This article was published originally on The Chess Improver blog on 2017-02-14
I have reposted it here for reference.
"A space advantage means little if there is no way to penetrate into the enemy position."
Jeremy Silman, The Amateur's Mind
It is very easy to throw around words like "space advantage". One side can get that really quickly by playing aggressive or when the opponent is really shy and defensive. So you get it one way or the other; what now? It is very possible you get a bit tentative, expecting the "space advantage' to perform some sort of miraculous voodoo and bring you closer to a win. That signals a new direction the game goes into and you should not go there. Another possibility is you get overconfident and keep on attacking, hyper extending yourself. This has been proven disastrous since the days of Alekhine and his famous defence. Have you ever played on either side of the following line? It was for a while my main weapon against the overzealous opponents, happy to have a d6-pawn and my Queen trapped after only 11 moves. They never saw it coming...
[White "?"][Black "?"][ECO "B03"]1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. c4 Nb6 4. d4 d6 5. f4 dxe5 6. fxe5 c5 7. d5 e6 8. d6 Qh4 9. g3 Qe4 10. Qe2 Qxh1 11. Nf3
Today's game is meant to help you be confident when you get "space advantage". Do what white did (penetrate into the enemy position) as much as possible and you will have a new weapon to use in your games.
[Event "13th Moscow Open"][Date "2017.02.04"][White "Khismatullin, Denis"][Black "Sviridov, Valery"][Result "1-0"][ECO "A05"]1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Qb3 Nb6 {the first sign black might be shy} 6. d4 Bg7 7. e4 O-O 8. Be3 Bg4 9. Rd1 Nc6 {invites white to get more space} 10. d5 Ne5 11. Be2 Bxf3 (11... Nxf3+ 12. Bxf3 Bxf3 13. gxf3) 12. gxf3 Qc8 {black has to do something and hopes to do something about Ke1 left in the center} 13. h4 c6 (13... h5 {would have slowed down the attack} ) 14. f4 Ned7 15. d6 $1 {an excellent positional move. It leaves the c6-pawn on the board and black's Queen side very defensive. In my opinion not too many would have given black the semi-open e-file with the white King left in the center. Black has to go through one pawn and 2 Bishops to get to it, so who knows?} 15... exd6 16. Rxd6 Bxc3+ {I think this was done to undermine the first target along the e-file, the e4-pawn. Looking back this could not be a good choice; exchanging Bg7 was a price too high to pay} 17. Qxc3 Qe8 18. Qd4 Rd8 {black is getting ready for an attack in the center} 19. h5 {and white finds a way to penetrate. Qd4 and the weak diagonal a1-h8, plus Rh1 supporting the pawn push, gives a nice hint} 19... c5 20. Qd3 Nc8 21. Rd5 Ncb6 {three extra moves and all black did was to push c6-c5. You cannot lose time like that with an h-pawn supported by a Rook and rolling down on your castle. Now any piece not needed for storming the castle, matters less} 22. hxg6 $1 Nxd5 23. Qxd5 hxg6 24. Qg5 {So all of a sudden all black pieces look silly and useless. His majesty has to take matters into his own hands to avoid being checkmated} 24... Kg7 25. Qh6+ Kf6 26. e5+ Ke7 27. Bb5 {here black resigned. My mind goes back to the "Bad ideas" article just by looking at the trapped Qe8}
Here is the link to the article "Bad ideas" if you wish to revisit it.
https://64funsolutions.ca/bad-ideas-0
What do we learn out of this game? First of all we learn that we must attack if we have the space advantage. Steinitz said:
"When a sufficient advantage has been obtained, a player must attack or the advantage will be dissipated."
Space advantage is in most cases sufficient advantage to make you start the attack. The second thing we can learn is even if our style is a bit shy and defensive, we must find a way to give the opponent something to worry about or we stand no chance. Hope you find it useful. If you have any games and/ or positions you would like me to look at, please do not hesitate to let me know. I will gladly include them in my column for everyone's benefit. Looking forward to your messages!
