Andrew Martin: Meaningless moves

Meaningless moves are the enemy of all chessplayers. They have no bearing on the position and can in many cases make things worse. We see meaningless moves frequently in the games of weaker players and often, even at master level. Mrdja M. : Gleizerov E. Zagreb 2011 What does a meaningless move look like? Consider the following game. 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Sc3 Sf6 4.Lg5

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4.Lg5 is a positional move, aiming to exchange dark-squared Bishops, which, thanks to the central pawns, should favour White. However, in practice, and this has been true right back to Alekhine's day, Black has been able to obtain good counterplay. 4...Le7 5.e5 Sfd7 6.Le7 Alekhine's 6.h4 has been used a lot by Jonny Hector, with the help of a new move 6...Lg5 7.hg5 Dg5 8.Dd3!? White eyes h7. However in this very recent game, Black seems quite unconcerned. 8...g6 9.Sf3 De7 10.000 Sc6 11.De3 Sf8 12.Th6 Ld7 13.Df4 000 14.Le2 Le8 15.Sg5 Sb8. This is a comical game. Black takes the pawn, goes into reverse gear and White puts all his pieces on approved squares, building up what looks like enormous

pressure. Then Black wins ... 16.Tdh1. It doesn't get any better than this. 16...a6 17.T1h3 Sbd7 18.Tf3 Tg8 19.Sd1?! (19.Sh7 c5 20.Sf6 Sf6 21.ef6 Dc7 22.Dc7 Kc7 23.dc5 Lc6 gives Black good counterplay, but White maybe should have gone for this line) 19...c5! The very first sign of Black counterplay. 20.dc5 Sc5 21.Sc3 (21.Sh7 Sh7 22.Th7 d4) 21...Dc7 22.Sh7 Sh7 23.Th7 d4. Suddenly ...d3 is a big threat, after the Knight moves. 24.b4 Sd7 25.Dd4 Se5 26.Da7 Sf3 27.Lf3 Df4 28.Kb2 Db4 29.Kc1 Td6 30.Se4 Tb6 31.Sf6 Df4 32.Kd1 Tb1, 0:1, Muzychuk M. : Matveeva S., Tbilisi 2011. An incredible game in many ways and it teaches us, that in the French appearances can be deceptive. Due to the rock-solid nature of the French pawn-structure, positions which look favourable for White can often be assessed very wrongly. 6...De7 7.f4 00 8.Sf3 c5 9.Dd2 Sc6 10.dc5 Sc5 11.000 a6 12.Ld3 b5 13.The1?!

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Here it is, one natural move too many. White plays what looks like a normal developing idea, but 13.The1 has no bearing on the position whatsoever. I suppose Mrdja would argue that he is dissuading Black from playing ...f7-f6, but ...a6 and ...b5 show intentions on the queenside and the sluggish 13.The1 only encourages Black even more. 13.h4 might also be a way for White, to get something going, but even there 13...Lb7 14.h5 h6 15.Kb1 Tfc8 is absolutely OK for Black. It seems to me, that this position has 1

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similarities to a Classical Sicilain, but with the White attack slowed down. 13...b4 14.Se2 b3!

Czerwonski A. : Vysochin S. Warsaw 2010 Playing without a plan can be fatal, which brings me to an interesting example where Black seems to inherits one of the worst pawn structures ever seen in the history of chess, yet wins quite comfortably! 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Sf3 Sf6 4.Sc3 a6! Not a bad line at all. This flexible variation of the Slav commits Black to nothing, yet at the same time ...a7-a6 can prove very useful. 5.c5 Sbd7 6.Lf4 Sh5 7.Ld2 g6 8.e4 de4 9.Se4 Sdf6 10.Sc3 Le6 11.Le2 Lg7 12.00 00 13.Dc1 Sd5 14.Sg5 Dd7!? It takes some courage and a lot of selfconfidence to play such a move. Black allows White to completely mess up his pawns. 15.Lh5 gh5 16.Se6 fe6 17.Lh6 Tf5 18.Lg7 Kg7 19.Sd5 Dd5 20.De3 Td8

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I doubt Mrdja was expecting this brilliant pawn sacrifice, accelerating Black's attack. 15.ab3 Sb4 16.Sfd4 a5 17.Kb1 Scd3 18.cd3 a4

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This is a very easy game to understand. Black's attack wastes White within a few moves. 19.ba4 Ta4 20.Sc3 Ta6 21.Scb5 Ld7 22.Sd6 Tb8 23.Tc1 Dd8 24.Sb3 Db6 It is just too easy to shunt the Black major pieces into strong attacking positions. 25.De3 d4 26.Dd4 Ta1 A rout. That is what can happen to you when you have no plan. 0:1.

