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Taking the Elevator Down....
by
IM Igor Khmelnitsky
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Diagram 1 White to Move |
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Diagram 2 White to Move |
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IM Igor Khmelnitsky
Igor is a winner of many national and
international tournaments in Europe and the United States.
At various points during his career, he has won individual
encounters with many of the game’s best players - including Lev
Alburt, Boris Alterman, Viorel Bologan, Roman Dzindzikhashvili,
Vasily Ivanchuk, Alexander Ivanov, Oleg Romanishin, Alexander
Shabalov, Evgeniy Sveshnikov, Patrick Wolff, and Alex Yermolinsky.
In total, Igor has beaten over 30 different Grandmasters. He
has been a participant in the Ukrainian National Championship as
well as a three times contestant in the US National Championship.
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Take a look at the above two positions. For each:
Spend 5-10 minutes
considering your answers.
Please stop - some hints are below.
===================================================================
Controlling of the open file with the Rook is an extremely important
strategic factor. It often allows various tactical opportunities.
The common ones are a back-rank checkmate, double attack, penetration to the
7th rank to win material, etc…Almost like an elevator going to
the top floor.
 |
<<=>> |
 |
Some of the lesser known ideas - involve using the open file as trampoline
for transferring the R to another file. This idea was mentioned by
Aaron Nimtsovich in his masterpiece “My System.” Mark Dvoretsky
contributed greatly to the development of this subject. I’d compare
this to the elevator going to the middle floor and you have a skywalk
(or something similar) to get to a different tower.
 |
<<=>> |
 |
Please stop – SOLUTION is
below.
====================================================================
In this article, I'd like to focus on slightly different examples of using
the open file – this equivalent to taking the elevator down!
Please check them and out and see what I mean.
| Diagram #1 above is from the game
Gligoric - Lombardy, (Germany 1958) – White has a
serious advantage here and has several decent moves candidates targeting
Black’s Q-side. For example, 1.Rc6 or 1.Ra6.
But is this the most accurate way? Well, actually, the best move
is 1.Rd3!
White's rook takes the elevator down to the 3d rank and then
transfers to the h-file. Because of the mating threat, Black must
play 1…Re6 2.Pg5 (or
2.Rh3) Kg8 3. Rh3 and
Black must play 4....Rxf6.
After 5.Pxf6,
White gains material (wins the exchange) and keeps his positional
advantage. Diagram 1A shows the path of
White R. |
 |
|
Diagram #2 above is from the recent game
Golubev,M – Vajda,A Romania, 2005 – that I saw in the
Chess Today
– my favorite daily e-mail newspaper. Playing White is one of the
CT editors and my friend and arch-rival from 25+ years ago.
Black's King is in trouble, but he has some
coverage, thanks to the K-side pawns (both Black and White). Also,
White’s pieces are decentralized and Black has a few attacking ideas of
his own, including the perpetual. Take a look how Michael sends
his R to take the elevator down.
1.Rc5+
Kxh4 (1...Pf5 doesn’t save Black. 2.Rxf5+ Kxh4 3.Rf4+ Kh5
4.Qg3 Qe6+ 5.Ka1) 2.Rc1 Qe6+
3.Ka1 Black resigned. After 3… Qg4 4.Pg3+ he would
lose the Q |
 Diagram
2A shows the path of White R.
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In Summary –
while you should always be on the look out to grab the
open file and try to penetrate opponent’s position, don’t disregard the
possibilities to pull back your R in order to change the direction of your
attack.
=====================================================================
More on chess training (serious and enlightening):
|
Chess Exam and Training
Guide:
Rate Yourself and Learn How to Improve
IM
Igor Khmelnitsky's book, Chess Exam and Training
Guide: Rate Yourself and Learn How to Improve (2004, IamCoach
Press) - winner of Book of the Year from CJA - Chess Journalists
of America (2005).
"...will quickly and
accurately test your
combinational ability, positional judgment and endgame expertise...
Instructive and Entertaining!" - Alex Yermolinsky, Grandmaster,
former US Champion and Olympic team member. |
 |
See more articles at Chessville by IM Igor Khmelnitsky
Center
Squares
Copyright © 2005-2006 by Igor Khmelnitsky &
www.IamCoach.com and is used here by
permission. It may not be reprinted or reposted in any format without
the express written permission of the author.
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