Hitting the Mark
Daniel King's 'Powerplay vol. 6' reviewed by Steve Goldberg -
www.chesscafe.com
When a professional in any discipline
attends continuing education conferences, most lectures tend to be rather
narrow in focus. Attendees might hear about the latest advances in wavefront
technology for LASIK eye surgery, or the social and cultural implications of a
growing immigrant population in the elementary school classroom, or perhaps
experimental “best management practices” for municipal engineers charged with
erosion control of city highways. Less often will presentations be broadly
titled “How to be a better ophthalmologist/teacher/environmental engineer.”
In other words, such conference presentations don’t attempt to
cover the entirety of the professional field; rather, time is spent on very
specific topics, but specific topics that represent important subjects that a
successful professional must be at least conversant with.
This is how I view Daniel King’s DVD presentations. They don’t
attempt to cover overly broad, general areas – instead, King sticks to
specific, well-defined topics that represent small vistas within the wide
landscape of the chess world. And like the professional above, a chess player
who wishes to be reasonably competent needs to be at least conversant with
these subject matters.
Topics such as openings, tactics and endgames are crucial areas
for players to be comfortable with, but how many books on these subjects are
purchased with excitement and anticipation, then remain largely untouched once
the purchaser opens the cover and sees the enormity of the subject matter?
This is the beauty of Daniel King’s PowerPlay
DVDs. The limited scope, but depth of coverage of narrowly defined topics,
allows the viewer to take in the material (and there is plenty of material)
without feeling this sense of being lost in a sea of information. Ultimately, a
player has to be willing to put in the work to really assimilate any
information he or she is presented with, but if one measure of the value of a
book or DVD is whether or not it at least gets looked at, then these DVDs hit
the mark. The quality of the presentations are first rate, and King’s video
segments are entertaining and clear. His speech is easy to understand, and it’s
not uncommon to be watching a segment, asking oneself, “Why can’t Black take on
d5?” only to have King discuss within the next minute or so just why Black
loses if he mistakenly captures on d5. That’s my kind of DVD.
In this, the sixth volume in the PowerPlay
series, King concentrates on the matter of the isolated queen pawn (IQP),
typically on the white side. As in some of the other PowerPlay
videos, King begins with a brief introduction to the topic, then presents the
viewer with a series of relevant test positions. These are the type of
positions one might easily find himself encountering during a game, so it’s
reassuring to know that, even if we’re struggling to find the right
continuation, reliable advice from a GM is just a few clicks away.
Chapter 1 consists of fifteen video segments on the IQP. The
first nine portions demonstrate how the other side (Black, typically) can
successfully execute attacks against the IQP. The remaining six segments
discuss methods in which the side with the IQP can launch attacks on his
opponent. Such coverage is again typical of King’s DVDs – very little is
presented as solely one-sided.
Lest one wonder how King could come up with so much to talk
about when the conversation is limited to an isolated queen pawn, he states
that “The isolated queen pawn structure is such a well-known theme that I could
fill ten DVDs talking about it.” Since the IQP position can arise from a great
variety of openings, it’s hardly an unusual occurrence.
Chapter 2 begins by covering the isolated queen pawn that has
developed into a passed pawn. The latter portion of the chapter reviews events
that may lead to the formation of an IQP – the matter of when to exchange pawns
and when to keep the tension. “I’ve noticed that many players get it wrong,” he
says.
The DVD then concludes with King’s solutions to the test
positions that he presented initially.
Let’s take a look at one of the segments. In IQP segment 4,
King presents the ninth game from the 1981 Kortchnoi-Karpov world championship
match. After 11.0-0, the following position was
reached:
Here White (Kortchnoi) has the classic IQP that is at the heart
of this DVD. King notes that in such positions, Black is well-advised to trade
minor pieces to minimize the risk of a kingside attack by his opponent. He
calls minor pieces “extremely dangerous,” citing in particular the a2-g8 and
b1-h7 diagonals for the white light-squared bishop, and the e5-square for a
white knight. Thus, Karpov followed up with 11…Nh5.
Now if 12.Bg3 Nxg3 13.hxg3 Bf6 and Black sits well, so Kortchnoi played 12.Bxe7, to which Karpov responds 12…Nxe7,
perhaps planning an eventual …Nd5. Play continued 13.Bb3
Nf6 14.Ne5 An excellent outpost for the knight, looking at f7, d7 and
c6. 14…Bd7 A modest move, King explains, but the
bishop is better placed at d7 than along the a8-h1 diagonal in order to provide
protection for the vulnerable e6 and f7 pawns. 15.Qe2
Typical of IQP positions, lining up the queen with the e6-pawn, which may set
up a future knight sacrifice at f7. 15…Rc8 Lining up
against the white rook at c1 and possibly setting up more exchanges. 16.Ne4? “Very surprising. Just in principle, I find this
very surprising, and I think it’s a bad error in judgement for Kortchnoi. He
shouldn’t exchange minor pieces.” Better would be 16.Rfd1 or 16.Rfe1. 16…Nxe4 “Karpov leapt at the opportunity to exchange.” 17.Qxe4 Bc6 Forcing Kortchnoi to either retreat his queen
or exchange again. 18.Nxc6
The video segment ends here, with King asking the viewer to
consider how Black should recapture.
IQP segment 5 picks up the game at this point. “Recapturing
with the rook is by far the best idea,” says King, continuing with the idea of maximizing
the opportunity to exchange pieces, major or minor. 18…Rxc6
19.Rc3 Qd6 “Karpov begins to assert control.” 20.g3
Rd8 The direct attack on the IQP has now begun. 21.Rd1 “When it gets to be passive for the IQP player, you
know things have gone sour.” 21…Rb6 Karpov wants to
line up his heavy pieces on the d-file, but an immediate 21…Qd7 (to be followed
by …Rd6) loses to 22.Ba4. 22.Qe1 Qd7 23.Rcd3 Rd6 Now
Black’s heavy pieces are all lined up against the IQP.
24.Qe4 Qc6 To prevent the
liquidating move d5, and offering to exchange yet more pieces. 25.Qf4 Nd5 “A nice blockade.” 26.Qd2
Qb6 27.Bxd5? The knight was troublesome, but its removal “seems to make
things easier for Karpov.” 27…Rxd5 And now White
will always have to be concerned about the move …e5. 28.Rb3
Qc6 29.Qc3 Qd7 30.f4? To prevent …e5, but this turns out poorly for
White. 30…b6
31.Rb4 b5 Prevents 32.Rc4, which
might have provided White with entry to the seventh rank. Black went on to win
with 32.a4 bxa4 33.Qa3 a5 34.Rxa4 Qb5 35.Rd2 e5 36.fxe5
Rxe5 37.Qa1 Qe8 38.dxe5 Rxd2 39.Rxa5 Qc6 40.Ra8+ Kh7 41.Qb1+ g6 42.Qf1 Qc5+ 43.Kh1
Qd5+ 0-1 The latter portion of this game was also analyzed by King in
another video segment of this DVD.
This level of detail is typical of the five
hours of instruction to be found in PowerPlay6: Pawns,
Pieces & Plans. As noted above, King presents a balanced approach,
presenting a wide variety of games showing victorious plans and execution by
both Black and White.
The best chess instruction probably comes from
a one-on-one relationship with a knowledgeable and caring coach. But
lacking this (or in conjunction with), a chess player would do very well to
seek and assimilate the positional gems offered by the aptly named GM Daniel
King. His sharply defined focus and easy-to-understand presentation makes these
PowerPlay DVDs a valuable resource for any player
aspiring to greater positional understanding.
