In this chapter, we shall examine a number of positions in which one side is ahead on material and his opponent has clearly insuffi
cient (if any) compensation. These are all positions that ought to be won, but there are some technical difficulties in each case. They all serve to illustrate the basic prin
ciples of converting a material ad
vantage and are easier to state than they are to apply:
Step one: If the opponent has some counterplay, then first con
solidate your own position and neutralise that counterplay.
Step two: Simplify the position by exchanging pieces, in order to head for a winning endgame.
Most textbooks emphasise the latter step (exchanging material) at the expense of the first (stamp
ing out any remaining initiative that the opponent may possess).
Accordingly, instead of first con
solidating their positions, players often seek to swap material in passive positions, only to find that their opponent still has the initia
tive and that there is no way of proceeding. The following club game is a typical horror story, and is meant as a warning for those impatient to exchange pieces:
J. Rogers -M. Stewart Nottingham League 1992 Black has an extra piece, which should outweigh White's extra vul
nerable pawns. Black should be seeking to consolidate his position first (step one) ; and l...i..e6 would have been a good start. He could follow up by playing ... i..f4, ... i..xe5 and ... i..f6 after which all his pieces would be protected and his king would be safe on g8, from where it could eventually emerge and mop up White's queenside pawns at leisure. This is a long process, but little can go wrong because his cen
trally placed pieces are so power
ful.
But in this game Black skipped the rule about consolidation and
started to simplify at once, under the traditional rationale that the fewer white pieces, the fewer pros
pects for White to generate coun
terplay; but in this case, there are also fewer pieces with which Black can defend himself!
1 • • • .i.xg6? 2 hxg6 lile2 +?
A better move was 2 .. JldS!, forcing the knight from its power
ful square. Play might then have continued 3 tilc3 tilc6 4 e6 l:.eS, when the e-pawn is doomed along with the g-pawn (which causes all the problems in the game).
3 c.W1 lilf4?
Continuing the faulty plan of swapping pieces.
4 lbx£4 .i.x:f4 5 e6
Now Black's king is very inse
cure. He must employ his rook merely to guard against the threat of back-rank mate.
5 • • • .i.g5 6 .l:.xa7 �g8 7 b4 .l:.e8
8 b5 �f8
Black has had to make a number of moves simply to attack White's e-pawn (S ... lhe6 9 .l:.aS+ mates).
9 b61 (D)
Now it is too late to capture the e-pawn, because White's b-pawn is about to promote.
9 • • • .i.e3
Or 9 ... .l:.xe6 10 .l:.f7 + 'iii>gS (after 10 .. . �eS 1 1 b7 -:b6 12 .l:.xg7 .i.f4 13 a4! Black cannot cope with three white pawns running down the board) 1 1 b7 l:leS 12 l:r.c7 .i.f4 13 l:tc8 c;Ms 14 a4 <i;e7 (14 ... -i.bS 15 a5 is better for White) 15 a5 l:tfS 16 a6 l:lffi 17 :as .i.e5+ (17 ... .i.h2+
1S 'iii>e2 .l:.b6 19 a7 .l:.xb7 20 l:.eS + 'itxeS 21 aS'ii'+ wins) 1S �e2 l:lb6 19 a7 .l:.xb7 20 .l:.eS+ �xeS 21 aS'ii' + .l:.bS 22 'ii'e4 and wins.
10 l:tf7+ 'itg8 11 b7 .i.c5 12 e7 Black cannot capture on e7 be
cause one of his pieces must guard the bS square. Now Black's king is caught in a permanent mating net.
12 • • . .i.d6
Or 12 ... .i.xe7 13 .l:.xe7 l::txe7 14 bS'ii'+ .
1 3 a4 .i.c7 14 a5
118 Choose the Right Move
Black resigned due to 14 ... .txa5 (if 14 ... i.b8 and then moving the bishop backwards and forwards to a7 and b8, White's king time
lessly marches to d7) 15 Af8+
lhf'B+ 16 exf8'ii'+ �xf8 17 b8'ii'+ . Black was too eager to ex
change pieces in this game. He ac
tually improved White's position in the process (by bringing his pawn to g6), leaving himself with the one piece that could not cap
ture the intrusive g6 pawn. Mter the exchanges it was White who was winning!
