"There is no such thing as an even trade"-William Lombardy
A Game of Exchanges?
One of the most fundamental aspects of positional chess consists of exchanges. An exchange, just like a pawn move alters the position permanently. This means that every exchange has to be evaluated very carefully and by experience we see that every exchange tilts the equilibrium one way or another even if only microscopically. The topic of exchanges in chess is vast as an ocean! In this blog I wish to briefly touch upon exchanges of Bishop for Knight only.
As a newcomer to chess I was fascinated by the movement of knights which are very unique and my heart leaped with joy when my puny little knight would end up delivering a family fork to the opponent's entire army. In course of time we come to learn that Knights and Bishops are of roughly similar value(or the Bishop is a marginally better minor piece). In terms of numerical value a knight is valued to be an equivalent of three pawns and so too the bishop(Although some beginner's primers assign the Bishop a value of Three and a Quarter pawns!)
But if we compare the two pieces we can find that they couldn't have been any more dis similar! Knight is a short range piece which can leap whereas the Bishop is a long range one with clearly defined movements on diagonals. All of us have learnt that Knights rule in closed positions and Bishops feast in open positions with good diagonals. But, in practical game situations things are rarely as simple and the question of which minor piece is better and whether to exchange or not depends on quite a lot of specific features inherent in each position.
When looking back at our classical heritage Capablanca, Botvinnik, Smyslov and Fischer come to mind. They have won games solely by their ability to make and time the right exchanges! I would encourage the inquisitive student of the game to research this fascinating topic by looking at the games of both Classical and Contemporary stalwarts. Without further ado let us jump into the games themselves.
Moscow,Eric- Sundararajan, Kidambi 2013
This game was played at the Marshall Chess Club Rapid Event on Thursdays. I think the time control was 30 min with a small time delay.
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.g3 Bb7 4. Bg2 c5 5. Nc3 g6 6.0-0 Bg7 7.b3 0-0 8.Bb2 d6 9. d4 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Bxg2 11.Kxg2 Qd7 12.e3 Nc6 13. Nxc6 Qxc6+ 14. Qf3 Qxf3+ 15. Kxf3 Nd7 16.Rab1?!
With his last move White protects b2 and threatens to play his knight to the central square d5. In doing so, he clearly missed Black's not too obvious reply. If he had, he probably would have opted for 16. Na4 Bxb2 17.Nxb2 after which the game remains equal.
16.... Bxc3!
I decided to part with my beautiful fianchetto bishop for opponent's knight on c3 in a fairly open position which looks seemingly paradoxical. Here is how I came up with the idea-
White's knight on c3 will become a great piece once it reaches the d5-square. If Black decides to oust it with e7-e6, the pawn on d6 becomes weak. So, White's knight is a strong piece in this position, perhaps stronger than my bishop on g7. Also, it is more important to see what pieces remain on the board rather than what has already been exchanged off!
17.Bxc3 f5!
I had in mind this position while going for the exchange operation. Since white no longer has a knight Black's pawn lever with a6-b5 gains in strength. With my last move I have clamped the central and kingside light squares. Presence of pawns on e3 and g3 mean that White's light squares are weakened at least slightly. I have future plans of kingside pawn expansion with g5-g4 or a well supported central expansion with e5-e4 and trying to establish a strong outpost on d3. Meanwhile White's bishop on the long diagonal is hitting thin air and has no targets whatsoever and it cannot participate in the control of light squares at all. So, relatively speaking I am left with a better minor piece and my position has great potential. It was enough to see this far to embark on the exchange operation! By no means do I believe that I have a big advantage, but from a practical point of view it is much easier to be black in such a position.
Moscow,Eric- Sundararajan, Kidambi 2013
This game was played at the Marshall Chess Club Rapid Event on Thursdays. I think the time control was 30 min with a small time delay.
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.g3 Bb7 4. Bg2 c5 5. Nc3 g6 6.0-0 Bg7 7.b3 0-0 8.Bb2 d6 9. d4 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Bxg2 11.Kxg2 Qd7 12.e3 Nc6 13. Nxc6 Qxc6+ 14. Qf3 Qxf3+ 15. Kxf3 Nd7 16.Rab1?!
