{"id":626,"date":"2023-08-17T16:20:38","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T14:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skolasachu.softmedia.cz\/?p=626"},"modified":"2023-08-17T16:27:12","modified_gmt":"2023-08-17T14:27:12","slug":"forgotten-lessons-of-two-strategic-themes-in-two-games-from-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skolasachu.com\/en\/zapomenute-poucky-dvou-strategickych-tematve-dvou-partiich-svetoveho-poharu\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgotten principles of two strategic themes\u2026 in two World Cup games"},"content":{"rendered":"

The World Cup in Baku has become, apart from the World Championship match, certainly the most important event of this year. At the time of writing this article, it is not yet known who will be its winner, nor which three players (the two finalists and this time also the third place) will receive an invitation to the Candidates Tournament. There are so many interesting clashes that choosing the best among them is practically impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201aSo I approached the matter a little differently. I selected for the readers two games<\/strong>, in which at a certain moment Black<\/strong> \u2013 at that time the world rating number one and two (!) \u2013 committed serious strategic mistakes, but the \u201ayoung Whites\u2018 failed to exploit them.<\/strong> This then nullified their quite significantly better position and both games eventually ended in a draw.<\/p>\n

So first, dear readers, I will present two diagrams with a simple task \u201aWhite to move\u2018, but on the contrary with a complicated solution\u2026 well, and I will add a few words about the young super talents who led the White pieces in both games.<\/p>\n

The first example<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Already in round 3, the tournament system paired together the two best Norwegian players. The former world champion certainly needs no introduction, but perhaps readers do not know much about the Norwegian number two, the young progressing grandmaster Aryan Tari.<\/p>\n

Tari was born on 4 June 1999 into an Iranian family shortly after his parents moved to Norway. He currently ranks around 70th in the world rating list.<\/p>\n

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In the first game of the mini-match, the former world champion clearly dominated. His preparation proved impressive both in terms of play and especially psychologically. However, we want to focus on the rematch, in which the young grandmaster could equalise the score.<\/p>\n

The reader might say: \u201eWhy analyse this particular game, when many other, probably more interesting clashes were played in Baku?\u201c The reason is that from the game I want to demonstrate to you, one can really learn a great deal. If Tari had adhered in the critical position to two <\/strong>actually parallel-acting positional principles<\/strong>, he would probably have equalised the match score at 1-1.<\/p>\n

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Black closed the centre with the last move 25\u2026c4<\/strong>.\u00a0Question:<\/strong><\/span> How would you continue as White?<\/p>\n

Second example<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

, in which a similar phenomenon occurred, is taken from the game Praggnanandhaa-Nakamura, played in round 4. The famous streamer, and until the start of the tournament even the world's number two by rating, certainly needs no introduction, but it might not hurt to say a few words about one of the most promising players of the new generation of \u201ateenagers\u2018.<\/p>\n

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, alongside Dommaraju Gukesh (I wrote an article about him a year ago), is one of the most promising young talents who will surely continue the successes of the evergreen 15th world champion Viswanathan Anand (his coach)! I believe the Indian team will dominate the Chess Olympiads or World Championships in a few years with such superiority as the Soviet teams did during their victorious campaigns!<\/p>\n

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Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa in Baku. We will look at his two brilliant games again in another article.<\/p>\n

During the short match, which the Indian youngster (who had just turned 18 at the time) eventually won 2-0 in the tiebreak, the following position appeared in the second serious game, presenting you with the second puzzle!<\/p>\n

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Question<\/strong>:<\/span> How would you respond after Nakamura's move 22\u2026f5<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Whether you, dear readers, were successful or not in this short and \u2013 it must be said \u2013 difficult test, you will find out for sure at the end of the article. However, I believe that in the event of on the second attempt <\/strong>one way or another you won't hesitate\u2026 if you read and replay the following text, that is, study two lessons! <\/strong><\/p>\n

It is actually two apparently separate teaching lessons at first glance. But beware! The isolation of those two topics listed below can be, from a certain point of view, only apparent\u2026 So, let's get to it!<\/p>\n

The first principle or what a passed pawn can do\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

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In the working diagram we see a splendid illustration of the necessity to blockade a passed pawn (1.Nd4, 1.Bd4); the diagram and explanation are, of course, taken from the famous Nimzowitsch book My System<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Aron Isajevich described and summarised the problem of the passed pawn \u2013 today we would say according to didactic principles of clarity and apt analogy \u2013 as follows: \u201eA passed pawn is a dangerous criminal who must be put behind bars: milder measures, such as constant surveillance, are not enough!\u201c<\/strong><\/p>\n

If we do not directly blockade the pawn, but only watch its movement from a distance, we may encounter a phenomenon which the author already called kinetic energy<\/em>. In our working diagram, this means that the villain would potentially (even gladly) sacrifice his life to enable his accomplices to enjoy a luxurious life. Kamikaze d5-d4 opens the longest diagonal for the bishop, the rook gains an open file, and a beautiful central square d5 is prepared for the knight! If we were to mechanically sum up the accomplices\u201a benefits, we would get an image of their wealth in life, but not on the chessboard. There, it is not just about \u2018adding cooperation', but by combining (harmonising) the pieces, their wealth grows exponentially!<\/p>\n

The following examples, I believe, faithfully illustrate both the strengths of passed pawns and the necessity of their blockade, as well as the special respect that the pieces holding such a villain<\/em> behind bars deserve.<\/p>\n