Hi there.
In this lecture, we see Grandmaster Steven Gordon playing against Michael Adams in 2010 Championship
round seven the from Gordon we have nine Steph, 6c4, e6g3.
So Catalan territory d593, Bishop B four, check Bishop D two and Bishop RD six.
So this check has caused some disruption when it's control of D four has been disrupted.
The bishops not ideally placed on D two We have Bishop G two, C six, Queen C two might be D seven.
So this structure naturally blunts the G two Bishop.
That's something to note here.
White castles, Black Castles, Rook D one Queen E seven.
Bishop g5h6 and White volunteers.
The Dark Square.
Bishop We have nine takes, have six, might be two.
And now here a very interesting decision in my view.
But there is a positional basis to it.
E five is played.
Engines suggest that these C five might be the better pawn move.
And if we look at this position we have softened up the diagonal so the bishop might actually have some
targets later with Adams's approach here, this is a very interesting option.
In fact, we have D takes five, Bishop takes E five, and C takes D five.
There's no isolated pawn just yet.
Knight takes the five, Knight takes E five, Queen takes E five, and now 9c4, and here, Queen F
six.
So this is a kind of pawn sacrifice.
If Bishop takes the five is played.
But White didn't play that White played E4.
If Bishop takes DD five, C takes Rook takes black, has adequate compensation with Bishop E six here.
So as example, if the rook goes back, what does white do after rook eight be free, there's b five
and if rook c five rook FZ eight This position is still good.
The queen can play queen sex B two Bishop takes a two Black's balor.
So yes, winning the pawn doesn't seem to be a lucrative idea if 94 instead.
D for this position is also good for playing after Queen takes E to Bishop, it should be at least even
rather.
So that is possible.
But it's just even here.
Okay.
So interesting situation indeed.
So we have e for.
Then we have night B six night E, three bishop E, six, F four.
And there is a positional downside emerging here from White's pawn moves.
White is being weakened on the dark squares and the so called diagonal of death when so many games in
practice.
Will it win a game here?
Rook 88.
Now White plays what seems to be extremely lucrative in one respect.
F5 It has what seems to be a really aggressive idea.
The bishop is pushed back to the first row and now Knight G four with the idea of playing F6 soon.
Why is Adams tolerated this scenario?
So this is absolutely fascinating scenario where Adams is accepting welcoming double pawns.
So F6 is played so Adams pawns has been doubled.
Knight takes H six check.
So why on earth would a positional player like Adams except double pawns?
Surely positional players in general lean towards connected pawn structures.
Connected pawn structures on the chessboard, the pawns kind of look after each other.
There's no strain on the pieces.
If you think about a dynamic structure like an isolated pawn, sometimes it can spread spread gloom
all over the board.
As Piece was trying to fend knights like Queen's Pawn or hanging pawns.
Sometimes pieces can become passive if we take the priority of a pawn structure, though, to be about
the quality of your pieces versus the opponent's and other factors like King safety.
That's very, very interesting that here Adams has judged that Och he's got what seems to be not such
a great structure, but look at the pieces after 95 because where is this knight going.
It can't go to G4, we're just going to take.
So why is left with this bishop now biting on C six.
This seems to be.
An interesting situation to really think about.
Look at the quality or potential quality of the black pieces from here.
The dark squares in White's camp and the E5 square for a night looks absolutely gorgeous as a career
prospect for the night.
Here we have Rook for eight.
Rook takes the eight.
Rook takes the eight, rook f one.
And now a nice centralising move to stop any nonsense as well with rook out for any attacking stuff.
Just Rook four.
But this is your purpose.
It's not just about stopping or dissuading Rook at four.
Things can be built with this.
For example, Queen dd six and the rook supports 9c4 to E five as well that way as well.
Potentially.
We have B free stopping 9c4.
But now the knight just goes to D seven and look at the quality of the pieces.
Now a few moves in.
After accepting the double pawns, a few moves in the relative piece quality does seem to favor black
in this position.
The knight's going to come to a juicy square.
So Adams has talked about this that sometimes lower rate players often stick to principles, not really
kind of testing if they can break those principles in their exact position.
So there might be this principle of keeping the bishop here or not having double pawns.
But this is a great demonstration that, okay, we've got the double pawns, but pawn structure in general
serves your pieces.
And things like King safety.
And here the pieces are been served quite well.
The F6 double -- does support E five quite nicely.
And in fact, at move 29 there's a total disaster move played Rook RD one.
Can you see why this is a total disaster?
In fact, our first show you why Quincy Free isn't that great either.
Queen de Sex.
And look at the pieces of black after 95 blacks.
Just better here.
For example, this situation with see five blacks got this free to to Paul majority and whites poor
majority free to two is kind of dampens because the king's over there.
So it's easier for black to create a dangerous pass -- with that huge night on E five.
The prospects are just better for black here.
Black has a clear advantage technically here, but Rook D one is a total disaster move.
So think about the diagonal of death.
We need to bear this in mind all the time.
Tactics all.
All the time.
Even if we're a positional player.
So what would you play in this position for?
200 points and why is it crushing?
OC.
Quincy five.
Ouch.
The Queen's overloaded.
Oh, dear.
When asked to resign.
If Queen takes C5, Rook takes the one check and we play 1965.
If Rook takes the fall, we're taking taking the Queen.
And here we can actually play Queen C five.
Check and pick up the rook.
Basically, this is really sad.
Queen C track is going to be off the Rook RD one we can delay.
But you know, Bishop one is mate.
And the other thing is King one, there's Queen takes her five chair picking up the rook.
So it's absolutely devastating.
And if Rook C won, then we have a beautiful double check and mate.
Yeah.
Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear.
The disasters that can happen on chessboard.
So Queen C five has to resign.
That's a pretty vivid demonstration of a positional player accepting double pawns.
Just investigating a bit further look at the pace quality.
The positional player is looking after their pieces and their king.
The pawn structures are often a means to an ends and some of the iconic games of Capablanca, you know,
Capablanca has played with hanging pawns or isolated pawns or backward pawns.
And the pieces, they just generally improve.
Look at a lot of the iconic games.
It's about the pieces, really.
The pawns are more of a tool to help the pieces and king safety.
And here the pieces are just great.
If you look at this, if you just objectively what what the sides, you know, who is better structural
is just one perspective on this position.
If we look at the pieces, Black has great potential to improve all the pieces with a bishop, despite
in Grand Knight, the Knight potentially getting to 85.
But also there's immediate dark square issues in King safety issues as well, which were immediately
tapped into in the game.
Continuation.
Och, I hope you enjoyed this one and think more dynamically about accepting sometimes double pawns.
Yes, you may have thought in this course double pawns are terrible.
This is a terrible sin of positional player, but you'll see lots of game examples where the pieces
and king safety, they're often the things that really win the games.
Thank you much.