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A lot of discussion has been had about who is the best player of all time, etc... But i thought it would be interesting to discuss who the most instructional player is?
I am going to go out on a limb here, but recently i have been going through the games of Boris Gelfand and i have come to the conclusion that his style is very suitable for study for someone at my level. Here is a great example..
Gelfand v Timofeev
So what do i like about this game? If you play though this game carefully, it becomes pretty apparent that Gelfand anticipates every move Timofeev makes and lays a refutation into the position in good time. I particularly like Qf2, blacks reply ..b6 looks at first that it is designed to prevent Bxa7 but that's only skin deep, black is threatening Nxb2 but preventing Qxb2 ..Qxc3 Qxb7 where white regains the pawn and possibly wins a second. Gelfand is a master at tempting his opponents into over stretching, while also keeping a solid position. This game is a great example of positional control.
After playing through this i was amazed that, suddenly, here is a current Grandmaster that i can study and actually understand! Which leads me to wonder, who do you like to study out the current active players of today? 🙂
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Here is another brilliant game from yesterday against Ding Laren. White tempts black with appealing moves, but his play is just resplendent with little traps..
This PGN could not be parsed.
- line 14: Unrecognised token 'now'
- line 14: Unrecognised token 'suddenly'
- line 14: Unrecognised token 'we'
- line 14: Unrecognised token 'see'
- line 14: Unrecognised token 'why'
- line 14: Unrecognised token 'white'
- line 14: Unrecognised token 'played'
- line 14: Unrecognised token 'and'
- line 14: Unrecognised token 'a'
- line 14: Unrecognised token 'couple'
- line 14: Unrecognised token 'of'
- line 14: Unrecognised token 'moves'
- line 14: Unrecognised token 'ago!'
- move 34 could not be played: Invalid PGN : Error converting move a3
[Event "Alekhine Memorial"]
[Site "Paris/St Petersburg FRA/RUS"]
[Date "2013.04.29"]
[EventDate "2013.04.21"]
[Round "7"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Boris Gelfand"]
[Black "Liren Ding"]
[ECO "E74"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2707"]
[PlyCount "154"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 c5 7. d5 h6 8. Be3 e6 9. dxe6 Bxe6 10. Qd2 Kh7 11. h3 Qa5 12. Nf3 Qb4 13. a3 Qb3 14. Qc1 Nc6 15. O-O Nd7 16. Rd1 Nde5 17. Nd2 [now suddenly we see why white played a3 and Qc1 a couple of moves ago!] Qb6 18. f4 Nd7 19. Bd3 Nd4 20. Kh2 Rae8 21. Qb1 Qd8 22. Ne2 Nxe2 23. Bxe2 b5 24. cxb5 d5 25. Qc2 Qb8 26. g3 c4 27. Nf3 Qxb5 28. e5 Bf5 29. Qd2 Be4 30. b4 Qb8 31. Nd4 f6 32. e6 Nb6 33. f5 Bxf5 34. Nxf5 gxf5 35. Qc2 Kh8 36. Bc5 Rxe6 37. Bxf8 Bxf8 38. Bf3 Re3 39. Qxf5 c3 40. Rd3 Rxd3 41. Qxd3 Qe5 42. Ra2 Bd6 43. Bg2 d4 44. Re2 Qg5 45. Qxd4 Qxg3+ 46. Kg1 Be5 47. Qg4 Qxg4 48. hxg4 Nc4 49. a4 Bd4+ 50. Kh2 Be5+ 51. Kh3 Kg7 52. Be4 Kf8 53. Kg2 Ke7 54. Kf3 Kd6 55. Ra2 Kc7 56. Ke2 Kb6 57. Bd3 Nd6 58. a5+ Kc6 59. a6 Nb5 60. Ra5 Nc7 61. Kd1 Kd6 62. Bc4 Kc6 63. Kc2 Kb6 64. Kb3 Kc6 65. Rc5+ Kb6 66. Bd3 Bd4 67. Rh5 Be3 68. Kxc3 Bg5 69. Rh1 Nxa6 70. Bxa6 Kxa6 71. Kc4 Kb6 72. Re1 Bh4 73. Re6+ Kc7 74. Kb5 Kd7 75. Ra6 Ke7 76. Rxa7+ Ke6 77. Kc4 1-0
[Site "Paris/St Petersburg FRA/RUS"]
[Date "2013.04.29"]
[EventDate "2013.04.21"]
[Round "7"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Boris Gelfand"]
[Black "Liren Ding"]
[ECO "E74"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2707"]
[PlyCount "154"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 c5 7. d5 h6 8. Be3 e6 9. dxe6 Bxe6 10. Qd2 Kh7 11. h3 Qa5 12. Nf3 Qb4 13. a3 Qb3 14. Qc1 Nc6 15. O-O Nd7 16. Rd1 Nde5 17. Nd2 [now suddenly we see why white played a3 and Qc1 a couple of moves ago!] Qb6 18. f4 Nd7 19. Bd3 Nd4 20. Kh2 Rae8 21. Qb1 Qd8 22. Ne2 Nxe2 23. Bxe2 b5 24. cxb5 d5 25. Qc2 Qb8 26. g3 c4 27. Nf3 Qxb5 28. e5 Bf5 29. Qd2 Be4 30. b4 Qb8 31. Nd4 f6 32. e6 Nb6 33. f5 Bxf5 34. Nxf5 gxf5 35. Qc2 Kh8 36. Bc5 Rxe6 37. Bxf8 Bxf8 38. Bf3 Re3 39. Qxf5 c3 40. Rd3 Rxd3 41. Qxd3 Qe5 42. Ra2 Bd6 43. Bg2 d4 44. Re2 Qg5 45. Qxd4 Qxg3+ 46. Kg1 Be5 47. Qg4 Qxg4 48. hxg4 Nc4 49. a4 Bd4+ 50. Kh2 Be5+ 51. Kh3 Kg7 52. Be4 Kf8 53. Kg2 Ke7 54. Kf3 Kd6 55. Ra2 Kc7 56. Ke2 Kb6 57. Bd3 Nd6 58. a5+ Kc6 59. a6 Nb5 60. Ra5 Nc7 61. Kd1 Kd6 62. Bc4 Kc6 63. Kc2 Kb6 64. Kb3 Kc6 65. Rc5+ Kb6 66. Bd3 Bd4 67. Rh5 Be3 68. Kxc3 Bg5 69. Rh1 Nxa6 70. Bxa6 Kxa6 71. Kc4 Kb6 72. Re1 Bh4 73. Re6+ Kc7 74. Kb5 Kd7 75. Ra6 Ke7 76. Rxa7+ Ke6 77. Kc4 1-0
The moves that impress me most here by white are 13.a3 and 14.Qc1. Not only is white keeping controls of d4 by allowing the Rook to come to d1, he is also setting a trap. When black manouveres his Knight Nf6-d7-e5, white wins a massive tempo from the Queen on b3. So much time is spent drooling over stunning tactics, but this idea just blows me away. White gets such a massive initiative from this one tempo. There is so much to be learned from this player!
