Hi there.
In this lecture, we see a very interesting game between Mark Ferguson and Michael Adams in the 1997
British Championship Round two.
Mark Ferguson once helped me prepare for Morgan in one of the boys about Masters editions, and with
that I wiped Maroon off the board 2420.
At the time he was high rated for me.
And so, yeah, I kind of got on speaking terms with Mark Ferguson from one of the Barnet Congresses.
So this is a really interesting game.
Mark Ferguson with the white pieces.
E four We have Adams playing.
E 5.3966.
We have the Joker piano, so we have C three here, nine of 6d3a6 white consoles Bishop A seven, bishop
b3d6 Bishop E three and OC.
There's an interesting choice here.
Do we actually double the pawns?
The static players like an Adams or cop off will generally have more solid pawn structures than the
opponent and try and crush out the counterplay so it becomes more about the end games, etc. And here
Adams does actually play.
Bishop takes e free now in the short term, yeah.
The doubling of the pawns.
It does have upsides as well as controlling key squares.
It's not all bad.
There's the same in F file.
So there are dynamics as a result of this pawn structure we see Adams, Castling, Knight, BD two now
A five, C two, C five, A three, B five.
So a key consideration is trying to keep this bishop bottled up on C two positionally.
We have Queen E one and now C four trying to actually isolate these double pawns.
D four We have rookie eight Queen G3 and then rook seven This looks like an interesting prophylaxis
move that Adams often played.
If he suspects the opponents might have attacking potential on an foul, Adams is often playing a move
like this or with white Rook A2 so it's a good prophylaxis move in advance.
Knight's H four We have 9h5 hitting the Queen.
Queen F2 nine goes back h3h6 Rook 80 19c6 might have five and that knight is taken off because otherwise
there's going to be damage with Knight takes H six potentially four Queen 6f6.
So it's taken off Queen takes her 597 Queen f29g6, King H two So positionally.
Yeah.
This bishop is a kind of prisoner in the pawn structure.
We have Rook C seven Queen, Free Knight H five, Queen G four.
And now one thing, the exchange of Queen's.
Now Ferguson takes off the Queen's.
The attacking potential is reduced and maybe it's going to be more about the pawn structure now.
So g4956 king g39g6.
So the longer term aspects of the position are being emphasized through the exchange of Queens in particular.
And Black doesn't have major defensive tasks for king safety.
We have h498596 the D seven rook f one rookie seven so f seven adequately defended rook 52f2 96 So some
probing for weaknesses here 93 Try and attempt white to play a move like D five that will give black
the C five square 9 to 3 g six row D one king G seven.
So this is a bit of high level shuffling, but a five there's a positional kind of attack on the structure
here potentially with B for it needs some preparation though first of six we have here now.
Yeah very interesting situation.
We have rook D one it's unwise for white to try and take off on E five.
This looks like a wreck.
It would isolate White's pawns and with 95, Black's going to get back e four with a nasty surprise,
you know, forking King and Rook there, that would be a total disaster, as example.
So Rook D two might have six we have here rook d1h5.
So pushing the white pawns forwards basically because otherwise there's fragmentation here.
If G takes that's isolating the h pawn.
So we have g59g4 rookie one rookie eight 9 to 9 takes H to king takes H two.
So the long term aspects of the position are being emphasized and it seems to be overall in Black's
favor now.
So f6g takes, F, six rook takes f six pair of rooks come off King G three, King E seven.
Now, this is a really interesting situation in terms of past pawn potential White's extra pawn in the
center.
If we look at this section of the board, White does have.
3 to 2 in the center.
But if we look at this section of the board, there's a 2 to 1.
But is this nullified?
This pawn seems to be holding two over here.
It's three against free.
This section, the board is free against free in terms of pawns.
So we have rook the one and now actually locking down that side of the board, taking it out of the
equation, locking it down.
Rook dd to rook eight And action is over here now.
Bishop RD 19c7.
Bishop Free Rook DD eight.
Bishop Jitsu.
98.
Bishop Frank 96.
We have Rook dd one.
Rookie eight.
Rook E one.
King seven.
So quite a lot of high level shuffling.
So this is doing the art of nothing.
Well, but especially if you've got a bad pawn structure and a potential for a pass pawn candidate.
So, King G seven, Rookie two.
And here comes King H Preparation for G five.
Preparing the strategic pawn break to get a pass, pawn and win squares potentially.
Rookie one.
Rookie seven It's been ramped up now in this strategic break a little bit with the rook at least being
on e seven so g five now rookie one rook g seven rook D one and now very interesting move 9g4 So looking
at ea free time went down or is it won't play D takes ea five.
