ISSUE 6

MODERN CHESS
MAGAZINE

Fight the Evans in a Modern Way

Sicilian Structures - Introduction
GM Repertoire Against 1.d4 - Part 2

Methods of Playing with In This Issue:

GM Viktor Gavrikov
Hanging Pawns - Part 2 GM Grigor Grigorov
GM Davorin Kuljasevic
Endgame Series - Part 6 GM Boris Chatalbashev
GM Vladimir Georgiev
Table of contents
Endgame Series - Part 6 (GM Davorin Kuljasevic)
3
3 Defended passed pawn 1
4 Defended passed pawn 2
5 Defended passed pawn 3
6 Carlsen,M (2853) - So,W (2779)
7 Outside passed pawn 1
7 Outside passed pawn 2
7 Outside passed pawn 3a
8 Outside passed pawn 3b
9 Outside passed pawn 4

Methods of Playing in Positions with Hanging Pawns - Part 2 (GM

11 Grigor Grigorov)
11 Browne,Walter S (2570) - Alburt,Lev O (2580)
16 Bernstein,Ossip - Capablanca,Jose Raul
20 Dizdar,Goran (2465) - Lobron,Eric (2520)

24 GM Repertoire against 1.d4 – Part 2 (GM Boris Chatalbashev)

24 Nikolov,Momchil (2450) - Chatalbashev,B(2507)

26 Evdokimov,A (2569) - Volokitin,A(2674)
28 Fier,A (2592) - Vakhidov,J (2502)
30 Jobava,Baadur (2696) - Radjabov,Teimour (2757)
33 Petrosian,Tigran L (2580) - Vovk,Yuri (2523)

36 Fight the Evans in a Modern Way (GM Vladimir Georgiev)

36 Nisipeanu,LD (2654) - Caruana,F (2805)
39 Pridorozhni,Aleksei (2517) - Jakovenko,Dmitrij (2721)
41 Nakamura,Hikaru (2775) - Anand,Viswanathan (2793)
42 Li,Ruifeng (2446) - Caruana,Fabiano (2796)

45 Sicilian Structures – Introduction (GM Viktor Gavrikov)

46 Nanu,Ciprian Costica (2405) - Lakat,Gyula (2120)
49 Nunn,John DM (2620) - Ljubojevic,Ljubomir (2580)
52 Kholmov,Ratmir D (2475) - Gavrikov,Viktor (2485)
55 Svidler,Peter (2749) - Bologan,Viktor (2732)
 Endgame Series - Part 6 home", not putting the rook behind the
opponent's passed pawn, etc.
GM Davorin Kuljasevic
After this small digression, I would like to
proceed to the two final topics pertaining to the
importance of pawns in the endgame: 1. The
defended passed pawn and 2. The outside
passed pawn.
Defended passed pawn – The strength of
defended pawns in any phase of the game is that
they do not have to be defended by other pieces.
In that sense, the ideal pawn structure is a pawn
chain – a structure where pawns defend each
other along a diagonal. The "Achilles heel" of the
pawn chain in naturally its base, but attacking
the base of the pawn chain is generally much
more difficult than attacking an isolated pawn.
As the number of pieces in the endgame is very
limited, the weakness of isolated pawns
increases and, by the same logic, the value of
defended pawns increases. Let us look at a
typical endgame mistake made by a young
inexperienced player who did not understand
Hello Dear Chess Friends!
these ideas.
Before we continue with our discussion of the
role of pawns in the endgame, it is important Defended passed pawn 1
to give a piece of practical advice to chess
coaches. Endgame theory is a vast area and it is
helpful to break it down into smaller and
practically meaningful parts. Especially for
beginners and players who have not
developed an endgame routine yet, it is
important to think in terms of simple guiding
principles in the endgame. For example, from
my own experience, I believe it is important to
teach young chess students to always focus
on 3 things in the endgame: 1. Creating a
passed pawn, 2. Centralizing their king, and
3. Blocking or defending against
opponent's passed pawn. This is useful
for young students of the game, both practically
and methodically, since even if they are still
unable to grasp certain finer points in the In this completely equal position Black finds the
endgame, such as schematic thinking, they only way to lose:
will at least have in mind the bigger picture
(pawns and king are important) and will
  is dead drawn.
therefore be less prone to making silly errors
in the endgame, such as grabbing useless
pawns, leaving their king "at

3
 Black saw this move before he played 
 but he completely misjudged the resulting
pawn endgame. His reasoning, as he explained
after the game, was that he entered the pawn
endgame because "he usually wins in pawn
endgames". It is hard to argue with such a
powerful logic:

  is lost, too, but at least

would make it more difficult for White to
convert the extra pawn.


Now White gets a defended passed pawn.

Sacrificing the passed
pawn in order to penetrate with the king.

 and White picks up

the g7 pawn so Black resigned.

We could see from this example that a lack of

knowledge in the endgame can be very costly.
We could also feel how debilitating a defended
passed pawn can be for the side fighting against
White gets a perfect spot for his king on d4 from it. Granted, in this game White’s king was
which he can attack the now isolated d5 pawn superior anyway, so to fully illustrate the
and penetrate through e5 square. strength of a defended passed pawn, let us look
at a theoretical example where the defending
 Slightly better was  preventing king is demonstrably better positioned than the
White from playing  and now White wins by king of the attacking side.
triangulation:  (Bad is  as  forces
the king to back off  and the endgame is Defended passed pawn 2
drawn after  (unless White goes crazy and
plays  with a threefold
repetition.)  and Black is in
zugzwang) and again Black is in
zugzwang thanks to a saved pawn tempo (more
on these topics in a chapter on king's role in
endgames).

 Another poor decision, though

the position is beyond saving.
 wins by zugzwang.

4
In most circumstances, it would be difficult for
White to win a pawn endgame where Black
holds the opposition. However, in this situation,
White can kick black king out of the opposition
using the square of defended passed pawn on
b5.
 This move stretches
black king who is unable to hold the opposition
due to the square rule.
  loses immediately to  as the
king stepped out of the square.
 Black is still putting his hopes into
diagonal opposition.
 This move forces
black king to back off as holding the opposition
is not possible any more.


 black pawns one by one. Thus:
White paradoxically avoids the opposition and
enters the so-called knight's opposition.
Since after he can not push the pawn
forward  due to the stalemate idea 
 After some
lengthy, but fruitful maneuvering, White finally
gets his passed pawn moving.
 and the rest is simple.
The winning techniques in this example belong
to the next chapter – the one on king's role in
the endgame, so this is a good preview of things
to come. But regardless, the key piece again was
the defended passed pawn. We could think of it
as the mastermind quietly working in the
background, while the king is taking all the glory
with its winning march. For none of these king
maneuvers would be possible without the
presence of that defended passed pawn on b5.
An even more striking example of the power of
defended passed pawn is the next one, taken
from the analysis of game Smyslov – Botvinnik,
1957.
Defended passed pawn 3
Smyslov - Botvinik, 1957., analiza,
White has a defended passed pawn on b6 which
ties down black king. The winning plan should
be simple - bringing the king to e4 and taking
 However, Black has a smart defensive
try:
 followed by  etc.
wins easily as black king can not step out of the
square b6–b8–d8–d6.

 A beautiful and powerful reply. Instead of
taking the pawn, White gives it and he still wins!
5
would take the only penetration square Carlsen,M (2853) - So,W (2779)
from its own king. Black sets up the blockade 3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015 Saint Louis USA (5.4)
with changes nothing.;
and
White can't break through, even if he sacrifices
his extra pawn: 

 Right on time to reach the square

of both passed pawns.

 Nothing is changed by 4

and black pawns are successfully
blocked.

 It transpires that White

will easily create another passed pawn on the
kingside, while Black is completely helpless
against White’s plan. His own passed pawns are
blocked and his king is paralyzed by the hero of
this story - the defended passed pawn on b6.




In this 4 against 4 rook endgame, White has a

huge qualitative advantage thanks to the
defended outside passed pawn on h6.

