Key Concepts of Chess - Pawn Structures Vol.1 and 2
In this two-part course the emphasis will be on typical pawn-structures.
In the previous installment, we discussed the Dutch chess grandmaster Jan Timman and his impressive attacking game against Karpov, in which he defeated the reigning world champion. Despite this victory, Timman later struggled against Karpov and Kasparov, accumulating a poor record against these formidable opponents. However, Timman achieved one of his greatest successes in Paris 1991 by winning the second Trophée Immopar rapid tournament. This knockout event saw him triumphantly defeat top world players: Gata Kamsky (1½-½), Viswanathan Anand (1½-½), Karpov (2-0), and finally, Kasparov (1½-½). The tournament lasted only a few days, but Timman's remarkable performance rating (TPR) of around 2950 and the $80,000 prize established him as the unofficial World Rapid Chess Champion.
Timman was known for his ability to blend strategy and tactics seamlessly. His superior positional understanding inspired the "Timman school" in the Netherlands, encouraging other players to try to play "nice moves". His artistic approach to chess was evident in his passion for endgame studies, composing many himself, which he featured in his numerous books. One notable study, called the "invisible pin," originated from a famous game he played against Draguljob Velimirovic from Yugoslavia at the Interzonal Tournament in Rio de Janeiro 1979. We'll explore this position in this video.
Timman's exploits in Rio de Janeiro, particularly his game against Velimirovic that was adjourned multiple times, garnered significant media attention in the Netherlands, sparking a surge of interest in chess. Timman's second, the Swedish grandmaster Ulf Andersson, an endgame expert, played a crucial role in this victory.
Timman and Andersson analysed the endgame with the help of the endgame manuals written by French endgame theoretician André Chéron, a dense work that at that time was considered to be the ultimate reference books for endgames. Chéron indeed showed a way to win Timman's endgame - however, his line took 53 moves, just three moves too many to avoid a draw claim under the 50-move rule. Thus, Andersson had to improve Chéron's analyses and had to find a quicker win. Things worked out in the end and Timman won the game within the required 50 moves.
Dutch GM Jan Hein Donner chronicled this thrilling encounter and its many adjournments daily in De Volkskrant. Despite his success in this game, Timman narrowly missed qualifying for the Candidates Tournament in Rio de Janeiro after failing to defeat a weaker opponent in the final round. Donner also recounted another fascinating anecdote that I will share with you at the end of the Timman-Velimirovic game.
64.Rxc5
After this capture the notorious endgame is on the board and White has 50 moves to mate Black or capture Black's a-pawn or bishop, liquidating into a winning position. In the following, I will give all of Timman's moves an exclamation mark if they are part of the fastest way to win according to the tablebase.
But can you describe in words how White can win this difficult theoretical endgame?
Master Class Vol.15 - Viktor Korchnoi
In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Viktor Korchnoi. Let them show you which openings Korchnoi chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were, or how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame.
This week’s show (for Premium Members only)
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