Mihail Marin: In the two examples below, Black will be
happy to block the queenside, where he is
Small paradoxes of the blocked French supposed to attack, and White would have positions done best not to allow it!
Several centuries after Phillidor, pawns are
still considered to be the soul of chess, at Geller E. : Seirawan Y. least in a very wide range of positions. Phillips and Drew London, 1982 The clearest situation seems to arise if the central structure is blocked, as this 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7 5.Nf3 frequently happens in the French Opening. b6 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.Bxc3 a5 8.h4 Qd7 9.h5 h6 XIIIIIIIIY 10.Bd2 Ba6 11.Bxa6 Nxa6 12.00 a4 13.Nh4 c5 14.Qg4 Rg8 15.c3 Nc7 16.Be3 9-+-+k+-+0 XIIIIIIIIY 9zpp+-+pzpp0 9r+-+k+r+0 9-+-+p+-+0 9+-snqsnpzp-0 9+-+pzP-+-0 9-zp-+p+-zp0 9-+pzP-+-+0 9+-zppzP-+P0 9+-zP-+-+-0 9p+-zP-+QsN0 9PzP-+-zPPzP0 9+-zP-vL-+-0 9+-+-mK-+-0 9PzP-+-zPP+0 xiiiiiiiiy 9tR-+-+RmK-0 The orientation of the central chains strongly suggests that White should launch a kingside xiiiiiiiiy attack with f2f4, g2g4 and f4f5, Black has achieved certain strategic goals sometimes with the aid of h2h4h5, while with the minor piece exchanges in the Black should do the same on the queenside previous phase of the game, but is slightly (...a7a5, ...b7b5b4). White disposes of underdeveloped and faces some problems more files for the attack on "his" wing, maintaining the tension in the centre. which yields more of consistence to his Yasser's next move must have come as a attack, but on the other hand Black's attack is surprise for his legendary opponent. less time consuming, since it focuses on a 16...c4! narrower area and involves less pawn With the a-pawn just one step back, this moves. But these are abstract considerations could be considered the start of the standard only and the evaluation of the mutual attack based on ...b6b5b4. The way it is, it chances for success depends on many allows White to freeze the queenside: concrete factors. 17.a3?! In the present article I will try to highlight Geller wrongly assumed that he would have some curiosities regarding the attacks on the better chances if the fight was restricted opposite wings. which may seem to go a bit to one wing only. against the common sense. It would have been wiser to keep both wings FIDE Surveys Mihail Marin 1 under tension with, say, 17.Rab1 when 20.hxg6 fxg6 21.Nf3 Black would have to permanently count with Once again, the exchange 21.Nxf5 exf5 b2b3, which would have made castling plays into Black's hands. Pawn grabbing long a risky business. offers little joy: 22.Qxh6 Ne6 followed by 17...000! ...Qf7 and ...Rh8. The extra pawn does not Phillidor may not have considered ensuring make itself felt and the attack along the h- the kings' safety as part of the pawns' task, file will become dangerous. but his axiom maintains its validity in the 21...g5 current position. White's space advantage White faces concrete problems already: his will turn against him as a boomerang, most active pieces from just few moves ago making pawn contacts and the subsequent are threatened with a fork. opening of the kingside inevitable, offering 22.g4 Black excellent attacking chances precisely Aiming to push the knight back and leave on White traditional territory. Black with a backward pawn on h. 18.Rae1 White's hopes for a blockade with 22.Nh2 Hoping for a slow regrouping with Bd2, followed by Qh5 and Ng4 prove illusory Re3f3, but Black will be faster. after 22...h5! 