ELEMENTOS Y PARÁMETROS PARA LA DETERMINACIÓN DEL POTENCIAL ECOLÓGICO

"Except the mating move, there is no move which does not weaken some part of a position."-Tarrasch.

Of all the pronouncements of Dr. Tarrasch, "the man who taught Europe chess," the one just quoted has always impressed me the most. It is not often that one can lay down a rule without an exception, or what amounts to the same thing-with only one exception, and that clear-cut.

Moreover, Tarrasch's dictum is one that is worth bearing in mind at every move in every game you play.

Every move you make, however strong it may be, robs something of protection; perhaps a piece or ft , perhaps some squares, or perhaps only one square.

Tarrasch's exception can be extended slightly. Not only the mating move, but every move in a combination leading to a forced mate in every variation can be excepted; or, if you like, any "weakening" effect is purely academic. This exception is not important to remember. After all, "strengthening" and "weakening" are useful in practice only as positional terms, and have validity only if there is no forcing line (combination) to supersede them in any particular position.

Whatever is weakened, it is most important to see before you move whether the weakening is serious. In many cases, it will not be; e.g., a � moved from captivity at all a8 onto an open file moves away from its protection of the a- .ft. , but usually this will be a matter not worth bothering about. All the same, you should investigate; it might conceivably be quite serious or even disastrous, as in this position, C. Purdy-Awdiew, Melbourne 1956-57.

After I 0. 0-0

Here Black played the plausible devel­ opment move 10 ••• ReS?, when 11. Nb5

gave White a big advantage ( 11 ... RaB 12. Nd6).

The weakening caused by the move of

a piece is temporary; the weakening caused by the move of a .ft. is permanent.

But a "temporary" weakening may be of more importance than a permanent one, e.g., a � may vacate the back rank and allow a mate in one. Combinations usually take advantage of temporary and perma­ nent weaknesses at the same time.

The conception that every move is partly weakening helps us to understand Nimzovich's dictum:

"There is no such thing as an abso­ lutely freeing move."

In other words, an opponent with a cramped game must aim at some freeing move or other, but that freeing move can

always be utilized by the opponent for his own benefit to some extent. It follows that Znosko-Borovsky's dictum that a proper way to proceed against a cramped game is to prevent freeing moves is not quite exact. One should say not "prevent," but "provide against."

That wording includes either direct prevention or what Nimzovich calls, for want of a better term, "prophylactic" play.

To make this clear, let us examine an example from a game between two A-grade club players in Sydney.

White to play.

White has an immensely superior po­ sition; Black is very cramped. Apparently White noticed that Black might free his game slightly if permitted to play ... b5. This induced him, on the strength of Znosko­ Borovsky's dictum mentioned above, to play the absolute preventive move a4!?

Now, such a move is really a conces­ sion to the enemy. White interrupts his development to make a move that is in its nature weakening. Before doing such a thing, one should look for a move which may be of a generally helpful nature and which, while allowing the "freeing" move, pro­ vides for some means of taking advantage of it.

If such a move can be found, the oppo­ nent will probably be deterred from mak­ ing the "freeing" move, and the effect will therefore be the same as if you had made

the absolute preventive move, only that you will have strengthened your position instead of weakening it.

In this case, any developing move will do for White, e.g., 1. Racl (the most natu­ ral). For if 7 ... b5, then 2. cxb5 cxb5 3. a4!

Here a4 comes in as an attacking move instead of a preventive one. After 3 ... bxa4 (forced) 4. Nxa4 many lines are opened up, and all White's pieces blossom out. This . .. b5 proves itself most decidedly "not an absolute freeing move."

Another example occurred a little later. The play went:

1. a4 Re8

2. c5

Not consistent; better on the previous move, if done at all. Better now to omit it, as it releases the pressure on the point d5, and thus makes it possible for Black to manage the freeing move ... e5. We should have pre­

ferred 2. h3, providing a safe place for the valuable �-A if threatened with exchange by ... Nh5.

It may be objected, "But isn't h3 seri­ ously weakening?"

When the opponent has castled on the �-side, no; the weakening effect of h3 is then very slight, and the move provides a useful escape for the � later on.

True, ... Nh5 could be answered by Bd6,

but then Black could force an exchange and free his game slightly by ... dxc4 Bxc4 Nb6. Exchanges, especially of a mobile ,il, should be avoided, as a rule, when the opponent is seriously cramped.

2. ... Nf8

And now White made another preven­ tive move,

3. a5!?

This certainly prevents Black from ever moving his b- ft . But such a move is not worth preventing, since it would weaken Black more than it would free him. How­ ever, the freeing move that Black really

wants to play, and can enforce, is ... e5 (rou­ tine in such positions).

Visualizing ... e5 played, White should see that he will have to play dxe5. This will partly open the cl-file. Therefore it will be helpful for him when that time comes to have a t! on the file. Therefore, far superior to 3. a5 would be 3. Rfd1!

Once again we come back to the value of simple development. Don't leave t!s undeveloped merely because there are as yet no open files!

The game proceeded thus:

3. ... N6d7

4. Bd6

Necessary to defend the c-ft after what is coming. 4. 5. dxe5 6. Be2 7. Bxf3 8. e4! e5 Nxe5 Nxf3t Nd7

A nice ft sacrifice, the only way to keep the initiative. With 8 ... Bxc3 Black can win a ft , but will have a very difficult game because of the deplorable weakness of his dark squares. But White's game would be much better if he already had a t! on dl. Black's position in the diagram was so poor that he should never have been allowed to get as playable a game as he now has.

White's ft moves are to blame. Be­ sides losing time, they prevented a break-

through on the Y;¥-side at any stage by b4, a4, and b5.

And these preventive moves were rea­ sonably in accord with Znosko-Borovsky's advice. That advice is valuable, yet inex­ actly worded.

We repeat: one should not always pre­ vent freeing moves. Provide for them: but absolute prevention may be bad if the pre­ ventive move is not otherwise useful. Hint: Playing Over Games

Playing over annotated games is the best cheap way to improve at chess, but only if you cover the moves. Get a card and cut in it an aperture about as long and wide as a printed move of one side of a game. When you have decided what you would play and wish to compare your move with the text, slide the card down until the move shows. Then, after making a comparison, slide the card across until the other side's move shows. Don't ponder in advance about both side's moves-only one side's.

If you like, you can keep a record of the number of moves you get the same as in the text and watch it rise. It won't rise evenly, as some games contain many obvi­ ous moves-others not. But if you take an average over ten games, your average for the next ten games will be higher. And so on.