleasant resultfor him
gotu,nnithasthiscommenton hisformerpupil,'Dolmatov studied
Capturing on f5 wouldgiveWhiteall the centreand put the a6 a
ha,s, poor
knightin a criticalposition.The text preparesto retirethe poor *,tii rrl" for a year' He is a good iactician but
understandtnq
- of pos'ton,andthisl-swhal neoLgnt to work hard onl
horseto b8. thrs
20 Ad6 fie7 21 flr4! o;;;;;t"h"& that the talentedMuscovite will overcome
98 Botvtnnik's Chess School SergeiDolmatov 99

recentfailureand get backto hisformer form, an exampleof which Whiteplaysaccuratelyand scoresa convincingvictory.
is this gameagainstAnikayevin the 1979 First League. 34 h4! Ac6 35 hs trhB 36 Sh2 a5 37 s4 a4 38 Ad3 €rds
39 Ef' a3 40 Ef1 e5
//tt2 "'..&t',& AlthoughBlack has some play the split pawnsare not as
69
formidable as White'sunitedones.
i///ta%tz"ry 41 €?93 e4 42 Ae2 Ea8 z|il g5 Aa4 44 g6 Axc2 45 97 a2
w 2h&",& 6 hGe3 47 Hf8! trxf8 48 gxfS$ al$ 49 Sf3+
ftz l, Thefight is finished atbck of two pieces
off by the combined on
z/&t2
xa%7'Z the enemyking in the centre.Dolmatovhas workedout all the
consequences.
49 . .. ge6
lf 49 . . . gc4 then 50 gb4+ forcesmatenext move.
Obviouslythe blackqueenis well away from the $-side ano 5O Ag4+ €d5 51 grdS+ €c6 52 Af3+ gbs 53 grds+
cannot help in the defencethere.This factorjustifiesWhite in $a4 54 $c4+ 1-O
playinga sacrificialattackstartingwitha rooksacrifice.
2O trf6!€g8 YelenaAkhmilovskaya
It is not hardto establish that the rook could not be captured Botvinnikhas had a numberof girl pupilsas we havealready
withoutswiftfatalconsequences. but thatverypiecepersists in his indicated. Hereis whatoneof our strongest
'l am veryfondof classical
ladyplayers hasto say
destructiveoperations. aboutherself, music,and listening to it is
21 Hxh6! realrelaxation for meduringa tournament. lt isa realdelightfor me
Later on analysisshowed that the strongestmove \Masthe to visitthe ballet'Giselle:
I am alsoverykeento playtennis,whichI
preparatory 21 Ae4 whichwouldhaverendered the rooksacrifice playat a highleveland loveno lessthanchess.I regretthefactthat
at h6 evenstronger,but one cannotreallycriticiseWhitefor his lbecame familiarwith this form of sport so late on. Generally
boldlineof play. speakingI devotea lot of attentionto physicalpreparation, and this
21 ... gh22g/xh6f523ef flxf624Ah7+ helpsme to playbetter:
At firstsightit seemssimplerto takethe rookby 24 gh7+ €XB Lenais now oneof our strongest players,andcompetes notonly
25 gh8+ Sf7 26 8xa8, but then Blackwould get excellent againstwomen,in whichfieldshehaswon the grandmaster title,
counter-chances by 26 . Ac5. but alsoagainstmen.Sheseemsto havethe ambitionto emulate
24 . . . W 25 Axf6 Axf6 26 Efl Bc5+ 27 €,hl g{8 28 NonaGaprindashvili who hasthe grandmaster titlenotjustfor her
Ss6+ Se7 29 Bh7+ 8g7 longtenureof women'sworld championbut alsofor playagainst
With his king underseverepTessuTe it is easyto understand men.
Black'sdesireto simplifyintoan endgame. but thisis a badchoice Lena'scomment on this, 'l have plaved in severalmen's
sincetheendgame for him.He hadto try hischancesin
is hopeless tournaments. lam not satisfied with my resultsthere,but I enjoyed
the complicated variation29 . . . €dg 30 Ae4 8e7 31 Sg8+ playing.Men rarelymakejust good simplemoves- they try to
@c7 32 Sxag gg7. Wouldthis savehim?Hardly.sinceWhite makemoveswhich,whileperhapsnot beingthe verybestthenat
couldcontinuetheattackby 33 Axf6 Axf6 (33 gx96 34 Eastare reallygoodones.Playing with menis excellent trainingl
$g8l is goodfor White)34 fid 1 with unpleasant threats.Then34 ._ Go through this game againstPetrovich in the 1979 USSR-
€b6 is metby 35 a5+ €xas 36 grdS+,while34 . . lds Yugoslavia matchand in everyone of White'smovesyou will see
35 Ae4 isalsobadfor Black.Thebestdefenceis 34 . . . Ad5 (not the triumphof strategicthought,accurateexploitation of insigni-
34 $xg2+ 35 $x92 $xg6 36 €f 1 g'fs+ 37 $e1 and Trcantadvantages and inventivenessin attack.
'the hand of
the king escapesthe checks)when after 35 E xds White has ^ In some of the movesyou are sure to detect
everyjustification for hopingfor a win. uotvinnrk' at work.
3O $xg7+ $xg7 31 Hf/+ €d6 32 flxg7 lxc3 33 bc * 1 e4 c6 2 6f3 g6 3 d4 $97 4 Nc3 d6 5 Ae2 af6 5 O-OO-O
lXxa4 / a4 abdT 8 a5 e5 9 ge3 $e7 1Ofie1 h6 11 Afl Ag4 12 d5
Black's counter-chances on the$-sideareclearlyinadequate tor Whitehasformedthe longterm planof blockade of the white
the struggleagainsttwo unitedpassedpawnson the otherside. squares on the$-side,andin orderto carrythisout is readyto give

_L-
lOO BotvinnikbChessSchool YelenaAkhmilovskaw I Ol

up thevaluable black-squarebishopfor a knight.Closingthecentre - cannot defendthe white squares.

07
is partof the plansincethereis the consideration that theattacker 33 . . . *d8 34 Axg6 8e7 35 $c8+ AtB 36 .!}fs &g7 37
on thewing mustalwaysfeara counter-stroke in the centre. g,b7 hs 38 h4 €f6 39 gGAh6 40 -Ad7Bh7 41 Ae8 t9gs 42
Thisplanof $-side pressure. of course,was regularly adopted AxhsAf443 8/a7 1o
by Botvinnik againstthe bestplayers in theworld. A{ter43 Pt9344 gf7+ Wh,tequeensonaB.
12 ... Axe3 13 flxe3 c5 14 a6 b6 15 abs AfO 16 h3 Thisgamehasa greatlogicaboutit, and leadsto theconclusion
le8 17 c3! that underBotvinnik's
tuitionthe ditference
in abilitybetweenmen
For the successof the operationby White'spieceson the g-side andwomenplayersis reducedto nil.
an nnon {ilo ic ^aa.la.l

17 . . . Q1c718 b4 Axbs 19 AxbS flb8 2O bc bc 21 Sc4

Bc7
70
'4t:..'&.%t:.,t"&
72,'
r y tr u , %
7Aryrtry
/&, Ha%
7 % AA lA A.

