Blogs
Is This The Most Crushing Isolated Pawn Attack Ever? - Best Of The 70s - Keene vs. Miles, 1976
Name a better IQP attack!

Is This The Most Crushing Isolated Pawn Attack Ever? - Best Of The 70s - Keene vs. Miles, 1976

Avatar of SamCopeland
NM SamCopeland
Staff
| 17

The 1970s were a peculiar chess decade. After the incredible drama and excitement of the 1970-72 Fischer run at the world championship, the later part of the decade was left in turmoil after Fischer's departure. The surprising rise of another Soviet to the chess throne, Anatoly Karpov, was undercut by Fischer's forfeit of the match and his complete departure from chess society.

Outside of the struggles of Fischer and Karpov, there was much great chess to enjoy as the world was on fire with chess enthusiasm. My #10 best chess game of the decade is perhaps a bit straightforward, but it is a model attacking game in the Isolated Queen Pawn structure. With an early rook lift, Raymond Keene launches a vicious attack against Tony Miles king, and things are all over after one simple error.

Some interesting personal stakes in the game were that both Keene and Miles were competing for a £5,000 prize for becoming the first English grandmaster. Though Keene won this game, Miles beat him to the GM title by a matter of months soon after this game was played.

Top 10 Games of the 1970s

Early in the game, Keene initiates serious threats with the lift 14. Re3!! Faced with significant problems, Miles misses the opportunity to sacrifice an exchange and retain a good position. Instead he allows Keene to sacrifice two pieces and WRECK his kingside pawn structure. After the precise 20.Qb1!, mate is nearly unstoppable.

Lessons:

  • Blockading the IQP is good, but you must also develop.
  • Watch for good rook lift opportunities with an IQP.
  • Never hesitate to sacrifice to remove the king's pawn cover.

Annotations largely from Keene are below. Kaplan's annotations are available in Chess Life's archives, and Keene's annotations are available on chessgames.com.

If you like the content and want to support it, subscribe and follow on YouTube and Twitch!

SamCopeland
NM Sam Copeland

I'm the Head of Community for Chess.com. I earned the National Master title in 2012, and in 2014, I returned to my home state of South Carolina to start Strategery: Chess and Games. In late 2015, I began working for Chess.com and haven't looked back since.

You can find my personal content on Twitch , Twitter , and YouTube where I further indulge my love of chess.