A case of the bad-bishop blues
After suffering an unexpected defeat, a puzzled young student of mine once queried, “How could that have happened? I was a whole piece ahead.”
In the game, though, all the fighting had taken place on the board’s kingside while one piece just sat idly by out of action on the other wing. My novice trainee actually confessed that he had forgotten about that man altogether. Analysis showed that that soldier could have been employed to help my apprentice easily defeat his foe.
From one grandmaster game to the next, one can observe the persistent activation of ALL the forces. Clearly, the pros consciously and constantly intend to maximize their combined powers. They seldom would forget to do so. As a corollary, they would also fully intend to inactivate their enemy’s forces whenever possible.
One of the most crippling examples of this is saddling the opponent with a bishop that is blocked by its own pawns, a “bad bishop.” Since pawns are generally the least mobile of the chessmen, their immobilization can serve to almost totally entomb a bishop.
In the 2004 World Championship Knockout Tournament held in Libya, GM Michal Krasenkow of Poland showed precisely how to exploit that situation:
how completely hemmed in black’s queen’s bishop was right out of the opening. White kept it that way until the finish. Appropriately, his own bishop invaded to end the struggle. About to lose material or be mated, Black resigned. One deadly ending could have been: 33...Rg7 34.Rxf8+ Kxf8 35.Nxe6 and mate next.
In contrast to the player having a bad bishop, there is the opponent who possesses a good one. Unblocked by its own pawns, his bishop can not only move freely but can maneuver to attack the enemy pawns. “One of the ways ... to play this kind of position is actually simplify the position, ... take the game to endgame, and simply leave the [bad] bishop ... just by himself [GM Khachiyan].”
Today’s featured game was played by former World Champion Anatoly Karpov. In it, he simplifies everything by move 21, leaving only the good-versus-badbishop theme to exploit. Only the two bishops remained after move 32. Encouraging a major
Of the millions of devotees of our mental sport, a small percentage have indulged in one of its highest pleasures: playing in a major tournament. One of the most easygoing events available is the annual U.S. Open Chess Championship. Now in its 117th year, it offers prizes for players of all skill levels. Its traditional schedule allows a relaxing one round per day; enough free time to take in some vacation attractions. This year’s Open is being held in Indianapolis and projects a $50,000 prize fund. Go to www.uschess.org/tournaments/2016/usopen.