SAY NO

TO CHESS
PRINCIPLES!

by
Evgeny Bareev

[Link]
Editor in Chief
Romain Edouard

Consulting Editor
Daniël Vanheirzeele

Translation
Izyaslav Koza

Proofreading
Chris Tilling, Ian Marks

Graphic Artist
Philippe Tonnard

Cover design
Iwan Kerkhof

Back cover photo

Jos Sutmuller

Typesetting
i-Press ‹[Link]›

First edition 2019 by Thinkers Publishing

Say No to Chess Principles!

Copyright © 2019 Evgeny Bareev

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 978-94-9251-051-8
D/2019/13730/3

All sales or enquiries should be directed to Thinkers Publishing, 9850 Landegem, Belgium.

e-mail: info@[Link]
website: [Link]
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

KEY TO SYMBOLS 5
FOREWORD 7
WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT 9

CHAPTER 1. PLAY WITHOUT CASTLING 15

CHAPTER 2. A QUEEN BEHIND ENEMY LINES 67
CHAPTER 3. WHEN A PIECE IN THE CENTER IS GRIM 91
CHAPTER 4. A PIECE DOWN IN A WORSE POSITION 113
CHAPTER 5. AT THE EDGE OF THE BOARD 137
CHAPTER 6. KILLER DELAYED CASTLING 195
CHAPTER 7. REWARDS OF DOUBLED PAWNS 227

SUMMARY OF EVGENY BAREEV’S CHESS CAREER 273

GAMES INDEX 277
 KEY TO SYMBOLS

! a good move
? a weak move
!! an excellent move
?? a blunder
!? an interesting move
?! a dubious move
 only move
= equality
 unclear position
 with compensation for the sacrificed material
 White stands slightly better
 Black stands slightly better
 White has a serious advantage
 Black has a serious advantage
+- White has a decisive advantage
-+ Black has a decisive advantage
 with an attack
 with initiative
 with counterplay
 with the idea of
 better is
 worse is
N novelty
+ check
# mate
 FOREWORD

WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK

I feel it my duty to explain myself to the reader.

Nowadays, if you walk into any chess shop, you’ll see thousands of books with
the same tried and true ‘updated and overanalyzed examples’ gathering dust
on the shelf. Even though I understand that my book will likely take its right-
ful place in the depths of those same bookcases, I wrote it anyway. What is it
that lurks behind this decision? Is it avidity? Vanity? Stupidity? Or perhaps
maybe greed compounded by stupid vanity? What really was it that pushed
me to make this childish mistake?

Once upon a time, after my immigration from a country of — at first con-

stantly victorious, but then later vanquished — socialism, to a country of free-
dom and capitalism, I got a call from a fellow grandmaster. It wasn’t that
we hadn’t seen each other recently. Rather, he called to discuss our different
opinions concerning whether someone can, in Russia, push people to attend
unsanctioned meetings and marches — in the name of freedom and develop-
ment — that would probably lead to their imprisonment. And we discussed
this as those not personally ready to share their fate, but rather as those prefer-
ring to fight alongside those prisoners for the same freedoms, from the bitter
confines of a different country as an immigrant.

Among other things during our discussion, he suggested I write a book. As

he suggested several bright literary ideas, he also warned me that his friend,
a publisher of chess literature, would send me a writing contract. Soon enough
the contract showed up in my mail, and after some deep and anguished
thought, tortured by foreboding, I signed it. It wasn’t that I was excited about
writing this book, but I thought, rather, “What if…it somehow writes itself?”
Until of course it did no such thing. As the days went past the following year
I blissfully forgot my literary obligations, until I was awoken from my cheer-
ful ignorance by letters politely asking for the manuscript. Kindly explaining
that the absence of said manuscript was thanks in large part to writer’s block,
I tried to escape writing the aforementioned work, until I was shown a friendly
document I had signed (the contract!), mentioning several of my promises. It
became clear that I should fulfil my obligations. At least in this way I wouldn’t
have to feel guilty about the trees that had been chopped down to make the
paper ordered and purchased to print and advertise my book!*

Two years have passed since that day and the book is finally with us, which
brings me immense pleasure. I decided to comment on my own games, among
which are ones of significance. But as you will see, they are not necessarily
grouped according to quality, but by specific topics. I chose those that featured
unique, non-standard games, inventive approaches, as well as those involving
less trivial evaluations. Sometimes the games cover more than one topic, which
is something hinted at by the diagrams. For the sake of ease I wanted to show
only a minimum number of variations, but at the same time I did not want to
gloss over or skip any critical moments and mistakes. I also wanted to make
the difficult seem simple and accessible, and to make the diagrams useful as
training material for various levels of difficulty.

