" Perhaps Chess and Music are drawn together by laws of harmony and beauty that are difficult to formulate and difficult to grasp" -Vassily Smyslov
With an abundance of time at one's disposal these days, I came across an instructive and thought provoking piece of analysis from an endgame which occurred in the recent game Wang Hao-Vachier Lagrave in the candidates tournament. The author (and my friend) Grand master Vishnu Prasanna is not only a gifted player and trainer, but also a fine thinker! Looking at this fascinating game and comments , triggered a variety of thoughts in approaching a chess position.
Wang Hao-Vachier Lagrave Round 6, Candidates 2020
This is the position after Black's 32nd move Bc8. As Vishnu rightly points out in the ChessBase India video, Black's main problem in this position is that his Knight on a5 is out of play. Had it been on d6, the position would not at all be bad for Black. But such small differences, sometimes as little as one tempo can alter a position diametrically.
They key factor in this position that seems to determine White's advantage is the superior position and activity of his King. White need not actually just be contended with the fact that his King has reached a commanding post on d4, but can even strive to improve the royal monarch's position by rolling a red carpet! Let us see how the game continued:
With an abundance of time at one's disposal these days, I came across an instructive and thought provoking piece of analysis from an endgame which occurred in the recent game Wang Hao-Vachier Lagrave in the candidates tournament. The author (and my friend) Grand master Vishnu Prasanna is not only a gifted player and trainer, but also a fine thinker! Looking at this fascinating game and comments , triggered a variety of thoughts in approaching a chess position.
Wang Hao-Vachier Lagrave Round 6, Candidates 2020
This is the position after Black's 32nd move Bc8. As Vishnu rightly points out in the ChessBase India video, Black's main problem in this position is that his Knight on a5 is out of play. Had it been on d6, the position would not at all be bad for Black. But such small differences, sometimes as little as one tempo can alter a position diametrically.
They key factor in this position that seems to determine White's advantage is the superior position and activity of his King. White need not actually just be contended with the fact that his King has reached a commanding post on d4, but can even strive to improve the royal monarch's position by rolling a red carpet! Let us see how the game continued:
