French, Winawer variation Middlegame - GM Varuzhan Akobian

[Music] and uh today I prepare to show you a game that I played last Wednesday at the US chess League I'm playing for the St Louis uh team archbishops and currently we are tied for first in a western division and tomorrow we're going to have a big match week 10 and if we win we will win the the division and go to playoffs with a first place so thank you yeah it's a very very important match tomorrow so if you have time uh you can watch you can come at the club watch here in person and cheer for the team or you can just do it at home on ICC you can support the local team so um this game I'm playing against International Master Mark Ginsburg E4 E6 name of the opening yesen defense French defense correct very good excellent French defense now what are the four options now they can try to do here in French defense what are the four options you know tell me all the main four options for white here who can do it first one um you can do the advance with E5 correct you can do the exchange when you take uhhuh do Knight C3 or you can do the par Rush with Knight C2 Knight C3 is called the classical classical and that's what Mr Ginsburg is doing Knight C3 classical he's playing the classical setup so what do you play I'm playing in this game and trying to create some winning chances here I didn't want to just try to equalize so I wanted to play something a little sharper here so I decided to uh steer away from my normal play D takes C4 or Knight F6 and play the bishop G4 here Bishop B4 here and what's the name of this variation it's a French defense classical but now Bishop before before is a different one what is it called yeah the Vare venare venare excellent yes so now here white should play E5 if he doesn't play E5 he cannot fight for Advantage so he has to play E5 it's necessary okay but he didn't do it okay he didn't want to go for the sharp theoretical lines with C5 and takes takes Queen G4 uh Knight E7 Queen Knight E7 Queen G4 this is the way that white should play for Advantage okay so but he didn't do that my opponent he decided to play something rare Knight G7 but when you play rare lines against shark continuation then normally you're not going to have an advantage okay so now here what should I try to do here from here on I want you to take control and find all the moves that I played when he resigned this wasn't a very long game only 31 moves or maybe even less actually what did I play here absolutely opponent gives you a pawn in the opening early stages in the game you look at it there's no big reason for you not to take it so you accept that now he goes A3 attacking the bishop now Bishop is getting challenged here I have two options either Retreat or capture what do you think I should do here I'm playing for a win in this game remember I'm playing trying to play for a win here trying to play as sharp as possible so black to play here decision needed here I keep the bishop huh I would keep the bishop but in that case he takes your Central Pawn then yes but then he you get chased around again no and then then he takes so it's where we don't want to move the bishop too many times like that that's not going to be very very good so what do we do here huh Bishop takes C3 correct decision he takes Knight C3 don't play F5 here Denny very dangerous F5 you know you're behind in development playing F5 he will play F3 break the center and then he will have two sharp pair of Bishops okay so this this could actually turn out to be very dangerous for you look at this this guy comes in Bishop comes in Castle very sharp you're behind in development too risky play it safe but again you have to put pressure Okay now what's the move here we got to try to get development okay we got to catch up on development here how Knight F3 no no you're playing for black F6 sorry Knight F6 you're going to get pinned Bishop G5 that's going to be temporarily okay temporarily you got to do something better than that you don't want to get pinned okay so what is my idea here to try to put pressure here to try to play for Advantage not easy but I had to do this otherwise I will just have an equal game and it's not going to be not easy going to be to try to get winning chances against a you know strong International Master yes Knight C6 excellent good job Knight C6 excellent thinking developing a knight and immediately questioning his Pawn what is he going to do he's got two options but if he goes Bishop D then it's passive then we can try to consider even playing Knight F6 because then he cannot play the bishop away Bishop B5 that's what he played don't rush thinking thinking this is very important game you cannot Rush Bishop D7 he takes your Pawn Knight D4 and then it's not so clear you know you still have to follow the rules guys development right remember he's trying to take your knight and damage your structure are you going to let him do that and can't take KN Denny excellent thinking yes Knight G7 if he takes you take back with the Knight okay excellent just simple development here he made a mistake and looks like this was his chance to take the pawn