Chessville - Lessons Learned - Annotated Master Games -April 2005

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April 2005
Lessons Learned

Today's Lesson is from the late GM Konstantin Aseev

Konstantin Aseev was born 20 October 1960. International Grandmaster, 4 times participant in the USSR championships, the winner of international tournaments in Leningrad 1989, Munich 1990/1991, Altenstein 1991, Porce 1991, Kechkemet 1992, Berlin 1992, Sochi 1993, Jyvaskyla 2003, the silver prize-winner of the Alekhin Memorial, Moscow 1992, and a prize-winner in many international tournaments. Participant in the World (2001) and European (2001) Chess Championships, and of most of the Russian Chess Championships during the last ten-year period (he shared 2nd place in 2000).

Konstantin Aseev had been engaged in regular chess coaching activities since 1982. He was the trainer of the team "The Kings of Saint-Petersburg", the winner of the Russia Team Championship in 2000 and 2001, and the silver-prize winner of the Europe Team Championship -2000. Also he was the trainer of many Grandmasters such as Maia Cheburdanidze, Nana Aleksandria, Nino Khurtsidze, Andrei Kharlov, Evgeny Alekseev, and Tejas Bakre.

GM Konstantin Aseev
(20 October 1960 - 22 August 2004)

The Week in Chess wrote: Konstantin Aseev born 20th October 1960 died on 22nd August 2004 at the age of 43 after a long illness. Aseev hadn't played since October last year and was a coach to Andrei Kharlov and Maia Chiburdanidze. He became an IM and then a GM in the early 1990s. He had a rating high of 2591 in 2001-2. He made significant contributions to theory in the Rauzer Attack and Queen Indian Defence.

Alex Yermolinsky shares his memories of his fellow Grandmaster, who he first met in 1983, after Aseev moved to Leningrad after growing up in a small town on the Volga.

" Konstantin was friendly but reserved. One of those rare people who think of others more than themselves. I still remember our game from the 1983 Leningrad Absolute Championship where we played in the last round and a win gave either of us the title. After a tough battle it finally ended in a victory for me. The first to congratulate me was Konstantin who gave me a big bear hug and said how well I had played.

Aseev was a creative player who used the whole board. He liked big strategic concepts and stayed true to his style even though it could be impractical. Time pressure was his mortal enemy and he lost many games to silly blunders after hours of building up winning positions. He loved to research openings and was generous in sharing his novelties with teammates in team competitions.

Konstantin was not a drinker or smoker and in the 1980s was in excellent physical condition. When I saw him in 1994 at the Lloyds Bank tournament in London he looked worn down. I'm not sure what had caused the change, it might simply have been the difficulties of living in Russia in the early 1990s, where everything was difficult, including getting proper food. Characteristically, when I asked him how things were, he didn't answer directly but instead asked how I was.

My memory of Konstantin is of a family man who liked the quiet life. Perhaps more than even playing chess, his greatest pleasure was returning to the small town where he grew up and going fishing with his father on the banks of the Volga."

The Week in Chess
The most complete tournament news.

This column is sponsored by Chess eXpress Ratings; learn more about CXR in this Review by someone who actually uses their service.

Special thanks go to Phil Innes and to Boris Yeshan (Russian Chess) both for arranging the writing of this column with GM Aseev, and also for their work translating the original text into English. Jens Madsen polished the final product, except for web page lay out, for which I take full responsibility.

GM Konstantin Aseev:

The sporting outcome of this game did not play a big role for me, because at this moment I had already lost everything possible in the Championship of Russia.

However, my normal attitude made me want to win this duel, especially because my opponent (GM Yandemirov) constantly uses a dubious variation where White has a theoretical advantage. But our possibilities do not always coincide with our desires. Here is what happened:

Aseev Konstantin N 2556) - Yandemirov Valeri (2469)
[C72] Ch Russia Krasnojarsk (6), 09.09.2003

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.0-0 Bg4 6.h3 h5 7.d4 b5 8.Bb3 Nxd4 9.hxg4 Nxb3 10.axb3 hxg4 11.Ng5 Qd7 12.c4 Rb8

13.cxb5

As a matter of fact, the game so far was a theoretical duel. I was familiar with this position. The move 13.Rxa6 leads to a perhaps decisive White advantage (after 13…. f6 14.Nc3 ± /+-). But chess is also creative. Thus, at this moment, I became absorbed in calculations of possible variations associated with the move in the game. I spent a lot of time and found that the variations promised a favorable development of occurrences.

13...axb5

Practically, this is a forced reply. After 13...f6 14.bxa6 fxg5 15.b4!? Black fails to create counterplay along h-file. But also after 15.Bxg5 Black's counterplay is insufficient. For example 15...g6 16.Qd5 Qh7 [16...c6 17.Qc4 Be7 18.Be3 Nf6 19.Rc1 c5 20.Rd1 (20.b4 Rxb4 (20...cxb4 21.a7 Ra8 22.Nd2 Bd8 23.Qxb4 Qh7 24.Qb5+ Kf7 25.Kf1) 21.a7 Rxc4 22.a8Q+ Kf7 23.Qxh8)] 17.f4

