https://www.chess.com/openings/Giuoco-Piano-Game-Closed-Center-Holding-Variation-6.O-O-Nf6
Soultanbéieff was a Belgian chess master. He was made a national master in 1931, three years after this beautiful demonstration of how to play highly accurate and attacking chess. His other famous demolition job is a Sicilian Scheveningen game against Borodin in 1943, which is found here: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1288488
The engine reports a mediocre 58.2% accuracy for White, and a near perfect 99.3% accuracy for Black.
The idea behind 3.c3 is to prepare for and support d4.
Black anticipates the d4 attack on his bishop with the defensive move 4...Bb6.
The engine considers 4...Nf6 to be 0.42 better than the 4...Bb6 retreat, and 9...c3 to be 0.09 better than 9...h3, otherwise Black played a perfect game.
7.d5 has the benefit of attacking the Knight on c6. The engine considers it the best move but it has some drawbacks:
1. The d-pawn blocks the bishop on c4 from moving back along the a2-g8 diagonal
2. The Black bishop on b6 now has an opening diagonal targeting the f2 pawn
3. The Queenside pieces are ready to be developed but this is delayed by this pawn move
The engine's alternative to 7.d5 is b4. However Chernev's principle here is: In the opening, move only those pawns that help develop the pieces.
Black's knight retreat 7...Ng8 looks very passive so let's look at the obvious alternative move 7...Na5 which attacks the White bishop. How would White most likely respond? With Bd3. The Black knight now has no safe squares to move to, and White can attack it with b4. So if 7...Na5 8.Bd3 0-0 9.b4 the board would look like this and Black would be about to lose a piece:
Now back to the game as it happened.
White's move 8.Bd3 (+0.88) defends the e4 pawn, and is a strong move, but it goes against the opening principles, including: Do not move the same piece twice in the opening
White could be developing another piece here such as 8.Nd2 (+0.93) which also defends the e4 pawn. Qe2 also defends the e4 pawn and follows the opening principles, however the engine calculates Qe2 as inferior to both Nd2 and Bd3.
8...d3 strengthens the pawn centre as well as opening a path for the bishop on c8. It is the best move.
White move 9.h3 (+0.52) is questionable. It is played to prevent 9...Bg4 which would pin the knight. But it weakens the defenses around the King and the h4 square becomes a very good target for Black to move a piece to.
When Black plays 9...h6 it sends a signal that his next move may be g5, beginning a pawn advance on White's kingside. In the book Chernev argues that although this violates the same principle that he censured White h3 move for, this move is justified because Black's king is not castled and the move is part of a strong plan, not just an attempt to prevent a single opponent move.
10. Qe2 is slightly inferior to 10.Nbd2 but is still rated as excellent by the engine.
10...g4 just as Black's previous move hinted.
11.Nh2 is played to stop or slow down Black's pawn advances. The engine instead recommends the alternative of starting a Queenside counter-attack with a4.
11...g4! White's attempt to stop the pawn advance failed because Black is not afraid to lose a pawn here.
12. hxg4 as it is a take or be taken scenario, White might as well capture first here.
12...Rg8 develops the Rook and adds a 3rd attacker onto the g4 pawn (along with the bishop and knight)
White's first blunder is the wild pawn capture 13.Bxh6. Chernev stresses: Do not grab pawns at the expense of development or position.
The correct move for White here was 13.Be3 to neutralize the pressure of Black's bishop on b6.
The board would have looked like this:
14.Be3 so White gets to the correct square, but it is a move late.
14...Nh2 captures the White knight.
White second blunder is capturing the Knight with the King on move 15, because Black can play Qh4+
It is understandable why the King took the Knight on move 15, as the Knight was threatening to capture White's rook. However the rook is not currently very valuable as it is not doing anything. The bigger threat is the threat of checkmate.
On move 15 the engine recommends 15.Bxb6 instead, he would still be -6.87 but that is a lot better than -27.8
16.Qh3 the pawn is pinned so the Queen is safe on h3. White resigns.
