HOW TO DEFEND IN CHESS
Lars Bo Hansen
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Master Chess
Lesson 4
Text copyright © 2015 Lars Bo Hansen
All Rights Reserved
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Defense against an attack on the king
Defense against positional pressure
About the author and this series
Take another Grandmaster Lesson
Preface
Perhaps the greatest leap forward in chess understanding over the past
century has occurred in the area of defensive skills. Opponents seem
able to absorb much more and severe blows than in former times. It is
much harder nowadays to win chess games against resilient opponents
than ever before.
There are two primary reasons for this development. The first reason
is that we now have a much more refined understanding of the game of
chess. We now know that the defensive margin in chess is quite broad.
You can be worse but still well within the limits of a draw. There is no
need to panic – in fact, often the greatest risk in worse positions is not
the position on the board, which still may be quite defensible, but
rather the psychological unpleasantness of having to defend for hours.
This may cause the defender into hasty decisions or futile aggressive
attempts to change the character of the position – but in most cases
this just deteriorates one’s own position. In my experience, the
psychological skill of staying calm in worse positions is very valuable
but also pretty rare in chess. It is easy to lose patience. But good
defense is about staying calm and patient while always maintaining an
objective assessment of the position and the defensive alternatives
available. Hopefully this book will help you in that respect.
The second reason for why defensive skills have greatly improved is
technical. The “Theory of Defense” was first developed by the first
World Champion in chess history, Wilhelm Steinitz. Basically, Steinitz
recommends two general guidelines to successful defense:
- Make sure you don’t have any weaknesses; view your position as a
chain where all links must be equally strong. Weak links in the chain
must be reinforced!
- Use the principle of economics in defense: Bring a sufficient amount
of troops into defense but not more than that. The rest of the army
must be used for active assignments!
Steinitz’ defensive theory has later been refined and expanded.
There are rules and guidelines for how to defend against an attack and
how to resist positional pressure. This book presents these defensive
guidelines in an easy-to-use way by showing how they are used in
modern Grandmaster games, all from 2011 or 2012.
But before diving into these specific areas of defense, just a few
general comments about defensive skills. As I have already mentioned,
psychology is a key aspect of successful defense. It is vital to stay calm,
patient and objective. Another critical component of successful defense
is to be able to anticipate in advance what the opponent is up to. You
must develop the habit of always being alert to the opponent’s threats,
tactical as well as positional. The earlier you recognize a potential
threat by your opponent, the greater are the chances that you can
neutralize the threat in time. Great defensive masters are particularly
skillful at using Nimzowitsch’ old concept of prophylaxis, which basically
means anticipating the opponent’s threats before they happen and
preventing them in advance.
One more general piece of advice which is useful to remember: Be
careful not to play too passively in defense. There is a fine line in chess
between being solid and being passive. Solid is good, passive is bad.
Being solid means having a safe and sound position but at the same
time some active possibilities of your own. Being passive means having
a safe and sound position for now but no active options – you can only
wait. That is rarely a good strategy in chess.
Let’s now turn our attention to some of the guidelines for defense in
specific situations. We begin by looking at how to defend against an
attack on your king.
Defense against an attack on the king
The most dangerous kind of attack is clearly the direct attack on your
king. Here there is little room for error – one mistake and the game is
over. So it is imperative to be aware of some of the guidelines for
successful defense against a kingside attack which have been developed
over the years.
As a start, recall Steinitz’ two general rules for defense: Create a
chain that has no weaknesses and employ a sufficient number of pieces
into the defense, but not more than that. Defense is also about attack;
you need to have some pieces free to be able to initiate a
counterattack. To figure out how many pieces you need to employ for
the attack, it is useful to remember former World Champion Tal’s
Attacking Ratio which calculates the number of attacking pieces divided
by the number of defending pieces. Tal figured that if this ratio was
above 1 – that is there are more attackers than defenders in the vicinity
of the opponent’s king – his attack would have a decent chance of
crashing through. As defender, you don’t want your defensive forces to
be outnumbered but you also don’t want to have a bunch of defensive
pieces standing idle, just waiting for something to happen. A good rule
of thumb for defense is therefore to keep Tal’s Attacking Ratio at about
1, or perhaps a little bit lower.
