SC Week 2/2: Benko - Najdorf, Los Angeles 1963 (Outposts)
"With the disappearance of the White king, Black’s impressive-looking outpost on f4 bears little relevance to the position compared to White’s"
Michael Stean
Notes and Observations
Outposts are not created equal. Benko and Najdorf both have outposts at King Bishop 5. Benko’s is dangerous because it’s near Black’s king. Najdorf’s has little point once White castles long. As a result White doesn’t have to trade it off which means Black never gets to play the … exf4 recapture, opening the bishop’s diagonal.
(Reminder that there’s a chapter on the KB4 outpost in one of de Oudeweetering’s Pattern Recognition books. Look it up).
Long manoeuvres like Nc3-d1-e3-f5 become possible when the position is blocked/the other side lacks counterplay. Where does the piece most want to go? Remember Rowson: talk to your pieces.
An outpost is only relevant in so far as it serves the position as a whole. Black’s knight hops into a fabulous central outpost on e5 but it’s Najdorf’s last move before resignation because his king is so weak.
It's a beautiful and straightforward game. It's fascinating that you can learn from these games and his annotations in so less time.
ReplyDeleteThe move that I found quite learnful myself was the idea with: 11.h4!
Opening the h-file by making use of the far-advanced g-panw and with that creating an entry-route for the heavy peaces on the h-file to the king was key.
I would have doubted myself a bit about 11.. Nxg3, but after 12. fxg3 and the more or less forcing ..g4 with 13. Nh2 white can play on the weak g4 pawn and after ..h5 with 14. 0-0 control the f-file and comfortably double or triple there plus in the long run still playing Nf1-Ne3-Nf5. :)
Curious to the next games! Btw I started with this book after listening to the perpetual chess podcast. As a 2000 player I was intrigued to hear these strategic concepts explained so clearly. :)
Best,
Maxim - Rotterdam
Hello Maxim,
DeleteWelcome to the blog. I'm glad you liked the podcast and I hope you enjoy the book and get a lot out of it.