B or i s A vrukh: Prophylactical thinking The following game, which has been played in 19th century, together with nice comments by Mark Dvoretsky in his book "Methods of Chess training" volume 1 made a very deep impression on me and significantly influenced my play.
"prophylactical thinking", in principle this move is quite good, as Black queen is well placed on e7. It's quite flexible approach, because Black keeps all options open. There is only one small problem, Black completely completel y overlooked White next move. If Black really reall y wanted to place queen on e7, first 9...a6 was essential. Obviously Black has other plans at his disposal: 9...Ne4, following by 10...f5, Nf6 – h6 h6 (g6) ... etc, trying to seize initiative on the kingisde. Or, finally, 9...c5 challenging White center.
Zukertort : Blackburne, London 1883 1.c4 For me the topic of the examined game is "Prophylactical thinking", what does it mean exactly? We are definitely all familar with term "prophylactics" and everybody have went through the games of Karpov and Petrosian, who considered to be great "prophylactical players". Here in my article we will take this issue forward and a bit deeper. Prophylactical thinking is the way to anticipate your opponent ideas and even long-term plans. In my opinion this is one of the elements, that makes difference between really strong and good players. We are all pay attention, to concrete threats, created by last move of our opponent and also we always try to figure out the plan behind his last moves, but do we try to realize our opponent long-term plans, do we ask how he will react after our move? 1...e6 2.e3 Nf6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Be2 Bb7 5.0 – 0 d5 6.d4 Through very strange move order we reached normal position of Queens Indian 4.e3 line, with one small difference: White bishop placed on e2, instead of usual d3 square, but here we can make discount, as this game has been played 130 years ago! 6...Bd6 7.Nc3 0 – 0 8.b3 Nbd7 9.Bb2 Qe7?! This is already the first example of FIDE Surveys – Boris Avrukh
10.Nb5! Ne4 11.Nd6 cd6 12.Nd2 It's obvious, that White should chase off , or exchange Black "annoying" knight, from this point of view White last move looks very logical, nevertheless Dvoretsky pointed out, that more accurate would have been 12.Ne1 (with idea 13. f3), logically explaining, that in position with space advantage it makes sense to avoid exchanges. No doubts, this rule is correct, but I always claim, that we should figure our concrete variations, so here I disagree with Mark, since after 12...Qg5!, or even 12...dc4!? 13.bc4 Qg5 White has no comfortable way to protect e3 pawn, for example: 13.Qd3 (Or 13.Qc1 Rfc8 14.f3 Nef6 and White queen is obviously 1
misplaced on c1.) 13...Rfc8 (Worse is 13...f5 14.f3 Nef6 15.Ba3) 14.f3 Nef6 15.Rc1 Ba6 and it goes without saying, that White pieces are lack of coordination. 12...Ndf6 13.f3 Here White missed a beautiful position decision, as correctly was mentioned by Dvoretsky - 13.Nb1! Avoiding knight exchange and creating a concrete idea of traping the knight from e4. It's also important to see the refuation of 13...Nd7 (13...e5 14.f3 Ng5 15.de5 only not (15.h4? Ne6 16.de5 de5 17.Be5 Rad8© and Black has huge compensation for being pawn down.) 15...de5 16.Ba3!±, winning exchange. If not this solution 13.Nb1 will not work at all.) 14.f3 Nef6 15.Nc3 and White obviously improved his position and retains a pleasant positional edge. 13...Nd2 14.Qd2 dc4?! As Dvoretsky mentioned 14...Ba6 was Black best move in the position. This is one of my favourite moments in this game. How to recapture?
