GM Aleksander Delchev

Magazine

Issue 24

GM Mihail Marin

GM Valeriy Aveskulov

IM Yochanan Afek

GM Davorin Kuljasevic

Typical Pawn Structures in Slav Defence (GM Aleksander Delchev) 

Solodovnichenko,Yuri (2436) - Filippov,Valerij (2605) / Bydgoszcz Bank Pocztowy op (4)1999LuckyTiger - oosters / WL2019: Team Ukraine vs Team HollandAnand,Viswanathan (2779) - Navara,David (2739) / Shamkir Chess (1) 2019Aveskulov,Valeriy - Diulger,Alexey / Lugansk IM-tournament 2004Kramnik,Vladimir (2777) - Svidler,Peter (2747) / Corus Wijk aan Zee (4) 2004Giri,A. (2783)- Shankland,S. (2725) / 81st Tata Steel GpA (11.4) 25.01.2019Kovchan,Alexander (2592)- Grinev,Valeriy (2409) / Ukrainian championship (3) 2017Aveskulov,Valeriy (2535) - Belov,Vladimir (2571) / Russian Team Championship (6) 2008Reutsky,Sergey (2325) - Aveskulov,Valeriy (2457) / Femida (9) 2005LuckyTiger - VladDobrov / Live Chess Chess.com 2019Wang Hao (2727) - Gelfand,Boris (2739) / Moscow Tal Memorial 5th (7) 2010Aronian,Levon (2724) - Bacrot,Etienne (2725) / FIDE World Cup (6.2)2005

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62 Practical Endgame Miniatures (IM Yochanan Afek)

Pawn Structure 1 - The EndgameModel Game 1.1 : Skembris,S -TitovExamples 1.1 -10Pawn Structure 2 - Model Game 1 : Gurevich,M- Malich Germany 1992Model Game 2 : Flear,G-Garcia Palermo / Aosta Germany 08.12.1990Examples 1 -10

Endgame Series 24 (GM Davorin Kuljasevic)

A. Wilhelm Steinitz / Schachzeitung 1862B. John Nunn / Due Alfieri 1983C. Vladimir Akopyan / Schach 2004Exercises 1 - 21

Saving Lost Positions (GM Valeriy Aveskulov)

Marin,Mihail (2525) - Domingo,Ruben (2318) / Benasque (10.19) 13.07.2019Jacobsen,Bo - Karpov,Anatoly /URS-Scandinavia U20 1968Bartel,Mateusz (2594) - Shen,Yang (2448) / Moscow Aeroflot op-A (9) 25.02.2009Carlsen,Magnus (2862) - Petersen,Caleb / Norway sim chess.com INT rapid (1)Marin,Mihail (2531) - Loew,Gerald (2163) / Porto Mannu op 11th (4) 03.06.2019Marin,Mihail (2531) - Zimina,Olga (2367) / Porto Mannu op 11th (6) 05.06.2019Marin,Mihail (2573) - Bindrich,Falko (2512) / Dresden Porzellan Cup rapid (8) 17.1.10Marin,Mihail (2517) - Bindrich,Falko (2527) / Dresden Porzellan Cup rapid (2) 4.1.08Maghsoodloo,Parham (2656) - Bindrich,Falko (2571) / Dresden Porzellan Cup rapid (8) 9.8.19

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CONTENTS3 Master the Leningrad Structure (GM Mihail Marin)

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Kotov,Alexander - Botvinnik,Mikhail / URS-ch22 Final (6) 19.02.1955Grischuk,Alexander (2759) - Dominguez Perez,Leinier (2763) / FIDE World Cup (4.1) 20.09.2019Nigmatov,Ortik (2494) - Rajdeep,Sarkar (2384) / Wch U20 58th (7) 21.10.2019Caruana,Fabiano (2819) - Carlsen,Magnus (2875) / Croatia GCT Zagreb (3) 28.06.2019Firouzja,Alireza (2723) - Carlsen,M (2872) / World Blitz 2019 (19.1) 30.12.2019Aronian,Levon (2772) - Anand,Viswanathan (2757) / Tata Steel India blitz (2) 25.11.2019Exercise 1 - 6

2525 2318

13.07.2019

Marin,MihailDomingo,Ruben

Benasque (10.19)