More specifically, being attentive to the opponent’s threats,
including possible sacrifices and combinations, is important. An old rule
of thumb has it that defensive players need to be even better and
faster at spotting combinations than attackers because you need to
prevent them before they happen. Accurate calculations are necessary
as well, as the game may turn into a race where both sides attack on
different sides of the board. Intuition is a powerful tool in chess, but
when you are in risk of being mated, you need to calculate.
Turning to psychology, it is critical to stay calm and not panic. I have
experienced some players who immediately go into panic mode at the
slightest threat to the king, but that is clearly not the best way to react.
Staying calm, cool and collected creates the best conditions for a
successful defense against an attack on your king!
In the following game, Black needed to stay calm, cool and collected
as he came under a swift kingside attack by one of the most creative
attacking players around, Alexei Shirov. Black, the young Russian Boris
Grachev, proved up to the task.
Shirov – Grachev
Lublin 2011
1 d4 e6 2 e4 d5
Through a slightly different move order than usual, the players have
now entered the French Defense.
3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 f4 c5 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 Be3
The starting position of the Classical Variation in the French Defense.
7…cxd4
The most solid but it soon transpires that neither players intent for this
game to be a quiet, solid affair! The alternatives are 7…a6 or simply 7…
Be7, my own personal favorite.
8 Nxd4 Bc5 9 Qd2 0–0
An alternative here is 9…Nxd4 10 Bxd4 Bxd4 11 Qxd4 Qb6, trying to
take some pieces off the board. This is known as the “Vacuum Cleaner
Variation” because of the multiple exchanges. If White wants to avoid
the queen exchange, he has to try the sharp pawn sacrifice 12 Qd2!?
Qxb2 13 Rb1 Qa3 with a messy position that has been tested in a
number of Grandmaster games with varying results. Shirov won a nice
game as White against Bareev in Wijk aan Zee 2003 from this position.
10 0–0–0 Bxd4 11 Bxd4 Qa5!?
This is a pet line by Grachev which he has used several times against
strong opposition and with decent results. Black wants to initiate an
attack on White’s king with Rb8 and b5-b4.
12 h4!
Of course Shirov chooses the sharpest reply – he will not let such a
chance for a kingside attack pass! Playing as a teammate with Shirov for
several years in the German Bundesliga, as well as facing him over the
board multiple times, I know first hand how dangerous the former FIDE
Vice World Champion (lost the final to Anand in 2000) is when he is on
the attack! The modest alternative 12 Kb1 does not create problems for
Black; after 12…Rb8 13 Ne2 Qxd2 14 Rxd2 Nxd4 15 Nxd4 Nc5 16 Bd3 Bd7
the position was equal and the game Bologan – Grachev, German
Bundesliga 2011, eventually drawn.
12…Rb8 13 Rh3!?
The first new move of the game and a logical one. The rook may take
on defensive roles on the third rank while at the same time furthering
the White attack on the kingside. 13 Kb1 b5 14 Ne2 b4 15 Nc1 Nxd4 16
Qxd4 Nc5 17 h5 Bd7 18 h6 g6 19 Nb3 Nxb3 20 axb3 Rfc8 21 f5!? Qc5! 22
Qxc5 Rxc5 led to an even endgame that was eventually drawn in
Naiditsch – Grachev, Croatian League 2011.
13…b5!
The battle lines are drawn. We have a classic example of a race
between two attacks on separate wings. He who is fastest and most
accurate in this attack-defense battle will win this game.
14 f5!
Time is of the essence so Shirov wastes no time.
14…Nxd4
It would be interesting to know if Grachev had anticipated Shirov’s
surprising next move in advance or if he came up with a great defense
only in reply to it. Of course the obvious move here is the “automatic”
recapture with 15 Qxd4. But when playing sharp positions with mutual
attack and defense, always remember to avoid automatic reactions!
