"We perceive after a careful consideration of the evolution of the chess mind that such evolution has gone on, in general, in a way quite similar to that in which it goes on with the individual chess player, only with the latter more rapidly."-- Richard RETI
"The delight in gambits is a sign of chess youth... In very much the same way as the young man, on reaching his manhood years, lays aside the Indian stories and stories of adventure, and turns to the psychological novel, we with maturing experience leave off gambit playing and become interested in the less vivacious but withal more forceful manoeuvres of the position player."-- Emanuel LASKER
![]() | I asked elsewhere, what's your style - the crunch or the crouch? or a bit of both? To help you in this decision, you might be interested to play over some of the exemplary games of the previous World Champions. Which do you admire most, which seem to you to be most logical, which diagrammed positions attract you? You may find that once you understand your strengths and weaknesses better, you can make efforts to steer the game into channels that suit you and not your opponent. Moreover, as Reti and Lasker suggest, that we often start off playing like Morphy, and then start to get interested in slower play; I would not, however, be in too much of a hurry for this. Advanced players might like to play these games over one at a time in between reading the next section on some of the theories behind these games. |
"Whether this advantage is theoretically sufficient to win or not does not worry Capablanca. He simply wins the ending. That is why he is Capablanca!"
Sir George Thomas once remarked: "Against Alekhine you never knew what to expect. Against Capablanca, you knew what to expect, but you couldn't prevent it!"Alekhine had a knack of finding "accidental" opportunities in apparently harmless variations. The "sting in the tail" is the hallmark of an Alekhine combination, but he beat Capablanca on technique, improbable as it seemed at the time.
![]() | So, what do you think? What games attracted you? Which ones looked or felt like your games, which do you admire most? Most players have a favourite or a hero in chess, and fondly imagine their play to be 'a bit like Morphy'; the thing to do is to assess what is real and what is you kidding yourself, but then to see how to improve - how to choose your openings, what your weaknesses are, what sort of positions to steer for and avoid. Players of every style have won the championship. Make your style work for you. |
"Today we see in chess the fight of aspiring Americanism against the old European intellectual life: a struggle between the technique of Capablanca, a virtuoso in whose play one can find nothing tangible to object to, and between great European masters, all of them artists, who have the qualities as well as the faults of artists in the treatment of the subject they devote themselves to: they experimentalise and in striving after what is deep down. they overlook what is near to hand....If Americanism is victorious in chess, it will also be so in life. For the idea of chess and the development of the chess mind we have a picture of the intellectual struggle of mankind." - Reti, MOIC.
The play of the American Paul MORPHY brought some additional science to all this, not that everyone recognised it at the time. Through his games he showed that a successful attack must be based on a lead in development. Similarly, he showed that a player who is behind in development must not open lines to 'free their position', since these lines will provide avenues along which the better-developed side will attack - instead, they should keep things closed until they have caught up a bit.
Sadly, when players learned to decline or return sacrificed material, a lot of the steam went out of the Italian approach. e.g. an old line of the Danish Gambit goes 1 e4, e5; 2 d4, exd4; 3 c3, exc3; 4 Bc4, cxb2; 5 Bxb2. If Black clings to the material White will have a good time, but MIESES showed 5...d5; 6 Bxd5, Nf6 secures open lines and probably the two Bishops. The best line for White here is probably 7 Bxf7+ Kxf7; 8 Qxd8, Bb4+ 9 Qd2, Bxd2+ when Black has no extra material but can play to win the ending with the Queen's-side majority. Technique was replacing romance in chess.
Lasker and TCHIGORIN both played superb defensive chess - Lasker on a knife-edge, waiting for his opponent to stumble, and Tchigorin more solidly - it was Tchigorin who founded the great highway of the Ruy Lopez known as the Closed Morphy or Tchigorin Defence (1 e4, e5; 2 Nf3, Nc6; 3 Bb5, a6; 4 Ba4, Nf6; 5 O-O, Be7 {just this far is the Closed Morphy}; 6 Re1, b5; 7 Bb3, d6; 8 c3, Na5; 9 Bc2, c5 {the Tchigorin Defence; Black can delay the ...Na5/...c5 manoeuvre until after castling}). Tchigorin was a demon attacker, rather in the old Romantic mould. When Steinitz defeated Tchigorin in a match he said ironically "youth has triumphed" - meaning, the Modern Steinitz, much the older of the two, had defeated the Romantic.
Steinitz' awkward-looking chess attracted a lot of criticism, but even if there was no arguing with results there was no arguing with Steinitz, who was as pugnacious an opponent off the board as on it. In 1886 Steinitz played Zukertort for the World Championship, and critics of the day compared the clumsy-looking games unfavourably with the supposedly brilliant, error-free and superior chess of Morphy. Steinitz replied, not just by pointing out in an article Morphy's tactical blunders, but also indicating his strategical errors. Steinitz agreed that Morphy was a genius, but added that "Morphy in 1886, had he been alive, would have beaten the Morphy of 1859"...
