.....meanwhile, the game of Chess is basically very simple! Aeroflot - Round 6

.....meanwhile the game of Chess is basically very Simple! - Aeroflot Round 6

"Today the flood of Chess information is so great that in the world there is an ever decreasing number not only of polyglots, who know all the opening variations, but also of grandmasters who have fully exhausted that mass of variations, which are sometimes presented to us as the code of opening theory. Meanwhile, the game of Chess is basically very simple!" - David Bronstein

".....meanwhile the game of Chess is basically very simple.....!" What a profound statement!

Yes, chess is simple for those who approach it simply! All the complexity is caused by our mind! What you require is only awareness.....a pure awareness of 'what is' and the ability to always stay in the present....i.e, after every move of your opponent and before making your move.....it is in this hiatus we either complicate it or understand and approach it in a simple way!

For this, the first and foremost requisite is being unmindful of the ultimate result of a game....and secondly not to entertain any other thoughts except about the position on the board and the ability to enjoy that what is appearing on the board, which is co-create by you and your opponent!  More importantly, you need to have the ability to forget what has happened a moment.....a move back and what the position appeared then.....no looking back!

Then, and only then the game of chess, as Bronstein said, is very simple!

We shall see what a mind which may have been indulging in complex thought process of doing something....does!

Mateusz Bartel - Vladislav Artemiev; Aeroflot - 2016


Black played....

14.....Bc4?!

Despite how this opening started....what we now have on board is a position which is very similar to Yugoslav attack of Dragon, where Black strives to remove the White's dark squared Bishop with .....Nc4 and White will then part with his light squared Bishop for this Knight.

White ofcourse, will be glad to exchange this light squared Bishop!

15.Bd4 Qc7; 16.f4! Be2; 17.Qe2 Ng4?

It is simply game over after this blunder.....although, the battle was lost when Black played the ill-conceived move ......Bc4?!  Black did not even get half chance....

18.e5 de5; 19.fe5 Qc4; 20.ef6 Qe2; 21.Ne2 Bf6; 22.h5 g5; 23.Ng3 Bd4; 24.Rd4 Ne5; 25.Re4 f6; 26.Rf1! Rc4; 27.Nd4 Rc5; 28.Ne6 Rc6; 29.Ng7! Kd7; 30.N3f5 Rg8; 31.Rd4 Kc7; 32.Ne7! Rg7; 33.Nc6 Nc6; 34.Rd2 g4; 35.Rf6 g3; 36.Rg6! Rg6; 37.hg6 h5; 38.Re2! Nd4; 39.Rg2 Nf5; Rd3! 1 - 0


 Ian Nepomniatchi - Bok Benjamin; Aeroflot - 2016


The position is roughly equal, and after 32.....Qd4; 33.Qe6; Black can exchange the Queens immediately with 33.Qe4 and his pieces would be equally better placed as White's.

Whatever Black thought, he started drifting here....

32.....Bf5?! 33.Bf3 Bh3; 34.Kg1 Qd4; 35.Qb3! Bf5?

At times, fearing about your opponent's possibilities, one may miss the active choices that they have! Why not the simple 35.....e5! which threatens to roll further! Black King is sufficiently fortified and as long as the central squares are under control, one always stand a better chance to ward off any threats....especially from the long range pieces which cuts across those central squares, sufficiently covered by you!


36.Nf5 ef5; 37.a5 f4; 38.g4 f5; 39.b6 Qd6; 40.ba7 Ka7; 41.Rb5 Rb8; 42.gf5 Rg8; 43.Kf1Qa6; 44.Rb1! Nf5; 45.Qg8 Nd4; 46.Qc8 Nb5; 47.Qc5 1 - 0



Wei Yi - Mikhail Kobalia, Aeroflot - 2016


Again,  irrespective of how it started and continued to reach here....the position has characteristics of French defence (reverse) in spirit...in the center. White has weakened the dark squares around his King and fortunately for him, Black does not possess his dark squared Bishop.

Black had just played .....Nc6 and White had no business to part with it....which he did!

31.Bf8? Rf8; 32.Rbf1?! Rfe8; 33.Re2 a5!

Black hems White's Queenside pawns on the same colored squares as his Bishop and obtain a nice post for his Knight there!

34.e4 Nb4; 35.Bb1 de4; 36.Re4 Re4; 37.Be4 Re8; 38.Re1 f5; 39.Bb7 Re1; 40.Qe1?

Maintaining the Queen's offered better chances of defence. The ending that White is heading into is pretty bad as he realised subsequently!

40.....Qe1; 41.Ne1 Be6! 42.d5 Nd5; 43.Nc2 Kf7; 44.Kg1 Kf6; 45.Ba6 Nc7; 46.Bc4 Bc4; 47.bc4 Ne6; 48.Kf2 Ke5 and a disgusted White player resigned!


There were two fine games played in this round which deserves writing about, but considering the length of the article, I shall keep it to one.


Vitaly Kunin - Alexander Moiseenko, Aeroflot - 2016



20.....h5! 21.dc5 bc5; 22.Bc3 a4!

Conceding center always leads to trouble.  White is obliged to grab this pawn and Black succeeds in carrying out an attack on White's fortress.

23.ba4 h4! 24.Ba5 Rd7; 25.Be1 hg3; 26.fg3 g6; 27.Nc3 Nf6! 28.Rb1 Qe6; 29.Rf2 Ba6; 30.Qd1 Ba7!

Black pieces are raving and their target is White King!  Even the following exchange of one of those Bishops fail to bring respite to White.

31.Nb5 Bb5! 32.ab5 c4; 33.Re2 Be3; 34.Re3 Qe3; 35.Bf2 Qa3; 36.b6 Qd3; 37.Qc1 Ne4; 38.Be4 de4; 39.Ra1 f4; 40.gf4 c3; 41.f4 c2 0 -1 


A well played simple game simply does not require detailed comments!

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