Successful defense requires accurate calculation, and one of the typical
mistakes in calculation is to take “moves for granted”. It is easy to miss
alternatives – both for yourself and the opponent – if your calculation
process becomes too automated.
15 f6!
Brilliant. White doesn’t even allow himself to be sidetracked by Black’s
capture of a piece on d4. He goes directly after Black’s king. This is the
first critical moment of this game. Black needs to be very alert to avoid
being mated in a miniature. On the other hand, there is no need to
panic. White’s threat is obvious: Queen to g5 and mate on g7. But the
Black knight – the one which is an extra piece, we shouldn’t forget that
– can jump to f5 to defend g7. In that case Tal’s Attacking Ratio doesn’t
appear to be in White’s favor, so logically Black should be able to
defend. But the path is narrow and requires very accurate calculation.
My guess is that Grachev already at this point calculated the rest of the
game, including the brilliant saving combination that remained behind
the scenes.
15…b4!
No fear, trust your calculations! Defense is also about (counter)attack.
The immediate 15…Nf5?! is overly cautious and is strongly met by 16
g4. Remember, pawns are also attacking units and should be included
when calculating Tal’s Attacking Ratio!
16 Qg5!
There is no way back. 16 Nb1? is strongly met by 16…Qc5!, when the
mating threat on c2 ties White’s queen to that square, preventing it
from joining the attack. The endgame after 17 Qxd4 Qxd4 18 Rxd4 Nxe5
is simply bad for White.
16…Nf5
17 Bd3!
Blow for blow! White is a piece down and has another one hanging on
c3 but in such attack and defense position timing is everything. White
simply threatens to take off Black’s defending knight, renewing the
mating threat on g7. Notice how this move attempts to alter Tal’s
Attacking Ratio in White’s favor by exchanging the defending knight for
the hitherto passive bishop.
17…h6!
Once again, Black keeps his cool and finds the only move. A good
approach in such situations is to use what is known as the elimination
method. You eliminate defensive alternatives one by one until you
(hopefully) eventually find one that doesn’t lose immediately. The only
alternative that doesn’t lead to instant mate is 17…Nxe5 18 Bxf5 Ng6
but that loses to the nice 19 fxg7 Re8 (19…Kxg7 20 Bxg6 fxg6 21 Qe5+
wins the rook on b8) 20 Bxg6 fxg6 21 Ne4!, exploiting that the d5-pawn
is pinned along the fifth rank because of the unprotected Black queen
on a5. Pins are very dangerous tools of attack because they reduce the
opponent’s defensive options. The text move passes the baton to
White – since something like 18 Qg4? loses to 18…Nxe5, White needs to
be creative.
18 Bxf5!!
And he is! This beautiful queen sacrifice is White’s only way to stay in
the game but it is also good enough – to draw.
18…hxg5 19 hxg5!
Now we see Shirov’s clever idea. The threat is 20 Rdh1, mating on h8.
Again Black only has one way out, as e.g. 19…exf5, 19…exf6, 19…Nxf6 or
19…Nxe5 – all viable candidates for examination using the elimination
method – all lose to 20 Rdh1. The most beautiful line is probably 19…
Nxe5 20 Rdh1 Ng6 21 Rh8+! Nxh8 22 Bh7+ mate!
19…bxc3! 20 Bh7+
Shirov resigns himself to the draw, acknowledging Black’s great defense
in this game. He could have tried 20 Rdh1, asking Black to solve one
more “only move” puzzle. Black saves himself by 20…cxb2+ 21 Kb1, and
now…
21…Qxa2+!! 22 Kxa2 b1Q+ 23 Rxb1 Rxb1, and White has nothing better
than giving perpetual check with 24 Bh7+ Kh8 25 Bf5+. Curiously, this
was how the later Grandmaster game Papin – Rakhmanov, Capablanca
Memorial 2012, ended. Perhaps it was a pre-arranged draw or maybe
the two sides were simply testing each other’s opening knowledge –
who knows.
