Chessville Instruction - Playing With the Position - by FM Amatzia Avni

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Playing With the Position
by FM Amatzia Avni

Chess players are used to analyzing variations that could have arisen during a game. They take a specific position as a base for their calculations and ask themselves what would have happened had each side choose this or that move.

Being also a study composer, I am trained in shifting pieces to and fro, asking myself what would happen if the position were a bit different; say, one rank lower, or having a pawn on a certain square instead of a knight, and so on. Taking this method to the field of practical battle allows one, I believe, to gain a better and fuller understanding of a chess position and its latent possibilities.

In 1991 I leafed through a game by Akopian. In his notes - if memory serves me right, they have appeared in the Informator - Akopian analyzed the following hypothetical position:

Amatzia Avni is an Israeli psychologist. He is a Fide Master in both game and composition, a former editor of the Israeli magazine Schahmat and a regular contributor to Chess Monthly. His forthcoming book "Devious Chess" will be released by Batsford in April. Read Chessville reviews of two of his earlier works: Practical Chess Psychology: Understanding the Human Factor (2001); and The Grandmaster's Mind (2004).

Akopian - Georgadze
Lvov 1990
White to play (variation)

In order to win White has to gain Bg2 without losing his Bg4. He achieves this task with:

1.Rg6+ Kh7 1...Kf7 2.Bh5 Ra5 3.Rg5+

2.Bf5 Ra5 2...Be4 3.Ra6+

3.Bc2! Accurate; not 3.Bd3 because of 3...Ra3 4.Rd6+ Be4!

3...Ra2 (or 3...Rc5) 4.Rc6+

Winning material and the game.

Playing a bit with the pieces, it was not difficult to see that the position contained a wealth of possibilities.

White to play

By moving the white monarch from g3 to h2, the path to victory is changed: what worked previously doesn’t work now, and vice versa.

1. Bd1! 1.Rg6+? Kf7 (even 1...Kh7 2.Bf5 Rf4=) 2.Bh5 Rh4+

1...Rd4 1...Re4 2.Rg6+; 1...Bd5 2.Re8+; 1...Ra1 2.Bb3 gains material

2.Bb3 Bd5 3.Rd6 Rh4+ 4.Kg3 and wins.

Notice that this winning method would have failed in the original Akopian position, since with the white king on g3, black is saved with 3...Rd3 check!

Let’s have a look at some more alternations:

White to play

Here White is unable to win:

1.Bd1 Rd4 2.Bb3 Bd5 3.Rd6 Rd3+; or

1.Rg6+ Kf7! 2.Bh5 Be4 3.Rg4+ Kf6 4.f3 Bc2=

White to play

1.Rg6+ Kh7 2.Bf5 Rb5 2...Be4 3.Rg4+

3.Bc2 Kh8! 3...Bf1 4.Rf6+; so Black introduces a subtle stalemate defence, inviting 4.K:g2 Rg5+!=

4.Rh6+! Kg7 5.Rh7+ Kg8 6.K:g2

and wins. 6...Rb2 7.Rc7; 6...Rc5 7.Be4 combined with 8.Rh4.

White to play

1.Rg6+ (or 1.Be6+? Kg7) no longer works after 1...Kf7 2.Bh5 Rd5 3.Kh4 Be4! when after 4.Rg4+ ? R:h5+! 5.K:h5 Bf3 it is White who should seek a salvation with 4.Kg5 B:g4 7.Kf4! a5 8.Ke3 a4 9.Kd3 a3 10.Kc2! (10.Kc3? Bd1!).

However, in this position another winning device appears:

1.Rh4! when Black is helpless: 1...Bd5 2.Be6+, or 1...Be4 2.Bf3.

Raaphy Persitz published these variations on a theme in the British chess Magazine 7/1991, pages 310-311. In fact, he was enthusiastic enough to try his own skills, constructing yet another variant to the theme:

White to play

1.Bd1 Rd4 1...Re4 2.Bb3

2.Bb3 Bd5 2...Rd2+ 3.Ke1

3.Re4! Rd3 4.Ke2 R:b3 5.Rg4+ Kf7 6.a:b3 B:b3 7.Rg5 a4 8.Rc5 and wins.

A short time afterwards, I came across John Littlewood’s book “Chess Coaching” (Crowood Press, 1991). Apparently the English player and trainer had used, independently, the same method - which he called “exploiting a position.” Here is an example from his book:

Em. Lasker - Euwe
Nottingham 1936

White to play

After Black had previously played the erroneous ...Bc7-a5?, White won with:

1.b4! B:b4 2.Nc2, with decisive double attack.

Littlewood had noticed that minor changes of the position create significant difference in the overall assessment.

White to play

1.b4 B:b4 2.Nd3! and wins.

But not 2.Nc2? Bd2! and Black is saved.

White to play

1.b4 B:b4 2.Nd3 Nd2! 3.N:b4 Nb3+ with 4...N:c1;

...and here, Black successfully avoids defeat.

* * *

To conclude:

If you like to toy with the position - producing slight structural changes which make a difference – you may gain a lot. I’ll leave you with a version of mine to the Euwe position:

White to play