23.Qxh5? Rh8 followed by 18...Nf5 19.Qh3 ...Qh7 soon. 19.Nxf5 exf5 would kill any white hope for Or if 22.Qh5 g4 23.Nh4 Nxh4 24.Qxh4 a successful f4f5 and clear the excellent Rdf8 planning ...Rf5, ...h6h5, with blockading e6square for the knight. excellent play on light squares, when pawn XIIIIIIIIY grabbing once again has fatal consequences: 25.Qxh6 Rh8 26.Qg6 Rfg8 27.Qc2 Qf7 9-+ktr-+r+0 followed by ...Qh5. 9+-snq+pzp-0 22...h5! The perfect illustration of Nimzovitsch' 9-zp-+p+-zp0 views about pawn dynamism. 23.Nxg5 9+-+pzPn+P0 23.gxf5 would lead to a strategically 9p+pzP-+-sN0 interesting position if the white king was on some other area of the board, but the way it 9zP-zP-vL-+Q0 is Black gets a strong attack: 23...g4 24.Qh2 9-zP-+-zPP+0 gxf3+ 25.Kh1 exf5 26.Rg1 Ne6 followed by ...Rg4 soon. The point is that taking the h5 9+-+-tRRmK-0 pawn is unthinkable. xiiiiiiiiy 23...hxg4 Strategically, the most natural decision, 19...g5! aiming to prove the superiority of the knight Under different circumstances (with the over the bishop. white king on b1, for instance), this would 23...Nxe3 24.Qxe3 hxg4 was an interesting leave Black with chronic pawn weaknesses. alternative, though: 25.f4 gxf3 26.Rxf3 Qg7 The way it is, the pawns gladly display their 27.Rg3 Ne4 27...Qg6 Rh8, Rdg8, Rh4, natural tendency to advance (described by Qh5. Nimzovich in a suggestive way) before 24.Qxg4 Rh8 25.f4 Rh4 26.Qg2 Rdh8 being blocked, since their eventual loss 27.Rf3 Qg7 28.Bf2 R4h5 29.Bg3 Qg6 would clear files for the attack. FIDE Surveys Mihail Marin 2 30.Bf2 Qg7 31.Bg3 R8h6 32.Kf2 Nxg3 Grischuk A. : Vaganian R. 33.Qxg3 Rh2+ 34.Ke3 Qg6 35.f5 exf5 Fuegen 2006 36.Qf4 XIIIIIIIIY 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qd2 b5 9.a3 Qa5 9-+k+-+-+0 10.Ra2 Qc7 11.Bd3 9+-sn-+-+-0 XIIIIIIIIY 9-zp-+-+qtr0 9r+l+kvl-tr0 9+-+pzPpsN-0 9+-wqn+pzpp0 9p+pzP-wQ-+0 9p+n+p+-+0 9zP-zP-mKR+-0 9+pzppzP-+-0 9-zP-+-+-tr0 9-+-zP-zP-+0 9+-+-tR-+-0 9zP-sNLvLN+-0 xiiiiiiiiy 9RzPPwQ-+PzP0 The white king is in dire straits, but Black 9+-+-mK-+R0 misses the decisive blow now. 36...Rxb2? xiiiiiiiiy 36...Ne6 37.Nxe6 R6h4 38.Qxh2 (38.Qxf5 In his aim to restrict the black counterplay, Re4+) 38...Rxh2 39.Nf4 Qg5 40.Rb1 Kd7 White has placed some of his pieces on far Zugzwang adds now to White's already from optimal squares. The rook's position on existing problems. a2 does not require detailed comments. The 37.Qxf5+ Qxf5 38.Rxf5 bishop went to d3 in order to keep the e2 And White managed to save the game.] square free for the c3knight for the case of 38...Rb3 39.Rf6 Rxc3+ 40.Kf4 Rh4+ an exchange on d4, but is rather exposed 41.Kf5 Rb3 42.e6 c3 43.e7 Kd7 44.e8D+ there. These elements offer Black the Nxe8 45.Rf7+ Kc6 46.Rxe8 Rxd4 47.Rc8+ possibility to block the centre under Kb5 48.Ne6 Rc4 49.Nc7+ Kc5 50.Ne6+ acceptable circumstances, given that White Kb5 51.Nc7+ Kc5 will need several tempi to retrieve his The paradox behind the queenside blocking coordination. in this game may be partly explained by the 11...c4 12.Be2 Ne7 previous exchange of the light-squared With the white pawn on f4 already, Black bishops. This way, Black avoided certain cannot think of launching a massive kingside iremediable strategic problem.