A player frequently encounters positions where he/she has to choose from two or three different possibilities. Making the right choice is often crucial in such cases. Anyone who wants to seriously improve his/her chess skills must pay attention to this subject. But how is a player to know which plan is correct? While there is no ultimate solution, serious study can help a lot on that matter. What kind of work should a chessplayer do? Basically, one of the best methods is to play over games of good players, with extensive supplement commentary and analysis. Books of selected games of Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Jose Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Aaron Nimzowitch and other World Champions/chess legends are a great place to start. David Bronstein’s famous book CANDIDATES TOURNAMENT, ZURICH 1953 can also be recommended, perhaps even ahead of the above-mentioned material.
Here are a few tips:
1) Evaluate a position using the following elements:
a) King’s position and safety (both your opponent’s and your own).
b) Material correlation.
c) Situation in the center, who controls it, what can be done about it? Ultimately, control of the center is a great plus in most cases.
d) Presence of weak pawns and squares. If you have those, what can be done to defend or get rid of them?
e) Piece placement. Good and bad pieces (your own and your opponent’s)
f) Open lines, files, and diagonals.
2) After evaluating the situation, make your decision. What are the common plans in such positions?
3) After choosing a plan, start looking for a particular move, make sure it’s tactically sound.
4) After verifying your move, take a look at least at one alternative move.
There are some other factors that may influence your choice of a plan, such as the tournament situation, the presence of a time pressure, etc.
Here are two games where one of the players faced a dilemma while choosing a plan. Particularly challenging are situations where a player has to choose between keeping Queens on the board or exchanging them.
Karpov-Kasparov, World Championship Match 1984
BLACK TO PLAY & MAKE A DECISION
Garry Kasparov, then a young grandmaster, faced a serious challenge here: to play 35...Qxd3 36.Rxd3 Kf7 with a slightly passive, but nevertheless solid position, or to play the move that occurred in the game, 35...Rc2, which also looks attractive. On top of the seriousness of this decision, Black also had a serious time shortage.
Let’s evaluate the situation here. White’s King is safe, he controls the d-file, and his Bishop is more active than his opponent’s Knight. Black’s King seems to be okay for now, but not quite as safe as his White adversary is. Also, the h-pawn is bit loose. Taking all this into consideration, in my opinion Black should do the following:
1) Exchange Queens with 35...Qxd3 36.Rxd3, because in a middlegame his King may be in danger.
2) Bring the King to the center with 36...Kf7 and be ready to cover the d7-square with …Kf7-e6.
3) Play …g7-g5, kicking White’s Bishop off its comfortable post. The advance of the g-pawn also sets up a later …h5-g4 push at the right time.
4) Try to activate his Knight and Rook.
All of this looks relatively simple, but faced with time-pressure, Kasparov chose the second option.
35...Rc2?
It sounds strange, but this is the losing move! Black probably hoped for 36.a4 Qxd3 37.Rxd3 Ng6 but forgot that his 8th rank was weak and that White does not have to trade Queens.
36.Qe3!
Karpov makes a very strong move that points out the vulnerability of Black’s King. In case of 36...Rxa2? 37.Rd8, threatening 37.Bd6, White would win Black’s Knight. Also bad was 36...Qf7 when 37.Rd8 Kh7 38.Rxf8! Qxf8 39.Qd3+ and 40.Qxc2 wins for White.
36...Rc8 37.Qe7!
Now it’s obvious Black is in trouble, as his pieces are disorganized and pawns are weak.
37...b5 38.Rd8!
A decisive blow. Black now loses at least a pawn.
38...Rxd8 39.Qxd8 Qf7 40.Bd6 g5 41.Qa8!
ATTACK EM AND HACK EM!
Black has no way of protecting the a-pawn.
41...Kg7 42.Qxa6, 1-0.
At this point the game was adjourned and Kasparov resigned without resuming. Black can’t prevent the loss of a second pawn. If 42...Qd5(d7,e8) then 43.Bxf8+ Kxf8 44.Qxf6+ is easily winning.
In our next game White had a couple of moments where he had to make a choice.
T.Petrosian - A.Beliavsky, Riga 1973
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.Be3 d6 6.f3 e5 7.d5 Nh5 8.Qd2 f5 9.0-0-0 Nd7 10.Bd3 Nc5 11.Bc2 a6?! 12.Nge2 b5?
FULL OF SOUND AND FURY
Late World Champion Tigran Petrosian was a player of exclusive positional understanding and intuition. In the position above, White faces several choices. Typically, his plan would be a kingside pawn storm, but Petrosian noticed that Black seriously weakened his queenside with …b7-b5, especially the c6-square. Also, the majority of White’s pieces were aiming at the queenside and, should Black’s c5-Knight be pushed back, it would be difficult to regroup. After thinking for forty minutes, White decided to attack on the queenside and played...
13.b4! Nd7 14.cxb5
In case of 14.c5 a5! Black would have some counterplay.
14...axb5 15.Kb2!?
White prepares the maneuver Ne2-c1-b3-a5 and threatens to take on b5.
15...Ba6 16.Nc1 Qb8?
A typical maneuver, but instead 16...Nb6! was best. After 17.Bxb6 cxb6 18.Bd3 Qd7 Black would be okay.
17.Nb3 Nb6 18.Na5
Now White is not afraid of ...Nc4+.
18...Nc4+ 19.Nxc4 bxc4 20.a3 Nf4?
Another mistake. Black should play 20...fxe4 and if 21.fxe4 then 21...Rf4!? threatening …Nh5-f6-g4. In that case, 22.Bxf4? exf4 would give Black excellent counterplay along long black diagonal. However, 21.Bxe4 instead of 21.fxe4 would give White a small edge.
What should White do after 20…Nf4? He strength is on the queenside, so he regroups his pieces for a pawn push there.
21.Ra1!
Petrosian prepares Rh1-b1, Kb2-c1 followed by the advance of the passed a- and b-pawns.
21...Nd3+ 22.Bxd3 cxd3
ANOTHER DIFFICULT DECISION
Again White has a problem. His ideal would be to move his queenside pawns and then win the d3-pawn, but how? In case of 23.Rhb1 fxe4 24.fxe4 Bc4 going back to c1 does not make sense. Tigran employees the rule of the first World Champion Steinitz, “The King is a strong piece.”
23.Kb3! Rc8 24.a4 c6 25.dxc6 Rxc6 26.b5
The d3-pawn falls and Black decides to complicate things.
26...d5 27.Nxd5 Bf8 28.Qxd3 Qd6
Another challenge here. White needs to trade pieces, but in case of 29.Rhc1 Rxc1 30.Bxc1, Black would have 30...Bxb5! 31.Qxb5 Rb8.
29.Kb2! Rb8 30.Rhc1 Kh8 31.Rc3!
If 31.Rxc6 Qxc6 32.Rc1 then 32...Bxb5!!
31...Bb7 32.Rac1 fxe4 33.fxe4 Rxc3 34.Rxc3 Bxd5 35.Bc5!
KILLING COUNTERPLAY AND ICING THE GAME
A nice little detail, otherwise Black’s Queen would have had access to b4.
35...Qf6 36.Qxd5 Rd8 37.Qc6!
Now White’s win is a matter of technique.
37...Qf4 38.Bxf8 Qxf8 39.Qc5 Qf4 40.Qc6 Qd2+ 41.Ka3 and White went on to win the game.
