" 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:
33.Nb5 a6 34.Nc7 ?!
Can there be anything in the world with winning a pawn without any resistance? Well, if only things were that simple! Here again Vishnu's explanation is crisp and efficient! His reasoning is that Black trades off a pawn to improve the position of his Knight from a5. Steinitz in his Modern Chess Instructor has put forward a view that Rook Pawns are not qualitatively equal in strength to other pawns on the board as they control only one square wherever they stand, relative to pawns that stand on other files which control two! It may not have too much relevance here. However I do feel that White's Knight moves too far away from the critical square of d6, a square which is key for both White and Black( to blockade the mighty passed pawn for Black and to evict the blockader for White). And if in turn Black establishes a strong blockade on d6 it also means that White's King cannot be used more efficiently from d4. Just Imagine a situation in which White wins the b-pawn instead of a-pawn: this would be immediately fatal for Black as White's King would march onward to c5 and further up the board and wreak havoc. So, in this position the b6-pawn is a vital link in Black's position which is acting like a dam against White's King. So in some ways, White does not even need to win the b-pawn but instead merely coax Black to push it forward one square to b5! This is perhaps all White needs in this position as illustrated by the following line.
34. Nc3!! b5 35. Kc5 Kd7 36. Kb6! Nb7 37. Ne4 with a winning advantage
This position deserves a diagram. The visual effect clearly shows the decisive role played by the activity of the King!
If Instead Black decides to answer 34. Nc3 with Kd6 35. Ne4+ Ke7 36.Ke5 b5 37. g4 Nb7 38.d6+ with a huge advantage again.
Another position from a line, which I feel deserves a diagram. Note that the King conquers more dark squares, only this time on the other side!
These 2 positions led me to ponder, Isn't ( Positional)Chess a constant trade off between control of and Relinquishment of Squares on every move?
Let us get back to the game continuation:-
34. Nc7 Kd6 35. Na6 Nb7 and already we reach the next and perhaps the decisive moment in the game.
Here White nonchalantly continued with 36.g4? which might even be the decisive mistake after which a win no longer exists according to Vishnu. First of all it is a bit weird to fix the pawns on a light square while having the light squared Bishop, but perhaps White completely relaxed here and missed the simple response 36....g5! which not only fixes the g-pawn on a light square, but also the pawn on f3. However, I do not think that the Good/Bad Bishops is a relevant factor here. I feel the key to this position is control of dark squares and White needs to keep a path ( on dark squares) open to his King's conquest. So, by retaining the pawn on g2, White could have manoeuvred his Knight to e3, and then continued with f4-g4 and g5, which would inturn secure the e5-square for his King. And this would definitely retain winning chances in the position.
So, the right move was 36. Nb4! Bd7 37. Nc2 Ke7 38.Ne3 Nd6 39.f4! followed by g4-g5 and Ke5.
After 36....g5 the game carried on with 37. Nb4 Bd7 38.Nc2 and so on. Here instead White had an interesting attempt to play for a win with
38. Nc6!? according to Vishnu and he analyses some fine lines. I liked two resulting positions which are fortresses indicated here below as diagrams!
The first diagram is particularly pretty. the team work of the Knight on d6 and the pawns on f6 and b6 forming an unbreachable barricade to the White's King controlling all the key entry squares. In fact the Black King does not even have that big a role to play with such an impregnable formation of his other units! Also one has to bear in mind the role played by White's own pawn on d5, which blocks the way for his King via d5!
This is the final position of the second game of the Kramnik-Grischuk match, Kazan 2011 which illustrates the idea clearly!
My musings about this very interesting game are as follows.
1.The position of the King and its activity are one of the key aspects of the initial position.
2. The King should not be content to reach d4, but should strive to march onward to c5-b6 or e5 as dictated by the needs of the position and opponent's moves
3. Colour complex is another key factor, in this instance White's control of dark squares is pivotal.
Or in Short, (Positional)Chess is a game of trade off between control of and relinquishment of squares on every move! .............