***However, attack. Instead, he should aim for a blockade the next example shows that the absence of on light squares; the knight manoeuvre is the the bishops is not absolutely relevant.] first step to it. . 13.00 h5 14.Bd1 White initiates his long regrouping, lasting for about 7 moves. 14...Nf5 15.Bf2 Be7 16.Ne2 Nf8!? A somewhat mysterious move. The first thing that comes up to mind is that Black FIDE Surveys Mihail Marin 3 prepares for the eventuality of an exchange 20...Ra6! 21.Raa1 Bxh4 22.Nxh4 Qd8 on f5, when after ...exf5 the reserve knight 23.Qe1 Ng6 24.Nxg6 Rxg6 25.Kh1 h4 would make use of the excellent e6square. followed by ...Be6 with a very safe position The ulterior course of the game will prove for Black. that the knight will be useful for other 19...Qd8 20.g3 purposes as well. 17.c3 a5 XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY 9r+lwqksn-tr0 9r+l+ksn-tr0 9+-+-vlpzp-0 9+-wq-vlpzp-0 9-+-+p+-+0 9-+-+p+-+0 9+p+pzPn+p0 9zpp+pzPn+p0 9p+pzP-zP-+0 9-+pzP-zP-+0 9zP-zP-+NzP-0 9zP-zP-+N+-0 9-zPLwQNvL-zP0 9RzP-wQNvLPzP0 9tR-+-+RmK-0 9+-+L+RmK-0 xiiiiiiiiy White starts preparing the attack based on g4 xiiiiiiiiy and f5, but will never get to carry it out, as a It may seem as if Black prepared the consequence of Black's good regrouping. standard ...b5b4 attack, although his 20...Nh6 21.Rae1 Kd7! knights placement does not fit into this plan Under the given circumstances, this is a too well. Had White understood his much faster way of evacuating the king than opponent's real intentions, he might have castling long. considered playing 18.b3, keeping the 22.h3 Kc6 23.Kg2 Kb7 24.Nh2 tension on both wings, with reasonable chances for a long term advantage. Instead, XIIIIIIIIY he continued regrouping, which is actually 9r+lwq-sn-tr0 the same kind of inaccuracy as that committed by Geller in the previous game. 9+k+-vlpzp-0 18.Bc2 a4! 9-+-+p+-sn0 In principle, it would have also made sense to prevent Bxf5 followed by Bh4 with 9+p+pzP-+p0 18...Qd8 , but this is a counter-developing 9p+pzP-zP-+0 move which may have induced White to choose the right plan of opening the 9zP-zP-+-zPP0 queenside with 19.b3! 9-zPLwQNvLKsN0 19.Raa1 19.Bxf5 exf5 20.Bh4 is not too dangerous in 9+-+-tRR+-0 fact. While carrying out a favourable exchange, it also improves the xiiiiiiiiy communication between Black's wings: Finally, White threatens g3g4. FIDE Surveys Mihail Marin 4 24...f5! Cutting the Gordian knot by one stroke. 25.exf6 This looks like the only way to keep fighting, but it actually offers Black excellent prospects. The e6pawn is well defended (the f8knight!) and the h6knight gets a free access to e4. Of course, White could have immediately forced a draw with h3h4, blocking the position completely, but preparing a long plan based on the king's transfer to b1 and g3g4 would not have been realistic. For instance: 25.Be3 (Parrying ...g5) 25...Nh7 26.Nf3?! h4! and Black takes over the initiative. 25...gxf6 26.f5!? Thematic but insufficient. 26...Nxf5 27.Bxf5 exf5 28.Nf4 Bd6 29.Nf3 Bxf4 30.gxf4 30.Qxf4 Ng6 31.Qe3 f4 32.gxf4 Bf5 30...Ng6 This is an open invitation to a draw. 30...Ra6!? followed by ...Re6 would have retained better chances for Black. 31.Nh4 Nxh4+ 1/2 I do not believe that the apparent reversal of parts featured by these examples does shake Phillidor's axiom in any way. It just takes a deeper understanding of the subtleties regarding the pawn structure in general to make the games fit into the general concept.