* Author’s note: In chapter 7 of The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, Stepan
(Styopa) Bogdanovich Likhodeev is the director of the Variety Theatre. Waking up with
a hangover he sees the very polite and affable Woland, who shows him a contract with
Stepan’s own ‘dashing’ signature. Likhodeev does not remember anything about this
contract and is certain he has never seen this person before in his life.
 WHAT THIS BOOK
IS ABOUT

Chess has very strict, but also fair- nally discovered them, implement-
ly simple, rules: rapid development, ed them, and made them standard,
control of the center with pawns or as well as those who broke the rules
pieces, timely castling and defense and created completely new ones.
of the king, the creation of various
weaknesses in the opponent’s po-
sition, attacking those weakness- 1
es, and control of open lines. At
the same time a  player shouldn’t ▷ Alexander Alekhine
get his queen stuck in the enemy ▶ Akiba Rubinstein
camp, or ruin his own pawn struc- The Hague 1921
ture. Those who know these rules
will succeed. 8 r+lwqkvl-tr
7 +pzp-+pzpp
It is necessary for a chess player to 6 p+n+p+n+
know opening and endgame theo- 5 +-zPp+-+-
ry, standard combinations and mo- 4 -+-zP-vL-+
tifs, as well as pawn structures and 3 +-sN-+N+-
many other things. A lot of the top- 2 PzP-+PzPPzP
ics listed demand a very straightfor- 1 tR-+QmKL+R
ward type of thinking or approach. a b c d e f g h
However it also happens that chess
players often discover significant re- The game has only begun and is still
sources which formally exist outside in the opening stage. 7.  g3 looks
the typical rules of chess. Those who normal with the follow-up moves
know how to break all the rules and e3, and d3 which lead to an equal
work around those specific guide- game. Instead, this happened:
lines reach the very top. Current-
ly, when thousands of chess books 7. e3
dissect the same standard ideas in
great detail, let us remember that Th is is already a  significant mo-
fi rst there were those who origi- ment, and you might think that it
10 SAY NO TO CHESS PRINCIPLES!

comes with the idea of g3 and  g2. everything by the rules and still
But because the bishop has noth- wound up in a worse position. But
ing to do on g2, Rubinstein react- as we shall see, that’s not all.
ed without any particular concern.
13...b5 14.e3 d7 15. d3 c8 16.a4!
7...b6 8.cxb6 cxb6 9.h4!
Other players would have cas-
Today we all know that a knight on tled here, but Alekhine was simply
g6 is like a magnet for the h-pawn, ahead of his time.
and sure enough this was also clear
to Alekhine. 16...b4 17. e2  b6 18. c1!  c7
19. b3  a5 20.c5!
9... d6
8 -+-+-trk+
Of course, it was necessary to play 7 +-trlsnp+p
9...h5!. 6 pwq-vlpvLpzP
5 sn-sNp+-+-
10.h5  ge7 11.h6 g6 12.  g5! 0–0 4 Pzp-zP-+-+
13.  f6 3 +-+LzPN+-
2 -zP-+-zPP+
8 r+lwq-trk+ 1 tR-+QmK-+R
7 +-+-snp+p a b c d e f g h
6 pzpnvlpvLpzP
5 +-+p+-+- Now it’s time to play with just one
4 -+-zP-+-+ knight.
3 +-sN-+N+-
2 PzP-+PzPP+ 20... c4 21.  xc4! dxc4 22. e5
1 tR-+QmKL+R
 xe5 23.  xe7 d6 24.  xf8  xf8
a b c d e f g h
25. xd7

