Dear chess friends,
In Issue 11 of Modern Chess Magazine, we provide you with the following articles:
Alert Defence - Part 2
GM John van der Wiel
In this issue, GM John van der Wiel continues dealing with the subtleties of the so-called Alert Defence.
At the beginning of the current article, the author provides you with the solutions of the tests from the previous article. Even if you didn't read the first part, you shouldn't worry at all. All the detailed explanations allow you to catch up the ideas without problems.
The core of the article is the game Karpov,A - Van der Wiel, J played in 1986. In this game, you could see how the principle of Alert Defence is applied in practice. Before diving into the analysis
Before diving into the analysis of the abovementioned game, the author invites you to think upon two test positions which are taken from the game. Let's take a look at them.
In this case, White already has a big advantage. But what is Black's best chance of hopefully reducing that in the future?
So now Black sealed a move. Which one, why and what result do you expect?
The reader could verify his answers by reading the comments to the game Karpov,A - Van der Wiel, J.
The article ends with two training positions which allow you to apply the key concepts of the article.
After reading the series concerning the Alert Defence, your defensive skills will be definitely improved.
Typical Tactical Ideas - Bishop Sacrifice on "h6"
GM Nikolai Ninov
We are sure that after learning the Alert Defence, the reader will be aware of the tremendous defensive resources in every position. Nevertheless, in order to become a strong chess player, one should be very good at defense as well.
The current article of GM Nikolay Ninov is designed to improve your attacking skills. The bishop sacrifice on the h6-square is an important idea which allows us to attack a castled king. This lecture could be considered as a logical continuation of the article of GM Grigor Grigorov concerning the bishop sacrifice on "h7" (Issue 9).
It is important to point out that the sacrifice on "h6" is regularly used even at the top level. At the beginning of the survey, the author provides you with 4 examples in which strong grandmasters go for this thematic sacrifice. Maybe the most spectacular game was played by the Georgian GM Baadur Jobava. His game against Ponomariov from the 2016 Olympiad reached the following position:
At this point, Jobava went for the unbelievable 17.Bh6!!. Later on, he continued to attack very energetically and won a fantastic game. In his annotations, GM Ninov proves that Black has no satisfactory defense after 17.Bh6!!.
In the educational part of the article, the author points out 4 important factors we should consider before sacrificing our bishop on h6:
1) we have a queen on the h-file
2) opponent's f7-pawn is a potential target
3) the g6-square is weakened
4) we have a queen - bishop battery on the "c1-h6" - diagonal
After explaining these factors, the author provides the reader with extensively annotated model games concerning each one of them.
At the end of the article, there is a TEST SECTION which allows you to test your knowledge in a very interactive way.
Master the Grunfeld Structure - Part 3
GM Mihail Marin
In this article, GM Mihail Marin continues dealing with the Grunfeld pawn structure. In his previous article, he examined the situations in which White create a central passed pawn by means of the d4-d5 advance.
In some situations, however, White could play d4-d5 without creating a passed pawn. In this case, we have two possible structures:
OR
As always, GM Mihail Marin provides the reader with a deep understanding of the positions. All the strategical and tactical ideas are illustrated with examples taken from the practice of the world's best players. After reading the article, the reader will know in which cases these structures are favorable for him and when they are advantageous for the opponent.
Endgame Series - Part 12
GM Davorin Kuljasevic
True to his systematic approach to the endgame education, GM Davorin Kuljasevic continues his endgame series. This time he focuses on an extremely important topic - reserved pawn tempo in the pawn endgames. Here is what the author has to say about the reserved tempos:
"There are certain situations in endgames, especially pawn endgames when a small pawn move decides the fate of the game. One of the main tenets of the classic endgame work by Shereshevski - "Endgame strategy", is "do not hurry". Apart from certain psychological aspects, this principle can be applied with regard to pushing pawns in the endgame. For example, in positions when we can push a pawn one or two squares forward Shereshevski recommends we "push it only one square, look around, then cautiously push it one more". While this is certainly a useful guideline that helps us adopt the right mentality in endgames, we will also see how important it can be in a practical sense."
In the second part of the article, the author shares his analysis of an "endgame tragicomedy" - a training game between two of his beginner level students, which holds instructive value even for experienced players.
At the end of the article, there are is a TEST SECTION where you could practice all the key concepts from the article.
King's Indian Structures - Black Releases the Tension in the Centre (Part 2)
GM Petar Arnaudov
The current article of GM Arnaudov continues the investigation of the KID structures. In this issue, you will find the open center positions when Black takes on d4 and then play c7-c6, instead of Nc6 which was covered in the previous article. The main position of the survey arises after the moves:
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 exd4 8.Nxd4 Re8 9.f3 c6
In the introduction to the current survey, GM Petar Arnaudov the basic ideas for both sides in the following way:
Ideas for White
1) Avoid exchanges
2) Put pressure on d6
3) Try to win space and restrict Black's pieces by playing b2-b4 or g2-g4
4) Try to prevent the d6-d5 break
5) If it is not possible to win the pawn on d6, then prepare c4-c5 break. In this way, he wants to deflect the d6-pawn and later on occupy the center by means of f3-f4 followed by e4-e5
Ideas for Black
1) exchange minor pieces. especially knights
2) d6-d5 is Black's main idea and should be considered even when this is a sacrifice.
3) Playing on the dark squares - Be5, Nh5, Qh4, sometimes f7-f5-f4
4) Provoking f3-f4 and then attack the e4- pawn.
5) Use c5 and e5-squares for the knights.
6) Attacking the c4-pawn. This is very important since Black wants to provoke the b2-b3 advance after which he could play a5-a4 in order to open the a-file. Now we will discuss all the main moves here.
In this article GM Arnaudov provides you with 9 commented games. At the end of the article, you can find a TEST SECTION which offers interactive exercises.
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