Material, structure and energy

by Jonathan Speelman
6/2/2019 – This week our columnist JON SPEELMAN shares his own agonizing loss from over 40 years ago as a fine example of the "tension between structure and energy". Plus, in this study from GM John Nunn (pictured) it's White to play and draw! | 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!
The Grand Prix Attack is one of White’s most enterprising weapons against the Sicilian Defence, and a favourite among club players and Grandmasters alike. This is an opening that must be treated with both caution and respect. Over the past few years Grandmaster Gawain Jones, arguably the world’s leading expert on the variation, has used the Grand Prix Attack to defeat a number of world class opponents, which demonstrates that underestimating its potential can cause casualties even at the highest level. This DVD will provide you with a comprehensive repertoire that explores all of Black’s ideas against the Grand Prix set up.

Speelman's Agony #99

To begin with today, something a bit different: a study which Grandmaster John Nunn sent me recently in connection with one I've been working on myself. Sadly, it closely (though not exactly) anticipates what I wanted to achieve. The solution is at the end.

 
H.Cohn 1940
White to play and draw

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Over the past month, I've been looking at the Bryntse ganbit, a line in which White sacrifices two pieces for a queen and crucially much the better structure. Very unusually for gambit play, he doesn't start with a significant lead in development and Black's most challenging responses try to disrupt White before he can get organized. However, if White succeeds then with well anchored minor pieces and an extra pawn or two then the pieces and rooks may well outperform the queen and rooks since queens are only really effective when they have something to attack and if everything is anchored there isn't anything.

In general when assessing a chess position the main elements are material, structure and energy. In gambit play you sacrifice material and sometimes structure too normally in order to gain a preponderance of energy — a lead in development. While sometimes, conversely you are prepared to lag in development in order to get the better structure putting an obligation on the opponent to “do something” immediately or at least before you can get fully organized and enjoy your positional advantage at your leisure.

K VlahosThe tension between structure and energy persists throughout the game of course and I'm reminded of a slightly agonizing loss of mine way back in Lone Pine 1978 the tournament where I got my final IM norm. I had a suspicion I might have used it here before and indeed when I checked, I had done so in October 2016 but here it is again fairly briefly with the critical position highlighted.

In the second game, Kiriakos Vlahos (pictured), a strong Greek player who lived for years in England and used to play for the King's Head, sent me this a good while ago and with its transformation of energy into a murderous king hunt it seems a good moment to use it.

 
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1.c4 g6 2.e4 d6 3.d4 e5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Nc3 Bg4?! 6.d5 Nf6 7.h3 Bc8 8.Be3 0-0 9.Be2 Nbd7 10.g4 Nc5 11.Nd2 a5 12.h4 c6 13.h5 Ne8 14.Nf1 cxd5 15.cxd5 gxh5 16.gxh5 Kh8 17.Rg1 Bf6 18.Qd2 Bd7 19.Bh6 Ng7 20.Qe3 Rg8 21.Qf3 Qe7 (#) This is the critical position. White would like to exchange the light-squared bishops to cement contorl of f5 but if I wait a move then Black will get the rook across to f8 and then answer Bb5 with Bc8. If I remember, I had quite a long think and convinced myself that the maximalist Bb5 was playable. I can't remember whether I saw Nf5 at all but if I did so I grossly underestimated it.. Although engines tell me that White is still doing well after Nf5, in practice Bb5 was a big mistake since it put a strain on my position - and my calcualting abiliities - that I was unable to withstand. 22.Bb5?! 22.Ne3 Raf8 23.Bb5 Bc8 24.0-0-0 kept a nice safe advantage though Black can fight after Bh4 22...Nf5‼ Black jumps out and even if engines tell us that White can still defend, in practice he has every chance of being blown to smithereens. 23.Rxg8+ Rxg8 24.exf5 24.Bxd7! Nd4 25.Qh3 would have at least avoided what happened in the game when after Nc2+ 25...Nxd7 26.0-0-0 b5 is simple and strong for Black 26.Kd2 Nxa1 27.Bb5 Bg5+ 28.Bxg5 Qxg5+ 29.Ne3 despite the loss of the exchange White is fighting since the position is intact and the knight trapped on a1 for the moment. 24...Bxb5 25.Nxb5 e4 26.Qe2? Houdini tells me that 26.Qe3 is actually still good for White after Nd3+ 27.Ke2 the point being that if Qe5 27...Rg2 28.Ng3 Rxf2+ 29.Qxf2 Nxf2 30.Rc1! 28.Nd2 Qxb2 29.Nxd6! 26...Nd3+ 27.Kd2? 27.Kd1 Qe5 28.Nc3 Qd4 29.Qe3 was still apparently unclear. 27...Qe5 28.Ke3 (#) Rg5! 29.a4 And I resigned before he could play Qf4 mate. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Speelman,J2410Biyiasas,P24050–11978A42Lone Pine op6
Vlahos,K2254Hadzimanolis,A22971–02012A3440th TCh-GRE 20123.14

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Bologan: "If you study this DVD carefully and solve the interactive exercises you will also enrich your chess vocabulary, your King's Indian vocabulary, build up confidence in the King's Indian and your chess and win more games."

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Solution to the study

 
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1.Qxg6+
1...hxg6 2.Rxg6+ Qxg6 3.Ka8 ½–½
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  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Cohn,H-Maestros Latinoamericanos-121-½–½1940White to draw

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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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