22ad2l
The knightaimsto get to c6, so that whenexchanged on that
squarefurtherlineswillbe opened, alongwhichWhite'spieceswjll
developwinningpressure. Playagainstweakenedsquareswas a
speciality of Botuinnik's.and his pupilscarryon thismethod.
22 . . . Ad7 23 Ab3 Hb6 24 Aas Hfbs 2s Ac6!
Bold and decisivelThe posltionalgains resultingfrom the
exchange on c6 far outweighthe sacrificed pawn:- the bishopat
c4 has its scopeincreasedtowards f7, the rook at d3 qets the
chanceto attackd6 as wellas f7. Blackavoidsthisfor on6 move.
but then realises that the intrusive
knightcannotlongbe tolerated
at c6.
25 . . . trfg 26 flb1 Sxc6 27 dc gxc6 28 tr xb6 gxb6
29 Ed3 Ed8 30 8g4!
White'spiecesstrikeat the opponent'sfortifications from all
directions. Thereis the threatof gxg6, whileif 30 . . . gf8 the
31 flf3 wins since31 . . . Hd7 is now not possible. The only
defensive chancewasthereturnof theextraoawnbv 30 . . d5 so
that the queencan be broughtto bear in the defenceof the
beleagured $-side.
30...9h831 Hf3!
Nowthef7 pawnfallsin sucha waythatalltheavenues of attack
on the kingareopento White.
3 1 . . . t r f 8 3 2t r x f / E x f 7 3 3 A x r /
Theexchange of rookshasnot easedBlack'staskas the queen
and bishopare sufficientmatingforce,especialiy
as the bishopat
 Kart'sChessSchool 103

Thiscreativecompetition betweenthemselves is a markedfeature

of all Kart's
PuPils.
Juniorcolleague Dvoretsky hasdrawnattention to Kart'ssuccess
in developing the best sidesto his pupilsdespitetheir different
nersonalities
' and stylesof play.
I can confirm thisand mustexpressmy admiration for the spirit
of friendship,understanding and respect
mutual which appliesin
10 Kart'sChessSchool thisfamouscollective. Whentalkingto Kari'spupilsI am invariably
struckby the feelingof love,clearlymutual,whichis so noticeable
amongthemwith regardto theircoach.
Let us now examinesomeof the betterknownof Kart'spupils,
who in recent years have joined the ranks of the strongest
ViktorEmmanuelovich Kartis nowadays a well-known chesstrainer grandmasters in the world.
and mustbe considered a surprisingand uniquephenomenon in
chess,the likeof which we havenot seenbefore.and may be just Alexander Belyavsky
as rarein the future.The point is that he is a playerwho never YoungSashafeelsthat he was luckyin his childhoodsincehe
scoreda victory in strong tournaments,nevereven approached was only eightin 1961 when he learnedhow to playchessand
grandmaster levelin his playingstandardand doesnot evenhave joinedthe chesscirclein the Lvov Palaceof Pioneersrun by
the mastertitle.Yet he developed a wholegroupof outstanding V.L.Kart. Theyoungster's weresoondeveloped
chessabilities and
grandmasters who havecarriedthe fame of the Lvov schoolto all the typical spirit of competitionin the circle led to considerable
Dartsof the world. success in eventsat cityand republiclevel..
Hispupilsspeakof him with suchadmiration. OlegRomanishin Lateron he became a pupilat the Number2 Specialist School
\ rasonceaskedwho coachedhim now that he hadthe grandmaster whereKartwason the staff,and then he startedscoringsuccesses
title.Hisreply:'My attitudein chessand my wholeupbringing in the at nationallevel.
gameare the productof HonouredTrainerof the SovretUnion ln 1973 SashaBelyavsky becameWorld JuniorChampionat
Viktor Emmanuelovich Kart,and if thereare any failingsin this Teesside, England, a greatachievement whichnormallypresages
upbringing thenthefaultliesin the pupils,not in the teacherwho is entrv to the too circle of tournaments.
international Sashasoon
a marvellous.generous andoutstanding pedagogue: confirmedhis reputation as an outsbndingtalentby sharingfirst
Finewordsof the sortthateveryteacherwouldliketo hearfrom placein the 1974 SovietChampionship with Tal so winningthe
hischarges,yet theydo not explainfullythe fruitfulresultsof his grandmaster title.
work overthe years.Afterall he hasproducedin the lastdecadea His successes sincethen have been numerousand can be
whole set of outsbndingplayers,namelygrandmasters Oleg attributedfirst of all to hls nativetalentand his scrupulous hard
Romanishin, AlexanderBelyavsky, losif Dorfman,AdrianMikhal- workat chess.He knowsthatto lastout a tournament whichmight
chishin,MarthaLitinskaya and manyotheryoungmasters.What last getting on for a month you have to have good healthand
arehismethods, whatdoeshe concentrate on? strongnerves. Thatis why hisdailyroutineincludes skiingin winter
His answer:'The mainfeatureof our work is verv likelvthe and tennisor swimmingin summer.lt is no coincidence that he
development of characterand love of hard work. Only strong graduated from the Lvovlnstituteof Physical Culture.
charactersare capableof producingtop competitiveresultsl Possiblyhis studiesin highereducationput a brakeon his
Confirmation of this is seenin the attitudeof tough competition advancement as a plaversincefrom 1974 he hashad his upsand
betweenthe two mosttalentedpupilsof his OlegRomanishin and downs.This declinehas recentlybeenhaltedand he has some
SashaBelyavsky. When the slightlyyoungerOleg gainedthe recentsuccesses whichcanonlvbe calledrecord-breaking suchas
mastertiile his achievement was soon matchedby the then the perfectsccreof 13 pointsout of 13 at the 1978 Alicante
fourteen year old Belyavsky.Later on the same pattern was tournament in Soain,fiveclearpointsaheadof the nextplayer!
followed,as the h,vo vied for varioustitlesand too olacesln
tournaments. Yet the spiritof competition betweenthem did not 'franslator's Lvov s the largestc ty tn the Westerrr Ukra ne (formerlypart of
Note
preventthem remaining friendsand workingon chesstogether. Po and).
104 Kart'sChessSchool AbxanderBelyavsky l05

