thanks for all concils _vxD...
Defense through Activity and potential Activity
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Dec 7, 2011
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#3
Hou was using a version of Queens Gambit called the Ragozin. In the c4xd5 lines and some others black uses Bb4 to get counter-play against c3 with c5, then Qa5 and Ne4. Black needs to play h6, and g5 to unpin. If black doesn't play actively like this bb4 is just misplaced compared to Be7 of normal Queens Gambit Declined. It's actually quite a trendy line with FIDE 2700+'s at moment.
Does anyone have an understanding of the concept of defense through activity and potential activity? A lot of master annotated videos actually describe "poor" defense and "strong" defense however they also act suprised when Houdini or some other engine will find that the "poor" defense is actually safe :/
As seen in the recent Womens World Chess Championship, the win in game 3 shows black using a "bad" defensive stucture with pawns on h6 and g5 and no defensive light-square bishop. This is video annotated by ChessNetwork here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYro4bIKmVg
and the annotation is actually very clear and explanitory, with strong description of tacticical opportunities. I noticed in the game that Hou was able to defend by creating counter attacking threats, transforming the attack on h6 into an exchange for the a2 pawn and also defending the important d4 square with the threat of checkmate. This is perhaps a defense from piece activity and potential, not simply a strong pawn structure and strong coverage of key squares.
Another recent video was made by Kingscrusher for the Carlsen vs Gelfland game in the Tal Memorial 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakr6NAAJQo
I have subscribed to both of these channels since they are really both excellent. In this game notice that Carlsen's defense is also very computer-like - Carlsen's king is forced to go for a walk into the center, which conveniently happens during the transition to endgame, thanks to Carlsens move Qb5. The defense used is not a piece activity defense at every move, however some of the later moves are attacking moves that force Gelfland to find a defense.
So perhaps the story about not moving pawns in front of the king and keeping the knight available and the opponents files closed is for beginners, and the real good defensive setups are purely situational and arise from variational rather than positional analysis.