  Defended
outside passed pawn is like a very spoiled kid -
We could clearly see that defended passed pawn
you need to pay it constant attention.
is among the most dangerous types of passed
Unfortunately for Black, this takes away the
pawns, but no less dangerous is its cousin – the
attacking power of his pieces, so White wins
outside passed pawn.
with ease:
As opposed to defended passed pawn, outside
passed pawn doesn't necessarily have to be
 Preventing 
defended. If it were, that would be a deadly
 and Black resigned in
combination for the defending side, as in the
view of
following recent example: 
1–0 1–0

6
However, an outside passed pawn can be just as of endgames - the a-(h-) pawn. For a serious
powerful by itself. Just to clarify, the word student of chess, it is essential to be acquainted
"outside" in the context of passed pawns is used with the following position and endgame rule:
for pawns that are several files apart from other
pawns or pieces, thus being a big distraction for Outside passed pawn 2
the defender. In fact, it is one of the best starting
points in explaining the important principle of
two weaknesses. Let us do that in the next
basic example from a pawn endgame.
Outside passed pawn 1

A very important rule exists for this kind of

Generally speaking, White’s winning strategy is
promoting a pawn to queen. Would White win if
b-pawns were not on the board? Absolutely not.
So White will use the outside passed pawn (f-)
as a distraction for black king (the first
weakness) while he picks up the b-pawn with
his king (the second weakness).
 Beginners sometimes get
blinded by the promise of pawn promotion and
forget about the other pawn:

and here White still wins with  (just not


 and White wins trivially.
position: If the outside passed pawn has not
crossed the line a5–c7–h2 White wins by the
familiar method. If, however, it has crossed that
line, the game is drawn as black king reaches the
c8 square in time. In this particular position,
White is therefore winning.
 It would be a huge mistake to
push the pawn even a step further: 
still wins

and Black draws 

 If then works as Black needs
to waste time taking the g-pawn

 and White is just in time.

There is, however, one exception from the

supremacy of outside passed pawn in pawn
endgames and that is, as usual, the black sheep

7


 Shouldering
 and black king is denied the access
to the corner, so White can safely promote his a-
pawn to queen.
Outside passed pawn 3a
Outside passed pawn can have a decisive role in
many types of endgames. For example, in this
knight endgame, White is not able to win despite
his extra knight due to the large distance
between the pawns.
In the endgame, it is common knowledge that a-
pawn is the enemy of the short-legged knight.
This can be seen very well in the following
example:
 White takes the opposition and is able to
win the a-pawn



However, despite the passed pawn and the extra
piece, he can't win. Black's outside passed pawn
is too far out for the knight to reach the other
side of the board. This is a case of positional
draw.
Outside passed pawn 3b
We have just moved the pawn from h- to g-file,
unlike in the previous example, and the result of
the game changes. White is able to win by force
in the following manner:
8



The knight is close enough now.


 general methodology demands, one must learn
Knowledge of the strength of outside passed
pawn decided the following game.
Outside passed pawn 4
White is obviously better because black knight is
in a bad position, but there is even a forced win
here:
 Paradoxically exchanging Black’s bad
knight. But in fact, the resulting pawn endgame
is easily winning as White has the outside
passed pawn.
 gives
Black drawing chances.;  is just bad for
White.
 White wins with the
familiar method of exploiting two weaknesses.

 and by the time black king reaches the
queenside, all black pawns will be gone.
We will now take a turn in the Endgame series
by switching to king's role in the endgame.
Despite humble appearances, king is a
fascinating piece in the endgame. Very often, its
role is decisive to the final outcome. As the
how to play with king in pure pawn endgames
first, for this is where the beauty and strength of
his movement is best exemplified.
While most chess players know and broadly
understand terms like opposition, square rule,
and triangulation, I am not entirely sure all of
them are aware of the special feature of the
king's movement on the chess board that
enables these fascinating maneuvers. For this
reason, I would like to devote the next passage
to the "science" behind it.
"The space bender"
When I was a school boy, I used two routes
coming back from school. The first one was
straightforward - I would have to go straight
down the street to reach the tram station. This
would take only about 3 minutes. The other
route was cutting across a side street
diagonally, which was a route a friend of mine
9
was using to go home on foot so I would keep
him company. We would part ways on the next
tram station, where I would be waiting for my
tram. This longer route took about 5 minutes. It
is also important to note that the distance
between two tram stations was about 2
minutes, so these routes basically formed a
triangle, as can be seen in the picture below:
How do we explain this phenomenon? Simply
put, the distance on the chess board is not
equivalent to the distance in the "real" world. It
takes chess king the same time - 7 moves - to
reach squares a8 from h1 (diagonally) and h8
from h1 (straight), which is not possible in
reality (the diagonal or hypotenuse way always
takes longer). In that sense, chess king is able to
bend space! And it is precisely this "anomaly" of
the chess board that gives rise to many endgame
principles involving king's movement, such as
the square rule or triangulation. We will see
many applications of these principles in the
following issues of Endgame Series!

By now I am sure that you are wondering how

that story applies to chess at all? Well, let's
create a small mathematical problem by
translating these routes onto a chess board. Let
us imagine that my school is on square h1 and I
am a chess king (no pun intended!). Let us also
imagine that each minute of walking towards a
tram station corresponds to one square on the
chess board. According to the distance of the
shorter route (3 minutes), the first tram station
would then be on square h4 (h2-h3-h4). On
which chess square do you expect the next tram
station to be?

Using the same logic, as we take the diagonal

route (5 minutes), we would move diagonally to
g2-f3-e4-d5 and finally c6. But wait a minute;
that does not make any sense! The tram stations
h4 and c6 are too far apart. Visually, it would
make more sense that the second tram station is
on the f4 square. However, f4 is only 3 squares
away from h1, which does not correspond to the
5 minutes it takes to complete the longer route.

10
 Methods of Playing in Positions
with Hanging Pawns - Part 2
GM Grigor Grigorov
Dear Chess Friends,
I have the pleasure to bring to your attention the
second (and final) part of my series on hanging
pawns. In my previous article on that topic, I
examined three of the most typical ideas we can
use when playing against hanging pawns - piece
pressure and attack against the hanging pawns
by means of either "b2–b4" or "e3–e4“. This time
we are going to focus on some ideas which allow
us to make use of the dynamic potential of the
hanging pawns. There are three main ideas we
should keep in mind when playing with hanging
pawns: - Create threats along "e"-file and on the
kingside- Execute c4–c5 (c5–c4) break- Execute
d4–d5 (d5–d4) break. Within the framework of
the present material, I am going to provide you
with concrete examples concerning each one of
these three ideas. In addition, at the end of the
article, you will find a practice section related to
the material we are going to cover. 1) Create
threats along "e"- file and on the kingside. As I
already mentioned in my previous article on the
topic, hanging pawns secure a spatial advantage
and a firm control over the "e" - file. Quite often
we can make use of this file for the purposes of
our attack on the kingside. For example, we have
at our disposal typical ideas like 
respectively  or   followed by a
rook lift towards the kingside. Please note, that
in some positions, we can strengthen our
kingside threats by means of  This
pawn break works extremely well when we
have full control over the "e" - file. Normally
such an advance is often connected with a pawn
sacrifice. Nevertheless, if we take into
consideration the fact that in general our
bishops are placed on "b2" and "d3"
respectively "b7" and "d6", we can make the
conclusion that this pawn sacrifice allow us to
use the attacking potential of every single piece.
White's ideas are perfectly illustrated by the
American grandmaster Walter Browne is his
game against Lev Alburt played in 1981.
Browne,Walter S (2570) - Alburt,Lev O
(2580)
USA-ch/zt South Bend (9), 1981
On the diagram, we see a typical position for our
11
structure which can arise via a huge variety of
opening lines. That's why it's important to
understand the basic ideas for both sides. As you
can see, White enjoys a considerable spatial
advantage and has already occupied the key "e"
file. After protecting the "d4" pawn, he is ready
to make use of the "e" file in order to generate a
king-side pressure. In such positions, Black must
know exactly what he is doing. Otherwise White
manages to develop a tremendous initiative.
Browne's next move is quite obvious - he must
protect his central pawn by means of
 White has an extra tempo  unlike
the position which arises after