First of all, if Bishop takes G4 black just plays G takes h four check and this is going to be great
for black because he falls weak.
That structure is just ripe apples coming down the tree.
So D takes EA five.
But now a very, very important move.
So remember that White has these two pawns, but they're kind of doubled and plays a very necessary,
accurate move in this position.
Otherwise the position is going to get ruined.
All the efforts will be ruined.
So for 200 points, what would you play in this position?
So this is super important to keep the positional trump cards in place and not be too materialistic.
Okay.
It's 1995.
Very instructive moment in my view.
If D tanks E five rugby, six rugby, six eight Czech rugby, six H tanks G and this is going to lead
to a horrible end game where black is busted.
Blacks actually busted here through zugzwang.
Yes, a zugzwang win.
So Knight takes E5 is essential.
Sacrificed the pawn.
We have rook tanks dd six check rook g6 and white is a little bit on edge here.
It's not completely winning yet for black H.
Thanks, G.
King tanks.
I mean, one is a pawn up, but that bishop does seem pretty sad.
Black now has got this past potential.
We have King of six.
Check.
King of two, Rook g five rook.
These things check King G seven Bishop e2 and H for rook
d1g65g513 Rook h one.
And this looks as though.
Hold on.
What's going on here?
Isn't that pawn a goner?
It looks like a strange position, right?
There's an absolutely magical thing that kind of happens here actually, in this position.
It's truly a bit of magic now, swapping essentially this passport for a different passport on this
one.
Black flies, 90 free check.
Well done.
If you found this, I mean, 200 points if you find this because this looks a bit strange, doesn't
it, Bishop?
Tanks.
Sea tanks.
What on earth is the point here?
Now, Mark Ferguson just didn't see the point.
I mean, this moves 73.
He played rook tapes.
He just didn't see the point at all.
If King E won, it can actually hold.
To be fair equality.
This would be an even position, it seems.
But he played Rook takes a free.
So what on earth is the point?
And you have to see these tactics if you're going to be a good positional player.
Sometimes tactics are at the service of positional play.
We've got a pass pawn all our efforts to get this past pawn, but without the tactics.
Now to crown the positional play, it's worth nothing.
So for 500 points here, what would you play to crown the RD Free pawn positioning?
We've created a passport.
We need to crown it with good tactics.
What is the tactic?
It's a beautiful one.
It's absolutely beautiful.
And young talent here from Adams.
I urge you to spend the time here.
If you get nothing else from this game.
This passport tactic is golden, in my view.
I'm about to show.
Interrupt you, hon.
Yeah, it causes interference on the back row.
So King takes G one.
What's stopping this pawn now?
D two.
But otherwise, you know, D two is happening anyway, and the -- stops the king E two.
So where's the rook going?
Here, there's D two, and then we're supporting the Queen and we're going to get that rock.
Very difficult situation indeed after Ritchie won.
So yeah King takes his play DD to its queening and the rest is kind of technique now.
Once the Queen happens, there's a little bit of further resistance.
So let me just show you the rest of the game for the record.
But yeah, Adams is in the driving seat here, Queen against Rock.
And sometimes it can be tricky to win these, but the king is also going to help the queen.
So that pawns gobbled up here already.
It's a kind of zugzwang here.
If the rook moves, the D one would take you on b two.
So one is falling to bits here.
Basically the king comes to.
This is an incorrect game's called the king.
Coming to F one is not correct.
Pardon me.
So in this position after King E three.
The move would have been a move like King Jeffrey and won't resigning.
So not King one.
That would be a blunder because of one Shaq and that would be losing four black but yet again.
So forget that last move of the game.
King of one here.
We can assume king free sometime.
Someone's got to record these games and sometimes the very long games and something they get it wrong
or looking at the scoresheet is a very long game.
Sometimes it's made in a furious time scramble.
But yeah, the key instructive points is about the past.
Pawn is about the structural long term investment that Black made in the position, saying, you know,
I'm going to accept some middle game pain here because a lot of players would maybe be scared of the
dynamics here.
So it's handling handling our dynamic pawn structure and looking at the longer term things to increase
advantage later like past pawns.
But without tactics, it's kind of sometimes meaningless.
So yeah, later on we get amazing tactics in the end game.
So that is a startling one.
So folks are convinced.
I am focused and convinced he didn't see the danger of Rook G one.
That is such a beautiful tactic here, deep into an end game.
So yeah, something to look out for.
Past pawns in their magic cannot be underestimated.
But you need to find those magical tactical resources.
Okay.
So much.