WEBVTT 00:01.210 --> 00:01.990 Hi there. 00:01.990 --> 00:09.550 In this lecture, I would like to introduce the modern era issues in positional play after Steinitz. 00:09.550 --> 00:16.810 So having looked at many games in the Steinitz era because of the Laska course, which you might want 00:16.810 --> 00:26.710 to check out, in particular, it's apparent that modern players, because we have greater communications, 00:26.710 --> 00:32.680 greater technology and that vast central kind of community database, we can look at all the past historical 00:32.680 --> 00:32.950 games. 00:32.950 --> 00:38.680 We stand on the shoulders of past generations, basically. 00:38.680 --> 00:43.900 And it seems in the Steinitz era, players were not so dynamic. 00:43.900 --> 00:49.420 They weren't playing pawn sacrifices, for example, as much as modern players to create counterplay. 00:49.990 --> 00:53.950 They often played commit or pull moves and pawns Don't go backwards. 00:53.950 --> 00:59.530 That idea is much better understood nowadays about not making commits or weaknesses. 00:59.530 --> 01:01.390 So chess is always evolving. 01:01.900 --> 01:07.180 There's new games and useful exceptions to look at and we're so privileged nowadays compared to the 01:07.180 --> 01:12.760 past that we can look at thousands and thousands of games very, very easily and the up and coming juniors 01:12.760 --> 01:16.120 can become gems much more quickly nowadays. 01:16.120 --> 01:22.150 So things are really ramping up in terms of managing counts, playing and complexity. 01:22.840 --> 01:28.810 Nowadays prevention is just as important as ever before, especially against dynamic, aggressive players. 01:28.810 --> 01:37.750 And the seeds of that might be set up in positional opening choices opponents are not making well at 01:37.750 --> 01:41.560 the classic time controls many mistakes. 01:41.560 --> 01:43.330 They're very, very solid. 01:43.330 --> 01:47.050 There's so many grandmasters at a very high level today. 01:47.740 --> 01:54.190 And so we need to well, at the high level, grandmasters need to sometimes have a lot of determination 01:54.190 --> 01:54.820 and grit. 01:54.820 --> 01:59.620 So it's no accident Magnus Carlsen is succeeding in today's climate. 01:59.650 --> 02:05.560 He can grind and grind and grind until he wins sometimes. 02:05.740 --> 02:11.980 So there are so many openings which offer counterplay generation in general. 02:12.160 --> 02:18.520 And the positional players are often navigating this vast amount of opening theory and often choosing 02:18.520 --> 02:22.060 second or third or even more engine moves. 02:22.060 --> 02:27.160 Not not the best engine move because some of those would be less explored and some of those might offer 02:27.160 --> 02:28.720 less counterplay to opponents. 02:28.720 --> 02:34.960 So getting an edge and being quite crafty about it, not just going for the obvious best, you know, 02:34.960 --> 02:40.180 choices of of engines is often helpful to positional players. 02:41.020 --> 02:48.190 So positional openings, I mean, we see this in the games of Michael Adams and, and Karpov to some 02:48.190 --> 02:57.220 extent, but more so more modern play, especially where position players do treat the openings very, 02:57.220 --> 03:03.220 very seriously to try and avoid sometimes very, very sharp opening theory just to get those positions 03:03.220 --> 03:05.530 where there's not much counterplay. 03:06.340 --> 03:12.340 So that is a great tradeoff to think about When you're preparing in the modern technology context, 03:12.340 --> 03:15.910 do you need to actually choose the top moves of an engineer? 03:15.940 --> 03:21.760 What about if you customize your repertoire just to make sure that you might have an informational advantage 03:21.760 --> 03:27.400 as well and a possession which is playable and you're happy with the levels of counterplay from the 03:27.400 --> 03:28.120 opponent. 03:29.140 --> 03:36.820 One E4 Nowadays, because of Vladimir Kramnik a great positional player, he neutralized Garry Kasparov 03:36.820 --> 03:38.350 with the Berlin defense. 03:38.710 --> 03:45.190 So the Berlin defense has been rising as a very solid, reliable weapon with the black pieces. 