 Nevertheless, Black's position remains
playable if he manages to place his pieces in an
optimal way. In the game, he has gone for the
dubious
 Black queen is badly placed here as
opponent's minor pieces can easily attack it.
Nevertheless, this is by far not the only
drawback of Black's last move. As I already
pointed out in my first article on the current
topic, when playing against hanging pawns, we
try to exercise a frontal pressure against the
opponent's centre. In order to achieve this, we
should place our rooks on "c8" and "d8"
squares. It's not difficult to understand,
however, that from "d6" Black queen stands in
the way of the rook and obstructs its activity.
Let's look deeper into this position and try to
figure out what is Black's optimal set-up. First of
all, we should keep an eye on white queen. If
White wants to generate a considerable
pressure along the "e" file, we would place his
queen on "e2". If the queen goes to "c2", then we
should create an opposition along the "" file by
playing Rac8. In this case, White doesn't exercise
pressure along "" file the central break  is
not particularly threatening. That's why after
playing  we can proceed with the normal
Rfd8. What happens if White places his queen on
""? By playing in this way, White creates a
pressure along the "e" file and at the same time,
he prepares the manoeuvre  after which
he has various options, such as or a knight
sacrifice on "" or "". In order to neutralize
possible central breaks and knight sacrifices,
Black should play  followed by . But how
can we deal with White's threatening bishop
pair? In some cases, these bishops could be
activated even at the price of a pawn sacrifice
(). The bishop on "" could be easily
restricted by means of . In this case,
however, white light-squared bishop would
become a monster. In order to neutralize it,
Black should go for the manoeuvre .
Remember that our bishop is ideally placed on
the long diagonal when we play against hanging
pawns. After neutralizing White's attacking
ideas, Black could play  and gradually start
creating pressure against " ". Please have in
mind that in such positions, Black can increase
the pressure against White's centre by making
the manoeuvre  ("" is a key square in
positions with hanging pawns).
I think that Black should have started with 
and only after  he plays  followed
by the above mentioned plan.
 Black completely ignores White's
pressure along the "e" file.
Even here the move  was to be preferred.


This move looks quite reasonable. Black's plan is
12
to make as much exchanges as possible. As we
already know, in the endgame, hanging pawns
become a weakness. At the same time, black
knight exercises a considerable pressure against
the pawn on "c4". Nevertheless, White can
proceed with his attack on the kingside.
Black could have tried to reduce the tension in a
slightly different way:  It
looks like White's immediate activity is
neutralized but he has a powerful resource at
his disposal: 
In such positions, White's central passed pawn
is incredibly strong. As black pieces are tied to
the passer, White has a free hand on the
kingside. Black's position is already very
difficult.
 As we have already pointed out, by
playing  White creates three main
threats - d4–d5, as well as knight sacrifices on
"f7" and "e6". Now it becomes clear why Black
should have played fe8 earlier.
 A sad necessity. In order to slow down
White's attack, Black is obliged to part with his
strong light-squared bishop. Now White's
bishop pair will become extremely dangerous. In
every single moment, Black must reckon with
d4–d5 pawn break.
It's already too late to go for White pieces
are situated in an optimal way while black
queen is rather misplaced. White can make use
of his active pieces by means of the powerful

On the diagram, we have a typical position. In
the middle game, White's central passed pawn is
a huge advantage. Being tied up to this pawn,
black pieces couldn't fight against the
opponent's threats on the kingside. Later in the
present article, our reader will find instructive
insights on the basic methods of playing in
positions with such a pawn. For now, I will limit
myself to showing some variations that
illustrate White attacking ideas. If Black takes
the pawn immediately, he will be confronted
with a loss of material. Let's take a look at the
following variation: (Black's attempt to
exploit the pin along the "e" file by
doesn't work. White queen escapes the
opposition with a tempo. After

The invasion of white
queen is decisive: Black is helpless
against the threats  and )
(White rook is still
untouchable. If Black dares to grab it, White
queen invades his camp again. For instance:
Now
is coming. Black is in trouble.)
movelosesto
13

 The pin along the "e" file turns
out to be decisive again.


Black has managed to parry the threats
connected with a knight sacrifice on "f7" or "e6".
Nevertheless, now his problems are even bigger.
First of all, due to the unprotected position of
the bishop on "e7", White is threatening to play
d4–d5. Another very important idea is to close
black queen by means of  It's already very
difficult to find a reliable continuation for Black.
 Alburt removes his bishop from the
vulnerable "e7" square but doesn't manage to
stop White's knight jump in the centre.
Also bad was ? in view of 
Always watch out for this sacrifice. When your
pieces are well-developed and opponent's light-
squared bishop is missing, these ideas work in
almost every case. After opening the centre,
black pieces are rather vulnerable.
 After this move White is
winning on the spot, but this is all. (Black is
losing a piece after

 Even after the correct  Black's
position remains very difficult due to the lack of
coordination between his pieces. His main
problem is the stacked position of the queen.

White is threatening  and at the same time
the mobility of black queen is restricted. At this
point, the reader can see how dangerous the
pressure along the "e" file is. Black's position is
already critical.
 Black missed White`s reply.
Despite the fact that the idea to protect "f7" by
 looks quite appealing, White has a
powerful resource at his disposal: 
(The move  loses on the spot after


 Suddenly black queen is in danger. White
is threatening to take it by means of . Black's
next move is forced.
 With a threat of c1 followed by
g4–g5.
14
 The attempt to block the kingside by
 simply doesn't work. White is just in time
to break through by playing the energetic 
renewing the threat of  (The natural
 loses to  With 
to follow.) 

Despite the fact that Black has managed to avoid
the immediate crush, White is technically
winning. He has a pair of bishops, an extra pawn
and chances to organize an attack on the
kingside.
 This mistake will cost Black a piece.
Nevertheless, other options don’t seem to work
either.
It seems logical to prevent the move g4–g5 by

It transpires that White is going to carry out the
g4–g5 break anyway. Black has run out of
defensive resources. Seemingly the more precise
 runs into (The attempt to eliminate
White's strong knight by  loses quickly.
White should go for   There is no
good square for the black knight.  (The
move  just loses a piece. For instance:
 Black should
resign.)  White is winning as
the move  is coming.)

White opens up the position as his bishop pair
decides the outcome of the battle. With the king
on "f7", Black's resistance wouldn't last long;
Maybe Black's best try is  Even in this
case, however, White is winning after making a
few accurate moves. 


An interesting situation has occurred on the
15
board. White is temporary a piece down but in
return, he has overtaken the initiative. In order
to win, he shouldn't be in a hurry to win back
the piece. Instead he should focus on the black
queen.  A precise move. White is
preparing a trap for his opponent's queen.
(Worse is  because now Black can seize
the chance to bring his pieces into play: 
Followed by ) White's can be seen in the
following line: 


Black queen is finally trapped.


 Gives Black a
chance to prolong the resistance.
Better was 
 and White
realized his material advantage after

 