I have reposted it here for reference.
"A space advantage means little if there is no way to penetrate into the enemy position."
Jeremy Silman, The Amateur's Mind
It is very easy to throw around words like "space advantage". One side can get that really quickly by playing aggressive or when the opponent is really shy and defensive. So you get it one way or the other; what now? It is very possible you get a bit tentative, expecting the "space advantage' to perform some sort of miraculous voodoo and bring you closer to a win. That signals a new direction the game goes into and you should not go there. Another possibility is you get overconfident and keep on attacking, hyper extending yourself. This has been proven disastrous since the days of Alekhine and his famous defence. Have you ever played on either side of the following line? It was for a while my main weapon against the overzealous opponents, happy to have a d6-pawn and my Queen trapped after only 11 moves. They never saw it coming...
[White "?"][Black "?"][ECO "B03"]1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. c4 Nb6 4. d4 d6 5. f4 dxe5 6. fxe5 c5 7. d5 e6 8. d6 Qh4 9. g3 Qe4 10. Qe2 Qxh1 11. Nf3
Today's game is meant to help you be confident when you get "space advantage". Do what white did (penetrate into the enemy position) as much as possible and you will have a new weapon to use in your games.
[Event "13th Moscow Open"][Date "2017.02.04"][White "Khismatullin, Denis"][Black "Sviridov, Valery"][Result "1-0"][ECO "A05"]1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Qb3 Nb6 {the first sign black might be shy} 6. d4 Bg7 7. e4 O-O 8. Be3 Bg4 9. Rd1 Nc6 {invites white to get more space} 10. d5 Ne5 11. Be2 Bxf3 (11... Nxf3+ 12. Bxf3 Bxf3 13. gxf3) 12. gxf3 Qc8 {black has to do something and hopes to do something about Ke1 left in the center} 13. h4 c6 (13... h5 {would have slowed down the attack} ) 14. f4 Ned7 15. d6 $1 {an excellent positional move. It leaves the c6-pawn on the board and black's Queen side very defensive. In my opinion not too many would have given black the semi-open e-file with the white King left in the center. Black has to go through one pawn and 2 Bishops to get to it, so who knows?} 15... exd6 16. Rxd6 Bxc3+ {I think this was done to undermine the first target along the e-file, the e4-pawn. Looking back this could not be a good choice; exchanging Bg7 was a price too high to pay} 17. Qxc3 Qe8 18. Qd4 Rd8 {black is getting ready for an attack in the center} 19. h5 {and white finds a way to penetrate. Qd4 and the weak diagonal a1-h8, plus Rh1 supporting the pawn push, gives a nice hint} 19... c5 20. Qd3 Nc8 21. Rd5 Ncb6 {three extra moves and all black did was to push c6-c5. You cannot lose time like that with an h-pawn supported by a Rook and rolling down on your castle. Now any piece not needed for storming the castle, matters less} 22. hxg6 $1 Nxd5 23. Qxd5 hxg6 24. Qg5 {So all of a sudden all black pieces look silly and useless. His majesty has to take matters into his own hands to avoid being checkmated} 24... Kg7 25. Qh6+ Kf6 26. e5+ Ke7 27. Bb5 {here black resigned. My mind goes back to the "Bad ideas" article just by looking at the trapped Qe8}
Here is the link to the article "Bad ideas" if you wish to revisit it.
https://64funsolutions.ca/bad-ideas-0
What do we learn out of this game? First of all we learn that we must attack if we have the space advantage. Steinitz said:
"When a sufficient advantage has been obtained, a player must attack or the advantage will be dissipated."
Space advantage is in most cases sufficient advantage to make you start the attack. The second thing we can learn is even if our style is a bit shy and defensive, we must find a way to give the opponent something to worry about or we stand no chance. Hope you find it useful. If you have any games and/ or positions you would like me to look at, please do not hesitate to let me know. I will gladly include them in my column for everyone's benefit. Looking forward to your messages!