7. RESULTADOS
7.4 Análisis de la Estructura de las Asociaciones
7.4.4 Abundancia
Color!
This rule makes a good deal of sense. What makes a Bishop effective is its long range abilities. However, with pawns on only one side of the board these long range powers become useless. Instead, the Knight's advantage over a lone Bishop becomes evident: While a Bishop is forever trapped on one color, a Knight can go anywhere it wishes. What this means is that no pawn is safe from the hungry horse and the enemy King
8 6 / H O W T O R E A S S E S S Y O U R C H E S S
can always be checked away from any square it tries to sit on.
(55)
In diagram #55 Black is a pawn up but he has no chance to win because White's King is impregnable on e3. However, if we were to replace Black's Bishop with a Knight the picture woul d be quite different!
Now White is in check and his K ing immediately has to give ground. After 1 .Ke2 Kd4 Black can continue to gain ground whenever he wants because his Knight can attack any square it wishes to. The comparison between diagrams 55 and 56 clearly shows the superiority of the Knight in such positions.
Now that we are thoroughly familiar with Knights and their habits we can examine other examples where the battle cen-,
ters around these interesting animals.
M I N O R P I E C E S I N T H E M I D D L E G A M E / 8 7
Norwegian Amateurs-Nimzovich, Oslo 1921 . mack to move.
The opening moves
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.exd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be2 Ne7 7.0-0 Nbc6 S.Bf4 Bd6 9.Ne5 Bxe2 10.Nxe2 Bxe5 1 1.Bxe5 Nxe5 12.dxe5
led to the diagrammed situation.The position is quiet and both players can calmly try to formulate some sort of plan of action. Here the big imbalance is the mutual pawn majorities. Black's pawn majority (his c-pawn and d-pawn) can advance easily enough, but While has a problem-Black will play to control the f5 square, thereby freezing White's pawns. An attempt to play g2-g4 and fight for control of f5 would severely weaken the White King's position.
Put simply, Black intends to advance his majority while simulta
neously limiting White's.
Also important, but subtler, are the Knights.
Don 't forget about your minor pieces!
Black will constantly try to create useful support points for his Knight while simultaneously (again!) limiting its White counterpart. Play continued:12 ... Qd7
Preparing to castle queenside so that he can safely advance his kingside pawns in an effort to curtail White's. The Queen is well placed on d7 where it controls the critical e6, f5, and g4 squares.
13.f4
Trying to get his majority rolling, but it never really gets any further. The negative side of f4 is the weakening of the e3 square-a factor that gains in importance later in the game.13 ... 0-0-0 14.c3 Kbs 15.Qb3 c5
Black's majority is on8 8 / H O W T O R E A S S E S S Y O U R C H E S S
the roll. Note how the d4 square is now no longer available to the White Knight. In doing this Nimzovich emulates Steinitz, who was the first to realize that the way to combat Knights is to take away their advanced squares, thereby relegating them to less active squares without hope of improvement. 16.Rael h5!
A very logical move! This adds to Black's dominance of the g4 square and as a result strengthens control of f5 and e6 also. The . pawn will soon go to h4 where it will take the g3 square from the White Knight. In this way the White Knight will be unable to challenge Black's when it finally lands on the fine f5 square-an artificially created support point! 17.K.hl Nf5 lS.Ngl Black would get a powerful attack after 18.Ng3 Nxg3+ 19.hxg3 h4.
lS ... h4 Threatening 19 ... Ng3+ 20.hxg3 hxg3+ 21.Nh3 Rxh3+
22.gxh3 Qxh3+ and mates. 19.Nh3 There is no doubt whose minor piece is superior! 19 ... d4 Creating a passed pawn (the logical result of a pawn majority) and also creating a new and even stronger support point on e3. 20.cxd4 cxd4 2 1.Qd3 Ne3 22.Rf2 Qd5 The situation is growing steadily worse for White.
Black's Knight dominates the board and the Black Queen player succeeded in every strategic operation he tried: stopped White's majority, activated his own, found a strong support point for his Knight and relegated White's to an obscure post on h3. Such a lopsided result must be partly due to some failing on White's part-White must be able to do better than that!
Look closely at diagram #58. In the actual game White played 15.Qb3, but what does this do to stop Black's pawns or get his own going? Nothing whatsoever. Much stronger is 15.h41 . This prevents . . . c7-c5 and creates a fine post on d4 for the White Knight. Play might continue 15 ... Nf5 16.Qd3 Stopping ... Ne3 and eyeing the important f5 square. 16 ... h5 17.Nd4 And now Black is the one who faces a dilemma. If he retreats his Knight to h6 or e7 then 18.f4-f5 leaves White with all the trumps: active majority and superior Knight. If Black captures with 1 7 .. . Nxd4 then 18.cxd4 leaves Black with a strategically lost pOSition:
White's majority is strong and he has plenty of play on the queenside also. Remember, the idea for both sides is to activate their respective majorities, place their Knights on strong posts, and prevent the opponent from achieving the same goals. With this in mind, Black
must
play 17 ... g6! Now f5 remains in Black's hands. Though White should keep the status quo in the middle and strike out on the queenside with a2-a4, let's see what happens if White is tempted into doubling Black's pawns:lS.Nxf5 Qxf51 19.Qxf5 gxf5 Black has a good position. White must always take a ... d5-d4 advance into account and if al-lowed, Black will play ... Kb8-c8-d7-e6 (the central King defends fJ,fS, and d5) followed eventually by ... b6 and . . . c5 when Black's majority of pawns is finally making it<;elf felt while White's majority is completely blocked. The play from diagram
#58 was more indicative of a balanced battle of ideas. Also note
9 0 / H O W T O R E A S S E S S Y O U R C H E S S
how the use of the majority of pawns remained a priority right into the endgame. home on c6 (obtainable by Nc2-b4-c6). Though c6 is available, it would be rather useless to go there since nothing is happen
ing on the queenside. It is like having a million dollars worth of gold in the desert-who wants to lug that much metal around when you are dying of thirst? Here the queenside is a desert, while the sixth rank (normally gold) is visually pleasing but totally lacking in effect since it does not attack any weak points
and does not work with the other pieces.
