Jon Speelman: Trusting your hand

by Jonathan Speelman
10/1/2023 – A little over a week ago, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura did battle in the Speed Chess Championship. Over three hours, they battered each other at 5+1, 3+1 and 1+1 until Carlsen emerged the victor by the narrowest possible margin. It was a great spectacle, and the thing I liked most of all was how these two great players, when things are going well, ‘trust their hands’. Their autopilots can outperform most people even at much slower time limits, and there were a few decisions which I particularly admired. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Well-honed instincts

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

A little over a week ago, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura did battle in the chess.com Speed Championship. Over three hours, they battered each other at 5+1, 3+1 and 1+1 until Carlsen emerged the victor by the narrowest possible margin of 13½-12½.

It was a great spectacle, and the thing I liked most of all was how these two great players, when things are going well (and this varies from game to game between two so well-matched), trust their hands.

When playing blitz, especially at the less frantic time limits, it will be necessary to think consciously on occasion, but a lot of moves will be played using the instinct honed by tens if not hundreds of thousands of familiar patterns. Both Carlsen and Nakamura have autopilots which can outperform most people at much slower time limits, and there were a few decisions which I particularly admired, of which I’ve chosen two.

A fortnight ago, I took you along one of my bookshelves with middlegame works, including Ludek Pachman’s three-volume series. This had sat on my shelf for decades without me doing more than very vaguely browsing occasionally, but when I did have a closer look I was impressed. I think that he was a little bombastic: there are lots of assessments of “winning” which I would characterise as ±. But I guess that this was a sign of the times, and the selection of examples is splendid.  

So far, I’ve only really been looking at volume 1, “Planning the Pieces”, and I’ve been making a database of most of the examples — I’m currently, as I write, about a third of the way through. It includes an interesting chapter on the value of the pieces with some very nice intuitive exchange sacrifices, and I’ve added a couple of these as the players’ hands did their work.
    
I'm on holiday in a fortnight, so the next column will be not on October 15th but the 22nd.