With his last move White protects b2 and threatens to play his knight to the central square d5. In doing so, he clearly missed Black's not too obvious reply. If he had, he probably would have opted for 16. Na4 Bxb2 17.Nxb2 after which the game remains equal.
16.... Bxc3!
I decided to part with my beautiful fianchetto bishop for opponent's knight on c3 in a fairly open position which looks seemingly paradoxical. Here is how I came up with the idea-
White's knight on c3 will become a great piece once it reaches the d5-square. If Black decides to oust it with e7-e6, the pawn on d6 becomes weak. So, White's knight is a strong piece in this position, perhaps stronger than my bishop on g7. Also, it is more important to see what pieces remain on the board rather than what has already been exchanged off!
17.Bxc3 f5!
I had in mind this position while going for the exchange operation. Since white no longer has a knight Black's pawn lever with a6-b5 gains in strength. With my last move I have clamped the central and kingside light squares. Presence of pawns on e3 and g3 mean that White's light squares are weakened at least slightly. I have future plans of kingside pawn expansion with g5-g4 or a well supported central expansion with e5-e4 and trying to establish a strong outpost on d3. Meanwhile White's bishop on the long diagonal is hitting thin air and has no targets whatsoever and it cannot participate in the control of light squares at all. So, relatively speaking I am left with a better minor piece and my position has great potential. It was enough to see this far to embark on the exchange operation! By no means do I believe that I have a big advantage, but from a practical point of view it is much easier to be black in such a position.
18. Ke2 Rfc8 19.Bd4 Kf7 20. h4 a6 21. Rfc1 e5 22.Bb2 Ke6
Centralised king supports my backward pawn on d6 and also leaves the possibility of kingside expansion open by clearing the 'g' and 'h' files for the rooks.
23. Ba3 Rc6 24.Kd2
24....Nf6 Perhaps stronger was 24....e4! intending to bring the knight over to d3 and then proceeding with doubling of the rooks on the c-file and engineering the pawn break b6-b5.
25. Ke2
Here I continued with 25....Ne4 At this point both of us were down to our last minutes and the rest of the game were marred by typical time trouble mistakes. Even though I won it, White could have drawn it at some point. So, the rest of the game carries no relevance. But let us look at some ideas for black at this critical juncture.
25..... Rac8!? 26.Rc2 b5 27.Rbc1 a5 28.Kd3 b4 29.Bb2 Ne4
Black has gained space on the queenside and has the pawn lever a5-a4 at his disposal.His rook can shift over to the kingside if needed and prepare h6-g5 break and thereby holds an appreciable advantage.
At a later point I came across this little known gem by Grandmaster Mihail Marin.
Spassov,Liueben-Marin,Mihail 1993
1.Nf3 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.d4 0-0 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 Nc6
Currently 7 ....c6 and 7...Qe8 are played more often. Anyway, debating about the best opening move is hardly the purpose of this article!
8.d5 Na5 9.Qa4 c5 10. dxc6 bxc6 11.Nd4 Bd7 12.Rd1?
Marin gives the following lines:
a)12.Nxc6 Nxc6 13.Bxc6 Rc8 14.Bxd7 Qxd7 with counterplay
b) 12.Nb3 Nxb3 13 axb3 with a complicated game
12... c5 13. Nc6 Nxc6 14. Bxc6 Rb8! Black keeps intensifying the pressure from here on.
15. Bxd7 Qxd7
16.Qc2 If 16.Qxd7 Nxd7 white will find it exceedingly hard to protect his queenside pawns and the threatened Bxc3 at the same time.
16.... Qe6 17.b3 Ne4 18.Bb2
This is the position which attracted me to this game. What should black do here? It is easy to guess the move, knowing the current topic but hats off to Marin for executing the aesthetically pleasing move over the board and crowning it with a well played attack against king.
18.....Bxc3! 19.Bxc3 f4 This exchange operation is even more powerful than in the previous game.After the exchange of bishop for knight ,White has no way to control the kingside light squares. Once again the bishop on c3 just hits thin air on the long diagonal. The presence of Queens on the board and the looming attack against White's deserted monarch decisively favours black!
20.Be1 f3 21.exf3 Rxf3 22.Rd3 Ng5!
The colour blind bishop on e1 is no match to Black's steed.
