Hi there.
In this lecture, we see Michael Adams playing against Stuart Conquest.
This is in the 2010 British Championship, Round eight.
So let's have a look at this game.
So E four from Adams.
We have C six from Stuart Conquest, the Kraken defence.
So E five we have Bishop F 593 E, six.
So this is the Nigel short variation.
Bishop E two This is much better than Bishop de Frey.
We see 97 White Castles, Bishop g6c Free 926.
So Black is playing quite conservatively, not playing C five not daring to play C five.
And in fact Adams plays a dark square grip strategy here.
Given that C five hasn't been played, there's the move a four.
So this intends a kind of dark square grip on all of these squares, not just these guys, but a dark
square campaign grip around the board.
So Rook eight and I have seen this plan in high level correspondence.
There was actually a consultation game once on chess games.
Com where the world team played like this and won a brilliant game.
So we see here if instead of rooks the eight at 5a5 and H three as example A six is also possible.
And this is a nice position for white.
So Och rook eight we have a five here.
A six.
So this addresses the ace threat.
If C five, then a six here.
And this is kind of uncomfortable after 93 that B five square is very nice for white.
So might be eight.
For example Bishop B five, jack Queen A four and this is a pleasant position after Bishop take C six,
Jack Queen takes one could take the queen's off.
This is just a fictional variation, but you can see there's trouble with a seven here potentially.
So here Knight takes a seven.
Hitting the rook might be five as possible, and then moving the rook is just a winning advantage there.
So there are dangers.
So a six is played bishop and four.
Och, so here we have Bishop E seven for the record, in case you're wondering here, instead of Bishop
e7c5, how would White respond here?
Well, there's a very, very good move in this position.
There is a kind of weakness of the last movie is weakening D five and this bishop is not really contributing
to Black's solidity for these two guys.
White can actually play for 100 points.
What would you play here?
This is a kind of positional test.
C four.
It vacates C free for the Knights.
It puts pressure on black centre and let's say D take C four then D five is strong.
So this position is very pleasant for white.
So that's really good.
But what else know if C takes DD four, C takes D five.
E takes Queen takes DD four.
And it's awkward.
This a five is stopping.
And how, how does Black actually defend D five hair stopping the use of B six and how is defined protected
here?
If we go with Bishop C five, we're just taking Bishop E four.
You know, there's things like C three.
So Bishop C five, Queen takes five.
If Bishop E seven here instead of two, C four, C takes E takes 90 C free.
Let's take this position with nine 6495 won't taking on h6g text there's F four here.
The bishop can also be a target.
So this position is also very nice where I can get a five for a night and that's also very nice.
So in a nutshell here, it looks as though this was a freedom break for black, but it can be responded
to with C four.
And yeah, the reason I want to sort of say this is that we might want to use some of these systems
of Michael Adams, the advanced Kraken in our own games.
So yeah, the more we can analyze also the openings, we can assimilate these positional choices.
So in general, this is an opening system gaining space and it can be pretty dangerous like in this
game.
So let's go back to the game though.
So Bishop E seven was played.
Rookie one black hustles and black didn't dare to play see five.
So this is really interesting.
Should white play b4?
Well, White did play four.
It does seem to tie black up, but black has been banking on undermining the pawn chain at the head
of the pawn chain instead of the exploitable base which is DD four.
This is the true base of the pawn chain.
But this one is the exportable base.
So, yes, it's interesting that C five wasn't tried here.
So we have an alternate strategy, so B four and our F6.
The problem with F six is it can give black this backward pawn.
Well, it does give black this backward pawn as we'll see.
And that's a problem in the French defense.
The bishop is outside of the pawn chain, though.
So here we have E takes F six, rook takes up six, Bishop G five, Rook have seven, and now Bishop
takes H six.
So this deprives any knight F five.
Queen C one was plausible.
So Queen for eight, knight BD two This position one has a small edge.
So Bishop takes h6g takes Bishop D free and yes, trading things off here might be D two or wanting
to trade things off.
Black refused with Bishop H five now here instead of Knight BD two It's dangerous to play.
Rook takes e six black has Bishop takes her free G takes and Bishop H four with a bit of counterplay
and advantage.