XIIIIIIIIY 9r+ + t rk+0 rk+0 9z pl+ w pl+ qpz qpz pp0 pp0 9 p z pps p zps n +0 9+ + + + 0 9 +pz P + +0 9+P+ z PP+ PP+ 0 9Pv L QL+Pz Q wL+Pz P0 P0 9t R + +Rm K 0 xiiiiiiiiy 15.Bc4 According to Dvoretsky this is the right recapture. Funnily enough during several years, when I examined this game with my students I was expressing the same opinion. FIDE Surveys – Boris Avrukh
I always mentioned that 15.bc4 looks quite tempiting from White point of view, as White gets more compact pawns in the center, not to forget about additional possibilities on the queenside, connected with advance of a-pawn in order to create a target on b6. On the other hand, if we anticipate Black play we can realize, that he gets an easy play against c4 – pawn, Ba6, Rfc8, Rc7, Rac8 and evantually d6 – d5 d5 at suitable moment. My conclusion for a long time was, that bishop recapture is preferable. Everything is very logical and clear, but we both forgot about concrete moves and usually this is much more valuable than general rule. In fact after 15...Rfc8 c4 pawn is clear target. (15...Ba6 16.e4 Rfc8 17.Rac1 transpose to 15...Rfc8) 16.e4! (16.a4 Ba6 17.Qb4 Qd7!, following by 18...d5 indeed everything goes Black way.) 16...Ba6 17.Rac1 Rc7 18.Rfe1 Rac8 19.Qb4 and if nessessary later on following by Qa4, chasing off Black bishop from a6, White retains definite positional plus. So the right conclusion is that both moves possible andit's rather matter of taste what kind of position to choose. 15...d5 16.Bd3 Rfc8 17.Rae1 This is one of the key positions in the game. Dvoretsky correctly claims, that Black best chance should be connected with 17...a5 having two ideas: 1)....Ba6, trying to exchange light-squared bishops and 2) a5 – a4, a4, getting some counterplay on the queenside. For preventing both ideas he recommends 17.Qe2! Everything is right, but after 17...a5 18.a4 (In case of 18.a3 a4 19.b4 Ne8! Black knight is heading for c4 and he should be more or less OK.) 18...Qb4 I am not sure, that even Grandmaster can discover amazing 19.Bc1! and pawn is untouchable (19...Qb3? 20.Bd2+ – , following by Rfb1. 17...Rc7? 2
Doubling rooks along c-file is pointless, since there are no squares to penetrate p enetrate into White camp. As we already know it was nessessary to play 17...a5!, with two ideas: 18...Ba6 and 18...a4. 18.e4 Rac8 19.e5 Ne8
XIIIIIIIIY 9 +r+n+k+0 9z plt plt r qpz q wpz pp0 pp0 9 p z +p+ +0 9+ +pz P + 0 9 + P z + +0 9+P+L+P+ 0 9Pv L Q w +Pz P0 P0 9+ + t RRm RRm K 0 xiiiiiiiiy 20.f4? A remarkable moment. It's amazing, that Dvoretsky didn't notice it in first edition, but managed to correct it in second one. It's amazing, that this tempting move loses all the advantage! And as always the "prophylactical thinking" would seriously help here. What can be more natural than to push f-pawn lauchning the attack on the kingside, but if we ask what Black can do in order to stop White attack, we can easily understand the problem. The most simple solution was 20.g4!, following by advance of f-pawn. 20...g6? Black misses a golden chance to change the charachter of the game. After 20...f5! with the key point, that after 21.ef6 (In case of 21.g4 g6 follwing by Ng7 and Kf7 I don't believe White has real chances to break through.) 21...Nf6 22.f5 Black has 22...Ne4!, with normal position. 21.Re3 f5 22.ef6 Nf6 FIDE Surveys – Boris Avrukh
May be 22...Qf6± was more stubborn. 23.f5! After Black weakened his position by means of 20...g6 White last move allows him to launch decisive attack. 23...Ne4 24.Be4 de4 25.fg6 A big positional mistake would be 25.f6? Qf7 with decent position for Black. 25...Rc2 25...hg6 loses to 26.Rg3+ – . 26.gh7 Kh8 Many players might have seen this position from different sources and indeed starting from here White managed to launch a beautiful attack on Black king. 27.d5! e5 28.Qb4!! R8c5 Black gets mated by force after accepting queen sacrifice 28...Qb4 29.Be5 Kh7 30.Rh3 Kg6 31.Rg3 Kh6 (31...Kh5 32.Rf5 Kh6 33.Bf4 Kh7 34.Rh5#; 31...Kh7 32.Rf7 Kh6 33.Bf4 Kh5 34.Rh7#) 32.Rf6 Kh5 33.Rf5 Kh6 34.Bf4 Kh7 35.Rh5#. 29.Rf8!? 29.Qe4+ – . 29...Kh7 30.Qe4 Kg7 31.Be5 Kf8 32.Bg7 Kg7 33.Qe7 1:0. In next game I would like to show how I used "prophylactical thinkng". Avrukh : Summerscale, London 2010 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cd5 ed5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Be7 7.Bd3 Bg4 I wasn't familar with this move, which has been played more than 300 times on practice. During my thought I realized very quickly, that Black main idea is to get his bishop to g6 via h5 – square square and to swap light-squared bishop's. My serie of next moves directed against Black idea. 8.Qb3!? Qb6 9.Qc2 Bh5
