Playing Technique

Lesson 2

Position 1
XABCDEFGHY
8r+k+-+-tr(
7+-wq-+-vl-'
6p+-+-+p+&
5+-wQRzp-+p%
4-+-+P+-+$
3zP-+-zP-+-#
2-zP-+L+-zP"
1+-mK-+R+-!
xabcdefghy
Sakaev K, 2600 – Yemelin V, 2460
St. Petersburg, 1996
Black to move

Up to this position, our lessons about technique were referring to better positions or
worse position. Now we would like to draw your attention to another type of positions
where a good technique can come in our help: the lost positions.
At first sight, this is a bit strange. How can be defended a lost position and how technique
can come in our help? Let us explain.
Generally speaking when a player has a decisive advantage he may think that every move
is a winning one and “normally” he starts to play less carefully.
In order to make any use of this “human mistake”, it is necessary not to lose your nerve
but try to oppose a strong defense. If you are able to maintain some chances for a number
of moves than your opponent might get in panic at some point. “How is it possible to
hold this lost position for so many moves?” our opponent may ask himself. And in this
moment already there is a great chance for a mistake to occur.
Also from a psychological point of view it is easier to play when you are lost. The tension
disappear, “it’s to late to be afraid” so it’s easier find the only moves to get something.
Now let’s turn our attention to the game.

1…Rf8! The only chance that Black has lies in the presence of opposite color bishops. If
he will be able to escape from the attack and trade as many pieces as possible, then even
if he will lose a pawn the great tendency for draw of opposite color bishops endgames
may offer him some chances.
2.Rfd1! At the moment White is playing at his best. By avoiding trading the rooks he
makes Black’s task harder.

1
2…Rf7! keeping the same policy: trading pieces (Rf7-d7).
3.Bc4-Rd7 4. Kb1?! This move loses a big part of the advantage, although White still
keeps a winning position. After the logical 4.Qb4 avoiding the queens’ trade, Black’s task
becomes impossible. His weak king will leave him defenseless. So we can see small
fruits of the defense.
4…Qc5 5.Rc5-Kd8
6.Bd5 again not the best. 6.Rg1 was winning a pawn, maintaining an active position.
6…Bh6 7.Re1? after this mistake the winning is already problematic. Black is now able
to activate his pieces while White didn’t manage to improve his position.
After 7.Rc6-Be3 8.Rg6-Raa7 9.Rd3 followed by Rb3 White was still winning.
7…Rb8 8.Rc6-Rdb7 9.Rd6-Ke7 10.Bb7-Kd6 11.Ba6-Rb3 now Black has activated his
pieces and has huge chances for a draw.
12.Rf1-Be3 13.Bc4-Rb8 14.Bd5? the final mistake. Now White lost any chance for a
win. The last possibility to fight for victory was 14.Rf6-Kc5 15.Bd5-g5 16.Kc2
14…Bf4 Now, the white rook remains inactive.
15.h3-g5 16.Rg1-Kc5 now the game is level. The material advantage is only symbolic.
Black’s active pieces and strong kingside pawns are more than enough for a draw. The
rest of the game only confirms this.
17.Rd1-g4 18.b4-Kb5 19.hg4-hg4 20.Be6-g3 21.Rd6-g2 22.Bd7-Kc4 23.Rg6-Kb3
24.Rg2-Rh8 25.Be6-Ka3 26.b5-Rh2 draw

Sakaev is a very strong grandmaster, but also a human and he didn’t succeed to covert his
winning position into a full point in the score sheet. So, there are hopes even against
strong opposition.

Position 2
XABCDEFGHY
8-tr-+-tr-+(
7+-snnwq-mk-'
6pzp-zp-+p+&
5+-zpP+p+-%
4P+P+-zP-zp$
3+P+L+-+P#
2-+-+NwQPmK"
1+R+-+R+-!
xabcdefghy
Itkis B, 2447 – Manescu T, 2387,
Eforie-Nord, Romania, 2008
White to move

2
White has a huge positional advantage. This advantage is volatile, still there are chances
to transform it into a permanent one. At this point, Black has no real active possibilities.
His knights are poorly placed and there is no way to improve their position.
On the e-file only trading the rooks is possible. Generally speaking this should suit Black
(having a cramped position any trade should be in his favor). However, here, it is not the
case because a rook is necessary to defend his main weakness: the h4-pawn.
For this reason, it is easy to spot White’s next plan. He will simply attack the pawn with
Ng1-f3 and it will be quite difficult for Black to defend the pawn. After he grabs the
pawn, White also has a simple way to increase his advantage: the g2-g4 advance.
We can say that Black is actually lost.

Before we see what happened in the game I would like to draw your attention to some
important psychological factors that makes part from the technique baggage of the human
chess player. This game was played in the Romanian first division. Boris Itkis (with
white pieces) was playing near me = IM Daniel Moldovan - (we play for the same team)
and I was able to see quite an interesting psychological approach from his opponent. Up
until now his opponent had a “normal look” during the game. But now while Boris was
thinking, he started to blush and his look radically changed into a “desperate one”. By
this, he almost said that he understands that his game is lost and after some more moves
he will actually resign. Looking at the game I also was sympathetic with him.
Now let’s see what happened.

1.Ng1! the right move. White is improving his knight’s position adding more pressure
against the weak h4-pawn.
1…Rbe8 Black’s move came in a second. At this point, White’s attention was somehow
asleep. If he is now paying attention to his opponent’s threat (although this is quite a
hidden and also very ingenious), he was surely play 2.Rfe1 and after 2…Qf6 3.Nf3 the
game is back in normal. Black cannot hold the game for long.
To foresee Black’s threat was an easy job for an experienced IM like Itkis. Still he was
quite convinced that any move can win so why bother calculating variations.
The punishment was immediate.
2.Nf3?!-Qe3 3.Qe3-Re3 4.Rfd1?? at first glace White still has an easy job. If Black
defends his pawn with 4…Rh8 (otherwise white simply grabs the pawn), then after
5.Kh2-g1-f2 any Black’s activity is history. But….
4….Rf3!! now Black creates an impenetrable fortress. The rest of the game is at no
importance since draw could be agreed at once.
5.gf3-a5! 6.Re1-Re8 7.Re8-Ne8 8.Re1-Kf7 9.Re1-Kf7 10.Kg2-Nc7 11.Kf2-Nf8
12.Rg1-Kf6 draw.

So, when your opponent makes “moves”, pay attention only to his board moves and
ignore other “moves”. The game is finished only after your opponent resigns.