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Using any conventional yardstick you would expect White to find a way to pick Black off at his leisure. Vysochin has two sets of doubled pawns and four isolated pawns to deal with. Why then, does White not win? The answer is very simple. Black's activity stops him. Remaining on the board, we see three very aggressively posted Black major pieces, fighting three passive pieces by White. Keep active, stay active,avoid exchanges. Vysochin understands the principles of these positions very well. 21.Tae1 Tf6 22.b3?

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Strong players build up a 'feel' for the position based on accumulated experience. Does Czerwonski really expect this position to draw itself? Evidently. Needless to say 22.b3 is another of those meaningless moves. White has to understand here, that he cannot just play quietly and draw the position. Black is far too active for that. 22.Td1 Tg6 23.f3 Da2 24.De5 Kh6 25.Df4 Kg7 26.Dc7

It is ironic that Black swaps off into a winning King and Pawn endgame! 37.Ke3 Kf5 38.h3 b6 39.Kd4 e5 40.Ke3 c5 41.bc5 bc5 42.Kd3 e4 0:1. It is important to be able to differentiate between static and dynamic weaknesses in chess. A poor pawn structure which offers no prospect of dynamic compensation, in terms of open lines or which cannot be dissolved, is obviously something to be avoided. That was not what we saw here. ADVICE When you can't see what to do, improve the position of your worst-posted piece. How many times have I heard that phrase and how many players stick blindly to that rule? There is more than a grain of good advice contained here, but I would like to modify the idea slightly: only improve the position of your worst posted piece, when you have determined a good reason for doing so. You should have a plan of campaign. No moves should be wasted. Ravikumar V. : Martin A. Ramsgate 1984 The following opening variation is onedimensional from White's perspective. 1.d4 Sf6 2.c4 e6 3.Sc3 Lb4 4.e3 00 5.Ld3 d5 6.a3 Lc3 7.bc3 c5 8.cd5 ed5 9.Se2 b6 10.00 Sc6 11.Sg3 Sa5 12.f3

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is more like it for White. Cserwonski fails to understand he must fight for the initiative. Going passive with White here is losing chess. 22...Kf7 23.Td1 Tg8 24.f3 h4 25.Tf2 h3 26.g3 h5! The doubled pawns show some teeth, acting as a battering ram against the White King. 27.Te1 Td8 28.Dd3 Kg7 29.Df1? 29.Dd2 Tf5 30.Te4 e5. 29...Dd4 30.Dh3 Tf3! 31.Tef1 Tf2 32.Tf2 Tf8 33.Df1 Dc5 34.b4 Df2 35.Df2 Tf2 36.Kf2 Kf6

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This position would normally be considered very promising for White, who has the natural plan of preparing e3-e4 and then a quick central pawn advance. To this 3

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day, I think Black's chances in these positions have been underestimated, but he has to be accurate. The top priority is to restrain e3-e4. 12...Te8 13.Ta2 cd4 14.cd4 Sb7! Heading for the key square on d6. 15.Te1 Le6 16.Tf2 Tc8 17.Lb1 Sd6 18.Dd3 Ld7 19.h3?! Ravikumar has his mind fixed on e3-e4 and one presumes he saw this move as necessary. Yet it is rather meaningless. I presume, after White plays e3-e4, he doesn't want to allow a Black Knight to come to g4, however, I couldn't see a reason for h3, then and still can't now! It's a move which just makes White's position worse. White might consider improving the position of his worst-posted piece here with 19.Tc2, although to play such a move is an admission of defeat, because e3-e4 is even further away now. 19...g6 20.Ld2 Lb5 21.Db3 Lc4 22.Db2 I sensed Ravi was becoming a bit frustrated around here, as he is still no further down the line towards playing e3e4. Without that move, no way is White better. 22...La6 23.e4

