Thursday 16 July 2009

Changing the move order

I recently read a suggestion (possibly from Hans Ree), that if a combination doesn't seem to work, try changing the move order. Playing a less obvious move may bring greater rewards than charging headlong into the gates.
I recently gave a game from the 1953 Zurich Candidates tournament where Paul Keres came unstuck after trying a novelty in the opening. To balance the ledger I have a game from the same event, where Keres benefited from an unsuccessful innovation from Isaac Boleslavsky. It also illustrates the point of this article, in that Boleslavsky only looked at Keres' possible replies in one order, and didn't consider the alternative.

Keres,P - Boleslavsky,I [A54]
Candidats Tournament Zuerich (6), 08.09.1953

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 g5 7.dxe5 gxh4 8.exf6 Qxf6 9.Nd5 Qxb2 10.Rb1! This is what Boleslavsky overlooked. [10.Nxc7+ Kd8 11.Nxa8 (11.Rb1?? Qc3+) 11...d5 12.Rc1 Bb4+ 13.Nd2 Nc5 14.Rc2 Qe5 15.e3 Bf5 was what he prepared.] 10...Qxa2 11.Nxc7+ Kd8 12.Nxa8 Nc5 13.Ra1 Qb2 14.Qd4 Qxd4 15.Nxd4 Bg7 16.e3 Re8 17.Be2 Bxd4 18.exd4 Nb3 19.Rxa7 Nxd4 20.Ra2 h3 21.Rg1 Rg8 22.g4 1-0

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