03:45.190 --> 03:50.320 And because of that, a lot of grandmasters nowadays they've taken up the English opening more Catalan 03:50.320 --> 03:55.300 systems, more and other non one E4 systems. 03:55.300 --> 04:02.890 And even the London system has become a great weapon at all levels with especially Bishop F4 this move 04:02.890 --> 04:08.380 order, which you can see in my London system, of course if you want a positional opening, you know, 04:08.410 --> 04:13.430 previously in certain opening manuals like bats for chess openings, this was only given, you know, 04:13.450 --> 04:14.530 a side note. 04:14.530 --> 04:18.280 And now so many players are playing at all levels. 04:18.430 --> 04:25.030 So this is an example of a positional opening which sidesteps the vast amount of opening theory, which 04:25.030 --> 04:27.010 won't be associated with one E4. 04:27.010 --> 04:32.410 And we can see a lot of positional plans from such openings are available. 04:32.410 --> 04:36.700 So as an example, let's have a look at Magnus Carlsen versus Wesley. 04:36.700 --> 04:39.460 So but to be fair, this was actually a blitz tournament. 04:39.460 --> 04:42.520 A blitz is also hugely popular nowadays with games. 04:43.120 --> 04:47.650 And it's interesting still in Blitz to try and manage the opponent's counterplay. 04:47.650 --> 04:51.340 So Magnus Carlsen actually did play Bishop F4 against Wesley. 04:51.340 --> 04:57.130 So and we see C five, e39, C six, C three. 04:57.130 --> 04:59.800 So this position in the. 05:00.430 --> 05:06.310 This hasn't been widely celebrated, but it's it's a position to play from. 05:06.310 --> 05:11.950 And this is sometimes what we need in a modern context, just a solid position, reliable position without 05:11.950 --> 05:13.150 too much hassle. 05:13.420 --> 05:20.440 And here we have Bengals playing 90 2c4 and this is quite a comfortable decision for the pawns to be 05:20.440 --> 05:21.970 potentially undermined. 05:22.810 --> 05:29.440 Later, we have 95 and our Bishop G five trying to probe some light square weaknesses with pawns coming 05:29.440 --> 05:36.130 on dart squares and Bishop Ito, a crafty move here, hitting the knight, not moving the bishop. 05:37.880 --> 05:43.130 So we have G seven and that bishop is now preserved and it's a bit of a torture piece positionally. 05:43.130 --> 05:49.610 So you can see how the London system is an example of an opening which is getting an annoying edge for 05:49.610 --> 05:49.610 four. 05:50.660 --> 05:58.640 So we name five, we have E four very dramatic to hit that pawn chain, Bishop H seven and now White 05:58.640 --> 05:59.180 Castles. 05:59.180 --> 06:03.530 Bishop E seven, Rookie one Black Castles are now 95. 06:03.530 --> 06:11.600 So white with this opening choice has kept the position relatively closed and there are weaknesses to 06:11.600 --> 06:12.890 try and make use of here. 06:12.900 --> 06:14.600 Nine takes e five bishop takes e five. 06:14.600 --> 06:15.560 We have f six. 06:15.560 --> 06:17.690 This is weakening more light squares. 06:17.690 --> 06:22.850 So you can see that if we can exploit the vulnerabilities of this pawn chain, there are gains to be 06:22.850 --> 06:23.630 made potentially. 06:23.630 --> 06:25.140 Bishop G Free Rook. 06:25.140 --> 06:32.000 Cathy eight We have H four, B five, B four, Quincy eight and now A four. 06:32.000 --> 06:36.710 So hitting the pawn chain here, as well as putting pressure on D five, we have a five. 06:37.460 --> 06:45.860 So if a six was played, then Bishop three looks at the D five pawn and it actually this situation after 06:45.860 --> 06:48.320 9f1 it's going to come under extreme pressure. 06:48.320 --> 06:53.480 A bit of maneuvering here to intensify the pressure and why it's definitely getting a big advantage. 06:53.480 --> 06:55.310 So a five was tried. 06:55.310 --> 07:03.200 We have eight hp five eight HP for rook takes eight, Rook takes eight, he takes the five, he takes 07:03.200 --> 07:03.620 the five. 07:03.620 --> 07:06.230 And this is an unfortunate configuration for black. 07:06.590 --> 07:12.530 So why a success of these sides that stepped a lot of mainstream opening theory to reach a very, very 07:12.530 --> 07:14.780 decent, very, very pleasant position here. 07:14.780 --> 07:17.320 Francine Knight take C4. 