SC Week 1/3: Petrosian - Portisch, Candidates' 1974 (Introduction)
A sense of timing is the key to good defensive play. Here Petrosian accepts the weakening of his kingside pawns as he realises that he can thereby completely repulse the attack.
Michael Stean
Notes and Observations
Portisch leaves a hole on d5 with 4 … c5 and 6 … e5 but it is not until 27 Nd5, the very last move of the game - that Petrosian occupies the outpost. Rushing to exploit structural weaknesses isn’t necessary they are, by definition, long-term often permanent features of the position.
Petrosian wants to exploit the light squares - and is willing to give up his fianchettoed bishop to get rid of its opposite number.
Like the Botvinnik game, White secures weaknesses with queenside pawn advances and is happy to trade pieces to secure/enhance his advantage.
Thank you for this study companion. I am game two , day two, so far on your suggested approach of a game a day. This excellent book and your study plan are so good. Kind regards.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of not having to occupy a long term outpost immediately ( in this case d5) is another step on the “improve my chess imagination ladder”.
Hello Boycey. Thanks for dropping by.
DeleteKeep up the good work with the book. Let me know how you get on
Thanks for this excellent resource. One of our mutual Twitter followers suggested this book, and I'm glad I found your study companion.
DeleteMy question is, how do you *when* it is time to occupy an outpost? Is it a concrete tactical idea, or something else?
Hello Antonio,
DeleteThanks for dropping by.
Your question is a good one. Unfortunately the answer is the massively unhelpful "it depends".
Some times there are tactics to consider - e.g. if you tried to occupy an outpost and the other side could just trade everything off and you end up losing material because he square is too well defended.
Other times there's going to be positional considerations.
E.g. in the Fischer - Gadia game in the outpost chapter. Why does Fischer play Bg5 instead of Nd5 straight away?
In the latter case Black could play ... Nxd5/Bxd5 Bxd5/Qxd5.
White still has his outpost and it's occupied by the Queen. Black still has the bad bishop on e7. White's bishop is better.
But White doesn't want this. Bobby wants knight versus bishop. So he plays Bg5 intending Bxf6 first. Then only later Bd5 and finally Nxd5 to occupy. And wanting N v B is why he plays Bd5 in the first instance rather than Nd5 allowing ... Bxd5/Bxd5
Ultimately you just have to see a lot of games and keep an eye out for this sort of thing. A few 1000 games and you'll get a feel for what the masters do in certain positions. And when you know that you have more of an idea of what you should do.