Hi there.
In this lecture, we see an absolute masterpiece.
This is a game which has been nicknamed Light Square Symphony.
So this is Anatoly Karpov against Garry Kasparov, 1995, their world championship match, round four.
So D four from Karpov we have D five, Kasparov, C four, E 6/9, C three.
Bishop E 7.3956.
Bishop g5h6.
And now white volunteers the darts square Bishop.
So mathematically on the light squares without the knights on f6 white could actually get a superiority
on the light squares with these pieces just mathematically, because this is not going to help on the
light squares.
That's something to point out.
Here we see e free black castles, Queen C two knights, a six.
Wrote one.
So this means that if any night before the queen can tuck away now without blocking in the ruck so it
seems pointless to play night before we have c5d type C five queen a5c takes thee five might take five.
And now Queen D to.
Wrote the eight and now 94 E.
Takes the five Bishop e to Queen B six White Castles Knights E four.
We have Queen C to night.
Take C free, Queen, take C free.
So black has the bishop hair white has this nice blockade.
Well, good looking blockade.
We have Bishop E six, queen, C2, Rook, AC eight, Queen B one Rook seven.
Now to Rook DC eight.
Now here.
So how to proceed against the isolated Queen's pawn?
This is a very interesting move now, in my view, and it's something I've always remembered as a treatment.
I say at Queen's pawns that sometimes the challenge of trying to exploit the isolation of this Queen's
pawn is just too much.
It doesn't seem to get anywhere in this position.
Black has very active pieces and pressure on DD for and cop offs.
Decision I believe is worth 500 points for my quiz to you.
What do you think White should play in this position?
Should White build up somehow?
What move would you play?
Okay, so you might find this very strange, but nine takes E six was played.
If we proceed with Bishop friends, they're trying to target the D five.
I say Queens born black could play bishop thanks d for this possession.
Blacks very active.
What do we do about B to be free this position?
How are we building up pressure?
There's too much pressure here on the CFO if Bishop takes Bishop.
Rick.
Thanks.
We can try this trick, but Rook takes F two, and then we're going to get just an equal position.
So this treatment transforms the isolated Queen's pawn into something else, trying to weaken black
on the light squares.
And in fact, engines suggest this is a slight inaccuracy.
F takes E six.
If Queen takes E six, which leaves the isolated Queen's pawn, Of course, Bishop de Freeze should
be about even.
For example, Queen B sex g three Black can play queen b4 and to show the resourcefulness of black black
Queen takes d to her and use that C to simplify further.
And it should just be about even only the tiniest of advantage.
Maybe for white, but generally it's just about even with vertex E six.
Yeah, it's ever so slightly inaccuracy.
Bishop G for now is played.
So we see rook C4 and the bishop is protected with H free.
So looking at that, bishop is protected.
Okay, so we have Quincy Sex Queen dd free.
And you'll notice actually one very interesting statistic about this game is that a lot of the white
moves are actually literally on white squares.
It's like away from the other side of the road.
So the bishop is like White's moves are all on the other side of the road now to the dark square, Bishop.
So.
If we look at this note.
So that was on a like square.
This is on the light square.
And yeah, things are being put on the light squares and away from the bishop potentially.
So this is a light square.
This is a light square move moving away from the bishop on that side of the road so it avoids any kind
of traffic accidents, so to speak, on the chessboard.
This bishop is less influential.
Okay, so here is a light square.
Move, Rook.
Another light square move.
And you'll notice also there's opportunity.
It's not just avoiding this.
There's opportunity on these.
We can light squares around the king.
This is one of the main problems.
It's strengthened black's d five pawn, sure, but it's borrowed from the king side.
And Karpov now does an absolutely amazing maneuver of this.
Bishop, It's not so great on G4.
So where is this bishop ideally placed?
Well, we see B five.
Bishop G six is coming back on this diagonal.
Rook Sorry, Bishop the Bishop de Fray, so nicely central and all on the light squares again, a light
square move.
That's why this game is actually nicknamed Light Square Symphony.
So here there's a concrete front and also to mace on the light square.
So Queen G six is a threat.
So Queenie parries that now E for one could carry on without pawn moves with G six.
But you know, there's work to be done here.
That's an advantage point, but there's work to be done.
So e four we have Bishop G5 Rook, C2 Rook take C to Bishop, take C to Quincy six.
So here Bishop D eight might actually be more accurate.
So for example, E tanks, e tanks, White should play Queen D four with even position weights.
Pretty tight down here.
Tactically, if rook tanks d5 that's a disaster.
Queen E one Check King H two.
Bishop C seven check and then mating.
So yes, it seems as though Bishop Da was very interesting here.