It's not good for Ravi now. There is a killing check on d2, if he takes the Knight. 30.Tg1 30.Kg2 Dd2. 30...Sh4 31.Db2 Tc3 32.Dc3 Tc8 33.Db3 Dd2 34.Kh1 Tc1 0:1. White lost this game, because he had no plan B, once plan A had been frustrated. Frustration during a game is the primary cause of pointless moves. A CLEAR HEAD The main message I would like to get across is this small article is to keep a tight rein on your thinking during a game. It is so easy to get distracted and let outside factors lead to a deterioration in your thinking processes. Chess trainers speak of the need to cultivate ' a clear head' before a game and to rid the mind of any worries. If you can just be aware of the need to do that, you will avoid pointless moves and your decision-making will be sharp and decisive. Line

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The critical moment. Against his better judgement, White moves forward. Perhaps he should have been more patient. 23...Sc4! 24.Da1 24.Db4. 24...Sd2 25.Td2 de4 26.fe4 Sd5! There are a sea of dark squares in the White camp, just waiting to be exploited. 27.Kh2 Dg5 28.Tc2 Se3 29.Tc3 Sg2

Chuchelov V. : Arlandi E. Mondariz 2000 I believe it was Steinitz, who determined that a independant plan should be devised according to the needs of the position. Failure to grasp the thread of the game and in particular, underestimating the opponent's resources, can lead to poor or pointless moves. 1.Sf3 Sf6 2.g3 d5 3.Lg2 e6 4.00 Le7 5.d3 c5 6.Sbd2 Sc6 7.e4 By a slightly odd move order, the game has transposed into a King's Indian Attack. 7...b6 8.Te1 Lb7 9.c3 Whilst the Black King can still go long, White does well to avoid moves like h2h4. 9...00?! Black will pay for this imprecision. Arlandi fails to respect White's attacking chances on the kingside and makes a very

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poor decision. 9...Dc7! was more flexible. 10.e5 Sd7 11.Sf1 The standard manoeuvre here, winding the spring on the kingside. 11...b5 It has cost Black a tempo to play ...b5. 12.h4 a5 13.Lf4 Sb6 14.Sg5!

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Making room for the White Queen to come to h5. White's attack runs on oiled wheels. 14...De8 14...h6 15.Dh5! hg5 16.hg5 is the point in these positions. White plans Sh2-g4 and then Kh2, Th1 etc., with a crushing attack. 15.Se3 If now 15.Dh5, then 15...Lg5 16.hg5 (16.Lg5 and there is no obvious way to continue the attack) 16...f5!

16...Kh8 was a more tenacious move, when White still has to prove it. There is a forced draw in the position: 17.Sh7 a) 17.Sf6 gf6 18.Sh7 fe5 19.Sf6 Lf6 20.Dh5 Kg8 21.Dg4 Kh7 (21...Lg7 22.Lh6) 22.Dh5; b) But surely 17.h5 is very promising: 17...h6 18.Sf3 Dd7 19.Dd2 bc3 20.bc3 d4 21.c4 Kg8 22.Lh6; 17...Kh7 18.Sf6 gf6 19.Dh5 Kg8 20.Dg4. 17.Sf6!! gf6 18.ef6 Lf6 19.Dh5 h6 19...Lg5 20.Dg5 Kh8 21.Df6 Kg8 22.Lh6 and mates. 20.Dh6 Lg5 21.Dg5 Kh7 22.Dh5 Kg8 23.Lh6 1:0. 23.Lh6 f6 (23...f5 24.Dg5) 24.Dg4 and mates. Everything stemmed from the careless 9...00. Topalov V. : Carlsen M. Morelia/Linares 2008 Topalov is very sluggish in the coming game. His thinking seems to be clouded. 1.e4 Sf6 2.e5 Sd5 3.d4 d6 4.Sf3 de5 5.Se5 c6! Carlsen seems willing to play all sorts of openings. He is a player firmly in the Modern style of all-round excellence. Opening specialists are all too easy to pick off with the advent of databases. 6.Ld3 The natural looking 6.c4 is inaccurate. After 6...Sb4 Black suddenly develops an initiative, threatening to take on d4 followed by the check on c2. Therefore White must place the knight on a3, after which Black easily achieves comfortable play: 7.Le3 Lf5 8.Sa3 (8.Sd3 e5!) 8...Sd7=; Besides 6.Ld3, other attempts to fight for the advantage are 6.Le2 and 6.Lc4. 6...Sd7 An economical idea, where Black tries to exchange White's strong knight. 7.Sd7 Topalov is surprised and plays an insipid move. But 5...c6 is a logical idea, developed by Tony Miles. Black waits to see what White is doing and then reacts with ...Lf5, ...Sd7 or ...g6, as appropriate. 5