he didn't do it I think he didn't do this because he he didn't like the fact that I will castle and then his Pawn is hanging and it's not so clear what is's going to you do now because it's like if he goes here I even have like Queen D5 which would be kind kind of unpleasant everything is hanging and this G2 is weak okay so anyway uh he should have done this he didn't do it I also have a maybe a good position after A6 questioning the bishop Bishop goes here I go B5 and then I take the D4 Pawn um if he takes here Knight takes then take this guy okay all right so my opponent played U sorry castles now now what are you going to do he just castled you still cannot take p take the pawn on D4 because you're um you know you're pinned Castle just Castle keep it safe remember that's your step number three Castle keep it safe now now you want to take this Pawn already see he had the chance he had an opportunity to take but he didn't take it and now he's not going to have a chance anymore because he has to go Bishop E3 okay go Bish and now strong move needed here strong move needed here F5 now excellent F5 protecting the Knight and now threatening to play F4 in some point excellent this is the moment to do it see I had to get development before I think about protecting the P don't be thinking oh be greedy a little bit oh I want a pawn I got to protect it no matter what see I was ready to give it back to him to catch up on development and he should have taken that pawn because now he's never gonna get that pawn back because now I'm gonna try to hang on to that pawn as much as possible if he plays F3 what's the strong continuation now F4 perfect attacking the bishop he moves away look at that look at that protected pass Pawn on E3 now next move we're picking up the pawn on D4 as well so I think right around here you realize that things went wrong so he goes 92 I'm better but still if you don't play precisely it's not going to be easy to win a position like this because don't forget he has a small compensation because he still has the pair of the Bishops now I would like you to establish the grip you know the control for your knight on D5 here how are you going to establish that Outpost for your knight here what you need to do first to do that well possible I days to play takes that's great if he doesn't he'll play B5 and then you'll be controlling the C4 Square so he cannot very good thinking A6 if he takes I'll be gladly taking it back and he doesn't have the two Bishops anymore so he goes Bishop to A4 and now push it now he goes here and now what are you going to do Outpost posted there right that's an outpost that he cannot move you from the pond anymore right very strong now he plays C4 attacking your knight I take he takes and now what are you going to do from now on question before before I put the Knight on D5 could I play Knight A5 uh that's an interesting computer suggestion actually uh I'm not sure if it's better than what I did but that computer suggested this also Bishop A2 yeah but I don't want to keep moving the Knight that much I just want to Knight C4 is a possibility yeah I think it's possible yeah white is black is better yeah Bishop here it's an idea you can do it right away because E6 is yeah so I just put this guy here first when you put a knight on a square like this this cannot be a bad move okay it cannot be a bad move when you cement a knight like that in the middle of the board okay remember that just so he played C4 took Bishop takes and now what to do who is going to I don't want to give you hints now because if I give you hints it makes it much easier now now from here on I want you to play like a grand master for the rest of the game very precisely okay let's see let's think a little bit yeah let's think a little bit what is the correct move here look at the position try to see which piece could be improved here huh which piece you can improve a little bit and you know he wants to go Rook C1 he wants to put pressure on that C file as well so he's trying to do things there okay you ready yeah sure a A5 little bit loosen huh little bit loosening Rook C1 got a c56 Knight hanging a little bit could be a little bit loosening think you have an unprotected piece here and that unprotected piece can be improved here KN on the rim is dim dim lonely and dim right don't put a knight on the rim because it's going to get dim so better bravo bravo correct decision look at this when you have Knights they want to be like this protecting each other okay because when they doing this they're very very strong if a capture occurs you go Knight D5 centralizing the pieces Knights they like to be like this protecting each other now he goes Queen D2 now another good move needed here I believe you need to catch up on your development a little bit and here the good thing the beauty of it you make a move and you threatening something that means he has to react that gives you additional time to develop your more pieces so what is the move that is going to develop and threaten something develop and threaten something how about we increase the Threat Level and we make a real threat now developing