Belyavsky spendsa greatdealof timeon privatestudy,so it wrll liketo quotethisexample:- in 1967at the Palmade
I ah^/ays
be interestingto hear his opinionabout this aspectof chess Majorcatournament threeof us, Botvinnik, Smyslovand l, always
training,especially as it is a weak point in manyof the world's analysed the adjournedgametogether,duringthe ninetyminute
juniorsand youngerplayers. break.Or rather that is how the first hour was spent Then
He has exoressedhis opinionthus: 'The differencebetween Botvinnik wouldaskusto leavehimand in the halfhourremaining
workingat chessin the quietof your studyand duringan actual beforeresumption of playhe wouldcompletethe analysis himself.
gameis very significant. lt is hardlyever the casethat you wrll How differentat timeswerethe lines he went into by comparlson
achievethe levelof concentration at homethat appliesduringa with what the threeof us had workedout!
game.This is becauseof the absenceof the powerfulstimulus Belyavsky doesnot get discouraged by the fact that hisanalysis
suppliedby the playingfactor.As a resultthe greatadvantage of is not alwaysaccurateand that htstournamentresultsare not as
homestudy- theavailability of a lotof time- is largelynullified.
In ooodas he wouldwish.Hisconsolation is the commentthat even
any event,whetherit is a questionof an actualgameor home Botvinnik once said that he learned how to do properresearch
analysis,it is not usefulto work at it morethanfiveto six hoursa workin chessonlywhenhe hadreached theageof aboutthirty So
day.Afterthatthe productivity of extratimeput in is too low.Also Belyavsky at theageof twenty-six stillhassometimeto go
what mighttakeyoua dayin a tournament to work out takestwo As to styleof play Belyavsky probablymore universal
is in his
or threedaysat home: aporoach than his othercolleagues. He knows how to conduct a
Thiscommentis very interesting. Let us developthis line of fierceattackon the king withoutcountingthe cost in sacrificed
thoughtfurther.Hasthe reader,I wcnder,everhadto playgames material,then nextgamehe can put up a stubborndefence, then
in theabsence of an opponent, that is playagainsthimself,making again,as in the gamequotedbelow,he canshowgreatmasteryin
movesf irstfor Whiteandthenfor Black? Circumstances havebeen weavingtrickypatternsin a trickyendgame.
suchthat I haveoftenfoundthisthe onlymethodof trainingthat I
could use.How did it work out? No matterhow I tried to be Belpvsky-Makary chev USSRSuperLeague1979
objectiveandforcedmyselfto thinkas muchfor onesideasfor the Oueen'slndranDefence
otherI couldnot easilymaintain the rightsortof attitude. 1 d4 Af6 2 c4 e6 3 93 Ab4+ 4 i.}'d2c5 5 a4 Sxd2+ 6
Belvavskvhas a commenton this too: 'The absenceof a gxd2 cd 7 Afs b5
'rejoinder'from an opponentoftenleadsyou intoassuming Thisstrivingfor originality in thefinaianalysisbringsBlacksome
things
overthe bestmovein homeanalysrs. A chessplayeris hardlyever t r o u b l e . 7. . d 5 w a s s i m P l e r .
impartial.Evenin analysis he is tryingto find a win for Whiteor a 8 cb Sb7 9 $xd4 $a5+ 10 gb4!
drawfor Black.In thecourseof analysis hissympathies for oneside An originaland accuratedecision.Black will have to make
may change,but will not disappear- impartiality is foreignto considerable effortsto recoverthe pawnin the endingand in the
research. interimWhitecanconsolidate certainpositionaladvantages
Thereis a greatdealof interestin thesecommentsand they 10 . . . grxb4+ 11 ab a6 12 ba Nxa6 13 Ad2 Ae4 14 b5
revealBelyavsky's commonsense.yet he seemsto missthe most Ac7 15 E xa8+ $xa8 16 Ab4 A xbs 17 Ag2 4)gs
importantpoint.No matterhow you try in joint analysiswith a Blackhurriesto exchangeone of White'sbishopsbut thereby
favouredhelp€ror experienced coachyouwillalwaysseemoreand losestime.Hecouldgetbetterdefensive chances by 17 : d6 1B
figurethingsout betteron your own, thanwith the besthelpers. A d 2 f 5 1 9 l x e 4 f x e 4 2 C & d 2 & d 7 , o r 1 8 @ d 71 9 [ a 1 f 5
Thereare many reasonsfor this, the greaterconcentration of andthen20 trc8.
thoughtby an individual, the natureof thoughtand perception in 18 Ah4 j\xs2 19 lxg2 Ne4 20 f3 lif6 21 &d2 dG 22
the humanbrain.Thenthereis the factorof resoonsibilitv. How tra1 €d7 23 Ae3 Eb8 24 €d3
manyerroTshaveoccurredin the analysis of adjournedgames, Whiie'spositional advantage so it is all the more
is insignificant,
evenat the highestlevel,because the analysthasassumedthat if surprising to seethe easewith which Belyavsky duly exploitsthis
therewasanlthingspecial ina gjvenposition it wouldbe spottedby minimal plus.
hiscollaborator. By restingyourfaithin a collaborator you reduce 24 ... Ag8
the efficiency of your own work,and you failto realise the simple Hopingto drivethe bishopfrom its strongpositionby he7-c6.
factthathe is makingthe sameassumption aboutyou,is relyingon 25 q;4 r^e7 26 Hd1 f6 27 e4 d5 28 1-le3Nc6 29 Scs d4
vou in the samefacilewav. A double-edqed move.lt lookssounderto exchange on e4
1OO Kart'sChess
khool OIegRomanishin 1O7

30 6c4 e5 31 f4 $e6 32 tral Ac7 33 Ad6 Eb3+ 34 €c2 chess.