Duncan -Molyneux British Championship 1996 Black is clearly winning in this position. He has well placed pieces all ready for a kingside attack, a well protected king and an extra pawn to boot! A general rule of thumb is that 'opposite-coloured bishops aid an attack against the enemy king', since the defender
finds it difficult to neutralise the attacking bishop. White would have faced an impossible defensive task if his opponent had mounted a rapid attack on his king.
30 . • • dxc4?
Black already starts to swap off pawns, which as we shall see later allows White to 'get out of jail'.
30 ... 'ii'f3! would have been stronger, preventing White from swapping off queens with 'ii'd4. If the queens remain on the board, White will be unable to defend himself, e.g.
31 i.d4 l:tf5 (it is difficult to find a useful move for White) 32 i.xg7 'ii'e3+ and wins.
31 bxc4 l:tf7 32 'ili'd4 'ii'xd4 + 33 i.xd4 i.f5
Compared to the position only three moves ago, Black has no chance of creating threats against the white king; he has caused a structural imbalance on the queen
side and even has to watch the weak'· al-h8 diagonal. Swapping
oil' Uw queens and a set of pawns h1u1 Horiously reduced his winning 11hnncos. However, with accurate ,,lny Black should still be able to win.
n4 :n ga 3 5 J:g3
l 'rolocting the weakness on d3.
:t" ... l:[d8 36 l:.f4
'l'rying to blockade the dark 1111Unros.
88 ... l:ta8 37 l:te3 l':.d7
Or 37 ... l:txa2 38 l1e8 + l1f8 39 llu7. Now White should be able to huld the position.
88 a3
'l'ompting Black to capture this f1 HIt HOJdier.
when exchanging the white a-pawn for Black's h-pawn has increased White's chances of a draw; and 40 ... h5 41 l1xf5 + gxf5 42 l':.h7+
'iii>e6 43 .l:h6 + �f7 44 l':.h7+ with a draw by perpetual check.
39 i.b2 .:.e7
Black challenges his opponent's control of the e-file.
40 'iW2 .l:ae8 4l lb:e7+ .lhe7 Once again Black has been too eager to exchange pieces. This time the superior side will face tough technical difficulties trying to convert the position. We shall see how White managed to draw this position later on.
Consolidation
What is meant by 'consolidation' (or the safety-first approach)?
When it is necessary to consolidate a position, the player with the material advantage should neu
tralise any immediate threats and more importantly, place his pieces on safe active squares (prefer
ably on central squares and all protecting each other) so that the opponent cannot generate any meaningful threats in the near fu
ture. He should also try to stop his opponent from creating out
posts for his pieces. Then and only then, should he emerge from his shell and offer to exchange pieces.
If a player successfully consoli
dates, he often wins the game
120 Choose the Right Moue
quicker than he might have ex
pected. When an opponent is ma
terial behind, he may refuse to swap into a hopeless endgame;
but since all the best squares for his pieces have been covered, he has to retreat his pieces to passive positions in order to avoid a sim
plification, and this often causes his own position to deteriorate.
Centralisation against the World Champion, and the endgame is an easy win if he can swap queens and rooks. In the meantime, however, K.asparov has vague threats against White's king. Gulko's first task is to posi
tion his pieces so that Black can
not generate a counterattack. He can hardly stop Black from put
ting his rooks on the open a- and
b-files, but he can prevent Black's knight from entering the fray.
This explains his next two moves, which stop Black from playing his knight to d5 and then to b4.
1 lLle2!
1 lLlc2 is met by 1.. . .l:.b8 2 lLle3 .l:tba8.
l ... l:tb8 2 lLlc3!
Now White's knight commands a strong defensive square as well as stopping the black knight from entering the attack.
2 .. .'ii'b4 3 Abel
It is important to use all of your pieces. Gulko has now brought his last piece into the game.
3 ... %1d6 4 'ii'c2
White does not fall for the trap 4 'ii'xd6?? 'ii'xb2 mate, but is happy to exchange rooks. 4 'ifc1 would have been even better, allowing the rook to defend along the sec
ond rank. Black is already run
ning out of ideas.
4 ... l:ldb6 5 :e2 'ii'f4 6 h3 Gulko's entire army is now de
fended.
6 ... .l:tc6
White would welcome 6 .. J:bb2+
7 'ii'xb2 l:lxb2+ 8 l:lxb2, since his king would now be perfectly safe and he could advance his a-pawn at leisure.
7 'ii'd2
Now that his position is solid, Gulko aims to treble his pieces on the d-file, which will enable him to offer exchanges without aban
doning the protection of his king.
