Hi all. I have an absolutely superb game
to show you. This is to me my favorite
game of the TCEC 2019 super finals so
far. So it's in rounds 36 Leela had just
lost with the black pieces in round 35
in the highly topical Sicilian Najdorf.
so we repeat the same opening with Leela
with the white pieces now and this is
the Sicilian mind off we have Bishop c4
85 a repeat upset here this is all the
same moves as the previous game Queen c7
was played
just to mention Knight bd7
has done well for maxim that should
match Sheila Graf in Dortmund 2016 he
was playing on the black side against
Cara Juana and that game with Knight bd7
showed that black got an early grip over
that c4 square with this Knight maneuver
and got a nice attacking position
somehow drumming up can't play that's
that looks like a tactical technical
move Bishop to g4 swapping off weakens I
guess see for a bit and then another
play on that see Foursquare happened
pretty soon so black playing now a
tactic might takes d5 in this position
which seems to give black the driving
seat of this game and just a little bit
more to show this game of interest this
is the most high-profile game in this
variation so rook takes chief I'm
looking at the rook there fantastic as
well looks nice so lvl 1 here White's
resigned Cara wanna resigns here so that
was in 2016 that was with the move
Knight be d7 as an example a key stem
game so anyway here Queen c7 like the
previous game g4 rook CA and here is the
end of the book
g5 is Lila's choice as well as stop
fishes so there seems to be an urgency
here to stop black playing and move like
d5 for example if king b1 d5 is actually
possible for example he takes Knight
tanks and because of this pressure on c2
this is too dangerous it's not just that
sorry that's not the key point here
Queen f2 isn't even position if white
dares play Queen takes d5 it's not that
c2 neglected
can you guess what black plays in this
position a clue here if you look at
these pieces black actually plays rook
the eight yeah and with that skewer
that's very nice for black of course
so g5 stops will this d5 stuff for the
moment this Lodge is the night you might
ask well what if the night went er ei is
that terrible night h5 actually
persuades f4 so f4 here is actually
quite nice for white with a big
advantage the night might swing by it to
f5 d6 there's a nice target these pieces
all on the back row don't look too well
so ninety h5 at least trying to suppress
f4 so this seemed logical for both games
rook g1 we see 97 king b1 and our B 5 1
slight very subtle downside of b5 of
course Paul moves committal you can see
that it subtly weakens the c6 square and
you might think well that's not a big
deal surely beef I was totally formatic
in the spirit of the possession and in
fact yes Black has to try and do
something on this side of the board if
black doesn't play b5 let's say Bishop
f8 instead there Knight d5 this position
it turns out this rook g4 is it's a nice
tax called target the h5 knight in this
position and white could even consider
sacrificing the exchange opening up this
diagonal and this turns out to be a very
very interesting for white blunting the
see free - g7 diagonal and then getting
a really dominant position doesn't have
to take the exchange connect leisure
improve the position and in fact even
play for the D form believe it or not
like this as a disaster scenario so
there's all sorts of disaster scenarios
hair off the bishop FA let's just just
take you back to another position here
at same night f8 instead of night effect
b5 white could then just go for the the
kingside so yeah that's fresh thing mate
so same night a faint here then this you
know why it's gonna be fantastic the in
good shape they're winning positions so
b5 it seems logical and formatic
but just as a sanity check to check all
assumptions about in this game because
it seems as though c6 might have an
issue we have 95 Bishop takes a takes
well the way the others playing it
because now the night it's kind of
justified on be free yeah it's
interesting when we play might be free
what do we really mean what's the
intention might be free if the intention
is like this for a knight on c6 that's a
wonderful intention to have of a night
on be free if it can actually reroute to
the center a nice more Central Square
later and in fact here white after
Knight b6 buzz play Knight a5 to go into
that juicy c6 square you might think
what hold on a sec isn't there a
tactical device black can employ here
against this configuration because the
Queen is holding a5 the Queen is holding
d5 in the game we have g6 you might
think well hold on what about Knight
takes d5 it turns out here after Queen
takes Queen takes a 5
