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To Check Or Not To Check?
by
IM Igor Khmelnitsky
|
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.
Igor is also a very experienced coach. His
first high profile coaching experience was in 1986, when he served
as a coaching assistant of the Ukrainian national junior team.
Several members of that team went on to become successful
Grandmasters (V.Ivanchuk, B.Alterman, M.Brodsky, A.Maksimenko and
others…). Later Igor assisted various leading Ukrainian
players, including Y. Kruppa (now Grandmaster) and Women
Grandmaster L. Semenova, a challenger to the World Championship
title.
Since moving to the United States in 1991, Igor
has been coaching in the Philadelphia area. His students
include players of all levels, ranging from novices to masters.
Igor has published his comments, annotated
games, and articles in various chess publications, among them, the
most prestigious periodicals –
Chess Informant, New in Chess, ChessBase, 64, Chess Life, and
Chess Today. He is also the founder and publisher of the two
popular chess websites:
www.IamCoach.com &
www.ChessExam.com.
Igor is author of Chess Exam and Training
Guide: Rate Yourself and Learn How to Improve (2004, IamCoach
Press) - finalist (top 3) of the ChessCafe book of the year award
in 2004.
Igor is also a contributing author to the
best-seller Masters of Success by Ivan Mizner, PhD (2004,
Entrepreneur Press)
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It is always fun to observe experienced chess players
analyze their games or kibitz about other games in progress.
If you happened to witness a group of Russians playing blitz
or analyzing a position, and if you are also proficient enough in Russian to
understand their witty comments, you may hear something like this
(translated in English) - "Grandmasters don't make checks!" or "Come on!
Stop bothering my King!" or "No one ever died from the check!" These
sayings emphasize how little is the respect stronger players have for
checks made without a good reason.
To the contrary, beginners, especially kids, love to make
checks, and why not - after all - there is no checkmate without the check!
Today's examples come from recent games by titled players
(GMs!) all started with a simple, and maybe even pointless check, but … see
for yourself (Check out the Master's April Special!):
Avrukh,B (2629) - Sutovsky,E (2669)
Gibraltar Masters, Turkey, 2005
How do you evaluate this position? What should White do?
Spend a few minutes before scrolling down to see the answer.
STOP!!
Answer:
Thanks to the opposite color bishops and unstable position
of White Bishop Black has drawing chances. White needs to respond to this
"innocent" check. The best way was a modest 1.Ke2. If like GM Avrukh
you played selected 1.Ke4? you went the wrong way! Black has another
check, and this time not so "innocent"! 1...f5+ What did you plan do
now? White played 2.Kf3?? (he was afraid of 2.Ke5 Bc7) and
after 2...Rd2 his King is in the mating net! Rf2# can only be
postponed for a couple of moves 0-1
The best way was to continue forward progress and accept the
discovered check. Worst case scenario for White - Black wins the pawn, but
still must show some accuracy to draw. Here is the approximate variation:
2.Ke5 Bc7 3.Bb7 Rxd7+ 4.Ke6 Rf7 5.Bd5 (5.Bxa6 Rf6+ 6.Kd7 [6.Kd5 Rd6+
7.Ke5 Bb8] 6...Rxa6=) 5...Ba5=
Meins,G - Reschke,S
Bundesliga 1996
Can White win this position? What should he play? Spend a
few minutes before scrolling down to see the answer.
STOP!!
Answer:
Well, you may be surprised, but it is much easier for White
to lose in this position then to win. The majority of people to whom I
show this position select 1.Ke5?? and can't believe their eyes when
they see 1...Kc6. Got it? Are you one of them?
Scroll down.
Yes, the checkmate after 2...f6# is unstoppable. The
best is 1.Kc3 or 1.Ke3 and after 1...Ka6 a draw is the
most likely outcome.
Goloshchapov,A (2550) - Mamediarov,S (2540)
Europe clubs, Turkey, 2004
How do you evaluate this position? What should White do?
Spend a few minutes before scrolling down to see the answer.
STOP!!
Answer:
This is a dead drawn position - opposite color bishops, weak
pawns (e5 vs. g5), the Bishop on e6 that looks like a pawn, etc.... One way
to lose this position is to play 1.Rd2?? after 1...d4 the
Bishop e6 shows the world the difference between the Bishops and the Pawns.
The R on a2 is defended in case of 2.Rxa2 dxe3+ 3.Kxe3 Bxa2.
And White looses his Bishop on e3 - 2.Bxd4 Rxd2+
So what do you do about those checks your opponent can
unleash at any moment? Here is the hint:
Negi,P (2316) - Georgiev,V (2517)
Corus C, Wijk aan Zee, 2005
After 1.Rg6-g8 Re2-e6+
On a previous move White played ambitious 1.Rg6-g8?
instead of just the simple 1.Rxg2 securing a draw. And
now after 1...Re2-e6+ Black is ready to turn the table around.
What result do you expect and what is the best variation? Spend a few
minutes before scrolling down to see the answer.
STOP!!
Answer:
Well, while Rg6-g8 was a mistake, only after 2.Kc7?
is White losing. After 2...Rg6 3.Rxg6 Kxg6 4.a6 g1Q Black went
on to win this game as White's pawn can't advance.
Apparently, White's problems are due to the Nb7, so
the best way was to check back!! After 2.Nd6+!! Rxd6+ 3.Kb7 Rg6
4.Rxg6 Kxg6 5.a6 g1Q 6.a7 White reaches easily drawn endgame!
I hope you enjoyed these examples and got humor of my
comments. Chess is not an exact science so feel free to make checks or not
to make them as you feel is warranted.
Check out IM Igor Khmelnitsky's books:
Copyright © 2005 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.
See more articles at Chessville by IM Igor Khmelnitsky
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