Jacob Aagard:

A Short Cut to Experience

Those familiar with my writings will know
that I have tried to categorise all areas of
chess into techniques and basic ideas, with
some success I think. Others have done the
same, probably in some cases with greater
success it depends on who you ask.
We all know that there are many ways to
do just about everything. While writing
this article Anand is leading the candidates
(after round 6), not necessarily because he
is the best player, but because his opening
preparation has given him a better position
against Aronian and Mamedyarov, who
did not defend well once they were in a
worse position. Should he win the
tournament something you know better
than I when you read this, his strength in
the opening is likely to be entirely
worthless in the match against the World
Champion, as it was in 2013.
It is not only winning a game of chess that
can be done in different ways; finding the
right move can be done by many different
ways as well. We know that elimination in
defence can cut our calculation time; but
there are those that solve these kinds of
problems by something akin to divine
intervention (intuition), hard calculation
and so on. And I cannot think of anything
that is as narrow as defence.
Like my mentor Mark Dvoretsky, I believe
that although there are many ways to do
most things; this does not mean that they
should be rated equal. As with the defence
example: elimination has a tendency to be
a faster and more accurate way of dealing
with this type of problems. It has a higher
hit rate than other known methods; which
is why we teach it.
The first five volumes of the Grandmaster
Preparation series are all exercise books.
When you try to help thousands of people
develop their skills in various areas, this is
probably the best way we have available.
But when you are working with a talented
player or a small group of talented players,
it gives the experienced trainer a chance to
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take the players out of the gym and on to

the pitch. Sure, there is no spectators, no
referee, no prizes beyond pride, but still it
gives us the chance give our students a
more real-life experience.
And the material is easy to come by for an
experienced trainer. I am (as a publisher)
in the process of putting the final touch on
Tibor Karolyis first volume on Mikhail
Tals best games, called The Magic of
Youth. There are a number of famous
games in there, but there are also games
that my students with certainty have not
seen; even if they have seen the most
famous ones (which is bit dubious
already). There are 100s of books like this,
thus 1000s of examples already available
for the experienced trainer ready to pick.
Below I have chosen three practical
examples that I have used with my
students; in this case all of them
grandmasters.
The first of them is maybe the most
famous endgame position in modern times,
due to the extensively analysis by
Steckner, Dvoretsky, Mueller and many
others. In this case I had two GMs play
against each other. You will have to
forgive me for not using their names, but
just refer to them as White and Black.
Being a trainer is a bit like being a
friend/lawyer/priest all-in-one; all of which
are roles that require complete confidence.
The Steckner Position

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1

The scenario for this game is that White is

theoretically unprepared, but Black cannot
remember the details, though having
studied it at some point.
1.Kd4! Ke6?
1...Rf2? is the move given in the 4th
edition of Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. I
am sure it will be heavily revised for the
5th edition. 2.Rc7 Ra2 3.a7 Kf5 4.Kc4
Kg4 5.Kb3!! is Steckner's famous idea,
leading to a won position because of the
quick transfer of the rook to a4.
2.Kc5 Rc2 3.Kb6 Rb2 4.Kc7 Rc2 5.Kd8
Rf2

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6.Re7! Kf6 7.Ke8! Ra2 8.Rf7 Ke5 9.a7
Ke6 10.Kf8 1:0.
White had not studied the position
previously, while Black had read
Dvoretskys Endgame Manual. We can see
that just reading about the position is not
enough. Again there are many ways to
develop at the skills necessary to play such
positions. One of them is practical
experience, as in this exercise.
1...g5! is a rare omission in what I consider
the best book written on chess. I am not
sure why Mark did not include it; and
frankly, I am afraid to ask. The main
reason to include it is that a big fan of the
book, who has reportedly read it four times
cover to cover (no small feat; great does
not mean easily accessible!), did not
manage to win when he had the position
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over the board. 2.hg5 (Maybe not the

greatest test.) 2...Kg5 3.Kc4 Rf2 4.Rd7
Ra2 5.a7 Kg4 6.Kb3 Ra6 7.Rd4 Kg3
8.Ra4 Ra7 9.Ra7 h4 10.Rf7 h3 11.Kc3 h2
12.Rh7 Kg2 13.Kd3 h1Q 14.Rh1 Kh1,
draw, Grischuk : Radjabov, Odessa (blitz)
2008.
2.Kd5 is the more ambitious try and for
some time it was believed that White was
winning here, as 2...gh4 surprisingly loses.
xxx of Armenia found an elaborate draw
after 2...g4!?, with a subtle point on move
7. Personally I cannot see what is wrong
with 2...Kg6! with the idea 3...f6, 4...Kf5
and then ...gh4 and counterplay against the
white pawns. The draw seems to flow
quite easily. I put this on my blog,
challenging people to refute it, but no one
did.
General endgame play
Obviously this is a highly specialised
position which was only reached in a
handful of games. (Its attraction to modern
theory is certainly that it is just outside the
reach of computers and specialised
programs like FinalGen.) But it is still
relevant to the development of endgame
skills. Certainly Black realised the dangers
of passive play in rook endings a pawn
down, as well as realised the difference
between having read a DEM once and
really knowing the essential endgame
theory.
We should also not forget that the study of
generic positions help us understand the
underlying dynamics of the game. While it
is rare that we will end in a specific
theoretical ending, a general understanding
of the mechanics of rook endings is
certainly useful. We might reach 3-5 rook
endings a year, if we play a lot. But in
training it is quite easy to play 50-100 rook
endings in 1-2 weeks training camp; or
ever a few months of training. The
experience garnered would take an average
professional career to collect!
The same goes for other endings of course.
In a recent group training session I gave
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the students the following bishop ending,