23. h4 Nh3+ 24 .Kf1 Qe4
As my coach and Sasikiran's dad, Mr Krishnan used to say " in such positions it is just enough to keep putting the pieces on light squares to win the game!" What a rout on light squares!
25. Rad1 Rxg3!
As is usually the case, in a game where domination occurs on the light squares, the winning shot happens on the opponent's weak pieces on the dark squares! I learnt this by studying the annotations of the Great David Bronstein from his timeless classic work on Zurich 1953.
26.fxg3 Qh1+ 27 Ke2 Qg2 0-1
Marin has annotated this game with more variations in the Mega Database.
Webb,Laurence-Gerard, Nicolas 2003
Position after white's 16th move.How Should Black continue here?
The right move again is 16...Bxc3 17. Rxc3 g5 18. Bg3 f6 with the idea Kf7 and black retains an equal game. Note that once again White's bishop doesn't have a great role to play in such a pawn structure even though it is by no means a closed position.I came across this position in Valeri Popov's excellent book Chess Lessons.
However Black continued with 16....Bf6 17.Bxf6 Nxf6 18.f3 and white had the upper hand in the game for a long time because of his space advantage.
Berrios Echevarria, Gabriel- Sundararajan, Kidambi US Open 2011
1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 d5 4.e3 g6
This system was tried for the first time by the Great Austrian Chess Master Karl Schlecter in the last game of his World Championship match with 2nd World Champion Lasker. The game was well fought and despite Lasker's victory he could only level the scores, but he kept the World Champion's title anyway. A student of Chess History should definitely study that game! This opening system remains popular to this day thanks to the efforts of Gata Kamsky.
Anyway, back to our current game....
5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Bd3 0-0 7 .0-0 e6!?
This interesting system of development was popularised around 2010 period by many members of the Indian team such as Sasikiran, Harikrishna and Parimarjan Negi.
8.b3 Nbd7 9.Bb2 b6 10. Qe2 Bb7 11. Rfd1 Re8 12.Rac1 Qe7
13.e4?! A little premature. Black is well prepared to meet this central break. Perhaps white should let black play with a waiting move such as 13.h3!? He should keep improving his position unhurriedly.
13...dxe4 14. Nex4 Nxe4 15. Bxe4 Nf6 16. Bb1 c5!
A properly timed thrust in the centre. Similar positions also occur in the Caro Kann Defence. Note that Black's 4vs 3 Majority on the kingide does a good job of negating any attacking chances of white towards black's king. Black's g6 and Bg7 are especially well suited for such a position.
17.dxc5 bxc5 18.Be5 Rad8 19.h3
White's Queenside majority is not mobile here and there are also no threats around Black's king. Black's pieces are well placed. White would like to exchange the major pieces bring his king to the centre and hopefully make use of 3vs 2 pawn majority on the Queenside. So, what should black do here?
19..... Bxf3! 20.Qxf3 Nh5! Once again the decision to part with the fine bishop on the long diagonal for insignificant little knight on f3 seems counter intuitive. But, Black has a deeper idea. He wants to combine it with an immediate exchange of dark squared bishops. This would mean that white would no longer have the bishop pair and among the remaining minor pieces Black's knight would be markedly superior to White's light square bishop on b1.
21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22. a3 e5
Let us take stock of what has happened in the past few moves. Black has superb control of dark squares, especially d4 is a juicy outpost for his pieces. Black's Kingside pawn majority will slowly, but surely expand with an eventual f5-e4-f4 etc. Black's pawn on c5 plays a fine role of stopping White's queenside majority and Black's knight is a superb piece with great potential especially when seen in relation with White's poor light square bishop on b1 which remains a spectator for the rest of the game. All in all the current position shows that white has been completely outfoxed in the strategic battle of exchanges!
23.g3 Nf6 24.Qc3 Rd4 25.b4 Qd7!
A decisive double threat seals the game. At this moment I feel compelled to share what I feel is the greatest piece of wisdom that could be packed into a single sentence- " Chess is a game of Double Attack"- Vassily Smyslov
26.Rxd4 cxd4 27 Qe1 e4!? 28.Rd1 Qxh3 29. Qf1 Qd7 30 Qe1 d3 31.Qc3 Qg4 32. Re1 Rd8 33 Qd2 Qh5 34 Kg2 Qf3+ 35 Kg1 Ng4 36 Qf4 d2 0-1
A very nice game, but this idea was not my original one at all! Sometimes chess preparation consists of leaning over and glancing at ideas from your neighbouring board and letting your subconscious absorb deep patterns!