Principles learned from this game (from Pallabi):
1. Occupy the centre with pawns.
2. Develop your pieces towards the centre.
3. Castle as early as possible.
4. Do not develop your Queen early in the opening.
5. Don't just move pawns. Move pieces!
6. In the opening, move only those pawns that help develop the pieces.
7. Do not move the same piece twice in the opening.
8. Do not push pawns in front of your castled King.
9. Do not grab pawns at the expense of development or position.
Pallabi video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGJIqhQMcRU&t=0s
The following master games are featured in the book Logical Chess: Move by Move by the late Irving Chernev who was a NM strength chess player.
This is a classic book that was written in 1957. It is sometimes described as a beginner's book but the publishers categorize it as for club players, and I agree that there is plenty in this book for intermediate level players.
James Stripes wrote this review of the book https://chessskill.blogspot.com/2013/01/logical-chess-book-review.html where he concluded "Chernev's Logical Chess: Move by Move must be read critically. The process of studying the book thoroughly, both absorbing its lessons and challenging its faults, should be beneficial to any club player wishing to improve. I heartily recommend this book to advanced beginners who understand rudimentary tactics, as well as to players up to and including my current strength (strong A Class)."
It is in this critical spirit that we will be studying the game.
The full collection of games from the book can be found on chessgames.com here: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1033042
I think a more accurate title for this book would be "Principled Chess". It is not logical in the sense of having a formula that will tell you exactly which move to play. It is a collection of games that are analysed from the point of view of whether they conform to the classic chess principles.
In this series of posts, I am checking the advice in the book against the analysis engine which of course was not available at the time the book was written. The analysis engine does not rate moves according to principles, it is just a complex calculation that produces a number that says how many centi-pawns better White is or Black is. So this is a very different perspective and at times this clashes with the ideas in the book as we shall see.
Onto the first game:
Game 1: Theodor von Scheve - Richard Teichmann
Berlin 1907,
Giuoco Piano, closed variation
Game starts with the Giuoco Piano main line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3
The main drawback of 4.c3 is it prevents the Knight moving to c3.
The main advantage is it prepares for the move d4.
4...Qe7
On this move Chernev comments:
"Very good! Black develops a piece while parrying the threat. If White persists in playing 5 d4, the continuation 5...exd4 6 cxd4 Qxe4+ wins a pawn. The capture with check gives White no time to recover the pawn, and an extra pawn, everything else being equal, is enough to win the game."
However this commentary is, at best, incomplete. Let's look at the scenario of White playing 5.d4 after Qe7 and Black responding with 5...exd4
White can simply castle here. What does Black do next? If Qxe4 Black wins the pawn but then White can play Re1
The Queen is pinned and so Black will lose the Queen on the next move.
A better move for Black to play is 4...Nf6
4...Qe7 is not played nearly as often as 4...Nf6 today because the statistics show that it loses 48% of the time. See the opening explorer here for details: https://www.chess.com/explorer?moveList=e4+e5+Nf3+Nc6+Bc4+Bc5+c3&ply=7&origMoves=e4+e5
In fact 4...Qe7 has not been played at the top level since Smyslov played it against Sax in 1975 (the game was a draw).
Both the advice in the book and the engine's move classification fail to teach the best move here. 4...Qe7 is classed as a book move but it is known to be inferior to 4...Nf6 so the important lesson not all book moves should be considered equal, or even good.
You can learn something about which book moves are better by looking at how the evaluations change when the moves are played, e.g. after 4...Qe7 it changes from +0.20 to +0.76 meaning White is about half a pawn better off after Black plays the move. If 4...Nf6 is played instead the evaluation stays at +0.20.
In this game, White castles on move 5. According to the analysis engine it is very slightly better for White to play d4 on move 5, before castling (+0.76 vs +0.73)
7. a4 is the best move according to the analysis engine however Chernev criticizes the move for violating the principle "Develop all your pieces before starting any combinations".
7...a6 is the best response to a4.
8. a5 is the first move that the analysis engine rates significantly worse than the best move (+0.23 vs +0.71 for d5). Here White is playing hope chess and hoping Black will capture with Bxa5 (a mistake), allowing 9.d5 Nd8 10. Rxa5
8...Ba7 is rated as good by the engine. The best move is Nxa5. Chernev fails to mention that Nxa5 would have been better. Here's what the board would look like:
White cannot capture the knight without losing his rook, and White bishop is under attack. If Rxa5 Bxa5 then White can play Qa5+, but then Black can reply with b5 and the board looks like this:
Back to the game as it happened:
9. h3 is ridiculed as a coffee-house move by Chernev. The engine rates it as excellent (+0.60) but not the best (9.Re1 +1.40 or 9. d5 +0.91).