But okay, so Queen C six, then we have Queen E two, Queen five.
Now black is frightening.
Rook takes F to hair for Bishop E three just to show that Freda if Bishop B one rook takes F to Queen,
takes F to Bishop E free.
So Rook f one defends F to Queen C free E takes E takes Bishop B one Queen to Queen E, five Rook D
eight, Queen F five.
So now there is a made concrete made from King.
The king has to evacuate.
King G eight Queen six checking age eight, Queen G six or another mate for it.
King Jack, Queen E six check.
King H a now bishop at five.
So here, how is White making progress?
Well, the bishop now is trying to get on this key diagonal.
So we see Queen C three, Queen six King Jane.
So why is making progress?
Bishop E six, check.
King eight.
So if king for queen of sevens, mate.
So here, Bishop at five, King Jane now G three so slightly improving the position.
King of eight, King G two So putting the king on light squares, you know, it's away from the dark
square potential of the black position.
Queen F six and now Queen eight.
Seven.
Yeah.
Using the H seven square to avoid the exchange of Queens, Queen f7h for Bishop D two And now this rook
is also improved.
Now that the bishop's in a great place, how can we improve this?
Rook Well, it's with tempo Rook D one Bishop C three Guess where we want the rook Yeah, we're improving
the position relative to the opponent's king here, Rook d free.
So we're going to the free square.
So setting up big dangers for black.
So King E, seven Queen, eight chains.
Yes, That kind of tapping into.
It's difficult for black to do something here.
It's getting very tricky.
We have D four if rook d eight, then there's rookie free check and then taking on D a very, very dangerous
position.
Yeah, this is very handy.
Rookie free check.
So we have the four Quincy Saints rookie Saints, Quincy, five, Jack King Saints and now improving
the attacking potential further.
Can you see what Commonwealth plays here?
Ten points.
Yeah.
Rookie for yeah bringing in rookie form.
So the kings in the center.
It's starting to look horrible.
Queen Bee seven check now rookie for check So check with a check handled with a check.
King of seven.
Quincy full check for eight.
And now what would you play here for?
Ten points.
The king is getting restricted more and more restricted.
We have Bishop 87, a killer, common square G eight.
So that's my friends.
We have Rook have seven parrying the main threat, Queenie six.
And the mate for Queenie ain't for Queenie.
Seven Powering the mate for Queenie eight.
So Queen E five here and in this position, Black actually resigned.
There's a Queen B eight make four as many people being confused why Black resigned.
I can give you some examples why Black would resign here.
So rookie seven, there's rookie have four.
And the problem here is.
Well, there's one or two problems.
If King E eight, we have at least Queen Bee eight checking an F check to win the queen at least.
If Rook have seven, queen bee ain't shank.
And here we have Queen Bee six check Queen bee seven rook tanks F seven check King tanks, Bishop G
six check King of eight.
And we're going to mate on the Lion square.
Funny enough.
So that's one or two variations there.
And also, if we look in this position at Queen DD eight, Quincy five, check rookie seven.
This is more fascinating, actually.
What would you play here?
Black's really pinned that up.
What would you play?
Yeah, that's kind of paralyzed.
Bishop G.
Six And what can Black do now?
Blacks are really stuck if d freight This is almighty pen if dd free rook tanks, e seven Queen taxi,
seven Quincy, eight check.
And then we're meeting like that.
So yes, a very, very powerful game indeed.
And for me made me rethink how we tackle the Queen's pawn and basically transforming advantages in general.
This key position has made me think a lot about chess generally, how Karpov is known as a player that
likes to attack, you know, pawn structure weaknesses generally.
But here it's like he did a favor for Black's pawn structure.
But the advantage was translated into light square weaknesses around the king.
So.
Yes.
And, you know, it's like a light square based positional attack.
So it's not like a sacrificial attack, like towel.
It's a length square based accumulating and voltage attack until black is run out.
Moves to defend the king.
But yeah, the important thing is when we accumulate advantage or transform advantages, sometimes we
want to make them more exploitable.
So the notion of exploitable advantages or exploitable weaknesses on the chessboard is an all important
qualifier.
We can't just think of things in theory, in a theoretical sense, like the estate Queen's pawn.
We need all our pieces, the exact positions to give us concrete advantage.
So we must think in terms of is actually exploitable in a given position context.
So yeah, this decision seems paradoxical, but it's about transforming advantages into more exploitable
advantages.
And in this particular case, we have a slight advantage already on the light squares, and that's amplified
when black is borrowing from the kingside and weakening squares on the kingside.
But who would have thought that the white pieces from their current positions can transform to exploit
these white square weaknesses?
So yeah.
A light square symphony, indeed.
I hope you like this game as much as me.
And so much.