Nicely put ... though I find it hard that any high-level game gets played without the players grinding through atleast a few variation trees, especially at critical positions where there are forcing lines.
By omitting this, I find the game a little less instructive ... and a GM quite dishonest if he willingly omitted his analysis lines at critical points in the game.
Aagard , Heisman and even DeGroot have recorded instances of multiple GM "vocalized" thought processes and I always see some calculation effort.
Granted, the better players are pretty damn efficient about choosing what and when to calculate, but even the best can't "hand wave" through a whole game now, can they?
Chess is after all evaluation AND analysis.
I do agree that most authors can do a way better job separating the "ideas" from an ocean of variations that may distract the reader.
One often hears of Grandmasters winning astonishing games. One still more often hears of commentators who obscure such games, ignoring variations or overlooking, key ideas, perform some other abomination of an annotation, filling their readers' minds with rubbish, and reducing the subject of their learned pronouncements to obscurity. Now, that all these thing take place is unfortunate, but what can be done; these annotators have as much right as anyone else to comment on a game. But here an important question arises: how is it that these chessic obscurers, lawyers, if you will, conduct their dishonest legerdemain? 'Tis the lack of attention they give to the thought, the mental process that these grandmasters use to win. Notice how in any poorly-written and even more poorly-analyzed chess book the authors focus of vomiting otiose variations and almost never say something as" Now Black's Idea was"
This error I wish to correct in examining this game. I will subject it to the most rigorous lenses of the analysis microscope, not disregarding the minutest nicety or passing over any worth move; It is not the veneferous variations of the openings' books' authors that I present to you—nay, I mean to show you what the players of this game were thinking.
1. Nf3 this is almost a completely non-committal move. White only prevents 1…e5, but black can play it anyway with due preparation. 1…d5 now there is some more information about the position. Black creates a weakness on e5 (the pawn cannot go to d6 to defend that square); so white should have it in his mind to play on black weakness. Also, black expands on Queenside; he is expected to play on the side on which he expands (white should remember to try and prevent black’s playing on the queenside). So, how is white going to continue? Is He going to exploit black’s e5 weakness (kingside play. He is controlling a kingside square)? Or is he going to try to take black’s strongpoint, whence will come all of his play, and weaken it? Or will he have a combination of both (stopping the Queenside, and then turning to the Kingside?)
d4 White transposes to a double queen’s pawn opening. Now, in such an opening the critical square is e4. Why? Because now e4 will never be defender by d3. And if e4 is the critical square, then black should try to control it; an if black is going to control it, then white shouldn’t let him; so white needs to stops black’s controlling e4. But how? Before answering this question, ask yourself how black will control e4— why, with …d5 and …Nf6 you will say. Exactly. And now how does white prevent that? With c4 to pressurize the pressurizer and Bg5 to threaten the knight! The whole game, at least the opening and middlegame, will be a battle for the control of the critical square, e4. 2…Nf6 3.c4 e6 this move does indeed protect the critical pawn that controls e4, but it allows for white’s pinning of the knight, and blocks up black’s light squared bishop. Both of these can be balanced out, however. 4.Nc3 Bb4 this move requires a special dissection. 