It’s not just that Alekhine has not Not realizing that 25. c1! is stron-
castled but that he isn’t developing ger still.
either! Instead, he seems to be play-
ing with only bishop and pawn. 25...  xd7 26.a5 c6 27. f3  d5
28. c1 c7 29. e2 c3 30.bxc3 bxc3
On the other hand, Rubinstein, 31. xa6  xa5 32. d3  a3 33. c2
a  classical positional player, did  b2 34. e2+–
 WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT 11

8 -+-+-+k+ ideas, similar as they are to the Ben-

7 +-wq-+p+p ko Gambit. But one hundred years
6 -+-+p+pzP ago this was just SHOCKING.
5 tr-+-+-+-
4 -+-zP-+-+
14. a6
3 +-zpQzP-+-
Nimzowitsch stood out because of
2 -vlR+KzPP+
his fresh outlook on chess, and he
1 +-+-+-+R
and his friends tried to find new
a b c d e f g h ways and develop revolutionary
ideas and concepts. In this game
...and as soon as the rook enters the he played solid, cautious chess, like
game, Black can resign. Alekhine most players in his situation would
implemented a  truly original idea have. During one training session
in this game. for younger players, Mark Dvoretsky
pointed out this distinct idea to us.
He instead suggested leaving the
2 white queen on a7 to tie up the black
heavy pieces due to pressure against
▷ Aaron Nimzowitsch the c7-pawn. Even though we didn’t
▶ Jose Raul Capablanca analyze the position in much detail,
St Petersburg 1914 the concept is what stayed with me.
The game continued:
8 -+r+-trk+
7 wQ-zpq+pvlp 14...  fe8 15. d3 e6 16.f3 d7
6 -+pzp-snp+
5 +-+-+-+- 8 -+r+r+k+
4 -+-+P+-+ 7 +-zpn+pvlp
3 +-sN-+-+- 6 -+pzpq+p+

2 PzPP+-zPPzP 5 +-+-+-+-
4 -+-+P+-+
1 tR-vL-+RmK-
3 +-sNQ+P+-
a b c d e f g h
2 PzPP+-+PzP
This game became famous because 1 tR-vL-+RmK-
of the (at least for that time) unusu- a b c d e f g h
al plan of attack on the queenside
along the a- and b-files. Nowadays And Capablanca tore up the queen-
nobody would be surprised by such side of the ‘Master of the Blockade’.
12 SAY NO TO CHESS PRINCIPLES!

famous for his individual approach

3 to each opponent and position. Yuri
Averbakh couldn’t convert the ad-
▷ Yuri Averbakh vantage, and the game perhaps cost
▶ Boris Spassky him a few years of his life.
Leningrad 1956

8 rsnq+-trk+ 4
7 +psn-+-vlp
6 p+-zp-+p+ ▷ Tigran Petrosian
5 +-zpPzp-zPP ▶ Robert James Fischer
4 P+P+Pzp-+ Bled 1959
3 +-sN-+N+-
2 -zP-vL-zP-+
8 r+lwq-trk+
7 zppzpnvl-zpp
1 tR-+QmK-+R
6 -+-+p+-+
a b c d e f g h
5 +-zPp+p+-
A young Boris Spassky had played 4 -zP-zPn+-+
the opening rather superficially 3 zP-sNLzPN+-
and found himself in a strategical- 2 -vL-+-zPPzP
ly lost position. White has a space 1 tR-+QmK-+R
advantage all over the board, and a b c d e f g h
the attack against the black king
should begin momentarily. Un- An inexperienced Bobby Fischer,
willing to make peace with his role naïve and proud, places his knight
as a passive observer in the ensu- in the center, intending to use it as
ing struggle, Spassky takes drastic a shield to mobilize the rest of his
action to change the direction of pieces. But it’s possible that, upon
the battle. seeing this move, a  faint smile
quivered at the corners of ‘Iron Ti-
16...c6 gran’s’ mouth, who, as it sadly turns
out, was one of the least ‘iron-like’
This certainly doesn’t change the among the world champions.
evaluation of the position, but it
does force his opponent to make 11.e2!
a few precise moves. It’s likely that
the inspiration for this type of bluff The knight is masterfully surround-
was Dr Emanuel Lasker, who was ed on all sides.
 WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT 13

11...  f6 12.0–0 e7 13.e5  xe5 White plays a lifeless opening that
14.dxe5  g5 15. d4  h6 16.f3 doesn’t involve any realistic plans,
but due to his strong center he is
8 r+l+-trk+ able to defend.
7 zppzp-wq-zpp
6 -+-+p+-vl It seemed logical to consider 16..
5 +-zPpzPp+-  bc8.
4 -zP-vLn+-+
3 zP-+LzPP+- Also strong is 16.. d7.
2 -+-+N+PzP

1 tR-+Q+RmK-
However, the patriarch had an
a b c d e f g h
epiphany:

Finally, it’s time to banish it from e4. 16... a5!

