Función de autodiagnóstico
Primeros 3 caracteres del
21 Qh3
Parrying the threat of 21 . . . Rh8.
21 . . .
22 Qg3
23 Rfe1
Ndf4
Qc7
Ne2+?
This loses immediately, but as Capablanca pointed out, the game could not have been saved in other variations, for example 23 . . . Be6 24 Rxe6+ Nxe6 25 NdS mate, or 23 . . . Bd7 24 NdS+ NxdS 25 Nh7+ Kf7 26 Qxc7 Nxc7 27 Rxd7 + Kg8 28 Nxf8.
24 Rxe2 Qxg3 25 Nh7
+Kf7
26 hxg3 Rh8 27 NgS
+Kf6 28
f4
Resigns.Complications
As a little joke it could be asserted that, when Pushkin wrote "horses and men be came piled up" ( a line from his poem Poltav - Trans lator's note), he had in mind . . . complications on the chess board, the main form of active defence. It is here that, for a time, even the most correct strategy has to con cede its dominant position to tactics, as weak squares and scrupulously weighed material balances fade into the back ground. It is the dynamism of the pieces which becomes the most important, as well as . . . psychological factors, which do not always allow the side which has just been attacking to retune suddenly for a
double-edged battle of en. counter.
So that, while defence by
exchanges and simplification is well justified from the view. poi nt of the basic laws 01 strategy, the search for com. plications is sometimes in the nature of a chess 'bluff' and stems from a feeling of des
peration. Here, for example is a frank - and instructive_: account by the experienced trainer
Mark Dvoretsky
of hisgame with
Averkin
(Black), Odessa, 1974."Black intends, by playing 30 . . . Nh8, to exchange knights, which . will force White constantly to reckon with the threat of . . . h4. Then
the exchange of dark-square bishops is possible (althoug.h not essential), which
Wll:
emphasize the weakness0
the a3 pawn. By creatin9 threats on both the queensidBTurning the tide 41
d the kingside, Black will
an ry out one of the two car
breaks
( . . . h� �r
..
. b5) and will gain a dec1s1ve advantage. ThUS White has nothing to rose. His position is strategi callY lost, and with normal continuations he cannot obtain counterplay. Taking account of this, and also the opponent's approaching time trouble, which could be ex ploited only in sharp play, White decided on a clearly incorrect piece sacrifice with the aim of disrupting the normal course of events . . . "30
Qe2
Nh8
31
Nf4?!
exf4
32 gxf4
Bh4!
Parrying the threat of 33 eS and 34 e6, which would also have been maintained in the event of 32 . . . Be? by the interposition of 33 f6!
33
f6
The same tactics of sharp ening the struggle. So that the White pieces should at least have something of a breathing s
p
ace, the pawns must sacri fice themselves.33 · · .
Bxf6?
T And here comes a mistake. e
�
e correct 33 . . . Qxf6 34W
h1te.�
e? would have 'pacified'34
es
Bh4
35 e6
Ba4
36 fS
Some compensation for the piece has after all been ob tained: Black's bishops and knights are clearly misplaced. Nevertheless, with 36 . . . Bf6 followed by . . . Nd6, . . . Qc7 and . . . Bc6 he could have gradually restored the har monious working of his forces. But - he occupies this square with the wrong piece!
36 . . .
Qf6?1
37 Qe4
BgS
On 37 . . . Nd6 38 Qd5 NxfS White has the more than unpleasant 39 Rxb6.
38 BxgS
QxgS
39 QeS
Rh6?
A time trouble mistake - after
40 Bb7 Ra7 41 Bxc8
Black resigned . But even after other replies the threat of 40 Qb8 would seem to compen sate for the missing piece, since 39 . . . Qd8 is strongly met by 40 f6.
In the above instance the most significant and, for us, the most important thing is not the 'bluff' aspect of White's entire plan, but the means to an end. It can be defined as follows: by means of a sacri fice to increase greatly the dynamism of the pieces, to
convert 'material' into 'mind' and to place 'mind' over 'matter'. This and only this is the point of the complications: a smaller number of active forces balances or even sur passes a greater number of pieces and pawns which have lost their aggression, mobility, harmony or security.
The most varied 'payment' for activity is possible.
In the game
Karpov -
Taimanov,
Leningrad, 1 977, White has an undisputed advantage. The weak a5 pawn requires constant surveil lance, and Black is faced with a dilemma: how should he defend? If he passively ties his forces to the defence of his rook's pawn, then White exploiting in addition hi�
spatial advantage, will also begin attacking on the king side, with Kh 1 , Bc3, g2-g4, Rg2, Bd2, g4-g5 etc. There will be no way of counteringthis offensive, and Black
t
�
k.es the o�
ly correct de. c1s1on: to begm active defence at the cost of the weak paw n.25
. . •Nb6!
26 RxaS
Not 26 Bxa5 Nxa4 27 Bxc7
Nxb2 with material gain for
Black.
26 . . .
c4!
27 Bf1
The second black pawn is
'poisoned': 27 Bxc4? Nxc4 28 Rxa7 Qxa7 29 bxc4 Nf3++ or 27 bxc4? Rxa5 28 Bxa5 Qc5 29 Bxb6 Nf3++ 30 Kf1 Nxe1 31 Bxc5 Nxd3.
27 . . .
RxaS
28 BxaS
QcS
29 Bxb6
Qxb6
30 Kh1
cxb3
31 axb3
This concludes the first
stage of active defence. For
the pawn Black's pieces have gained freedom. But it only
needs him to reduce the
'tempo of the defence', and White, after gradually re·
grouping, will obtain chances
of realizing his material
advantage. This means that
the active play must continue!