07:17.330 --> 07:21.830 Now, I'm not saying the London system is a top recommendation for all positional players. 07:21.830 --> 07:26.510 It's just the spirit of it being able to choose openings which are solid and reliable, which might 07:26.510 --> 07:33.740 not be the engine's top choice, and where there's an element of pawns having an influence on the game, 07:33.760 --> 07:37.640 a profound influence on the game rather than very sharp one E4 games. 07:37.640 --> 07:45.800 So it's the principle here of the London system to sometimes play quieter openings which get positional 07:45.800 --> 07:49.610 advantages, which we can use our positional skill set more easily. 07:49.610 --> 07:54.170 So here we see B6 trying to learn the Queen away from D five. 07:54.200 --> 07:56.360 B take C free, Queen t c free. 07:56.360 --> 08:00.560 We have Queen takes B six and now black's been dismantled and off the bishop takes D five. 08:00.560 --> 08:01.140 Check. 08:01.160 --> 08:05.120 We have 9c4, Queen b59e3. 08:05.240 --> 08:07.640 Protecting the Bishop D eight. 08:07.910 --> 08:09.110 Queen seven. 08:10.220 --> 08:13.070 We have Queen D seven, Queen a59. 08:13.070 --> 08:13.520 Sage five. 08:13.610 --> 08:14.960 Now Bishop C seven. 08:15.680 --> 08:21.770 The rook moves, the bishop goes back four and now Bishop takes her four, G six and now nine. 08:21.770 --> 08:22.670 C four. 08:23.000 --> 08:23.570 So why? 08:23.600 --> 08:24.950 It's ramping up things. 08:24.950 --> 08:26.030 The structure is damaged. 08:26.030 --> 08:33.770 This is just such an annoying opening nowadays for players at all levels because you black might have 08:33.770 --> 08:36.710 had, you know, a lot of opening theory behind them. 08:36.710 --> 08:41.500 But when players play the London system, they can sometimes it's just torture. 08:41.510 --> 08:45.480 So Queen a seven looking at E seven, Queen 65. 08:45.500 --> 08:47.300 This is a desperate situation. 08:48.440 --> 08:52.220 If the bishop moved, there's Queen F seven. 08:52.220 --> 08:53.210 Checkmate. 08:53.390 --> 09:00.590 So Queen takes the five, Queen takes E seven check King J And now after 9b6 black resigns. 09:00.590 --> 09:05.780 So systems like the London system are all the rage nowadays at all levels. 09:05.780 --> 09:13.610 But also players can play C four with a view sometimes of English openings or Catalan. 09:13.610 --> 09:18.860 So sometimes playing Catalan systems with a vignette of the bishop later. 09:18.860 --> 09:24.710 So there are all sorts of positional openings which can bypass a lot of sharp opening. 09:24.710 --> 09:26.210 The theory of E four. 09:26.420 --> 09:31.910 So I guess I'm saying that it's good to consider other options other than E four because that could 09:31.910 --> 09:37.160 lead to sharp games where it might be difficult to enforce a positional undertone. 09:37.160 --> 09:43.400 So opening free does have a role for a positional player to choose carefully. 09:43.400 --> 09:48.650 But there are some positional players like Michael Adams, and this is absolutely fascinating that he 09:48.650 --> 09:51.410 finds positional lines within E four. 09:51.410 --> 09:58.250 So sometimes for example, the so called anti anticipation to keep things quiet rather than an open 09:58.250 --> 09:58.940 Sicilian. 09:58.940 --> 10:03.680 So there are options even within E four if you're a positional player once play E four you can. 10:03.680 --> 10:05.900 And so Michael Adams is a great role model. 10:05.900 --> 10:14.090 And also we see some type of games with 1e4 as well and two of the main heroes of this particular course. 10:14.090 --> 10:24.350 So we do see 1e4 with a positional kind of navigation to quieter lines which manage counterplay more. 10:24.350 --> 10:30.080 So it's fascinating how modern chess is more dynamic. 10:30.080 --> 10:35.570 We've obviously got more game examples that go on so we can find the useful exceptions more we're standing 10:35.570 --> 10:36.890 on the shoulders of. 10:36.960 --> 10:41.010 Previous generations and positional play is always evolving. 10:41.850 --> 10:44.380 So I hope this is an interesting food for thought. 10:44.500 --> 10:48.570 This introduction lecture has so much.