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XIIIIIIIIY 9rs n +k+ t r0 r0 9z pp+ pp+ v lpz pp0 9 qp+ q wp+ s n +0 9+ +p+ v Ll0 9 + P z + +0 9+ NLz N sLz P + 0 9Pz PQ+ PQ+ z PPz PPz P0 P0 9t R + K m s NR0 xiiiiiiiiy 10.f4!N A strong novelty found over the board, that put a lot of questions over Black idea. I have to admit, that "prophylactical thinking" really helped me to find it. 10...Ng8 A sad necessity, but White was already threatening to trap Black light-squared bishop by means of h3, g4 etc... 11.Nh3 Another interesting option would have been 11.Nd5 Qa5 12.Nc3 Bg5 13.fg5 Qg5 14.Qf2. 11...Bg4 12.Be7 Ne7 13.Nf2 Bc8 14.0 – 0 – 0 Nd7 15.g4 Qc7
XIIIIIIIIY 9r+l+k+ t r0 r0 9z ppw ppw qns qns npz pp0 9 +p+ + +0 9+ +p+ + 0 9 + P z PP+0 P zP+0 9+ NLz N sLz P + 0 9Pz PQ+ PQ+ s N P0 P z0 9+ KR+ K mR+ +R0 xiiiiiiiiy
much better, as White has serious development advantage, Black king still in the center and short castle is hardly possible, nevertheless after Black last move I realized, that if Black manage to secure his king kin g on the queenside by playing Nb6, Bd7 and 0 – 0 – 0 I will have absolutely nothing. 16.Kb1! Nb6 17.Rc1 Bd7 18.Qb3! White last three moves were directed against Black long castle. 18...h5 It transpires, that 18...0 – 0 – 0 is impossible in view of double attack 19.Qa3. 19.h3 a6 Again Black is ready to castle, but it's not in White plans. 20.Qb4! Nec8 Black is trying to find some safe place for his king, but evantually fails to do it. 21.Rhe1 Threatening 22.e4. 21...Qd6 22.Qa5 Kf8
XIIIIIIIIY 9r+n+ m k r0 r t0 9+p+l+pz p 0 9ps npw npw q + +0 9w Q +p+ +p0 9 + z P PP+0 P zP+0 9+ NLz N sLz P +P0 9Pz P + N s +0 9+Kt R R t + 0 xiiiiiiiiy 23.Rc2! I was not interested to remove tension on the kingisde by playing 23.g5, so I decided to make prophgylactics against Black idea of playing 23...hg 24. hg Rh2, at the same time transfering the rook to e2. 23...Rb8
This is the key moment in the game. Until now I was pretty sure, that my position is FIDE Surveys – Boris Avrukh
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Now 23...hg4 24.hg4 Rh2 runs into nice 25.Nfe4! de4 26.Rh2 ed3 27.Ne4, with decisive attack. 24.Rce2 Now everything is ready for coming breakthrough in the center. 24...Qc7 25.e4! hg4 26.hg4 Qf4 27.ed5 Black position is hopeless. 27...g6 28.Nfe4 cd5 29.Rf2 Qc7 30.Ng5 Nd6
XIIIIIIIIY 9 r t + k m r0 r t0 9+pw ql+p+ ql+p+ 0 9ps n n s +p+0 9w Q +p+ s N 0 9 + P z +P+0 9+ NL+ N sL+ + 0 9Pz P + R t +0 9+K+ t R + 0 xiiiiiiiiy 31.Qc5! 1:0. It's really looks like a nice attacking game, but actually a deep "prophylactical thinking" was a reason of White success.
It's quite remarkable, but this method of "prophylactical thinking" works in the openings as well, this is my favourite example. Volokitin : Avrukh, Biel 2000 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nf3 h6 8.0 – 0 Be7 9.Re1 0 – 0 10.h3 This line has been popular some ten years ago. I was intended to react with normal 10...Be6 11. Bf1 Nb8, untill once I noticed the following remarkable idea: FIDE Surveys – Boris Avrukh
10...a6 11.Bf1 Qc7 Black last two move are quite normal for Sicialian type of position, especially taking into account, that we are ready to meet 12. Nd5 with 12...Nd5 13.ed5 Nb8, with complex game. 12.Nh2 Thematic idea for this kind of pawnsturcutre, White knight is heading for g4 challenging Black knight. In case of knight's swap an inportant defender of d5 square will be removed in White favour.