20…Kh8 21 Bg6+ Kg8 22 Bh7+ Kh8 23 Bd3+ Kg8 24 Bh7+
A brilliant game with attack and defense going hand in hand and
canceling each other out! Who said draws are boring!
½–½
In this game, both sides were attacking and defending on separate
wings. As we saw, in such situations the counterattack is one typical
defensive mechanism. As the old adage goes, the best defense is an
attack! However, sometimes you have to defend without having an
attack yourself. This is a somewhat different situation, but the basic
rules for defense remain the same.
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Vallejo Pons – Aronian
Grand Prix Finals Sao Paolo/Bilbao 2012
White is better here with a strong pawn center, the two bishops and
more coordinated pieces. On the other hand, Black is far from lost but
he clearly has to dig in his heals and defend for the time being.
18 g4!
Vallejo exploits his advantages to initiate an attack on Black’s king. That
is right out of Steinitz’ playbook: When you have an advantage, you have
to attack, he said.
18…b5!
Black has sufficient defensive pieces on the kingside to keep his king
safe for the time being – the Attacking Ratio is about even – so Aronian
looks for counterplay on the opposite wing and in the center.
19 Ng3 Nd7 20 h4!
Preparing h4-h5, after which h5xg6 and h5-h6 always give rise to
concern for Black.
20…a5 21 h5 a4 22 Bc2 e5!
Good defense, following the old rule that an attack on the flank must
be met by a counterstrike in the center. But since White’s center is
pretty stable, his attacking efforts on the kingside are justified. Black is
still walking on a tightrope.
Black has manage to grab some space on the queenside and in the
center. But he is still under severe pressure on the kingside and at this
point Aronian only has 6:11 minutes to reach the time control at move
40. It is not easy to conduct a tough defense when low on time but the
World No. 2 does so masterfully! Vallejo still has 30 minutes left but
despite this time advantage his next move is probably not best.
23 Kg2?!
Looks very natural – White intends to bring his rook to h1 and generate
threats down the h-file – but although White’s ensuing attack looks
pretty dangerous Aronian keeps his cool and demonstrates that Black
has sufficient defensive resources to sustain the onslaught. Perhaps it
was better for White to play somewhat more positionally with 23 g5!,
which threatens 24 h6, trapping Black’s bishop. Since 23…Rfe8 24 h6 (or
directly 24 f4) 24…Bf8 25 f4 is much too passive for Black, he will have
to go for 23…exd4 24 cxd4 c5 as in the game, but here White has the
pleasant choice between 25 h6 Bxd4+ 26 Bxd4+ cxd4 27 Qxd4 f6 28 Bd3
or (probably best) 25 f4 cxd4 26 Bxd4 Bxd4+ 27 Qxd4+ f6 28 hxg6 hxg6
29 Rf2, in both cases with a solid (but still not decisive!) advantage. No-
tice that in these lines White does not play for a direct attack on Black’s
king, but rather starts harassing Black’s weak pawns and restricted
pieces which have been pushed back to passive defensive positions.
Particularly the knight on g8 will have difficulty reentering the game.
23…exd4 24 cxd4 c5 25 Rh1 cxd4 26 hxg6! fxg6
Of course not 26…dxe3?? 27 Rxh7+ mate. We have now entered the
critical phase of the game where things go wild! Remarkably, both
players keep their cool and proceed to play the best moves even in this
hair-rising situation and with the clock ticking down.
27 Rxh7+!
Initiates a violent attack on Black’s king, drawing his majesty into the
open.
27…Kxh7 28 Rh1+ Nh6 29 Bxh6 Rh8!
It looks dangerous for Black, but Aronian – even short of time –
remains calm and finds a series of only moves by following the
defensive rules laid out by Steinitz and others. The text move brings
another piece into the defense, thus stabilizing the Attacking Ratio. It
requires accurate calculations since White has various discovered
checks. It is this feature that Vallejo now tries to exploit.
30 e5!
Vallejo is not content with a small advantage after 30 Bg5+ Kg8 31 Bxd8
Qxd8 32 Rxh8+ Kxh8 but goes for more. The text move opens for the
bishop on c2 and sets Black a number of defensive problems – which he
solves perfectly.
