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A tactical player dreams of finding that perfect shot, while a positional player likes nothing more than to hogtie the opponent and watch the poor fellow twitch helplessly in the face of his strategic mastery. However, whatever your personal inclinations might be, you must ultimately do what the position calls for. This means that you often have to turn away from your natural impulses, beat down emotional reactions, and survey the game situation in the light of cold, hard, reason.

In the diagrammed position below, White must choose between many tempting moves. Most are positional, though one very interesting tactical possibility is also waiting to be found. What should White do? Is the tactical possibility the way to go, or should White choose a calm building move?

WHITE TO PLAY

THOSE WHO LIKE 1.g4

SMACKING OF TESTOSTERONE. BLACK TO MOVE

Greg Beaver said:

I vote for a kingside expansion plan: 1.g4 followed by 2.Nh2 and 3.Bf3 when White will bring his rooks and queen over to the g- and h-files followed by pawn advances.

SILMAN: This is very general, and being so vague when you intend to weaken your King with an extremely committal move like 1.g4 is a sure fire recipe for disaster. It’s one thing to play a move like 1.Nd2, which is solid, makes sense, and weakens nothing. Moves like that often don’t call for much (if any) calculation. However, you must go deeply into the secrets of 1.g4 (or moves of that type) before tossing it out.

German Gieczewski (a 14 year old class C player) said:

IMBALANCES:
Pawns: White has an extra central pawn, Black has an extra kingside pawn. There are no weak pawns, except the backward Pe4, which may cause a few headaches for White. Minor Pieces: White’s knights are nice, as is the dark Bishop, but the light Bishop doesn’t inspire confidence. Black’s dark Bishop is sleeping, blocked by the Pe5, but White must be careful not to allow it to revive; the light one is in another predicament, since all the advanced squares it could jump to are or can be attacked by the White pawns, but it isn’t that useless. However, Black’s Knights are both on good squares: the Nf6 is putting pressure on the backward Pe4, and the Nc5 is blockading the Pc4 AND attacking the Pe4.

PLANS:
Well, now, we have to choose between strategy and tactics. When I first looked at the position, I swear I heard it scream, “Make use of the overloaded black Queen!” so I looked at 1.Nxe5. Of course, 1...Qxe5 2.Bxc5 wins a pawn, but Black has 1...Ncxe4! when play would go like 2.Nxd7 Nxc3 3.Nxf6+ Bxf6 4.Rf3 Nxe2 and material is equal. So I went to see what a positional approach would offer.

White wants to make use of his queenside chances (space advantage and ideas of creating a genuinely dangerous passed pawn), while restraining possible Black Kingside counterplay.

The white d-pawn is going nowhere by itself, but it can be used to ram the Black queenside, e.g. with a3, b4, and then the b-c-d pawns can create some serious threats. Black wants to stop White’s queenside and play on the kingside, with moves like ...b6, ...Nh5 (or ...Ne8 but this blocks the back rank and disconnects the Rooks) and ...f5 (with either more pressure on the Pe4 or liberation of the Bg7 after exf5 gxf5 and a later e4, not to mention this will create passed pawns for Black too!).

That being said, there are two moves I think must be considered: 1.g4 and 1.a3.

1.g4 with the idea of restraining a f5 advance to stop Black’s kingside. However Black can hit back with 1...h5 (he can’t really achieve ...f5 now), and play would continue 2.g5 Ne8 3.h4 f5 4.gxf6ep Nxf6 and after 5.Ng5 the Black majority can’t advance, though White has to look after his King – e.g. 5...Ng4 6.Bxg4 Bxg4 7.a3 b6 8.b4 Nb7, when although White does have queenside play, his King looks a bit weak. I’ll analyze further later, when we have the queenside analysis done.