There was an article written by Dan Heisman many years ago discussing the differences between Chernev and Rybka engine in this game: https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132019/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman118.pdf
Chernev quotes Tarrasch: "You should never, unless of necessity or to gain an advantage, move the pawns in front of the castled king"
And Alekhine: "Always try to keep the three pawns in front of your castled king on their original squares as long as possible."
Now who is right, Chernev or the engine? Let's look at what would have happened if the move that h3 was played to prevent actually happened. Say White played Re1 and Black responds Bg4:
Which side is better here? Black or White?
White is not in big trouble here, because White can even lose both Knight and Queen and still be okay. If 10.Bg5 Qxg5 11. Nxg5 Bxd1 12.Rxd1 the board looks like this
White is still doing okay here. And 10.Bg5 is not even the best because 10.d5 creates bigger problems for Black. So unless there is some other advantage to the h3 move besides stopping Black from playing Bg4, then h3 is a bad move as Chernev says.
9...Nf6 is the best move and conforms to the principle "Develop a threat whenever possible"
10.dxe5 is an inaccuracy (the Best move is Re1). The reason why capturing here is not so good is the rule "Open lines are to the advantage of the player whose development is superior."
10...Nxe5 is best. It would be an inaccuracy to capture with the pawn. Capturing with the knight also attacks the bishop on c4.
11. Nxe5 is the first move that the engine considers a mistake. Chernev agrees because it sacrifices the defender of White's castled king. Tarrasch said: "A knight at f3 [f6 for Black] is the best defence of a castled position on the kingside."
What could White have played instead? The engine recommends sacrificing the bishop and playing Re1. The reason is White can then play Qa4+, simultaneously attacking the King and the Knight on c4.
11...Qxe5. Despite Teichmann's nickname "Richard the 5th" for almost always finishing 5th in tournaments, we can see he is a superior player to von Scheve. This is again the best move and the engine rates the position as -1.60. The Black Queen now dominates the center of the board.
12. Nd2 protects the e4 pawn but is another mistake. Should have played Qf3 instead which both protects the e4 pawn and the h3 pawn, and creates some counter-play.
12...bxh3! Teichmann smells a checkmate combination. White's next move 13. gxh3 is forced.
13...Qg3+! White's f pawn is pinned and cannot do anything. The King is forced to move 14.Kh1
14...Qxh3+ takes the pawn and forces 15.Kg1
15...Ng4 setting up a possible Qh2#
16.Nf3 to prevent Qh2#
16...Qg3+ is considered to be a mistake by the engine, which says 0-0-0 is best here.
17.Kh1 is forced
17...Bxf2 is considered excellent by the engine which thinks of Qh3+ as best. Nevertheless the move was good enough to prompt White to resign here.
Chernev says "Black's threat was 18...Qh3+ 19.Nh2 Qxh2#. As 18. Rxf2 runs into 18...Nxf2#, there was no escape.
However the engine says the game was still in play because White could have attacked the King with his bishop. Black could not capture the bishop because of 19.Qd5+. So the game could have continued something like 18. Bxf7+ Ke7 19. Bg5+ Kf8 20. Bf4 Qxf4 21. Bh5 Nf6 22. Rxf2 Nxh5
23. Qd5 g6 24. Qxb7 Re8 25. Qxc7 Ng3+ 26. Kg1 Nxe4 27. Re2 Qg4+ 28. Rg2 Qc8 29.
Qb6 Qc5+ 30. Nd4 Kg7 31. Qxc5 dxc5
Now let's review again. White was slightly winning up until move 9. Capturing the pawn on move 10 was an inaccuracy that gave Black a slight advantage, but it was White's mistake on move 11 that gave Black a significant advantage.
If White had played 11.Re1 instead he would have stayed level, and after 11..Nc4 12.Qa4+ Nd7 13. Qxc4 the game would have been exactly level.
Pallabi video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKgWlT7XIjE