1–0
Bernstein,Ossip - Capablanca,Jose Raul
Moscow game Moscow, 1914
“Chess is something more than a game. It is an
intellectual diversion which has certain artistic
qualities and many scientific elements. “
Jose Raul Capablanca
2) Execute c4–c5 (c5–c4) pawn advance
Despite the fact that this idea is extremely risky
from a positional point of view, in a number of
positions, masters handle their hanging pawns
by using this approach. Where exactly lies the
positional risk of such a concept? Firstly, we
should mention that the advance of the c-pawn
weakens "d4" (respectively "d5") squares. At the
same time, this advance creates a backward
pawn on d-file. As I pointed out in my first
article on hanging pawns (see Issue 5), in this
kind of structures, the side which plays against
the hanging pawns places his knight in front of
the more advanced c-pawn and then uses his
major pieces to create a pressure against the d4
(d5) - pawn. Also, we should take into
16
consideration the fact that when we play with
hanging pawns, normally, we place our bishop
on the long diagonal. Very often, after
developing our pieces in an optimal way, we
then try to use their potential by means of the
central break d4–d5 (respectively d5–d4). In
this line of thought, it turns out that the advance
of the c-pawn decreases the dynamic potential
of the hanging pawns. I suppose that now our
reader is asking himself the following question:
"How can an idea with so many drawbacks be so
popular?" Let's try to understand what is the
reasoning behind this seemingly strange
approach. Let's suppose that in a position with
hanging pawns, Black goes for the advance c5–
c4. Indeed, by doing so, he weakens the central
"d4" square - but what about "d3"? In positions
where White has parted with his light-squared
bishop, Black can install his knight on "d3".
Nevertheless, the control over d3–square is far
from being the most important idea of the move
c5–c4. If our opponent has a pawn on "b2", the
advance of our c-pawn will allow us to fix it.
That's way, the idea to move forward the c-
pawn can be very advantageous in positions
where we have already managed to create a
considerable pressure along b-file. Also, it is
important to mention that after playing c5–c4,
it's almost always profitable to exchange the c3–
knight. For example, in a number of positions,
this can be achieved by means of  - . In
summary, we can say that there are two main
conditions we should consider before going for
c5–c4: Pressure along the "b" file & Possibility to
exchange the c3–knight. All of the above
mentioned ideas are perfectly illustrated in the
classical game Bernstein,O - Capablanca,J played
in Moskow in 1914.
Let's take a look at the position on the diagram.
Given the fact that some minor pieces are
already exchanged, White has chances to build a
piece pressure against his opponent's hanging
pawns. Note that he is ready to proceed with
. After placing his rooks on "c1" and "d1",
Bernstein is planning to bring his f3–knight into
the attack. This task could be easily completed
by means of the manoeuvre If
White is allowed to realize these ideas, Black
will be doomed to passivity. He must generate
counterplay as soon as possible. In the game,
Capablanca went for
 Despite the fact that this game was
played more than 100 years ago, Capablanca
demonstrates a modern understanding of
positions with hanging pawns. In this position,
the advance c5–c4 is completely justified. Let's
go through our checklist. Firstly, as Black had
already placed his queen on "b6", by fixing the
b2–pawn, he has considerable chances to create
a pressure along the "b" file. Secondly,
considering the fact that, currently, the d5–pawn
is not under attack, Black is in time to play
followed by the exchange of White's mighty
knight. Finally, we should pay attention to the
fact that in favourable circumstances, Black
could consider transferring his knight to "d3",
because light-squared bishops are not on the
board.
17
 this concrete position, however, White's d4–
 knight stands beautifully but doesn't do much
work. Moreover, this knight decreases the scope
of action of the d1–rook. At the same time, Black
can simply proceed with his typical plan.

It's still possible to play the correct  with

equality.




White's last move is very instructive from a

psychological point of view. I am sure that at this
point, Bernstein was under the impression that
Black's last move is a serious positional mistake.
The reader should take into consideration the
fact that at the beginning of 20th century, almost
every strong player was strongly influenced by
the classical positional principles imposed by
the first World Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz. In
spite of being valid even nowadays, these
principles are mostly focused on the static
nature of the game. That's the reason why a The way in which Capablanca handles this
number of old masters tended to neglect the structure is simply awesome. After exchanging
dynamic resources in chess. There are is still the c3-knight, Black’s pieces will not be tied up
nothing wrong with the move  but it to the backward pawn on "d5". For example,
shows that White doesn't understand this
Black could now consider knight manoeuvres
position in detail. The d5–pawn could be easily
protected by means of  Later, Black will like  Also, we shouldn't forget about
focus on his queenside play, which is why it's the pressure along the b-file. I think that White's
preferable to immediately destroy Black's position is already slightly worse.
spatial advantage.
 Bernstein feels the pressure and tries to
The most reasonable for White was to accept the free himself by this pawn break. However, he
draw after 
starts to play actively at the most inappropriate
 White is going into the wrong moment. His last move leads to the formation of
direction. Inspired by the classical chess an advanced passed pawn on "c4".
education, Bernstein seizes the opportunity to White should have accepted the passive but
install his knight on the weakened d4–square. In completely defendable position which arises

18
after 
Black is planning to proceed with  followed
by  Although, Black's advantage is out of
question, White's position remains fairly solid.
 Of course! We should always place our
rooks behind the passed pawns. After the
elimination of c3–knight, Black rook will
support the advance of the c-pawn. White's
position is already very difficult.
 As we have pointed
out, this exchange allows the further advance of
c-pawn. Now Bernstein is forced to blockade his
opponent's passer with a rook. Everybody
knows that in order to blockade a pawn in a safe
way, we need a knight!


A key resource! Without this knight jump, White
is simply winning a pawn. I am sure that
Bernstein missed this little tactical trick when
he played 
 The rook retreat is a sad necessity.
The c4–pawn is untouchable. The move 
runs into the elegant  In spite of their
simplicity, sometimes, it's not easy to foresee
moves like these. Because of the optical illusion,
one can fail to understand that the c8–rook
actually protects the knight.


This obvious move is very instructive.
Sometimes, players just forget to push their
passers. They always think that there are urgent
tasks to do. As a result, they start pushing the
pawn when it's too late or they don't push it at
all. This is a very typical mistake. Your passed
pawns should always go forward when they are
allowed to do so. The more advanced is our
pawn, the larger is the number of opponent
pieces which are tied up to it.
 Black is preparing the move
 In this way, the c3–pawn will be
supported at a maximum.
 Wrong is  (The
weakness of the back-rank decides the game
after 



19
 Inviting White to win the c3–pawn. the majority of middlegames, when our pieces
are active and well-developed, such a pawn is a
 Overlooking the masked valuable asset. When we have a central passed
refutation. pawn in the middlegame, our main goal is to
advance it as far as possible. In positions where
 the pawn is on the 7th rank, the opponent's
pieces are completely tied up to it. Most often, it
 Exploiting must be blocked by a major piece. Moreover, the
the weakness of back rank in White`s position. side which plays against such a pawn, can't fight
for the open "c" and "e" files, because the central

passer controls the squares "c8" and "e8" ("c1"
and "e1", respectively). The side which plays
0–1
with the central passer makes use of the lack of
coordination in the opponent's camp to organize
Dizdar,Goran (2465) - Lobron,Eric (2520)
an attack on the kingside. In order to avoid this
Sarajevo Sarajevo, 1984
scenario, the central passed pawn must be
blocked as soon as possible. You should never
3) Execute d4–d5 (d5–d4) pawn break
allow such a pawn to move further. The main
This is one of the most popular ways to handle
drawback of the central passed pawn is its
positions with hanging pawns. This dynamic
weakness in the endgame. In this stage of the
possibility exists in almost every position. That's
game, the side playing with it has no chances to
the reason why it's difficult to treat it
launch a kingside attack and must always take
independently. As we have already seen, the
care of the pawn. Please note that in a number of
central pawn advance is one of the main ways
endgames, the opposite side has the opportunity
allowing to exploit the pressure along the e-file.
to create an outside passed pawn on the
As a rule, this pawn advance is always good
queenside. That's why you should avoid piece
when we are ahead in the development and our
exchanges when playing with a central passer.
pieces are more active. At this point, I would like
In order to illustrate the practical application of
to provide you with a piece of valuable practical
the above mentioned considerations, I provide
advice: In general, when you reach a point
you with a very instructive example.
where you cannot imagine further improvement
of the position of your pieces, it is time to go for
a central break. You know that in this kind of
situations, such a break is often connected with
a pawn sacrifice. The game Browne - Alburt is a
perfect illustration of the above mentioned
principles.
Now I am going to focus on another case where
it's highly advantageous to push the central
pawn - creation of a central passed pawn.
Despite the fact that positions with central
passed pawns arise very often in practice, the
vast majority of players face difficulties in
handling them. Let's look at the main
advantages and drawbacks of playing with such
a pawn. Firstly, I would like to point out that in

20
 The position on the diagram arose in the game 
Dizdar,G - Lobron, E played in Sarajevo in 1984. 
As two pairs of minor pieces are already
exchanged, White's chances to organize an
attack on the kingside are by no means great. At
the same time, Black is ready to start exercising
pressure against the hanging pawns by means of
. Later on, he is going to proceed with 
followed by  White must make use of his
temporarily more active pieces and go for a
position with central passed pawn, which is
precisely what happens in the game:

 

This is quite a typical mistake for this kind of
positions. A lot of players (including
grandmasters) are inclined to underestimate the
strength of the central passed pawn. Probably,
at this point, Black was considering the blockade
to be sufficient, as White has no dark-squared
bishop which could attack the d8–rook.
Nevertheless, we know that our advantage
becomes decisive if we have a pawn on 7th rank.