which I had annotated for Endgame Play
to play.
Nakamura H. : Caruana F.
Thessaloniki 2013

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In the game Caruana violated Rubinstein's
mantrum of "do not hurry" and pushed one
of his passed pawns too early. As a result
he did not manage to get the connected
passed pawns he could have and failed to
win the game. 57...c4? 58.bc4 dc4 59.Ke3
c3 60.a3 Bd5 61.Ba4 Bb7 62.f4 Be4
63.Bb5 Kg6 64.Be8 Kh6

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65.a4 Bb1 66.Ke2 Bc2 67.Ke3 Be4
68.Ke2 Kg7 69.Ke3 Kf8 70.Bd7 Ke7
71.Bb5 Kd6 72.Be8 Ke6 73.Ke2 Kf6
74.Ke3 Kg7 75.Ke2 Kh6 76.Ke3 Bb1
77.Ke2 Bc2 78.Ke3 Bb3 79.Kd3 c2
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80.Kd2 Kg7 81.Kc1 Kf6 82.Kd2 Kg7

83.Kc1 Kf6 84.Kd2 Kg7, draw.
The main line I found myself included
improving the bishop quickly. 57...d4!?
58.Be8 Bd5 59.Bb5 Bb7! The bishop is
going to a better diagonal. One of the ideas
is that Black can play ...a4 in many lines.
60.Be8 Ba6 61.h5 Bd3

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62.Bc6 b5 63.Bb7 c4 64.bc4 bc4 65.Ba6
Be2 66.Bb5 c3 67.Ba4 d3 68.Ke3 f4. It is
time to resign. This is the way I personally
approached the position, using the
computer only to refine a few sidelines.
Surprisingly all of my students chose the
same first move:
57...Bf7
Partly a waiting move.
58.Bc6
Against 58.Be2 one student mentioned
58...a4 59.Bd1 a3!? before I realised that I
had made the wrong defensive try and took
back two moves.
58...d4
58...c4 (I do not really like this move, but
objectively it works. But I prefer a more
patient approach, which we talked about
after the exercise.) 59.bc4 dc4 60.Ke3
(This position was reached in two training
games.)
1) 60Ke5?! 61.f4 Kd6 62.Ba4 Kc5
63.Bd1 b5 64.h5 (I have managed to create
counterplay. I should still lose, but it not
requires some accuracy from Black's side.
3

A good moment to talk about the

importance of using the strongest piece on
the board better!) 64...a4? (64...b4? was
the other suggestion from the player, but
this also failes to win. After 65.h6 Bg8
66.Bc2 Bh7 67.Bd1 Black surprisingly
cannot improve his position. 64...Kb4! was
the right move. The king is stronger in
front of the pawn, where it dominates
important squares. 65.Kd4 Ka3 66.h6 Bg8
67.Bc2 Ka2 68.Bf5 a4 69.Kc3 a3 and
Black wins because of ...b4 and ...Kb2.)
65.h6 Bg6 66.Bh5 Bh7 67.a3 b4 68.ab4
Kb4 (The passed pawns have been split,
but true to his nature, Black remained very
optimistic.) 69.Kd2 a3 70.Kc2 Bg8
71.Bf7!? (Not the most logical move,
71.Kb1 was simpler.)

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71...a2! (A very nice try. The player
thought he was winning. But White has a
great solution.) 72.h7!! (72.Kb2? Bf7
73.h7 c3 and White is quickly mated.)
72...Bh7 73.Kb2 (White is in time.)
73...a1Q 74.Ka1 Kc3 75.Kb1 Kd2 76.Bc4
Ke3 77.Be6 Kf4 78.Bf5. A draw was
agreed.
2) 60...c3! was stronger, as played by one
player. After 61.a4 f4 62.Kd3 Kg6! I had
to resign. Not surprisingly this was the
youngest of the players; they have a
tendency to be more concrete.
59.Bd7 Bh5
59...Bg6 60.Bb5 Bf7 61.Bd7 c4? (This
fails in quite similar ways to the game.)
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62.bc4 Bc4 63.a4 d3 64.Ke3 f4 65.Kd2