16... g5 17.c6 A knight on the rim is not always

badly placed, and doubled pawns
Black’s pieces are scattered in all di- can offer other types of advantages
rections and were soon destroyed. as compensation. I take my ushanka
hat off to him here.

5 17. xa5 bxa5 18.  xb8  xb8 19. c1

cxd4 20.cxd4 c4 21. e1 xa2
▷ Ilia Abramovich Kan
▶ Mikhail Botvinnik 8 -tr-+-+k+
Moscow 1953 7 zp-+-zppvlp
6 -+-+l+p+
8 -tr-tr-+k+ 5 zp-+-+-+-
7 zp-wq-zppvlp 4 -+-zP-+-+
6 -zpn+l+p+ 3 +-+-zP-zPP
5 +-zp-+-+- 2 q+-+QzPL+
4 -+-zP-+-+
1 +-vL-tR-mK-
3 +NzP-zP-zPP
a b c d e f g h
2 P+-vLQzPL+

1 +R+-+RmK-
And Black has a huge advantage.
a b c d e f g h
14 SAY NO TO CHESS PRINCIPLES!

8 r+-+-sn-wQ
6 7 +-+rzpksN-
6 p+-+-+p+
▷ Viswanathan Anand (2781) 5 wq-+-sn-+-
▶ Peter Svidler (2713)
4 -+-zP-+P+
Linares 1999
3 +-zp-+-+-
2 PzP-+L+-+
8 r+-+-snk+
7 +-+rzp-sN- 1 tR-+-+RmK-

6 p+-+-+p+ a b c d e f g h

5 wq-+-sn-+-
4 -zp-zP-+P+ And Black resigned. How is it pos-
3 +-vL-+-+- sible that the initially well-hidden
2 PzP-+L+-wQ black king was checkmated, and the
1 tR-+-mK-+R
white one, standing in the eye of the
a b c d e f g h
storm in the center of the board all
day, was the one who announced
In an extremely complex and event- the decisive check? Is Viswanathan
ful game, Peter Svidler was com- Anand a god from Madras, or is this
pletely outplayed, and it looks like something a mere mortal can learn
the white attack is now unstoppa- to do as well?
ble. Even so, the unbelievable move
29... f7!! would have allowed him Upon analyzing dozens of my own
to keep defending. games I became convinced that such
play is not only something one can
The game continued: learn, but rather something one has
to learn. In other words, rare ma-
29...bxc3 30. h8+ f7 31.0–0+! neuvers that dig deep past the limits
of traditional chess knowledge are
1–0 necessary for success.
 CHAPTER 1.
PLAY WITHOUT CASTLING

Castling is a move designed to coor- and d1 (d8) squares can be reliable

dinate the rooks and safely reposi- safe havens. Furthermore, even ar-
tion the king. It follows that one can tificial castling can prove helpful.
do without it when the king is rel- By declining to castle one can often
atively safe in the center, and when gain some sort of long-term mate-
the rooks can be developed along ei- rial or positional advantage. It may
ther wing, or could enter the game also be judged best to avoid castling
sometime later. When Wilhelm if one side has started an attack on
Steinitz suggested that the king can the wing, or if it is discerned that
be used in the middlegame, both the king will prove better placed in
for attack and defense, he of course the center as the contours of an end-
meant only in the vicinity of those game start taking shape. It all de-
eight squares that the king itself pends on the specific position and
attacks and defends, regardless of one needs to be prepared for any
where it is standing. developments, all the while remem-
bering the recommendations of
Despite the need to castle in the Steinitz, the first world champion.
opening most of the time, there is
still some room left for cases which
can be alternatively interpreted. It 1
may be rare in open games to find
examples that legitimately ignore ▷ Evgeny Bareev (2650)
castling, but in closed games a play- ▶ Stefan Djuric (2540)
er doesn’t need to rush to castle at Bled 1991
all, and can focus on making essen-
tial moves, as well as camouflaging Throughout 1990, and until Novem-
plans of true intent. ber 1991, I  was riding a  high and
wasn’t afraid to take risks and lose.
Clearly the king is most vulnerable I also often won, as it turned out,
on an open line, and in those cases claiming many top prizes in tour-
a check by a heavy piece is lethal, naments. Stefan Djuric was a play-
but as is often the case, the f1 (f8) er of a similar style to me — he de-
16 SAY NO TO CHESS PRINCIPLES!