It was necessary to prevent d6–d7 by 

Black is more or less forced to exchange the
dark-squared bishops. Otherwise, the b2–bishop
will create dangerous threats along the long
diagonal. Of course, Black's last move is far from
being a flawless solution. Now White has a free
hand to advance his pawn one square further:
 Of course! White pushes his
pawn at the right moment. It's not advisable to
wait any longer because Black is ready to block
the pawn by means of 
! Even so, however, White retains a
considerable edge after  followed by 
 Dizdar misses a golden opportunity to
obtain a huge advantage.
White could play  and now defend his
passed pawn by  Black's position is very
difficult due to the weakness of his back-rank.
 (The move  loses on the spot
because of the intermediate 


 Wrong is  because of the

simple  White is losing the pawn due to
the hanging position of his a1–rook.

21
 


We have reached a very typical position. When

looking at it, it's not difficult to understand that
Simple and strong. The d7–pawn must be
Black is practically a rook down. His d8–rook
protected at any price. Remember that in this
couldn't go anywhere. In such positions, the kind of positions, the b3–pawn has no value -
strong side should above all protect his pawn in Black needs a lot of time to promote a queen on
a safe way. Later on, he is ready to proceed with the queenside. Meanwhile, he will be mated on
his attack on the kingside. At this point, I would the opposite side of the board!
like to bring to your attention an important
Of course not 
detail. Generally, it's difficult to create serious
 And Black is the one who is playing
threats on the kingside when you rely only on for a win.
your major pieces. Before starting concrete
actions, it's highly advisable to further weaken 
the opponent's kingside structure by h2–h4–h5 
(in some cases even h5–h6 must be considered).
Note that the attack on the kingside is very well
combined with threats connected with the weak
back-rank. Maybe Black's position is objectively
lost.

 Again missing 

 White finally finds the right way of

handling the position. Now he can go for the
above mentioned plan.

22
This move perfectly fits into White's plan. Now
he not only wants to weaken the position of
black king by playing h4–h5, but at the same
time, he is ready to make use of the e-file by
means of  followed by 
Now  runs into 
 and
Black is winning.



Was winning instead












The final
mistake in mutual time-trouble.





1–0

23
GM Repertoire Against 1.d4 – Part 2
Boris Chatalbashev
Chapter II: System with , Averbakh, Four
Pawns' Attack, Fianchetto, Saemisch, System
with and .
Apart from the main line, White has several
other options for development. Most often these
variations are connected with the theory of
King's Indian or Modern Benoni. Of course, I can
not cover in this article every line from the other
openings. But as I have quite a lot of practice
here, I shall offer my opinion on the best options
for Black. And there are also some interesting
independent possibilities.
Nikolov,Momchil (2450) -
Chatalbashev,Boris (2507)
BUL-chT 56th Sunny Beach (7), 11.10.2006


This variation is second best in popularity.
 The difference between 
and the text is that the subtle rook move
discourages  compared to 
 Without the exchange on d5, white
knight cannot jump on c4 - an excellent square
in all kinds of Modern Benoni positions. So after
 Black can continue with 
saving exd5 for later. Though White's play is far
from perfect, the following game is a good
example - Black manages to implement all the
typical ideas in positions with this pawn
structure. 

With this move order Black allows 
24
 
 0–1 (47) Zilka,S (2525)-Kislinsky,A
(2574) Ledec nad Sazavou 2013)

 White has just
a tiny edge...1–0 (47) Cori,J (2596)-Hernandez
Guerrero,G (2517) Buenos Aires ARG 2015)



 0–1 (40) Franic,M (2392)-
Chatalbashev,B (2561) Zagreb 2010



 but it is hardly something to be
afraid of. We have already seen similar positions
in the main line, d4 square is enough
compensation for the weak pawn on d6. For
example, 


 1/2 (26)
Hulak,K (2505)-Gheorghiu,F (2525) New York
1986)  
More challenging is 

 where I like Cebalo's approach. I barely survived






(49) Farago,I (2477)-Ivanisevic,I (2638) Hungary
2013)

in the following game. 
 As we know, the exchange of this
bishop for a knight is always good in Benoni.
1–0 
 White must be always careful with
future b6–b5, but the decision to prevent it in a

25
radical way does not help much. Evdokimov,Alexander A (2569) -
 Volokitin,Andrei (2674)

 Moscow Aeroflot op-A1 Moscow (5), 18.02.2008

1/2 (37) Chatalbashev,B (2561)-Cebalo,M
(2500) Zagreb 2010 CBM 145 
 

Finally I want to show you the other possible

 plan - with It is more risky, but

 sometimes it works nicely for Black - as in the
 following beautiful game!

 0–1 (68) Petkov,V 
(2450)-Chatalbashev,B (2490) Plovdiv 2007 
In all these lines  is met by

  Of course Black weakens his kingside, but
 manages to secure his strong knight on e5.


 The other option 

Correct play from both sides and a logical result.

1/2

26




 1–0 (45) Kozul,Z (2617)-Chatalbashev,B
(2561)/Zagreb 2010/CBM 145


 












1–0
(44) Markus,R (2617)-Dvirnyy,D (2480)/Nova
Gorica SLO 2011/The Week in Chess 848
 







0–1




27
Fier,A (2592) - Vakhidov,J (2502) 
90th Hastings Masters 2014–15 Hastings ENG 
(4.4), 01.01.2015






I like this move - now the knight on f6 is not
pinned and we prepare the standard 
which will put pressure on b2 pawn.

In my opinion, Averbakh variation against King's  The only way to fight for an
Indian is somewhat underestimated these days. advantage, although the complications are not
Though not very popular, we have to be ready to so dangerous for Black.
face it with our system also, via a different move
order. 

 White's idea is after  to
discourage  though it is still the main move,
connected with a pawn sacrifice on d6. But it is
not what I consider best.

 Now White prevents h7–h6 in the future

and the pin is a little bit unpleasant.

 is not logical - after  this

version of Benoni is good for Black, for example





 0–1 (37) Donner,J
(2470)-Portisch,L (2640) Lugano 1968

28
 
White is better after immediate 
as Carlsen once proved against Van Wely.
 If the bishop retreats, Black will take on
b2 and play  next.




 The position after


 is approximately equal, but easier to
play with Black. He is safe from trouble with
such a nice knight on e5.
 


1–0
29
Jobava,Baadur (2696) - Radjabov,Teimour 
  
(2757) 
EU-chT (Men) 17th Novi Sad (5), 26.10.2009 


Four pawns' attack is not as dangerous here,
especially compared to Modern Benoni, where
White has the possibility of early . There
are several decent options for Black, but I like
Radjabov's choice best. In many lines it is Black
that may end on top after the opening!




0–1 (26) Christiansen,L (2575)-Kasparov,G

(2675) Moscow 1982




Most common move order is  Now

 is no secret that White gains
nothing -after the following famous game by
Kasparov. 



A rare move, which will most probably surprise

your opponent. And it is a good one too!

 The development with 

is not better 

 
 

30





 is that the last move is better to be played
0–1 (45) Banikas,H (2608)-Radjabov,T (2733)
Bursa 2010;  is obviously premature


 
A standard tactical resource in Modern Benoni,
exploiting both the diagonal g1–a7 and the
vulnerability of e4 pawn. An important nuance
immediately, without including Note
that this position might also happen with a
different move order - when White goes for the
classical line with  (see Evdokimov-
Volokitin above) and later tries to stop black
knight from jumping on e5 - 
 Taking the pawn now gives Black better
chances - 



 is playing with
fire, Black gets enormous activity, threatening to
win the game in just a few moves -





With 
White
should be able to hold, but not more. 
(42) Hage,H-De Smet,K (2260)/corr 1995/Corr
2011
31
 is some computer tactics, practically impossible
 to come across over the board.





  Somehow White
is still not lost after but again, this would
be rather difficult for a human player to predict.
 

 

 



An over-optimistic move which creates a lot
more problems for White than for Black.

