This day also brought us a new lesson to learn. Many players believe that the most powerful thing in chess to capture materials, or to find a tactical solution to a problem. That is one of the reasons why we practice daily puzzles, of all sorts. However, in my opinion, threats in chess are most powerful things. Threats are making pressure on the opponent’s position, and either the position, or the opponent will break eventually. In order to prove my point, I will take one of the positions from Ireland’s game in the Open Section (Baburin vs. Ben Ammar) from Board #2.
In this position, White has a superior spatial advantage. There are harmony between the White’s pieces. Tactical elements are on the board from White’s side: a pin, a discovered attack, and a potential checkmate is in the air, too. Black is in trouble. The Black Queen is overwhelmed: taking care of the pawn on G7 and E6, supporting the bishop on C5, and connected the other pieces. In cases like this, there must be a “puzzle” (a tactical solution) somewhere here. Obviously, there is no material White can take directly. In this game, Baburin played 19. Qxe7 which must be wrong. Releasing the pressure helps more the player who is defending. However, our analysis reveals the simple and yet powerful winning move. It is about discovered attack, and overloaded pieces. The move is not about capturing, it is a quiet one. The move just makes a threat. Well, not one exactly, and that is the beauty of it: more like three.
Why? Well, there is a discovered attack on the C file. If White could move again then 20. Bxg7 wins a pawn since the Queen must be driven away which support the C5 bishop. If the C5 bishop moves away, the C8 bishop is still undefended. Capturing the White Queen does not solve the problem either because after Nxg5 the problem is still on the board. Threats eventually break the position.
Another lesson from this game is that, even high level players must learn the bishop end games, with special attention to the cases when we consider a bishop to be good or to be bad. If you know that part of the end games can save you a half point in an otherwise disadvantaged position, too.