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is a typical motif here. Whether or not the queens are swapped, Black's king is safe, White's queenside isn't. However, Black has lost too many tempi. White has time to attack in other ways. (Mc Shane) 15...b4 16.Sg4 La6

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Meanwhile ...c7-c6 is always useful. 7...Ld7 8.00 g6 9.Sd2 Somewhat better is 9.Te1 Lg7 10.c3 00 11.Lg5, although Black hardly has any opening problems. 9...Lg7 10.Sf3 00 11.Te1 More cautious is 11.h3=. 11...Lg4! 12.c3 c5!

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Black strikes at the centre, with a combination in mind. 13.Le4 The real point is shown after 13.dc5 Sc3! 14.bc3 Lc3

Black equalized using the ' inferior' Alekhine's Defence. 13...cd4 14.cd4 e6 Everything is under control and White's weak pawn on d4 is nothing to write home about. 15.Db3?! After 15.h3 Lf3 16.Lf3 Db6 17.Ld5 ed5 18.Le3. The position is utterly miserable for White. I think best now is 18...Tfe8!, with an ongoing big plus. White may grovel a draw, but that is the height of his ambition. 18...Db2 19.Dd3! Db6 20.Tab1 Dc6 21.Tec1 Dd7 22.Db5! 15...Lf3! Very concrete. Black wins the central pawn. 16.Lf3 Ld4 17.Ld5 Dd5 18.Dd5 ed5 19.Td1 Maybe Topalov thought he was regaining the pawn. He is wrong! 19...Lg7 20.Kf1 20.Td5 Tfd8!

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White's pieces hang, although he can keep fighting with best play: 15.Lh6 Le1 (15...Te8? 16.Te3+-; 15...La1? 16.Da1+-) 16.De1 Dd3 17.Se5 (17.De5? f6 18.De7 Tf7) 17...Dd4 18.c6 (18.Lf8 Kf8 19.Sg4 Dg4) 18...bc6 19.Sc6 Df6 20.Se7 Kh8 21.Sd5 Dd4 22.Lf8 Tf8 23.Se3 Le6 24.Td1 De5 25.Db4 Kg7 26.De7 a5 27.h3 Tb8. Black is only slightly better in the final position. I get the impression, Topalov was quite shocked by the ease, with which

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is the key idea. Black's active pieces win the day: 21.Td8 Td8 22.Le3 (22.Kf1 Td1 23.Ke2 Th1 is just bad for White) 22...b6 23.Tb1 Lb2 with a healthy pawn up. 20...Tfd8 21.Lg5 Td7 22.Td2 h6 23.Le3 d4 24.Td3 Tc8 25.Ld2 Tc2 This should be easy for a GM of Carlsen's strength. Black is a solid pawn up and more active too! 26.Tb1 Te7 27.a4 f5 28.b3 Tec7 28...Kf7 29.Tc1 Tc1 30.Lc1 Ke6 +. 29.Le1 Kf7 30.Td2 Tc1 30...Td2 31.Ld2 d3 32.Td1 g5 was another way, but Black plays without any risk, as 6

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befits good technique in a winning position. 31.Tc1 Tc1 32.Ke2 Tb1! 33.Td3 Ke6 34.h4 Kd5+ 35.Ld2 Ke4 36.Tg3 f4 37.Td3 Le5 38.f3 Kd5 39.Le1 Ld6 40.Ld2 40.Lf2 Lc5 leaves White without good moves. 40...g5 41.hg5 hg5 42.Le1 g4 43.fg4 Ke4 44.g5 Ke5 0:1. FUTURE IMPROVEMENT What is the right frame of mind to get into before a chess game? I would say you need to be cheerful, positive and optimistic and your brain should be free of distraction. The second item on the agenda might not always be possible to achieve, but you should strive hard for positivity. During the game it is essential not to beat yourself up, as this is a primary cause of meaningless and very poor moves. Even if you make a mistake, you have to keep believing in your position and try to make the best of it. After the game, learn all the lessons you can from what has just happened and then move forward. This is a simple enough philosophy, easy to apply and will certainly lead to an improvement in your chess-playing strength.

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