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Amateur players seldom defend well. Why? Well, the process of defending is often unpleasant, stressful, and exhausting. And amateurs mostly play for fun. So why would they concentrate on what is boring and stressful, instead of focusing on the cheerful aspects of the royal game? The result of such a mindset is logical: non-professionals are usually much more skilled in attacking than defending.

With professionals, things are rather different. They play chess for fun, but also to pay the bills. They simply need to achieve good results, and to get these, they need to master all the chess skills, even the unattractive ones.

So, let us in this article open the gate to the world of professional chess. I would like to show you four different defensive methods, and maybe also change your mind a bit. Perhaps we will find out together, that the art of defence is not entirely uninteresting.

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This is the 14th game of the Kramnik-Kasparov London match, in which Kramnik became the World Champion. Just imagine being Kramnik here: You have a nice 2-0 lead in the match, and you are only inches away from the chess crown.

However, you misplayed the opening and are worse against one of the most dangerous players in the entire chess history. If he wins this one, the following day you will be Black and have to defend against Kasparov full of new energy and optimism.

So, what would you play? How would you defend yourself?

Kramnik-Kasparov, World Championship Match (14), London 2000, White to move:

Kramnik understood that Black has got a positional threat of Rc8-c5, with a long-term pressure against the weak c4-pawn. Defending such a position would be exhausting and difficult. Therefore, he decided to pull a handbrake, using the first method of defence: simplification.

He sacrificed a pawn with 29.c5!?, and after 29Rxc5 30.Rxc5 Bxf6 31.Qxf6 dxc5 the position has simplified into a bearable endgame:

Ok, Black is a pawn up. However, both White's heavy pieces are very active and there are several weaknesses in Kasparov's camp: the a-pawn, the c-pawn and most notably the king. Kramnik played a nice prophylactic move 32.Kh2!, preparing a rook lift, and drew the game without much effort.

Here's the complete game:

Another much used method of positional defence is creating a fortress. Fortresses do sometimes occur in closed middlegame positions, but they are much more common in endgames. Why? The reason is simple: with less pieces on the board, there are less attackers trying to get into the fortress, and therefore even shaky and thin walls might do the job.

In the following position, I had to solve a difficult problem: How should I stop the White king to enter my camp via the queenside while controlling the b-pawn?

Zilka-Markos, Slovak Team Championship 2020, Black to move:

Black's main difficulty lies in the fact, that his d6-knight is taking away an important square from its own king. The black monarch belongs to c6. But how to get there? Firstly, we need to find a new spot for the knight. I played 54Nb7!, and the game continued 55.Bc8 Nc5 56.b7 Na6!. At the first glance, a6 far away from the centre is a poor place for the knight. However, more important is that the way to c6 is now free. So after White's possible try 57.Kd3 Kd6 58.Kc4 Kc6 the fortress is impregnable (see the diagram below.)

Zilka-Markos, line

In the game, Zilka played 57.Kf3 and tried another forty moves to break my defences, but my minimalistic fortress withstood all his efforts.

Let us have a look at the third defensive method, perhaps the most enjoyable one: counterattack. Usually even inexperienced players do not have many problems with finding counterattacking possibilities. After all, a counterattack resembles a "normal" attack to some extend, and we all love to be active in chess, dont we?

However, sometimes counterattack might be organised in unexpected situations. Let us have a look at Aronian-Carlsen, Sinquefield Cup 2014, White to move:

White is a pawn down in an unpleasant rook endgame. I bet that most of the club players would put the rook behind the pawn and then simply wait. After all, what else could be done here, with so few pieces on the board?

Well, Aronian found a nice counterattacking possibility. He played 52.Kg2! with the plan of attacking the black pawns with a king march g2-h3-h4-g5-f6, as soon as the black king moves to the queenside.

Against lesser mortals this idea would easily hold the draw. However, Carlsen showed his miraculous technique again, confused his opponent later in the endgame and won.