Hb7 35 tra4 s5 36 fs fg performanc€s - theyare
We willnot go throughhistournament
,-- oreateuei thouoh-his supporterswere gravelydisappointedat
71 ''/2t t'ir ?ulrrr"in the 1979 SovietZonal tournament. He should
really
z?,x % i.iar,egot into the Candidatesby now. Howeverhe is sureto have
zhrugz
lZ '..2 /,& '/&z miny"au"""ta"ain the future,and hisfansareconfidentthat
most of all, his creative
what
play, will
iiii'ult"vt delightedthem
Efua'.&fi/t'fu2 contlnue.
'
i thoughta lot aboutwhichof his gamesto presentto readers,
7l:,. -andthen-decided simplyto ask him what was his favouritegame
% J nominated his gameagainstPetrosian at the Yerevan,1975,
SovietChampionship thdt we havealready mentioned
37 b4l
White has rnsidiously preparedthis torcefuladranceof hrs Romanishin-Petrosian Oueen'slndian Defence
passedpawnand now he forcesthedecision in justa few moves. 1 c4 Nf6 2lc3 e6 3 a]f3 b6 4 e4 Ab7 5 Ad3
37...h538€)b3d3 Not a iew id&, but very effectivein this particularpositionThe
The threat of 39 $Xc7 ExcT 40 fla6 followed by a swrft Olsnop *iff go laterto c2 frbmwhereit willassist a S-
in developing
pushof theb-pawncannotbe met.Blackdecides to try anddistract - attack.
side
the opponentfrom this by a pawnoffer. S ... Ue 6 $c2 c5 7 d4 ed8 Sxd4 Se7 9 O'OO-O10 b3
39 SxcT fl xs7 40 $c3 .-On1 1 Ab2 a6 12 €hl Bc7 13 f4 flad8
6c6
Obviouslythisis srmplerthan40 HaGd2. thi-face of it White'tmovesjust look hkestraightforward
40 ... 4d441 €,xd3 Af3 42b5 1-O developing movesof the sort necessary to get his.piece:.oyt
lrom
Analysisduringtheadjournment indicatedthatit washopeless to theirinitiaisquares, yet thisapparentsimplicityhidesa trickyrdea
DIavon. ihe unexpecied natureof his combinative buildupsis one of the
marked features of Romanishin'sstyle.
Oleg Romanishin 14 trcl *b8 14 trf3 g6
A reallyembarrassing stateof affairsoccurredat the sbrt of the BbcThaslut hisstrongest pieceon theedgeof the boardat bB
USSRSuperLeague,1975,in Yerevan. A 23 yearold masterfrom whereit is unableto helpin actionwhichis aboutto takeplace
the
Lvovscoredsevenwinsagainstfamousplayers. Thismasterwas on the €-side. This fictor inducesRomanishin to decideon
OlegRomanishin the European JuniorChampion of 1973,andthe extrememeasures in hisS-sidepressure
listof hisvictimsis asfollows- Petrosian, Furman,Polugayevsky,
Balashov, Geller,
Alburtand Klovan. Notjustthewinswerestriking, ".&t
but the mannerof theirachievement broughtrepeatedburstsof 7./i:.:,.
applause from theaudience. A:'&tx
",./2
Romanishin wasto givehisown reaction
feelingof self-affirmation,
andsuccess
later:A win givesonea
- a feelingof self-expression,
2
4l\+ +
)\ "z) t\ 2!
but onlya sensible harmonisation betweentheseurgescan bring
reallygreatachievements in chessl D . H'::'.,
He has not alwaysmanagedto scorevictories. His styletends ,4".r.':
towardsthe combinational and tact'cal,and it is welfknownthat
thispreference doesnotalwaysresultin firstprizesin tournaments. 16 Ads! ed 17 ed
So we mustconcede thathe hashisupsanddowns,greaterthanin As F'omanishin himseliadmittedthis move is witnessto a
manycontemporary leadingplayers,but his styleof playand the morieniof weakness. In his opiniona secondknightsacrif ice 17
'17
contentwhichhe putsintoeverymovehasgainedthe admiration - " q would
Af5l t be a quickerway of achieving his aim Thus after
of fans aroundthe world. He has that rich gift of fantasythat t e e d t r t e g r g H s g * € f ' s 2 0 d C J L >c 6 2 1 - l - f 5 H g 8
enables himto discover fascinatingnewpossibilitiesin thedepthsof 22 *ths Wh]ie would have a winn'rg attack so the knrght
1OB Kart's Chesskhool Iosif Dodman l Og

could not be captured.PossiblyBlack would still have some abilitiesis Provided by the followirrg game, Dodman-Chekhov,
chancesby 'muddyingthe waters'in the variation17 aI5 dxe4 M i n s k ,1 9 7 6 .
18 fixeT+ AxeT 19g/d4 d5 20 grxf6 d4 etc.
17 .. . Axd4 18 \9xd4 trde8 19 f5! 73 i
..,.e,
The only way. 19 94 would barehis own king too muchand
Blackcouldthenplay19 . . . $aB 20 95 QxdS+ 21 cd gxds+
2
7
with unclearconseouences.
19 . . . Ad8 20 Sh4 Ees z+ 7llr.,
It is hardto breakthroughagainstsucha defender as Petrosian.
By blockingthe maindiagonalBlackcan start lookingforward 7.2., +
confidently.
21 th6 8c7?
'Eventhe wisestcan makemistakes!' Thatdefensive specialist Whiteexploitshisadvantages with a seriesot simpleclearmoves.
Petrosian slipsup here.Thecorrectmove21 . . . fl94 wouldgive 17 b4! gfdg 18 c5l $e6
'18. . . dc 19 bc and the knightgetsan excellent outposton
Whitea lotto thinkabout,especiallyif he wantedto avoidthedraw Or
by repetition229f4 aI6 23 th6 Ag . After the text the attack b6 hemminqin the enemyrook. .gxa2 el 23
breaksthrough. 19 Af4 Ac4 2O Ecl Axa2 21 Sa4 e5 22
22 fls3 ScB Hfdl !
Blackhasnotonlyto defendthepoint97, but h7 aswell,andthe Achreving an ideallyharmonious layoutof pieces.Black'sforces
choiceof defensivemovesdemandsgreataccuracy. Fhus22 . aresolitandcannotcopewith the pressure
Ae8 wouldloseat onceafter23 Ef 1 Af6 24 tr 3. 23 . . . lg 24 hg d5 25 sxds! 5rg5 26 =.c4!
23 Qxe5 de24ls fxs6 25 $xg6 lg4 Anotherexcellent manoeuvre transferring this pieceto the f-file
Thiscleverattemptwillnot helpastheknightrstoo vulnerable
on --
as part of a massedattackon f7
the openfile. 56-.. . H.ie'zznAg.t za trd3 a529 trd{3 ad8 30 b5
26 Ahs Ht6 27 Wd2 trf4 28 d6! Ec8 31 c6 bc 32 bc [c7 33 H,c4Se5 34 ficS E/d6 35
Showingthat White hasyei anotherattackingresourcein hrs gxaS!
formidablepassed d-pawn.White'smastery enabledhimto foresee 74
suchresources whichchangethe directionof theattack. E t t
'Ut"%z.t
24...*s729d7A:b7 'HA7z,
Or 29 . AxdT 30 Qxga ,{xg4 31 Hxg4 gxg4 32 %
fld 1 winninga piece,whileWhitealsowinsafter29 . . WxdT
30 g/xd7AxdT 31 $xs4 fixs4 32 Ed1Ah4 33 trxd7
7 7 %
% %HW,
$xg3 3ahs fl xs3 35 trd6. % 72fr/&
30 g'xf4 1-O(30 ef 3 1 q x g 4 A g 5 3 2 E d 1 i s a
simple
win).
operation
A finalsacrificial basedotraccuratecalculation
losif Dorfman 35 . . . ab7 36 ib tr xc5 37 AxfT+ ! €g7 38 gra1 + g'es
Whatcanyou sayaboutthe playof grandmaster losifDorfman 39 SXe5 trxe5 4O AdS!
wasa questionI onceput to my friendSaloFlohr.Hisanswerwas (to ruleout
Alittle trickbasedon line-closing Eb5).
tough player,who had somehow
that this was an interesting, 40 ... trb841 trf7+ €lhg 42e4 Hee843 Ss2 1-O
recentlytallenback. He had sharedthe gold medalof Soviet
Champion andthenbegunto playunconvincingly. Adrian Mikhalchishin
Well such thingsdo happenfrom time to time with younger has like Dorfmanmixed
Yet anotherKart pupil,Mikhalchishin'
players(andwitholderonestoo,the readermayadd).Onecanonly goodresultswithfailures.Onemustwishhimsuccess in hiseffons
hopethat this talentedpupilof Kartwill be ableto overcomethe to reducehisvariability.
temporarycrisisand will regainhis best form. Evidenceof his areshownby thlsgameagainstTimoshchenko
Hiscapabilities tn
 v-
| 10 Kart'sChesskhool Marta Litinskaya 1I

