WC 2017 - The Pleasure and Pressure of playing Chess

"Who says my poems are poems?

My poems are not poems.

When you know that my poems are not poems,

Then we can speak of Poetry!" - Ryokan 

The Zen poet of 18th century is spot on! This is the essence of creativity.....poetry....pottery.....or......!

Creation is a dialogue.....an intimate dialogue between the creator and that which is being created. If this does not happen, then we would be better doing a mundane clerical job creatively!

This dialogue is not limited to the one you can have with your pieces and your opponent pieces (you may actually lure and induct some to......!) .....but also 'the seventeenth fighting unit' as Bronstein claimed! He further said, "....but after all, your opponent also has the right to make mistakes, which, I would venture to assert, we do not always notice. That means.....That means that Chess mistakes are not so terrible"


We shall observe who what and how of this seventeenth fighting unit in this story!

Sambuev - Wei Yi, Rd 1 - Game 1

Black has managed to retain the extra pawn....by deploying few of his pieces on duty: the Knight on a5....Rook on b8 (which supported the advance b5 earlier).

White now boldly embarks on a pawn advance 14.g4!? on the other side to 'develop' counter threats.....after all he cannot afford to remain waiting as the rat has cooly had the bait on c4 for breakfast and is about to leave the trap!

14.....Ne8?!

The seventeenth unit is beginning to show up! Often, the mistake is mistakenly being looked up at wrong places!  Mistakes have siblings...... and have great relationship amongst them!

This Knight only experiences pain after this unwarranted sortie.....Nf6-e8-d6-e4-d6.  He should have confronted his counterpart on e5 with 14.....Nd7!?

15.d5 ed5 16.Nd5 Nd6 17.g5!? Bd5

Possibly, Black should have given up the exchange here itself with 17.....Bg5!? maintaining parity.

18.Rd5 c6 19.Rdd1 Qc7 20.Qh5 g6? 21.Qh6 Ne4??

It is very intriguing that despite the passage of centuries and mastering the game to a considerable extent, the mistakes happen basically on the most fundamental but important factors like failing to centralise one's resources and pushing pawns unwarrantedly!  20......g6? is not the need of the hour....which only ends up weakening the dark squares around the King badly.  Instead, he could have brought his Rook to d-file and tried to bring his estranged Knight on a5 into the game. Nothing would be lost.

Failing to do this, the judgment day arrives in the form of the horrendous 21......Ne4??

22.Nd7 Nd6 23.Bh3 Rfd8 24.Rd4! Black Resigned

Wei Yi has no defence against Rh4 and the Queen with this Rook and his dark squared Bishop and Knight deliver mate in a few moves.


Well, it is very difficult to bounce back after this bad game.....but Wei Yi did......involving 'the seventeenth unit'!

Wei Yi - Sambuev, - Rd 1 - Game 2

Wei Yi took considerable risk (rightly so!) and Black too played an inspired game to reach this complex position.

Here, 35.....Nf4! may have been curtains for Wei Yi. I am unable to find any way to defend the g2 point as 36.Qd2 Rf2 and Black is threatening Nh3.

but.....

35.....Qg6?

The seventeenth unit! The move 35.f4?!! was hiding a deep concept .....an ingenious mix of defence and attack....!

36.f5! ef5 37.Qd1!! fe4 38.Qd5 Kg7 39.Rg1!!

How beautiful!!  A very simple defence to the threat of ....Bh3 and the move played also attacks the Bishop on d7 which was attacking the h3 Bishop....Obviously Black cannot capture on h3 as his Queen and King are on g-file.

39.....Be8 40.Rf1!!

With the job effectively done, pushing the d7 Bishop out from firing range, the Rook enters the fray!

40......h4? 

Ivan Sokolov's fine eyes spotted the only playable move here......41......e3! which, if not sufficient enough to stave off the defeat, at least poses some problems as the pawn is only a couple of steps away from becoming a Queen and most importantly, it secures f2 square for his Rook!

41.Bf8 Kh8 42.Ba3!!

Another fantastic move like Rg1!! The Rook went to the base to defend and then came out to attack; whilst this Bishop attacked and then returned to the base to defend!!

42.....Kg7 43.Rf6 e3 

Too late!

44.Rg6 Kg6 45.Qd7 Kh8 46.Bf8!

.....and the fighter in Wei Yi survived to live and fight another day!  1- 0

Eljanov - Lenderman, Rd 1 - Game 1

White outplayed Black and reduced him to wood pushing.....and started to crush him with.....

38.d5! cd5 39.Rc7! b5

In desperation.....for some breather.  White was anyway threatening Nb5-d4 (X e6 f5) etc.

40.Nb5 Rc6 41.Nd4! Rc7 42.Ne6 Kf7 43.Nc7?!

The first step in wrong direction!  This happens when a side has too many riches.....as in the case of buridan's donkey!

Why not the simple 43.Nd8 Ke8 44.Ne6 leaving Black in totally hopeless position.....!

43.....d4 44.Nb5 Rd5 45.e6 Kf6 46.Nd4 Rd6 47.b4 ab4 48.ab4 f4 49.b5 Ke5 50.Rd2 Kf6 51.Ke1?

The question mark is not to dub this as a mistake.....but to denote that it is the precursor to allowing 'the Seventeenth Unit'

51.....Nd5 52.Re2??

Had White played 51.Ke2 instead of Ke1, this square would not have been in the purview of White's thought process!  Do not underestimate such moments....they are pivotal to comprehend what transpires in the mind of the player.....!

52.....Ne3 53.e7 Kf7 54.Rd2?

It is very difficult to have the heart to play a move like 54.e8 Queens followed by Rook takes the Knight on e3.....which is the only way to survive!

54......Rd4 and White Resigned after a few moves out of inertia.....



Painful loss!  ....and it doesn't stop there!

Lenderman - Eljanov, Rd 1 - Game 2

In this second game, instead of Eljanov, a zombie played the game.....

21.....Rc8?!

All the pointers lead to 21......Rf8 a simple move which maintains equilibrium and some pressure on f2 point....nothing great, but that is what one will get in Chess.....until one succeeds in instigating.....invoking 'the seventeenth unit'!!

22.Rac1 h6?

If you do not know what to do......do not move the h or g pawn in front of the King.....it does damage on two fronts.....weakens one King and reduces the manoeuvring space!

23.f3!

No! The above rule is not sacrosanct.... Here White does this to undermine Black's proud centre.....and here it is a principled move!

23.....Re8

The Zombie is just reacting.....

24.fe4 de4 25.Ba3 Nf6 

Desperation

26.dc5 Ng4 27.Qc3 bc5 28.Bc5 Rc8 29.Qa5....

And White went on to win easily. One can only sympathise with Eljanov.....

"What always amazes me, when we are so swift to elaborate on other subjects, is the poverty of our ideas on death. Which also proves that everything simple is beyond us...."

Loss in Chess is natural.....but defeat in Chess is death.

Camus prophetic words applies to our game too....simple things....simple moves seem to elude us most of the times....as simple things belong to the realm of profound......if you want to call it god then it is god...., if you want to call it nature....then it is nature.....but it is not natural for men! Those who embrace this 'simple'......become great....and....

....one can embrace 'this simple' by annihilating the self....the ego.... and like in life where we are required to understand and embrace death....so in Chess....one has to understand loss and embrace the third result!


There are many examples.....but it will get too long.....

Hence....

I REMAIN!