vised plans over the board without 6...c5! 7.d5 e6 8.g5  h5 9.  xh5 gxh5
worrying about the result. The tour- 10. xh5 e8 11. ge2 exd5 12. xd5
nament in Slovenia, won by Pre- d7 13. g3 e5 14. f5
drag Nikolic, was not a  qualifier
for the world championship, mak- 8 r+lwqr+k+
7 zpp+-+pvlp
ing it more conducive to inventive- 6 -+-zp-+-+
ness and a fighting spirit, but it also 5 +-zpNsnNzPQ
retained a distinctly friendly atmo- 4 -+P+P+-+
3 +-+-+-+-
sphere.
2 PzP-+-zP-zP
1 tR-vL-mK-+R
1.d4  f6 2.c4 g6 3.c3  g7 4.e4 d6 a b c d e f g h
5. e2 0–0 6.g4
14... g6? (14...  xf5 15.exf5  xc4+
8 rsnlwq-trk+ 16. f1  e5 17.f3 d7=) 15. xg7
7 zppzp-zppvlp 0–1 (29) Mamedyarov,S (2763)-Rad-
6 -+-zp-snp+ jabov,T (2744) Moscow 2010.
5 +-+-+-+-
4 -+PzPP+P+ 7.g5  h5
3 +-sN-+-+-
2 PzP-+LzP-zP And an even more recent one: 7...
1 tR-vLQmK-sNR
 fd7 8.h4 b5 9.h5  c6 10. f3
a b c d e f g h
e5 11.d5  d4 12.  e3 b4 13. a4
f5 14.hxg6 hxg6 15.  h4 f4
In those years it became fashion- 16.  xd4 xg5 ½–½ (50) Akobi-
able to play an early g2–g4 in almost an,V (2615)-Kamsky,G (2678) Saint
any opening or position. I made my Louis 2016.
own contribution to the trend and
pushed the g-pawn early in many 8. e3 b5
openings, which the reader will no-
tice throughout this book. This makes sense. After all, my king
won’t have a safe haven anywhere
Here, to put it mildly, the move is on the board until the endgame.
questionable, but back then I truly
believed I could climb any moun- A decent alternative is 8...c6 9.d5
tain.  a5

6...a6 9.  xh5
 CHAPTER 1. PLAY WITHOUT CASTLING 17

Less dangerous is 9.cxb5! axb5 d7 18.g6 fxg6 19. xe4 every-
10.  xb5 c6 (10...c5 11. ge2 cxd4 thing remains very tense.
12. xd4  b7 13.0–0 e5 14. de2
 a6) 11.  e2  b6 12. d2 f5  , 13.cxb5 axb5 14.d5
where Black has compensation but
White has play as well. 8 r+lwq-trk+
7 +-+-zppvlp
9...gxh5 10. xh5 c6 11. ge2 b4 6 -+-zp-+-+
5 +pzpP+-zPQ
8 r+lwq-trk+ 4 -sn-+P+-+
7 +-zp-zppvlp 3 +-sN-vL-+-
6 p+-zp-+-+ 2 PzP-mKNzP-zP
5 +p+-+-zPQ
1 tR-+-+-+R
4 -snPzPP+-+
a b c d e f g h
3 +-sN-vL-+-
2 PzP-+NzP-zP At least now the king is OK in the
1 tR-+-mK-+R
center.
a b c d e f g h
14... xa2!?
12. d2!?
It didn’t take long for Stepan Djuric
A sincere challenge to a duel. I don’t to throw a challenge right back at
know what I didn’t like about cas- me.
tling. My opponent should now
look for an opportunity to get at my I  was expecting the thematic 14...
king, either via the center or queen- c4 15.a3 d3 followed by the pawn
side. Even though the central pawns march 16.f4  xb2 17.f5, where White
are mobile, there are so many that feels quite good: 17... a4 18.  d4
the king can hide behind them.  xd4 19. xd4  xc3 20.  xc3

