I’ve been looking at some various positions that I might want to play. I’ve been thinking about playing the mainline Marshall instead of playing anti-Marshall setups as White.
So I was looking at this position:
Here the main move for White is by far 17.Nd2. It’s almost universal. I was looking at a different move which I am working on, but I then started asking myself, why not 17.Bd1 in this position? Doesn’t that force the light squared bishops off?
So I was trying to determine the consequences of giving up the light squared bishop for White. Then I turned the engine on. The engine shows that there is a brutal tactical refutation after 17.Bd1.
Have a look. The solution appears at the end of the post.
Til Next Time,
Chris Wainscott
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Solution: 17…Rxe3 18.fxe3 Bxg3. Here everything wins. Feel free to analyze all of the lines with or without an engine.
Yesterday at the Czech Open in Pardubice Tom Polgar-Shutzman managed a nice win over Russian GM Semen Dvoirys!
As you may have guessed by the name, Tom is a part of the famous Polgar family. He is Susan’s son.
I met Tom earlier this year at the USATN where I roomed with him. He was one of the nicest people you could ever meet.
During the few days that we hung out we talked a lot about chess and goals and he made it clear to me that his goal was to ensure that the Polgar family gained another GM.
So far he’s having a nice tournament with a 2453 performance rating going 3.5-2.5 through the first six rounds.
Here’s his game against Dvoirys.
Tomorrow he plays Ukrainian FM Yevgeniy Roshka. I’ll keep an eye on the last three rounds and you should too!
Til Next Time,
Chris Wainscott
If you like this blog, please consider becoming a Patreon supporter. Any money I raise will go towards lessons and stronger tournaments.
If you can spare it, please click here and become a supporter. Even $1 a month can help me achieve my dream.
The King’s Indian According to Tigran Petrosian by IM Igor Yanvarjov 2019 Russell Enterprises, Inc. 424 pp
When looking at a book such as this one it’s important to understand that there are two main reasons that an author writes a book.
The first is to earn money. Many books are written by authors who are writing about an assigned topic in order to earn a payday because they are working professionals who need to pay the rent the same as the rest of us.
The second type of book is one that’s a labor of love. Any monies generated are almost secondary in nature. Rather the book represents the author’s absolute unwavering love for the topic at hand. This book is of that second type.
Why the title of the book may read as though it’s a opening manual, it is very much not. Yes, the book is themed around Petrosian’s games in the King’s Indian, and reading this book in depth will help enhance the reader’s understanding of the KID, but the real point of this book is to show the nuanced handling of positions that the ninth world champion is so known for.
Having said that, this book will be of some use in learning the opening for players who prefer to take a “deep dive” approach and look at historical games in order to build a proper foundation for an opening.
It’s important to remember that Petrosian passed away 35 years ago, and so every line in this book should be taken with a grain of salt and checked very thoroughly by players just coming to the KID.
The book is divided into three parts with each part being split into several chapters. They are:
Part 1Tabiyas
Chapter 1 Classical Variation
Chapter 2 The Samisch System
Chapter 3 The Fianchetto Variation
Chapter 4 The Benoni
Chapter 5 Other Systems
Part 2 Elements of Success
Chapter 6 Portrait of a Chess Player
Chapter 7 Lessons from Petrosian
Chapter 8 The Problem of the Exchange
Chapter 9 “Furman’s Bishop”
Chapter 10 “Pawns are the soul of chess”
Chapter 11 Playing by Analogy
Chapter 12 Maneuvering Battle
Part III Experiments
Chapter 13 Realist or Romantic?
Chapter 14 The King’s Indian with Colors – and Flanks – Reversed
Readers who paid careful attention to the above table of contents will have picked up on the fact that with chapters such as Chapter 4 The Benoni this work isn’t strictly a King’s Indian treatise as much as it is the King’s Indian and related positions.
“What about the games themselves?” readers are hopefully asking by this point. The games are all annotated to varying degrees. Some have only light notes, whereas others have very detailed analytical variations. It is in this area that I believe that Yanvarjov does an excellent job.
Many of the games contain quoted historical analysis or comments, whether by Tigran himself or his contemporaries. In addition the author goes into great analytical detail where it makes sense.
I also thought that IM Yanvarjov did an excellent job of mixing in both prose and variations to describe the action taking place within the positions. In some cases a verbal description is given which should be helpful to players of club level in particular.
Take this position for instance, from the second game between Bisguier and Petrosian in the 1954 USA-USSR Radio Match. Here the American GM has just played 18.Nd5
“Bisguier forces the issue but achieves little. The calm 18.Rd2, with the goal of increasing the pressure in the center by doubling rooks, is more unpleasant for Black.”
This is a simple enough explanation for readers of any level to understand, and reams of variationally inclined analysis doesn’t get the point across in as clear as manner.
Here’s an excellent example where some analysis combines with a clear verbal explanation to one again convey a clear image. This is the position after move 31 in the game Borisenko-Petrosian in the 21st USSR Championship.
Here White plays 32.Kh2. Writes Yanvarjov:
“To this point, White had played very consistently, but now Borisenko’s constant companion in his tournament games, time trouble, came into play. Instead of the irresolute king move, by playing b2-b4!, White could have posed challenging problems for his opponent. However, the most principled continuation was probably not 32.b4, but 32.Bd2 and only then b2-b4. For example, 32.Bd2 Kh7 33.b4 Nd7 34.b5 Nb8 35.Qe3 Qf8 36.f4, etc.”
My assessment of this book is that it’s a book written as a labor of love designed to showcase the player who appears to have made the biggest impression on Yanvarjov, while also being very useful as a games collection.
Again, I should stress that those who want to use this book as an opening manual will have a lot of additional work to do, but for those who are looking at this as a games collection you will see a lot of practical use from this book.
Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this one today.
Til Next Time,
Chris Wainscott
If you like this blog, please consider becoming a Patreon supporter. Any money I raise will go towards lessons and stronger tournaments.
If you can spare it, please click here and become a supporter. Even $1 a month can help me achieve my dream.
