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Let us start with a simple example.
Vidit-Pichot, FIDE World Cup 2019, White to move:
Despite the limited material White is pressing. All his pieces are in active positions. But where to strike? Vidit can create a passed pawn on the e-file or push f5-f6 and restrict Black’s king a bit. However, the piece in biggest danger is not the king. It is the c5-knight!
Vidit played 34.Bd5, attacking f7 and robbing the knight of the b3-square. Black responded 34…h6. This might look like a blank move, but Pichot has little to do anyway. 34...g5 does not help, as f5-f6 would come later.
Now it is time to attack the prey:
35.Kd4 Nb3+ 36.Bxb3 Rxc6
It seems that Black found a witty way out of his problems, but now Vidit returns his attention to the king.
37.Ra8+ Ke7 38.Ba4 +-
The rook can’t move because of the mate on e8. White is winning.
Here's the complete game:
***
Sometimes, it is not even clear which piece is being hunted.
Nepomniachtchi-Karjakin, Norway Chess Stavanger 2021, White to move:
This complicated position arose from the Berlin Defence. White is a pawn down, but Black’s pieces are scattered around the board. Nepo played the logical 18.b3, trapping the bishop on a2 and creating the threat of a fork on f7.
Now Karjakin can’t defend f7, so he at least moved the king away with 18…Kc8. But now, surprisingly, Nepo turned his attention to a completely different piece! He played 19.Nxf7 Rg6 20.Nh8!, beautifully trapping the black rook.
A fun fact: the a2-bishop survived till the end of the game. However, this did not help Karjakin at all. He lost rather convincingly.
Here's the complete game:
***
When a piece is trapped, it is usually harmless. Therefore, sometimes a player can afford to leave it alive for a while.
Nepomniachtchi-Vachier Lagrave, Jerusalem FIDE GP 2019, White to move:
Of course, White could consume the knight with 24.Kxg2. However, after 24…Qc6+ 25.e4 Qb6 Black has enough compensation for the piece due to the shaky position of White’s monarch.
Nepo understood that he can use his right to move better. After all, the meal on g2 can wait.
24.Ne4!!
Relatively simple, but beautiful. The knight is heading for f6.
24…Rd8 25.Rc1!
Another very precise move. White needs to keep the rook to protect its back rank.
Please, check the full game in the replay window. I will only put the final position here, so that you can see that the poor g2 knight survived till the very end…
Facing mate or material losses, "MVL" gave up.
Here's the complete game:
***
Sometimes, a piece is trapped but it can not be consumed. Here is an amusing example.
Grandelius-Karjakin, Tata Steel 2022, White to move:
The h7-knight is trapped. Also the g6-bishop is more or less immobile, as it has to guard the knight for eternity. On the other hand both White’s minor pieces are creating a cage for the black king. So, the black monarch is also trapped! The prey has become the hunter.
Both armies are kind of stuck. Black can’t manoeuvre with his e5-bishop because of his weak back rank, and the c8-bishop is much restricted.
So, both players have nothing to do. In the following three moves White played 30.Re2, 31.Re4 and 32.Re3. After a few more moves, a draw was agreed.
Here's the complete game:
***
Every piece has three distinct qualities: it is an active weapon, a vulnerable being, and a piece of wood that might stand in a way of other pieces. Quite often, club players are focused mostly on the first of these qualities, the activity.
I hope that this article has helped you to perceive the vulnerability of both your and your opponent’s pieces a bit more.
Middlegame Secrets Vol.5 - The Inner Strength of Kings
In this video course, kings will play a role of strong and active pieces. We will explore how Kings can be helpful in defence and prophylaxis, or even in attack!
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