Chess School Quiz Challenge #21
Challenge
With his pawn storm on the kingside, former World Championship candidate Peter Svidler has created a positional threat. Can you see which one? Now it was up to Vincent Keymer to react correctly. And he did. What did White do?Solution
With his move 15...g6-g5, former World Championship candidate Peter Svidler has indicated that Black has an attack on the kingside in mind. In fact, the black pawn phalanx pushing towards Vincent Keymer's monarch could easily become threatening.
But the black concept has a drawback: the safety of the black king, around which it is now very airy. And in the absence of a black-squared bishop, it lacks a defender of the black squares on the kingside.
Nevertheless, Black has created a powerful positional threat. If it were his turn again, 16...f5-f4 would follow.
White must counter this threat, and this can only be done with one move. For the best German chess player Vincent Keymer, this wasn’t too difficult: 16. f2-f4!
And at exactly the right time!
Not only does the white pawn break stop the black plan. It also causes the white pieces to work against the black king. Black’s lack of king safety becomes a problem.
Black can no longer build a stable pawn chain on the kingside. His point e5 is now under pressure, and on b2 White's black-squared bishop is just waiting for the long diagonal to open up and with it a path to the black king. As we've already established, he lacks a black-squared bishop as a defender that could secure the long diagonal. What's more, the rook on f1, which had been confined and without squares, is now effective on the f-file.
As Paul Morphy (1837-84), by far the best player in the world in the mid-19th century, said: "Help your pieces so that they can help you!"
The white knight is untouchable and dominant on its central base d5. White has a stable advantage, even if the game is far from won. The best female chess player ever needed another 30 moves to do so.
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