Avalanche! (And the Pawns Come Marching In)
How do you stop an avalanche? You can't! You get out of the way!
But sometimes, in a game of chess, you have to fight, and try to counterattack, or find some compensation.
The idea for this blog came about gradually; reading different chess books and noticing patterns.
In this case, we go back to Philidor, who stated that "Pawns are the soul of chess".
The common theme in the following games will be to achieve some positional advantage or initiative with the pawns, whether this involves pawn or piece sacrifices or not. Another sub-theme will be to achieve control over the whole board with a massive pawn wall, therefore constraining the opponent's pieces and limiting his options, until the opponents position cannot be held anymore.
Time and again you will read blogs by people like me, who have bought into the idea that it is advantageous to study the complete games of the great Masters of the past, and especially if those games are annotated by great players. Also, players like Capablanca, Bronstein and Kramnik opined that it is a very good idea to explore the development of chess by going through the games of the great Masters of the past.
As a footnote, I want to draw attention to a beautiful documentary about Susan Polgar called "my Brilliant Brain". It is a brilliant presentation which demonstrates how a chess player's mind works. It works in patterns! The deeper your chess culture, the more patterns are stored in you brain, and the richer your game will be.
Now, I will start with two examples; one from Philidor (18th Century) and one from Bronstein (20th Century). In both examples please notice the similarity on the kingside; in both cases Black has a type of "wall" that states his superiority in that wing. Take a look, please!
FRANçOIS ANDRé PHILIDOR
(born Sep-07-1726, died Aug-31-1795, 68 years old) France
And here is Bronstein's example, played 161 years later!
Tchaikovsky Hall, World Championship Match, 1951
Botvinnik-Bronstein, World Championship Match, 1951
The next example is from 1834. Alexander McDonnell and Charles Mahe De La Bourdonnais played 85 games in six matches that year! They are considered the fathers of modern positional chess. Morphy studied their games thoroughly! And the others studied Morphy, etc....
In this game Black's pawns get going....and the final position is incredible!
LOUIS CHARLES MAHE DE LA BOURDONNAIS
(born 1795, died Dec-09-1840, 45 years old) France
I consider this next game a work of art!
The next game is, in my view, immortal. It demonstrates what happens when you combine talent with imagination. The great Tigran Petrosian, at the age of 17, produces a masterpiece! A few moves after his combination, in which he sacrifices a piece for two pawns, Black is tied hand and foot. His pieces have nowhere to go! Black could have resigned after move 22. Enjoy!
TIGRAN VARTANOVICH PETROSIAN
(born Jun-17-1929, died Aug-13-1984, 55 years old) Armenia
The next game is by my favorite player, David Bronstein. This game is special to me for a few reasons. First of all, it was played on the year I was born (1956). Second of all, Bronstein shares with us the inspiration behind this game, which brings me to one point that Bronstein, Capablanca and Kramnik considered important: studying the games of the great Masters is important for one's development.
DAVID BRONSTEIN
(born Feb-19-1924, died Dec-05-2006, 82 years old) Ukraine
Here is Bronstein's preface to this game in the book "200 Open Games" ( an excellent book by Bronstein on his games starting with 1.e4 e5, with White or Black):
"When I have to play too many severely positional games (such is chess life today) then for relaxation I take my collection of the best games of players of the nineteenth century down from my book-shelf, and find among the first, of course, the games of the magician, Morphy. The uncrowned world champion, Paul Morphy, loved a fast, sharp game and would choose corresponding openings. The move 3.Bc4 was one of his favorites.
"Whilst preparing for my game against the Norwegian master Rojahn, I stumbled upon a curious idea based upon the power of mobile pawns. Then I remembered that Morphy liked to play the variation with 6.d3.I eagerly opened a collection of his games; there was not a word about the move 8.d3xe4 and not a single game played in that way. Good, I shall risk it and be its originator. I got permission from my team colleagues and rushed into the fight.
"White's bold idea proved a formidable weapon. The onslaught of the closely linked White pawns made Black's pieces tremble and they began gradually crawling back to rearguard positions. The first to change its mind was the dark-squared bishop, which, ashamed to play 32....Bb8, thought it better to die immediately on the field of battle. Its example was soon followed by the black knight.
"After the game I was regally rewarded: my opponent asked in a very quiet voice: "You of course overlooked the bishop on c4?"
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Dear readers, enjoy the game!
Now, in the next game, played 7 years after the Bronstein-Rojahn game, Tal makes a similar sacrifice on move 19.
MIKHAIL TAL
(born Nov-09-1936, died Jun-28-1992, 55 years old) Latvia
Tal writes:
"In fact this sacrifice owes its existence to Bronstein, for it was on this very day that he told me about his game with Rojahn (11th Chess Olympiad, Moscow 1956).
What a gentleman, Tal, to give credit to Bronstein! How rare that is today!
The next game is by Pal Benko. Again, it shows the power of pawns....Benko slowly starts expanding, commanding more and more space. Even after the exchange of both pairs of rooks and the Queens, White's advantage continues into the endgame.....
PAL BENKO
(born Jul-15-1928, died Aug-26-2019, 91 years old) France (federation/nationality United States of America)
In the next game, Bronstein's pawns place a clamp on Black's game. For a while, it is not clear how White was going to win. The position seemed deadlocked! But after 36. Ndxc4 White's pieces broke through decisively.
In the next game (from 1947), Bronstein uses a piece sacrifice to unleash the power of his pawns on the Black King. After 26. Bxb6 White's pieces AND pawns explode in activity on the queenside.
And the next game, our last for today, takes us back to the beginning....Philidor! Not only that, it is annotated by Philidor himself! Enjoy!
Kramnik speaks:
Kramnik – In my view, if you want to reach the heights, you should study the entire history of chess. I can’t give any clear logical explanation for it, but I think it is absolutely essential to soak up the whole of chess history.
Interviewer – Starting from Gioachino Greco?
Kramnik – I don’t think it is important to start with those ancient times because that is just the ABC of chess. However, Philidor’s games should be gone through, not to mention Anderssen and Morphy, whose games should be studied without fail. This knowledge will be a real help in self-improvement.
And Bronstein on how to study chess:
"You should not "read" a chess creation but you should move the pieces on the chessboard and make move by move exactly as the work of Chess Art was created for the very first time. On your own chessboard with your own chess pieces and in complete silence, to be able to follow closely the events as they unfold before your very eyes. The best way is to do this in three stages."
"First, play through the whole game without hesitating more than a couple of seconds at each move. If you have the urge to pause longer-don't! Take a piece of paper and make some notes if you wish, and continue to play the game to the end. Then get a cup of tea or coffee, relax and try your best to recall from memory the spectacle you have just seen. Try to establish the reasons why certain decisions were made."
"Second, play through the game again, somewhat slower this time,and make notes of everything that you did not see the first time."
"Third, now go straight to those pencil marks and give your imaginative and creative energy free reign. Try to play better than my partner and I. If you do not agree, look closely at each decision, either for White or for Black, with a critical eye. If you look at a game like this you will discover a lot of new and useful knowledge, which you can use for your own benefit."
"Write your findings in a notebook in order to look at them later when you are in a different mood, especially if you like the game. If, during stage one, you took no notes, don't look at this game again. Go on to the next one that, hopefully, will give you more pleasure and satisfaction. It just means that it did not appeal to you. Although I consider chess an Art, I will not blame you at all if you do not like a particular game. In a museum you cannot like every painting you see. As French gourmets say, taste is a very personal matter."
"When I was learning to play chess, I studied thousands and thousands of games played by the older generation in exactly the same way and gained a lot from them."
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With best wishes to everyone!
