News
About Natalia
Games
Our Team
Articles
Gallery
Chess Links
Play Chess
Pogonina's Chess Shop
Advertise
Contact Us

Highlights

 Follow Natalia on Twitter:

http://www.pogonina.com/images//nat%20twit.jpg

 
Please help Natalia promote chess by making a donation:



 

Link to Pogonina.com

Play chess at ChessOk

365Chess.com Biggest Online Chess Games Database





Check qyto.jp for Japanese bitcoin casinos.

Here you can find Swedish sites without license, Spelkonto utan licens.

Find new casinos at the brand new Online Casinos XYZ site with reviews and ratings of the best gambling sites for UK players.

Play the popular King Kong Cash slot machine at Slot Strike, the new slot site for UK players.

Grab the chance to win big with a high RTP on the goonies slot progressive jackpot.

Goodluckmate.com - made an easier way to find Skrill casinos

Nettikasinot.media lists the best online casinos for Finnish gamblers. For more information visit: https://www.nettikasinot.media/suomalaiset-kasinot/  

Sweden is now a regulated market, which means that as a player you can only play at casinos with a license. See all regulated
casinos in Sweden by Mr casinova.

To find the best casino in Norway take look at
norske casino at CasinoPiloten.

Find the best Norwegian casinobonus at NyeCasinoNorge.org.

Get exclusive access to a
huge range of free spins & no deposit casino offers with Spin Bonus.

Try the exhilarating new 20p Roulette game.
Play it online at thecasinodb and find casinos to play for real money.

Get the best casino bonus information with Casino Gorilla.

Chess games at Gametop

CasinoAdvisers.com For you that want to find online casino strategies, guides and a good casino bonus!

 
   ...


Polls
What's your FIDE rating?

What should Natalia do to make Pogonina.com more interesting for you?

Who is your favorite active top player?

Poker or chess: what do you like more?

What's the largest monetary chess prize you ever won?

How much time per day do you spend on chess-related activities?

Do you have a special chess mascot (pen, badge, toy, etc.)?

Which time control do you prefer for over-the-board tournaments?

The strongest women's chess team in the world is

What is the strongest national chess team in the world?

Will Magnus Carlsen's rating reach FIDE 2900?

Do you think you can become a GM?

A Story of One Ruy Lopez Game

User Rating: / 0
PoorBest 
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 18 October 2011


by Natalia Pogonina for her
Chess.com Tuesday column

Todays article will be based on a game that was played by me against GM Monika Socko at the recent European Club Cup. I will elaborate not only on the course of the game, but also offer general tips and approaches that can be applied in any chess match.

The chess encounter was revolving around a well-known endgame that occurs in the exchange variation of the Ruy Lopez. The modern theory evaluates these positions as more or less equal. However, the endgame is complicated, and can be won by the more proficient side. In our match the endgame happened in the 5Qf6 variation, but it also often occurs after 5f6. White is giving up a bishop for the knight with the idea of doubling Blacks pawns and obtaining a pawn majority on the kingside. In this structure the endgame will favor White, so they are eager to trade pieces. The main plan for White is to push pawns on the kingside and create a passer. Another common idea for White is attacking on the queenside and marching with the a-pawn in order to create weaknesses in the Black camp. After provoking Black to play c5, White puts a knight on d5.
 

What about Black? For the doubled pawns Black gets a two bishop advantage and can play on both flanks. On the kingside this plan may involve f5 and other breakthroughs/clearing the space for the bishops. On the queenside with pushing pawns, getting rid of the doubled pawn, and trying to create a passer. Therefore, Black should watch out for exchanges, as they usually favor White.
 

The situation on move 13 of the game is rather interesting. For Black it makes sense to meet a5 with c4-b5. Then b4 will be a threat. However, in this particular position allowing White to play a5 is risky. White has a promising pieces sacrifice up her sleeve.
 

Generally speaking, attacking the king involves the queen. As the queen is a very powerful piece, it can cooperate with just one more colleague to create a mating attack. Nonetheless, it is important to remember that even when the queens have been traded, mating attacks are still possible in some positions. The preconditions for those are the same: vulnerability of the king, including getting stuck in the center; misplaced pieces; lack of coordination between the pieces. If I played 130-0-0, White would start a strong attack. For a human it is hard to calculate all the lines, so I relied on common sense: with all those checks coming and my kingside being undeveloped, I decided to avoid forced lines.
 

Another important point was move 17. White started attacking too aggressively; trying to take advantage of the fact that Blacks king got stuck in the center. However, the variations were not in her favor. One of the main reasons for this was the knight on b3, i.e. its limited mobility. Try to compare this positions with the variations after a piece sacrifice after 130-0-0. In that case all the White pieces would be cooperating well to ensure a strong attack.  
 

Move 19 was a critical moment. Normally, castling takes place in the opening, middlegame and only very rarely in the endgame. Adhering to stereotypes can be harmful for ones performance. Dont forget to evaluate the position not only on the basis of strategic principles, but try to understand what is going on in particular. Sometimes you might discover powerful and unexpected moves. In the game I forgot about the option of castling, as we have been playing the endgame for quite a while, so I just made a simplifying move 19Bd5 with the idea of coming to e6 with the king.
 

After swapping bishops on d5, it is hard to win the endgame. If I could capture the pawn on e5 while keeping all the pieces on the board, my chances would be higher. Black has more opportunities, e.g. place a piece on d4 that would be very strong. If White tries to eliminate it, it will lead to giving Black a passed pawn.
 


As you can see, the endgame that occurs in the exchange variation of the Ruy Lopez is far from being easy to play. When White started pushing for a win too adventurously, Blacks pieces burst into the game and made White switch to the defensive mode. However, before that it was Blacks turn to play very carefully so as not to end up being worse. Patience and a high level of attention are essential in such endgames.


Bookmark and Share




Comments (1)
1. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 13:10 18 2011 .
 
 
Nice and instructive game
As someone that, lately, finds himself a lot in the black side of the exchange variation (my 8-year-old son almost always plays that variation with white, I don't know why) this has come as a very interesting and instructive game. I always like to castle long to illustrate my son the kind of imbalances that arise from opposite-side castling, but I usually play 5...f6 and then perhaps Qd7 to prepare 0-0-0 (I'm not too strong so perhaps this setup does not make much sense to you). I will review this game with my son and try to play this variation and see if he has any idea about how to try and get a passer from his kingside majority. 
This has also reminded me of how useful and instructive can be to play over GM games adequately commented. I think I'm gonna dust off my copy of Chernev's "Logical Chess: Move by Move" and start reviewing it with the kid. Perhaps he'll be able to understand some of it already.
 

Write Comment
Name:
E-mail
Homepage
Title:
BBCode:Web AddressEmail AddressBold TextItalic TextUnderlined TextQuoteCodeOpen ListList ItemClose List
Comment:



Code:* Code

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 18 October 2011 )
 
< Prev   Next >