XIIIIIIIIY 9r+l+ t rk+0 rk+0 9+pw q lpz l vpz p 0 9p+nz p s n p0 p z0 9+ + z p + 0 9 + +P+ +0 9+ N s + +P0 9Pz PP+ PP+ z PPs PPs N0 N0 9t R v LQt LQt RLm RLm K 0 xiiiiiiiiy 12...Bd8! One of the most amazing moves in the openings I ever met. From the one hand it's prophylactical, as we anticipate White idea and we ready to meet it, from another hand it's very ambitious and Black is trying to activate his dark-squared bishop via a5, or b6 squares. It's clear, that White is better after 12...Be6 13.Nd5 Bd5 14.ed5 Na5 15.b3!, Smirin : Kotronias, Gausdal 1990. Quite decent for Black is 12...b5 13.Ng4 Ng4 14.hg4 Be6 15.Nd5 Qb7, as happened in the game Baramidze : Meins, Heringsdorf 2000, still I prefer White after calm 16.c3. 13.Ng4
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Another line, which shows the point of Black Bd8 move runs. 13.Be3 Be6 14.Nd5 Bd5! 15.ed5 Ne7 16.c4 b5! 17.b3 bc4 18.bc4 Nf5 19.Bd2 Qc5! and Black easily solved his opening problems in the game Rotman : Greenfeld, Ramat Aviv 2000. 13...Ng4 14.hg4 White compensation questionable after 14.Nd5 Qd7 15.hg4 Qg4. 14...Be6 Clearly underlining the concept. Black queen goest to d7 attacking White g4 – pawn, while dark-squared bishop is ready to jump over d8 – a5 a5 diagonal. 15.Be3?! Inaccurate move, after which White gets worse position. Better would have been 15.Nd5 Qd7 16.Ne3!, follwing by knight jump to f5. In this case position would remain more or less balnced, as White has his own trumps. 15...Qd7 16.f3
XIIIIIIIIY 9r+ v l rk+0 r tk+0 9+p+q+pz p 0 9p+nz pl+ pl+ z p0 p0 9+ + z p + 0 9 + +P+P+0 9+ N s LP+ L vP+ 0 9Pz PP+ PP+ +P+0 9t R +Qt RLm RLm K 0 xiiiiiiiiy 16…Ba5! Black dark-squared bishop successfully joined the play and Black enjoys better chances. 17.Re2 Ne7 18.Rd2 Rfd8 19.Qe2 d5! and Black took over the initiative. FIDE Surveys – Boris Avrukh
Avrukh : Eljanov, Istanbul 2012 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 ed5 5.cd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.Nf3 0 – 0 9.0 – 0 Qe7 This game was played in last Olympiad Instanbul 2012. I managed successfully to use my opneing preparation, which was very much connected with "prophylactical thinking". I have huge experience in this line, but I was facing this move for the first time in my practice. 10.Bf4 In my well-known book "1. d4 Grandmaster Repertoire" I always prefered idea of Nd2 – c4, but definitely Pavel had prepared something at home, so I decided to change the plan in favour of the Bf4 idea. 10...Nbd7
XIIIIIIIIY 9r+l+ t rk+0 rk+0 9z pp+nw pp+nw qpv qpv lp0 lp0 9 + p z s np+0 np+0 9+ pP+ p zP+ + 0 9 + + v L +0 9+ N s +Nz P 0 9Pz P +Pz PLz PLz P0 P0 9t R +Q+Rm K 0 xiiiiiiiiy 11.a4! Having done some serious homework on this line, I remembered that eventually I came to the conclusion, that this useful prophylactical move is the most accurate one in this concrete position. White's main choices here are 11. h3 and 11. Re1, but somehow I got the feeling that I needed the pawn on h2 and rook on f1. After 11.h3 Black has the idea 11...Nh5!? 12.Bg5 f6 13.Bd2 f5 14.e4 (Of course 6
