Hi there.
In this lecture, we see Gazza Kamsky playing against Michael Adams in the 1989 13 Floyds Black Masters
Open round two, so E four from Kamsky we have the Korakuen.
So a favorite of Michael Adams, a very positional opening, very solid, doesn't block in the bishop
like the French defense.
So in the French defense we end up with a bad bishop.
And a lot of the strategies revolve around getting this bishop outside the pawn chain sometimes.
So the con is a very interesting opening for the positional player.
We have E five bishop five nine, C three, Queen B six, G four.
So this is a dangerous variation.
Adams puts the bishop on D seven here if Bishop G six The point is E six this is a very dangerous after
f to e6h4.
This isn't a very pleasant position.
It has enough compensation here because the black pieces are so locked in after this kind of positional
pawn sac.
So Bishop DD seven avoids that kind of pain and in fact later that could be an undefinable target to
weaken f54 white with a move like h five later you can see that the f five square might be an issue.
So we have knights, a four, Quincy, seven Knight, C five and E six volunteering the bishop.
And this is like a French defense structure.
Now White plays 93 Knight takes D seven was actually possible so for example this possession white should
be okay with a small edge even though black hasn't got the bad bishop of the French.
It looks like a French defense upgrade.
But on the other hand, there are upsides of this bishop.
It adds solidity to the black position.
So this position, White's F4 F5, might be more effective if that bishop is not on the board.
So it is overall a slight edge.
Here we have the Knight D frame and now we have C five, D two, C five and Bishop B5 to try and get
rid of the bishop, exchange it for White's bishop so we can wait on the light squares, these key light
squares, especially if the bishop's can be exchanged off strategically, this would be great fun.
We have Bishop take C5 Knight free on Knight take C five, Queen St C five is the move and blacks should
be absolutely fine with a small edge.
So knight affray we have 97, a four and now volunteering that bishop for a knight Bishop takes the
free Bishop takes rd Free Knight BC six, Queen E two If Bishop rd two we have H five and this is the
way it should have played it actually with Bishop D2 and just take on H five this position.
C Free for example, gives white Knight 84 to attack the rook and if say G six Knight takes f five.
White's position is with a small edge.
Here there's compensation for white, but in the game of the Queen E two this is a fantastic advert
for the Kraken if nothing else, let alone positional chess.
So h5g5.
This position is just much better at move 14 it looks like basically Nimzowitsch versus Capablanca strategy.
F5 Square Black's got that C file black positionally as a whole load.
Better that Bishop is locked in the pawn chain.
So this is about bad bishops.
This c one bishop locked in.
We have C free a six bishop e free Bishop takes e free, not minding the exchange of the dart square.
Bishops Black castles.
No is king.
Safety is very solid here for black white castles.
AC 881 Rook for eight Queen f f2 95.
So we can see that both the C four and the five squares are very good for black 90 49c for Rook C one
queen B six.
We have now B free and now 95.
So Adams is provoking weaknesses here before 986 provoking weaknesses might be fair now.
D four This gives you an undermine operation.
So the white pawn structure here B five is played.
If Knight takes DD four, Knight takes the four, C takes.
This is a beautiful position for the Queen to be for pressure on white center black squares is great.
So B five is played 8x8x9a5.
We see 92 king g7c4.
Might have 5k1 night e phrase the night goes into the white position, taking out key escape squares
of the opponent's king.
So this is a signal for attack in general that if we've got escape squares taken out there, some interesting
tactics which might emerge to celebrate that king goes into the corner, wrote DC eight.
We have Rook a four, and there is a kind of weakness of the last move here, which is spotted.
There's an interesting tactic in this position which Adams plays.
He didn't need to.
What would you play here for?
100 points.
Okay.
Well, Adams plays, quote, the spectacular look in Queen takes B five rooks.
See five was possible.
So this possession, for example, Queen the eight and B six is nice for black but this sharpens things
up.
Queen takes P five.
We have C take.
So what is the problem here for White?
It's a rook for a queen, but this horrendous pin.
And now here, you know, what does white do?
If Bishop f won, then there would have been a weakness of the last move.
Neglecting C two black could use rook, c two threatening rook takes DD two and then rook takes F one
mating as example.
Well, this also knight takes F one is crushing for knight be free.
So this position is just better for Black Knight up.
But if we instead of Rook takes the E4, just imagine Rook takes a five, Rook takes DD to crush Rook
takes F one is checkmate.
So yes so knight F one is tried but now knight be free.
So Rook for queen.
But this is really vicious.
What does White actually do here?
And what is black actually threatening?
Why is this position so strong?
Rook takes the E4 was tried so offering the rook there if rook a free just knight C5 actually is rather
painful for white.
So as example what is threatening to take out the bishop to take out f one if bishop e2 there's 94 and
this is truly vicious because Queen free Black's going to get more material now after Rook CC two There's
so much pressure here.
Say King G want Knight takes F one, Bishop takes F 192.
So more material and more material.
And Black's just in a winning endgame here.
And if B6 has just an example Rook going to see Free 92 and what hasn't got an attack an F one.
Yeah.
If the trend is going up for black winning material.
So rook takes default was tried but now sidestepping taking rook just knight takes F one we have King
G two If Bishop takes F one knight takes RD for this position with Rook takes F one check and the rooks
are superior to the Queen.
White's vacuum of weaknesses is telling her this is just hopeless for white.
So we have King G too.
But now it's same kind of scenario.
Knight takes RD for Queen takes the fall and a nasty pin here.
Rook D one Queen E for Rook RD two Check.
Nice tactical trick Bishop e2 If King takes F one, then back row mate type.
Well, the Queen has to give back.
The Queen has to sacrifice to avoid the mate.
So Bishop E2 was played and now we have Knight takes H two nice simplification getting the knight out
of a difficult spot.
So King takes H.
And the point is it will be two rooks against the Queen.
Now King G3 Rook takes E2, Queen RD, Free Rook G two check King free and an outside pass Pawn Queen
F one Rook G Free check King e4h free.
This outside passport is absolutely winning.
f5g takes her five and here White resigned.
If for example, King D four then Rook Sisi free sets up root rd Frazer as a mate, the Queen will have
to give herself up so g6h2 For example, this position h one queen takes h one rook GD three is mate.
So remember this game Actually on the demo board it was pretty dramatic.
The two rooks against the Queen with that vacuum in the white position.
So yes, this is a dangerous opening.
It's a bit on the Trappy side because it seems to me our position is suspect variation and I myself
has had have had good results with this.
Putting the bishop back on DA or even c A because there is a vacuum of weaknesses and squares like f
five to grab later.
So very very nice positional opening in that it's not like tactical chaos.
The positional player likes pawn structure based plans, otherwise it is just tactical chaos.
And we can also use more easily strengthening strategy when it's more pawn structure based.
If you've got massive tactical chaos, how do you actually improve your position systematically?
You constantly having to analyze huge amount of variations like in the Sicilian defense, to make sure
your king's surviving the Korakuen has that level of solidity where you can actually think about things
like improving your position, because it's not just the total mass of variations to calculate all the
time.
There are positional outpost squares to think about to reason about this position position me So it's
less chaotic than, say, Sicilian defense.
And it kind of is a great game.
Example echoing in my view, Nimzowitsch against Capablanca classic in the Kraken.
So a really beautiful game.
Inspirational and also inspirational for making use of the current calm basically.
So it's not all about tactics, it's more about positional play because we haven't got that overhead
of having to calculate so much.
So yes, it seems just really logically played by Adams in the spirit of Capablanca.
I hope you enjoyed this one as much as me.
Thanks very much.