The Lost Art of Common Sense in Chess |
| Written by Administrator | ||||
| Wednesday, 16 April 2014 | ||||
 By GM Lars Bo Hansen, PhD, MBA, Denmark. Best FIDE rating: 2586  As readers following these learning tips and my other writings will know, I am staunch advocate of the value of logical thinking and common sense in chess (check out my Kindle e-book The Lost Art of Common Sense in Chess, if you are interested). Even in this time and day where analysis engines point out one exception to the old dogmas in chess after the other and where concrete variations seem to be the norm, I believe thinking logically and applying common sense can take you a long way in chess. In round 3 of the Danish Championship, logic and common sense helped three Grandmasters win instructive games that are worth studying. In the game GM Allan Stig Rasmussen FM Jakob Aabling-Thomsen, Black trotted out the Modern Defense, basically abandoning the center and instead playing mainly on the wings with both bishops being fianchettoed. White was not deterred, though, but simply and logically occupied the center, leaving Black cramped. 5.h4 was a nice move, securing a nice outpost for Whites knight on g5 after the more or less forced 5h5. In contrast, White made sure that Blacks pieces did not have good squares, e.g. by the calm 12.b3. After 15b4?! (15Nf5 was better, although 16.Bf2 leaves White clearly better) Black was already positionally lost, and the plan 16.Qe1!, 17.Bd2, Nf4-d3 and 20.c3! left Blacks position in shambles. 29N6d7 set up the nice tactic 30.Nxe6!, but it was already hard to suggest a decent move for Black. Replay the game In GM Sune Berg Hansen IM Rasmus Skytte, Black countered the Trompowsky with the adventurous but probably unsound pawn sacrifice 5e5?!. Whites 10.e3! was instructive (and logical); instead of trying to hold on to the extra pawn, he simply returns it in exchange for a small, but stable positional advantage where Black is left with an isolated d-pawn and none of the hoped-for active play. This is often a good strategy when you opponent sacrifices material early on in pursuit of the initiative. 22Bf5?! lost a pawn after 24.Na6!, but at that stage Whites grip of the dark squares already gives him a clear positional advantage. Replay the game IM Mads Andersen GM Jacob Aagaard was also an instructive positional win; Black played a model minority attack game. 14b5! and 17b4! were strong moves; however, probably the most instructive move was the little rook move 16Rfd8!, which makes sure that White cannot answer b5-b4 with c3-c4 because of the pressure down the d-file in that case. In the game White was left with an inferior pawn structure, and Black improved his position before the passed e-pawn eventually decided the issue. 37Rc1! was a nice concluding tactic. Replay the game In all of these games, logical thinking and common (positional) sense were more game-deciding factors than sharp calculations or intriguing combinations. The games are well worth studying (the link is www.skak-dm.dk). If you like the article, you can learn more about GM Lars Bo Hansen & his books at Amazon.com Related materials: GM Laznicka's "Tough" Style How will the Anand-Carlsen WCC match unfold? Engines vs. classical chess principles Accumulating small advantages Patterns & biases h2-h4 revolution How to beat higher-rated players Rook and pawn vs. rook Thinking in schemes Does the "Draw with Black, Win with White" approach work anymore? Boris Gelfand & maintaining a strong center How to react to a chess novelty A lesson from the Ukrainian Chess Champion Carlsen-Anand @ Tal Memorial Strategy of Restriction
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