The Winning Academy 41: Interrupting the Opponent

by Jan Markos
2/13/2025 – Imagine that you are at a party. A person you are talking to is just speaking endlessly. It feels like they will never stop, and there is only one thought in your head: "How can I interrupt this person before I go deaf?" Changing the course of a conversation is sometimes a tricky task. Changing the course of a chess game might be similarly challenging, but not for those who know the noble art of intermediate moves! | Photo: Christine Schmidt, Pixabay

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These moves are more frequent than club players usually think, but they are not always simple to find. To do so, you must resist the tyranny of the obvious. Of course, we all have an in-built chess autopilot: an exchange should be completed, a piece that is attacked should retreat.

The trick is to be conscious even at these seemingly obvious and almost automatic decisions. It does not cost you a lot of time, and only a tiny bit of mental energy. And the results – as you will soon see – can be very visible.

***

The first example is from the Tata Steel tournament 2025. Caruana was White against Van Foreest and had to solve a seemingly difficult question. How should he deal with the pin of the c4-knight?

Caruana's solution was very elegant. He played 21.Qc2, and after 21…Bxc4 he resisted the urge to answer with the obvious recapture. Instead, he played 22.Qxc3, creating a pin on his own!

Now Black should have played 22…Qb4, and after 23.Qxc4 Qxc4 24.bxc4 f6! (Another pin!) the position would be equal. Instead, Van Foreest did not resist to play an intermediate move on his own, and after 22…Bb6 23.Be3 Qb4 24.Qxc4 he started to experience some problems in the defence.

Here's the complete game:

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1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.c3 Bd6 6.Bg3 Nh6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.Nbd2 b6 9.Qe2 Bb7 10.dxc5 bxc5 11.e4 Rb8 12.e5 Bc7 13.0-0 Nf5 14.Bf4 c4 15.Bc2 Ba6 16.Rab1 d4 17.Nxc4 Qd5 18.b3 dxc3 19.Rfd1 Qc5 20.Bxf5 exf5
21.Qc2 Bxc4 22.Qxc3 Bb6 23.Be3 Qb4 24.Qxc4 Qxc4 25.bxc4 Bxe3 26.fxe3 h6 27.Rb5 Rfc8 28.Kf2 Kf8 29.Rd6 Nd8 30.Nd4 g6 31.Rxb8 Rxb8 32.c5 Nb7 33.Rd5 Nd8 34.c6
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2803Van Foreest,J26801–02025D0287th Tata Steel Masters2

Nota bene: Not every intermediate move is automatically good!

***

In the second example, White needs to tame Black's dangerous counterplay.

Kasparov-Shirov, Match Russia-The World 2002, White to play:

Kasparov is a pawn up, but his task is far from easy. Black threatens not only to open the queenside, but also to sac a piece, blowing White's mighty centre in the air. I have tested this position in several coaching sessions and can confirm that most players under 2200 Elo points struggle with it.

However, not Kasparov. He played the self-confident 17.b5!. Black's possible knight sacrifices are now refuted with two different intermediate moves. After 17…Nxe5 White responds 18.Bf4!. Therefore, Shirov chose 17…Nxc5. And he ran into an even more beautiful intermediate move, 18.Bf6!.

The h8-bishop is hanging, and after 18…Bxf6 19.exf6 the e7-knight is hanging. Therefore, White will be a piece up in the following fight. In the following course of the game, Shirov tried to stir things up, but Kasparov returned the piece and won easily. Worth seeing!

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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Be3 Qb6 5.Qc1 e6 6.c4 Ne7 7.c5 Qa5+ 8.Bd2 Qc7 9.Nc3 Nd7 10.Be2 h6 11.b4 g5 12.g4 Bg6 13.h4 Bg7 14.hxg5 hxg5 15.Rxh8+ Bxh8 16.Bxg5 a5
17.b5 Nxc5 17...Nxe5 18.Bf4 18.Bf6 Bxf6 19.exf6 Ng8 20.dxc5 d4 21.Nf3! dxc3 22.Qxc3 Qf4 23.g5 and White wins Rd8 24.bxc6 bxc6 25.Rd1 Rxd1+ 26.Bxd1 Qe4+ 27.Kf1 Bh5 28.Qb3 Qf4 29.Qb7 Qc4+ 30.Ke1
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kasparov,G2838Shirov,A26971–02002B12RUS-The World4

***

Let us stay with the chess giants. In the following position, Magnus Carlsen contemplated how to cash in material without allowing too much counterplay.

Carlsen-Aronian, Norway Chess 2015, White to move:

White is a pawn down, but that is not an issue. More important is that the f5-rook is pinned. Should White grab it at once with 36.Nh4, or play an intermediate move 36.Rc2 first, so that the f2-pawn is not hanging?

In the post-mortem it transpired that 36.Nh4! is enough for a win, because after 36…Qxf2 White can play 37.Nxf5 exf5 and 38.Rc2!. Only this intermediate move wins.