there's Bishop c4 with a strong position
using that pin but also the rook is
overloaded can't take there because of a
AIDS dropping so f7 is hit so say rook F
AIDS for moments Bishop drops back this
position it
zel is actually quite nice for white for
example F for hair and whites playing on
that D file again when switching
sometimes to the D file with a big
advantage you know like winning the
exchange potentially if g6 does not
place a rook e8 then Queen F free and
that night again is a target and I'm
here this is a big advantage for why
it's it's really quite nice so there are
all these implications of Knight takes
d5 to check how it's interesting if
Bishop H Frey is also only enough for
small advice so I think Bishop c4
appears to be one of the key moves here
so just just to put this on the board by
the way there's Queen takes I ain't
checked there so anyway it seems as
though stop fish decided the Knights not
going to be such a big deal it wasn't
immediately planted on c6 we have this
rook g4 okay now we have rook a b8 again
checking this out here this tactic this
position maybe rook h4 is the way to go
here for example like this is a good
attacking prospect for white when it's
getting a nice attacking pressure hair
which should secure a big advantage
there's a G file attack yeah this this
scenario is even if the Queen's come off
it's very very nice for white white gets
a big advantage alright so yeah this
tactic again you know it wasn't employed
Knight takes d5 so we have rook a b 8
and now knight c6 there might there
might be some tricks for black but
leaders not interested in 96 she
actually plays c4 believe or not
we have Knight takes e4 bishop st. c4b
takes rook takes c4 now this is
definitely establishing it seems a
knight on c6 well it's established
knight c6
Brooke a'ight so you might think what
okay is it that the destructive this
knight on c6 fascinating is the fish out
of water here or not that's the question
okay
we have Queen G to Bishop f8 Queen g4
once in exchange of Queens
Queenie eight on the exchange of Queens
the scenario here it doesn't look too
pretty for black this scenario at all
as you might imagine if white gets two
rooks on the Sabbath for example
tactically like this this this is a nice
idea to get to f6 to use the g5 pawn
I'll get a form form for a moment fawni
pawn anyway this this is an advantage
point it's not chat mating but it's an
advantage for the endgame so anyway we
have Queen e8 a4 which is interesting is
there something going on with these two
pawns this two-to-one pawn majority here
or not is somehow the influence of this
Knights are assisting in some way with
the two-to-one pull majority or doesn't
need some extra energy behind it we see
f5 which seems an energetic move
offering sometimes the f7 Square might
be useful to hit d5 the night might want
to come back and hit d5 as well but it's
left stranded there with Queen g2 now we
have Queen d7 and now King a2 and this
is to me a little bit on the amusing
side what on earth is going on with this
King to me I don't know if you in your
feel interested in fonts star but you
might notice on films they have
specialist fonts which aligned to the
theme of the film
this is like a very subtle thing which
does align to the fame of whites
potential past palm plan two to one poor
minority the King might be offering its
services here for the Queen side Paul
majority and that is pretty amusing as
as it continues if it goes up the board
hair or not rook e8 we see rook b4 which
does give the idea that the little a6
pawn here on islands on its own no
corners and islands as they say or no
Maryland's islands might actually be a
victim in some circumstances itself we
have f4 bishop f2 queen f5 a5 which does
fix that target we have King h8 Queen g4
Queen c2 and as an episode here a
repetition and maybe it's like can Lena
actually make progress here we have in
fact Queen G 2 in this position and King
g8 was played you might wonder well what
if starfish had repeated with Queen c2
Queen f1 is okay and there's enough to
evict the Queen back to f5 if the Queen
doesn't take itself back to f5 then the
door can be shut to that Queen and the
Queen is looking a little bit stranded
here as you can see all it's all her
squares have been taken away and in fact
white can arrange the Queen to be chat
mated with Queen e1 now that all the
escape squares of the Queen I have been
taken rook d2 and why it's gonna be
winning that Queen so black what black
has to be careful here with this Queen
Sita we see King J's Bishop II won so
officially stopping Queen c2 like g7 and
black has been quite clever in indulging
our sliding block puzzles by moving the
bishop here the knight can take that
