SPACE..... S p a c e .... ... .. .

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom" - Viktor Frankl 

The most intriguing aspect of this universe is the Space. And it is also the most misunderstood ........


Thatyouareabletoreadthissentenceclearlyisbecauseoftheinterludesthespacebetweenthewordsandthesentenceandthepara....


Human mind is trained to think materially:

• In language it looks for words
• In music it looks for the notes 
• In everything it looks for something tangible....

Mind fails to comprehend the phenomenon.... the hidden force behind everything, which makes everything move or allow to remain.

Mind does not recognise that which is intangible.

In Chess.....the mind, more often than not, gets fixated with material: either it fails to perceive the loss of it or fail to let-go-off when it is necessary. 

Holding on to unnecessary material leaves one with less space for manifestation of appropriate pieces at appropriate times! 

The pieces manifest their power in spaces.....
......in diagonal, vertical and horizontal lines..... 

Let us explore about space.....in this space!

Botvinnik - Euwe, WC Hague-Moscow, 1948

13.Ne4!

A fine move by Botvinnik. The great Keres, who always strived to analyse a position deeply in pursuit of the eluding truth, suggested 13.Bd3 instead, but it is this sort of the move....like Ne4 which succeeds in confusing the opponent as it lures with certain choices which appear irresistible. 

Chess is an act of deceit.....you need to turn into an illusionist and not a 'perfectionist'.

13......Ne4 14.Qe4 a5

Keres rightly criticises this move and suggested instead 14.....Nf6 or Makogonov's suggestion 14.....Bd6

15.Ba2!

A fine prophylactic move which intends Bc3 as well as shifting the Bishop to b1-h7 diagonal

15......Nf6 16.Qh4 e4 17.Ne5!

17.....Be5?

"It is amazing that a player of Euwe's strength could assess the resulting position so inaccurately. Without having to go especially deeply into the position, it should be apparent that the following concentrated attack against Black's King is worth at least the sacrificed pawn, probably even more" - Keres

As you will see subsequently that Euwe makes a grave oversight of lines opening against his King. Chess is a different game when your mind comes to fore when you are at the board.

18.de5 Qe5 19.Bc3 Qe7 20.f3!!

A geometrical motif!  

The threat now is 21.fe4 and Rf6!  And if, 20......ef3 21.Bb1 h6 22.Rf3 Nd5 23.Rg3!! wins.
This position deserves a diagram!

Have a look at the raging lines! And do not forget that little pawn move f2-f3!

In the game, Euwe played 20......Nd5 21.Qe7 Ne7 22.fe4 and ultimately succumbed to the pressure on f and d files along with the a2-f7 diagonal. Look how impotent is that Knight on e7

Something very similar to this game happened in the following game!

Caruana - Karjakin, Norway Chess, 2018

Only a few moves earlier, Black unduly opened the Centre and now....in reply to...

16.f4! 

......played....

16.....ef3?

This opens the f-line. Black should strive to keep the lines as closed as possible and find spaces for his Knight. He lacks targets but, atleast should have focussed on minimising his effort to defending his weakness of c-line.

The text move invited great danger.

17.Nf3 Qg3 18.Rf2 Rad8 19.Bc4! Nf6

A desperate attempt to swap a Bishop in exchange for a permanent weakness - an attempt at saving his King from their firing lines.

20.Bf6 gf6 21.Raf1 Rd6 22.b4! 

.....and White had a clear advantage and won the game comfortably.

Giri - Karjakin, Monte Carlo, 2011

Anish played.....

24.Rb7!

Perhaps, this Rook on this hanging square....and its vulnerability on the line a8-h1 where White King is situated, induced Karjakin to play what he did in the next two moves.

24......Qd6

Eyeing that long light squared diagonal.

25.Rc2!? g5?

Looking at one diagonal where he could attack, Karjakin fails to notice the diagonal of opposite colour and puts his King in grave danger.

The threat is g4 and Qc6

26.e4!! de3 27.Ng5 Kg8 28.Ne4 Qe6 29.Rd7! 

.....and everything fell in the forking distance for that e4 Knight. Giri won in a few moves

Leko - Carlsen, Monte Carlo, 2007

10.f4?

Very similar to what Karjakin did against Giri!

10.....e6!!

Spirited piece sacrifice by the future World Champion. 

Now, four lines turn critical:
h4-e1
g4-d1
b4-e1
d8-d1   

....don't bother about the d5-h1 as it will be required only if needed!

11.fe5 Qh4 12.Kd2 OOO!

A cool move exploiting the presence of White King on d-file sitting on the lap of his Queen.

13.Qe1 Rd5!! 14.Nd5

here Carlsen played .....Qe4?! allowing White to wriggle out....

...but

14......Qd8!!

A very innocuous backward Queen move...for which this game finds an entry in Neiman and Afek's wonderful book "Invisible Chess Moves"!

The move uses the lines beautifully! It threatens the lethal Bb4! winning the Queen; but if White defends that with 15.a3 then Qd5 and Qh1 when White can resign as his King remains in danger and his pieces are undeveloped and uncoordinated, but also he is down materially.

15.Ke2 Bg4! 16.Kf2 Qh4! wins the Queen!

 Carlsen got one more chance.....after a few moves....

In this position, he took 16....Qh1? and had to contend himself with a draw after Leko replied with 17.Qa5!

Instead, he could have won the White Queen again...with:

16......Qg4 17.Kf2 Qh4 18.Ke2 Bg4 19.Kd2 Bb4!

..........

Aronian - Carlsen, Norway Chess, 2017

Whatever may be the conclusion that the world may have arrived at, this position looks ominous for human perception.....even if the eyes that perceive it is that of the World Champion. The Queen has strayed and got trapped deep inside the enemy camp.

14.....Ne4

A very natural reaction to extricate the Queen at any cost.

15.Ne4 de4 16.Be4 Rb8 17.Bh7!! Kh7 18.Ng5 Kg8 19.Qh5 Nf6 20.Qf7 Kh8 21.Qc7!
......and Aronian won the game in a nice fashion. White pieces were all over the spaces on the Kingside while his Queen remained haplessly trapped.

Carlsen - Aronian, Norway Chess, 2018

22.Qd4! Ng7

It is very difficult to play such positions over-the-board. It may seem easy while analysing to find some lines with which Black could fight on. The issue is that Black pieces not only lacks target but does not have enough useful moves. 

Pieces need space.....a lot of space to move around!

Not without reasons Bronstein said that "the greatest advantage in Chess is to have the next move"!

23.g4! 

Cuts the Knights entry into the game and restricting the light squared Bishop on d7 too!

23......c6

A move which arrives a trifle late.

24.c4 Ne8 25.Qf4! Kg7 26.Rb3! Rb8 27.Ng5 Nf6

27.....Qf6 would have prolonged the fight but not changed the result.

28.Rf3! h6

Driving the Knight where it wants to go!

29.Ne4 Ne4 30.Qf7 Kh8 31.Qg6 1-0

A sweet revenge for Carlsen for what happened in the previous edition of this tournament. Carlsen's Queen and Rook used the horizontal and vertical lines in the most effective manner to create enough confusion in Aronian's mind!

S p a c e    is very difficult for human mind to perceive! 

"Music was my refuge", noted Maya Angelou, "....I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness"

.....the space between two moves.....that of your opponent's and yours is a huge area which is often packed with the nonsense called 'calculation', 'pattern-recognition' and 'over-analysis'! 

Space is a dimension which will determine the future of Chess: not just the physical space over the board.....but the metaphorical space in the human mind....which opens your eyes to the physical space on the Chessboard!

........this area remains most unexplored till date......

I remain....