4…Bb4 does control the e4 square by pinning, and does indeed threaten far worse things; black, in the future, will fianchetto his bishop on h1-a8, paralyzing e4 and d5, seizing them away from white, he will, after taking on c4 and having stuck white’s centre, destroy the centre with a brute …c7-c5, rendering white helpless in the face of his queenside attack. These will happen to white if he does nothing, but what of the consequences of this move? The bishop on b4 cannot go to e7; and if he can’t go the e7 then white will have and easy job pinning the f6 knight; so the knight on f6 is weaker. And what of the bishop itself? Ah, the bishop! Its presence on b4 does have benefits, but it has drawback—serious drawbacks. For one, the bishop on b4 is weak. And if this bishop is weak, then white can exploit this—with the queen, leaving black with only one option: …Nc6, and this move puts the knight out-of-play and interferes with black’s queenside development. Can it be that black with his move has hindered his own plan? It must be so. White took note of all of these subtitles and played to exploit them. First, however, he must stop the threats (supra). 5.cd√ stops any ideas of …cd and …b6, Bb7. Alos opens the c-file which white should remember if he intends to play against black’s queenside-hindering plan. 5…ed opens the e-file so white will have to be war of black counter play coming that way. 6. Bg5√ white takes advantage of black’s bishop’s positon on b4. Now white takes control of the diaganol and even threatens to take the knight which would drag out the queen and weaken the e4. White has the following intems to do:take advantage of black's weak bishop on b4, attack queenside and create a force superiority there, and take black's pieces out-of-play. 6...h6 black creates a weakness of the kingside and invites the following plan. 7.Bxf6! white eliminates one of black's defenders of e4, he drags the queen away from the theater of action. Now you may say that white has given a bishop pair. But I ask you: is this advantage of consequence? true, the positon does bear an open character, but what of that? Is not a strength only a strength if the one posessing it can exploit it? And how can black exploit his bishop pair? Now white's knights will dance over the board controlling the suares that this knight left behind. And also, black will not have the bishop pair for long as the following play will show 8.Qa4† Nc6
on c6 the knight does nothing but interfere with black's play and make a target of himself an the queenside. White has in mind to attack the Queenside, and to complete development. 9.e3 0-0 10. Be2 white gives black no opportunity to free himself; if 10.Bd3, then 10...Be7 (∆ 11...Nb4) 10...Be6 this weakens the b7 and,thus, the Queenside, a fact that will prove to be important later 11.0-0 a6?! black wants badly to play ...b5 and get some queenside play, but this weakens b7 and the b5 idea will
weaken c5 white uncorks his plan of queen side play, exploiting the weaknesses made by black. 12. Rfd1 Rfd8 13.Ne5! Bxc3 14.Nxc6 Bd7 black may think he has white's combination, but… 15.Qb3! Bxc6 16.Qxc3 Qd6 now let's evaluate this position and compare the pieces
The White Queen is bet
ter than the black one: she has more manuvering room; she will support the attack that will follow.
The white rooks are better than the black ones: they have the c-file the use, though the rook on d1 could be better placed.
The bishop on e2 is i
nfinetly beter than the one on c6: the one is active and free; the other, passive,condemed to the queenside , and restricted. So what's black's plan? he wants to improve th placemrnt of his Light squared bishop; White needs to prevent that. 17.Rdc1 killing two birds with one stone: the rook both improves his position and plays a prophlylactic role. 17...Rfd8 black threatens to free his bishop; what can white do? 18. Qc5! 18... Bd7 19.b4
siezes space on the queenside and threatens to gain still more 19...Qxc5 20. bc± Kf8 now where are white's targets? Why not the b7 pawn? 21. Rab1 white has sevral things to do; he needs to restrict black's pieces, and, aft
er pinning black down on the queenside, to switch to the kingside. 21...Bc6 poor bishop! it thought that it'd go to the b1-h7 diagonal, but it must back to
the passive position. 22.Kf1 White has plenty of time. 22...g5 23.Bd3 Ke7 Ha! do you see any other potential weaknesses? The Grandmaster did—h6. 24.Bf5 Rf8 25.f3 Rad8 26.Kf2 (∆ Rh1) 26...Kf6 27.Bd3 Kg7 28. h4! f6 29.Rh1 Rh8 30.Bf5 there is ,I am afraid, a considerable hole in black's position. 30...Rhf8 31.Rhd1 Rfe8 32. Rh1 Re7 33.Rb3 Ree8 34.g4 Re7 35.Rh2 Rde8 36.Rh1 Rd8 37.Rbb1Rde8 38. Rbe1 Rd8 Now! the pressure has been released! 39.hg! fg 40.f4 gf 41.ef Rde8 42.Re5! Rxe5 43.fe Re7 44.Kg3 Be8 45.Kf4 Rf7 46.e6 Re7 47.Ke5 Bc6 48.g5 +- hg 49.Rh6 Kf8 50.Kf6 1-0