1.a3 at once looks like the most logical. Any move except 1...b6 would allow 2.b4 axb4 3.axb4 Rxa1 4.Rxa1 Na6 5.Rxa6! bxa6 and now either 6.Bc5 (getting back the material with a lot of play), or 6.c5!? when White will have a pawn for the Exchange and a dangerous majority, though I'm not sure that's enough compensation. So, if any move but ...b6 gives White advantage, let's look at 1...b6: 1.a3 b6 2.b4 Nb7, and now, if White plays the turtle-slow 3.b5?!, then 3...Ne8! 4.Nd2 (4.Na4 f5 doesn’t look pretty either) 4...f5 5.a4 Nf6 6.Bd3 Nc5, and White is paralyzed whereas Black has got in his dream ...f5. So instead 3.Qb3! axb4 4.axb4 Rxa1 5.Rxa1 c5 6.dxc6ep Bxc6 7.Nd2, with good chances because of the potentially weak Black b-pawn and the ever-present queenside majority.

But let’s go over what we have on 1.g4 again, now that we have seen what White’s queenside can do:

1.g4 h5 2.g5 Ne8 3.h4 f5 4.gxf6ep Nxf6 5.Ng5 Ng4 6.Bxg4 Bxg4 (from here on it’s pretty much the same) 7.a3 b6 8.b4 Nb7 9.Qb3 axb4 10.axb4 Nd6 11.Bf2! (Prevents all the mate threats that would otherwise come down the file) Rxa1 12.Rxa1, and I played the rest with my program: 12...Qd8 13.c5 Qf6 14.Ra2 bxc5 15.bxc5 Ne8 16.c6+ is winning for White, and this is certainly better than after the immediate 1.a3.

So my move would be 1.g4. I’ll be looking forward to the solution!

SILMAN: German certainly has a knack for explaining positions. GREAT job! However, I noticed a couple of problems. First, you don’t want to leap from line to line (as he did with 1.a3 and 1.g4), telling yourself that you will finish analyzing something “later.” Find the truth about a move and then (and ONLY then) move on to the next possibility.

Next is his look at 1.a3. I found it odd that he ignored Black’s most obvious reply, 1…a4. Usually this kind of move must be avoided like the plague since it cripples White’s queenside pawns, but in this case White can say, “it’s all part of the plan” by continuing 2.Nd2 Ne8 3.b4 axb3 4.Nxb3 Na4 5.c5 with a serious queenside initiative.

Also, after German's 1.a3 b6 2.b4 Nb7 3.b5 (only good if White can force through c4-c5) 3...Ne8 (3...Nh5 is a superior choice) 4.Na4 he gives 4...f5 as good, though 5.c5 seems very attractive for White.

Finally German went with 1.g4 h5 2.g5 Ne8 3.h4 f5 4.gxf6 Nxf6 5.Ng5 and now, instead of his 5…Ng4, which is weak, Black should challenge White’s control over g5 by 5…Nh7! when …Bh6 will follow in some lines, chipping away at White’s advantage. My point is this: when you analyze a line, you MUST train yourself to look for your opponent’s very best moves. German clearly has a lot of talent. Tightening up his analysis (i.e., not making soft replies for his opponent) will take him to a new level.

As for 1.g4, it’s certainly interesting. However, many players don’t feel comfortable opening up their King in this fashion. This doesn’t mean it’s bad, but you ARE taking on a lot of responsibility.

THOSE WHO LIKE 1.d6

WHITE GOES BERSERK! BLACK TO MOVE

Joshua Lee said:

Tactics: 1.Nxe5 Nfxe4! 2.Nxe4 Qxe5 3.Nexc5 Qxe3+.

1.d6! forces matters, activates White’s pieces, and opens up a new outpost for a White Knight on d5. 1…Qxd6 (1…cxd6? 2.Nd5) 2.Rad1.

SILMAN: First, let’s look at his 1.Nxe5 Nfxe4 2.Nxe4 Qxe5?? and now, instead of 3.Nexc5 Qxe3+ which indeed wins for Black, a “slight” improvement is 3.Bxc5 when Black must resign.