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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.e4       In this rather wonderful game at 5+1, Nakamura was able to think for half a minute before trusting his instinct. c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Bd3 d5 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bc2 c4 So as to take en passant after d4 and try to surround the e5-pawn. 7.0-0 In a very sharp position, exact moves matter, and White can play d4 at once, which is quite different form castling: 7.d4 cxd3 8.Bxd3 it's not clear whether it's better to have the bishop on c2 or d3 after White moves the queen to e2. Perhaps this is better since the queen may protect b2 across the rank. 8.Qxd3 Nc6 9.Bf4 Qc7 10.Qe2 8...Nc6 9.Qe2 Qc7 10.Bf4 and the critical moves are f6 and g5. g5 10...f6 11.Bb5 Bc5 12.Bg3 11.Bxg5 Ndxe5 12.Nxe5 Nxe5 13.Bb5+ Nc6 7...Nc6 8.Re1 Qc7 9.Qe2
9...g5 The "principled move" as the old Soviets would have had it, to indirectly attack e5. 10.d4 10.h3 Bg7 11.d4 cxd3 12.Bxd3 Ndxe5 10.Nxg5 Qxe5 11.d4 cxd3 12.Qf1 Qg7 13.Qxd3 10...cxd3 11.Bxd3 g4 11...h6 12.Na3 a6 13.c4 12.Nd4 Qxe5 13.Qd1 Qf6 14.Be3 14.Qxg4 was obviously perfectly playable but it would use a valuable tempo and Nakamuura wanted to attack. 14...h5 14...Bd6 15.Bb5 e5
Very maximalist. Watching live I hadn't foreseen e5 and I think it's quite possible that Nakamura wasn't expecting it either. He now thought 30 seconds and then played a lovely intuitive move which the engines also like (and is why I chose to show you this game). 15...Nce5 16.c4! Making way for the knight to enter the fray violently on d5. White is now quite prepared to lose material to get his attack going. a6?! After about 80 seconds. In fact my engine prefers Nxd4 or Bb4, and after Nc3 gives White as winning but I don't remotely expect accuracy even form these two in such a complicated blitz game - just consistency of purpose. 16...Nxd4 17.Bxd4 Kd8 18.Bxd7? 18.Nc3 exd4 19.Nxd5 Qg7 20.Re4 Bc5 21.b4 18.Bxe5! Nxe5 19.Nc3 Be6 This looks terrifying for Black in a blitz game though SF gives it as equal. I also wondered vaguely about Rxe5 and lazily asked it's sublime majesty, which wasn't impressed. 18.Rxe5 Nxe5 19.Nc3 Be6 20.cxd5 Bf5 18...exd4 19.Bxc8 Rxc8 20.cxd5 Glancing at this, I thought it must be fine for White but Stockfish "points out " that Black can attack on the dark squares: g3! SF 20...Bd6 21.Nd2 21.hxg3 h4 and he's first! 17.Nc3! 10 more seconds axb5 18.Nxd5 Qg6 19.Nxb5 The emotionless engine wants to take the exchange: 19.Nxc6 bxc6 19...Bd6 20.Na7 bxc4 21.Nb5 20.Nc7+ Ke7 21.Nxa8+- 19...Rb8 20.Ndc7+ Kd8 If 20...Ke7 White has at least Nd5+ repeating and could also try Qb3. 21.Nd5+ 21.Qb3!? 21.Bb6 Bb4
22.Re3? 22.Nd5+ Nxb6 23.Nf4+ Ke7 24.Nxg6+ fxg6 Here White wants to force off Black's black-squared bishop for his rook to attack, but a3 doesn't work at once: 25.Qb3 25.a3? Rd8 26.Qc1 26.Qe2 Bxe1 27.Rxe1 Bf5 28.b3 Rd3 26...Bd2! 27.Qc2 Bf5 25...Bxe1 26.Rxe1 Be6 27.Qe3 Nd7 28.b4 22...Ke7 23.Nd5+ Kf8 24.Bc7 Bc5 25.Re2 25.Bxb8 Ndxb8 leaves Black well coordinated with a safe king. 25...Ra8 25...g3! 26.hxg3 h4-+ is SF's ruthless reply. 26.Qd2 Kg7-+ 27.b4
27...Bd4? He needed to keep the bishop with Bf8, after which he does have a material advantage and a reasonably solid position. 27...Bf8! 28.Nxd4 exd4 28...Nxd4 29.Rxe5! Nf5 30.Rae1 30.Nf4! Qf6 31.Qb2! 30...Kh7 29.b5 Now Black's dark squareas cave in and White should be winning. d3 30.Re3 Nd8 31.Ne7 31.f4 Ne6 32.f5 Qxf5 33.Rf1 Qg5 34.Qc3+ Kg8 35.Bd6 31.Qc3+ f6 32.Ne7 31...Qg5
32.f4? 32.Qc3+ Qf6 33.Be5 Nxe5 34.Rxe5 Ne6 35.Nd5 32...gxf3 33.Bg3 Ne6 34.Nd5 h4 35.Qc3+
35...Nf6?? By now they were both down to 10 seconds or so, with the one-second increment, and Carlsen made the final fatal blunder. After f6 the Black king remians safe, and with the d-pawn to distract White he should win. 35...f6 36.Rxe6 36.Rxf3 d2 36...hxg3 37.Re7+ Kf8 38.Qb4 gxh2+ 39.Kf2 Qxg2+ 40.Ke3 Nc5 40...Qe2+ 41.Kd4 Rh4+ 42.Re4+ Kg8 43.Rxh4 Qf2+ 44.Kc3 Qxh4 36.Rxf3 hxg3 37.Rxg3 Rh6 38.Rf1 Qxg3 39.hxg3 d2 40.Nxf6 d1Q 41.Rxd1 Rxf6 42.Rf1
Of course, there were numerous inaccuracies and some outright blunders in this game, but I think it's a marvellous example of what the world's best players can achieve, as intuition ("trusting your hand") enables them to make extremely complex decisions at speed. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nakamura,H2780Carlsen,M28391–02023B40chess.com Speed 20234.9
Nakamura,H2780Carlsen,M28390–12023B31chess.com Speed 20234.15
Domnitz,Z2350Pachman,L25100–11973C75Netanya-A9
Karpov,A2700Kortschnoj,V26701–01974B78Moscow2
Ivkov,B-Larsen,B-0–11964B77Hoogovens

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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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