As a sveshnikov player I value piece activity over everything else- structure, material, pish posh- give me an attack. The following game follows a not too uncommon line in the Sveshnikov, where on move 12 black really lays down the gauntlet with a gambit. In theory, white should be ok but the traps that lay in wait are far from obvious.
Recently I found a copy of “Starting Out: Attacking Play” by James Plaskett for 2 dollars from a book dealer and decided to pick it up. Most of the stuff in here isn’t that impressive, such as “Rook’s Pawn Tin Openers” and “Pawn Rollers,” but the chapter titled “From a Clear Blue Sky” had some fantastic material.
In one game, the following position is reached.
Here, white had offered a draw, and black sank into deep thought for a long time before refusing the offer and playing the jaw dropping Rd1. After Rd1, my engine assesses the position as a dead draw after 25.Rxc8 Qe3 26.Kh3 Qh6 27.Kg2 Qe3…with a repetition.
However, it’s not surprising that in the game white grabbed the rook and pressed for a win, a mistake which proved fatal. Here is the game as it was played.
Overall the book is worth buying if you can get it cheap, but it’s probably not worth the sticker price because it is kind of skinny and is basically a game collection.
Tactics are something most serious players spend a lot of time on when studying, however one of the most useful and overlooked tactical motifs is perpetual check. Perpetual check is what I would consider an “iron clad” draw because there is no mutual agreement to draw the game, with perpetual check you steal your half point back. The diagram to the left shows a simple example. Shuttling the queen back and forth between e8 and h5, white gives checks forever and saves his skin from the back rank mate.
In a recent game on the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) I found myself down on material, short on time and close to resigning. The idea that I could somehow swindle a win was gone and my only chance to avoid a loss was to force a draw somehow. In the following game fragment, my opponent was doing a good job of tossing me up. I desparately try to complicate and hope that he can’t find the best continuation. After the jump, we see the Theory of Infinite Resistance at work.
Jonathon Rowson, a Scottish grandmaster and Ivy league philosphy student, opened my eyes to a concept known as “The Theory of Infinite Resistance,” best defined here. Basically, the concept is that a player who reaches an inferior position should be able to draw with perfect play, and shouldn’t resign merely because he feels his position is worse because the game isn’t over until checkmate. Churchill’s “we shall fight them on the beaches” speech comes to mind.
Continue reading »
Praveen Kumar – Pavel Genkin, All Nations Chess League, October 30th, 2010
It may be immodest to publish my won game, but today I simply could not help it. It was played in the first round of a new season of the All Nations Chess League (anclchess.net), an online team competition. During my preparation I looked up my opponent’s profile at Playchess.com, only to find out that I would be playing a 14-year old Indian kid with an exorbitant blitz rating of 2660. Sitting against a young hotshot, you sometimes cannot get rid of the thought that this may be your last chance to beat him.
Continue reading »