Here is the complete game:

The last defensive method is almost unknown to majority of the club players. It does not even have a proper name yet. In our book Secret Ingredient, co-authored by David Navara, we named it sabotage.

Sabotage is not the same thing as counterattack. The defender is not trying to come up with his own activity. Rather, he tries slowing down the attacking pieces, usually by creating micro-problems. Sabotaging means pouring sand into the attacking mechanism of your opponent.

Let us have a look at a superb example:

Ding-Vachier Lagrave, Candidates tournament 2021, Black to move:

Vachier-Lagrave's position is rather unappealing. His king is very vulnerable and White's heavy pieces are well placed in the centre. The direct threat is Re5-e6, followed by a deadly queen check on g6.

However, there is a way hot to slow down White's attack. The Frenchman played the spirited 51Rf7!, attacking the vulnerable f3-pawn. Now 52.Re6?? is answered by a counterblow 52Rxf3+, and therefore White needs to find new, slower attacking ideas.

After fifteen more moves, the situation has almost repeated itself:

Again, Ding is threatening to invade the black camp. This time, the main threat is Qe4-b7+, followed either by a quick mate, or by major material gains. And again, Vachier-Lagrave comes up with an only move. This time, the Black monarch itself becomes the saboteur!

Black played the courageous 66Kf6!, disrupting the harmony of the white army. The rook is hanging, and after both 67.Qf5+ Kg7 and 67.Rf5+ Kg7 68.Qb7+ Kh8 there is no direct win. The game ended peacefully after 88 moves.

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I know, defending is tough. Sometimes, it is boring and exhausting as well. But you might fall in love with it. After all, it is an important skill that will bring your game to an entirely new level.

I hope that after reading this article, you have a better idea about available defensive methods. I always advise my pupils to ask themselves: "Which method I should defend with in this position? Shall I simplify, build a fortress, go for a counterattack, or organize a sabotage?" Once you pick the correct method, it will be much easier to find the suitable moves as well.

Of course, these methods might (and often should!) be combined in a single game. Karpov was the one who was able to "change gears" in defence very skilfully: he mixed patient defensive play with unexpected counterattacks, and he especially loved to simplify into awful but holdable endgames.

However, even strong players sometimes lose the thread when it comes to picking up the correct defensive method. We will have a look at such "defensive mishaps" in the next part of The Winning Academy.

Read more from the original source:
The Winning Academy 11: The Most Important Skill of a Chess Professional - ChessBase

A quick draw with GM Ding Liren proved to be an excellent strategy for GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, who increased his lead to a full point at the 2022 Candidates Tournament on Sunday. GM Hikaru Nakamura, who beat runner-up GM Fabiano Caruana for the first time in a classical game in seven years, is now in third place.

GM Richard Rapport scored his first win in the tournament, bouncing back from his loss yesterday with a winning kingside attack against GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda. At the bottom of the leaderboard, GMs Alireza Firouzja and Teimour Radjabov drew a relatively quiet but also very long and tense game.

How to watch the 2022 Candidates Tournament

Coverage of round 9 begins on Monday, June 27 at 6 a.m. Pacific, 9 a.m. Eastern, and 15:00 Central Europe. You can watch the 2022 Candidates live on Chess.com/TV and on our Twitch, or catch all our live broadcasts on YouTube.com/ChesscomLive. You can also keep up with all the details here on our live events platform.

In this first round of the second half, the tournament leader played one of the quickest games so far. The whole act took just 55 minutes when the players had already been playing a few moves in an opposite-colored bishop endgame. When they started repeating moves, Ding at some point extended his hand to agree to a draw, but Nepomniachtchi pointed to his scoresheet and made sure the necessary repetitions would happen.

This quick draw made sense for both players. On +4, Nepomniachtchi has reached the stage where each half point is getting more valuable, and taking risks doesn't make any sense anymore. On top of that, he probably could use some extra rest, as well as more prep time for the big clash with Caruana tomorrow.