Yeah, this is not the way to go.
So Knight bd two knights F eight Rook e five So that hits that H five Bishop Bishop G six That's exchanged
off now and takes.
If it takes G six, yes, White will just take the backward pawn.
So we've advantage.
So H takes G, we have rookie free Bishop D 695 and now Rucker four.
If Bishop takes e five rook take five.
This position with Queen E one is very nice for white holding f two and pressurizing E six.
So real careful.
We have Queen E2 Queen Sorry Rook See seven D Free rook five piling up.
Now on that backward pawn we have rook g7g Free Bishop E seven King G two, Quincy eight, Queen dd
two.
So Black is really kind of locked up.
The blockade in front of the The pawn is a very attractive thing, but White does actually want to win
the game as well.
Not just look pretty here, but black is kind of locked up around the board.
So King H seven we see rook free to e two Queen dh4h5.
Some progress has been made.
These weaknesses like G five Now, if g five had been played Queen D free is good.
So that has sometimes g four is a threat sometimes.
But concretely if we say here King
h89g4h5986
is interesting.
So this position is going to be winning material and if King H seven here, rook takes E six is strong,
so the back is actually on route.
Well, it's actually it's undermining four, five and five is weak hand with that king So yeah this
would be a very, very dangerous for black it's terminally lost so h five is tried.
We have 93 rook gf7 point five.
So the Knights swap places that and they're playing around 94 and then that goes to H free now rookie
free.
And now Alec Anakin's gun is on the cards.
So where the queen is at the base of the two rooks.
So watch now Rook one to E to 69fg5.
So first ceiling g five is a break from black, destroying all the pawn brains from black Queen E one.
So yes, this is a huge pressure on E six now.
So for attacking E six, but one, two, three defending we have Bishop D six and here.
Yeah.
I mean how does black actually defend E six her.
The anakin's gun is position the gray hair this anakin's gun construction so the queen at the base of
the two rooks.
All of these guys only on e six here.
So really great stuff visually for the backward pawn.
Bishop dd 6966.
It's as if Adams is not just playing a game, he's creating an instructive lesson for the backward pawn.
So first blockading it, cutting out strategic pawn breaks from the opponent like G five, and then
coming back to actually win it.
And now the rook retreats.
We have Bishop E seven, Queen E to Bishop D, Queen D, free Bishop e, seven rookie, two bit of shuffling
here, high level shuffling Queen E free Queen E seven Queen D to Queen F eight for the knight is improving
itself first.
So a bit of playful maneuvering and here lunging in with Queen eight and our rookie six.
Queen C eight.
And black is prompted here.
This looks rather dangerous.
Now, this position black is prompted to play G five.
Yeah, Black wanted to do something here.
It's very, very difficult position indeed.
But G five is played.
We have rookie two which actually threatens Queen takes F five.
It's the discovery attack on the Rook King G six.
So yes, if G takes we're just taking the rook.
So King g6h takes G five, Bishop takes nine, takes G five, rook takes queen.
He's six.
Check.
And now the Queen's come off and our rookie five and this is end of game actually resigned here if King
F six then we're just easily winning off our four We're going to be winning H five if it goes away.
So here we're winning.
But also if rook takes E five, this is trivially winning.
We play F4 four and and King a free.
Then Black's had it here.
Okay.
Yeah we're going to be absolutely winning there with G four coming up soon.
This is zugzwang the king King moves back.
We're going to play g four.
It's a winning endgame.
So yeah, a very interesting game.
A few aspects of this to consider for targeting the back of the pawn.
If we just go back to some key moments, the first the blockade, make sure the pawn is not going anywhere,
but also just crushing other activities of black, other sources of counterplay, trying to make sure
that Black's not really considering G five at this point to kind of try and liberate the position.
The liberation and the possession is ruled out here for G five because, yeah, there's huge pressure
here and it was mounting here to stop G five.
This is very interesting how the G five break is stopped with the two knights and everything and F two
is always guarded, the file is always guarded while doing this.
So yes, the shutting down of strategic pawn break then coming back to construct an alekhine's gun.
It really is, in my view, an instructive masterpiece against a backward pawn.
So yeah, I hope you enjoyed this one really great stuff so much.