Thoughts on Anish and Sandipan master classes ( Pro Chess Diaries)

Grandmasters Anish Giri and Sandipan Chanda were giving a master class on the same day (Oct 21st, 2022) in Pro Chess, and I was given an opportunity to witness the interesting Chess Lessons being discussed in those sessions. Any Chess fan would of course be thrilled with it and my experience was absolutely the same too! In this article I share a few interesting positions and thought processes I encountered from these sessions, for the readers to get a view of the nuggets of wisdom that were unearthed there. 

You are your own enemy

 "आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मन:"

-Bhagavath Geetha

The above quote from the Bhagavath Geetha (the dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna) means that the Self is one's own and friend and that it is also its own enemy! The verse is quite philosophical and has its own deeper meanings for the seeker. However, my idea of quoting the above statement was not with that in mind. From the perspective of a chess, can a unit of our army be a friend or foe depending on the circumstances? From experience we know that the answer is a resounding, yes!

Castling into it (King's Placement-2)

 Fischer used the term 'Castling into it'  to signify Castling into a flank with a risky or a weakened pawn shelter. I am using this term more broadly to signify a risky King placement because we show our cards too early.We had earlier looked at the factor of King's placement being an important one based on games of Maxime Vachier Lagrave and Ganguly. This is a time honoured problem, and one that is not easily understood even by the all time greats. From the games of Steinitz until modern ones, this has been something to ponder about. I was recently looking at a game from 1948 World Championship match tournament between Keres and Botvinnik, that sparked an interest to revisit this topic. 

Keres-Botvinnik Round 5 Hague/Moscow World Championship Tournament 1948

1.c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3.Bg2 d4!? 

An interesting attempt to grab more space. This was what Carlsen tried too in the most recent World Championship versus Nepo. Botvinnik does not rate this move highly, but his move has stood the test of time and is considered to be good even to this day!

Striking Originality

"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation" - Herman Melville

I agree with this quote in part, as the ideas of success or failure seems moot to me especially when viewing chess as an art. To me originality is even more important in this age of information than in any other time.

Today is the birth day of my friend and a long time colleague Grandmaster M.R.Venkatesh. On this occasion I happened to think about some of his games and some of his memories. I know him from the time he was perhaps 7 or 8 and what was always striking about his (chess) personality from then was his original approach to the game. Earlier I attributed  it ( incorrectly so!) to his lack of formal training. But with passing age I am able to keenly appreciate this quality in a chess player as the most profound one! There were always instances of awe, surprise, disdain and mockery too when coming across some of his decisions but with time when one grows over those immediate emotions they seem to show the unique chess artist that he indeed is.  

King's Placement

" Castle if you need to, caslte if you so desire, but do not castle just because you can" - William Lombardy"

Recently while preparing for a lecture topic for ProChess on the topic of Determining the position of the King, I was evoked by some pleasant trip upon my memory lane. From the very little of what I have studied, I feel that this concept was first vocalised by the first World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz. He actively contemplated the idea of being flexible with the King in the centre, when normal norm in his time was to quickly castle and prepare a sacrificial attack. Steinitz envisioned the King as a strong piece which can take care of itself.  We all know that by the mobility it possesses the King can be considered to be as good as a minor piece or even better in an endgame. But, far more importantly, the safety of the King is the prime mover of a Chess game, as Checkmate culminates a game. For this reason the King is considered to be a piece that is of inestimable value.

Anish Giri - Master class ( ProChess Diaries)

 I came to know of Anish Giri's master class in ProChess not so long ago, and without second thoughts joined it! I remember first meeting Anish as a young prodigy completing his second Gm norm( if i remember correctly) at the Groningen Open 2008-2009. The next time I met him it was already in the Qatar Masters where he was one of the elite and was almost winning the event with a 6/6 start. His journey from a child prodigy to one of the very best has been filled with excitement for chess lovers. Besides his achievements, he has always maintained a friendly and pleasant demeanor and that perhaps made him a crowd puller always. 

So, coming back to the master class lesson, he started off the session with his usual pleasant humour and made everyone comfortable by letting everyone know that he  knows all the students of the class ! To warm up he shared a few positions from a recent chess.com Blitz event, which would usually be blasphemy in Soviet times, but he clearly elaborated on why he did this. People (especially the elite group students) would have seen all top level games and it would be hard to quiz them there, so he chose his online Blitz game- fair enough logic!

Ivanchuk's classics by Krasenkow ( Prochess diaries)

 After a month, it so happened that again I could attend another Krasenkow's lecture on Ivanchuk. This time he looked two games of Ivanchuk in contrasting styles, one a positional build up ending up in a complex endgame and the other a famous attacking masterpiece.

The first game was Ivanchuk's victory over Azmaiparashvilli from 2002. I had not seen this game earlier, and that gave a greater freshness in approaching the position. Like last time I will offer a few interesting moments from the lecture with the explanatory ideas. Without further ado let us jump into the positions.

Ivanchuk in the eyes of Krasenkow (ProChess Diaries)

 I had the opportunity to be a student in Michal Krasenkow's lecture on Ivanchuk's positional games. This was quite a new experience for me. Until now I had only been associated with Pro Chess as a coach giving a lecture, and this time thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to attend Grandmaster Krasenkow's lecture as a student. First of all it was a welcome invitation to look at the games of one of my favourite players- the inimitable Ivanchuk! Krasenkow is a very strong Grandmaster who is a contemporary of Ivanchuk and has unique insights into the games of Ivanchuk. 

In the backdrop of a raging war at his doorstep he could not hide his emotions, but nevertheless did his first lecture for Pro Chess. I liked the way he presented his lecture, first he gave several positions with time to think for the students to come up with their own decisions. This way we progressed through the game Ivanchuk-Beliavsky Eu Club Cup-2001 pondering over several critical moments. I will present a couple of positions to illustrate the point.