30…Nxe5!
The best defense but requires strong calculation and good nerves as it
still leaves the king exposed to discovered checks. The natural reaction,
especially in time trouble, would be to sidestep the discovered checks
with 30…Kg8, but it turns out that this moves loses to 31 Bxg6 Nxe5 32
Bf5! Bxh6 33 Rxh6 Rxh6 34 Qxh6 Qg7 35 Be6+ Kf8 (or 35…Nf7 36 Qh5,
and Black is defenseless against the threats Nf5 and g5-g6) 36 Qh4! Re8
37 Nf5.
31 Be4!
Very clever. This prevents Black’s king from escaping via g8 because of a
nasty bishop check on d5. The alternative was the direct 31 Bxg6+!?,
but Black survives after 31…Nxg6 (of course not 31…Kxg6? 32 Qg5+ and
White wins) 32 Nf5! Kg8! 33 Bxg7, and now…
33…Nf4+! 34 Kg1 (34 Qxf4 Qc2+ 35 Kg3 Rxh1 wins for Black) 34…Ne2+!
35 Kg2 (35 Qxe2 Qc1+ wins) 35…Rxh1 36 Kxh1 Qc1+ 37 Qxc1 Nxc1, and
the smoke has cleared, leaving Black with a winning endgame.
31…d5!
Only move, Black has to be able to escape with the king to g8 so he
cannot allow White’s bishop access to d5.
32 Bxg6+! Kg8!
Again Black’s only move. 32…Kxg6? still loses to 33 Qg5+ while 32…
Nxg6? is now met by 33 Bf4+ Kg8 34 Bxc7. This was the tricky idea
behind forcing Black to play d6-d5!
33 Bf5!
After the tempting 33 Bxg7 Qxg7 34 Nf5 Black saves himself by the
cunning 34…Rxh1! 35 Nxg7…
35…Rh2+!! 36 Kxh2 Nxf3+, picking up the White queen on d2, winning.
33..Rd6!
Preventing a bishop check on e6. By now Vallejo had caught up on
Aronian on time and was now down to his last 1:32 minutes to reach
the time control on move 40, while Aronian had 1:58 left. Still not much
for either player but both keep playing flawlessly!
34 Bxg7 Qxg7 35 Nh5
At first glance, this may still look pretty dangerous for Black. He is an
exchange up but his king is much more open than its White
counterpart. But try to think of the position in terms of Tal’s Attacking
Ratio. White has queen, rook, bishop, and knight involved in the attack
– the pawns on f3 and g4 mainly play defensive roles here, protecting
White’s king – while Black has queen, two rooks, and a knight
employed in defense. Logically then, Black should be able to defend,
although of course it requires accuracy. Psychologically, though, such a
quick count of pieces to assess the Attacking Ratio can have a nice,
calming effect.
35…Nc4!
A strong defensive intermediate move. By now Black is past the worst
and it is now White who has to bail out to an even endgame.
36 Be6+!
Which Vallejo duly finds. This intermediate magnet check draws the
Black rook into the range of White’s knight. The next few moves are
forced and lead to mass exchanges.
36…Rxe6 37 Nxg7 Nxd2 38 Nxe6 Rxh1 39 Kxh1 Nxf3 40 Kg2 Ne5 41
Nxd4 Nxg4 42 Nxb5
Isn’t it surprising that the position after 18 moves has transformed into
this? That is because of Aronian’s stubborn defense to Vallejo’s
inventive attacking efforts!
42…Ne3+
Transfers the knight to the queenside to eliminate the last White
pawns.
43 Kf3 Nc4 44 Nc3 Nxb2 45 Nxd5
White is marginally better here with the more active king but a draw is
inevitable – again illustrating that there is a substantial drawing range
in chess. It is this drawing range you exploit when defending worse but
not losing positions.
45…Kf7 46 Ke4 Ke6 47 Ne3 a3 48 Kd4 Kd6 49 Nc2 Na4 50 Nxa3
White wins a pawn but can’t use it for much.