Next, his 1.d6 is certainly forcing but this doesn’t mean it’s good: 1…Qxd6 (there’s nothing wrong with 1…cxd6 since 2.Nd5 is met by 2…Nxd5) 2.Rad1 and he stops here, obviously thinking that White is on top. However, this just isn’t the case: 2…Qe7 3.Nd5 Nxd5 4.cxd5 b6 5.Rc1 c6! and White has absolutely nothing.

THOSE WHO LIKE 1.a3

PREPARING b2-b4. BLACK TO MOVE

Douglas Staples said:

For the latest tournament player’s problem I will address the tactical aspect of the position first. At first glance, it looks as though Black’s Queen is overworked, protecting both the pawn on e5 and the Knight on c5. However, any combination designed to exploit this fails because White’s Queen can easily become overworked as well. For example, 1.Bxc5 fails to the obvious 1...Qxc5+ when the extra tempo allows Black to protect his pawn. Also, 1.Nxe5 fails to 1...Ncxe4! when 2.Nxe4 is comfortably met by 2...Qxe5 when for no material cost at all Black has activated his dark-square Bishop and opened the e-file towards that stack of white pieces. The only way out of the pin on the e-file appears to be 3. Nxf6+, but 3...Bxf6 leaves Black threatening things like 4...Qxb2. I think White has a slight advantage due to his piece mobility at the start and he should not allow Black to activate his pieces just for a pawn. I think that White’s correct plan centers around his spatial plus and the mobility it provides.

To be honest, I think it is more difficult for me to understand how to use a spatial plus than any other sort of advantage. The reason for this is that having additional space gives one access to more squares, but if the opponent has piece counter-pressure against those squares, then trying to use that extra space to funnel pieces through will result in nothing more than exchanges (which the person with spatial superiority should avoid). So if my idea seems amateurish or meek, well, that’s probably because it is. Nonetheless, if unable to create active play based on that space, my first instinct is simply to grab even more space and try to push my opponent off the edge of the board. Thus, I give the nod to1.a3. This will be followed by Rb1, b4, etc., continuing with the queenside space edge. The justification for this somewhat slow, passive maneuver is that the center is fairly stable and, due to Black’s lack of mobility, a kingside attack isn’t a huge concern. Also, if Black lashes out in the center with something like c6, White doesn’t have to even really blink an eye, since cxd5 can be answered by exd5, when White is even better than before due to his queenside majority. The only trepidation I have about this is it doesn’t seem active enough, but since space is a static plus I’m not sure if White actually needs to play actively. Since this is the type of position I have the most trouble with, I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for the solution.

SILMAN: Doug did a credible job in his analysis of 1.Nxe5, but what interested me most was his confusion about space and statics. In positions with a closed center you must play on the wings with pawns (this gives you added space AND opens files for your Rooks). Here, White would love to advance his b-pawn (if possible) with more queenside territory while simultaneously pushing Black’s Knight off of its fine c5-post. Black needs to generate kingside play by …f7-f5.

It’s odd that Mr. Staples thought the advance of the b2-pawn to b4 was passive, when it’s actually a very straightforward, aggressive plan. Perhaps many players only consider kingside attacks to be “active,” though is clearly a delusion that needs to be completely stamped out from one’s chess brain.

THOSE WHO LIKE 1.Rad1

PREPARING d5-d6. BLACK TO MOVE

Garth Sylbing (1700) said:

I am a player with a 1700 ELO rating though, of course, my rating should be around 1900! That is to say, according to people like my friend Genna Sosonko who know my understanding of the game. Unfortunately I am very weak in controlling my nerves during a game and this makes me too impulsive; yeah I know I should sit on my hands, but I cannot sit on my head!