move and threatening something yes how about Queen to D6 Bravo again very strong Queen D6 developing and threatening to play F4 trapping that Bishop what do you think of that idea to trap it now if he plays Knight F4 which looks very tempting who can tell me why is this move a blunder why is this move losing huh absolutely Danny correct attacking the Knight Knight moves away F4 winning the bishop and if he takes how you going to capture we E Pawn E Pawn attacking the bishop if Bishop takes on G5 we take it see temples remember chess it's all about temples he moves away the bishop then thank you for the bishop you see how that works when you put your pieces on a good squares good things going to happen to you so it's all about putting your pieces on good squares so now he's forced to play the G3 move I know he doesn't want to play this but he's forced to now back to your idea that was good now find a better version of that move now your idea Bishop D7 Bishop B5 was good but now find a better and more active version of it we want to get rid of the Bishops right French defense what's the biggest problem in a French defense who knows that when you have a chance what do you do excellent better version of that better better version of that better version you have of that okay now that his light squares a week next to the king can we try to get our Bishop there somehow Bishop d78 you have a point you have a point bit too long but you have a point yes bit too long something better I rather see those Bishops coming off the board because then I will capitalize on the weaknesses of the light squares how are we going to do that up to that's that was suggested already yeah that was already suggested but better same idea but better version of it okay same idea but better I want better version from you opponent has two Bishops when opponent has advantage of two Bishops you want to exchange one get rid of one okay that's what you want to do right away why do you want to take that Bishop that Bishop is stuck there you have a superior Knight on D5 let's do that later when we have complete the development okay you you can't take that that Bishop is not going anywhere I mean he this is you know very good piece so don't worry about that Bishop right now let's try to get our development somebody even suggested did this move earlier of course but now it's time 45 okay now it's time 45 excellent Bravo excellent thinking the point of this move is of course now my opponent went here now I go Bishop A6 B3 now this is a really tough moment here this is a challenge okay challenge think now now because now when you have the knights like this beautifully protecting each other sometimes they are not as effective because one is taking the space of the other one and the one behind it is kind of crumble up just just defending okay so now which idea comes into place which idea now comes into place no did you listen the question we're talking about Knights Knights are stepping on each other squares okay which idea now comes into play finally hi finally yes this is the moment you do it okay this is called proper chess what if what if instead of B3 they put their Bishop back on A2 then how do I tra the bishop look at the super look at the superior Bishop you have here Superior you know Rook you can go A4 Rook B8 double up to Rooks I mean it plays by itself this position you know just go here you go here double up the Rooks I mean it's not difficult you just double up beautiful Bishop you have now plant the bishop here if you want to okay so B3 now we take if he takes with the queen then you go Knight D5 gaining additional tempos if he takes Pawn takes back on doubling those double pawns okay so he took back with this now important sequence here think now you want to put some pressure on that B file right put some pressure on the B file now which Rook I'm sorry what is The Rook doing here action is where now action is focused where action is focused on which side of the board now absolutely look at that action is here we're not thinking about attack right now we're talking about you know getting the advantage here positional Advantage there okay now he goes Knight F4 and now what are you going to do he's threatening to take your Pawn here he cannot take with the Rook because his Pawn is weak here so he has to take back with the pawn and if he takes back with the pawn what do we do that be absolutely but then this Pawn is always hanging you know Queen is attacking directly and I want to secure a square you know I want to secure a strong Square for my Outpost for my Rook here so the move is absolutely A4 yes ready to go Rook B3 now he goes Rook C3 I bet he didn't expect me to play this move here I bet you he didn't think of this move he thought he's getting some kind of control maybe but now strong move comes in here PA G5 Danel look at my Rooks where what side of the board you think we should play Here pawn G5 E5 you're Shifting the action to other side of the board I think we have to focus where we are strong right now right we're building up here right and what was the purpose of the move A4 to secure which Square to