"When it is so freely asserted that Morphy's style was all genius and inspiration ... Morphy possessed that most profound book knowledge of any master of his time, and never introduced a single novelty, whereas since his day the books have had to study the players...The technique of chess continued to evolve. His theories were adopted, adapted and publicised by the German player Siegbert TARRASCH, who, while often regarded as dogmatic, played in a fresh, direct style. He would always defend an isolated central pawn if it meant he could develop his pieces freely, and his defence to the Queen's Gambit does just this: 1 d4, d5; 2 c4, e6; 3 Nc3, c5; 4 cxd5, exd4; 5 Nf3, Nf6 and later Pxc5 (or ...cxd4,Nxd4) will give Black the IQP. It was Tarrasch who gave the line 1 d4, d5; 2 c4, e6; 3 Nc3, Nf6 its derisory name of Orthodox Defence. In the Ruy, he advocated the Open Morphy Defence with 5...Nxe4, again leading to an open position where Black has compensation for messy pawns in activity. This balance between pawn structure and piece activity is perhaps the key question in any chess position, and after Tarrasch we see a continuous exploration of these issues across a variety of positions."We may all learn from Morphy and Anderssen how to conduct a King's side attack, and perhaps I myself may not have learnt enough. But if you want to learn how to avoid such an attack, how to keep the balance of the position on the whole board and how to expose the King and invite a complicated attack that cannot be sustained in the long run, then you must go to the modern school for information...
"The progress of age can no more be disputed than Morphy's extraordinary genius" - STEINITZ
Reti, in Modern Ideas in Chess, points to CAPABLANCA as being the first player to subjugate development to playing with a plan. For example, after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.Ne5 [Capablanca,Jose - Blanco Estera,Rafael [C10]; Havana (02), 1913] instead of another developing move Capa played 7. Ne5, moving a piece twice but preventing the natural ...b6 and ...Bd7 which would get the Bc8 out of the box.
[The game finished 7...Bd6 8.Qf3 c6 9.c3 0-0 10.Bg5 Be7 11.Bd3 Ne8 12.Qh3 f5 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.0-0 Rf6 15.Rfe1 Nd6 16.Re2 Bd7 17.Rae1 Re8 18.c4 Nf7 19.d5 Nxe5 20.Rxe5 g6 21.Qh4 Kg7 22.Qd4 c5 23.Qc3 b6 24.dxe6 Bc8 25.Be2 Bxe6 26.Bf3 Kf7 27.Bd5 Qd6 28.Qe3 Re7 29.Qh6 Kg8 30.h4 a6 31.h5 f4 32.hxg6 hxg6 33.Rxe6 1-0]
The hypermoderns would therefore develop the Bishops in fianchetto, and use side-swipes like c2-c4 to undermine the centre. For White, the Reti (1. Nf3 2. c4) and Barcza (1. Nf3 2. g3) openings, and for the Black Alekhine's Defence (1. e4 Nf6) and the Grunfeld Defence, are good examples of the hypermodern legacy. See the document on hypermodern openings.
"It is the aim of the modern school not to treat every position according to one general law, but according to the principle inherent in the position"It seems that this claim has become more true as time has gone on. Novel play in the opening has become increasingly sophisticated, and players will defend the most dreadful-looking pawn structures if they get some sort of activity for it. Chess has become more concrete, more dynamic, and more difficult. Let's have a look at a couple of examples:
This position, arising after 1 e4, c6; 2 d4, d5; 3 Nc3, dxe4;
4 Nxe4, Nf6; 5 Nxf6, exf6 (now we more often play 5...gxf6);
6 Bc4, Bd6; 7 Qe2, Be7; 8 Nf3, O-O; 9 O-O, was
well-known to players and theorists of the 19th century. Lasker, for
example, comments:
"White's plan consists in realising his pawn superiority on the Queen's side while remaining passive on the King's side. Black, on the other had will attampt to force his opponent to advance one of his pawns on the King's wing, in order to start play against White's King's side with his pawns."
Lasker has in mind moves for White such as c4 and d5 to create a passed pawn, and for Black ...Bg4, ...Bd6, ...f5 and ...Qh5. In fact play went 9 ...Bd6; 10 Re1, Bg4; 11 Qe4! Bh5; 12 Nh4, Nd7; 13 Qf5. Steinitz and Lasker would undoubtedly have criticised White's crude and 'unjustified' attack. What's going on? Ragozin, a strong and experienced Soviet master, must have been aware of Lasker's views, and of the theories of Steiniz, so why is he playing on the 'wrong' side? He has made in fact a much more dynamic and concrete assessment of the position which notes, not just the Q-side majority, but also: the awkwardly placed bishops, missing Nf6, the compromised f-pawns and White's development and control of space. Given time, Black could no doubt disentangle his pieces. Ragozin gives him no time at all.