The position you offered is interesting because in a split second I saw two moves I could play. One is 1.Nxe5 and the other is 1.Rad1. In a game I am afraid I would capture on e5 without too much thought. That’s my problem. Even if I prefer Rd1. That’s the way I lose a lot of games. I do hope however, that in the future I will go for “normal” moves like Rd1. Taking on e5 is risky because Black can play 1…Ncxe4 and than suddenly it’s all but clear. Take on d7 take on c3 and then? Take on f6 and Black is not worse.1.Rd1 is best because taking on e5 is still possible and White, by putting his Rook on d1, has strengthened his position considerably.

SILMAN: Fritz loves 1.Rad1, and several site guests made mention of it too, but this move can easily turn out to be useless. The idea of 1.Rad1 is to prepare a tactical d5-d6 thrust, but if Black doesn’t fall into any traps I’m left wondering what placing the Rook on d1 really accomplishes. Black can answer this with 1…Rad8 (this avoids Knight forks on c7 in some lines after d6 and Nd5), or he can simply ignore his opponent with 1…Nh5 when I don’t see anything that special for White.

THOSE THAT LIKE 1.Nxe5

WHITE SNARLS AND LEAPS!
BLACK TO MOVE

Chris Burns said:

This was a difficult challenge for me. If I actually had to play this for real, I am not certain that I would have come to the same conclusions on the spot as I did after a long, long time of looking at the board (honestly, this took several hours over many days). I am certain that, over the board, I have a real-time weakness in assessing what is the best countermove by the opponent in a quiet position. I looked long and hard for a way that White could quietly progress with developing moves without opening the door for Black, however I settled on the tactical opportunity that you alluded to in the problem description. I will start with a summary of imbalances followed by what I think is the best set of moves for both White and Black. [JS: Chris did an excellent job with the imbalances but we’ll bypass that and go right to his analysis].

White has an opportunity to gain a pawn by
1.Nxe5 Qxe5
2.Bxc5 Rfe8
Since the center is not yet closed, play should continue to revolve around these files and over to the f-file, which looks good for White with the Rooks. There is an opportunity for a discovered attack, if Black can be induced to the right squares without sufficient protection. For example, White’s Bishop could skewer the Black Queen along the a1-h8 diagonal to the Knight if it receives protection from the Queen at f2, d1, or d2.
3.Bd3
Equals the number of attackers and defenders of the e4 pawn. 3...Rab8 or …Rac8 would give White the chance to set up a skewer by 4. Qf2 followed by Bd4, so Black makes the Bishop move away.
3...b6
The best move.
4.Bf2 [JS: Here Chris gives lots more analysis, but I’ll show why it’s not important (and thus, why I’m leaving it out) in my comments.].

For me, the quiet developing moves, such as 1.Rad1, let Black counter with developing moves as well. I am thinking of 1...Nh5, which opens up the d8/h4 diagonal for the Queen and also attacks g3 and f4. It also allows the Bishop to eye e5 and f6, which cramps White’s Nxe5 opportunity for which I opted.

SILMAN: The problem with Chris’ analysis (Many other site guests also failed to see the flaws in 1.Nxe5.) is that 1.Nxe5 doesn’t win a pawn at all, and 1.Nxe5 should be answered by 1…Ncxe4 with interesting complications which will be looked at in far more detail elsewhere.

Jussi Jakenberg (1750) said:

This looks like a King’s Indian position, except that the pawns on d6 and f2 are missing. The tactical possibility is 1.Nxe5, when after 1...Qxe5 2.Bxc5 White will have won Black’s important center pawn. However, it seems that after 1…Ncxe4 Black is doing okay.

Strategically White would like to play on the queenside with b4, c5 and so on. Black would like to play on the kingside with …Nh5 or …Ne8 and …f5.

If White tries to prepare b4 with 1.a3, Black has 1…a4 which stops White’s play. White can try 1.b3, with the idea of 2.a3 and 3.b4, but that seems too slow, for instance 1.b3 Nh5 2.a3 f5 3.b4 Nxe4 and Black is better.

So as White I would play for a draw with 1.Nxe5.

