The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster

Nigel Short and I are looking at a 1943 game between Mikhail Botvinnik and Evgeny Zagoriansky. This is the story so far:

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. b3 Nf6 4. Bb2 Be7 5. e3 0-0 6. Nc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Nxd5 exd5 9. d4 cxd4 10. Qxd4 Bf6 11. Qd2 Nc6 12. Be2 Be6 13. 0-0 Bxb2 14. Qxb2 Qa5 15. Rfd1 Rfd8 16. Rd2 Rd7 17. Rad1 Rad8

I had proposed pushing white's queenside pawns to dislodge the black king - a strategy of which Short approved. In fact, on move 18, Botvinnik played h3, to create what Short called "luft": a bit of air to allow the king to breathe. Thus: 18. h3 h6 19. Ne5 [my idea!] Nxe5 20. Qxe5 Qc5 21. Bf3 b6 22. Qb2 Rc8 23. Qe5 Rcd8

Here I suggested 24. Rd4, thinking there might be a chance of an attack on black's kingside. To my surprise, that is just what Botvinnik did. I had planned Bg4 - "Not such a bad move, though Qe7 is a reasonable reply," says Short. Botvinnik preferred the bolder g4. 24. Rd4 a5 25. g4 Qc6 26. g5 hxg5 27. Qxg5 f6

"Bg4 is not a bad idea," says Short encouragingly, "because you're eyeing the kingside. You've realised the main point - you've weakened black around the central squares, you have a blockade on d4, you have your pieces piled up against d5. He's bound hand and foot. All you need now is something to break down his resistance." The d5 pawn has not fallen, but its defence by black has given white opportunities elsewhere. I take a certain satisfaction from hitting on the same moment as Botvinnik to switch the point of attack.

After 27. ... f6, Short loses faith in the game. Bxh3 for black seems to have been discounted because of Rh4 and Qh5, but the black king could run to f8 and e7, and black might have counterplay with his rooks. "I would say this is a better way of defending," says Short, "and it's odd that it's been ignored in the analysis. He sees threats coming down the h-file and thinks he's going down. But unless you're losing directly, go for it, because it complicates. Players now would play Bxh3 because they're not afraid of ghosts. OK, the guy will win a pawn back [on g7] and you're running with your king, but you've caused damage and unbalanced the position. There may be a Fritzian mate there for white - I don't see it, though I am feeling a bit dopey."

Somehow poor old Botvinnik and Zagoriansky have been forgotten in this digression on the implications of 27. ... Bxh3. Here, for the record, is how the game finished. 28. Qg6 Bf7 29. Qg3 f5 30. Qg5 Qe6 31. Kh1 Qe5 32. Rg1 Rf8 33. Qh6 Rb8 34. Rh4 Kf8 35. Qh8+ Bg8 36. Rf4 Rbb7 37. Rg5 Rf2 38. Qh5 Qa1+ 39. Kg2 g6 40. Qxg6 Bh7 41. Qd6+ Rbe7 42. Qd8+ 1-0

Short goes through these concluding moves perfunctorily. "Maybe we're not learning anything from this," he says in disgust. He is evidently still fretting over that alternative ending, the loose end that interests him more than the actual conclusion.