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.

In the footsteps of a plan

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when one contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries to comprehend only a little of this mystery every day.”-Albert Einstein

 Observing a position in one's own way and looking for ways to understand what is going on, is a key characteristic of any improving player. There are many different ways and aspects in a single game that attracts the attention of a seeker, and this as I come to see is an ever growing process. I had a look at a couple of  older games recently and tried to view the position in terms of pawn structure and exchanges which are always a fundamental aspect of Chess Understanding.

Ponomariov-Kramnik 2003

Epic Catalan Battle

"Staring at the Abyssmal depths of chess"  Jonathon Rowson

The ongoing World Chess Championship between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi is covered most extensively and is perhaps the only time in my memory where so many living legends are commenting upon the games live! Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Svidler,Fabiano Caruana, Vasyl Ivanchuk and Judit Polgar are all commenting live in various channels. There are numerous others too, but just looking at the names I cannot help imagining myself as Buridan's ass who is unable to make a proper choice!

With all the talks of draws and death of Classical Chess in World Championships in the background, yesterday's game destroyed all such illusions. It is the most grueling World Championship slugfest I have ever seen! To get into the depths of such a fascinating game is beyond the depths of a mortal human, so I will restrict myself to jotting down several interesting moments from this classic.

10.Nbd2!? 

The ever new Rook and Pawn Endgames

"All Rook Endgames are drawn"- Siegbert Tarrasch

Alireza Firouzja has been stealing all the limelight in the Chess world recently and rightly so too! He is the youngest to reach 2800 ever and has catapulted himself to the second spot in World Rankings. His final round game against Shakriyar Mamedyarov drew a lot of attention among the spectators, as if he could win he would reach 2800 and also would be increasing a whopping 30 points in the European Team Championship tournament alone! As luck would have it he reached a Rook and Pawn endgame with 2 pawns to Shak's 1. It was not such a common Rook endgame to say the least. Nevertheless as Tarrasch remarked the drawing tendencies in Rook endgames should never be underestimated. But that does not mean that players can play them without errors. Let us catch up with the game a few moves earlier.

Color Complex in Chess

"முதல் எனப்படுவது நிலம் பொழுது இரண்டின்

இயல்பென மொழிப இயல்புணர்ந் தோரே"

(பொருளதிகாரம் அகத்திணையியல் தொல்காப்பியம்)

Roughly translated this deep statement of  sage Tholkappiyar ( dating to at least 4000 years ago) goes, "The inherent tendencies of Space and Time are the fundamentals- thus say the realized ones." 

Applying this concept to Chess, Space consists of squares and Time consists of the move at hand. Time has varied other applications, so I will stick to looking at space in the present article.  

The concept of Space (squares) in chess is one of the hardest to comprehend and one which would enhance the perception level of a player greatly. Understanding squares in one's own way is always enriching and this can be a continual journey in learning even by visiting games which are previously known too. For example I was recently browsing through the game Von Gottschall- Nimzowitsch, Hannover 1926 from the book Chess Praxis. The following position occurred after White's 18th move.

Not an everyday position in an Isolated Queen Pawn structure, but the basic ideas still remain the same. Black has the Bishop pair in the endgame, but he is  bit behind in development. White has more control of the key d5-square and threatens to play the d4-d5 pawn break. This gives a clue on how Black should continue to keep the game going. He continued with:

Mighty Blockading Knights

The first introduction to the game of Chess lay in the fascination of Knights for me. They are the most unique pieces on the chessboard and the ability to fork a King and Queen and/or Rook(s) were simply fascinating to understand as a child. World Champion Capablanca considers that the Knight is a very dangerous piece for an amateur but as one's strength develops he starts appreciating the value of Bishop. While, this is very true, the fascination with Knights nevertheless does continue as one grows into a stronger player with a deeper study of Chess Strategy.

When talking about passed pawns, Nimzowitsch was the first teacher who taught about blockading them. Of course this has always been known to masters intuitively and were employed in their games. Nimzowitsch discusses his thoughts about Knights being excellent blockaders of passed pawns. In addition when we come to the concept of protected passed pawns, there is no better piece to blockade than the knights. They not only block the passed pawns, but they attack its protector! This is only possible because of the Knight's unique movement pattern on a chessboard.

When looking at a recent game of Caruana against Shankland, I was very impressed with the strategic depth and control he showed in the game.

Caruana-Shankland Sinquefield Cup 2021