The most natural moves in chess are often the

best. Here also -  though it was tough to
calculate at this point that the complications will
eventually end in a draw.








 

and after playing an excellent game and missing

a win twice, Black even managed to lose...

1–0

32
Petrosian,Tigran L (2580) - Vovk,Yuri (2523)
Lake Sevan Martuni (2), 07.07.2007



Fianchetto System is a positional one, the games
here are rarely decided in the opening, but
rather in late middlegame.

White better be cautious about b7–b5, as in
some lines Black can even sacrifice a pawn and
get an excellent version of Benko Gambit. For
example:
 


Aimed against e7–e6 or e7–e5, but allowing
strong, typical Benko counterplay. In that case
the bishop on f4 is doing nothing, the pawn on
b2 is often hanging. 

1/2 (50) Urban,K (2489)-Heberla,B
(2502) Legnica 2007; 


Again the same motive; here again White will
enjoy the extra pawn only temporarily, his long-
term prospect is just a fight for equality.

is the same (But not   and
White is better, as Nikolic proved in an old game
against Torre.) 
33
 nothing is simple and for both sides there are
 0–1 (41) numerous possibilities.
Liptay,L (2410)-Chatalbashev,B (2537) 
Balatonlelle 2002 


 

 1/2 (48) Malaniuk,V
(2610)-Fedorov,A (2555) St Petersburg 1996

White decides to open up the position

and attack on d6, but again, Black has nothing to
be afraid of.





After provoking a2–a4, my first choice would be

to play like in the main line - going into King's
Indian type of position. Other plans are also
possible - with , , ; with e6 or a6, 
allowing a4–a5 from White. But my feeling is
that in all these cases White's play is easier.




Better was 

was played with the same idea in the following

game. It is a good example of how these
positions should be played, though, of course,

34
 enjoying some seems too brave  but the
pressure, although after  complications might favor White.
 Black is very active) 
 Black should gradually


equalize. 

After  

0–1
it is White who risks more







35
 Fight The Evans in a Modern Way 

GM Vladimir Georgiev

Nowadays, romantic gambits are rare birds in

super tournaments. Evans gambit still has some 
fans like Nisipeanu, Short, Nakamura. Back in 

the day, this was one of the most dangerous
weapons after . Players like Paul Morphy,
Robert J. Fisher and Gary Kasparov had a lot of
wins. White's idea is simple - to sacrifice
material in order to win some tempos for
development and for attack in the center. Black
should play very carefully because the value of
each move is extremely high in gambits. I will
now provide you with a solid repertoire based
on the games of J. Timman, V. Anand and F.
Caruana. White had a hard time in the Evans
gambit recently, because of that line
Nisipeanu,LD (2654) - Caruana,F (2805)
43rd GM 2015 Dortmund GER (7.1), 05.07.2015

The easiest way to equality. Recent games

showed that White is the one who should be
careful to maintain the balance.

  This move leads to a

comfortable equality. 
 1/2 (37) Petrosian,T (2645)-
Iordachescu,V (2582) Legnica 2013




36

 
The key move in our repertoire. Black defends
the f7–pawn and covers the important diagonal
a4–e8. Regardless of White's next move, we will
play   with the idea 
 I chose this example in order to show you
how the genius Paul Morphy crushed his
opponents 160 years ago using Evans Gambit.
Chess is eminently and emphatically the
philosopher’s game.




1–0 (26) Morphy,P-Ayers,T Alabama 1855;
 It is obvious that giving the f7–pawn is
not a good idea.  Open lines and
diagonals!  1–0 (39) Vavra,P
(2327)-Zolnierowicz,K (2340) Prague 2000;
 This looks tricky, but leads by force to a
hard position for Black. 
 1–0 (42) Bruedigam,M (2371)-Silies,M
(1880) Berlin 2015
  Now this is too slow and
Black completes the development without any
problems.  The most aggressive
reply. ( is a bit risky
 With at least
enough compensation for the sacrificed
material.) 
Material is even, but with such a king on e2 it is
obvious that White is in trouble.0–1 (23)
Zeller,F (2445)-Parligras,M (2589) Trier GER
2015; For 8.0–0 see the game Pridororzhni-
Jakovenko
37


Trying to improve Nakamura-Anand game, but I
can't see the point of this move. Black can simply
complete the development.

 Is analyzed in Nakamura-Anand

 
 Black is better
due to his pair of bishops and better pawn
structure.

The key move in the line. The idea is  to
exchange the powerful bishop on c4. Essentially,
Black will play Bb6 regardless of White's reply to the
8th move!

 White manages to win a pawn,
however, Black's active pieces give him more
than enough compensation.



 Absolutely illogical move from my point of

view, but the first choice of the engines. This
was first played by Hikaru Nakamura himself
(see next game).
0–1
(44) Ivanovic,B (2515)-Timman,J (2650) Reggio
Emilia 1984 with two bishops and better pawn
structure it is hard to believe that Black can
have any problems.;  is examined in Li-
Caruana game
 Executing his main plan, Black has
already equalized. White should think of a way
to hold the balance here.
 This position is a wonderful example of the

strength of the pair of bishops.

 White decides to return the

pawn.

 White's
bishop on b4 starts feeling uncomfortable.

 White missed

Black's wonderful idea.

38
 Pridorozhni,Aleksei (2517) -
 Jakovenko,Dmitrij (2721)
RUS Cup final Khanty-Mansiysk (1.2),
13.12.2013






 The point of Black's idea.




This move is not so dangerous, because it gives

us an important tempo.

 As always, we play here this move with

idea 
 This move saves the
day for Black. 
Black is clearly better.

Fantastic end of the game, b-pawn is

unstoppable now.

0–1

39
  Black has It is time to activate the knight, f5–idea is also on
the pair of bishops. the agenda.

 

 The king comes to help his army.


The safest square.




 The triple pawns are very useful,

they give us a chance to operate with our rooks
on the semi-open "c" and "a" files.
 The position is
technically winning for Black. Jakovenko easily
converts his advantage.
 It is interesting how naturally all of
Jakovenko is extremely strong in endgames with
Black's pieces are placed.
two pawns up:
 Untriple the
pawns.  The rest is very easy and does not
need comments.







0–1 (59) Pridorozhni,A (2517)-Jakovenko,D
(2721) Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2013

0–1

40
Nakamura,Hikaru (2775) - optimistic, you can try to organize some active
Anand,Viswanathan (2793) counter play and even sacrifice d-pawn for the
London Classic 6th London (3), 12.12.2014 initiative.
  Comes into mind, but
Black is pretty OK after: 





with an idea of Be6 and  that gives Black
excellent chances.

  Is a bit inaccurate now, because

of the:  The only move.
 is a mistake, because of:
( White
has an initiative.)  With
objectively equal position where White
definitely has some practical chances thanks to
the d-pawn.) 
And Black is winning.
 This route of the knight is also possible.
  setting a nice trap:
 Here we should stop for a second and It’s time to resign.)
evaluate Nakamura's idea. What can we say 
about the position? Black has already finished
the development and has the pair of bishops. On  exchange the defender of d6–
the other side, d6–pawn is an achievement for pawn.
White. If Black manages to play d6–d5, the
position will be roughly equal. If you are more

41
  Li,Ruifeng (2446) - Caruana,Fabiano (2796)
 Las Vegas Millionaire op Las Vegas (2),
08.10.2015





to avoid the exchange with better

chances! The bishop comes to c6 and I
would choose to play with Black here.
It seems that
White has a little pressure, but the former World
Champion defends his position without much
The most logical try.
effort.
White 
is more active, but has too many weaknesses to 
claim an advantage.








1/2

42
 
 

This move looks attractive, but after:

Black is clearly better. Practice The most recent try for White.
proves that White hasn't got enough
compensation for the pawn.   Now Black will remove all of White's
 Without light-squared bishop, active pieces. 
weakening the light squares is not so dangerous
for Black. 
Black
comfortably develops his pieces and keeps the
pawn up.) 


Taking control over the very important a2–g8

  Now the position is double-edged.
 Black returns the pawn in order to
complete the development. 
 Restrict the power of a3–
bishop  Black remains with better
chances.Ѕ-Ѕ (54) Tomczak,J (2560)-Erdos,V
(2621) Hockenheim GER 2015
diagonal. Now it is much easier for Black to
finish the development! with idea
Finally, Howell manages to outplay his low rated
opponent.  This square
looks much more natural.) 