50…Kc6 51 Nc4 Kb5 52 a3 Kc6 53 Ne5+ Kb5 54 Nc4 Kc6 55 Ne5+ Kb5
56 Nc4
White cannot break Black’s blockade of the a-pawn, so…
½–½
Defense against positional pressure
Defending against positional pressure is very different from defending
against a kingside attack. Here, there is no immediate danger of mate;
the risks are more positional and long-term. For example, you may be
pressed for space, have a wrecked pawn-structure or the opponent
controls key squares or files. In this case, the main defensive strategy is
to identify the positional defects in the position and slowly – patience
is key – repair the damages through careful maneuvers. Almost 100
years ago, Nimzowitsch – one of the big thinkers in the history of chess
– taught the chess world that “cramped positions must be liberated
slowly”. Yet, one of the typical mistakes when defending positionally
pressed positions is to try to shake off the pressure quickly. That
usually just worsens the position. Psychologically speaking, such an
attempt of a “revolution” is understandable – it may be depressing to
have to defend for hours with a draw as the maximum reward
somewhere far into the future. But there is no way around it,
defending against positional pressure requires patience! Now take a
look at this position:
Kasimdzhanov – Dominguez
London 2012
White has emerged from the opening – a Ruy Lopez Berlin – with a
slight advantage, particularly due to extra space in the center. My
computer assesses this as “0.52” better for White. That is a good, solid
opening advantage but far from being decisive. The position is still well
within the drawing margin of chess. It is important to realize that if
Black does not commit any further mistakes or inaccuracies which may
increase White’s advantage, he will not lose this game. If Black defends
perfectly, there is nothing White can do to increase his advantage – the
game will end in a draw. That is simply the nature of the game. Of
course, in a real game that is easier said than done, but psychologically
it is good to know that there is no reason to panic. In fact, any abrupt
“panic reaction” may seriously damage Black’s position. To shake off a
positional space advantage like the one in this game, patience is
required. In the following, notice how carefully Dominguez maneuvers,
slowly neutralizing White’s pressure.
16…Ne7!
Good defense. When pressed for space, a good defensive strategy is to
try to exchange some pieces. Space becomes less important the fewer
pieces remain on the board, because then the defender usually doesn’t
have problems finding decent squares for the remaining pieces. But
how to initiate piece exchanges in this position? Dominguez finds a
very nice answer to this question: Bring the knight to f6, after which the
e-file can be used for relieving exchanges. The text move prepares a
slow, but solid maneuver to bring the knight to f6. White cannot really
prevent this transfer because apart from his lack of space, Black has no
weaknesses that White can target. It is interesting that my computer
for a long time prefers the impatient move 16…c5?! here. In my
experience, computers (still) often underestimate long-term positional
factors. The move 16…c5 may exactly be one of those moves that long-
term could jeopardize Black’s position because it creates a weakness –
the pawn on d6 – in Black’s camp. A good defensive tip: When you are
defending against a positional pressure, avoid creating further
weaknesses in your position if you don’t have to! White would have the
pleasant choice between 17 dxc6 Bxc6 (17…bxc6? 18 Nxd6) 18 Bg2 with
a stable positional advantage because of the weak pawn on d6, or 17
c3 (preventing 17…Nd4), after which Black is tied to the by now weak
pawn on d6.
17 c4 Ng6 18 f4
With his last two moves White grabs more space in the center and
prevents Black’s knight from going to e5.
18…b6 19 Re3
19…Nf8!
As planned already on move 16. With this and the following moves,
Black concludes his patient defensive knight maneuver to f6.
20 Rce1 h6! 21 Bd3 Nh7! 22 Qc3
22…Nf6!
