Pachman gave the following game as an illustration of what happens if the Pawns are blockaded. In the final position white's connected passed Pawns on the Q-side went nowhere while black's connected passed Pawns in the center marched to victory.
When Pachman gave this as a model game he left the reader with the impression that Gligoric's opening strategy was completely faulty and, a a result, it was doomed from the beginning. But, thanks to Stockfish and Komodo it is clear that that was not the case.
In fact, the opening line as late as move 18 was played in at least four later games and white won them all, so clearly black's position after 17....Ne8 actually favors white slightly as is indicated by Stockfish and Komodo. Based on the evidence then, it's clear that Gligoric's loss must be attributed to a later error and not faulty opening strategy.
Still, the game is a good example of the principle that two united passed Pawns should not be allowed to be blockaded as Gligoric allowed to happen in this game and its instructional value is not diminished.
Svetozar Gligoric (Yugoslavia)–Laszlo Szabo (Hungary)0–1E42Helsinki Olympics (Men) prel-BHelsinki FIN11.08.1952Stockfish 15
Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein 1.d4 f6 2.c4 e6 3.c3 b4 4.e3 c5 5.ge2 d5 6.a3 cxd4 7.exd4 e7 8.c5 0-0 9.b4 b6 10.g3 bxc5 11.dxc5 11.bxc5 is also favorable to black after c6 12.g2 a6 13.f4 c4 11...a5
This allows white to get two united passed Ps and so it seems illogical, but
the Ps are not as dangerous as they seem because they can be easily blockaded. 12.b1 axb4 13.axb4 Szabo's play in the opening has not lead to a decisive
positional advantage as some past annotators have claimed...the correct
evaluation here is black is slightly better. c6 Today's powerful engines
suggest that 13...Na6 would have been ever so slightly better, but the
resulting complications are probably beyond a player's ability to calculate
over the board. 13...a6 14.g2 b8 15.d4 d7 15...xb4 16.xb4 xb4 17.c6 c7 18.xb4 xc5 is unclear. 15...xb4 16.c6 xb1 17.xd8 xc1 18.xc1 xc5 19.c6 d3+ 20.d2 xc1 21.xe7+ h8 22.xc1 favors white. 16.c2 e5 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 f5 19.xd8 fxd8 20.b2 xc2 21.xc2 xb4 is about equal. 14.g2 14.b5 fails for tactical reasons. e5 The
threat is simple ...Nf3# 15.g2 xc5 14...b8 15.a3 15.b5 xc5 16.bxc6 xb1 17.xb1 b6 and black has attacking chances in exchange for his
material investment. Just for example... 18.bc3 xf2+ 19.f1 g4 15...d7 15...a6 was better as demonstrated in Belous,V (2524)-Goganov,A (2469) St
Petersburg 2011 16.0-0 c4 17.e1 Now, after the correct 17...Nd7 black
has a very slight advantage. However, the position is so delicate that after
he played 17...e5 white was better and eventually managed to score the point. 16.0-0 16.b5 Must be renounced because it is flawed tactically. e5 17.0-0 c8 winning a P and leaving the other one very weak. 18.c6 xa3 19.cxd7 fxd7 16...a7 Headed for b5 to blockade the P. 17.e1 e8 The second N
joins in the plan to blockade white's Ps. 17...b5 is punished by 18.xb5 xb5 19.d4 d7 20.xb5 xb5 21.b2 and white has a decisive advantage
after, say, 21...Rfc8 22.Bf1 and 23.Bd4 because the Q is a poor blockader.
Note that the P cannot be taken. xb4 22.xf6 with a discovered attack on
the Q. 18.c1 18.d4 was tried in three later games and it's neither
better nor worse than Gligoric's move. White is slightly better here in any
case. c7 19.d2 19.a4 f6 20.b6 e5 21.f3 f5 22.a1 is equal.
Panczyk,K (2375)-Pokojowczyk,J (2380) Bytom 1986 19...f6 20.f4 c8 21.ce2 d8 22.b2 White is slightly better. Garcia Palermo,C (2520) -Pinter,J
(2540) Luzern 1985 18...f6 Pachman declared that this move is part of
black's attacking plan and also makes the observation tht white now errs in
his plan to draw black's Ps forward with the idea of attacking them and at the
same timne increasing the scope of his B on g2. 19.f4 Pachman assigned
this move a ? without comment, but it is Komodo's first choice and white's
advantage is put at just over a half of a P. e5 While this move ultimately
serves black well it actually gives white the advantage. 19...c7 20.d6 e8 21.d4 White's pieces are well placed, but black has adequate defensive
resources so the position must be considered equal. 20.d2 This retreat is
an excellent move. 20.xd5 exf4 21.exf4 White's b- and c-Pawns and two
well placed Ns are not quite sufficient compensation for black's two Bs and
his slight material advantage. 20...d4 21.d5 Not at all bad, but
slightly more accurate would have been 21.Ne4 eyeing d6 c6 22.xf6+ xf6 23.xc6 xc6 At this point the position must still be considered equal. 24.f4 f6 25.b3+ h8 26.f1 A subtle error after which black gains a very slight
advantage. 26.g4 gaining active play on the K-side would have assured
white of a small, but lasting advantage. c7 27.g3 be8 27...ab5 28.fxe5 fxe5 29.xe5 picks up a P. 28.fxe5 fxe5 29.d3 Keeping a watchful eye
on e4 and b5 ab5 30.f1 xf1+ 31.xf1 White is slightly better. 26...c7 27.c4 ab5 28.be1 Because the hope of advancing his Q-side Ps has
long disappeared white has shifted his Rs around in an attenpt to defend
against black's advancing Ps and as a result black now has the initiative.
Pachman incorrectly assured readers that it's too late, black has a won
position, but that is over optimistic. Evaluation: Komodo black by about a
half a P, Stockfish 1.5 Ps. h6 29.g4 This makes g3 available for the N.
It's interesting to note that white's Q-sdie Ps are not playing any part in
the game at this point. be8 30.f5 This is a serious positional
mistake because it gives black two connected passed Ps in the center. 30.fxe5 fxe5 also gives black two connected passe Ps in the center, but with the
major difference that they can be blockaded. 31.xf8+ xf8 32.g3 f3 33.f1 a8 34.xf8+ xf8 with equal chances. In fact, white is slightly better. 35.d3 30...d5 31.c1 This is really where white starts down
the trail that leds to a loss. His best bet was to exchange Qs because now
black's Q is in a dominating position. 31.xd5 xd5 32.g3 b8 32...a8
is not quite as strong. 33.e4 fb8 White's best try is... 34.c6 b6 35.c1 e7 36.c7 c8 37.c5 xc7 38.a1 with some play. 33.b1 a3 34.b3 c4 35.e1 de3 36.f2 Black is clearly better, but at least white can play
on with some hopes of salvaging the game. 31...h7 32.g3 e4
With his Ps on the move black is clearly winning. White's Ps on the other hand
have not budged. 33.f4 e3 34.d1 c4 Prevents Qd3 35.h4 d5 36.g5 d3 37.g4 g8 38.h5 e4 39.g6+ h8 40.f3 White exceeded the time limit in
this hopeless position. 40.f3 e2 41.f2 xf4 42.xf4 d2 wins easily. 0–1
No comments:
Post a Comment