Turning structural imbalances into active play

Bent Larsen was one of the strongest players outside the Soviet Union during the 1960s and 1970s, combining an adventurous approach to the openings with an ability to handle unusual middlegame structures. The Danish grandmaster was rarely content merely to follow established paths. His games frequently featured early deviations from theory, ambitious pawn advances and positions in which long-term strategic considerations were closely connected with concrete tactical possibilities.

Master Class Vol.20 - Bent Larsen

In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career. 
Free video sample: Introduction to Bent Larsen by Peter Heine Nielsen
Free video sample: Introduction to the Opening Section

The 20^th volume of the ChessBase Master Class series examines these different aspects of his play. Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh cover Larsen's openings, strategic play, endgames and tactical ability, while Peter Heine Nielsen contributes a separate chapter devoted to memories and impressions of Denmark's most celebrated chess player. The course also contains collections of Larsen's games and additional training material.

Born in 1935, Larsen emerged as Denmark's strongest player while still in his teens. He won the national championship six times and earned the GM title following his performance at the 1956 Chess Olympiad in Moscow, where he took the individual gold medal on first board.

His most successful period came during the 1960s. Larsen won the Interzonal tournaments of Amsterdam 1964 and Sousse 1967 and qualified repeatedly for the Candidates matches. For several years he and Bobby Fischer were generally regarded as the leading Western challengers to the Soviet players who dominated elite chess at the time.

Larsen's reputation for originality was well-earned. He was prepared to employ openings that other leading grandmasters considered unconventional, with 1.b3 becoming particularly closely associated with his name. Yet reducing his chess to eccentric opening choices would give an incomplete picture. Much of his success came from his understanding of imbalanced positions and his willingness to accept structural concessions when they provided useful squares, active pieces or attacking prospects.

These elements form an important part of the strategy section of the Master Class volume. Rather than presenting Larsen simply as an attacking player, the course looks at the positional ideas that allowed him to create the conditions for later tactical play.

Master Class Vol.20 - Bent Larsen

In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career. 
Free video sample: Introduction to Bent Larsen by Peter Heine Nielsen
Free video sample: Introduction to the Opening Section

A lesson from Monte Carlo

One of the games featured in the strategy material is Larsen's encounter with Romanian grandmaster Florin Gheorghiu at Monte Carlo 1968. The tournament came during one of Larsen’s strongest periods: he finished first with 9½/13, half a point ahead of former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, while Vasily Smyslov (also a former world champion) and Vlastimil Hort shared third place on 8½ points.

In a position with all six major pieces still on the board, Larsen repeatedly improved the coordination of his pieces, first demonstrating why his superior structure was a bigger trump than Gheorghiu's extra pawn and then creating decisive activity on the kingside.

Larsen v. Gheorghiu

White has the better structure and piece coordination, but Black's extra pawn at least partly compensates for these aspects. As a general evaluation, White's position is preferable, but he needs to play accurately in order to convert it into a win.

Larsen here played the strong 23.h4!, attempting gaining the initiative on the kingside. Going for 23.Rxd6 would have been premature due to 23...Rxd6 24.Rxd6 Qb1+ 25.Kg2 Qe4+, with good drawing chances for Black.

There followed 23...Qe5! 24.b3 Rc8?! (a bit slow; better is to go for counterplay with 24...a4!, intending to double the rooks on the b-file) 25.Rd5!

Once again, Larsen focuses on piece coordination and activity. Keeping the pawn with 25.e3?! allows Black to regroup in time with 25...Rc5.

25...Qxe2 26.h5! Rc2 27.Rf1

Black's 27...Qe4? here was a crucial mistake. Instead, he should have defended g6 with the rather unexpected 27...Qe8, intending to transfer one of his rooks to g4 in order to get counterplay (with the queen on e4, this is not possible).

Larsen duly made the most of his opponent's inaccuracy: 28.Rxa5 a6 29.Ra4! (gaining a tempo by attacking the badly placed queen on e4) Qe8 30.Rg4

The white rook has been transferred from d5 to g4, increasing the pressure on the kingside. Had Black played ...Qe8 at the right moment, the g4-square could have been occupied by a black rook instead, with good drawing chances.

30...Qf8 31.Qe3?! Placing the queen on e3 keeps White's clear advantage, but he could have broken through at once with 31.Rxg6+ hxg6 32.Qxg6+ Kh8 33.Qxc2, and Black is doomed.

31...Rbc6 32.hxg6 hxg6 33.Rxg6 Kf7

With the queen on the open e-file and the rook on f1 ready to join the attack, the rest was simple for Larsen: 34.Rg4 R2c5 35.Qd3 Re5 36.f4 Re8 37.Qd5+ Ke7 38.Re1+ 1-0

The complete lesson

Master Class Vol.20 - Bent Larsen

In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career. 
Free video sample: Introduction to Bent Larsen by Peter Heine Nielsen
Free video sample: Introduction to the Opening Section