Hi there.
In this lecture, we see one of my own games against Michael Adams.
So, Gavriel, that's me in 1993, 17 points back Masters.
I kick off with D for Adams plays nine of six, C, four, C, 5d5.
Adams plays a Benko gambit, C takes b5a6.
And now I had written about an anti Benko gambit system involving B six.
So just letting black take the pawn.
The idea which I'd written about is later one gets the play a kind of thematic night D two to C4 with
tempo against the queen.
So that's the the basic idea it simplifies knowing a lot of Benko gambit theory.
If B takes a6d6 as a professional player, he could be really bulked up on these gambits, these technical
gambits.
And that's a really good use, I think, of being a professional player to in the sharp opening theory,
to have an advantage.
And sure, whites are pawn up and technically white's better.
This is a good line for White's, but you need to know what you're doing with after.
But yeah, Black does have long term compensation.
There are many good variations for white, but in practice you know Black's doing quite well with Benko
Gambit.
I play B six, we have Queen takes B six, C three, so we have G six here from Adams, E for D, six,
Bishop E to Bishop G seven 9 to 3 Black castles and castles on Castle Bishop G for 92.
So I'm following this plan to try and get this tempo against the Queen and have the C four square to
play with.
Bishop takes E to Queen, takes E to nine BD 79c for Quincy seven.
Now I go a bit crazy here.
Unfortunately, I'm the estimate Black's positional plans is like improving this piece using that pawn
on a six.
This is a really interesting idea.
You know improve the worst piece or improve the pieces because later let's say the queen moves later
there is might be 5 to 94 which can really change the pawn structure in the possession and give black
more dynamic play.
I played f four.
This doesn't help my it's cause it creates dance square weaknesses and it's not particularly dangerous
for black.
Bishop G five would be more sensible and solid.
So for example, if 9b6 this might go back to E three and in this moment it should be fine with a small
edge.
Actually, this is a great way of playing it, but I created a weaknesses with that form we have might
be six and now you know I'm exchanging on B six, which isn't really that great, but it looks already
pretty awkward to play 94 blocks in that Bishop The harmonies going in my position, I'm blocking this
bishop either with pawn or a piece.
So I take on B six and this helps Black's game Queen B six, E 598.
And even though the knight's going back to the back row, it's coming back with a vengeance with this
positional plan.
Bishop E 397 Queen F to which Adams, after the game thought was a good move.
It does dissuade de takes e five because the bishop 8c5.
So he thought that was an interesting move.
Rugby ain't rook ab1 rook ab1.
This is actually an inaccuracy.
B free is better.
So for example, might be five, there's a four with tempo and rook 81 and this should be equal, but
we've rook ab1, Queen B four, and now he's disabled my B free.
In fact, because he's looking at C free.
And I'm kind of stuck there.
Rook for one.
And now rugby seven, Queen C and they'll knight B five.
And this knight is looking at 94 and trying to extend expand the scope with the Bishop, break the bishop
out 94.
So I'm being positionally crushed here.
Knight D four and being absolutely positioning crushed.
And the funny thing about this move is that the Queen will be protecting D six.
That's not an issue.
And you know, it doesn't look like a nice knight to tolerate in general.
So I take on D four.
Can I actually tolerate this?
Knight It looks like it's pretty unfortunate that if I move my queen now, he can just take on E five.
That looks very unfortunate.
There doesn't seem to be any compensation for white hair.
So yeah, I'm taking out I'm giving up my darts, my bishop.
So he's got actually a dark square bishop now without any counterpart.
I'm weak on the dark squares already from playing F4, so it's amplifying my weaknesses and actually
creating even more weaknesses in my camp.
Soon after he takes DD six Knights F two, Queen A five, which looks at a two and C and D five.
So I protect it for the moment.
But Rook sees seven with tempo and he's putting pressure on that kind of disconnected pawn on D five.
Yeah, this is unfortunate.
So Queen of free I offer a two and D five.
So Queen takes a two was played like free.
And now there is a little bit of a trap set by this.
He doesn't fall for it He plays Rook eight.
If rook takes the five, there's might be four.
And yeah, I'll be happy to win like that.
But that didn't happen.
Rook CC eight might be four at least I get a9c6.
I thought this was interesting getting a knight to see six.
But the thing is, it's really just more pretty than functional.
Black now has this dark square basic counterpart and can actually dominate the info and lock down the
f four pawn as another target to create even more weaknesses.
Weaknesses beget weaknesses.
You can see that this sort of plan with, say, a bishop coming to H six creates more light square weaknesses.
So this is the kind of plan that's used now.
f5h We're getting authority and I'm creating even more weaknesses here.
Rook one.
Rook f eight.
King H two and our Bishop H six.
So like square weaknesses are being created around my king and it means the rook on the seventh rank
is going to be even more effective.
Rookie free rook takes rook tanks and I've had it here.
Queen h1f, Queen F two, then rookie, two pins.
My queen.
So Queen H one and it's brutal.
Queen to check and yeah, if king this is absolutely brutal, then rooks h g free check that's actually
show That's horrible.
So I go here.
That's horrible as well Bishop takes for end of game but it's like my happiest ever loss that I've had
because I've never played such a strong opponent in a four day, one day tournament.
So I was really happy to lose and to get a bit of post mortem time with Adams.
It was a real honor and it's kind of inspirational for this positional course really, that I've been
always impressed by Adams's positional play and actually not just positional players.
The whole package, how he plays, moves very calmly, gracefully, smoothly, glides pieces on the
board and position, crushes all the British players, not just me.
I just absolutely love this whole way of playing very calm, controlled positional chess, just taking
over the entire possession without risk.
That's the key thing, you know, and that makes it kind of more professional of his without risk.
As a professional, you don't want to be playing unsound attacks and having too much counterplay from
opponents.
It's very professional as well and calm and controlled.
It's not everyone's cup of tea and you can get professionals like Shirov that are playing very aggressively,
attacking chess as well.
A bit bit on the unsound side, but still sometimes fantastic results as well.
But in a way I do.
I think deep down, like the idea of not losing so badly, having greater consistency and he's shown
that he's a 2700 player for so many years in a row.
So there's a very great solidity and professional ness about his play, which makes it long lasting,
in my view, taking out a lot of risk.
But here, yeah, I was just massacred, positionally and tactically, lots of weaknesses, domination
of the e-file, lots of weaknesses around my king.
So yes, these small kind of issues that I created, well, F4 wasn't a particularly small issue.
It did create weaknesses.
But, you know, he amplified the whole thing, basically.
The whole the whole thing about getting a dance choir.
Bishop, my counterpart, this this beautiful maneuver to be five later know, disconnecting my pawn
chain.
So I've got disconnected pawns.
I just thought, yeah, it was potentially really a nice game.
So, yeah, I have two items for this game and it's also inspirational for this course, so I feel I
can identify more a lot of the time with Adams for a positional role model than, say, Karpov because
I'm actually played him.
So I hope you found this game interesting and inspirational as well.
Thanks very much.