Thanks to Sagar and Chessbase India, where I found the video.Here is a link to the video of Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna's invaluable commentary on the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h67gVtn_t9A&t=485s
Here is the game below with detailed comments on a replayable board.
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:
33.Nb5 a6 34.Nc7 ?!
Can there be anything in the world with winning a pawn without any resistance? Well, if only things were that simple! Here again Vishnu's explanation is crisp and efficient! His reasoning is that Black trades off a pawn to improve the position of his Knight from a5. Steinitz in his Modern Chess Instructor has put forward a view that Rook Pawns are not qualitatively equal in strength to other pawns on the board as they control only one square wherever they stand, relative to pawns that stand on other files which control two! It may not have too much relevance here. However I do feel that White's Knight moves too far away from the critical square of d6, a square which is key for both White and Black( to blockade the mighty passed pawn for Black and to evict the blockader for White). And if in turn Black establishes a strong blockade on d6 it also means that White's King cannot be used more efficiently from d4. Just Imagine a situation in which White wins the b-pawn instead of a-pawn: this would be immediately fatal for Black as White's King would march onward to c5 and further up the board and wreak havoc. So, in this position the b6-pawn is a vital link in Black's position which is acting like a dam against White's King. So in some ways, White does not even need to win the b-pawn but instead merely coax Black to push it forward one square to b5! This is perhaps all White needs in this position as illustrated by the following line.
34. Nc3!! b5 35. Kc5 Kd7 36. Kb6! Nb7 37. Ne4 with a winning advantage
This position deserves a diagram. The visual effect clearly shows the decisive role played by the activity of the King!
If Instead Black decides to answer 34. Nc3 with Kd6 35. Ne4+ Ke7 36.Ke5 b5 37. g4 Nb7 38.d6+ with a huge advantage again.
Another position from a line, which I feel deserves a diagram. Note that the King conquers more dark squares, only this time on the other side!
These 2 positions led me to ponder, Isn't ( Positional)Chess a constant trade off between control of and Relinquishment of Squares on every move?
Let us get back to the game continuation:-
34. Nc7 Kd6 35. Na6 Nb7 and already we reach the next and perhaps the decisive moment in the game.
Here White nonchalantly continued with 36.g4? which might even be the decisive mistake after which a win no longer exists according to Vishnu. First of all it is a bit weird to fix the pawns on a light square while having the light squared Bishop, but perhaps White completely relaxed here and missed the simple response 36....g5! which not only fixes the g-pawn on a light square, but also the pawn on f3. However, I do not think that the Good/Bad Bishops is a relevant factor here. I feel the key to this position is control of dark squares and White needs to keep a path ( on dark squares) open to his King's conquest. So, by retaining the pawn on g2, White could have manoeuvred his Knight to e3, and then continued with f4-g4 and g5, which would inturn secure the e5-square for his King. And this would definitely retain winning chances in the position.
So, the right move was 36. Nb4! Bd7 37. Nc2 Ke7 38.Ne3 Nd6 39.f4! followed by g4-g5 and Ke5.
After 36....g5 the game carried on with 37. Nb4 Bd7 38.Nc2 and so on. Here instead White had an interesting attempt to play for a win with
38. Nc6!? according to Vishnu and he analyses some fine lines. I liked two resulting positions which are fortresses indicated here below as diagrams!
The first diagram is particularly pretty. the team work of the Knight on d6 and the pawns on f6 and b6 forming an unbreachable barricade to the White's King controlling all the key entry squares. In fact the Black King does not even have that big a role to play with such an impregnable formation of his other units! Also one has to bear in mind the role played by White's own pawn on d5, which blocks the way for his King via d5!
This is the final position of the second game of the Kramnik-Grischuk match, Kazan 2011 which illustrates the idea clearly!
My musings about this very interesting game are as follows.
1.The position of the King and its activity are one of the key aspects of the initial position.
2. The King should not be content to reach d4, but should strive to march onward to c5-b6 or e5 as dictated by the needs of the position and opponent's moves
3. Colour complex is another key factor, in this instance White's control of dark squares is pivotal.
Or in Short, (Positional)Chess is a game of trade off between control of and relinquishment of squares on every move! .............