In 2010 I played as part of the PSPB team in the National Team Championship at Gurgaon. I was fortunate enough to witness, my compatriot Grandmaster Sasikiran demonstrate this brilliant strategic idea in his last round victory over Grandmaster Sriram Jha.
Sriram, Jha- Sasikiran,Krishnan Gurgaon 2010
1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5.e3 g6 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. 0-0 Nbd7
8.e4 dxe4 9.Nxe4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Qc7 11 Be3 0-0 12.Rc1 c5
13. Qd2 Nf6 14 Bb1 Rd8 15. Bf4 Qe7 16.Be5 b6 17.Qc3 Bb7 18.dxc5 bxc5 19. Rcd1 Rac8 20. h3
This is the source game where I witnessed the beautiful strategic Exchange being executed.
20.... Bxf3 21. Qxf3 Nh5 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. b3 e5 24. Bf5 Rb8 25.Bg4 Nf6 26.Qe3 Rd4!
27.Rfe1 Re8 28. Bf3 Qc7 29.Qc3 h5 30.Re3 e4 31.Be2 Red8 32.Re1 Qf4 33.Bf1 Rd2
34. f3 R8d4 35. fxe4 Qf2+ 36.Kh2 h4! 37 Qc1 Nh5 38. R3e2 Qf4+ 39. Kg1 Ng3
The diligent pupil and son has followed his dad's suggestion to the tee. All his pieces proudly stand on dark squares!
40. Rxd2 Rxd2 41.Qc3 Kh6 42.Qf3 Qxf3 43. gxf3 Kg5 44. Rb1 Ra2 45. Bg2 a5 46. Rd1 Ne2+ 47 Kh1 Nd4 0-1
The fact that with the black pieces a strong Grandmaster was outplayed without having commited any obvious mistakes makes the strategic idea even more impressive!
Genesis of the idea-
I remember that Sasikiran told me that he got this idea from one of his games played against Savchenko a little while before his game againt Sriram.
Savchenko, Boris- Sasikiran, Krishnan Aeroflot 2010
This position arose from Caro Kann 4....Nd7 variation. But one can already see the structural similarity. Here Black continued with
15.... c5 16. dxc5 Bxf3!? 18. Qxf3 Bxh2+ 19. Kh1 Be5 20. Bxe5 Qxe5 21.cxb6 axb6 22.a4
From the earlier diagram black has made a wonderful transformation. The presence of Queen and Knight vs Queen and Bishop combination gave black an initiative throughout the game, though white held the game after a tough struggle. This game was an inspiration for Sasikiran's later effort against Sriram.
In the next part I will continue with a couple of classical games.
Centralised king supports my backward pawn on d6 and also leaves the possibility of kingside expansion open by clearing the 'g' and 'h' files for the rooks.
23. Ba3 Rc6 24.Kd2
24....Nf6 Perhaps stronger was 24....e4! intending to bring the knight over to d3 and then proceeding with doubling of the rooks on the c-file and engineering the pawn break b6-b5.
25. Ke2
Here I continued with 25....Ne4 At this point both of us were down to our last minutes and the rest of the game were marred by typical time trouble mistakes. Even though I won it, White could have drawn it at some point. So, the rest of the game carries no relevance. But let us look at some ideas for black at this critical juncture.
25..... Rac8!? 26.Rc2 b5 27.Rbc1 a5 28.Kd3 b4 29.Bb2 Ne4
Black has gained space on the queenside and has the pawn lever a5-a4 at his disposal.His rook can shift over to the kingside if needed and prepare h6-g5 break and thereby holds an appreciable advantage.
At a later point I came across this little known gem by Grandmaster Mihail Marin.
Spassov,Liueben-Marin,Mihail 1993
1.Nf3 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.d4 0-0 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 Nc6
Currently 7 ....c6 and 7...Qe8 are played more often. Anyway, debating about the best opening move is hardly the purpose of this article!