 Black returns the pawn to
keep his bishop alive. 

43
looks better) 
 Gives Black an advantage.
 

White missed this nice trick. 
 and Black is in trouble.)
 is the idea.)  (54) Devereaux,M
(2359)-Howell,D (2644) Hinckley ENG 2014
The Week in Chess 1012 [Mark Crowther] Now
finally the king is safe and Black is still a pawn
up.
 Caruana chooses the most natural
move.



 With a winning
position for Black. 
 With an advantage for Black.)
 Black is close to winning, the
threat a5 is very unpleasant to meet.



White has enough compensation for the pawn to
maintain the balance.


 1/2 (28) Li,R
(2446)-Caruana,F (2796) Las Vegas 2015
1/2
44
Sicilian Structures - Introduction move e7–e5. More precisely, I focus on the
GM Viktor Gavrikov structure arising after the exchange on "d5"
where this square is occupied by a white pawn.
Such a pawn structure can arise from a number
of Sicilian variations. Najdorf, Boleslavsky,
Scheveningen, Paulsen and Sveshnikov are only
a few of them. In order to explain our featured
pawn structure, I provide you with a concrete
example. The position on the diagram arose
from Boleslavsky Variation after the moves:


.

Starting from this point, I am going to explain all

the basic ideas and plans for both sides. Let's
first take a look at White's strategy in this kind
Dear Reader,
of structures. To ensure a well-grounded
In chess, there is no opening which is as popular,
understanding of the material to come, I would
complex and rich as the Sicilian defense. Due to
like to introduce two classical chess concepts.
the countless possibilities for both sides, a lot of
From a positional point of view, we should
players face difficulties when preparing this
always play on the side where we have pawn
opening. According to the Russian Chess School,
majority or spatial advantage. It's important to
before starting to explore a given opening, we
mention that in practice the concepts of pawn
should first learn to handle the arising pawn
majority and spatial advantage are closely
structures. While lines and sub-lines change
interrelated. In most cases, the spatial advantage
over time, pawn structures remain stable. I am
is defined by the pawn structure. Also, it's
convinced that this structural approach to the
important to know that you must exchange
opening is the only possible way to study the
pawns on the wing where your opponent has a
Sicilian defense.
pawn majority. If we take into consideration the
In my first article, I examine one of the most
above-mentioned principles, on the diagram
popular Sicilian structures which occurs in
position, White is supposed to further advance
variations where, at some point, Black plays the

45
his queenside pawn majority. Maybe the reader
is already asking himself the following question:
What exactly is the point of pushing the
queenside pawns? The best answer to this
question was given in the first half of the 20th
century by the great player and author Aaron
Nimzowitsch. In his wonderful book My System,
he affirms that the advance of our pawn
majority should be directed to the base of the
opponent’s pawn chain. In our concrete
example, black pawn chain is formed by the
pawns "d6" and "e5" (d6–pawn being the base).
In this line of thought, we reach the conclusion
that White should proceed with c2–c4, b2–b4
followed by c4–c5. In case of  White has the
chance to create a defended passed pawn by
 followed by d5–d6. If Black sticks to the
waiting policy, White can weaken the e5–pawn
by means of  or create an advanced passer
by playing c5–c6. Note that he is not always
forced to make an immediate decision.
Sometimes it's advisable to strengthen the
pressure against "d6" by executing a maneuver
like . In practice, however, things never
go so smoothly. As we have already pointed out,
one should go for pawn exchanges on the wing
where the opponent has pawn majority.
Following this strategy, Black is advised to place
his queenside pawns on "b6" and "a5" squares.
In this case, White is forced to waste a
considerable amount of time in order to execute
his plan. For instance, he will play a2–a3, b2–b4
and only then c4–c5. Nevertheless, after the
pawn exchanges ( and ), there will be
no pawns left on the queenside. Additionally, in
some cases, white central d5–pawn will become
a weakness. In order to avoid this scenario,
before starting to prepare the typical c4–c5
break, White is advised to gain some additional
space on the queenside by means of a2–a4–a5.
As you are going to see later, in a number of
positions, the a5–pawn plays an important role
in the queenside battle. In order to support the
advance of his queenside pawns, White usually
develops his pieces in the following way: ,
 and possibly . Note that all of these
moves are designed to support the critical c4–c5
break. After getting acquainted with White's
ideas in this structure, it's easier to figure out
what works for Black in such positions. When
looking at the position, we could immediately
spot Black's pawn majority on the kingside.
That's why his main strategy consists in
launching an attack on the kingside. Just like
White does on the opposite side, Black should
make use of the dynamic potential of his pawns
in order to gain space on the kingside. Normally
he achieves it by executing the advance f7–f5
followed by e5–e4 (in positions where his light-
squared bishop is on the board, even f5–f4 is
possible). After playing e5–e4, Black tries to put
a minor piece on e5 and transfer some major
pieces to the kingside - moves like Qh4 and Rf6
are always in the air. On the diagram position,
however, the above mentioned plan hardly
works, because after playing f7–f5 and e5–e4,
Black weakens the e6–square (White can make
use of it by ). That's why, in this structure,
Black should keep his light-squared bishop. On
the other hand, he aims to exchange the dark-
squared bishops. This idea could be explained
by the fact that the e7–bishop is restricted by
the pawn chain d6 - e5, while the e3 - bishop
actively supports white pawn majority on the
queenside.

Nanu,Ciprian Costica (2405) - Lakat,Gyula
(2120)
Szeged TT07 IM Szeged (3), 18.07.1998
Now that we know all the typical ideas for both
sides, it's time to look at some games. The first
two games I have selected feature the
application of White's strategy in practice. Later,
I analyze my game against the legendary Ratmir
Kholmov which illustrates how dangerous
Black's counter play could be. On the diagram,
we can see a typical Najdorf position. Black has
a weakness on "d5" but currently, this square is
very well protected. On the other hand, White
46
had already played a2–a4–a5 which is a huge
positional achievement. Given the fact that the
pawn is on "a5", White will be trying to enter the
structure with a pawn on "d5". Nevertheless,
now it's not possible to play  because the e4
- pawn is hanging. However, Black's last move is
a huge positional mistake:
 A known inaccuracy which allows
White to obtain the favorable pawn structure as
the move could be played with a tempo.
The main move in the position is 
This position is considered to be rather
balanced. Generally, White is fighting for the d5–
square, while Black is trying to generate counter
play along the "c" file or execute d6–d5 break at
a suitable moment. White's main strategic idea
is to execute the maneuver .
Nevertheless, this plan seems to be rather time-
consuming. Meanwhile, Black would play 
followed by  with the idea to push d6–d5 as
soon as possible.
 Now Black is forced to take on "d5".


Black's last move is designed to make the
advance c4–c5 more difficult. Later, depending
on the circumstances, Black can start playing on
the kingside by means of  followed by –.
In his game against Efim Geller played in
Curacao 1962, Robert Fischer played 
immediately. In this game, Geller played very
well and his win was completely deserved. The
way in which he obtains a huge advantage is
very instructive.  White is making normal
moves designed to support the c4–c5 advance.
For instance, now he is planning to play moves
like  (protecting ""), ,  
followed by .  This is a typical idea
for the given pawn structure. Black tries to
provoke an exchange on "c5" after which he will
block the d5–pawn by playing . If that
happens, the queenside will be blocked and
Black will have a free hand to attack on the
47
kingside. However, when pawn is on "a5" this 
approach almost never works. White has at his 
disposal a powerful refutation. 
This is the point! Now Black couldn't play .
 (In response to  White will play
 followed by c4–c5.)  White's
advantage is undisputable. 1–0 Geller,E-
Fischer,R/Curacao 1962/Candidates (41)

 Too slow is  In this case, Black can

slow down White's play on the queenside and
further advance his kingside pawns. For
instance:  
Strong move. Black tries to take an indirect
control over the d5–pawn. At the same time, he I am sure that Black underestimated this move.
is ready to transfer his queen to the kingside by Now Black can do nothing against the advance
playing f5–f4 followed by  at a suitable b2–b4.
moment. 
 Of course  is well met
by  With a huge advantage.

