Bronstein David - Bronstein On The King's Indian, 1999-OCR, Everyman, 210p
Bronstein David - Bronstein On The King's Indian, 1999-OCR, Everyman, 210p
Bronstein David - Bronstein On The King's Indian, 1999-OCR, Everyman, 210p
by David Bronstein
with Ken Neat
EVERYMAN CHESS
Everyman Chess, formerly Cadogan Chess, is published by Everyman Publishers, London
First published in 1999 by Everyman Publishers plc, formerly Cadogan
Books plc, Gloucester Mansions, 140A Shaftesbury Avenue, London
WC2H8HD.
Introduction 4
4 Test positions 57
Postscript 206
Bibliography 206
Chess is a friendly game, which is why it was invented. The main idea of
each player is to capture the chief of the opposing chess army, which
according to the rules of the game leads to the surrender of the opposing
forces. This rule was introduced because it was thought more beautiful for a
lesser army to be able to outplay and force the surrender of a superior force.
If you can understand the spirit of chess in this way, then you will see that
the fewer men that are captured, the more noble is the victory, and this
reflects a peculiarly human way of thinking.
So, winning or losing is not the main idea of chess at all. A chess game is
in fact a friendly exchange of intentions, hidden in individual moves. You
always have the choice either of putting into action your planned move, or
of first calmly preventing the intended move of the friend with whom you
are playing chess in this brief, finite moment of your life.
When chess is considered in this way, there is no better opening than the
King's Indian Defence, for both players - White and Black, of every age,
from beginners to masters. The King's Indian gives you the maximum
opportunity to test your ability to make reasonable decisions in situations on
the chess board that are always complex and uncertain. Now let us begin to
look at the moves which introduce this beautiful chess opening.
1 d4 tllf6
Black brings out his knight to a good square, preventing the white pawn
from immediately occupying the e4 square, and makes the first step in
preparing a residence for his king.
2 c4 g6
While the white pawns are occupying the centre, Black prepares a post for
his bishop at g7.
3 tllc3 il.g7
The bishop occupies the prepared post, and the residence is now ready for
occupation by the black king.
4 e4 d6
Black is careful to forestall the advance of the white pawn to eS. He is now
ready to take his king into safety by castling, and then to strike at the white
centre by advancing his own pawn to eS.
Introduction 5
expressed in both his play and his Or 9 lt:Jxe5 lt:Jxe5 I 0 fxe5 lt:Jd7 1 1
writings were generally classical, 0-0 lt:Jxe5, and again the black knight
straightforward, and at times dog occupies the weak square in front of
matic. His Austrian opponent in this White's isolated e-pawn.
game was also among the world' s 9... lt:Jg4 10 i.g5
leading players at that time. If I 0 e6 fxe6 1 1 lt:Jg5 lt:Jf2, with a
knight fork on the weak f2 square.
1 d4 lt:Jf6 2 c4 g6 3 lt:J c3 i. g7 4 e4 d6 10 ... 'iie 8
5 f4 0-0 6 lt:Jf3 lt:Jbd7 This move, which is fully in the
spirit of the King's Indian, offers a
challenge to White, inviting him to go
for a win of material, while Black
gains time to organise an attack on the
white king. (The white knight makes a
fork, but in so doing it takes three
moves to capture a rook that has not
made a single move.) In the meantime
the white king remains in the centre.
10 . . . f6 is also fully possible (the
white king has not castled), e.g. 1 1
exf6 i.xf6 1 2 i.xf6 'iixf6, and
because White has advanced his
A briefjourney into the past 7
pawns too early, he has left knight at g4 is strongly placed (it has
weaknesses in his position. A possible crossed the chess equator), so why
continuation is I 3 0-0 lbe3 I 4 lbd5 exchange it? Therefore I I. . .lbdxe5
lbxd I I5 lbxf6+ lbxf6 16 llaxd I looks more natural, e.g. I2 lbxc7 (a
lbxe4 with easy play for Black, but fork) 1 2 . . . lbxf3+ I 3 gxf3 (attacking
this would not have been very the knight) I 3 . . . 'i\i'e5 .
interesting for Dr Tarrasch - there is The position has been opened up,
too much simplification! White has not yet castled, and his
11 lbd5 rooks are still on their original
squti.res. Meanwhile, Black ' s bishops
(especially the one at g7) are very
strong, and his queen occupies the key
square in the King' s Indian Defence -
e5 . If White were to try to take his
king to safety by castling, he would in
fact be mated: I 7 0-0? 'ii'Xh2 mate.
Rather as in cricket, where as a result
of a single mistake a batsman can be
out, so in chess the loss of the king
signifies the end of the game.
After I 4 lbxa8 (this is not such a
great achievement as it might seem to
Better than I I lbb5 (which only a beginner: it often happens when you
attacks c7), as it also threatens take such a piece, that your own piece
possible checks at e7 and f6, as well ends up on a bad square; Black' s rook
as preparing ile7. Now Black seems is in the nature of a ' bait') I 4 . . . 'i\i'xg5
to be in trouble, as if I 1 . . .c6 I 2 lbc7 we reach the following position:
winning the queen. But if you find
yourself in such a situation, don't lose
heart - such unexpected moves occur
constantly in chess.
