Hi there.
In this lecture, Michael Adams is playing against David Eggleston in the 2016 British Championship.
So we have four from Adams.
Eggleston plays Assassin Defense 90 3d6d49569c free C takes the E4 nine takes the E4 A six.
So there's a sitting nine off.
Now positional choice G Free hair fringe thing.
E five We have Knight D two.
Bishop E seven.
Bishop G So so White contains Black's position at the moment by keeping a bind on D five that d five
bobrovsky hole as it's sometimes called the d five hole.
So we have both sides castling Bishop E six and a four.
So this is also preventative chess preventing B five knight BD seven Bishop e free.
We have nine G for the bishop goes back, the knight goes back, a five queen C seven be free.
So this is really interesting.
Rook fc8 rook 80 rook a two.
So Adams is looking out for these guys, which could become vulnerable later, both of them.
Because if B5 were going to take on Parsons and have a two targets, B5 is played now immediately.
So can Black do without B5?
If Bishop D eight then a four, and this position with Bishop B for white can at least target DD six.
And here, for example, a nice bind on the position emerges after C four so it should be significantly
better here.
Positionally so B5 is played eight takes nine takes queen a one.
And yeah, when I first handed out this game on YouTube I talked about the choice of batteries.
It's like a luxury apartment building this this position with a choice of batteries on the a file to
target a six or sometimes on the default later.
If if a rook ends up on D one, we can start piling up on D six.
So we have Queen B seven Rook D one.
Bishop dd seven.
Bishop G five.
So yes, there's a choice of potential batteries coming up.
If the rook goes the D two, the Queen can either tuck behind the D one the default or the A full rook.
We have rook c six protects the d six point fh6.
We're just going to take on f six and we can afford to play.
Rook takes D six here.
And if bishop if we're just going to take on F six and this is just going to be great, we're going
to stop a five.
We've got a real bind here on the possession.
So rook C6 we have H free h six, Bishop E free Quincy eight, King H two.
So this protects H free.
We have Bishop D eight Rook d2 and here is the luxury apartment that I'm talking about.
So the Queen can either shift, you know, to d one or stay where it is.
But these pawns are being targeted.
These weaknesses in Black's position are being targeted.
We have h five if King H eight as an example here Queen D one and.
F rotate C free.
The problem is nitrate free coin tanks.
We have rook takes DD six and that is actually going to be better for white hair.
White's getting material back here.
Um, it's getting pretty difficult for black.
If rook ain't.
There's Rook takes a six.
If the knight moves those rook takes these seven years.
So this is just going to be better for.
So h five is played.
We have rook d free and this also now has the option of Queen C one as a kind of Barry as well for the
bishop.
But yeah, targeting weaknesses are the key point.
Like D six and they six.
If h4g takes H for this position.
Bishop afraid this isn't going to be great for black, especially after Bishop d4.
Forget taking on f four.
We can play Bishop d4 here and soon target the black king.
Maybe on the G here it looks absolutely ripe.
So 98 we have Queen d1a5 knight B five, Queen bee eight.
And yeah, black looks to be getting passive around these weaknesses.
F four is played so frets then immediately F takes e five because this pins pawn pressure on D seven
we have Bishop f six.
So let's have a look here.
If e takes G text is good because then we can play E five and we're hitting the rook on C six.
It's such a beautiful position here.
Again, we can amplify the bishop with C four if D takes we can actually just we're taking on D seven
and then we can either take on D seven or C six.
You know, Bishop takes C six is strong and Queen 67 is strong because this position is really strong.
Yeah, it's all great stuff here.
So Bishop f6 is play trying to hold the fort together.
F takes E five, bishop takes E five if D takes e five.
The strongest way to approach this.
Yeah.
It's not to take out d seven tactical notes here are very important in this position because we do have
a loose piece.
So yeah, tactics are important here to consider the move.
The positional move would be easy free.
This is one of the better positional moves because it reinforces b5a, you know, making the position
stronger and it hits the pawn.
If we played Rook takes these seven, you know this backfires somewhat because this unveils an attack
on B five.
So Queen six, Queen 6b5 is is not so bad for black as it could have been.
But yeah, with AC three, this is like one of the strongest we can actually take out.
H five simple and strong like the other knights.
You might think the other night is also plausible.
But.
It's not as good.
You know this possession.
Sure, we can have a small edge with precise play, but, you know, it starts a little bit awkward
if they move like I one protecting a two.
It's No, the clear cut way is easy free just reinforce the points hit h five.
That's great stuff.
So Bishop takes E five though was played and that leaves black with that terribly weak looking pawn.
This is great positional play really in what you'd think is a tactical opening so night BD four it's
this night which could be used potentially to it's hitting the rook, but it can also be used to add
weight for a kingside attack.
If it can be used to eliminate the defender of the dark squares, then the dark squares being more vulnerable
would be interesting.
We have rook see ain't.
So if Bishop takes the for volunteering that kind of dark square defender, this is just going to be
a nice attack for why after E five this position Rook takes eight, Queen takes eight.
This is just going to be better for white here.
So Rook eight is played, but now 93.
Yeah.
This is very interesting choice, not 95.
We want to try and eliminate that defender.
And the bishop can't really go backwards because of E5.
So Bishop e six is played.
This is actually an inaccuracy.
Bishop F6 might have actually been objective this, but it's miserable after E five.
So if Bishop e7e takes, there's a problem here.
Tactically, can you see what that is for.
Ten points.
Yeah.
These batteries, even though the structurally the weakness is gone but it leads to weak pieces because
nothing's really holding the pieces together, they're kind of they become a set of unprotected pieces
and we can exploit the unprotected bishop here with Rook takes these six and also the ninth kind of
unprotected.