12...c5 15.  xa2  xa2 16. xa2 a5+

Curiously, my position isn’t as bad Energetic, but stronger was 16...

as it seems. For instance, in the vari-  xb2! 17. ac3 a5 18.  g1 (18.  b1
ation 12...bxc4 13.f4 d5 (13...c5 14.f5  xc3+ 19. xc3 b4 20. d1  a6) 18...
 b8 15.  hg1 ; 13...e6 14.  hg1 c5 b4 19.d1  g7 20. e1 b3+ 21. f1 b2
15.  g4 h8 16.  h4 h6 17.f5) 14.f5 22. xb2  xb2 23. g2 with ad-
dxe4 15.f6  h8 16.  af1 e5 17.  hg1 vantage for Black.
18 SAY NO TO CHESS PRINCIPLES!

17. ac3 b4 18.d1  a6 b2 27. xb2  xb2=) 21.exc3 bxc3+

22.  xc3  b8 23. d2 a5+ 24. c2
There was another resource: 18... a4+= with perpetual check.
a1!? 19.f4  xb2 20.f5
20.f5!
8 -+l+-trk+
7 +-+-zpp+p
6 -+-zp-+-+
It’s almost impossible that anyone
5 +-zpP+PzPQ would fi nd the variation 20.  d4
4 -zp-+P+-+  xd4!
3 +-+-vL-+-
2 -vl-mKN+-zP
1 wq-+N+-+R
[20...c3+ 21.bxc3 bxc3+ (21...  xd4
a b c d e f g h
22.cxd4 a2+ 23. e3 b3 24. dc3
c2 25.  c1  xe2 26.  xc2  xh5
20...  g7 (20...  c3+ 21. exc3 bxc3+ 27.  b2) 22.  xc3 a2+ 23. e1
22. e2+–) 21.f6 exf6 22.gxf6 xf6 c8 24.  xg7  xg7 25. f3+–]
23.  g1  h8 24. g5 a1  with
a sharp game. 21. xd4 c3+ 22.bxc3 a2+ 23. e3
bxc3 24. xc3 a3! 25. d2 b2+
19.f4 26.c2

8 -+-+-trk+ 8 -+-+-trk+
7 +-+-zppvlp
7 +-+-zpp+p
6 l+-zp-+-+
6 l+-zp-+-+ 5 +-+P+-zPQ
5 wq-zpP+-zPQ 4 -+-+PzP-+
3 +-sN-+-+-
4 -zp-+PzP-+
2 -wqNmK-+-zP
3 +-+-vL-+-
1 +-+-+-+R
2 -zP-mKN+-zP a b c d e f g h
1 +-+N+-+R
a b c d e f g h
26...  d3!! 27.  xd3  c8 28. d1
xc3+ 29. e2 b2!= with equali-
19...c4? ty, otherwise it would be death even
after 20. d4.
A  miscalculation. It wasn’t too
late to maintain equality with 20...c3+ 21.bxc3 c8
19... a2 20.  g1  c3+ (20...  xb2
21. e1 b3 22.f5  xe2 23. xe2  e5 Once again, it isn’t human to find
24.  g2 xe2+ 25.  xe2 c4 26.  d2 21...bxc3+ 22.exc3
 CHAPTER 1. PLAY WITHOUT CASTLING 19

8 -+-+-trk+ this White is up in all variations:

7 +-+-zppvlp 23.gxf6  xf6 24.  d4 (or 24.  g1+
6 l+-zp-+-+
h8 25. e1 bxc3 26.h6 c2+ 27. f2
5 wq-+P+PzPQ
4 -+-+P+-+
cxd1 + 28.  xd1  g7 29.  d4; or
3 +-sN-vL-+- 24. e1 bxc3 25.  g1+! h8 26.h6
2 -+-mK-+-zP c2+ 27. f2 cxd1 + 28.  xd1  e5
1 +-+N+-+R 29.  d4) 24...bxc3+ 25.  xc3  xe2
a b c d e f g h
26. xe2 b5+ 27. f3!