8.d5 Na5 9.Qa4 c5 10. dxc6 bxc6 11.Nd4 Bd7 12.Rd1?
Marin gives the following lines:
a)12.Nxc6 Nxc6 13.Bxc6 Rc8 14.Bxd7 Qxd7 with counterplay
b) 12.Nb3 Nxb3 13 axb3 with a complicated game
12... c5 13. Nc6 Nxc6 14. Bxc6 Rb8! Black keeps intensifying the pressure from here on.
15. Bxd7 Qxd7
16.Qc2 If 16.Qxd7 Nxd7 white will find it exceedingly hard to protect his queenside pawns and the threatened Bxc3 at the same time.
16.... Qe6 17.b3 Ne4 18.Bb2
This is the position which attracted me to this game. What should black do here? It is easy to guess the move, knowing the current topic but hats off to Marin for executing the aesthetically pleasing move over the board and crowning it with a well played attack against king.
18.....Bxc3! 19.Bxc3 f4 This exchange operation is even more powerful than in the previous game.After the exchange of bishop for knight ,White has no way to control the kingside light squares. Once again the bishop on c3 just hits thin air on the long diagonal. The presence of Queens on the board and the looming attack against White's deserted monarch decisively favours black!
20.Be1 f3 21.exf3 Rxf3 22.Rd3 Ng5!
The colour blind bishop on e1 is no match to Black's steed.
23. h4 Nh3+ 24 .Kf1 Qe4
As my coach and Sasikiran's dad, Mr Krishnan used to say " in such positions it is just enough to keep putting the pieces on light squares to win the game!" What a rout on light squares!
25. Rad1 Rxg3!
As is usually the case, in a game where domination occurs on the light squares, the winning shot happens on the opponent's weak pieces on the dark squares! I learnt this by studying the annotations of the Great David Bronstein from his timeless classic work on Zurich 1953.
26.fxg3 Qh1+ 27 Ke2 Qg2 0-1
Marin has annotated this game with more variations in the Mega Database.
Webb,Laurence-Gerard, Nicolas 2003
Position after white's 16th move.How Should Black continue here?
The right move again is 16...Bxc3 17. Rxc3 g5 18. Bg3 f6 with the idea Kf7 and black retains an equal game. Note that once again White's bishop doesn't have a great role to play in such a pawn structure even though it is by no means a closed position.I came across this position in Valeri Popov's excellent book Chess Lessons.
However Black continued with 16....Bf6 17.Bxf6 Nxf6 18.f3 and white had the upper hand in the game for a long time because of his space advantage.
Berrios Echevarria, Gabriel- Sundararajan, Kidambi US Open 2011
1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 d5 4.e3 g6
This system was tried for the first time by the Great Austrian Chess Master Karl Schlecter in the last game of his World Championship match with 2nd World Champion Lasker. The game was well fought and despite Lasker's victory he could only level the scores, but he kept the World Champion's title anyway. A student of Chess History should definitely study that game! This opening system remains popular to this day thanks to the efforts of Gata Kamsky.
Anyway, back to our current game....
5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Bd3 0-0 7 .0-0 e6!?
This interesting system of development was popularised around 2010 period by many members of the Indian team such as Sasikiran, Harikrishna and Parimarjan Negi.
8.b3 Nbd7 9.Bb2 b6 10. Qe2 Bb7 11. Rfd1 Re8 12.Rac1 Qe7
13.e4?! A little premature. Black is well prepared to meet this central break. Perhaps white should let black play with a waiting move such as 13.h3!? He should keep improving his position unhurriedly.
13...dxe4 14. Nex4 Nxe4 15. Bxe4 Nf6 16. Bb1 c5!
A properly timed thrust in the centre. Similar positions also occur in the Caro Kann Defence. Note that Black's 4vs 3 Majority on the kingide does a good job of negating any attacking chances of white towards black's king. Black's g6 and Bg7 are especially well suited for such a position.
17.dxc5 bxc5 18.Be5 Rad8 19.h3
White's Queenside majority is not mobile here and there are also no threats around Black's king. Black's pieces are well placed. White would like to exchange the major pieces bring his king to the centre and hopefully make use of 3vs 2 pawn majority on the Queenside. So, what should black do here?