 White could win a pawn by



 but the game move is also
sufficient for clear advantage.



Now Black has free hand to advance his pawns

on the kingside, while White has difficulties in
executing his c4–c5 advance. 1–0 Ianovsky,M
(2071)-Goldwasser,C/Buenos Aires 2002/(41)

 As we have already pointed out, when

white pawn is on "a5", this move is dubious.
Maybe, again, Black should have opted for the White is dominating the board. Black can't
defend his multiple weaknesses on the
natural  White's play is very instructive.
queenside.


48
 The c5–pawn is under attack. At
the same time, White is planning to bring
another rook into play by means of  and
possibly 
 When you have a
spatial advantage, you are not advised to
exchange pieces.
 Preparing e3–f4.
Was possible to play immediately 


 chances are preferable, but he should be very
White has a winning position. The rest of the
game is simple.



 Black resigns.
1–0
Nunn,John DM (2620) - Ljubojevic,Ljubomir
(2580)
World Cup Rotterdam, 1989
Despite the fact that in the previous game
White’s win was flawless, Black is by no means
forced to put his knight on "c5". In most of the
cases, instead of fighting with white queenside
pawns, Black starts pushing his kingside
majority. In such cases, the play is extremely
double-edged and every single move matters. I
would say that White's queenside expansion is
developing faster but as Black plays against the
king, his attack is potentially more dangerous.
After spending quite a number of hours
analyzing this structure, I reached the
conclusion that, objectively speaking, White's
precise. The following game features a typical
case of pawn race. The English grandmaster
John Nunn demonstrates an excellent structural
understanding of the position. Despite the
energetic play of his opponent GM Ljubomir
Ljubojevic, he manages to win in wonderful
style.
At fifteen years of age, John Nunn proceeded to
Oriel College, Oxford, to study mathematics. At
the time, he was Oxford's youngest
undergraduate since Cardinal Wolsey in 1520.


 Nowadays this positional
49
continuation is very popular. By deviating from 
the main line with , White is relying on a 
small but lasting positional advantage. Later on,
he is planning to strengthen his control over the
weak d5–square by playing . As a rule, in
such kind of structures, white bishop is very
well placed on the "a2 - g8" diagonal. In order to
prevent White's idea, Black is forced to play

 Note that runs into After

taking the e6 - bishop, White will enjoy a strong
pair of bishops.



Important positional decision. By placing his

dark-squared bishop on the long-diagonal,
Ljubojevic enters a King's Indian type of
position. In this case, however, he loses a
valuable time, while, after castling, White is
ready to proceed with his expansion on the
queenside.

Perhaps better was 

Very beautiful positional idea! White intends to
enter the structure which arises after an
exchange on "d5". However, firstly, he wants to
put a pawn on "a5".
This is an interesting way to make use of the
move On the next move, Black will follow
with . Moreover, if white knight parts from
–square, he can exchange dark-squared
bishops by playing  As the reader already
knows, in this structure, the exchange of dark-
squared bishops favors Black.



 This move is designed to prevent the

move  with the idea to further weaken the
"d5" square. Nevertheless, by doing so, Black is
wasting a valuable time. Note that in case of 
he is ready to support the knight by means of
.
More logical is 9.a5 – with a playable
position.

 Just in time! Now Black is

forced to enter in our preferred pawn structure.



50
This move is almost always useful in this pawn
structure. White is playing in a very flexible way.
The d2–knight not only controls "e4", but at the
same time White is ready to meet the move –
by means of the typical – (you know that we
exchange pawns on the side where our
opponent is stronger).
Now the reader could see the point of the move
. White is ready to go for  In order to
create some counter chances, Black should
exchange the central pawns. Nevertheless, by
doing so, he loses his spatial advantage on the
kingside.


 Black is still not prepared to play

What can simply follow with
І Black’s construction would be
ideal if his pawn is on f5 square. In this position,
his possibilities are restricted as the f6–knight is
tied to the weak e4–pawn. On the other hand,
White's play on the queenside simply develops
by itself.

 In case of  the continuation

(White develops his initiative in
exceptionally beautifully after 
It seems that White's position
is critical, but he brings his rook into play just in Interesting resource. In this position, Black has
time.  The last two main ways of playing for a counter play. He
subtlety.  White's can either try to exchange white dark-squared
position is overwhelming. Black has no attack, bishop by  or try to activate his passive d7–
while White's pieces are extremely active and knight by means of  followed by White
the d6–pawn is highly dangerous.) is still much better, but he shouldn't lose any

time.
 gives White more than sufficient
compensation for the pawn  Of course! Now c5–c6 is a threat.
 Strong intermediate
 move. Now d5–square is free for white queen.



51
Black is desperately late on the kingside, while
White is almost winning on the other side of the
board. On the diagram position, he has a
beautiful combination at his disposal:
 Clears the way for White`s c-pawn.
 Simpler was


More tenacious was 


1–0
Kholmov,Ratmir D (2475) - Gavrikov,Viktor
(2485)
URS-ch FL51 Tallinn (9), 13.12.1983
So far, we have been looking at examples where
Black was suffering. However, as I pointed out in
the introduction, Black's attacking ideas on the
kingside shouldn't be underestimated. In order
to show you what happens when White wastes
time on prophylactic moves, I provide you with
my game against the legendary GM Ratmir
Kholmov played at the Soviet Chess
Championship in 1983.

 An alternative



As the reader could see, a2–a4 is an important
move in Sicilian type of positions. White not only
prevents Black from gaining space on the
queenside by means of b7–b5, but at the same
time he could play the typical a4–a5 move at a
suitable moment. However, I would like to point
out that this move makes much more sense
when Black had already developed his knight on
"d7". Otherwise, he can make use of the
weakened b4–square by playing . That's
what I did in the game.
 White usually gives preference to 
 Planning 
More common move is 
 From a positional point of view, this
move is almost forced.
After  Black should deploy his forces in the
following way. 
is
With the idea  Once black rook reaches the
c8–square, White can't play  because the
knight is tied up to the c2–pawn. Note that the
move  is very well met by
 White is in trouble. In case
of Black plays  With an
advantage.
52

 1977 by Chebanenko in a similar pawn structure
After  was possible  Followed by 
White's play on the queenside is practically
blocked, while Black is ready to follow with

 The bishop on  is restricted by  and
–pawns, therefore Black wants to exchange it.
 After  we reach a
position similar to the game.


Not immediately  because then in order to
develop the bishop Black will be forced to move
his knight from d7. This plan was suggested in
after moves 

  followed by and


In the event of  Black
could play  With a strong
counterplay.


Critical position. By playing the prophylactic
, White is wasting time. As we have seen
on many occasions, in such kind of structures,
53
every single move could play a decisive role.
More consistent was  Here I analyzed a
forced long line which leads to a draw: 
As always, Black should bring his queen into
play as soon as possible. 

This is the critical position. Now Black has a
powerful resource at his disposal. 





The draw is obvious.
 At the price of a pawn Black obtains the
h4–square for his queen.
But probably stronger was 




This exchange activates black knight.
Only after the game, Kholmov suggested the
correct reply though it seems to me that
Black is not worse after 


followed by and 
 White should play instead


 The final mistake in time-
trouble.



 here my
opponent resigned because of
however White could prolong the
resistance by 
a) 
b) 
With 
mate to follow.
When Black has to find the way to the decisive
advantage 






0–1
54
Svidler,Peter (2749) - Bologan,Viktor (2732) 
Wch Blitz Astana (9), 09.07.2012
As we have already examined all the typical
ideas for both sides, now I bring to your
attention an exercise which will allow you to
test your knowledge of the covered material.
The position on the diagram has arisen in the
game Svidler - Bologan played in 2012. You are
asked to find White's best continuation. It's
enough to guess the move and define the correct
plan. Good luck!

At the price of exchange White completely
eliminates Black`s possibilities for counter play on
the kingside, while on the queenside White`s pawns
can be effectively advanced.





More tenacious was  when
White continues with 
 and his advantage seems to be
decisive.
Much stronger was 







1–0
55