13...Nb6; 14 Qxh5, Nxc4; 15 Bh6!! Qd7 (can you find the win after 15...gxh6?); 16 b3, Nb6; 17 Nf5, Kh8; 18 Re4, Bxh2+ 19 Kh1 and Black resigned.
This is the real contribution of the 20th century to chess theory, in which SOVIET players have been dominant. Players look beyond the geometry of pawn formations and have moved to a more flexible and more dynamic style of play. There are no new general principles, because modern players do not believe in general principles. Players like BRONSTEIN and BOLESLAVSKY turned established ideas on their heads in the 1950s, championing Black's dynamic chances in the King's Indian and Sicilian.
The most dramatic recent example of this is Evgeny Sveshnikov's cherished variation of the Sicilian, sometimes known as the Pelikan: 1 e4, c5; 2 Nf3, Nc6; 3 d4, cxd4; 4 Nxe4, Nf6; 5 Nc3, e5; 6 Nb5, d6; 7 Bg5, a6; 8 Bxf6, gxf6; 9 Na3, f5!? Black will use the extra central pawns and piece activity to stop White getting a proper hold on the weaknesses on ...d6 and ...f6/...h6.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6
Black has an obvious hole on d5; White sets out, in textbook fashion,
to occupy it.
7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5
Mission accomplished!
But at what cost? The outpost stands unsupported by any other White
pieces, and the Na3 is at present a bit lost. Black's pawns are very
muddled but control a lot of key squares (c4,d4 and f4). The muddling
also gives Black the open g-file.
Let's see how things unfold
10... f5 11. Bd3 Be6 12. Qh5 Bg7 13. O-O f4 14. c3 O-O 15. Nc2 f5
The muddled pawns dominate the centre and the King's side, while
White's pieces are still looking for a decent plan. Black now attacks
down the open g-file. 16. Ncb4 Nxb4 17. Nxb4 d5 18. exd5 Bd7
19. Bc2 Be8 20. Qe2 Kh8 21. Rad1 Qh4 22. f3 Rf6 23. Qe1 Qg5 24. Qxe5
Bd7 25. Qe7 Rg8 26. Qxd7 Rf7 DIAGRAM 0-1
Games like this may make the classically-trained chessplayer despair,
but they have added a great richness and excitement to our
understanding of the game.
There is another good example of modern planning from Bronstein's superb book on the 1953 Candidates tournament The Chess Struggle in Practice.
In this line of the King's Indian, an opening he and Boleslavsky more or less re-invented, White has a significant space advantage, and Black has a 'backward' d-pawn on an open file, although he has covered the outpost on d5. Black has some good pieces: the Bg7 and Nc5 are well-placed, and the Bc8 and Re8 also have some potential.
Bronstein comments:
"I think now is the time to acquaint the reader with the mysteries of the Black d-pawn in the King's Indian. Even though it is situated on an open file and therefore always exposed to attack, it is not a very easy nut to crack. The simplest method for White is apparently to retreat the Knight from d4, but d4 is precisely where the B needs to be: its jobs are to supervise b5, c6, e6, and f5 and to buffer the influence of the Bg7. Only after White has taken steps against possible Black attacks (...a3, ...Be6, ...f5) can his Knight leave the centre, but during that time Black can regroup to cause worries elsewhere."So the weakness of the d-pawn proves to be imaginary. Contemporary methods of play in the opening recognise the illusory weakness of such pawns. But it was exactly this 'eternal' weakness of the Pd6 that led to the King's Inidan being regarded as dubious.
These all take periodic assessments of what is going on at key points in the games, and often give a few helpful variations with some commentary. For deeper study, some of the most determined attempts to find out what is going on throughout the whole of a game, together with concrete analysis, are to be found in Nunn and Griffiths' Secrets of Grandmaster Play, which can fairly be called a modern classic.
There is a sprinkling of light accounts of chess history in Kosteyev's 40 lessons... books and Phillips' The Chess Teacher, and books which cover its personalities include those by Hartston (Kings of Chess) and Schoenberg (Grandmasters of Chess). The game as a whole has had its history written many times.
The history of chess ideas is covered also in several texts, including the excellent and comprehensive Oxford Companion. Ones that you may find relevant to this page include Euwe's The development of chess style, whose title I swiped, and Imre Konig's superb little book Chess from Morphy to Botwinnik.
This document (style.html) was last modified on 12 Aug 96 by
Dr. Dave