What else is going on? Well, it is an important fact that in closed positions pawn breaks on the wings take on great impor
tance simply because this is the only way that the Rooks can be brought into play. Here the queenside and center are totally blocked. This leaves both sides slavering at the kingside. Given time, White will play h2-114-h5 which could easily lead to a leaves him only one possibility: Black must play for ., . h6-h5 and subsequent play on the h-file. With this in mind Black's only logical candidates are 1) 1 . . .h5; 2) 1 .. .Kg7; 3) 1 . . .RhB, all of which aim to break open the h-file.
Let's look at each one:
1) 1 ...h5? fails La 2.gxh5 Qxh5 3.Qg2 when nothing is to be done about 4.Rh3 winning the mack Queen.
2) 1 .. .Kg7 This walks into 2 . Nf5+! when 2 . . . gxf5?? 3.gxf5 wins the Queen again. Best is 2 . . . Kh7 when White can trade Queens or return to the original position by 3.Ne3.
3)
I
. . . RbS! Correct-the Rook immediately situates itselfon the desired file. Now Black's King can go to g8 without blocking the Rook's path to the h-file.
2.Qe2
Getting out of the bothersome pin on the c1-h6 diagonal.
2 . .. Kg7
Now this is good since 3.Nf5+ is met by the calm 3 . , .Kf8 and White must retreat. There is an important lesson here.
Don 't be afraid of ghosts!
Make sure that a move like 3.Nf5+ really does something for White before you bother to prevent it. Many players would avoid 2 . . . Kg7 for fear of 3.Nf5+, thereby m issing the best move and not allowing White the chance to go wrong.Another way of putting it would be: Deal in facts, not in paranoia!
3.Ng2
Preparing to try to close the kingside with h2-h4.3
...h5
Black beats White to it by one move!In the original position (diagram #59) some players might have been tempted to move the Knight to d4 (via . . . Nb3-d4) before undertaking any other action. This lazy approach takes the Knight into account but ignores every other consideration. Don't get so engrossed in a single piece that you ignore what the rest of your army needs.
4.h4 bxg4
Just in time. A Queen retreat would have been met by 5.85 with a blocked position.5.fxg4
9 2 / H O W T O R E A S S E S S Y O U R C H E S S
Rxh4+! A sound sacrifice. Materially Black gets a pawn and Knight for his Rook. With it, though, he also gets an attack and control of the open h-file. Black's Knight will als
�
gain in power since it can no longer be challenged by Its now nonexistent counterpart. 6.Nxh4 Rh8! Getting the other Rook into play as quickly as possible.
Obviously 6 ... Qxh4+? 7.Qh2 would end Black's initia
tive. 7.Kg2 Or 7.Rh3 Rxh4 S.Rxh4 C8.Qh2 Rxg4 9.Rh7+
KfS lO.Rfl Rf4 also favors Black) 8 . .. Qxh4+ 9.Kg2 Nd3!
lO.Qxd3 (Black threatened . . . Nf4+) lO . . . Qxel with a winning ending for Black. 7 . .. Qxh4 8.g5 Nh3 The immediate 8 . . . Qh2+ 9.Kf3 would not accomplish any
thing. Now, however, 9 .. . Qh2+ l O Kf3 Nd4+ is a disturb
ing threat! 9.Rgl Making fl available for his King.
9 ... Nd2! Surprising but very logical . White had two squares to run to with his King (fl and f3). Now both squares are off limits and the threat of . . . Qh2 mate looms. Of course the Knight cannot be captured be
cause the Queen would hang after . . . Qh2+. This combi
nation is made possible by a weakened White King and a hanging Queen.
A final
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oint to consider: When attacking the King, don't just check a Kmg here and there. First cover the squares that it can:
un to. This way your checks will become mate. This technique IS called bUilding a mating net. lO.Kf2 A horrible move to play, but there was no defense. lO ... Nxe4+ White resigned, since he lo�
es�
verything. The Knight became very busy at the end by usmg Its support points as jumping off squares for an attack.�
D O GS VS . CATS / B ISHO PS VS . KN IGHTS
The battle between Bishops and Knights is one of the most interesting, and at times subtle, in chess. Games are often won or lost because of the superiority of a given minor piece and this section should be studied carefully if a mastery of the game
is ever to be obtained.
As you have probably heard before, Bishops tend to be superior to Knights in open positiOns. Conversely, a closed, blocked position is more often than not going to see a Knight triumph over a Bishop.
It is im portantto realize that a Bishop or Knight are not of themselves superior to each other. So many players feel that a Bishop is superior, but this is sim ply not true. It is what you do with a pOSition, how you form it and its pawn structure, that makes one piece stronger than another. The poor maligned Knight must no longer be thought inferior-there is no room for bigotry on the chessboard.
In this chapter I have interspersed superior Knights with superior Bishops and have not divided them . I have done this so that you can look at each diagram and decide for yourself which minor is better-any other layout would rob you of the chance for this extra training. Before we look at specific examples though, a discussion of Steinitz's anti-Knight rule might prove informative.
93
9 4 / H O W T O R E A S S E S S Y O U R C H E S S