The Leningrad Bird and Dutch openings, to which I will from now on refer as "Leningrad", in order to simplify the discourse, are mainly positional systems. We spend a tempo on move 1 to advance the f-pawn, short term weakening our king without gaining any immediate compensation. The opportunity to start dynamic play will come later, in the early middlegame. The main aim of the Leningrad is to achieve an improved version of the King's Indian. Later in the opening, after the centre is blocked with ...e7-e5 and d4-d5, Black needs to spend some time to achieve ...f7-f5 (usually with ... Nf6-d7, ...f7-f5 and then ...Nd7-f6). If the same structure arises via the Leningrad move order, this implies having saved two whole tempi. While this surely sounds like the optimal scenario and it usually leads to comfortable play, it does not always lead to a clear advantage, due to some strategic limitations of the King's Indian itself. In fact, things can remain interesting and far from one-sided. Here is a typical example from a recent Bird game of mine.

[ I rejected 10.Ne2 , which would betypical for the Mar del Plata King'sIndian, on account of Ng4

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( Here we see a negative differencecompared to the King's Indian: Thee3 square is weak. During the gameI also thought that Black could firstinsert 10...Nb4 , but instead of 11.Qd1 White has 11.Nexd4! ) 11.h3

Ne3 12.Bxe3 dxe3 13.e5 f6 ( Necessary, in order to activate thebishop. 13...Nd4 14.Nfxd4 cxd415.Qb4 wins both pawns. ) 14.Qc3with interesting play in which Blackseems to have sufficient resources. ]

10.Nd1 With the pawn on f4 already,this is an entirely adequate retreat, asthe knight can later jump to f4.

1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2 Nc65.0-0 g6 6.d3 Bg7 7.Qe1 0-0 8.e4Rb8 9.Nc3 d4

10...Re8 [ Black does right delaying 10...e5 as in the game White will have to spend a tempo on h2-h3. 11.f5

( 11.Nf2 may lead to a transposition to the game. ) 11...gxf5 This does

Master the Leningrad Structure

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not turn out well, but otherwise White will gradually build his pawn attack. 12.exf5 Bxf5 ( 12...e4 fails to achievecounterplay: 13.dxe4 Re8 14.Bf4 Ra8 15.Nh4 ) 13.Nxe5 with lots ofweaknesses in Black's position. ]

11.Nf2[ As shown later, e4-e5 is a thematicmove, but here I thought that it wouldfree Black's hands too early. 11.e5Nd5 12.Qe2 b6 13.Nf2 f5Even though the bishop on g7 willbe passive for some while, afterblocking the kingside Black shouldbe safe enough. ]

11...b5 12.h3 [ A more restrictive and accuratemove order is 12.a4 a6 13.axb5

axb5 14.h3 , possibly transposing tothe game. ]

12...e5 [ 12...Nh5 is ineffective due to13.Ng4 , when the knight ismisplaced on h5. ]

13.a4

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It is always useful to be active on bothwings. Before opening the f-file, Iwanted to have the a-file for the otherrook, too. 13...a6

[ But here Black could have tried 13...Nh5!? , as after 14.Ng4 he has exf4 15.gxf4 f5 with complications. ]

14.axb5 axb5 15.fxe5 I decided thatthis was the simplest way to activatemy knight on f2.

[ I was not sure whether 15.f5would still be working, as there wouldbe no immediate pressure along thef-file, but things seem to work outwell for White anyway. The mainplan is g3-g4-g5, Ng4 and so on.gxf5 ( Blocking the kingside with15...h6 16.g4 g5 is not entirelysatisfactory either: 17.h4 Nh718.hxg5 hxg5 19.Nh1 f6 20.Ng3followed by Kf2, Rh1, Rh5, with atypical Mar del Plata King's Indianattack. With his knight on h7 Blackcannot create strong queensidecounterplay. ) 16.exf5 Bxf5 17.Nh4Bd7 ( Or if 17...Ne7 18.Nxf5 Nxf519.Ng4 Nxg4 20.Rxf5 , retrievingthe pawn and keeping fantasticcontrol over the light squares. )18.Bg5 Ne7 ( 18...h6 just offersWhite a free tempo: 19.Bxf6 Bxf620.Ne4! Due to his overall activity,White does not have to fear Bxh4(more or less forced due to the threatNf5) 21.gxh4

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with threats such as Nf6+, Nxc5, Nd6,when Ra6 also is a permanenttheme. ) 19.Ne4 Nxe4 20.Qxe4Despite the missing pawn, White isdominating the whole board. ]

15...Nd7 [ During the game I was a bit moreworried about 15...Nxe5 16.Nxe5

Rxe5 17.Bf4 Nh5! 18.Bxe5 Bxe519.Nh1 At this height, Black hasreasonable compensation for theexchange, but since pawns areequal, White should still have thebetter chances. ]

16.Bg5!