19..... Bxf3! 20.Qxf3 Nh5! Once again the decision to part with the fine bishop on the long diagonal for insignificant little knight on f3 seems counter intuitive. But, Black has a deeper idea. He wants to combine it with an immediate exchange of dark squared bishops. This would mean that white would no longer have the bishop pair and among the remaining minor pieces Black's knight would be markedly superior to White's light square bishop on b1.
21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22. a3 e5
Let us take stock of what has happened in the past few moves. Black has superb control of dark squares, especially d4 is a juicy outpost for his pieces. Black's Kingside pawn majority will slowly, but surely expand with an eventual f5-e4-f4 etc. Black's pawn on c5 plays a fine role of stopping White's queenside majority and Black's knight is a superb piece with great potential especially when seen in relation with White's poor light square bishop on b1 which remains a spectator for the rest of the game. All in all the current position shows that white has been completely outfoxed in the strategic battle of exchanges!
23.g3 Nf6 24.Qc3 Rd4 25.b4 Qd7!
A decisive double threat seals the game. At this moment I feel compelled to share what I feel is the greatest piece of wisdom that could be packed into a single sentence- " Chess is a game of Double Attack"- Vassily Smyslov
26.Rxd4 cxd4 27 Qe1 e4!? 28.Rd1 Qxh3 29. Qf1 Qd7 30 Qe1 d3 31.Qc3 Qg4 32. Re1 Rd8 33 Qd2 Qh5 34 Kg2 Qf3+ 35 Kg1 Ng4 36 Qf4 d2 0-1
A very nice game, but this idea was not my original one at all! Sometimes chess preparation consists of leaning over and glancing at ideas from your neighbouring board and letting your subconscious absorb deep patterns!
In 2010 I played as part of the PSPB team in the National Team Championship at Gurgaon. I was fortunate enough to witness, my compatriot Grandmaster Sasikiran demonstrate this brilliant strategic idea in his last round victory over Grandmaster Sriram Jha.
Sriram, Jha- Sasikiran,Krishnan Gurgaon 2010
1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5.e3 g6 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. 0-0 Nbd7
8.e4 dxe4 9.Nxe4 Nxe4 10. Bxe4 Qc7 11 Be3 0-0 12.Rc1 c5
13. Qd2 Nf6 14 Bb1 Rd8 15. Bf4 Qe7 16.Be5 b6 17.Qc3 Bb7 18.dxc5 bxc5 19. Rcd1 Rac8 20. h3
This is the source game where I witnessed the beautiful strategic Exchange being executed.
20.... Bxf3 21. Qxf3 Nh5 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. b3 e5 24. Bf5 Rb8 25.Bg4 Nf6 26.Qe3 Rd4!
27.Rfe1 Re8 28. Bf3 Qc7 29.Qc3 h5 30.Re3 e4 31.Be2 Red8 32.Re1 Qf4 33.Bf1 Rd2
The diligent pupil and son has followed his dad's suggestion to the tee. All his pieces proudly stand on dark squares!
40. Rxd2 Rxd2 41.Qc3 Kh6 42.Qf3 Qxf3 43. gxf3 Kg5 44. Rb1 Ra2 45. Bg2 a5 46. Rd1 Ne2+ 47 Kh1 Nd4 0-1
The fact that with the black pieces a strong Grandmaster was outplayed without having commited any obvious mistakes makes the strategic idea even more impressive!
Genesis of the idea-
I remember that Sasikiran told me that he got this idea from one of his games played against Savchenko a little while before his game againt Sriram.
Savchenko, Boris- Sasikiran, Krishnan Aeroflot 2010
This position arose from Caro Kann 4....Nd7 variation. But one can already see the structural similarity. Here Black continued with
15.... c5 16. dxc5 Bxf3!? 18. Qxf3 Bxh2+ 19. Kh1 Be5 20. Bxe5 Qxe5 21.cxb6 axb6 22.a4
From the earlier diagram black has made a wonderful transformation. The presence of Queen and Knight vs Queen and Bishop combination gave black an initiative throughout the game, though white held the game after a tough struggle. This game was an inspiration for Sasikiran's later effort against Sriram.
In the next part I will continue with a couple of classical games.
wow ..superb concept ! Thanks a lot for sharing & explaining it, felt exactly like being coached !
ReplyDelete