at Tbilisi.
the 1978Top League
75 "/'&t%%i"'& .rx, 2t
x ' 2 % % x.../lLt, '',,&
1 / Z% t 7
'7w % 2 4 7
%i 'z 7
ffi %a''& ft7:.,
26 ... Hxa2l27 c3
White'sdangerous passedpawngivesthe chanceto havethe Acceptance leadslo 27 @xa2 $aB+ 28
of the rook sacrifice
for a longtime,andhemakes
initiative accurateuseof this 1
€b Ac3+ 29 bxc3 SXc3 and mateon a 1.Thetextis no better
21 dOEcg 2. adb Hc2 122 . . . Ec4 was better\?3 6)e7+ sinceBlack'snextmoveblocksthe exitof the whitekingfrom the
€hB 24 8e4 trc4 firstrankand thendoublingrookson thea-filedecides.
24 .. flxa2 wouldlosequickly - 25 6gb i5 26 AS6+ 27 . . . b3t 18 Qxcs lxcs 29 A1d2 Ad3 O-1
€98
- 27 8e6+.
2s g'xoz g'd7 26 g,xd7 AxdT 27 Htel trcS 28 6d4
-AfO 29 Ab3 trc230 Ad5 Axds 31 Exds EXa2-
materral
Thishasteto re-establish is fatal.31
equality h4
leavesbetterdefensivechances.
32 Acs Ag4 33 d7
Thislormidable pawnwhichhasserved asthebasisof White's
manoeuvresnow becomesunstoppaDle.
33 . . . tre2 34 fl xe2 Sxe2 35 Ab7 h4 36 sh 4xh4 37
d8g/ axdS 38 AidS €lg7 39 Ac6 a6 40 bd4 Qc4 41 flcS
A€ 42 Hc3 -tg6 zl(t 6c6 Ae8 zl4 [a3 fle1 + 45 €lh2 Ee2
46€93 flc2 47 6e5 AfS 48 E xa6 and \y'Vhite won.

Marta Litinskaya
Manycountries havehadtheopportunity of seeingthisladypupil
of Kartin action.Shehaswon a numberof titles,but ot latewe
haverarelyseenhernameat theveryheadof thetournament table.
She had seemedto havemissedout on the chanceof qualifying
for the women'sCandidate Matchesafter her fourth placein the
1979 Interzonal in Alicante, but took the chanceof comingin as
reserve whenoneof theoriginalqualifiers withdrew,andshewon a
dramaticmatchagainstthe West GermanGiselleFischdick after
being3-Odown!
Suchfightingspiritis perhaps a signthat sheis overcoming the
crisisand startingto playat herold strength.
HertacticalawaTeness is seenin thrsgame,Lysenko- Litinskaya,
from the 1979 USSRZonaltournament.
Heregrandmaster Litinskaya {thegrandmaster titlefor women
playerswas introducedby FIDEin 1976) carriedout a mating
attack.
 s ChessSchool
Karseladze 113

excellentunderstanding of position,all reinforcedby tactical

Thisis confirmedin theexamples
inventiveness. we now gtvefrom
theirgames.
:&,t"'..&
296t'/Z
11 KarseladzeC
' sh e s sS c h o o l 7
t tt
We havealreadymentionedthe remarkable natureof the Kart
schoolin that a playerwithouteventhe mastertitledeveloped a nidze,4th matchgame, 1978
This is Gaprindashvili-Chiburda
wholeseriesof grandmasters. No lesssurprising is the otherchess Teenager Maya (Black)
plays pawnsacrifice
an interesting to exploit
schoolwhichwe now dealwith, this tme in Georgia.Thisis the White'! poor pieceplacement and the weakness of the central
schoolof V.Karseladze. squares.
We mustbe honestand saythat the Caucasian republichasnot 20 . . . Ab4l21 Axb4 cb 22 Efel
yet produced a singleplayerof worldclass,thoughtheyhavewell- Refusalof the sacrificemakesWhite'spositionevenweaker'
knowngrandmasters in T.Georgadze, B.Gurgenidze and E.Gufeld White shouldaccepteventhoughshewould stillstandworsein
{wholearnedhischessin the Ukraine). thatevent.
Yetin the ranksof the players of the Georgian ChessFederation 22 ... AdTl
we findmanyof thebestplayers in theworldamongstwomen,and An excellent manoeuvTe, bringingthe knightto c5 from wherett
the women'sworldtitlehasbeenheldfor almosttwo decades by a willexert greatpressureon White'scentre.
Georgian. ln 1962thefamousNonaGaprindashvili won the world 23 $c2 lcS 24 b3 a6!
title.As yet sheis the onlyplayerto holdthe grandmaster titleboth A frJshstrategicalmanoeuvre whichis now decisiveBy driving
for playagainstmenandagainstwomen.Recently shehasnot had the whiteknightf rom itsstrongposition Chiburdanidze bringstotal
an easytime of it amongstwomenand her challengers for the disorderto White'sranks.
worldtitlehavebeenherfellowGeorgians. In 1975shebeatoff the 25 Ac3 b5 26 at]'ab 27 $1e3 Q1a41
challenge of NanaAlexandria, but three yearslatershe had to Simpleand convincing. Blackwins the exchange, whereasthe
surrender thetitleto thethensixteenvearold MavaChiburdanidze. obvious27 tlxd3i wouldgiveWhitecounter-plaY atter28
What liesin the future?Thepresentchampionis Chiburdanidze -H Xd3.
whilehereightchallengers in the 1980series of knock-out matches 2a $la2€lc329 gas axd 1 30 H xd 1 glb3 31 gt)<bs
includeno less than four representatjves of Georgia- the Hca3, glb7Ecxd333 H xd3 tr xd3 34Ads tr xf3 o-1
legendary Gaprrndashvili, NanaAle>endria and the youngplayers
Nanaloselani and NiniGurieli, allfour of themgrandmasters! Nona Gaprindashvili
How can one explainthis floweringof femaletalent in the The 11thgameof the samematchsaw Nonatakeher revenge
Caucasus republic, and the unevendevelopment as regardsmen with a fine alrack.(78)
and womenolaversthere?Thereseemto be two reasons- the 26 ... b4 (withthe [hrcat27 Ac3+)27 $a1 flcs-!-
activeand dedicated work of the lateVakhtangKarseladze who Thisrsa lreshpteceo[ cunntng.Thereis the prettvma!e 2q.
broughton NonaGaprindashvili andthentheexample of theworld Ac3 29 bc bc 30 flb 1 $xa2+ | 31 € xa2 Eas in ,theottrng
championherselfon the next generation. She is \€ry popularIn tfrhit" onc" againfin-dsa iemporarydefencebut the full extentof
her nativeIand,and it is no surprisethat from theirearliestyears the unpleasantness cannotbe avoided.
threatened
Georgian girlstry to followherexample. 28 Ebl 6b6 29 Sg3 EbcS 30 fibd1 lc4 31 f4
Connoisseurs note the specialfeaturesof the style of the Thisallowsa simpleif eleganttacticalstroke,but other moves
Georgian ladyplayers- thedepthof theirstrategic concepts, therr would not saveWhite eithei.Thus 31 $f4 is met by 3 1
 174 Karsebdze'sChesskhool NanaAlexandria 115