Note tliat his pieces occupy the
centre and are all protected; apart from the technical merits of this safety-first approach, it is quite demoralising for his struggling opponent to have no clear plan of attack. Note that 7 ... 'ii'xd2 s :exd2 :xc3 9 l:td8+ :xd8 10 :xd8 + q;g7 11 bxc3 wins for White.
7 ... 'ii'f5+ 8 q;a1 :b7 9 'ii'h6 :c8 10 :ed2
The tables have turned and it is now Black who is on the defen
sive, having to constantly watch his back rank.
10 ... 'ii'a5 1 1 'it'e3 rJi>g7 12 g4 l:te8 13 'ii'd4 l:td7 14 'it'f2 .:tc7 15 l:td3 :aS 16 'ii'd2
a b c d e h
l 6 • . • h6
1 6 ... l:txc3 17 bxc3 defends the
" pnwn.
17 l:td6
( lulko is now ready to offer ex
t•hnngos on the d-file.
1 7 . . . l:tc4 18 l:td4 :ac8
I H . . . l:tc7 19 l:.a4 would have been
.. t·tnlnul.
19 rJi>b1 'ii'e5 20 f4 'ii'e6 21 'ii'e2 Exchanges are unavoidable.
21 ... :xd4 22 l:xd4 'ii'b6 23 'ili'd2
Gulko keeps control of the posi
tion beautifully.
23 ... 'ili'a6 24 'ii'd3 'iic6 25 a3
This useful move is safe now that a pair of rooks have been ex
changed. White has taken his last consolidating measure and is now ready for the final phase: advanc
ing his pieces onto dominating central squares (rook on d6 and queen on d4), so that Kasparov will lose quickly if he refuses to exchange them.
25 ... 'it'g2 26 :d6 .:tb8 27 'ii'e2 'it'h1 + 28 �a2 l:.e8 29 'iid3 :e1 30 'ii'd4 1-0
Kasparov still has his queen and rook, but they are lurking uselessly in the comer. 30 ... l:.a1 + 31 <iitb3 'ii'b7+ 32 l:tb6 'ii'e7 33 tl)d5! would have been embarrass
ing for the World Champion .
122 Choose the Right Move
Returning extra material
Another way of consolidating a position where the opponent has some initiative is to return some (or all of) the extra material in or
der to seize the initiative.
Again we join the action after Kasparov's aggression has back
fired.
Kasparov - Karpov World Championship,
Moscow (6) 1984 l. . . 'iPe7 ·
Karpov relinquishes his extra pawn with the intention of emerg
ing with a winning initiative.
2 i..xb5
After 2 J:.xe5 + �d6 3 J:.e8 �c7 White's pieces are badly placed to stop the march of Black's b-pawn.
2 ... lilxb5 3 llxe5 + 'it>xd7 4 .lhb5 �c6 5 .l:.h5 h6 6 J:.e5 J:.a8!
This was the point of Karpov's play: after the exchanges on b5,
he knew that his rook would stand behind the passed pawn, where it belongs (see also the chapter on endgames). Kasparov has to re
treat his rook to a passive square on the a-file and bring his king over to the queenside in order to stop the pawn promoting. Mean
while, Black's king moves to the kingside, where he will create a second, decisive passed pawn.
7 J:.a5
White cannot afford the luxury of 7 lle7?! a5 8 l:.xg7 a4, when the a-pawn is unstoppable
7 • . • �b6 8 J:.a2 a5 9 <iW1 a4 10
�e2 �c5 1 1 'iii>d2 a3 12 �c1 �d4 13 f4 �e4 14 'iPb1 J:.b8+ 15 <it>a1 J:.b2 16 lha3 lhh2
Material is still level, but Kar
pov' s better placed king wins the day.
17 'iii>b1 J:.d2 18 lla6 �f5 19 J:.a7 g5 20 .l:r.a6 g4 21 :xb6
Kasparov had to capture this pawn, otb.erwise it would press on:
21 l:ta3 h5 22 �c1 l:.d5 followed by
23 .. . h4 24 gxh4 �xf4 and the ad
vance of the g-pawn. Note the way in which 22 ... lld5 cuts White's king from the kingside. Karpov is now a pawn down(!), but he has it all under control.
2 1 • • • l:r.g2 22 l:r.h5 + �e4 23 f5 :f21
Stopping the f-pawn in its tracks.