Thanks to Sagar and Chessbase India, where I found the video.Here is a link to the video of Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna's invaluable commentary on the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h67gVtn_t9A&t=485s
Here is the game below with detailed comments on a replayable board.
[Event "FIDE Candidates 2020"]
[Site "Yekaterinburg RUS"]
[Date "2020.03.23"]
[Round "6.4"]
[White "Wang Hao"]
[Black "Vachier Lagrave, M."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2762"]
[BlackElo "2767"]
[Annotator "Sundararajan Kidambi,Vishnu Prasanna"]
[PlyCount "165"]
[EventDate "2020.03.17"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "21"]
[SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1324"]
[Source "Mark Crowther"]
[SourceDate "2020.03.23"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2020.03.23"]
[SourceQuality "2"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3 b6 11. h4 e6 12. h5 Qh4 13. hxg6 hxg6 14. f3 Bb7 15.
Qd2 cxd4 16. cxd4 Rfd8 17. Rac1 Qe7 18. Rfd1 Rac8 19. Bg5 Bf6 20. Bxf6 Qxf6 21.
Qe3 Kg7 22. Kf2 Rh8 23. Rh1 Rxh1 24. Rxh1 Rh8 25. Rxh8 Kxh8 26. Qc3 Kg8 27. d5
Qxc3 28. Nxc3 Na5 29. Bd3 exd5 30. exd5 Kf8 31. Ke3 Ke7 32. Kd4 {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.-
Kidambi} Bc8 {position is deceptively simple, but White has a huge advantage
because of the fact that the knight on a5 is badly placed.-Vishnu 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: -Kidambi} 33. Nb5 a6 34. Nc7 $6 {Can there be anything in the world
with winning a pawn without any resistance? Well, if only things were that
simple! Here again Vishnu's explanation is crisp and efficient! His reasoning
is that Black trades off a pawn to improve the position of his Knight from a5.
Steinitz in his Modern Chess Instructor has put forward a view that Rook Pawns
are not qualitatively equal in strength to other pawns on the board as they
control only one square wherever they stand, relative to pawns that stand on
other files which control two! It may not have too much relevance here.
However I do feel that White's Knight moves too far away from the critical
square of d6, a square which is key for both White and Black( to blockade the
mighty passed pawn for Black and to evict the blockader for White). And if in
turn Black establishes a strong blockade on d6 it also means that White's King
cannot be used more efficiently from d4. Just Imagine a situation in which
White wins the b-pawn instead of a-pawn: this would be immediately fatal for
Black as White's King would march onward to c5 and further up the board and
wreak havoc. So, in this position the b6-pawn is a vital link in Black's
position which is acting like a dam against White's King. So in some ways,
White does not even need to win the b-pawn but instead merely coax Black to
push it forward one square to b5! This is perhaps all White needs in this
position as illustrated by the following line. - Kidambi} (34. Nc3 $3 b5 (34...
Kd6 35. Ne4+ Ke7 36. Ke5 b5 37. g4 Nb7 38. d6+ {I think White has a huge
advantage-Vishnu}) 35. Kc5 Kd7 36. Kb6 Nb7 37. Ne4 $18 {[#] Vishnu}) 34... Kd6
35. Nxa6 {The Knight being too far away from the critical square d6 from where
the Blockader needs to be evicted is an important feature of the position.
Perhaps, this outweighs the material consideration of a pawn here.- Kidambi}
Nb7 {By giving up the a-pawn Black has activated his N which was the chief
problem of his position.-Vishnu} {Here White nonchalantly continued with} 36.
g4 $2 {which might even be the decisive mistake after which a win no longer
exists according to Vishnu. First of all it is a bit weird to fix the pawns on
a light square while having the light squared Bishop, but perhaps White
completely relaxed here and missed the simple response g5! hich not only fixes
the g-pawn on a light square, but also the pawn on f3. However, I do not think
that the Good/Bad Bishops is a relevant factor here. I feel the key to this
position is control of dark squares and White needs to keep a path ( on dark
squares) open to his King's conquest. So, by retaining the pawn on g2, White
could have manoeuvred his Knight to e3, and then continued with f4-g4 and g5,
which would inturn secure the e5-square for his King. And this would
definitely retain winning chances in the position.- Kidambi A fundamental
error fixing the pawn on a light square-Vishnu} (36. Nb4 $1 Bd7 (36... Nc5 37.
