The patter of tiny feet

by Jonathan Speelman
9/5/2021 – The humble pawn is the foot soldier of chess. A single passed pawn may be a huge threat if well-supported, but can also become a liability if not. Today we look at some instances of pawn “avalanches”, in which the patter of tiny feet became thunder. | Pictured: Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais

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In the firing line

[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]

Years ago on a car journey to a National Club match in England, a teammate told me how during his national service (obviously he’s not British, since we don’t have it) he’d been sent to a post on a very iffy border, just yards away from his counterparts on the other side. It was very unlikely that anything would happen, but still extremely unpleasant, since in that event he would have been right in the firing line.

The humble pawn is the foot soldier of chess and, especially if he’s a centre pawn, he can often spend a considerable period in a situation somewhat analogous to my teammate, eyeball to eyeball with the enemy in a fixed pawn chain. But if the chain breaks and he survives, then he can dream of glory with a coronation on the eighth rank.

A single passed pawn may be a huge threat if well-supported, but can also become a liability if not. And indeed this is one of the main themes of some openings — especially the Grünfeld in which, if things go well, Black can sometimes hope to gobble up a stray d-pawn in the endgame. Pawns hunt best in packs and two far-advanced connected passed pawns are already terrifying, while when occasionally there are more abreast they will usually be decisive whatever the material balance otherwise.

Today we look at some instances of these pawn “avalanches” in which the patter of tiny feet became thunder, starting with a rather amazing sequence from the recent Smyslov Memorial tournament in Moscow in which the same player, David Paravyan, created and then succumbed to an avalanche in successive rounds.

The most famous avalanche ever was at the end of one of the many games between Alexander McDonnell and Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais, and it comes next. While picking the game up quickly from Megabase — which I did by putting black pawns on d2, e2 and f2 — I also found a Ukrainian junior game with the same three, but it’s not especially interesting otherwise.  

We finish with a truly massive avalanche of white pawns (I suppose actually the metaphor works better when the snow is white), which I found in one of American National Master Sam Copeland’s articles elsewhere. The sacrifices which White made to create the avalanche were considerable — the exchange, and then later a rook for a pawn. But so powerful were the pawns that I doubt that he experienced too much anxiety as he pushed them inexorably forward to their coronations.

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,166,62354%2421---
1.d4947,29855%2434---
1.Nf3281,60256%2441---
1.c4182,10256%2442---
1.g319,70256%2427---
1.b314,26554%2427---
1.f45,89748%2377---
1.Nc33,80151%2384---
1.b41,75648%2380---
1.a31,20654%2404---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d395450%2378---
1.g466446%2360---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c343351%2426---
1.h328056%2418---
1.a411060%2466---
1.f39246%2436---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 dxc4 4.g3 b5 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.0-0 e6 7.b3 cxb3 8.Qxb3 Nf6 9.a4 b4 10.a5 c5
11.Nc3?? He took nine minutes over this, so it obviously wasn't just a memory slip in which he thought that it was theory and didn't check properly. Black was already comfortable, but White can fight okay after Be3 - whereas after this blunder, he's already dead lost! 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Rd1 Bd5 13.Qa4+ Qd7 14.Ne5 Qxa4 15.Rxa4 Bb3 16.Bxa8 Bxa4 17.Rd2 Nbd7 18.Nd3 0-0 19.Bf3 Rc8 20.Rb2 Bd6 21.Be3 Rc2 22.Bxa7 Ne5 23.Nd2 Nxd3 24.Rxc2 Bxc2 25.exd3 Bxd3 26.Bb7 Nd7 27.Ne4 b3 28.Bd4 Bc5 29.Nxc5 Nxc5 30.a6 Bxa6 31.Bxc5 Bxb7 32.Bd4 f6 33.f4 Kf7 34.Kf2 Kg6 35.h4 Kf5 36.Ke3 Kg4 37.Kf2 Be4 38.Bb2 Bc2 39.Bc3 h5 40.Bb2 Bh7 41.Bc3 Bc2 42.Bb2 g5 43.fxg5 fxg5 44.Bf6 gxh4 0-1 (44) Bates,R (2386)-Gupta,A (2640) London ENG 2011 11.Be3 Bd5 12.Qa4+ Bc6 13.Qc2 11...c4! 12.Qb1 12.Qxc4 bxc3 12...Qc8 13.Na2 Be4 14.Qb2 Nc6 15.Bg5 Nd5 16.Ne5 Bxg2 17.Kxg2 Nxe5 18.dxe5 h6 All that Black has to do now is to be careful, and eventually the passed pawns must surely decide. Ponkratov tried to make trouble, but it was never really going to work. 19.e4 hxg5 20.exd5 exd5
21.e6! The best practical chance to make a mess. And of course Qh3 was threatened. fxe6 22.Rae1 b3 23.Nc3 Qc6 24.Ne2 Bc5 25.Qxg7
25...0-0-0 26.Qxg5 d4+ 27.f3 Qd5 28.Qg4 Qf5 29.Nf4 Bd6 29...Qxg4 30.fxg4 30.Rxe6 Qxg4 31.fxg4 Rhe8 32.Rh6 b2 33.Ne6 Rxe6! 34.Rxe6! c3
And about to be consumed by the avalanche, White resigned.
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ponkratov,P2650Paravyan,D26310–12021D11V.V.Smyslov Memorial7.5
Sjugirov,S2661Paravyan,D26311–02021C70V.V.Smyslov Memorial8.1
McDonnell,A-De Labourdonnais,L-0–11834B32London m416
Serbin,N-Nazarenko,S-0–12004B90UKR-ch U14 sf3
Timofeev,A2651Khismatullin,D26431–02009B5262nd ch-RUS5

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Learn about one of the greatest geniuses in the history of chess! Paul Morphy's career (1837-1884) lasted only a few years and yet he managed to defeat the best chess players of his time.


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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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