Carlsen decided to "go safe" and played 36.Rc2. However, now Black gets an unexpected chance. After 36…Qb8! (Aronian played the weaker 36…Qa1?) 37.Nh4 the diagrammed position arises:

Now it is Black's time to play a killer intermediate move. After 37…Rd4! the rook is taboo (38.Qxd4?? Ne2+) and White has to bail out with another intermediate move 38.Rc8!. After 39…Qxc8 40.Qxd4 Rf6 the position is about equal.

Here's the complete game:

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.Re1 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.Nbd2 Nc6 12.Nf1 h6 13.Ne3 Re8 14.a4 Be6 15.d4 exd4 16.cxd4 Nb4 17.Bb1 bxa4 18.Rxa4 Bf8 19.Ra1 d5 20.e5 Ne4 21.h3 Qb6 22.Nxd5 Bxd5 23.Bxe4 Rad8 24.Bxd5 Rxd5 25.Be3 Red8 26.dxc5 Bxc5 27.Qb3 Bxe3 28.Rxe3 a5 29.e6 fxe6 30.Rae1 R8d6 31.Rc1 Nd3 32.Rc8+ Kh7 33.Qa4 Qxb2 34.Qe4+ Rf5 35.Kh2 Nf4
36.Rc2 36.Nh4 Qxf2 37.Rg3 Nh5 38.Rf3 36...Qa1 36...Qb8 37.Nh4 37.g4 Ng6 38.gxf5 exf5! 37...Rd4 37.g4 Qf1 38.Ne1 Nh5 39.gxf5 exf5 40.Qc4
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2876Aronian,L27801–02015C90Norway Chess 3rd8

***

The last example is exceptional. Black ignores that his queen is attacked for full four moves!

Praggnanandhaa – Abdusattorov, Tata Steel 2025, Black to move:

A truly wild position with opposite castlings. Although 23…Qc6 is good for Black, Abdusattorov decided not to lose momentum and played 23…b3!?. After 24.Qxb3 came another intermediate move 24…Nc5. The game continued 25.Qa2 Nd3+ 26.Kb1 Bxf5!

The queen simply refuses to retreat! Now White finally took it: 27.Bxa6. However, after …Nd3-b4xa2 was on the verge of losing.

Here's the complete game:

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1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Nd5 a5 4.Nf3 d6 5.a3 Bc5 6.e3 c6 7.d4 Ba7 8.Nc3 Nd7 9.Qc2 Ngf6 10.Bd2 0-0 11.0-0-0 Re8 12.h3 e4 13.Nh2 d5 14.g4 dxc4 15.g5 Nd5 16.Nxe4 Qe7 17.Ng3 b5 18.Nf5 Qe6 19.h4 c5 20.Bh3 Qa6 21.h5 b4 22.Bf1 cxd4 23.Bxc4
23...b3 24.Qxb3 Nc5 25.Qa2 Nd3+ 26.Kb1 Bxf5
27.Bxa6 27.e4 27...N3b4+ 28.Ka1 28.e4 28...Nxa2 29.Kxa2 dxe3 30.fxe3 Nxe3 31.Rc1 Rab8 32.Bxa5 Nc2 33.Bc4 Bd4 34.b3 Rec8 35.Rhf1 Ne3 36.Rxf5 Nxf5 37.g6 hxg6 38.hxg6 Nd6 39.gxf7+ Kf8 40.Bb4 Rxb4 41.axb4 Nb5 42.Kb1 Na3+ 43.Ka2 Nc2 44.Kb1 Na3+ 45.Ka2 Nc2 46.Kb1 Na3+
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Praggnanandhaa,R2741Abdusattorov,N2768½–½2025A2187th Tata Steel Masters1

***

You probably noticed that two out of four examples in this article were from the same tournament, Tata Steel 2025. This nicely shows that intermediate moves are far from rare. Surely you will be able to find them in your games as well.

Sometimes it is enough to ask a few simple questions:

  • My piece is taken. Should I retake it, or can I do something more important?
  • My piece is attacked. Should I retreat it, or can I attack something else?
  • My opponent threatens something. Do I need to parry the threat, or can I create a threat on my own?

Middlegame Secrets Vol.1 + Vol.2

Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!


Links


Jan Markos is a Slovakian chess author, trainer, and grandmaster. His book Under the Surface was the English Chess Federation´s 2018 Book of the Year. His last book, The Secret Ingredient, co-authored with David Navara, focuses on the practical aspects of play, e.g. time-management over the board, how to prepare against a specific opponent, or how to use chess engines during the training process. Markos was the U16 European Champion twenty years ago. At present he helps his pupils from several countries to achieve similar successes. Apart from focusing on the royal game, he is also the author of several non-chess books, focused on critical thinking, moral dilemmas, and phenomenology.
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