For Ding, who lost his game with Nepomniachtchi in the opening round, it would be too early to conclude that he has given up. It was more a case of his repertoire being excellent but limited; if you really only play 1...e5, it's tough to avoid what happened today.

So how did the players reach that draw exactly? Well, Nepomniachtchi played the Scotch Four Knights, which, at the top level, almost always means the white player is playing for a draw. Theory was followed for a long time; only 21...h5 was the first new move. When all the rooks let the board, the peaceful result was inevitable.

Putting it bluntly, this was a non-game.

Annotations by GM Rafael Leitao.

Rapport came off an unnecessary and highly disappointing loss the other day ("Maybe I should throw away the computer," he said afterward), and he had escaped with a draw vs. Duda in the first round. It must have been a relief for the Hungarian player to score a win today, while Duda couldn't hide his huge disappointment.

Known for regularly playing King's Indian Attack setups, Rapport had actually never played the 4.g3 Four Knights before (yes, a second Four Knights in the same round!). Afterward, he revealed that it was a decision at the board: "I didn't really look at chess after yesterday's game, I didn't even open Chessbase, actually."

I didn't really look at chess after yesterday's game, I didn't even open Chessbase, actually.Richard Rapport

With the unconventional 8.b3 the players left theoretical waters. After a bunch of trades, the game got interesting when Rapport pushed his g4-pawn up the board, eyeballing Black's "hook" on h6. Duda really had to act there, and he did wonderfully as he found two very nice moves with his h-pawn that temporarily sacrificed a pawn.

Position after 19...Nxg5.

Taking back on g5 with the knight was a further sign of Polish ambition, according to our commentators:

IM Danny Rensch: "Duda wants more than just an endgame."GM Robert Hess: "He's willing to lose to increase his chances to win."

The tactics weren't over yet as Rapport found the neat intermediate move 22.Rg1, threatening checkmate on g7 before taking back the piece. GM Daniel Naroditsky, who joined the Chess.com broadcast for the first time today, had just shown it a few minutes earlier, calling it "a very good move in bullet and a good move in classical!"

The idea was to provoke 22g6, which robs Black from his intended rook lift Re8-e6-g6/h6.

That Rg1 move might have shaken up Duda psychologically as he missed the most ambitious option of 22f5 and then erred with 24...Rae7, a square the black king would have liked to run to in some lines.White suddenly had free play on the kingside, although Black did get one more chance.

Position after 25.Qf3.

On better days, Duda might have demonstrated that his opponent's 25.Qf3 was inaccurate due to 25f6!!, the main idea being 26.g6 (26.gxf6 Rf7) Kf8 27.Qh5 Rb7 28.Qh8+ Ke7 29.Qxg7+? Ke6, and White's queen is trapped. As it went, he just got bulldozered on the kingside.

When Rapport had played his fancy final move, Duda looked completely dejected, shaking his head in disbelief and making hand gestures that suggested he didn't want to be anywhere near a chessboard.

After a few minutes, he stopped the clock with Rapport still away from the board. The winner quickly came back to shake hands when Duda left instantly. It was such a relatable moment as chess players know so well that feeling of complete disgust after losing. It happens to all of us.

Rapport is back on 50 percent after scoring his first win right after his first loss. Duda's -2 means that his tournament, where only first place counts, is basically over.

Annotations by GM Rafael Leitao.

The end of WGM Dina Belenkaya's interview with Rapport should not be missed:

Belenkaya: "I love your jacket; what made you wear it today?"Rapport: "I would love to say something very confident, but actually my wife insisted on me wearing it yesterday. It proved to be very smart that I avoided that because it wouldn't have been fair against the jacket. So I chose to do it today."Belenkaya: "Our audience was wondering, is this red, pink, or salmon color?"Rapport: "I believe it's pink, but I guess it's up for debate."Belenkaya: "Any strategy for the next games?"Rapport. "I will think about my outfit, to confuse!"