space and then maybe the night might
want to do this and the bishop go back
there might want to be supported by the
bishop on that d4 square
so that seemed to be blacks sliding
block puzzle pan plan which of course
does improve it seems the visual
prospects of the night a night on the
rim is dim as they say so the night it's
trying to go to university here on the
d4 square instead to brighten up its
future we see h4 9 h 5 again for a
moment
not quite the sizes about this
university path King a free Bishop g7 be
free sorry and just a point of note King
a free again this little subtle
indication you know those subtle fonts
they use on films that what is this
aligned to what plan is this what's but
what's behind this King a fray what is
the King doing on a free exactly so we
have Bishop g7 be free so taking the
pawn prophylactically away from a target
you'll note here that there's a
containment strategy going on on e4 as
well the ins a bitch talks about
overtaxing central points you can see
that the e4 is a blockading points it's
not as aggressive as e5 but it's a
blockading points which does contain
this Bishop on g7 so blacks pieces are
fairly well contained at the moment and
as a point of principle if especially if
we if we can play our plans without too
much counter play from the opponent or
another way of expressing that might be
to play our plans with maximum
containment all the time then that's
more ideal we don't want too much
counter play from the opponent we want
the opponent's pieces to be contained in
the ideal world so we have their Queen
d7 Bishop f2 and it seems the e4 block
eight points is maintained the sliding
bot block puzzle exercise now is
exercised the knight does in fact want
to go to a central square now like this
queen f 1/9 f5 Bishop g7 is coming up
now Queen e2 maintains the blockade coin
Bishop g7 saying Knight d4 is going to
be a happening rook b4 and this unveils
the intention but
actually have rook b6 to hit a six that
fixed target might be revisited here the
aggressive 94 this night's come a long
way from h5 Queen Eve for maintaining
physically the blockading points
so absolutely blockading the poor not
just by a bike by indirect control but
absolute blockade with queen efore we
have Queen f7 it will be yeah and taking
just liberate the position if white had
taken the night as don't want to give a
black counter playing too much consomme
so we have Queen f7 if Knight takes c6 d
tanks Queen c6 this position is going to
be favorable White's maintaining a
blockade on d5 now and making progress
with that pawn this is very nice black
still locked up and White's making
progress that's always a good sign both
those those things so we have Queen f7
rook c1 if Bishop takes d4 j't here just
the general see what the danger is you
know d5 could drop even if the Queen's
come off blacks gonna be doing quite
well here even ish position there's some
prospects for black so rug c1 King h8
rook CC 4 then we have Knight b5 chat
you might wonder why Knight b5 check
isn't that potentially tempting white to
do something like an exchange sacrifice
if black doesn't play Knight b5 check if
black plays King g8 it turns out here
rook b6
say it's a black does nothing then
Knight B for seems possible in fact to
hit a 6 here this is gonna be taken
without too much controversy so yeah if
black doesn't do anything then so blacks
trying to be a nuisance perhaps but now
you might want to put this through your
own stop fishes to check this position
because it's not a media at least on my
machine mainly on machines out later now
it's not a major then it's
if the exchange sacrifice is clear or
not Lila does actually play it and it
comes out as not really one of the main
moves but Lila plays it quite a
commercial decision a takes and now rook
c2 and the punchline of this exchange
sacrifice it's King b4 and yes when I
was watching this game live I was
breathing my entire concept of what the
exchange sacrifice represents under good
circumstances and you could define an
exchange sacrifice under good
circumstances is the pieces of the
opponent being contained like they are
vividly here contain the bishop is
contained by its own pawn structure
White has a very very nice blockade on
e4 this is a very nice containment
strategy and the exchange sacrifice
promises some progress for Y in terms of
past pawn potential especially if the b5
pawn can be one here then we'll have
basically a good old story of two
connected passed pawns coming together
so yes this is a very very exciting move
King before indeed to justify exchange
sacrifice so yes it did tickle me a bit
these King moves personally if King b2
then for example black might be
arranging something like a counter
