Disolución y precipitación

King's Indian Defence

Lost Boys tournament, Amsterdam 2001

Sometimes you just don't feel like fighting a serious battle in a half-closed position and all the pieces on the board. My preparation for the young Israeli grandmaster had been geared towards a Griinfeld Indian, but he surprised me by going for the King's Indian. Normally speaking I would have played the Samisch, but unfortunately the white king's knight was already on f3 , which is why I decided to play the Petrosian System.

I played it, however, in a way that Petro­ sian himself may well have considered at some stage, but never played. The swap on f6 lends the game a strategic character, but without White haVing much hope of an advantage.

I did gradually build up an advantage, however, because Avrukh expected too much of a knight manoeuvre to d4. As a result, the game drifted into purely tech­ nical territory. Black's blunder at the end only speeded up the inevitable technical winning process. 1. tUg1 -f3 tUg8-f6 2. c2-c4 g7-g6 3. tUb1 -c3 �f8-g7 4. e2-e4 d7-d6 5. d2-d4 0-0 6. �f1 -e2 e7-e5 7. d4-d5

The Petrosian System. White immediately closes the centre and then plays his queen's bishop to gS in order to exert pressure on the black position.

7. . . . a7-a5

The standard countermove. Black con­ quers territory on the queenside and pre­ pares to develop his knight to a6.

The old-fashioned plan to develop one's knight to d7 has fallen into disuse; practi­ ce has shown that White is better after 7 ... tUbd7 8.0-0 ttJcS 9.'iVc2 as 1 O.�gS h6 1 1 . .ie3 ttJg4 1 2..�.xcS dxcS 1 3 .h3 ttJf6 1 4.ttJxeS ttJxdS I S .cxdS �xeS 1 6.f4 �d4+ 1 7.�h2. The bishop pair constitu­ tes insufficient compensation for White's superior pawn structure.

8. �c1-g5 h7-h6 9. .ig5-h4 tUb8-a6 1 0. tUf3-d2 'ifd8-e8

Black unpins the king's knight in order to withdraw it to h7.

11. �h4xf6

A principled decision: White swaps two sets of minor pieces in order to leave a knight versus a more or less bad bishop. I was fully aware of the fact that this method would not yield me anything in the way of an opening advantage, as the swap takes a fair bit of time and Black can become active quite quickly. Normal is 1 1 .0-0 , when Black is going to withdraw his knight to h7. He then plays h7 -hS , which leads to a complicated battle in which White, as so often in the King's Indian, enjoys a slight advantage.

1 1 . . . . .ig7xf6 1 2. .ie2-g4 .ic8xg4

The correct reaction. The white queen's position on g4 is slightly unfortunate. It is worth mentioning that Black could not swap his bishop for a white knight, as after 1 2 ... �gS 1 3 .�xc8 �xd2+

1 4.'ihd2 the h-pawn hangs.

13. 'fi'd1 xg4 ttJa6-b4

The start of an ill-considered plan. Black wants to take his knight to d4, which seems a vital square. All that happens, however, is that the knight will be forced into a swap there as soon as White has gained time to mobilize his troops. A good move was 1 3 ... �g7 , intending to aim for f7 -fS and take the knight to cS in order to join battle with White for the initiative. The position is roughly equal then.

14. 0-0 ttJb4-c2 1 5. J:!.a1 -d1 ttJc2-d4 16. ttJd2-f3

White uses his passively placed knight to aim for a swap.

1 6. h6-h5

1 7. 'fi'g4-g3

17 . . . . ttJd4xf3+

A remarkable decision. Black voluntarily swaps the seemingly strongly placed knight. Alternatives were:

A) 1 7 ... c6. This breaking move was indicated by Van Wely and Ligterink. Black tries to infuse some dynamics into the position, but because White is already almost fully mobilized, all he does is wea­ ken his own camp. After the simple reply

1 8.nfe 1 White has a large advantage; B) 1 7 ... \t>g 7 . This quiet waiting move is probably Black's best bet. The idea is to wait for White to play 1 8 J:tfe 1 before swapping on f3 . Later in the game it will become clear that this finesse is of vital importance.