basedon
olayershowedin ihts gamea rare gift of imagination
E/t 72 - ' z s analysis
Lxact of positon.
anda rareunderstanding
7 VZi/&, o . u l z sa e 3S x e 32 T f e S g zt e a x n & x y ? 9 _ 2
7,2.,t72 dr30 e trd8 31 €e3 Ac4 32 Ehdl €/f6 33 a3 sb3 34
zry %:., Efl+ €e635a5c2G1
242 +
?fu, Nana loselani
%ft% Thisyounggirl'scareeris onlyjust starting,but shealreadyhas
ft%.z.,.
% sJc6esses
sionificant to her credit ln particularher resultin the
1579 Women'sInterzonal put her in the lasteightto contestthe
Axb2t 32 gxb2 ga3+ 33 gb1 tras 34 gfd6 gxa2+ 3b Candidate Matches.
in the 1979
€c 1 trds! 36 tr xds ed37 Sf 5 b3 andBlackwins. Hereis thefinalparto{ hergameagainstL.Zaitseva
31 ... ad2! 32Hxd2b3! 3:tg'xb3€lxd2 tournament
international in Moscow.
-Black's materral advanbge combrned witha neverendingseries
of threatssoonforceWhiteto surrender. 80
3 4 f 5 € ' d 4 3l 5 f i e 1 f l e 5 3 6 S f 3 t r x c 2 !3 7 A x c 2 E x e 1 + tTza%g%
3 8 4 b 1 g d l 3 9g / x d 1 E X d l 4 0 f e f eO - 1 %t%r.%t
ztv&t72,
NanaAlexandria
ThecharmingNanahasalreadytriedonce,thoughunsucessfu|y,
l.t 6
to unseatNonaon the chessthrone.Her talentand caoacitvfor
t f l ,
hardworkgi\€ groundsfor hopingthatshewillscorebtgsuccesses
in thef utureand e\€n get to a worldtitlemabh again.Hertactcal
po\/ersare seenin thisgameagainstMnoginain the 1g7g USSB Whitecarriesout a decisivepushon the €-side
Championshio at Tbilisi. 17 h5 sh 18 6xh5 6g7 19 Af4 c5 2Oc3 cd 21 cd abA 22
-To 6c6 23 Ah4 Ad7 24€h2
Af3
79 transferthe rookto the importanth-file
i% 2t%
"zh 24 ... gfc8 25 Ehl Ae8 26 Af3 Be7 27 &g2 gb4 28
%a%
t r & 'ru,42
4le2 4\a5 29 a3 *e7
-After
29 gtb3 30 grd2 the Black€-side is indefensible
%"/.&t ' 2 % 30gd2 lxb3 31gxh6 }xal 3? Ax!91
-
A {ine combination 32 ef 33 Axds+ Af7 34 g'h8
)1, m7t mate,or 32 . . Axfs 33 gh8+ $f7 34 ShS mate'
& 32 . . . CdB 33 gthT+ &f7 34 $h5 mate'

- Alexahdria (Black)now madethe interesting

- pieceoffer1g . . . Nino Gurieli
Ad4! 19 cd ed 20 Ah6+ gh8 21 QefS Theplayof thisyounggirl is markedby quitematuretechnlque
It becomesclearthat othermovesaTeworse.Thus21 irdl is combinedwith tactical inventiveness.Thisis shownIn her game
met by 21 . . . €g7 22 gg4 fltea 23 €if I hS and Whitersin a '1979Alicanteinternational
tournamenl'(81)
rclain the
aoainstt|'l.Ga
""Whit"
bad way. -ir.", convincing useof her positional on the
advantage
21 . . . d3 22 Af3 b4 23 pxbT c3!! 'iqiqt whichthe bishopat 97
{9-side cannot in{luence
A marvellous position.White'spiecesare unableto countertne AeE15 Hfdi trfue16assl axss 17Qxssf6 18
aggressive spiritof theenemyfoot soldiers. Ae3 b6 19 AxcT E(ac820 )d5 ic6
*Black
24 AxaS E xa8 woutdlosequrcklvaftef2O 5"65 21 Hxds Hxc2
Not onlydoestheextrarooknot offerWhitewinninqchances rn -22 flad1 Ec7 23 Af 1 and Black
can resign'
fact thereis no way for Whiteto savethisposition. T6eGeoroian 2TA a?5 zz ffxosl ab23Axb6 6c6 24Axd8 trxd8
/ 76 Karsebdze'sChess*hool