absolutely and remember when you were ahead you're never afraid to trade and I have an extra Pawn right extra Pawn you ahead you're never afraid to trade now he takes because I will double up Queen B2 attacking my Pawn Rook B8 Rook C1 this is a tough move to find because looks like suddenly now my B3 Pawn might be a little bit weak and he's going to go Rook C3 and put pressure on this but here I spent some time I went deep into TS here and came up with a strong continuation I have a strong asset now on top of having the extra Pawn strong asset is is the B3 Pawn here so what can you do here but where that's a logical thinking that is a very logical thinking but where where excellent thinking Knight C6 but then he plays he didn't play this move but do you have a solution for this Knight on the rim it's not ideal yeah yes I'm better after Knight A5 I agree I am better I agree with you but if I had a chance to play this move it would have been really even more spectacular game rather rather than positionally Knight takes correct look at that now threatening to check here so he has to take check now he goes here now don't rush here one inacurate move and you're not winning this game one inaccuracy yes um Queen F followed by one in accuracy and you're not winning this game you think why did I say that one one inaccuracy and you blew away the win go back back you have to remember that okay that's why don't blle the winning position here okay this is winning for you but you need to find a neat move here you have a pass P what do you do with it push it push it pass P's meant to be pushed now he goes here cha and now what's the winning move Pusha Pusha and going in okay excellent G no it's still winning g54 is winning too so this is crushing uh and if he goes here this is funny I just go push here and let's say he attacks me I push again I did all this to so just to get his night from here to there so then I can do whose idea yeah your idea and we push and we push see the Knight is now ineffective ineffective okay and then you quen excellent well that didn't happen unfortunately very unfortunately that didn't happen because I was looking forward to that tactical sequence so he played C5 attacking my queen you still have to be precise here it's not over yet now where do you go with the queen where do you go with the queen here huh well guys you don't need to think too hard on this one it's pretty obvious the next move what is it okay I guess not so obvious your E6 Pawn is weak so you can't just go away from it so very very good now if he goes Rook C then what we going to do absolutely same idea is back we're back in action with this so he goes here now takes away the A5 Square from the Knight and now he wants to get active with you know Rook Queen C4 Rook B1 he wants to put some pressure on me you know now what are you going to do you got to find this move the next two moves were very important to win the game okay because and also win effectively you know without dragging the game you know to several moves unnecessarily yes I have a possible idea um I would like to get my knight to D5 I'm thinking maybe I want to play G5 first to get his KN away from4 and then play 97 95 or maybe 97 right away 97 97 absolutely right away now you're aiming to go here now he played Queen C4 in expectation that I have to defend this or play Knight D5 then he takes that's what he was hoping for okay or King F7 I go defend but now move that he probably didn't expect move that is very powerful and will give me the winning position now after this move we can call it winning for black but you must calculate you can't just play this move you have to have some calculations did you calculate everything Denny yeah D5 bra wow very very strong calculation what if you took theen it's it's even even simpler okay let's finish this line then we'll go over that then takes right takes bravo bravo look at that see the B Pawn Queen so he took back with the knight uh Queen takes was asked now we take take and now what we do and then you go B2 Knight C3 and victory is assured got it excellent so after this my opponent went here now your three moves away from Victory he resigned in a position that he was completely hopeless I mean he he could have played few more moves but he just realized it's just lost so what's the idea here Bravo put it out post attack it now keep going keep working so that they can't take the pawn because of double E3 that's not thought but you have something simpler than that so what is this Pawn sitting there here for you hpon meant to be pushed that's one now what are you going to do and he resigned because if he takes I take sorry he pushes you don't go back Denny you go in now he pushes thank you you go here he pushes here cover and you take this any questions about this game excellent now we're going to do the over review of the game and we're going to see how well the students here remember this okay everybody should be participating so I will uh I will call you on this okay okay we are ready to start and uh it's a pretty simp pretty clear game I think so you should remember it so we're going to start from