Again great defense by Dominguez. This move concludes the knight
maneuver Nf5-e7-g6-f8-h7-f6 and forces the exchanges he and his
cramped position have craved for. The price is a doubled pawn on the
f-file but given that all major pieces will be traded, that is an acceptable
price to pay. White’s light-squared bishop will not be able to harass
Black’s pawns which are almost exclusively on dark squares. Again it is
interesting that my computer advocates an impatient pawn move –
22…f5?! This move, while achieving the short-term objective of trading
a pair of rooks on the e-file, leaves Black’s position vulnerable to the
knight maneuver Nd2-f3-d4-e6. The light squares in Black’s camp would
be long-term liabilities.
23 Nxf6+ Qxf6 24 Qxf6 gxf6 25 Rxe8+ Rxe8 26 Rxe8+ Bxe8 27 Bf5!
A strong positional move by the former FIDE World Champion. With
this subtle move he keeps the pressure on Black. Again psychology
enters the game – Black is close to the draw but he still needs to stay
focused. Relaxing too soon might jeopardize the earlier defensive
efforts!
White now threatens to play b2-b3, after which Black’s bishop would
be stalemate on e8. Then a White king maneuver to h5 via g2-f3-g4
would put Black in Zugzwang and eventually win the h6-pawn. Notice
how the effects of White’s space advantage are still noticeable and
force Black to defend carefully. That is exactly how space advantages
work: By taking away squares, the opponent might suffocate as his
pieces will lack scope. Black cannot let that happen.
27…c6!
Wait – doesn’t this move weaken Black’s pawn-structure by leaving the
d6-pawn isolated? Wasn’t one of the guidelines of positional defense
not to weaken your position if you don’t have to? Yes, but this is a “has
to” situation! Black cannot allow White to stalemate his bishop which
would effectively leave him a piece down. That is a much bigger
problem than an isolated d-pawn. Prioritizing problems in this way and
identifying “has to” situations where breaking the general “no further
weakness” rule are critical defensive skills.
28 dxc6 Bxc6 29 Bg4 a5 30 Kf2 Kf8 31 Ke3 Ke7 32 Kd4 Bg2 33 Bf5 Bf3
34 Be4 Bg4 35 Kc3 Bc8 36 Bc6 f5
Creating a little more scope for Black’s king. In general, in bishop
endings you need to be careful not to put too many pawns on the
same color as the bishop, making the bishop “bad”. But since White
cannot really get at the f5-pawn with his king, it is not a problem here.
37 b4
Generally speaking, each pawn exchange brings the defender closer to
a draw but White has no other ways of improving his position.
37…axb4+ 38 Kxb4 Kd8! 39 Bd5 f6 40 Kc3
Kasimdzhanov maneuvers patiently, trying to find holes in Black’s
defenses but Dominguez does not let his guard down.
40…Ke7 41 Kd4 Kd8 42 Bg8 Ke7 43 Bd5
43 Kd5 Bb7+ leads nowhere.
43…Kd8 44 Ba8 Be6 45 Bc6 Ke7 46 Kc3 Kd8 47 Kb4 Bc8 48 Kb5 Kc7
Black has defended accurately, slowly neutralizing White’s original
“0.52” advantage. There is nowhere for White to penetrate. Notice how
important Black’s 27th move was, creating scope for his bishop and
ensuring that White cannot force any Zugzwang situations.
49 Be8 Be6 50 Kb4 Kd8 51 Bc6 Bc8 52 Kc3 Be6 53 Kd4 Ke7 54 a3 Kd8
55 Bd5 Bc8 56 Bf3 Be6 57 Bd5 Bc8 58 Bf3 Be6 59 Bd5 ½–½
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As discussed in the introduction, anticipation and prophylactic thinking
are the keys to good defense. You must always be considering your
opponent’s ideas and options. Before reading on, take a minute to
consider the position below. Again it is one of these positions where
White has some positional advantage – “0.60” according to my
computer – because of his better pawn-structure and slightly more
active bishop. But Black is still well within the drawing range, he just
needs to defend carefully to avoid the advantage increasing. What is
the best defense for Black here and why?
Carlsen – Nakamura
Biel 2012
24…Rxc1!
Excellent defense by Nakamura. Intuitively it may look wrong to hand
White control of the c-file – the only open file on the board – but
Nakamura has correctly anticipated White’s idea: After a normal-
looking move like 24…Rfc8, White plays 25 Rce1!, keeping the rooks on.
