Table Of ContentYelena Dembo
Conversation with a Professional Trainer
Methods of Positional Play
ISBN 960-631-222-4
© 2006 YeleDneamb oC.o nversation With A Professional
Trainer-Methods of Positional Play
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, re
cording or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.
Printed by Polyentypo Editions
amv etmyu cohb litgoem dy p arenVtlsa diDmeimrb o
I &
NadezFhodkai ansaw, e lalsm yh usbaSnodt iLroigso thfeotri s
thegirreh aetli pnt hcer eaotfit ohbnio so k.
Cotnaicntf ormation:
yelenadceommb o.
lVWW.
yelena@yelenacdoemm bo.
2
Table of Contents
About The Author 5
Symbols & Abbreviations 6
The Purpose of this Book 7
Preface
8
ChaptOenre- Opening Problems
9
Chapter- HTowwot oI mporvPea rt One
13
ChaptTehrre e
25
Howt oI mporvPea rTtw o:E vaaltuion
Material Balance 25
Positional Pluses and Minuses
26
The placement of the kings 26
The situation in the centre
34
Development advantage
41
Piece placement 49
Inactive pieces 55
Pawn structure
60
Presence of a passed pawn
64
Open and semi-open files 66
Outposts on open and semi-open files
73
Diagonals
76
Weak squares 79
3
ChapteFro ur 82
Howt oI mproPvaerT th ereC:h oosaiP nlga n
Playing on the Kingside 82
Pawn majority on the kingside 82
Qualitative pawn majority on the kingside 84
Attacking a fianchetto with the h-pawn 88
Advancing pawns to gain space 88
Positions with opposite-side castling 89
Piece concentration on the kingside 91
Weaknesses in the opponent's castling position 94
Playing on the Queenside 96
Pawn advances to gain space 96
Positions with opposite-side castling 97
Piece concentration on the queenside 98
Playing in the Centre 1 0 1
Blows in the centre with pawns 1 0 1
ChapetrF ive 104
How Itmop roPvaerF to ur: Recommendations
Creating problems to the opponent 104
Conversion of extra material 105
Two knights vs two bishops 1 12
The problem of exchanging 1 13
ChaptSeir-x Howt oI mproPvaerF ti ve 124
Index of Players 133
4
About The Author
Here are a few words about my chess career:
times medal winner of World and European Youth Champion
- 8
ships, including l stplace in European Rapid Championship Girls
under 20 in 2002 and 3rd place in European Individual Women's
Championship in 2005 in Moldova.
- I became WGM in 2001 and IM in 2003. I have one GM norm
(Hamburger Schachfestival 2005)
- Winner ofBykova Memorial in December 2004.
- More than 100 games published in the famous Yugoslav "Chess
Informant" with my analysis and novelties.
- Chess journalist from the age of 15. I write for Austrian, German,
Hungarian, Russian, Czech and Greek magazines.
- I h ave played in men and women leagues in the United Kingdom,
Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Israel.
- Professional chess trainer from the age of 13. I have students
from more than 36 countries. Their rating level ranges from un
rated to 2450. Official vendor on the Playchess.com, World Chess
Network and Internet Chess Club servers.
My personal website is www.yelenadembo.com. Check it out!
5
Symbols Abbreviations
&
tl+ White/Black is slightly better
±I+ White/Black is clearly better
+- / -+ White/Black is winning
equal
unclear
co
00 with compensation for the material
development advantage
c
space advantage
0
attack
initiative
t
counterplay
�
zugzwang
0
checkmate
#
strong move
exceptionally strong move
II
? weak move
?? blunder
!? interesting move
?! dubious move
with the idea
�
only move
0
better is
0
worse
:::; IS
line (file)
�
centre
83
kingside
))
(( queenside
X weak point
.l ending
time
ffi
diagram
(D)
6
The Purpose of this Book
Legendh as it that
Tchaikotvhsge"-.r yec,aot m poser,
oncsea i"daT:l eins9t 0 %w ork".