here you play the Black moves which opening is this everyone French defense which line is he playing the classical classical which respond did I play Bishop what is it called the name of this line that black chooses V over V over V over V over yes very good that's fine we got it we got it back to you okay so last was okay KN G2 he didn't play the main line took the pawn A3 what do you do POS okay okay back to you I know still you can choose you can answer you you can't defend your Pawn yet yeah Bishop B5 continue now he wants to take your knight and damage your Pawn structure are you going to let him do that no then then what are you going to do to avoid that night yeah Knight go where there you go okay excellent hint yes castles he should have taken he castles now what are we going to do now Castle it's on you me he castled I think we castled here also Bishop B3 now you PA F5 now he played Knight E2 and now you want to establish that Outpost remember how now continue it's him but he's put the Knight where KN D5 excellent yes C4 we take he takes now next cement the knights remember the knights they like to protect each other excellent now he goes here developing move and threatening move not yet not yet not yet remember you say this move you forgot you you suggested this move what's the move here develop and threaten develop and threaten F5 F4 yes Queen D6 remember you say that yeah excellent G3 now back to you Denny biggest problem in the French defense when you have a chance what do you do get rid of it Bish b six he play B3 and now remember when the knights are sitting on each other now what are you supposed to do very nice thinking and now the next move is we got to get our Rook into the game Rook on f8 right Rook F B8 excellent Knight F4 next um Bishop takes Bishop takes and then very good thinking now when you play A4 what do you do what was the purpose of it now he's threatening to go Rook C now you got to get your knight in Denny Knight wants to be a participant excellent why's doing this Wonder okay no one know some glitch yeah okay C5 attacking the queen now where is the queen belong oh excellent Rook C3 and now Knight D4 again so he didn't do that he played Queen C3 and now we have to maneuver it back the Knight very good memory yes Knight E7 very nice Queen C4 and now the tricky moment here where he attacked on me thinking I'm going to crumble up and defend but but instead I calculate deeper and try to push him back immediately because the Knight on e4 is the piece that is holding his position together what is the move here G5 Bravo G5 if he takes if he takes B2 Knight C3 wins if Knight D6 then this was a hard move to find Queen D5 cuz this is forcing the liquidation he takes Knight takes okay so he goes Knight to E2 now Knight belongs where the Knight on E7 belongs on D5 excellent King F2 and now push the pawn and queen B5 forces a resignation he resign because if he takes I take he goes here Rook B3 see when you have position is dominating then you're in time excellent job everyone excellent job very good thinking okay at the end of the lecture I have one special study for you to solve not very difficult okay this is by uh troitsky okay troitsky study okay for you I promise it's not very hard like some of the other ones last I did sorry white to play and win I tell you this if the F Pawn wasn't there for black he could make a draw easily if he can somehow get his Bishop in without getting M it this is a draw but you have to choose this use this opportunity here okay to find a way to win him so very special play needed here and you have you have to remember the maneuvering your knight okay maneuverability of your knight is important here try to suggest the whole thing when you raise your hand not just the first few moves Denny uh King H6 King h8 Knight H4 excellent see the point is he cannot go here because of the mate so it has to go here now temp you got move your KN back to yeah that's correct thinking yes correct thinking he can't go here still mates he goes here and now you just got to control that G8 Square okay with something yes yeah two places C6 or D7 which one either one works either one works let's assume we go here okay assume he cannot go away with take the bishop he goes here now take away this Square now immediately immediately yeah King cannot go anywhere he goes here and what do we call this Checkmate okay you could have you could have also done it this way by the way and Knight f8 this way you have a mate as well here got it yeah very special idea starting with King H6 here it's mate so he has to go King G8 Knight F3 maneuver the Knight and Knight C6 or Knight D7 both wins leads to mate or you can start with Knight D7 here and mate okay very good everyone thank you for attending the class tonight and look forward seeing you all on Thursday [Music] [Applause] evening

Channel: Saint Louis Chess Club

Views: 128,473

Keywords: Varuzhan Akobian (Chess Player), Chess (Game), Grandmaster, French Defence, Chess Middlegame, Szymon Winawer (Chess Player)

Id: 1LyYIF6f_p4

Length: 42min 24sec (2544 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 30 2015