Kg6 66.Be8! (This is what the player had
missed. Now White escapes with a draw.)
66...Kh6 67.Kc3 Bd5 68.Kd3. Black still
has some practical chances, but
disappointed, the player offered a draw.
60.Bb5
60.Bf5 Bf3 61.Bd3 was maybe a tougher
defence.
60...Bg6 61.Bc6 Kg7!
Black has stabilised the position. Now the
king is improved.
62.Bb5 Kh6 63.Kg3 d3 64.Kf4 d2 65.Be2
Kh5 66.Ke3 Kh4 67.Kd2 Kg3 0:1.
Middlegame training
Playing interesting positions is also a good
way of developing other skills, for
example areas such as attack and defence.
The following very promising position is
one of my favourites. Three players have
tried it on, all with different results.
Schoene R. : Gerlef M.
Germany 1998

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The exercise is abandoned and discussed if
it does not start with the same first few
move. Actually this happened with the
third of the games we shall see below. The
player is a bit cautious by nature, which is
by no means a great disadvantage as a
chess player. He just needs to understand
when he should overcome his caution. The
4

around 50 attacking games we have played

in training over the last 2-3 months have
greatly improved his feeling with this, in a
way that reading books like Attacking
Manual 1+2 and Anands Best Games had
not. He needed to know that he could
handle an attack correctly.
In the game a draw was agreed on move
28 after 18...Qd1?, but only one move
makes sense:
18...Bg4!
This sacrifice cannot be calculated to the
end, but the attacking ideas are quite rich,
so it is definitely worth the risks,
especially in a training game!
19.hg4 Ng4 20.Re1 Re6! 21.Qc2 Rf6
22.Kf1

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This position arrives by force. In my own
terminology 18...Bg4 was a revolution. It
ends in this position where there is no
direct way to continue. The targets have
moved and you have to build up your
attack again (evolution). This is actually
the purpose of the exercise. Basically
Black should make something out of the
rook on a8, but this is quite easy to fail to
do, when there are still active possibilities
with the pieces we have in the attacking
zone already.
In this position two different moves have
been tried training games against me.
a) 22...d5!? 23.Re2 Nh2! 24.Ke1 Nf3
25.Kd1 Ng1 26.Ke1 Qh2

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26...Raa6! is a beautiful way to include the

last piece into the attack.
27.Bf1 Nf3
27...Raa6 28.f4!? offers a bit resistance.
28.Kd1
Here teo games went in different
directions.

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a1) 28...Raa6? 29.Qc7 Kh7?
29...Rac6 would still have kep the balance.
30.Qd7 Rae6 31.Bd2
The player threw in the towel. 1:0.
a2) 28Qg1! 29.Re1 h5!
A very strong idea by the player. It is not
so easy for White to stop the passed pawn.
29...c5!? 30.dc5 Rd8! is another very
dangerous idea.
30.a4 g5 31.Qe2 Ne1 32.Qe1 Rf2 33.Bb5
Qg3
33...Qg2!? was potentially stronger, but
also far less obvious. For example: 34.Bd2
Rb8! and Black wins after 35.e2 h4 or
35.Kc2 c6! 36.Bf1 Qg3 when Black keeps
control and soon advances the h-pawn.
34.Ra2 Qf3 35.Be2 Qg2 36.Bf1!
Never give up!
36...Qf1 37.Rf2 Qd3 38.Qd2 Qb3 39.Ke1
Ra4 40.Rf5 Ra2?
The final mistake; ironically right after the
rook has joined the game. 40...f6! 41.Rf6
Ra2 42.Qd1 Qd1 43.Kd1 Kg7, followed by
the advance of the two passed pawns,
would still have won.
41.Rg5 Kf8 42.Qd1 Qc3 43.Bd2 Qb2
44.Qe2 c5 45.Rd5 c4 46.Rc5 Ra1 47.Kf2
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Ra2 48.Ra5 Ra5 49.Ba5 c3 50.Bc3 Qc3

51.Qh5 Qd2 52.Qe2 Qa5 draw.
The third player handled the attack much
better. The rook on a8 is given a role.
b) 22Re8! 23.Re2 Qh2 24.Qc6!?
24.a4 Qg3 is hopeless as well, so I played
for another trick.

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24...Kf8!!+
I resigned. There is no way I can avoid
losing the g3-pawn and then everything.
The trick was of course that 24...Re7?
would even leave Black a bit worse after
25.Qa8 Kh7 26.Be4 g6 27.Bg6! and
28.Qg2, when the defence is ready and
White can advance the a- or e-pawn. 0:1.
I hope this article has given a bit of insight
into how I try to assist the student in taking
theoretical/abstract knowledge into a
practical understanding of the underlying
principles of chess strategy.

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