SILMAN: Jussi’s initial reading of the position was right on, but later he lost faith in White’s position and decided to fight for equality. This shows a fear of kingside attacks, which isn’t healthy since you’ll always overreact (as he did here). Much of the King’s Indian is based on White having faith in his queenside play over Black’s kingside chances. If you panic as soon as he plays …f7-f5 you’re in for a rough ride.

I was happy to see that he noticed 1.a3 can be met by 1…a4 (other readers seemed oblivious to this thematic move), but in this case it turns out well for White. In other words, rather than see what would happen after 1…a4, Jussi got lost in dogma and missed many possibilities.

Later we’ll see that White had several good moves, but even the line given by Jussi as being good for Black was abandoned too early due to a preconceived mindset: 1.b3 Nh5 2.a3 f5 3.b4 Nxe4 (“and Black is better” – Jossi) 4.Nxe4 fxe4 5.Bc5 when White is the one who is on top.

The moral? If you don’t believe in your position then who will?

Steve Bennett (1266) said:

I would play 1.Nxe5 Qxe5 2.Bxc5 Re8 3.Bf3 this appears to gain a static advantage of a pawn.

1.Nxe5 Nfxe4 would be refuted by sharp play from White: 2.Nxd7 Qxd7 3.Nxe4 Nxe4 4.Qxe4 Re8 5.Qf3 Bxb2 6.Rb1. Poor play would be to recapture the Knight immediately by 2.Nxe4 Nxe4 3.Qxe4 Bxe5 keeping it even (4.Bf4 is stopped by 4...f6).

SILMAN: Steve noticed that 1…Nfxe4 was possible (by the way, even 1…Bxh3!? deserves serious attention!), but he rejected it. Unfortunately, his analysis is incorrect: 2.Nxe4 (Steve calls this “poor” but it’s actually best. On the other hand, Steve’s recommended 2.Nxd7 gives White nothing after 2…Nxc3 3.Bxc5 Nxe2+ 4.Kh2 Be5+ 5.g3 Qxd7 6.Qxe2 Rfe8.) 2…Nxe4 3.Nxd7 (Now this is best, while Steve’s 3.Qxe4 gives Black all the chances after 3…Bf5 4.Qf3 Qxe5) 3…Ng3 4.Rf3 Nxe2+ 5.Qxe2 Qxd7 when we’ve arrived at a very important position.

WHITE TO MOVE

This is an interesting position. One would think that White’s central majority would give him an edge, but Black has plenty of counterplay down the e-file. In the game Hubbard (1600) – Spigel (2052), Florida 1997 White failed to make use of his positive imbalance (turning his c- and d-pawns into a passer by c4-c5 and d5-d6): 6.Raf1? (forcing Black to set his own majority into motion) 6…f5 and White later committed suicide and lost. Instead of just moving without bothering to figure out what’s going on first, White should play something like 6.Qf2 Rfe8 7.Rd1 (Guarding d4, getting off the dangerous a1-h8 diagonal, and getting behind the d-pawn in anticipation of c4-c5 and d5-d6) 7…Re4 8.Bd4 with equal chances.

I should add that Black’s best option might well be 1…Ncxe4 when 2.Nxe4 Qxe5 3.Nxf6+ Bxf6 4.Bc5 Rfe8 5.Bd3 b6 is nice for Black, while 2.Nxd7 Nxc3 3.Nxf6+ Bxf6 4.Rf3 Bd4! also gives Black a rosy future.

WHITE TO MOVE, BLACK’S HAPPY

THOSE THAT LIKE 1.Bg5

FREEZING THE f6-KNIGHT. BLACK TO MOVE

Andreas Vogt (Germany, FIDE 2269) said:

I am looking at this as if I had to play it right now, so just the diagram – no pieces to move around and no computer to compensate my deficits in visualization and calculation. And on a timescale reasonable for practical play.