exchange sac and what might only get a
small edge there so King before actually
seems a precise move believer or not
counterintuitive in some respects you
might think it's bring the King out and
about but it's perfectly safe it seems
Queen D free we help King g7 on Queen a6
then Queen text b5 is possible so you'll
note the Knights of guardian of the B 5
b8 square here it's enough to safeguards
White's King and then white could end up
getting a big advice there so we have
King g7 queens XB v Queen d7 and now
King a4 which permits Queen H free stop
fish around here might be
thinking of some other possibilities but
this seems okay Queen e2 Queen h1 and
still making progress so containments
with progress that's an ideal scenario
to have in a chess game you want to be
doing stuff and you want the opponent to
speak contains bottled up
so King f7 here is played
if efore this does maybe you might think
it's a coordination of the Queen and the
rook for this
efore break but it turns out here it
doesn't seem to be doing that much the
king could actually park itself on b5
believe it or not and still make
progress with those pawns the knight and
the bishop assisting this advanced pawn
here and whites doing absolutely fine
when it's getting a big advantage there
so very interesting scenarios indeed we
have king f7 king b5 down anyway without
invitation from a Czech Bishop e7 a6
making progress
h6 trying to undermine White's pawn
chain over here by whatever means
necessary putting pressure like this a 7
just treating it as a pool sack to gain
more time for whites play on the Queen
side white could have taken on h6
there's no disaster taking here the
bishop is still fairly contained and
this position is very very nice for
white indeed winning so a7 anyway just
not caring about losing the corn over
there so that falls taken and now
another punch line move King a6 the
Kings coming to herd these pawns itself
I mean this is a position the Queen's
are still on and this is happening this
is outrageous you might think we have
Queen h3 if Queen a 1 check is rook a to
for example b5 and these two connected
pass ball was huge and this is going to
be a huge void
so Queen cage free b5 it's just a
wonderful sight to behold to me this
game the aesthetics to be honest I
covered game 35 and I hated covering
game 35 yesterday I'm surprised that
video got any likes because honestly
aesthetically to me this game is a
thousand times more aesthetically
pleasing than the game yesterday Lila's
treatment that's just my personal
preference
III have as they say Philidor the poems
are the soul of chess apparently he's
been misquoted
it could have mean the very life of the
game or something make the game lively
but to me the pawn structure is
something which makes the game of chess
fundamentally of great strategic value
as well as tactics and to see the King
assist to connected passed pawns in this
game for me is a delight and aesthetic
delight my favorite game of the match we
see a queen see a check King a5 check b6
is played and out of desperation now
stockfish plays Bishop takes b6 check if
g5 then white could take that d8 so kind
of unlocking that pawn potentially it
still pins unpin for a man a tickling
unpin for b7 potentially the rook can
install itself and in fact this torture
on the sixth rank could happen as well
as the passport so this is absolutely a
winning position for white just crashing
through for example like this wonderful
stuff so we have here Bishop takes b6
Jack another alternative just just to
show some of the flavors of the position
instead of g5 bish King f6 Knight takes
King a6 Queen B 5 and that b7 pushing
through that that those connected
passports whether the King crowning the
a horn soon for the Queen a new queen
okay so b6 and also let's say Bishop g5
Knight takes e5 check is possible
tactical
on that Queen here it doesn't yeah this
is just crushing the two connected
passports are gonna mean wedding doesn't
matter if blacks and Bishop aren't be
absolutely winning for ye so you can get
the flavor of the power of the past pawn
potential there
so Bishop takes b6 in desperation now
White's still making progress tickling
on this side of the board now g6
yep some frets on this side of board
King going there black not even
bothering with Queen c8 check until now
okay then yeah the King's moving around
the beds Bishop f2 that heads the Queen
hitting the Queen again check okay
blacks really just played up here okay
white has lost the two can actually pass
pawns but this is still an overwhelming
position with that one passer now Queen
Asics black did take on a sex here so
that really simplifies things and now
we're approaching yeah blacks very
clearly worse here and in fact spot of
