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Game l

The ideal center: PQ4-PK'\&

Ideas behind the Nimzo-Indian Defense Exchange of one advantage for another The initiative vs. passive play

Inducing weaknesses in the opponent's position Strategy vs. tactics

Center control

Use of the center in conjunction with the Two Bishops Building up an accumulation of power

Use of an accumulation of power to break enemy resistance

Certain situations on the chessboard are more favorable than average­

ancl these are known as advantages. There are many kinds of advantages : material (more Pawns or pieces ) , superior development, greater mobility, more command of space, solid Pawn formation, a secure King position, the initiative, the attack, a Knight posted on a strong square, the Two Bishops, etc. Advantages may be relatively permanent or quite temporary.

Against a good player, it is not possible to maintain all the advantages that may exist on the chessboard at a given point in a game. One often has to surrender certain of these advantages, but With best play one then gets other compensating advantages or leaves one's opponent with some sort of weakness. Whatever the compensating advantage, one must often make use of it as soon as possible; otherwise, it may disappear, leaving one with nothing but the disadvantage. Very fundamental in chess play are the ideas of surrendering one advantage for another and of using one's advantage before it disappears.

In the game that follows, Black, the amateur, gives up the advantage of the Two Bishops in return for the initiative-a very temporary advan­

tage. Instead of making use of this initiative, he plays passively and thus

1

permits White to exploit his compensating advantage of the Two Bishops.

White is able to establish the ideal combination of two favorable chess characteristics: the center and the Two Bishops. Two Bishops usually have their maximum effect when the player holding them has a strong center, for this prevents the opponent from building up a Pawn forma­

tion that would reduce the mobility and the activity of the hostile Bishops.

As a result of these two favorable factors, White is able to build up an overwhelming concentration of force in this game. Given his own ac­

cumulation of power and his opponent's lack of development, he can afford to sacrifice in order to bring his pieces to the center of the struggle rapidly. He breaks through Black's defenses, and before the amateur is able. to marshal his forces, the master surrounds the Black King and mates it.

Nimzo-Indian Defense : 4 Q-B2, P-Q4 Variation Master

White

I P-Q4

Amateur Black

The four squares in the middle of the chessboard-Q4, K4, Q5, K5 -constitute what is known as the center. It is a well-known fact among good chess players that the side that controls these four squares tends to have an overwhelming ad­

vantage, for it is difficult for an opponent to undertake any success­

ful action on the board under such circumstances. This holds both in the opening and in the middle game.

The ideal center formation is PQ4-PK4, since this formation oc­

cupies two of the center squares and exerts pressure on the other two. If one player can attain this formation without the other player being able to break it up, the first player enjoys full center control with all its advantages.

In the present game, White starts

at once to build up his ideal center and to establish control of the cen­

ter. It is clear that by 1 P-Q4 he controls his Q4 square by occupy­

ing it. Less obvious but equally important is the second way in which 1 P-Q4 contributes to center control. It must be noted that the Pawn on Q4 exercises a measure of control over its QB5 and K5 squares, since it threatens to take any Black piece that might move there. In chess, this second type of control, the threat to take, is called pressure.

1 . . . N-KB3

It is highly important for Black to neutralize White's efforts to con­

trol the center and to try to estab­

lish control of it himself. This he does either by in tum occupying center squares or by bringing pres­

sure to bear on the center. In most openings, attempts of one side to control the center are neutralized by a series of counterpressures by

the opposing side. After a certain 22 ) or 2 . . . P-Q3, leading to the number of moves, this process tends Old Indian.

l o result in equality of control be­

tween the two sides.

In the game, instead of occupy­

ing the center by I . . . P-Q4, Black achieves center control by

I. ^{. • •} N-KB3, which exerts pres­

sure on his Q4 and K5 squares, pre­

vents White from establishing his ideal center with 2 P-K4, and re­

serves for the second player a wide range of later moves.

The reply I . . . N-KB3 leads to

a variety of openings known as the Indian Defenses. Since these In­

dian Defenses are more elastic than lhe Queen's Gambit, many players prefer to use them.

2 P-QB4

The logical move to control more ccnter squares. It brings counter­

pressure on White's Q5 square.

2 . . . P-K3

This move exerts some pressure on Black's Q4 square and opens a diagonal for his KB. It often leads to the Nimzo-Indian Defense.

One of the advantages of this way of opening is that it reserves for Black the possibility of switch­

ing to the Queen's Gambit or, after White has developed his QN to B3, as he usually does, to play . . . B-N5, where the Bishop assumes

a very important role in the strug­

gle for the center.

At this point may also be played 2 .^. . P-KN3, leading to the King's Indian Defenses ( see Games

19-3 N-QB19-3

The logical move to control the center. It threatens 4 P-K4.

At this point, 3 N-KB3 can lead to the Queen's Indian Defense after 3 . . . P-QN3 ( see Game 24 ) .

3 . . . B-N5

This move develops the Bishop to a square where it can take an important part in the struggle for the center and continues that strug­

gle by parrying the threat of 4 P-K4.

In the Nimzo-Indian Defense, Black usually exchanges this Bishop for the White QN, as a result of which White often gets a doubled Pawn, a disadvantage, in return for which he retains the Two Bishops, an advantage. He also gets an open QN file, an advantage.

4 Q-B2

On QB2, the Queen renews the positional threat of P-K4 and, by protecting the QN, affords White

GAME I