A comparison with the classical main line of the Queen's Indian is not unwarranted here. I am referring to the position after 1 .d4 tLlf6 2.c4 e6 3.tLlf3 b6 4.g3 il.b7 S . .ig2 ii.e7 6.0-0 (for the alternative 6.tt:lc3 , please see Karpov-Yusupov) 6 ... 0-0 7.tLlc3 tLle4 8.'ifc2 tLlxc3 9 :it'xc3 d6 1 0.b3 cS 1 1 ..ib2 �f6 1 2 .'ilic2 tLlc6 1 3 .J:!.ad1 'ife7 1 4.e4 eS l S .dS ttJd4 1 6.ii.xd4 exd4. White seems to have a slight plus because the knight is stronger than the bishop, but practice has shown that the protected passed pawn guaran-

tees Black sufficient counter-chances. In this game, however, White has an im­ portant strategic plus because square bS may at some stage become available to the knight. This means that, in the long run, Black will be forced to swap on f3 .

1 8. 'i!t'g3xf3 �f6-g5 1 9. tLlc3-b5

With this knight sortie White piles on the pressure. For the moment, Black will find it next to impossible to play the breaking move c7-c6, especially because White has occupied the d-file.

1 9. 'i!t'e8-d7 20. 'i!t'f3-e21

An _{important little move. White continues}

to prevent the advance fl-fS, while threat­ ening to grab the initiative on the kingside himself with 2 1 .g3, followed by 22.f4. 1n the battle of knight against bishop with all major pieces on the board, it is important for White to fight on two fronts. At a later stage he will aim _{for the breaking move}

c4-cS on the queenside.

20. . . . h5-h4

Fixing a pawn on the colour of his bishop, a superficially incorrect strategic decision that is, however, justified by the circumstances. In the first place, the text is intended against White's kingside ex­ pansion plans, while it also helps Black to

speed up his advance fl -fS . But the most important reason why the text is not a strategic error is the fact that the h4 pawn has advanced too far to constitute a weak­ ness. As we will soon see, however, the move also has an important drawback.

21 . h2-h3

Not so much to prevent the further ad­ vance of the h-pawn (h4-h3 would al­ ways be met by g2-g3) or to fix the pawn structure, but first and foremost to make square g4 available to the queen. A queen swap would suit White, because it won't be until the endgame that the dominance of the white knight will come fully into play.

21. �g8-g7

22. 'i!t'e2-g4

The consequence of the previous move. Black has no choice but to swap queens, as 22 . . . 'it'd8 is not good in view of 23.cS ! dxcS 24.tLlxc7 'it'xc7 2S.'it'xgS , with a decisive advantage.

Even if Black declines to take on cS , White would still have a decisive strategic advantage, since he would then swap on d6 and play the advance a2-a4 to support the mighty knight.

22 . . . . 23. h3xg4

'i!t'd7xg4 l:lf8-c8

A difficult choice. If Black had taken his 83

other rook to c8, his queenside would have been seriously weakened. What would happen is that a white rook would appear on a3 , forcing the weakening ad­ vance b7-b6, with the result that the whi­ te knight would ensconce itself on c6.

24. J:td1 -d3 'ito>g7-f8 25. g2-g3!

Even with the queens gone, White aims for a fight on two fronts. White cannot create a decisive advantage on the queen­ side alone, so he opens the f-file, quite prepared to accept the resulting collapse of his pawn structure. This plan is extre­ mely effective, especially because the co-ordination of Black's pieces is badly hampered by the inactive rook on a8.

25. . . . h4xg3

Forced, as White was threatening 26.f4, with decisive expansion.

26. f2xg3 �f8-e7 27. �g1 -g2

A quiet preparatory move that frees the h-file for the king's rook.

27. . . . c7-c6

A far-reaching decision that was sharply criticized in the press room of the tourna­ ment. Not only does Black definitively re­ linquish control of square bS , he also leaves square dS, the most dominant po­ sition on the entire board, for the knight

to occupy. But did he have an alternative? I don't think that there was any other way in which Black could have offered serious resistance. The direct threat was 28. lldf3 f6 29 . .l:i.h 1 . If Black then opposes on the h-file, he leaves the c-pawn exposed. It is true that White cannot take the pawn at once, as the white c-pawn is unprotected, but with the Zwischenzug d4-cS , which has always been on the cards, White can nevertheless get a decisive advantage. However laborious and hopeless Black's defensive task after the text-move, it is definitely the lesser evil.

