The following game started out like the Tiviakov-Almasi game analyzed earlier, but it shows another attacking plan for White involving the attack on the pinned piece. It was played in Vigo, 2008, against the Spanish master Miguel Senlle Caride. It is actually not available in the Mega Database, but appears as a supplement to Tiviakov’s fascinating DVD on Qe2 in the Ruy Lopez.
Incidentally, I can strongly recommend his work to anyone who is interested in playing the Ruy Lopez as White. Tiviakov is not a charismatic presenter, but he has something much more important: A lifetime of Grandmaster expertise in his lines that he openly shares.
Opening
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Qe2 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.d3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.Bg5
So far this is the same as the Tiviakov-Almasi game analyzed earlier in this series. We saw that Almasi went wrong there.
9…h6 This is a very useful inclusion for Black: It creates the possibility of playing …g5 at the right moment. Also, because the bishop is pushed to h4, Nh4-f5 ceases to be an idea. You may remember that was played to great effect in Tiviakov-Almasi.
9…Be6 10.Nbd2 Qe7? 11.Bd5! Was the course of the aforementioned game, with serious difficulties for Black.
10.Bh4 Of course White preserves the pin. 10…Be6 11.Nbd2 Bb6 12.Bc2 White decides to avoid the exchange on b3; the engine prefers other moves, but our interest is in seeing how a Grandmaster thinks and carries out his plans. 12…Re8 13.h3
Attacking the Pinned Piece
Tiviakov explains the purpose of this subtle move: He wants to play Nh2, enabling Qf3 and Ng4, with an attack on the pinned knight. He describes this pin as “very difficult to get out of”. I note that it also enables g2-g4, threatening the g5 pawn break.
13…Na5? I suppose Black wants to play …c5, but this is really not a good use of time.
13… a5 is recommended by the engine, beginning queenside play. Black intends …a4 next and possibly …b4 after that.
14.Nh2
White wants to play Ng4, threatening to double Black’s pawns on the kingside. Black would be forced to take it with the bishop, but then hxg4 would give White a half-open h-file, as well as threatening g4-g5!
- g4 is another interesting way to continue the attack, preparing g4-g5. We will look at this method of attacking a pawn on h6 in a future article.
Critical Moment
14…d5?
This is an interesting moment. I think Black is trying to follow the general principle of responding to a flank attack by opening the center. White’s king remaining in the center probably would have contributed to this decision. The problem is, it doesn’t work at all!Â
Wily Hendriks discusses this maxim in his famous “Move First, Think Later”, which takes a skeptical view of generalizations in chess. He quotes Jeremy Silman, who tells his students that “The best reaction to an attack on the wing is a counterattack in the center”. Hendriks checked a sample of 110 games where White played 17.g4 – in various positions with queens on the board – to check the frequency with which a central counterattack was possible. The surprising conclusion: In the situations where it was possible, it was almost never the best move! I think Hendriks would enjoy this example. It reminds us that at the end of the day, chess is a game of moves and variations above aphorisms and principles. And to the extent that it is a game of ideas, those ideas stand or fall based on their concrete expression in moves.
14…g5 was a very reasonable move, breaking the pin. 15.Bg3 And White will aim to play against the weakened light squares, but Black is objectively ok.
15.exd5
15…Bxd5 Now that …Bxg4 will not be an option, Ng4 comes with even greater force!
15… Qxd5 undefends the knight, allowing the destruction of Black’s pawn structure with 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.Ne4 Qd8 18.g4! otherwise Black could play …f5. Now he is in real trouble. White intends Qf3, Nf1, Nfg3 and so on. This was objectively the best try though.
Breaking Through
16.Ng4! As planned. Now Black cannot avoid his king position being opened to devastating effect.
16…e4 Part of why this opening of the center gives Black nothing (other than the unfolding disaster on the kingside) is the fact that White can castle at any moment. 17.dxe4 Nc4 18.O-O-O
Now Black even has tactical problems on the d-file, where the White rook faces the black bishop and queen!
18… Nxd2 19.Nxf6+ gxf6 20.Rxd2 wins a piece for White, for example 20…Qd7 21.Qf3 {with d5 and f6 both hanging.
18…Nxg4
Sacrificing the queen in desperation; there was nothing better.
19.Bxd8 Nxf2 20.Bxc7
Everything wins, but this is very precise. Black resigned, not interested in something like 20…Nxh1 21.Bxb6 Nxb6 22.Rxh1 When the Grandmaster is up a queen for a rook.
Takeaways
- The idea of h3, enabling Nh2, Ng4, Qf3 attacking the pinned knight. It also offers the secondary idea of g4, g5 with a kingside attack.
- The primacy of calculation and analysis over generalizations: Black tried to meet a flank attack by countering the center, but White’s attack on the pinned knight was simply too strong!
- White’s ability to castle at any moment (as he did with 0-0-0) meant his king was able to stay in the center.