Two self inflicted rapes - Aeroflot Round - 8

"The potential strength of a position is something that many players do not understand and appreciate, not only players of average strength, but even masters. The problem is that on the board, as on a diagram, one sees only the outward aspect of the position - the placing of the pieces - and the interconnections between them are concealed from view, they are open only to our mind." - David Bronstein


".....they are open only to our mind....!"  

 .....and only to the mind which is Open!!

We take everything for granted....be it in life or in chess or any other sport..... In life, despite knowing that death will take away everything from us, despite seeing many die leaving everything behind.....we beget and hold onto things....and more importantly, we secretly...subconsciously believe that....perhaps we might survive...till that moment arrives!

In chess, it is no different.....we would delude ourselves that we are invincible....every time that we arrive at the board....as long as....and till that final moment arrives on the board!  And, next day, next year, the same belief...same story! This delusion persists despite knowing that we have lost many times and we might lose again....

As in life, where man lives with the fear of death...subconsciously.....so in chess a player plays with the fear of defeat at the background - and like in life we keep fooling ourselves that we do not fear defeats!

True living is possible only with a true awareness of death and understanding what it is and most importantly the knowledge that we are never in control of things that happen to us and around us.....and it is this awareness and understanding which will liberate us and lead us to live life in full!

Likewise, in chess, a true awareness of human mind's inadequacy and frailties and the understanding that we like every other player....including the world champion.....are susceptible and never in control of things....will enable us to grow fearless and unmindful of defeats and therefore allow us to play with great let-go!

Daniil Dubov - Alexander Moiseenko; Aeroflot, 2016




Let us pick up this game from this position.

Black allowed white to put his Bishop on d6 and prevent castling temporarily......

12.Bd6 Na5; 13.Qd2 Nb7

.....and evict him with this Knight manoeuvre!

14.Bf4 h5?!

Any such unprovoked advance of pawns, especially that is meant to become the fortress of your monarch, should be treated with contempt. If this was meant to forestall White's Bishop to h6....it does that not, in any case, if and when Black decides to castle.  And if Moiseenko decides not to castle, then it is another story and White will script a fresh storyline!

15.c3

Chess is all about "pawn breaks"; "pawn advancements" which are carried out to gain space for one's pieces to operate freely!  The intention of the move played is in line with this.

15.....e5; 16.Bg5 f6; 17.f4!!?


Very interesting piece sacrifice!  Dubov's considerations are simple to understand: he has that all important light diagonal a2-g8 and the move played opens up the f-file.  Plus, Black's Queenside pieces are yet to participate....and there is one more important factor....which could be spotted..... on hindsight!

17.....dc3?!

I do not think that helping one of White's piece, by this way, to join the attack against one's own King, is a great idea.

18.Nc3 fg5; 19.fe5 Be5; 20.Nd5!

The problem with such positions is that, the defending side, with his limited piece activity will find difficult to spot the 'silent moves', by which phrase what I mean is that, a move which does not grab further material, give a listless check etc, but the one which increases the possibility of a successful defence....a pawn move which will protect the possible invasion of the attacking side piece; or a piece which can get closer to his King to provide protection and ward off an enemy piece or two.

Human mind will only throw at you the various ways a thing can go wrong and make your thinking vacillate between this and that!

This is what Bronstein meant in the aforesaid quote: "The problem is that on the board, as on a diagram, one sees only the outward aspect of the position - the placing of the pieces - and the interconnections between them are concealed from view, they are open only to our mind."

20....Bd4; 21.Kh1 Nc5?

The intentions are right, but here it fails tactically.....the pawn on d7 wedges the board into two halfs (observe the position below after White's Nc7!!) and diminishes the defensive potential, as we can see in the further course of the game!

22.Nc7!!



A move which lures the Queen, which was defending the King, away and leaves the King to do the battle without her (temporarily) and the Queenside pieces...which will never join the army!  And by the time the Queen arrives....it is game over!

22.....Qc7; 23.Bf7 Kf8; 

Alas, his own Queen has plugged the escape tunnel to the Queenside.....23......Kd8; 24.Qg5 Bf6; 25.Qf6 mate.

24.Qg5 Qe5; 25.Bg6 Kg8; 26.Bf7! 1 - 0



Gata Kamsky - Aleksey Goganov; Aeroflot, 2016


13....c4?!

A premature closure....as long as White retains his King in the center, Black is duty bound to keep his options of opening the center open and create further options with, perhaps a push like .....f6 at some point.

Black does neither and on top of it, creates further weakness around his own King with his subsequent move!

14.Bb1 g6?

Though his previous move had compromised his chances of playing for initiative, all is not over. Black should look for opening up the center in someway and the self inflicting move played seals the fate, by giving a free hand for White to come at his monarch.

15.Nf1 b5; 16.Ne3 a5; 17.Ng4 b4; 18.Qe3 bc3; 19.bc3 Rb8?!

Was the Roman emperor 'Nero' a forefather of.....!

20.Bf4! Bc8; 21.Bg5! Rb3; 22.h4 Qb6

Where is she going!?  The dark square, weakened by his previous sin on move 14, are inviting

23.Bc2 Ra3?? 24.Be7 Ne7; 25.Qh6 Nf5; 26.Bf5! ef5; 27.Ng5 Nf6; 28.Ne3 f4; 29.Nd5 Qd8; 30.OO!!  1- 0


A rare occasion where OO delivers the death blow!!

Thank you Goganov for providing us with this treat.....for you did not let Kamsky to do anything!!




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