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A typical intermediate move, startingthe fight for the square f6. 16...Qc717.Ng4 Re6 This fails to keep thebishops' pair, but my opponent mighthave thought that my bishop would bemore dangerous on f6 than on h6.

[ Actually, White has just a stableadvantage in both cases: 17...Ncxe518.Nfxe5 Nxe5 19.Nf6+ Bxf620.Bxf6 Be6 21.g4 Nd7 22.Bg5followed by Qf2, Bf4, g4-g5. ]

18.Nh6+ Bxh6[ Against 18...Kf8 there are manywinning moves, from which I hadplanned to play 19.Nxd4!+- ]

19.Bxh6 Ncxe5 20.Nxe5 Nxe5

21.Qf2 When putting an eye on thepawn on d4, I wanted to give play aglobal character, with pressure on bothwings.

[ But the simple 21.g4 Bd7 22.Qg3 Rbe8 23.Bf4 Qb6 24.g5followed by h4-h5 looks verypromising, as White retains thebetter structure. ]

21...f6 [ Black could have prevented my nextmove with 21...b4 but after 22.b3White would be absolved of anyqueenside worries and ready toreturn to the aforementioned plan. ]

22.b4!

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Black is hanging on the kingside and inthe centre now. 22...Bd7

[ 22...cxb4 23.Qxd4 offers White anoverwhelming pawn advantage in thecentre. ]

23.bxc5[ This is premature, but I intuitively feltthat my opponent was tempted totrap my bishop and I had anticipatedthat would be the wrong plan.***Objectively it was better to keepthe tension: 23.Bf4 Rc8 24.h4 Qd6( Planning ...Qe7. For the time beingBlack cannot weaken the defence one5 as after 24...Qb6 25.Bxe5!

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White wins a pawn. ) 25.c3!The perfect scenario, with Black's centre completely hanging. Qe7( Relatively best. If 25...dxc326.bxc5 Qxc5 27.d4±; 25...Nxd3does not work either: 26.Bxd6 Nxf227.e5! Clearing the long diagonal.fxe5 28.bxc5+- followed by Bd5 andRa7. ) 26.Bxe5 fxe5 27.cxd4 cxd428.Ra7 Black faces threats from bothsides. Rec6 29.Bh3 R6c7 30.Bxd7Rxd7 31.Rxd7 Qxd7 32.Qf6 Qe833.Qd6

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with a very dangerous intrusion by White. ]23...g5?

[ Justifying my last move. Better was 23...Qxc5 24.Bf4 , when Black canconsider ...b5-b4-b3, with chances tohold. ]

24.Qxd4 Nf7 25.Rxf6 Nxh6 26.Qd5![ 26.Rxe6 Bxe6 27.Qf6 also wins,but my move is more restrictive,while also setting a trap. Besides27...Nf7, which would transpose tothe game, Black could keep thebishop with 27...Bf7 or else tryQxc5+ 28.Kh2 Bxh3 I did not seemajor problems here, for instance29.Bxh3 g4 30.Qxh6 but one canalways overlook something, so themore restrictive the better. ]

26...Nf7 [ Much to my disappointment, myopponent understood what wascooking for him after 26...Qc6 :27.Qxg5+ Kh8 28.Rxh6! Rxh629.Qe5+ Kg8 30.Qxb8+ ]

27.Rxe6 Bxe6 28.Qxe6 Qxc5+29.Kh2 Qxc2 30.Rf1 Rf8 White isobviously winning, but I managed tocreate certain technical problems formyself. 31.Qd5

[ The best way to defend d3 was31.Rf5! , threatening Rxg5. Qd232.e5+- followed by Qd5 and e6. ]

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