Alex Yermolinsky Budapest A52

I continue to be curious about top level players who have ventured into the swashbuckling world of the Budapest Gambit A52. Another well known gradmaster who has played the Budapest A52 at some point in his career is Alex Yermolinsky. I have a fascination with games where players display tactical wizardry. In part because I am so poor at it, I admire those who are able to pull out stuff like that in serious tournament games. Don't get me wrong, I have studied the science of chess tactics. In particular I found the book by Yuri Averbach - "Tactics for Advanced Players", to be very illuminating on the subject. But still, I struggle to create the preconditions for highly tactical play on the board. Click here for games by Alex Yermolinsky playing the black side of the Budapest Gambit A52.

Is The Budapest Gambit A52 Back?

When an opening system falls into disuse, its usually because the top grandmasters of the day have found some deficiency in it and no longer employ it in their tournament games. However when you begin to see top grandmasters revisit a once abandoned opening system, it is time to reappraise that system to see what's new that has been developed about it. Playing black against the Queen's Gambit, I have often been a practitioner of the Budapest A52. It's a tricky system that rewards those who are careful enough to play it correctly. I have gone down quickly a number of times simply for not following the correct move order. Just a few days ago, I began to wonder whether or not anyone in the top echelons of today's chess praxis, still adopts the Budapest A52. I did not have to wonder for long. In the recent Amber rapid tournament, Mamedyarov used the Budapest A52 to score a brilliant win against none other than the ex-world champion Vladimir Kramnik. Click here for a link to the Chessgames database of games by Mamedyarov playing the black side of the Budapest A52. Yes, including the recent victory over Kramnik. Enjoy.

Coffee Shop Chess 02

Here are a couple more games from Starbucks in Forestville, MD. The interesting background to these games is that my opponents seem to do much better against me in blitz chess. Most of the time, my clock will run out while I was deeply engrossed in calculations of interesting variations on the board. On these particular occassions, I was challenged to play them "slow" chess, so the moves can be recorded and they can prove to me how really strong they were. I was at first reluctant to this because I knew quite well that their playing strengths in regular chess were such that I would be proving nothing. Nevertheless, I agreed to play a couple of games. The first one is me playing black against Tony. Now, Tony had just announced that he has recently mastered the King's Gambit, and dared anyone to respond with 1...e5 against his 1.e4. So I decided to call his bluff:

In the following game, I was playing white against Little Man (that's his nickname of course, no bearing on his size or anything - actually I have often wondered how he came about that nickname, I guess I will ask him the next time I see him). He accepted all the gambit pawns that I offered him, but found out that the outcome was not too pretty. I should note that subsequent to this game, he has always hesitated to take my gambit pawns!

Coffee Shop Chess 01

The following game was played at Starbucks coffee shop in Forestville MD. My opponent was a young female player that enjoys sacrificial chess. I have been labelled different names by the group that meets at Starbucks, because my style of play does not fit into any particular category. I am equally at home with closed or open games, sacrificial or maneuvering games. I tend to play what the position demands - always seeking the truth in a position. Here she miscalculated and dropped a piece in the heat of battle.

Strategy vs Tactics in Chess

First we must ask ourselves if strategy can be separated from tactics. It is often said that chess is 99% tactics. My question is, what is the other 1%? Poker? No, chess is 100% tactics! What heresy, you say. What of strategy? Yes, strategy is just another word for "coordinated" tactics. In other words, what exists on the board is all tactics. What exists in your mind are thoughts of where you want the game to go, i.e. how to coordinate the tactics to lead to a desired outcome. In other words, strategy is what guides your tactical choices on the board. I say all this from my own personal experience. When I first learned to play chess, I came accross the famous text by Nimzovich - "My System". After reading that book, I felt that I knew what I needed to do on the chess board. I started out thinking that chess was all about strategy. The fundamental understanding of tactics still awaited me several years down the line. How many times have I had a good strategical idea in mind, only to hang my queen or some other valuable piece in the process? I cannot count. It still happens till today, although most often only in blitz games.

The point that I am making is that every event on the chess board is a tactical event. Even when you have made a waiting move with a pawn, you have nevertheless executed a tactical operation. That innocuous pawn move has done one of many things, including 1. Vacating a square; 2. Occupying a square; 3. Attacking new squares; 4. Defending new squares etc. That harmless looking move you just made with a piece, is also a confluence of several tactical operations. The rules of chess does not permit you to cede your turn without making a move. So like it or not, you have to cede a temporal advantage at each move.

What does this all mean? You ask. This means that a fundamental approach to playing better chess is first to learn to pay full attention to what is on the board at any given moment. Itemize all the tactical possibilities for each side, and only then consider how to select a move that fits into a coordinated tactical operation that leads to an advantage for you. Why is this important? Many times I have found myself so preoccupied with what I am trying to do down the stretch, that I lose sight of what is on the board at the given moment. Especially during blitz games, due to the pressure of the clock, I would like to go directly to the execution of what is in my mind (strategy). Unfortunately my opponent is reacting to what is currently on the board. So if I leave my queen hanging, why not take it?

Here is my tip to anyone who understands what I am saying: On every move, pay initial attention to what is on the board. If possible try to attach a feeling to each contact between the pieces, friendly or hostile. Itemize possible tactical actions and weigh each of them against a plan that you have for moving the game into favorable directions. Only then consider which of the tactical choices are properly coordinated with your intended plan. Don't despair if you miss a detail here or there from time to time. Practice makes perfect. Keep at it. Don't give up.

The other side of B21

As mentioned in a previous blog, B21 is the ECO code for two off-beat responses to the Sicilian defense: 2.d4 and 2.f4. The 2.d4 part is the Smith-Morra gambit, which I have illustrated with games by Tal and Matulovic. I have never really paid much attention to the other side of B21 until now. I found that greats like Bent Larsen actually employed the 2.f4 line at some point in his career (click here for a collection of B21 2.f4 games by Larsen). Another well known player who employed the B21 2.f4 line is none other than Sveshnikov himself, after whom the Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian defense was named. It got me thinking, if the guy who invented a potent variation for black in the Sicilian resorted to 2.f4 to avoid his own poison, there must be something to it. (Click here for a collection of B21 2.f4 games by Sveshnikov). However the guy who really appeared to have made a career out of the B21 2.f4 was Hebden, and judging from the percentage wins he scored with that line, I certainly must try it out for myself and see how it feels. (Click here for a collection of Hebden's B21 2.f4 games). White's development plan in the B21 2.f4 appears to be deceptively simple and straightforward - bring out the pieces, open the f file and attack. Enjoy.

Matulovic B21

B21 is the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (ECO) code for the Sicilian with 2.d4 and 2.f4. The 2.d4 branch is the Smith-Morra gambit, even though some practitioners delay the d4 for another move, just to see what black has in mind first; i.e. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.c3.... Matulovic was one of the better known practitioners of the Smith Morra gambit, so I thought I would share a link to his games in this opening from Chessgames.com. Here is the link. Enjoy.