In what was their 47th classical game since 2010, Nakamura managed to score his first win vs. Caruana in seven years. After his win at Norway Chess in 2015, the head-to-head score was in fact 5-1 for Nakamura, but in the meantime, Caruana managed to turn that around, scoring seven wins and no losses since, including the first round of this Candidates. After today's game, Caruana still leads 8 to 6 with 33 draws.

It started as a heavy theoretical battle with Caruana playing the Dilworth variation of the Open Ruy Lopez, where Black gives two minor pieces for rook and pawn.

The Dilworth had never been played at the Candidates or world championship level before. It was seen, however, in a game between two future world champions back in 1943 as GM Mikhail Botvinnik tried it out against GM Vasily Smyslov in the Soviet Championship, having seen analysis published in Chess magazine by the English amateur correspondence player Vernon Dilworth (1916-2004). Smyslov won that game.

Seventy-nine years later, the Dilworth is known to be playable again, as it was seen in a few top-level games recently. It was GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov who initially brought it back into the spotlight in a game with GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in 2018 in Biel. In January of this year, Caruana faced it with the white pieces against GM Jorden van Foreest in Wijk aan Zee, and then, seven weeks ago, Caruana tried it as Black himself against MVL.

Nakamura definitely saw it coming, studied it the night before, and criticized this opening choice in his own stream after the game:

"I think today being a streamer helped me, because I think Fabiano, for whatever reason, just assumed that I'm chilling on the beach all day, and I am not studying openings before this tournament. Because playing the Open Spanish, going into this whole line which is very sharp, it's just inexplicable honestly. I don't understand the decision by him at all. It's insane."

I don't understand the decision by him at all. It's insane.Hikaru Nakamura

15...Qd6 was new compared to Caruana's game with MVL game (where he played 15...Qd7), but it was actually Van Foreest's move. Despite, or more likely, because of all the theory that the players had to rehearse before the game, both Nakamura and Caruana actually mixed up their prep a little.

As GM Raunak Sadhwani explained in Chess.com's Indian broadcast, there was something wrong with Nakamura's quick reply 21.Ng3 to Caruana's 20c5 novelty. He argued that 21.Ng3 is the best move according to the engine after 20Rde8, but not after 20c5, where 21.Bg5! Rde8 22.Nxe5! would have been possible.

In the official interview he didn't admit just yet that he made a slight mistakeperhaps because he needed to double check his analysis firstbut in his own game recap which he makes each day from his hotel room (a fantastic service for the fans!) Nakamura did say that 21.Ng3 was inaccurate:

"The irony to me making a mistake is that if I'd played the line that I looked at last night and not confused variations, I probably would not have won this game."

According to Nakamura, 22c4 was inaccurate (22e4!) after which it was "positionally very tough to play for Black."

Especially Nakamura's 25.Nh1! was excellent regrouping, reminiscent of the classic Nimzowitsch-Rubinstein, Dresden 1926.

Positing after 25.Nh1!

Chess.com's VP of Content and International Sam Copeland joked: "I didn't think this would be a winning horse in this two-horse race!"

While Caruana was calculating 25e4, Naroditsky commented: "He has to change his mindset, he's gotta go from 'I am looking for the kill shot' mode to 'it's just a complicated position, and I'm going to play something slow-mo' and that change of mentality can be hard if you've set yourself up with expectations about how good you think your position is."

It didn't get much easier for Caruana when his opponent found 27.h4!, called by Hess "one of the best moves in the entire tournament."

Around that time, Caruana was going under half an hour on the clock, with a bit more than an hour for Nakamura, who once again showed superb time management. Caruana used half of his remaining time on 27Nc5, where 27h5 was more or less the only move according to the engine.

