Chess to Enjoy / Entertainment
Bypassing the Middleman
As Meat Loaf sings, “Two out of Three Ain’t Bad” By GM ANDY SOLTIS
THERE’S AN OVERLOOKED STRATEGY based on simple arithmetic: A chess game can end in three ways. You can win, you lose, or you draw. And if you can eliminate the one in the middle, your success rates
soars.Yeah, I know. Sounds too easy. But here’s how it works.
Practical, but dramatic GM Anatoly Karpov GM Viswanathan Anand FIDE World Championship 1997-8
win is the much more likely one. It took a while to prove that but Black resigned on move 108. Moves like 31. Qxg7+!! are rare. But
opportunities like that—which turn three possible outcomes into two—are not. In some cases, you are simply increasing the likelihood of a draw at the expense of the possibility of a loss. You don’t have to be a math wizard to know that’s a good trade.
Black is down an army and a half but
threatens 31. ... Qxf3+. The obvious defense, 31. Rf1, gets complicated after 31. ... Nxf3 32. Rxf3 Qe2+. Can White escape perpetual check then?
The answer takes a lot of calculation (33. Kg3 Qe1+ 34. Rf2 Qg1+ 35. Kf3 Qg4+, for example). There are even some losing lines, such as 34. Kh3 Qe6+ 35. Kh4?? Qg4 mate. But that eminently practical player Ana-
toly Karpov solved White’s problem in the arithmetic—and dramatic—way, with 31. Qxg7+!!. After 31. ... Kxg7 32. Bxf6+ Kg6 33. Bxe5 Qxe5 we have a situation much eas- ier to understand:
(see diagram top of next column) With two connected rooks and two extra
pawns for the queen White has a material edge. But what’s more important is that he would have to hang a rook to lose; he has eliminated the middle outcome. Of the two remaining results, a White
16 February 2014 | Chess Life
Nimzo-Indian Defense, Rubinstein Variation (E54)
GM Evgeny Vladimirov GM Garry Kasparov Team rapids match 2001
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 0-0 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. 0-0 cxd4 8. exd4 dxc4 9. Bxc4 b6 10. Qe2 Bb7 11. Rd1 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Qc7 13. Bb2
of the standard 13. Ne5 and 13. Bd2, and the gambit line 13. Bd3 Qxc3 14. Bb2. Black’s answer was 13. ... Bxf3! and then
14. Qxf3 Qxc4!. At the cost of an Exchange Black made an excellent three-into-two reduction. True, White’s queen is not trapped after
15. Qxa8 Nc6 16. Qb7. But after 16. ... Nd5 there is no real risk to Black because he can force a repetition of moves to draw just by attacking the queen. This was apparent after 17. Re1 Rb8 18.
Qd7 Rd8 19. Qb7. Black could take the draw (19. ... Rb8 20. Qd7 Rd8) or play for more. He saw that 19. ... Na5 20. Qxa7 Qc6 is
foiled by 21. c4! and 21 ... Nxc4 22. Rac1, when the queen escapes. But since there was little White could do to free his queen, Black could explore other options—and keep the draw in his back pocket. He tried 19. ... h5, with the idea of setting
up g2 as a target after ... h4-h3 and/or ... Nf4.
White is reduced to passes such as 20.
h3 and 20. ... h4 21. f3. Many computers haven’t a clue about this kind of position and claim they are equal. White chose 20. Bc1??. It’s not bad
because it hangs the c-pawn but because White no longer can stop a queen trap by means of c3-c4!? and Rac1. The game ended with 20. ... Na5! 21. Qxa7 Qc6 22. Qa6 Nc4! 23. Rb1 Nc7, White resigned. We all like to be in that comfort zone
where we feel that there is no danger of los- ing. Even if our winning chances are fairly small, it’s still a nice, warm and safe place to be. That’s why it pays to get your opponent
to worry about the middle outcome. Mikhail Botvinnik recalled how he even managed to unnerve Alexander Alekhine. Alekhine thought he had the psycholog-
ical edge in their game at Nottingham 1936 because (a) he sprang a prepared variation in a Dragon Variation of the Sicilian Defense. And because (b) his home analysis indi-
White’s last move was a novelty, in place
cated two outcomes were by far the most likely, a White win or a draw.
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