A sharp Four Pawns Attack

by Jonathan Speelman
7/21/2019 – An interesting King's Indian from a FIDE Master was the submission of the fortnight featured by GM Jon Speelman, but he's also thrown in a bonus study (pictured) for your Sunday perusal. | Send in your own games! Jon can always use more material from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

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Speelman's Agony #102

This week's game is by Goran Tomic, a Montenigran FIDE Master and chess organizer who runs “Third Saturday” tournaments in Djenovici.

TomicEcstasy only this week — Goran sent me just a single game from the Montenegran league fifteen years ago. It features a very sharp opening battle which effectively concluded when his opponent blundered, allowing a line which gave Goran a big advantage.

The position remained complicated though and one of the best things is how calm Goran remained — or at the very least how calm his moves remained — as he quietly improved his pieces and exchanged off when appropriate, never giving in to the temptation to rush matters. As a result, his opponent's position worsened under the sheer weight of its deficiencies — bad king, bad pawn structure, material disadvantage. And Goran won at a canter. Winning won games is seldom easy and this was an excellent example.

 

Click or tap the second game in the list to switch


The Baffling 2.b3 Sicilian

Make life difficult for the Sicilian! 2.b3 is a thoroughly venomous but still solid kind of "Anti-Sicilian". No matter what setup black chooses, the bishop on b2 will always be unpleasant for him.


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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

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