Wednesday 18 June 2014

Lesson about WEAKNESS and Take part in a Webinar with GM Smirnov

Recently I carried out a SURVEY First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who participated!
Your feedback and suggestions will help us to make Remote Chess Academy even more useful for you!
Quite a lot of students expressed their wish to talk to me directly and to ask their questions. Therefore, I’m going to conduct my first live WEBINAR (“Internet seminar”).
This is a chance for you to clarify your questions and to get my personal support.
I’m not sure about the date of this event yet; I’ll need to work out the technical side first. Anyway, I’ll try to prepare everything quickly and to carry out the Webinar in the next week or two. Don’t miss this event!
And now lets go to the lesson!
Today we’ll discuss a really important chess topic: WEAKNESSES. In a game, it’s important to create weaknesses in your opponent’s position if you want to win. But, at any level, it’s never easy to find the best way. That’s why today we’ll see how to do so. 
There are two important questions:
  • What is a weakness?
  • How to create it?
In this lesson, we’ll see how to find those answers and how to put them into practice.
To illustrate it, we’ll use an example a game played between Carlsen and Anand in the Tal Memorial one year ago.
Before we begin, please try to find the best move in the position below.
Carlsen-Anand

Below is a analysis board. Paste this FEN code in the specified box (FEN box) 

FEN code - r2q1rk1/pbpnbppp/1p6/3p4/3P4/P3P1P1/1P1BNPBP/R2QK2R w KQ - 0 12

The above code is for the above position. You can also see the game from the beginning. The moves are there below.


After pasting the above FEN code, drag the pieces by seeing the following moves and then you can see the game!

Or here is the direct link - LINK

WHOLE GAME -

{I am going to explain some concepts about weaknesses in the following game.
Relativity of a weakness, the principle of double weakness, and a typical
question that you may ask to yourself. What is the real weakness?} 1. d4 Nf6 2.
c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nge2 {The idea is to play a3 and be ready to
respond Bxc3 with Nxc3. If black does not take on c3 this knight can go to the
good square f4.} d5 6. a3 Be7 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Bd2 {White wants to keep the
tension between the knights and don't define the kingside} Nd7 9. g3 b6 10.
Nxd5 exd5 11. Bg2 Bb7 12. Bb4  {This move is a very original concept of
Magnus Carlsen. The idea is that after 12... Bxb4 13.axb4 the b4 pawn is a
"relative weakness" because it will be to attack. While the "c" and the "a"
pawn are more real weaknesses in adition to that the d2 bishop does not
control any important square while the e7 bishop controls the dark squares
that are in general weak into the black's position} (12. O-O {Was of course a
normal choice}) 12... Nf6 (12... Bxb4+ 13. axb4 Qe7 14. Qb3 Nf6 15. O-O $14) (
12... c5 13. dxc5 bxc5 14. Bc3 Nf6 15. O-O $14) 13. O-O Re8 14. Rc1 c6 {Sooner
or later black was going to be forced to play this move. This is a weak pawn
and we are going to talk later about this.} 15. Bxe7 Rxe7 16. Re1 {Probably
right now you does not understand this move. But the real idea is that
according to Carlsen's plan this was the natural position for the rook. And he
does not want to define the other pieces} Qd6 17. Nf4 Bc8 18. Qa4 {Attacking
at the weak pawn} Rc7 19. f3  {Principle of double weakness! here we can see
that usually just one weakness is not enough to make the opponent's position
collapse. Sometimes it is. But usually is not. The times where it is not we
must create another weakness in order to make our opponent's defense as
thought as possible} Be6 20. e4 dxe4 (20... Qd7 {Was a better defense} 21. Nxe6
Qxe6 22. e5 Ne8 23. f4) 21. fxe4 {Now black has to be careful about white's
center and about the c6 pawn.} Qd7 22. d5  {Concrete calculation! White is
trading 2 weaknesses for just one (as you will see in the game) But the
resulting weakness can't be defended.} cxd5 23. Qxd7 Rxd7 24. Nxe6 fxe6 {
Everything seems more quiet for black but...} 25. Bh3  {The e6 pawn is a
chronical weakness. And after the capture of this pawn. The e pawn is a killer
passer.} Kh8 26. e5 Ng8 27. Bxe6 Rdd8 28. Rc7 d4 29. Bd7 {Concepts we learned
(or reviewed) in this game. 1. The relativity of a weakness 2. The principle
of double weakness.} 1-0

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