14.Ng5 and it would be really strong with pawn on h2, but here Black has a very important resource 14...f4! 15.Ne6 fg3! (The main point of Black's idea. After 16.Bg5? Black would get very rich compensation. Critical is 16.Nf8 Nf8©, but I have feeling, that Black has excellent compensation.) 16...Bf6 17.Nf8 Bg5 18.Ne6 gf2 19.Kf2 Ne5‚ and White came under serious attack in Voiteanu : Grinev, Cracow 2011) 14...f4 seems tempting: 15.g4 Nhf6 with very unclear play, as occurred in a few games. After 11.Re1 I don't like Black's idea connected with Sg4, in a few versions 11...a6 12.a4 Ng4, or 12...Rb8 13.a5 Ng4 14.Na4 Nge5 15.Ne5 Ne5 16.Nb6, Barendregt : Minic, Zagreb 1971 and here 16...Nd7 would allow Black to equalise comfortably. 11...Ng4 One of the thematic ideas in this line of the Benoni. After 11...a6 my idea was to continue 12.Rb1, following by b2 – b4, recently there have been a few examples of this position. 12.Bg5! In my opinion this is the most unpleasant idea for Black after he has moved with the knight to g4. White is getting ready for Nge5. 12...f6 Black has to react in this way. 12...Qe8? is impossible in view of 13.Nb5! and Black Black loses material, while; 12...Bf6 13.Bf6 Ngf6 14.Nd2 should be better for White, as Black is missing his main source of power in this Benoni type of position - his dark-squared bishop. 13.Bd2N An obvious improvement over 13.Bc1, Grant : Brunello, Arvier 2010. 13...a6 Suprisingly the natural 13...Nge5 would have run into the unpleasant 14.Nb5! and Black has problems defending against the FIDE Surveys – Boris Avrukh
Nc7 idea, since 14...Nb6 (Or 14...Nf3 15.ef3! Ne5 16.Re1) 15.Ne5 fe5 16.b4 lead to a clear advantage for White.
XIIIIIIIIY 9r+l+ t rk+0 rk+0 9+p+nw q v lp0 lp0 9p+ z p z pp+0 pp+0 9+ pP+ p zP+ + 0 9P+ + +n+0 9+ N s +Nz P 0 9 P z LPz L vPz PLz PLz P0 P0 9t R +Q+Rm K 0 xiiiiiiiiy 14.Rb1! Now White switches to his thematic idea caryying out b2 – b4. 14...Nge5 15.b4 cb4? A very tempting decision, typical of the Benoni opening, Black gets a nice c5 – square square for his knight, but his activity appears to be only a short-term factor, while his structural problems start to tell in the long term. term. The correct decision would have been 15...b6, still I like the white position here, as I have a choice between clarifying the pawn structure by means of 16.bc5 (16.Qb3!?) and retaining the pressure on the queenside: 16...bc5 17.a5. 16.Rb4 Nf3 White would be clearly better after 16...Nc5 17.Ne5 fe5 18.Be3!±. 17.ef3! A key move in White's strategy after provoking the f7 – f6 f6 move; the recapture with the e-pawn makes a lot of sense, as White not only gains control over the e4 – and e5 – squares, squares, but also gets the e-file at his disposal.
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The lesser evil for Black would be 17.Bf3 f5 18.a5 Rb8. 17...f5 A logical follow-up. In the event of 17...Nc5 Black should also reckon with 18.Ne4!? nevertheless there is nothing wrong with 18.a5. 18.a5 Now White's strategy becomes clear, Black's pawn structure on the queenside, especially the pawns b7 and d6 are long-term targets. 18...Qd8 19.Qa4 Nc5 20.Qa3 Bd7 21.Rb6 Qf6 22.Rc1 Rfe8 Black makes all natural moves, nevertheless I don't see any possibility for him to avoid the very bad position he eventually ended up in.
XIIIIIIIIY 9r+ +r+k+0 9+p+l+ v lp0 lp0 9pt R p z qp+0 q wp+0 9z P nP+p+ n sP+p+ 0 9 + + + +0 9w Q N s +Pz P 0 9 + L v PLz P zLz P0 P0 9+ R t + K m 0 xiiiiiiiiy 23.Bf1! A very nice positional move, that kills Black's last chances to create counterplay connected with the knight move to d3. 23...Rac8 24.Nd1±
and it's appered, that Black positionally lost and I managed to convert my advantage not without adventures.
FIDE Surveys – Boris Avrukh
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