Nakamura's advantage grew, and he won a pawn after trading queens. When his opponent had just two minutes left, he played the practically smart 38.b4, leaving Caruana with a dilemma: take en passant and weaken the structure, or accept a6 as a weakness for the remainder?

That dilemma cost him another minute on the clock before Caruana played the losing move 38h5.

Position after 38...h5.

Slightly surprisingly, Nakamura didn't want to deal the knockout blow just yet with either 39.Be8 or simply 39.Bxe4+, but what he did (39.a4) didn't seem bad either.

Caruana deserves credit for finding the fantastic defensive try 42...h3, but Nakamura's 34.Ra2 was equally great, and, in fact, the only move that kept a winning position. You know that Nakamura played a great game when Caruana's tremendous defense was not enough.

But the game was still not over. Caruana admirably kept fighting despite the engine showing +5 or +6 advantages for Nakamuraignorance can be bliss in chess.

Finding 60g5+! in this position, with which he narrowly made the second time control, was crucial for Caruana, who suddenly seemed to be getting some practical chances again. These hopes quickly vanished as the extra 15 minutes and the introduction of the 30-second increment were not enough to play perfect chess.

As he played 68.Bf2, Nakamura put on his coat, signaling that he felt the win was in the bag. Caruana still wouldn't give up, and that jacket had to go off again about 10 minutes later, but that was right when Caruana finally resigned, after a bit more than six hours of play.

Nakamura won an incredibly rich game of chess, surged to third place in the standings, and is still in contention for first place. Not bad for a streamer. (That's not just a little joke; he actually stated today that on the next rest day he'll definitely be streaming Titled Tuesday!)

The eighth round of the candidates saw a shakeup of the standings with Hikaru beating one of the two main leaders. This is my first chance to annotate a game from one of my biggest childhood heroes in this tournament. He showed a fantastic intuitive feel for the position, winning in the same fine style I grew accustomed to seeing whenever I saw him on the top boards of countless American opens back when I was growing up.

Anyone who clicked through this game without seeing our broadcast might conclude that not much happened, the eval bar always said equal, and it's time to move on. Behind this quiet-looking game, though, was a great fight between two players from different generations who were both hoping to score their first winin the case of Radjabov, his first since October 2019.

One moment should be pointed out though: it looks like Radjabov had a tactic on move 26 where the engine likes Black but not with a huge margin. It was definitely a chance, though.

The final phase of the game, after move 70, was quite nerve-wracking as both players were down to about three minutes with a 30-second increment. It was blitz at the Candidates, with both players sometimes making a move with just a second left on the clock.

After seven hours and two minutes, having played 93 moves, the players agreed to a draw by repetition and did so with a smile. What a round again, what a tournament!

Annotations by GM Rafael Leitao.

Round 8 Standings

Round 9 Pairings

Previous coverage:

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Nepomniachtchi Increases Lead With Quick Draw As Nakamura ... - chess.com

GM Ian Nepomniachtchi still enjoys a full point lead in the 2022 Candidates Tournament with a 6.5/9 score after drawing his game with Black against second-place GM Fabiano Caruana. In a round filled with drama, the three other boards saw decisive games with GMs Alireza Firouzja, Ding Liren, and Teimour Radjabov getting their first win of the tournament.The eight candidates are fighting for the right to challenge GM Magnus Carlsen for the title of world champion.

With a rest day on Tuesday, round 10 begins at 6 a.m. Pacific/15:00 Central European on Wednesday, June 29.

How to watch the 2022 Candidates Tournament

Be sure to check out our fantastic broadcast with live expert commentary from IM Danny Rensch, GM Robert Hess, GM Daniel Naroditsky, IM Almira Skripchenko, WGM Dina Belenkaya, and GM Jon Ludvig Hammer!