The king is the more appropriate piece with which to capture on g3, because it can then guide the g
pawn through to its coronation.
24 �c1 �f3 25 �d1 �xg3 26
�e1 �g2 27 l:r.g5 g3 28 l:r.h5 l:r.f4 29 �e2 l:r.e4 + 30 �d3 �f3 31 l:r.h1 g2 32 l:r.h3+ �g4 33 llh8 :f4 34 �e2 :xf5 0-1
The position· after 35 llgB+
�h3 36 l:r.hB+ �g3 37 l:r.g8+ �h2 38 l:r.hB+ �gl is a well-known win (the Lucena position - see the chapter on endings).
'fhe following position resulted f'rnm a Marshall Attack of the Ruy
Lopez (Spanish). White appears to be relatively unscathed, how
ever Black does have some initia
tive for the pawn. I decided that it was best to return the pawn and reach an advantageous endgame.
Unfortunately my powers of end
game play are seriously inferior to those of Karpov, so whether I would be winning the resulting endgame was not clear to me.
Having just spent twelve hours on trains, ferries and buses to get to Dublin, I thought the best option was to play an endgame where I held a significant advantage.
Duncan - Moynihan Irish Open Zonal 1993 26 tl)f31
Sacrificing the f-pawn in order to swap off my bad bishop and transfer my knight to e5.
26 ... gxf4 27 .txf4 .txf4 28 lhe7 1Wxe7 29 gxf4 1fe3+ 30 1Wf2 'ii'xf4
124 Choose the Right Move
Black has managed to win back his pawn, but now we see the rea
son for 26 ttJf3. After ...
31 ttJe5!
.. . Black cannot avoid swapping queens. The resulting endgame is very good for White, but can you explain why?
1. Black's pawn structure is in ruins: he has four pawn islands.
Let me just explain why pawn is
lands are bad. For every pawn is
land you have there must be at least one pawn not guarded by an
other pawn. In this position Black must use s piece to guard every pawn weakness (except b5); and this will prove impossible. On the other hand White has a strong pawn structure. After a3, b2 will guard a3 and c3, while c3 in turn guards d4.
2. A classic case of good knight verses bad bishop. After a3 Black will not be able to attack any of the white pawns with his bishop;
and this bishop is hemmed in by
his own pawns, thus restricting its scope. The white knight com
mands a strong central outpost from which he cannot be moved as we see in the course of the rest of the game when it returns to e5 a number of times.
3. White's king is better placed.
Black does have a passed f-pawn, so White must remain vigilant, but thankfully my king is already blocking its path and as we shall see, in fact the pawn becomes a target.
3 1 . .. 11i'xf2 + 32 �xf2 �h7 33 ttJd3
Now I begin to probe Black's weak queenside pawns .
33 ... f4
Black seeks active counterplay, which was probably the best prac
tical decision as it will be impossi
ble to defend his weaknesses. At least this way his bishop gets some life.
34 ttJb4 ..te4 35 ltJxa6
It is not always a good idea to send a centrally placed knight on a mission to win an a-pawn. How
ever, in this position I realised that my king is excellently placed on f2 to stop any attack and there is really nothing that Black can do. Having won my opponent's a
pawn, I will be able to quickly cre
ate a passed a-pawn of my own.
35 • • • l:tg8 36 l:.gl
An offer that Black cannot ac
cept. Black must move his rook, thereby �ng the g-file. The white rook will then be strongly placed
on the g-file, as it cuts off the black king and is able to attack the f-pawn from the side.
36 • • • l:ta8 37 tLlb4 :f8 38 tLlc6
Now my knight heads back to u5.
38 • • • 1tf5 39 l:tg4 :th5 40 h4
This snuffs out any activity Black might have been hoping for.
40 • • • l:tf5 41 tLle5
Back at last!
4l • • • :f8 42 tLld7
Off we go again. This time the knight will sit on c5, from where it can guide the queenside pawns.
42 • • • l:lf7 43 tLlc5 l:tf6 44 b31
Now it is time to create a passed n-pawn.
44 ... .i.bl 45 a3
I could have played 45 a4 im
modiately, but I was enjoying my
lllttlf too much.
45 ... .i.c2 46 a4 bxa4 47 bxa4 J1f7 48 a5 f3 49 l:tgl
This stops the black bishop from l(uing to d1 and then e2.