If, in the above variations, Black answers 15.Bxg5 with 15...Be7, White has a decisive advantage after 16.Be3 Nf6 17.Nc3 c6 18.b4! Possible also 18.Qd3 d5 19.exd5 cxd5 20.a7 Ra8 21.Qg6+ Kf8 22.Na4 Bd8 23.Nc5 (23.Rfe1!? d4 24.Bg5± /+-) 23...Qf7 24.Qxf7+ Kxf7 25.Ra6 keeping a great advantage; Other answers to 18.Qd3 don’t help Black, for example: 18...g3 19.fxg3 Ng4 20.a7 Ra8 21.Ra6 Qb7 22.Bb6 d5 23.exd5 Qxb6+ 24.Rxb6 Bc5+ 25.Rf2 Bxf2+ (25....Rh1 26.Kxh1 Nxf2 27.Kh2 Ng4 28.Kh3 Nf2 29.Kh4) 26.Kf1 Bxb6 27.Qg6+ Ke7 28.Qxg4+-

14.Nc3

So far White operates correctly. Weaker is 14.Ra7?!, since the position becomes absolutely unclear after 14...Ne7! Worse is 14...f6 15.Qc2 Rc8 16.Nc3 Ne7 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.exd5 fxg5 19.Be3 [19.Bxg5 Rh5 20.Be3 Rf5 21.Rc1 Be7 22.Qd3 Bg5 (22...g3 23.fxg3 (23.f3!?) 23...Bg5 24.Bxg5 Rxg5 25.Rc6 Qf5 26.Qxf5 Rxf5)] 19...Rh5 20.Qe4 Kf7 21.f3 Kg8 22.fxg4 Rh4 23.Rf5 Be7 24.Bxg5 Bxg5 25.Rxg5

Returning to the position after 19…Rh5, White may also play 20.Rc1 Kf7 21.Qxc7 Rxc7 22.Rcxc7 Qxc7 23.Rxc7+ Kg6 24.Rb7 g3 25.Rxb5 g4 (25...gxf2+ 26.Kxf2 Rh1) Or alternatively in this line (after 23…Kg6) 24.g3 Rh8 25.Rb7 Kf5 26.Rb8 (26.Rxb5 Be7 27.b4 Ke4 28.Rb7 Bf6 29.b5 Kxd5 30.b6 Ra8 31.b4 (31.Ra7 Rb8) 31...Ra4 32.Rc7 Rxb4 33.b7 Bd8 34.Rc8 Rxb7 35.Rxd8); 26...Ke4 27.Bxg5 Kxd5 28.Be7 (28.Rxb5+ Ke4 29.Rb8 Rh5 30.Be3 Be7 31.b4 Bg5 (31...d5 32.Bc5); 28...Bxe7 29.Rxh8 Kc5 =;

14...f6

15.Ra7?

A mistake caused by tiredness and the psychological factor of the spent time. First I planned 15.Nd5 c6 (15...fxg5 16.Ra7+-) 16.Ne6 cxd5 17.exd5± with a clear advantage. [Not so good is 17.Qxg4? d4 (17...dxe4! 18.Be3 Nh6 19.Qg6+ Qf7 (19...Nf7 20.Nxg7+ Bxg7 21.Qxg7 (21.Ra7 Rb7 22.Rxb7 Qxb7 23.Qxg7 Ke7) 21...Ke7)) 18.Qg6+ Qf7 19.Nc7+ Ke7 20.Qg4?! (20.Nd5+ Ke8 21.Nc7+) 20...Qh5];

Now after 17.exd5 play could have continued either

(a)                           17...g6 18.Qxg4 Qh7 19.f3 f5 20.Qb4 Be7 [There is no salvation in 20...Qh2+ 21.Kf2 f4 (21...Qh4+ 22.Qxh4 Rxh4 23.Bg5 Rh5 (23...Rb4?? 24.Nc7+ Kf7 25.Na6) 24.Ra6 Kf7 25.Rc1+-) 22.Rg1 Be7 23.Ra7 Rc8 24.Qxb5+ Kf7 25.Bd2 Rc2 26.Ng5+ Kg7 27.Ne4] 21.Bg5 ! Bxg5 22.Nxg5 Qe7 23.f4 and Black never manages to solve his problems. For example:

                                                                           i.      23...Nh6 24.Rfe1 Ng4 25.Ra6;

                                                                         ii.      23...Nf6 24.fxe5 dxe5 25.Qxe7+ Kxe7 26.d6+±;

                                                                        iii.      23...e4 24.Ra6 Nf6 25.Qxd6 Qxd6 26.Rxd6±.

(b)                           17...f5 18.Qc2 g6 19.Be3 Rc8 20.Qd3 e4 21.Qe2+-

White’s "working" energy had come to an end, and so I chose the way of simplifications with detrimental effects on the position.

15...Ne7 16.Nd5 Nxd5 17.exd5 Qf5 18.f3

First I planned 18.f4 fxg5 19.fxe5 Qh7 20.Qxg4 Qh2+ 21.Kf2 but missed the reply 21...Be7 It was this blunder in my analysis that led to problems.

18...fxg5 19.fxg4 Qh7

20.Qf3??

I had less than 5 minutes left, and my head refused to work. After the natural 20.Bxg5 Qh2+ (20...Be7 21.Bxe7 Qh2+ 22.Kf2 Rh3 23.Rxc7 Qg3+ 24.Kg1 Qh2+) 21.Kf2 Rh3 22.Rxc7= the draw result is obvious.

20...Qh2+ 21.Kf2 Be7

22.Qe3??

This is a movement of hands rather than a thought! It was possible to defend oneself after 22.Ke2 Rf8 23.Qh3 Qxh3 24.Rxf8+ Kd7 25.gxh3 Rxf8

22...0-0+ 0-1

Here it is an offensive finale.

What conclusions could be made from this encounter?

1) First of all, it is impossible to play serious chess without any supply of energy

2) If you happen to be in such a situation, it is necessary to make the most efficient energy expenditure during the game.

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