The c-file is not important because the bishop on d3 takes away the
entry square on c2 from Black’s rooks. Then White can slowly start
advancing on the kingside with h2-h4-h5, f3-f4 and perhaps at a good
moment either g2-g4-g5 or e4-e5, initiating an attack on Black’s king on
the light squares. For such an attack to be dangerous, White needs an
attacking force of some size. Nakamura’s surprising 24…Rxc1!
anticipates this long-term idea and initiates prophylactic
countermeasures right away. By exchanging a pair of rooks, Black
reduces White’s potential attacking force, making a later attack on the
kingside much less dangerous. By the way, again it is interesting to note
that the computer, strong as it is, does not seem to grasp such long-
term considerations. It insists that 24…Rfc8 is Black’s best move. Well,
don’t always trust your computer, remember to think like a human!
25 Rxc1 Rf7!
Another strong defensive move. The drawback to 24…Rxc1 is obviously
that White for the time being takes possession of the open c-file. But
Nakamura has accurately judged that this is a lesser evil for Black. By
patient maneuvers – there we have patience again as the key to good
defense! – Nakamura slowly neutralizes White’s pressure down the c-
file. He plans the bishop transfer Bf8-e7-d8 followed by challenging
White on the c-file with Rf7-c7.
26 Rc8+ Rf8 27 Rc4 Rf7! 28 Qc1
28…Bf8!
On the way to d8.
29 g3 Be7! 30 Kg2 Bd8 31 Rc8
The only way to prevent 31…Rc7, equalizing completely.
31…Kg7 32 Qd2 Bc7!
Prepares to exchange the rooks in another way.
33 h4
The only way to keep the rooks on the board was 33 Re8 to be able to
answer 33…Rf8 with 34 Re6. But Black can choose either the solid 33…
Bd8 with the idea Rf7-e7 or 33…Qa5!? with the idea 34 b4 Qa3,
followed by 35…Qc3 with sufficient counterplay.
33…Rf8
After the exchange of the last pair of rooks Black has little to fear.
White’s remaining attacking force is too small to cause any serious
harm.
34 Rxf8 Kxf8 35 h5
35 Qh6+?! Kg8 just sidelines the queen and leaves the queenside
vulnerable.
35…Kg7 36 h6+ Kf7 37 f4
White’s last idea is e4-e5 followed by a bishop sacrifice on g6, but it is
never really a possibility.
37…Bd8 38 Qf2 Qc5! 39 Qe2
39…Qc1!
Black has parried all threats and has created active counterplay with his
own queen. White has no way to make progress so the players agreed
to a draw. A good and instructive defensive performance by Nakamura.
½–½
Tips for self-improvement
Summing up, good defense is rooted in a number of important
guidelines. It is about psychology (don’t panic and be patient!),
anticipation (notice your opponent’s threats even before he does!),
prophylaxis (build a defensive chain in advance with no weaknesses!),
and economy (bring sufficient pieces into the defense but not more!).
More specifically, you have to calculate well, use the elimination
method if you are in imminent danger of being mated, and look for
counter chances. Defense is not about playing passively.
To become a master of defense you need to keep developing your
knowledge on the subject. The best way to do this is to study some of
the greatest defense players such as Anatoly Karpov, Tigran Petrosian,
Peter Leko, and Vladimir Kramnik. Choose a decent number of their
games, maybe 20-30 each, and go over them spending at least 10-15
minutes per game. Pay attention to how they spot and block the
opponent’s threats without going in passive mode. And when the
danger is over, how they mobilize their pieces in counterattack.
Go back and forth at these key-positions and make notes about when
and how the Grandmasters use the rules of defense. I would also
encourage you to expand your notes covering the dynamics of attack
and defense. That is, combine what you learned about attack from
Lesson #1 and your newly acquired knowledge of defense. You will
soon feel greater control over the events on the board – and more
confident in your play!
Do your prep work, believe in your own abilities and trust your
instincts!
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