me after rook a1 King g7 the game
officially ended here both engines
fought as like +10 has to be passed and
for like 10 plies and that was it so
adjudicated win for white here to
continue its say Bishop c7 and this kind
of situation interfering with this rook
on the 8th so this pawn can just queen
would be an example I personally enjoyed
this game immensely in fact when there
is such a game I'm a bit nervous about
if I'm illustrating the concepts as well
as I should do not just the technical
variations and for me this is one of
those games I really wanted to underline
some of the concepts represented and I
think they include the King as a
participatory resource for POC connects
here passed pawns the power of
installing and
on c6 the power of a blockade to contain
the opponent's pieces the climate for a
good exchange sacrifice when the
opponent's pieces are contained the
concept of making process progress
whilst the opponent has minimal counts
play and contain pieces all of these
concepts seems to be evident in this
game so it excites me personally
conceptually this game I wonder if it
did you please leave your comments on
this game I like to hear them so if you
enjoyed this game as much as we please
click on top left box which should
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really appreciate it thanks very much
there is of course a puzzle book
available now and transport or net for
this absolutely amazing game I've tried
to highlight just for future reference
the key theme so Sicilian 9 Dorf past
pawn vein so you'll see the image tuned
for that so there were 34 key variations
let's just look at a few of the puzzles
which we can test ourselves with so here
black play for a clear advantage yes in
this variation with the liberating d5
it's not about c2 but actually rook d8
so exposing that disconnection of
White's first rank so that was an
interesting thing white play for a clear
advantage here I think white just plays
Knight d5 nope let's get hints f4 are
the point is without Knight a5 yes it's
logical to play F 4 and then 95 here
nope like d4 right and let's go to f5
this one white plain black gets mated ok
then
I think this relies on a blunder if
blacks not looking at age 7
the variation but you get a flavor of
the extrange sack if the knight is
allowed to be targeted it's kind of
defending blacks King as well so White's
play for a clear edge here Knight takes
each seven I think this was to do with
the default d6 can sometimes be
vulnerable this possession yeah that was
a weakness of the last move Bank win
takes any eight this one I think does
white just drop back to f3 and just take
on F 4 hits in grandma this is generally
this is benefit for whites white
actually could be just taking the rook
soon actually in fact on b8 if nothing
else right here I think was it taking
here and now hitting this encouraging
efore nope ah get hints I was Queen
there I'll write Queen there to switch
maybe over here maybe see free is needed
here or rook c1 nope no that that
defense see - alright and that hits h7
of course nifty okay here for a clear
advantage don't we just take with a pawn
no we take with the rook all right
and can we just take on d6 or a six
either maybe not d6 is Bishop f8 if we
want containments we want to keep this
Bishop contained so White's play for a
clear edge here I think this was
demonstrating if if we get a few moves
we can play for this a6 pawn here quite
safely I think this one for a clear
advice here I think can we not just sack
the exchange here anyway no I want
something else going on here
this I'll get a hint it's check that
does help
actually it so is check and can we go
back with nights before or okay what's
the hint here maybe taking now okay
just a cup of war on this basic filter
you can put in your own filters I think
we're safe enough to take hair cuz the
night's controlling b8 can we just pop
the king on or do something okay what to
do here just have a look windy frame
right and then okay getting hints there
and this one I think can we do this and
be five I think we can just go for the
exchange with queens roundabout here on
check yeah we could take with the Queen
there's no tatak there for black it
seems so yeah also by the way if you
want to check out the deposit box I've
added I'm adding to the famous player
category Paul Morphy
there's 142 if you're a fan of Paul
Morphy check out throughout his career
it's got the age indicator France career
so there's some fun stuff to check out
there for Paul Morphy on the famous
players category that so the hot
category at the moment whether the mick
hotel book being it seems the most
popular in terms of usage at the moment
okay thanks very much