Bb5 Bf5 (37... Bb7 38. Be8 Ke7 39. Bc6 Bc8 40. Nc2 Ba6 41. Ne3 {In the game
fortress existed mainly because White cannot force the exchange of Bishops or
achieve d5-d6.-Vishnu}) 38. g4 $1) 37. Nc2 Ke7 38. Ne3 Nd6 39. f4 $1 {
important move-Vishnu} Be8 40. g4 Bd7 41. g5 Be8 42. Ke5 {Black has too many
weaknesses in this position to save this-Vishnu}) 36... g5 $1 {After this,
there is perhaps no longer a win! -Vishnu} 37. Nb4 Bd7 38. Nc2 ({An
interesting winning attempt would be} 38. Nc6 $5 f6 39. Bb5 Be8 ({But the
critical move is} 39... Bxc6 $1 40. dxc6 (40. Bxc6 Nd8 41. Bb5 Nf7 42. Ke4 Ke7
43. a4 Nd6+ {looks like a fortress-Vishnu}) 40... Nc5 41. Ke3 Ne6 42. Ke4 Nc7
$1 {This fascinating position turns out to be a fortress.-Vishnu} 43. Bc4 Ne8
44. Kf5 Ke7 {The Knight has too many squares for instance a8,a6,c7 etc. The B
is not able to dominate it and Blacks King protects f6 whever it is
attacked-Vishnu}) 40. Na7 Bg6 41. Bc6 Nd8 42. Nb5+ Ke7 43. Nc3 {This isnt
really a fortress, White has good winning chances there.-Vishnu}) 38... Ke7 39.
Ne3 Nd6 $1 {Any attempt to make the right exchange is not possible, atleast
not without Black's cooperation.-Vishnu} 40. Nd1 (40. Nf5+ Nxf5+ 41. Bxf5 Ba4 {
White has no way to breach this fortress.-Vishnu}) 40... Ba4 41. Nf2 (41. Nc3
Bd7 42. a4 f6 43. Bb5 Nxb5+ 44. Nxb5 Bc8 {is really not giving any chances for
White because all White's pawns are fixed on light squares.-Vishnu}) 41... f6
42. Be2 Be8 43. Nd1 Ba4 44. Nb2 Be8 45. Bd1 Nb5+ 46. Kc4 Nc7 47. Bb3 Kd6 48.
Kd4 Nb5+ 49. Kd3 Nc7 50. Nc4+ Kc5 51. Nd2 Bb5+ 52. Ke4 Bd7 53. Nf1 Nb5 54. Ng3
Nd6+ 55. Ke3 f5 56. gxf5 Bxf5 57. Nxf5 Nxf5+ 58. Ke4 Nh4 59. Ba4 Kd6 60. Be8
Ng2 61. Bf7 Ne1 62. a4 Nc2 63. Be8 Ne1 64. Bb5 Ng2 65. Bc4 Nh4 66. Bf1 Kc5 67.
Bh3 Kd6 {This position reminds me of the second game Kramnik-Grischuk Kazan
Match 2011, where Sasha defended a position where he was a pawn down with a
stable knight blockade on d6!-Kidambi} 68. Be6 Ng6 69. Bf7 Nh4 70. Be8 Ng2 71.
Bb5 Nh4 72. Bd3 Kc5 73. Bf1 Kd6 74. Bh3 Ng6 75. Be6 Nh4 76. Bf7 Ke7 77. Bh5 Kd6
78. Bg4 Ng2 79. Kf5 Kxd5 80. Kxg5 Ke5 81. Kg6 Nf4+ 82. Kf7 Nd3 83. Ke7 1/2-1/2
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