truLxr."&r.
z %"'e,
%r.%
'ry
a%
T
2 t,&6&fi.
% 72
%
"&t% /&a2 Withouta School
12
25b41
Theconnected passed pawnsjust rollforwardunimpeded.
25 . . . €gg 26 a5 Q)a727 Afl €tr/ 28 tr<15€e8
The king hurriesover tryingto helpform a blockade,but this We havedescribed the playof the'graduates'ofthe threemain
cannotbe achieved. Sovietschools. Yetwe havetwo othersrgnificant schools whichare
29 tradl Afg 30 b5 pe7 31 b6 Ac6 32 Abs Abg 33 remarkable by wayof the f6meof theirheads.Someyearsagothe
ExdT 1-0 students'sports association Burevestnikorganised a schoolunder
Whitefinishes meeting33 ... lXdT by 34
off elegantly. the directionof ex-worldchampionVasilySmyslovand a similar
E x d 7 E x d 7 3 5a 6 . schoolfor youngtilents hasbeencreatedfor Sparbkheadedby
anotherex-champion TigranPetrosian. Both schoolswork on the
samesortof basisasthe Botuinnik school,but whetherthissystem
will suitthemand what sort of 'product'weshallhavefrom their
endeavours onlytimewill show.As yet theiractivityhasnot been
goingon longenoughtor usto judgethem.
Howeverthe obviousdesireof our leadingfiguresto passon
therrknowledge to the youngergeneration is there.In thisrespect
Petrosian's comments areworthquoting:'l consider thatin chessit
is possibleto learneveMhing.ThatiswhatI belie\€andin my heart
of heartsI cherishthe dreamthat someday I will comeacrossa
pupilto whomI canpasson allthat I know,allthat I learned by dint
of hardsearchaftertruth.I hopeto bringon sucha youngster who
couldwork lointlywith me in variousresearches and who could
then try theseout in actualplay.Yet thoughI havenot yet come
acrosssucha playerI am stilllivingin hopeand likethe work with
youngsters. The schoolhasbeenworkingfor almostthreeyears
and thereare somesuccesses. BorvaKantserfrom Frunzehas
becomeUSSRJ uniorChampion, whiletwo lads,Kuporosov and
Novikov,havereachedthe masternorm:
We can only wishour veteransgood luckin the passingon of
their immenseexperience to the youngtherebymakinga serious
contribution to the furtherdevelopment and popularisation of the
game.
Obviouslystudiesundersuch conditions are a seriousway of
aimingfor the top, but thereare someof our playerswho have
managedwithoutlongformalschooling and stillscoredtop-class
results.We devotethe remainingpart of the bookto someof these
independent talentswho havedoneit allon theirown,or hadonly
 -Y
llB WithoutaSchool lrinaLevitina 119

shortcontactwith teacherswho arenot wellknown. 33 . . . Ac5 34 Sh6+ Se7 35 fl xe5+ Ae6 36 E xe6+ fe
In this respectprideof placeshouldprobablygo to the verv 37 grxe6+ €fB 38 grf6+ €g8 39 Ed3 1-o
talentedgirl from Leningradwho has three times been Sovtet Onemightmention variousotherwell-knownchessnames
who
Ladies'Champion. are not a-ssociatedwith any school.The Yerevangrandmaster
HafaelVaganyanis one exampleand we haveseenwhat he is
lrina Levitina capableo1 in the fine combinationagainst Reshevsky(see
What seemedthe key game,againstworld title holderMaya "'"r1r"o
Chiburdanidze, was lostby lrinain annoyingcircumsbnces, by a ol-u"rr associatedwith the urals and Siberiaare grand-
mistakein the adjournedsessionin what was a comparatively mastersViialy Tseshkovsky (who sharedfirst placein the Soviet
simpleposition. Thencamea 'reaction'* sixwinsin a row,and not Chamoionship of 1978with MikhailTalandjustfailedto getto the
against weakplayers either.Thiswasthe 1979USSRChampionship Candidates in the Manila lnterzonalof 1976) and Yevgeny
at Tbilisi,and brought Levitinaher third gold medalas USSB Sveshnikov. Theaggressive playof bothmenhaswon themmany
Champion. a remarkable achievement at the age of only twenty suDDorters.
five.Thefirstwincamein 197'1,the secondin 1978.Thereseems
littledoubtthat we shallseeher amongstthe challengers one day Vitaly Tseshkovsky
for theworldcrown.
Her style of play is markedby imagination, bold energetic 83
approachand combinational inventiveness.Thesenaturalqualities
were partly developedby her long associationwith mentor Pavel t"'n '& %t
Kondratyev.To see them examinea positiontogether tn total i%
%t"'/zi.'%2,,
harmonyis to realise whata futureliesbeforeher. t"'&'/.&
%'/h8ry,
Thebestsideof herfightingqualitiesis seenin thisgameagainst
LarisaMuchnikin the 1979SovietChamoionshio.
% ./&
% /&,t
82
ThisisTseshkovskv-Belyavsky fromthe 1978 FirstLeague of the
g&Lffi1, SovietChampionship. The grandmaster from Omsk conducted a
% ' e 7 difficultattackon the $-sidewith realflair'
22 ab ab 23 EaOl trbg 24 flae1 Af6 25 EaSl HcbT 26
2 % t % % Y.1a7|
& z^%ft A curiousposition.Blackwill find it hardto hit uponthe right
frfr4,/ f't decision here.26 . fxaT allows27 trXb8+ and28 $xbS'
26 . . . Hea27 H xb7 gxbT 28 Ea5 e4 29 gd1 gxds 30
To startwith an energeticblowagainstthe enemy$-side. AxbS Edg 31 ele2 \dte632 c4! d5 33 cd eieSl 34 g3
19 Afs! AXfs Anticipating the threatened34 f4.
Obviously for the pawnto takewouldloseat onceto 20 8g5+ . .
34 . ;dl-6 35 we3! {+xdsl 36 ic3 wd1 + 37 €9214 38
20 et Q1d721 h4b4z2h5! gt thS S5-r;Lc4+8,fg 40 ies brf3+ 41 urxf3 ef + 42EYt3
White'spushcannotbe heldand Blackhasto openlineson the Axb4 rFl Ea7 Ae7 44 €S4
*AlthoughThe
S-side. has6ecomemuchsimplified
p-oiition Whitestillhas
22 . .. 9h23l6l formidable pressure.
And now the Lopezbishopat c2 is openedup. 4a .. . tbe8 45 fla6 Ed2 45 f5! Af6+ 47 €{3! Ad7 48
23 .. . Axf6 24 6:g5 Afg 25 Axfs gxfS 26 axhT+
(&e7 27 Axf6 €xf6 28 gh6+ @e7 *Ea8+ JdS 49 ic7 .if6 50;b5+ &f7 51 ;f4!
29 8g5+ €f8 30 Afs Whitfrxoloitslhe actiuivof his bishopsto the maximumBlack
flb8 31 flacI b3 32 ab Axb3 33 Hcdl I hasa onm poslflon.
Whitestationsherrooksin linewiththe enemvkinowhichmust 51 :. . Ad4 52 sa7'r E)f853 ie3 1'0
brinqbenefitssooneror later. Thefinai-blow comesf rom thisbrshop(53 Ed 1 54 Ah6+
 Makarychev 121

€g8 55 Ac4+, and if 55 . . . €hB then56 l\g7 mate). SergeiMakarYchev

-Jhe
to conducta systematlc
abilityof the Moscowgrandmaster
Yevgeny Sveshnikov p";it;;;vi;";;,wnicrrrscliarlcie;i:tic?i,hls^:b/,letls"s^?el[:ls
at Ashkhabad
Grandmaster YevgenySveshnikov from Chelyabinsk,alas.has ;;;;';:is;;;hnikov in the 1978SuperLeasue
combinedperiodsof greatsuccesswith avvfultailures,yet thrs
cheerfulyoung man neverlosesheart.You will often hear him 85 ./t ',/Zi'"..&t
criticisinghis own playand himself.This is a good sign as self- :
preliminary
criticismis the necessary to puttingmattersright AiA g
What he is capable of at hisbestis shownin thisgamefrom the a,t
Top League,1978,at Ashkhabad. tt :
84
A
"'.&a'/t&,t',,8
h:& t
/& '1 7 gh3! de
tr& 2ob41521 6:;b6Ea722'grc2t329AIts d5! 24
2 i& % --ffiuof.r Ad4Z5 Axd4gxd4
25Axe4 27 Ads!
hove thistacticalstrokewashaidto
n + *"t a com6iicated
foresee.
2 27 . . . Axds 28 Eadl Exb4
Blackwould do betteroY zd . Axs2 29 gbq+ Ad5 30
Whitestartsa big pushon the €-side. x d5 *q4 +
,\-ld"ni"as*ez3o 1
3 1 €2h €lh8 with some hopeoTsurvrvrng - .
17 s4! $a6 ld trf2 {5 19 sf EXfs 20 h4! af8 21 ah3 gTatwrz31we3 ' e732\e2ten33
Qc8! 22 le2! s-x".e=ia-iaGia"s-se g-e2iix;8 36 EXds+ {epr-u37
A correctdecisionnot to take the exchangeas then Black's F x"8-r gxeS 38 t7c4+ €h8 39 €fl ue7 40 Eic6+
white-square bishopwouldbecometoo strong.
22 . . . trhs 23W1 e624 Eh2! Aa6 25 9f2 €'e7 26 6)g3 - -tn Georqadze
Tomaz
Eh6 27 fsl frl voutfiCeorqadze studledunderhiswelfknowncountryman
An excellent breakthrough. Linesareopenedto enablethewhtte v.i".."riJi", oui tit"r. on workedentirelyon his own He is an
piecesto get at the enemyking and this decidesmatterspretty ;;;;;'i. il'fer1'nougn he givesan outwardappearance of calm A
quickly. very ingenious playeione bf whosemost g-ames
orlginal is that
2 7 . . . e t 2 8 S x f 5 ! g f 2 9 axh6 axh6 30 axfs 31 aoainst"V. the earlYleaderin the
t<upreicl-rik 1979 Soviet Super
Es2+ €F/ Leagueat Minsk.
Thekinghasno optionbut to comeout intothe open.lf 31
€hB then32 Axh6 g'xh6 33 lg5! wins. 86
32 Ag5+ $xss 33 trxgs Og634 h5 Ae8 t.l
Reconiiling (34
himselfto the inevitable Ne7 35 Ad6+, 34 h i.t
. . AfB 35 Ag7+ winning thequeen). t.t tEt
35 hg hg 36 g'h4! AfG 37 th6! Ae4 38 th7+ 1-O t''fu t :
t t "/aa/./'t.a&,
We conclude our 'portraitgallery'
of modernSovietplayers with ^
gameextractsbytwo othergrandmasters who shared5-7thplaces
in the last SovietSuper League(December,1979) lust before
goingto Hastings for the Premier. Bothof themare'self-taught'irr
a surprlslng
the iense that though their early effortswere encouraged by White has given up the exchangebilt now makes
teachers theirmorerecentclimbto thetop isthe resultof individual "
breakthrouqhin the centre
g'de27
effort. A;i;i #5ias acza bch425t4ter26ar3
Ac4 Ef, 28 leS f xg3 29 Ad4l
 Without a khool

t7, /// -
7t 7t 2
&,4m ^
7ZA&fr.% Indexof Players
% 7z
' H Vlz.,

A marvelloussight, creatinga positionthat rs a tribute to Referenceis to page numbers for games and game extracts'
harmonious Blackis quitehelpless
pieceplayandcentralisation. in
the faceof sucha unifiedhostof minorpieces Karpov 19. 25, 43. 46,55,87
29 ... Ass 30 AxfT AXfT 31 trxb7 Ass 32 Hxn Akhmilovskaya99 Kasparov 96
€xf/ 33 Af4+ €e8 34 $xa4+ gd7 35 Abs axf4 36 Alekhine22. 34, 51, 52, 59 Koltanowski
Kotov2 1
62
AxdT+ @e737 el flc7 38 Sf6+ 1-0. Ale)6ndriya114
Kupreichik121
Anikayev79, 98
Balashov89 Larsen8O
Bel)€vsky16, 1O5,119 Laard 62
Boooliubow 60 LeMtina1 18
Boilnnik 20. 45. 48.54,87 | 45'1O
Lilientha
Browne19 Litinskaya1
Butnorius96 Lputyen91
Lutikov25
Capablanca48 Lysenko110
Chekhov109
nidze 1 13
Chiburda Makarychev 121
Dolmatov98 Mieses60
Dorfman43, 1O9 Mikhalchishin 11O
M u c h n i1
k18
Eurue22
Petrosian20,7A, 1O7
Flltp42 PetroVch99
Furmanz I Platov62
Polugalevsky 16.80
113
Gaprindashvili
baTcE I rc 9'1
Razurayev
Geller79 29
Reshevsky
Georgadze 121 Reti34
Grtinfeld16 Romanishin55, 89, 107
b uTre I rc Rubinstein
6'1

ni 1 15
losela Sokolsky54
lvkov78 tzv, tz I
S\r'esnnlKov
| 24 lndex of Players
Tal42, 48, 48.77, 33 Vagania
n 29
Tartako\ ,er 59 Velimirovch77
Timoschenko 1 1O Vidmar51
Tseshkovsky 1 19
Yates61
Unzicker46 Yusupov93

.!