It hitnhkat thi en genmiuosuisc ian
wasn oqtu ictoer rientc htci ass e;
talies9n 0t% work.
correct
Everything has its own reasons in life. The reason for the creation
of this book, the second one in my authoring career, is very simple.
Many of my students (and often even complete strangers) ask me
the same questions: how to work on openings, how to improve tac
tical vision, how to eliminate blunders, how to prepare for a game,
how to work on the endgame, and so on. And, since I teach a lot
(generally online because it is very convenient!), there have been
probably hundreds of times when these questions were asked!
At some point this repetitive pattern began to annoy me, so I
thought "why should I explain the same thing hundreds of times to
hundreds of chess players? Isn't it easier to write a book, offering
in it the answers to at least thmeo stto piqcuaels tianod nthesn, to
point everyone to this book?".
So I eventually sat at the table in the living room, opened the com
puter and started recalling those questions. ..
7
Preface
One year after publishing my first book, I offer the readers a
new, second one. And while in the first book one could mostly
find impressive, dynamic games with fine sacrifices, this new book
is generally dedicated to methods ofpositional play.
These methods are definitely the basis of chess, its foundation.
Even if we want to attack and sacrifice very much, we first must
reach the appropriate position by making use of the proper meth
ods, evaluate it correctly and only then (once again!) to continue
the game with the proper methods. And it will only depend on our
level of understanding positional play, whether it is going to be an
attack, a useful exchange of pieces, an advance of our pawn chain
or the transition to a superior endgame. So: methods, evaluation,
methods... It is precisely this that we are going to speak about
now. Even more, we are going to have a close look at 232 exam
ples which will help us to understand better what does "positional
play" consist of.
It is difficult not to notice that there exist several fragments
from the same games. Of course, none of the fragments repeat
themselves and all of them focus on different themes! This is not
the result of my carelessness and certainly not an attempt to in
crease the size of the book in this way ©. In the original manu
script there were 439 pages(!) and I spent a great deal of time and
effort to considerably shorten it and eventually produce the book
you are holding! The repetitive inclusion of these games was dic
tated only by the desire to show what interesting and diverse prob
lems and methods can occur in every game we play. I am sure that
after a serious, careful study of this book your evaluation of chess
positions will become deeper and more exact, your arsenal of
methods of positional play significantly richer and your results -
naturally- better.
Good luck to you!
8
ChapteOrn e
OpeninPgr oblems
Quetsi:oI nd onh'atn dle dturhe efro m time to time and to
openaicncgu raHtoewcl ayIn. look at these exemplary games
imprtohvies ? a gam.
If you don't have the possibil
First of all you need to ask ity to receive a trainer's help
your trainer's advice, whether on this matter, you can work
the openings and variations on your own with the Ency
you play suit you. They must clopaedia of Chess Openings
suit you, your style. Very of (ECO), the Chess Informants,
ten, chess players don't think vanous books and mono
about this, but their results - graphs, recently updated com
successes and failures - de puter databases (such as
pend on this factor, sometimes ChessBase's Mega Database),
even to the extent of 100%. New In Chess Yearbooks,
You wnielvle bre a blteo magazines. You should also
play vwaerlila toiroo pnesn contribute your own analysis,
ings dtohnas'tut yi otu . where possible.
Secondly, you need to col Of course, it is necessary to
lect the appropriate material on check all this information
your openings until the present yourself and with the help of a
moment. Here the trainer's computer engine. There is no
help is especially important. guarantee for complete accu
He will show you the neces racy and elimination of errors,
sary variations, interesting even in the most carefully pro
games played with them, he duced theoretical book! After
will explain everything. Then, you do that, you can be sure
you need to study this theory that the information is reliable
(up to move 6,8, 10, etc., de and correct.
pending on your chess
strength), to repeat this proce- Quest:i oWnhicohp enings
9