28. d5xc6 .l:i.c8xc6 29. b2-b3 a5-a4

Black's only chance of counterplay. He opens the a-file, which will fall into White's hands later, but otherwise White would have all the space in the world to convert his advantage into a win.

30. J:!.d3-f3

Forcing the enemy rook to leave the a-file. 30. :la8-f8 31 . tLlb5-c3 On its way to dS . 31 . 32. a2xb3 33. tLlc3-d5 a4xb3 'ito>e7-e6

A new phase of the battle has begun. The white knight has reached the vital square,

and Black is doomed to utter passIVIty. The advance b7 -bS would only backfire in virtually all circumstances, as it would give White a passed b-pawn supported by the knight. In some situations, the push f7-fs might make Black's job somewhat easier, regardless of whether the less fa­ vourable white pawn structure is impro­ ved, so White will have to make sure to prevent it at all times.

33. .ig5-dS

34. �f1 -a1 .idS-g5 35. �f3-f2

White is manoeuvring for optimal co­ ordination of his pieces.

35. . . . �fS-bS 36. �a1 -a7 �g5-dS

Black defends well. He prepares 3 7 ... .!:!.a6 in order to swap a set of rooks. Since White's king is still too far away from the queen's bishop, swapping on a6 would not be good for him then.

37 . .l:l.a7-a4

Not a very purposeful move, yet not a bad one, as we will see.

37. . . . �c6-a6 3S . .!:!.f2-a2

White is forced to allow the rook swap, because he would find it difficult to make progress after 3 8.11b4. From b4, the rook is exerting too little pressure on the en­ emy position. 3S. 39. �a2xa4 40. b3-b41 �a6xa4 �e6-d7

Forcing the king to c6; otherwise Black would be hemmed in even more with 4 1 .bS . In this regard, White's 3 7th move was a good prophylactic move, as it pro­ vided extra cover for the c-pawn.

40. . . . �d7-c6

In extreme time-trouble Black manages to

find his best chance in preventing the ad­ vance b4-bS , when the black king would become active via cS .

41 . �a4-a2 �dS-g5

From this point on, Black will have to find the only correct reply at virtually every turn.

42. l:ta2-f2 J:tbS-fS 43. �g2-f3 .l:l.fS-hS 44. �f3-g2

White, still unsure of the correct winning plan, continues to manoeuvre.

44. .!:!.hS-h7 45 . .l:l.f2-f3

46. �f3-a3

�h7-g7

In order to guarantee the white king ac­ cess to the queenside, White must tie the black rook to b7. 46. 47. �a3-a7 4S. �g2-f3 �g7-gS J:tgS-bS

The king march can finally begin.

4S. �g5-dS

49. �f3-e2 �dS-g5 50. �e2-d3 i.g5-dS 51 . �d3-c3

51 . . . ii.dS-b6?

Battered into exhaustion by his long de­ fence, Black makes a serious error that leads to an abrupt end to the game. He should again, for the umpteenth time,

have played his bishop to g5. After 5 1 .. . �g5 White has the following two plans:

A) 5 Ll:!.a l �h8 5 3 .�fl 1:[f8 S4.ttJf6. Generally speaking, it is quite common for the attacking side to convert his strate­ gic plus by swapping his strongest piece in order to liquidate into a technically winning endgame. However, this does not work here, as in the resulting rook ending Black can build an impregnable fortress with 54 ... .itxf6 5 5 .�xf6 b6!;

B) 52.cJtb3 . This is the correct plan, which was indicated by the young Dutch player Lucien van Beek after the game. The bishop is forced back to d8 , after which White redeploys his rook. After 52 ... i.d8 5 3 .�a l i.g5 54.b5+ cJtc5 55 .�d l !

analysis diagram

Black is powerless against the threatened 56.ttJc3, followed by 5 7 .ttJa4+ , and mate.

Yochanan Afek, study composer and IM, put it as follows: 'The real weakness in the black position is pawn d6' - a state­ ment that provides food for serious thought: pawns b7 and f7 were the vul­ nerable pawns in Black's camp, but he al­ ways managed to defend them, albeit it with difficulty. The really weak pawn was hardly attacked, yet White's strategic pre­ ponderance enabled him to find a plan to cause the black position to collapse like a house of cards.

52. b4-b5+ '>f;>c6-c5 53. ttJd5-f6

And Black resigns in view of the threate­ ned mate on d7.

Chapter 2

The Power of the Knight