By 1977 my style had become more complete: I enjoyed tense strategic situations and endgames, preferring to let my tactical yearnings arise from positions of strength (not from emotion or the need for a rush).

The following quiet game against a strong Brazilian master was the first time I made use of my anti-isolated d-pawn strategy, another How to Reassess Your Chess topic.

Silman - R Filguth
San Francisco, 1977
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Ngf3 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bd6 7.0-0 Nge7 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.Nb3 Bd6 10.c3 0-0 11.Nbd4 Bg4 12.Be2 Qd7 13.Be3 Rad8 14.Re1 Bb8

White's next move shows that he has already foreseen (with no calculation!) the position that arises on move 33! With a little positional training, you can do it too.

15.Ng5! (I begin to exchange as many minor pieces as possible. The main form of compensation for the isolated d-pawn is active minor pieces. To put it bluntly, if you trade the minor pieces, they can't be active! In that case, the isolated d-pawn can easily turn out to be a pure weakness.) 15...Bxe2 16.Qxe2 Nxd4 (Apparently my opponent wasn't aware of my boring but highly effective plan!) 17.Bxd4 Nf5 18.Qd3 h6 19.Nf3 Rfe8 20.Rad1 Rxe1+ 21.Rxe1 Ne7 22.g3! Nc6 23.Kg2 (Black's game is uncomfortable and he has very little counterplay. As a result, I take my time and make tiny improvements in my position.) 23...Re8 24.Rd1! (The ideal position for White is Queen and Rook versus Queen and Rook. An exchange of the final pair of Rooks would result in a draw since White would not be able to bring sufficient pressure to bear against the d-pawn.) 24...Qe6 25.Re1 Qd7 26.Be3! (Once again I prevent the exchange of Rooks while simultaneously preparing to get rid of more minor pieces by Nd4.) 26...Rd8 27.Rd1 Qe7 28.Nd4 Nxd4 (Black is much too kind. He should try for as much activity as possible by 28...Ne5. Note that 28...Qe4+ fails to 29.Qxe4 dxe4 30.Nxc6 Rxd1 31.Nxb8.) 29.Qxd4! a6 30.Bf4! (The final nail in his coffin! Black was apparently unaware that his position would now become extremely depressing.) 30...Bxf4 31.Qxf4 Qc5 32.Rd4 (Now that the minor pieces are gone, I want to lead with my Rook on d4 [which also fixes his pawn in the case of a later c3-c4] as I double against his d-pawn.) 32...Qc6 33.Qd2 b5 34.Kg1 Qg6 35.a3 (A bit of cat and mouse. I intend to eventually play a3-a4, but first I want to make a few minor improvements in my position.) 35...Kf8 36.h4 (Giving my King some breathing room and avoiding 36.Rxd5?? Qb1+ 37.Kg2 Qe4+) 36...Qb1+ 37.Kg2 Qf5 38.a4! (Forcing the creation of a second weakness.) 38...Qe6 (Not a good idea. He should have scooted his King back to g8, though the resulting position would promise Black hours of pain.) 39.axb5 axb5 40.Qd3 Kg8? (An overreaction, but 40...Qc6 41.Qh7 Qg6 42.Qxg6 led to a thoroughly miserable Rook endgame.) 41.Qxb5 Rd6 42.Qd3 g6 43.c4 (This key break, taking advantage of the pin along the d-file, often wins even if Black doesn't start out a pawn down. The fact that he already has a material disadvantage makes his cause completely hopeless.) 43...dxc4 44.Rxd6 cxd3 45.Rxe6 fxe6 46.Kf3 e5 47.Ke3 e4 48.f3 exf3 49.Kxd3 g5 50.hxg5 hxg5 51.g4, 1-0.

The young Silman would have viewed the Filguth game as extremely boring. The more seasoned Silman-clone, though, had acquired a taste for watching paint dry and beating strong players with as little risk as possible.

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