So this position we could win the knight on B six.
And the other way, if it takes, we can play bishop at four.
Yeah, there's no pawns around to support the pieces now, so this is just great.
We're winning material.
Bishop C six We end up we've just been set up here.
We've got three minor pieces against the two.
Yeah.
Okay.
So yeah, it's fascinating stuff on Bishop f6.
This E five is powerful stuff, so.
Yeah.
Okay.
So here.
Yeah.
Bishop Essex was an inaccuracy.
The way to go for black.
There was actually a cheeky way to go with Bishop B five.
And this requires some tactical resourcefulness on C4 to justify it.
Black has no tank C4 to fork two rooks, so two pawns taken.
And this rook fork actually would lead to a position which is even so, yeah.
Bishop B five key move here to save the day.
Black It seems this does seem an interesting possibility.
Well, it's an improvement anyway.
And there are ideas for black to liberate the position, you know, with G free taking out E to to weaken
g free.
There are liberation or ideas.
So yes.
Hence c4 if rook d to bishop takes eto in fact here.
Okay.
In fact we don't have to use d black doesn't have to use d fi rather it was just the thought.
But because we have nine takes e five but we can play f six concretely and White's advantage here would
just be small.
There is a smaller edge for white, but nothing more.
So black misses that chance.
Bishop e6 and it seems there's a cost that the king side incurred now after nine and for the defender
on the dark squares leaves the board with bishop takes F4 so why if 97 nine takes e6f takes that's borrowing
from the kingside safety shields.
Bishop d4.
This is going to end up being quite painful for black.
This position the light square bishop without counterpart could accentuate the light square weaknesses.
White is better if Bishop D seven Queen G one is actually the best move with temp on the knight.
And if rook six rook d2 this is a very comfortable position where 94 Bishop D seven we can actually
play like this.
And for example here, Bishop B five we can establish authority, but we can consider later.
C four This is actually slightly better for white if g696e6f takes just to show nine takes E five here
C four with that nice proxy binds kind of authority on the position as well.
Yeah.
And also pass pawn, you know, we can actually just use the passport and then go for the king over
here.
This is overloading black on both sides of the board this scenario.
So with G four we can get a strong attack going, we can win H four.
But what does black do here?
H g Then what's defending g six here?
Nothing really.
So yeah, there are interesting scenarios.
Essentially in a nutshell, if 97 nine takes 86, they seem to favor white, as you might expect.
So Bishop takes F four, G takes A for a four here if F six won't pay 94 and now 95.
This is duty to get a knight on F five and nine takes de six winning material.
But if rook D eight then actually 97 check and then we play 90 C six winning material with that nice
fork.
If rook c six we could play 97 check winning material, taking that rook.
So basically it's dangerous for black.
A 495 eight takes be free, rook takes eight and black misses a shot here.
Actually, tactically there is a shot here instead of the auto recapture.
Well Black played nine, six, eight, eight but actually B takes C two is interesting.
So Rook takes B eight, C takes D one queening Rook takes C eight.
And Black does have a move here Queen A4 to defend E8.
If Queen takes the free rook, takes each check and mate the notes covering age seven.
But Queen A4 leads to a situation after Rook takes eight where it's a very interesting material imbalance.
But overall, this scenario favors white.
White has too many pieces for the Queen, so this actually is a scenario favouring white.
White.
It's going to be with some work to do, but it's better for white.
And if Queen takes eight, then C takes B free.
And this situation, we're just batter here, we're targeting H five.
Still, what is black doing?
We can play F five and trap the bishop.
Even more important than taking out H five, we're trapping the bishop.
If 97.
If g six we're going to play F five again.
The Bishop's kind of suspect Black's king is suspect after the Queen takes H five.
Yeah, this looks too dangerous by far.
All these pieces over here, away from the king.
So fascinating stuff.
So let's go back.
So basically nine takes was chosen.
So C tanks be free.
We have g six.
If Bishop D seven we're just going to take on h five.
No problem there.
So g six but now F five.
So again this, this tactic, yeah, it's horrible for black D five.
Check from the Queen if G thinks we're just going to take on h5d5 check king H one So what's our bishop
covers?
C one There's no check.
So if Queen E five, we're checking E takes and this is kind of crushing eventually because Bishop G
one we get in this position and we're crushing it from here.
D takes E six is afforded because of that nice bishop on G two and.
Yeah.
Black really hasn't got too much, it seems.
You know, this position is just in our favor.
So D five check was chosen.
King h1g takes F five, and now E takes D five.
Bishop D seven.
Queen St's H five.
96 trying to defend F seven Bishop F4 trying to remove that defender.
We're in attack mode now.
The positional Adams is going into full attack mode.
Queen H seven Shaq Black resigns if king of fake.
We're taking out the defender of F seven and just mating yeah.
And yeah so.
It's also F King E eight.
We have Queen Ain't Checkmate or cringe at me.
So really fascinating game.
So it's a kind of blends of positional chess and attacking chess.
And you know, Adams is getting great results with these kind of non-mainstream najdorf approaches.
So like G is a bit of a rare, bold move, but you can see the positional undertones.
Adams is looking out for structural weaknesses later A6 and D six.
It's kind of probe them, pressurize them, build up advantages using them if they're eliminated.
Like D6, we get under protected pieces and the tactics generally favor white overall that we saw.
So a fascinating positional approach to the Sicilian najdorf expressed in this game.
So a really interesting positional play from Adams, as usual.
Fascinating stuff.
I hope you enjoyed this as much as me.
Thanks very much.