49 ... .i.e4 50 ltlxe4
The time has now come. This Pnding is straight-forward win be
•'tHIHo Black still cannot use his k i ng.
ISO ... dxe4 51 c4 :f4 52 a6 1-0
li2 . . . l:txh4 53 �g3 l:h5 54 .:.a1
lll(l'i + 55 <t>f4 f2 56 a7 fl'ii' + 57 ll x fl l:ta5 58 r.itxe4 l:txa7 59 c5 winK for White.
'l'ho technique of returning ma
h•rlnl in order to quash the oppo
nttni.'H initiative, in order to regain
I I. lntur, is particularly useful when
your pieces are being continually attacked or when some other im
passe has been created.
J. Rogers - Romilly Darlington 1995
White must find a way to dodge the checks.
1 c;i;>e41
1 <t>e2 would not have helped because the checks continue, e.g.
l.. .l:ta2 + 2 �d3 l:a3 + 3 r.itc2 (3 l:lc3 l:ta4) 3 . . . l:ta2 + 4 'ii;lb3 l:th2!, when White's king is in no fit state to support the march of his kingside pawns. He could main
tain his extra pawn with 5 h5 (5 l:txa7 l:txh4 would easily draw for Black after 6 l:g7 'ifilc5 7 <t>c3 'iii>d5 8 <t>d3 lte5 9 'iii>e3 l:h3 + 10 <t>f2
<it>f4), but 5 . . . l:th3 + 6 'iii>b2 l:h4 7 lha7 (7 l:.g7 a5) 7 ... :Xg4 8 h6 l:h4 9 h7 r.itc5 is a draw.
These variations clearly dem
onstrate the dangers of failing to consolidated one's position, and
126 Choose the Right Move
clinging to extra material at the expense of poorly placed pieces.
Instead, in the game White sur
renders his pawns on the fourth rank. In return, his king becomes active and consigns Black's king to the edge of the board.
t. .. .:.a4+ 2 �d5 .:.Xg4
There was no choice since White threatened 3 g5.
3 .l:lxa7 .:.xh4 4 .l:lb7 + �a6 5 l:bl
The win is now elementary be
cause the black king is cut off from the kingside and White's king is poised to capture on f6.
5 . . . �a5 6 'i#i>e6 l:th6 7 �f7 1-0
The endgame is a simple text
book win. Black cannot stop 8 �g7 and 9 'i#i>xf6, after which White's f
pawn is unstoppable. Here we saw another benefit from consoli
dating by the temporary sacrifice of extra material: when the player regained his investment, he had also simplified the position. At
the beginning of the sequence White had three pawns to two, but by the end a simple 1-0.
How to keep control
So far we have looked at consoli
dating a position. In the next game we shall look at how to keep con
trol. It is always tempting to snatch extra material when it is offered.
You have probably heard the say
ing 'there is no such thing as a free lunch' - it applies in chess too.
Tann - Duncan Midlands Open Championship 1996 In this position Black has a se
rious advantage. Material is level;
so what do I mean by a serious ad
vantage?
1. A secure king position. On the other hand White's king is very draughty, having to permanently
•r·
hiM queen around to guard .. m•l mating threats.I , A MLrong outpost for Black's
t::llht.
IL is difficult to remove the lllk knight from f4, and even if It hi ramoved it has plenty of other ftiHI �tcauares to head for, such as ...Whlt.a
II . An has excellent pawn structure. an awful pawn strucMartt which will lead to pawns be
lftl picked off.
My opponent offered me the to take his e-pawn.
didn't I take it? Is it poi
•mad'l
Nu, it is not poisoned, but the III•ILiun becomes amazingly murky tftMr 2H ... 1Wxe5?! 29 l:r.d8+ �g7 30 .t4 ( now the queens come off and th• lnMocurity of the white king is
"n lnntcor a factor; the white rook 11 lal't us the strongest piece on lh• IJCmrd and will prove a menace tu Uw black pawns) _30 ... 1i'xd4 31 lad4 �o6 32 :d7 b5 33 l:r.a7
• b c d e f g h
... leading to a position where Black has definitely lost control.
Back to the main position. In
stead I played ...
28 • • • b5
This move gives my king the extra square and at a later stage I may play ... h4-h3, adding to the mating net already surrounding White.
29 h4?
This is just another weakness in White's position.
29 • • • 1Wxe5
It is now safe to take the pawn
It is now safe to take the pawn