Round 10 Pairings

Round 9 Standings

Guess The Result Contest

Be sure to compete in our Guess The Result contest before the start of the game for a chance to win $2,500! Every day during the Candidates Tournament, you can guess the result of the game on our Events page. Just go to the Games tab of our dedicated Candidates page and make your best guess for a chance to win $2,500!

Previous coverage:

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How To Watch FIDE Candidates Tournament Round 10 - Chess.com

Under the roof of the Palacio de Santoa in Madrid, with its heritage art and paintings on the walls and the roofs, Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi took another important step towards securing the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen yet against in next years World Championships of chess by taking a one point lead in the Candidates tournament after a draw against GM Fabiano Caruana.

After round nine Nepomniachtchi leads with 6.5 points and is followed by Caruana at 5.5.

However, the question is whether Carlsen will defend his title. The reigning world champion had said he may consider defending the title only if Frances Alireza Firouzja (Iranian born) tops the Candidates tournament. But Firouzja, a 19-year-old tipped for great things, is currently only in sixth place with four points. The current standings make the possibility of Carlsen opting out of the World Championship defence even greater. If that happens the winner and the runner-up of the Candidates will play each other for the title next year. But will the winner ever be able to emerge from the giant shadow of Carlsen?

Following a Nepomniachtchi game can make for great viewing because the Russian is one of the most expressive players on the tour. He had contoured his face in all sorts of ways during the World Championship game against Carlsen last year. What makes him unpredictable but also prone to a quick implosion is his unorthodox game and his instincts on the board. On Monday against Nepomniachtchi didnt remember the lines he had prepared. Yet he managed to pull off a draw.

I couldnt recall any of my prep because surely I have some but I just decided to play on my own, which I think was not the optimal way, Nepomniachtchi said.

However, Nepomniachtchi who blundered against Carlsen in the world championship, may not have to face such a formidable opponent next year if he wins the Candidates.

After retaining the title last year in Dubai, Carlsen had said: Its been clear to me for most of the year that this world championship should be the last. It doesnt mean as much any more as it once did. I havent felt that the positive outweighs the negative. For those who expect me to play the world championship next time, the chance that they will be disappointed is very great.

Carlsen had already said the reason for him looking to opt out was because he was unhappy with the format for the classical world chess championships as he believed it needed shorter time controls.

It is important for me to say that I do intend to play chess. I will continue to play chess, it gives me a lot of joy. But the world championship has not been so pleasurable.

Recently when asked during an Indian Express Idea Exchange about Carlsens decision to opt out, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand had this to say. We have not had a situation like this since Bobby Fischer. Fischer quit the game and ran away. Carlsen, as I understand it, still wants to play other events but he wont play this one. My tendency is to believe him that he is serious but also when the moment comes to actually do it, he will hesitate because it is a big step. It will hurt the game for a while because after all you are losing a champion and it is a very strange transition. But eventually people will move on and the game will go on.

Original post:
Chess: Nepomniachtchi takes another step towards challenging Magnus Carlsen for the world title but will the Norwegian play at all? - The Indian...

The Chess Olympiad is the most respected team event in chess, first held in 1928. This year, the 44th Olympiad takes place in Chennai, India from July 28 through August 9, and Chess.com will be here with all the coverage. More than 100 countries will be competing to win gold, silver, and bronze medals and the Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy for best combined performance of the open and women's teams.

Chess.com will be covering this prestigious international event on all our usual channels: our Events page, ChessTV, Twitch, and YouTube. Don't miss a minute of the action!

It's been four years since the last Olympiad after the 2020 edition was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Back in 2018, GMs Ding Liren and Ju Wenjun led China to a sweep in both the Open and the Women's events.

Among the favorites in 2022 are China, host nation India, and the 2016 open champions, the United States, who will be represented in the open section by GMs Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez, and Sam Shankland.

Be sure to tune in to our coverage starting July 29! Let us know in the comments which countries and players you'll be rooting for!

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Announcing Chess.com Coverage Of The 2022 Chess Olympiad - Chess.com