Table Of ContentTranspo Tricks in Chess
Finesse your Chess Moves and Win
Andrew Soltis
BATSFORD
First published in the United Kingdom in 2007 by
Batsford
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Copyright © Batsford 2007
Text copyright © Andrew Soltis
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ISBN 9780713490510
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Contents
Page
Introduction 5
Chapter One: Double KP Openings 14
Chapter Two: Ruy Lopez 34
Chapter Three: Sicilian Defense 54
Chapter Four: Semi-Open Games 94
Chapter Five: Double QP Openings 120
Chapter Six: Indians 153
Chapter Seven: Dutch Defense and Flank Openings 191
Index of Opening Variations 213
3
4
Introduction
Openings have become so
complex and convoluted that we've
forgotten our basic goal in them.
The reason we pick, say, 1 e4 over
1 d4 - or 11 h3 rather than 11 .te3,
for that matter - is simply to reach a
middlegame we want to play.
Unfortunately, our opponents are
making choices too, in order to In 99 of 100 games Black
reach the middlegame they want continues 5 ... ttJd6 or 5 ... .te7 and
to play. It's rarely the same life goes on.
middlegame. But lurking in the warren of
footnotes of 'book' is 5. .. a6!? It's
How do you get the one you usually followed by the comment
want? Unfair as it may be, you can't 'If 6 .ta4, then 6 ... b5 7 .tb3 d5
rely on your legendary positional transposes to the Open Defense. '
skill, your better-than-Fritz calcul- Since it's a footnote we take little
ating ability or your iridescent notice. After all, 5 ... a6 'just
personal charm. What you can use transposes.' That tells us it doesn't
is trickery - the trickery of really matter because it only leads
transposition. to some other opening, something
irrelevant on that page.
Consider this opening: 1 e4 e5 But 5 ... a6 has been a valuable
2 ttJO ttJc6 3 .tb5 ttJf6 4 0-0 ttJxe4 weapon for players from Paul
5 d4, the main line of the Ruy Morphy to Vasily Ivanchuk. Its
Lopez's Berlin Defense. power lies in how it gets Black
5
Introduction
where he wants to go - to the Open We don't judge transpositions by
Defense - and avoids what he wants the same standard as we do other
to avoid - the Exchange Variation moves. An original opening idea, a
(3 ... a6 4 .txc6). TN as they're called, is evaluated
by the new position it creates. But a
Finesses like that are rarely transposition by definition reaches
appreciated except when they make an old position, as 5 a3! brilliantly
new 'book'. That was the case in did. Instead, you should judge it by
Botvinnik-Capablanca, A.Y.R.O. its effects, especially:
1938, an instantly famous game that
s
How it degrades your opponent
began 1 d4 ttJf6 2 c4 e6 3 ttJc3 .tb4
choices or improves your own
4 e3 dS.
A basic strategy in any opening is
to increase the options at your
disposal. Take this familiar
position.
White's S a3 .txc3+ 6 bxc3
seems obvious today. But in 1938 it
was a masterstroke. 'The idea of the
move is typically modem - to
This is a 'tabia,' that is, a standard
transpose into a favorable variation
starting point in a major opening. In
which would not be reached in any
this case it's a tabia that has served
normal manner,' Reuben Fine
as the launching pad for thousands
wrote.
of Dragon Sicilians, which often
continue 10 ... ttJe5 and .. J:tc8/
In truth, there is a normal
... ttJc4.
manner, the discredited 4 a3 .txc3+
5 bxc3 d5?!, which allows White to But in a 1997 game, Anand
rid himself of a doubled pawn. Ki.Georgiev, Black tried 10 ...
Botvinnik used 5 a3! to trick ttJaS!? White quickly appreciated
Capablanca into that favorable the difference: After the natural
version of 4 a3. 11 .tb3 Black could transpose into
6
Introduction
more familiar lines with 11..J1c8 slow moves often prove fatal, as in
and 12 ... tbc4 13 i.xc4 l:hc4. But this case:
10 ... tba5 gives Black an extra
option, ... tbxb3+, that he may
employ depending on White's next
few moves. In other words, Black
gets to choose whether he wants to
transpose with ... tbc4 or not.
Instead of trying to figure out
how dangerous ... tbxb3+ would be
White made a practical choice,
11 i.e2!. This is a counter-finesse.