22...  b4!! and Black somehow [27. e1  xc3+ (27...  xc3 28.  g1+
manages to keep attacking: 23.f6  f8 29.  h6+  e7 30.  g8+–)
exf6 24.gxf6  xf6 25.  g1+  h8 28.  xc3  xc3 29. g5+  f8
26.  g3! (worse is 26. h6  xc3+ 30. d8+ e8 31.  xd6+ e7
27. xc3 b2+ 28.d1 b3+! 29.e1 32.  b8+ e8 33.  xe8+  xe8
xc3+ 30.  d2 a1+ 31. f2 d4+ 34. f2  h3=]
32.e3 f6+ 33.f4 d4+ 34.  e3
b2+ 35. g3  g8+ 36.  h4  xg1 27... d3+ 28. f4  xc3 29. g4+ f8
37.  xg1 g7=) 26...  xc3+ 27. xc3 30. xc3 xc3 31.  f1! 
b2+ 28. e1 xc3+ 29. d2 a1+
30. d1 and the game should end 23.exc3 exf6 24.gxf6  xf6
in a draw.
8 -+r+-+k+
22.f6 7 +-+-+p+p
6 l+-zp-vl-+
8 -+r+-+k+ 5 wq-+P+-+Q
7 +-+-zppvlp 4 -+-+P+-+
6 l+-zp-zP-+ 3 +-sN-vL-+-
5 wq-+P+-zPQ 2 -+-mK-+-zP
4 -zp-+P+-+
1 +-+N+-+R
3 +-zP-vL-+-
a b c d e f g h
2 -+-mKN+-zP

1 +-+N+-+R
25.e5!+–
a b c d e f g h
Simple and pretty.
22...bxc3+?
25...  xe5 26. d4  f4+
Harsh, but only 22...exf6 would
have worked, though even after 26...  xd4 27. g4+  g7 28.  g1+–
20 SAY NO TO CHESS PRINCIPLES!

27. e1 e8+ 28. f2 able or otherwise. If I were to ven-

ture a guess, it is a result of studying
8 -+-+r+k+ the works of Capablanca and Alekh-
7 +-+-+p+p ine. Look over their games and you
6 l+-zp-+-+ can find many examples.
5 wq-+P+-+Q
4 -+-vL-vl-+ 1–0
3 +-sN-+-+-
2 -+-+-mK-zP

1 +-+N+-+R
2
a b c d e f g h
▷ Vassily Ivanchuk (2740)
The king, having passed through ▶ Evgeny Bareev (2675)
the worst of the storm, has found Elista 1998
peace.
Stating that I didn’t find Vassily Iv-
28...  e5 29. g5+ h8 30.  xe5+ anchuk (Divine Vassily) an easy op-
 xe5 31. f6+ g8 32.  g1+ f8 ponent doesn’t really say enough.
33. xd6+ The first time he stood in my way
was in 1985, when he prevented me
8 -+-+-mk-+ from reaching the world junior
7 +-+-+p+p championships (under-20). Ever
6 l+-wQ-+-+ since then, much like a vampire, he
5 wq-+Ptr-+- has enjoyed feasting on my blood in
4 -+-+-+-+ various competitions.
3 +-sN-+-+-
2 -+-+-mK-zP In this case, it was at a tournament
1 +-+N+-tR-
organized by Kirsan Illyumzhin-
a b c d e f g h
ov in Elista, where he knocked me
out in the semi-fi nal. It has late-
And it’s mate in three, which is why ly become trendy to bash Kirsan,
Black resigned. even though I  am grateful for ev-
erything he did for chess through-
It’s hard for me conclusively to deter- out his years as president. After all,
mine when and under what circum- nobody knows what would have
stance I developed an unquenchable become of chess, and where gener-
desire to keep the king in the center ations of chess players born in the
at every opportunity, when comfort- ’90s would be, if he hadn’t held up