We are at the end of the opening phase. Development is about equal, but White has a central space advantage. Actually, the position looks like a standard King’s Indian, with one important deviation: the pawns on f2 and d6 have been exchanged. Thus Black has less control in the center and on the queenside; right now the Knight on c5 is lacking support, and a White Nxe5 is in the air. On the other hand, some dark-squares close to White’s King (f4, g3) are weak, and White would also be weak on the e-file, if the pawn on e5 were removed. If the center is kept closed, White would presumably try to play on the queenside, using his pawn majority here together with the space-gaining pawn on d5, and Black would try to operate on the kingside.

Now, what about 1.Nxe5? Taking into account White’s weaknesses given above, together with the resulting opening of the e-file and the diagonals d6-h2 and g7-c3, I don’t trust it. Suppose Black replies …Bxh3 (not the only thing he could consider, there is also …Ncxe4), then what? Grabbing wood with 2.gxh3 Qxe5 3.Bxc5 Qg3+ gives him an immediate perpetual, and if no material is gained, White has just unfavorably changed the structure. No, I would rather keep the center closed.

A queenside move like 1.b3 (idea a3 and b4) would presumably be answered by …Nh5, eyeing the weaknesses f4 and g3 and preparing …f5. So I would first like to slow down Black’s action on the kingside, e.g., by moving the Knight away from f3, thus controlling h5 (1.g4 looks far too loosening to me). Where should the Knight go? 1.Nd2 (or 1.Ne1) would be answered by …Ne8, still intending ...f5 etc. 1.Nh2 does nothing for the queenside attack, but White can answer …Ne8 – what else is Black supposed to do, 1...h5 2.Bg5 looks very unpleasant – by 2.Bg4. This controls f5 and initiates a not unfavorable exchange, as 2…f5 3.exf5 h5 4.f6 seems nice for White. The alternative to suppress even …Ne8 is 1.Bg5 with an annoying pin, as Black is rather short of good squares for his queen (d6 can be hit by Nb5, after Bxb5 cxb5 White would get strong pressure along the c-file): here the absence of the f2-pawn is actually useful for White.

So, for me it’s 1.Nh2 or 1.Bg5, both with the aim of suppressing Black’s kingside play – a close call. Ok, it’s time to move, so I’ll go for Bg5. I think Black will have to make some concessions benefiting White’s queenside play to free himself from the pin.

SILMAN: Mr. Vogt verbalized everything beautifully, but he failed to back his words up with analysis. For example, 1.g4 is indeed loosening, but it’s also not easy for Black to meet (In an actual game I would give 1.g4 nothing more than a quick look to save time since other tempting and safer moves exist, but in this kind of analytical forum a deeper analysis is both possible and worthwhile.). It deserves to be analyzed and taken seriously. Moves like 1.b3 and 1.Nh2 have promise, but analysis is needed here too.

In the case of 1.Bg5 (a move that I like very much!), White must assess a few different positions: 1…h6 2.Bh4 g5 3.Bf2 g4 and what’s going on? That question should have answered before playing 1.Bg5. One line is (after 3…g4) 4.Nxe5 gxh3 with interesting complications (just the tip of the iceberg!). I think 2…g5 should be answered by 3.Bg3 when 3…Nh5 fails to 4.Bxe5! (the player of the White pieces should have explored this further too). So, after 3.Bg3 Black’s best is probably 3…Ne8 (heading for d6) with a tense game that should favor White but it’s still very, very tough. Also critical is 3.Bg3 g4!?. Mr. Glen Suares pointed out the following variation: 3.Bg3 g4!? 4.Nxe5 Nh5! 5.d6 Qe8! 6.Nxd7 Nxg3 7.Nf6+ Bxf6 8.Rxf6 Qe5! 9.Rxh6 Qd4+ 10.Kh2 Qe5 drawing. There are lots of interesting lines to explore here!

Mr. Vogt has great instincts and excellent positional judgment. However, he also needs to prove his strategic hypothesis a bit more than he does.

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