It takes away Black's extra option
13 g4! bS 14 h4 e6 1S a3 hS
and leaves the knight with nothing
16 i.gS hxg417 hS! gxhS 18l:1xhS
better to do than go to c4.
l:1cS 19 fxg4 l:1xc3 20 i.xf6 'iixf6
This had a bonus effect because a 21 'ifxc3 tbc4 22 i.xc4 bxc4
move order finesse can also be 23 'ifxc4 and White won.
judged by:
This shows how transpositions
How it unnerves or confuses your play tricks not just with move order
opponent but with your opponent's equanim
Objectively, 11 i.e2 is no better ity. When he realizes he is being
than 11 i.b3. But psychologically dragged into your middle-game, he
it was a potent blow - and may lose the nonnal composure that
transpositions typically have players enjoy in the opening, when
greater psychological power than they confidently rattle off the first
objective strength. 15 moves. Players who lose their
confidence make mistakes.
After 11 .. J1c8 12 ~b1 Black
couldn't bring himself to play the Let's go back to 1 e4 eS 2 tbfJ
best move, 12 ... tbc4, because it tbc63 i.bS tbf6 4 0-0 tbxe4 S d4
would create the middlegame White a6. Giovanni Vescovi was rated No.
wanted to play. Black had more or 60 in the world when he first saw
less decided, when he passed up that position from the White side, in
10 ... ~e5, that he didn't want that 2005. He decided not to be tricked
middlegame. into the Open Defense.
So he chose a very different But that meant choosing
policy, 12 ... a6? In the Dragon such 6 i.xc6?!, which turned out to be a
7
Introduction
prelude to a worse idea, 6 ... dxc6
7 'Yi'e2 .ltf5 8 g4? .ltg6 9 h4.
Anand began calculating
furiously, trying to find out what
was wrong with White's move. But
there's nothing wrong with it. It's
Black could have refuted that
just unfamiliar. After spending two
with 9. .. 'Yi'd7! 10 ~xe5 'Yi'xd4, as
of his precious five minutes, he
Johannes Zukertort played way
played 4 ... d6 5 ~f3 d5 and reached
back at London 1883 (!).
a book position.
Vescovi spent 40 minutes to find
This was a case of a move whose
that dubious line. That leads to a
major benefit was simply to give
another criterion of a transposition.
the other player something to think
It can be measured by:
about. Typically, these moves do
How it gets your opponent to not reduce his options. Rather they
think increase them, giving him more to
consider.
The real battle of the opening
begins when you can force your There really isn't much value, for
opponent out of his book know example, to 1 d4 c6 and then
ledge. Only then does he risk 2 c4 d5 compared with the normal
making errors and spending costly route, 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6. But this
minutes. order, employed by Anatoly Karpov
among others, gets White debating
That was case when Vishy Anand
with himself over whether he
was Black in a speed playoff game
knows more about the Caro-Kann
at a big-bucks event in 1994. In the
(2 e4) than the Slav. Or what he
Petroff Defense, 1 e4 e5 2 ~f3 ~f6
would do about 2 c4 b5!? A strange
3 d4 ~xe4, his opponent failed to
move order can do that.
play 4 .ltd3, the move considered
virtually automatic. He played A 'something to think about'
4 ~xe5!? instead. move can cost your opponent more
8
Introduction
than minutes. It can prompt a bad And there's a fourth way of
decision. The most drastic recent evaluating a crafty transposition,
example of that befell Vladimir by:
Kramnik in what was then the most
How it preserves your mental
important game of his life, the final health
game of a 1994 Candidates match.
We all have to deal with an ever-
His opponent, Boris Gelfand, expanding amount of book analysis.
opened with 1 c4 and there Almost as bad as trying to
followed 1. .• c5 2 liJc3 liJf6 3 g3. memorize all that at home is trying
This pOSItIOn had occured to remember it at the board. This
gazillions of times before - but can be maddening.
never to Kramnik. As routine as
We'd love to cut down the
3 g3 was, it confused him. He
amount of book we need to know
replied 3 ... d5 4 cxd5 liJxd5 and
and still reach the middlegames we
then on 5 .i.g2
like. The best ways to save our
midnight oil - and our sanity - is
through transpositions. Consider
the main line of the Winawer
French, 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 liJc3 .i.b4
4 e5 .
... he played 5 ... e6?? 'almost
without thinking,' according to his
opponent. Kramnik was assuming
he would transpose, after 6 liJf3
liJc6, to another tabia that is quite
The familiar path is 4 ... c5 and
good for Black.
then 5 a3 .i.xc3+ 6 bxc3 liJe7. But
But 6 liJxd5! cxd5 7 'ii'b3 won a White has numerous sidelines such
pawn (7 ... c4 8 'iib5+), the game and as 5 dxc5, 5 .i.d2, 5 'iVg4 and 5liJf3.
the match. The confusing effect of Theory regards these as not quite as
3 g3 set back Kramnik's world good as 5 a3. But in practice they
championship aspirations for are dangerous to an ill-prepared
several years. Black.
9