1 1...ll'igxe5
Here Dr Tarrasch was lazy: after
I l . . .lbdxe5 I 2 lbxc7 ll'ixf3+ 1 3 gxf3
he terminated his analysis, as it
appears that Black has too many
pieces (queen, rook and knight! ) en
prise. In fact the game has become
very tense, and this was the time to
bring up the reserves. The black
8 Bronstein on the King 's Indian
This is an ideal King ' s Indian Or 1 2 li::ixc7 li::ix f3+ 1 3 i.xf3 'it'e5
position for Black. His queen, bishops (with a double attack) I4 li::ixa8 'it'xg5 ,
and rook are all very active, and his and if White tries to rescue his errant
king is ideally covered. Meanwhile knight by 1 5 li::ic 7, then Black has the
the white bishop is obstructed by its fork I 5 . . . 'ii'a5+.
own pawns - compare it with the However, this would have been a
black bishop at g7. After 1 5 fxg4 convenient moment to safeguard the
White seems to be winning (he is now king: 1 2 0-0, and if 1 2 . . . c6 1 3 li::ie7+
a rook up), but it is the second player @h8 14 'it'd6, when 1 4 . . . li::ix f3+ 1 5
(as they expressed it in the 1 9th i.xf3 i.e5? loses to 1 6 'ii'x e5+ li::ixe5
century) to move, and he plays 1 7 i.f6 mate ! This is another illus
1 5 . . .'it'h4+ 1 6 @d2. tration of why it was wrong to block
More tenacious is 1 6 @fl , although in the black bishop with l l . . . lt:Jgxe5 -
after 1 6 . . . lid8 1 7 'it'b3 i.xg4 (the after l l . . . li::idxe5 in this position
bishop has been patiently awaiting 14 . . . i.e6 would be possible.
such an opportunity to come into But instead of safeguarding his
play) 1 8 i.xg4 'it'xg4 White ' s king is king, White goes to win a ' dead' rook
still exposed to the cross-fire of the with his strong bishop - an 'illiterate'
black pieces, and he has to defend move. On the scale of pieces a rook is
precisely, e.g. 1 9 'ii'e 3 i.d4 20 h3 stronger than a bishop, but in the
'i'e6 2 1 'i'e2 'ii'f6+ 22 @g2 'ii'g5+ 23 given concrete position the bishop is
@fl 'ii'f4+ and it will be a relief to more valuable. Tarrasch gives 12 i.e7
White that his opponent has no more an exclamation mark, which is
than a perpetual check. strange, as he was a strong player and
After 1 6 @d2 Black plays the move loses time. Incidentally, it is
16 . . . lid8+, and if White tries to avoid the kind of move that a modem
the loss of his queen by playing 1 7 computer would play . . .
i.d3 , he runs into 1 7 . . . 'ii'f2+ 1 8 'ii'e2 12 lt:Jxf3+
...
16 ... l2Je5
The natural square for this knight,
although Dr Tarrasch himself sug
gested l 6 . . . l2Jb6 (even though this
13 ... c6 moves the knight towards the edge of
1 3 . . . .txb2 ! would have been the board) and then ... i.e6. This could
strong, preventing the return of the have led to similar continuations as in
white knight to c3 (but not in order to the game, expect that Black' s b7
win the rook in the comer!), for pawn would be covered (see the note
example 1 4 0-0 c6 1 5 i.xf8 'ii'xf8 1 6 to Black' s 1 7th move).
l:.b I i.g7 with a wealth of possi But why not I 6 . . . i.h6, preventing
bilities for Black (strong play on the White from castling queenside? We
dark squares, plus a wonderful knight would suggest that you can learn
outpost at e5). Dr Tarrasch was a much by analysing this type of
genius - playing an opening that was position, with your friends, if you
not to become fashionable for more like, but try to analyse without
than another 60 years, he had moving the pieces, and don't use a
achieved a winning position . . . computer for assistance ! A possible
14 i.xf8 'iix f8 15 l2Jc3 'iic 5 continuation would be 1 7 l2Ja4 °iia5+
Black still has a strong position for 1 8 �e2 l2Je5 1 9 'ii'c 3 'ii'xa4 (or
his slight material deficit - for the 1 9 . . . 'iic7, when the slow-moving
moment he prevents I 6 0-0. white king is in difficulties in the
16 °iib3 middle of the board) 20 b3 (to prevent
Aiming to castle queenside. After . . . 'iic2+) 20 . . . 'i'a3 2 1 'i'xe5 i.e6 22
1 6 'ii'e2 l2Je5 17 0-0-0 i.e6 Black 'ii'c3 i.g7, and Black regains the
immediately regains a pawn with sacrificed material with the better
strong pressure. position - he has the superior bishop,
IO Bronstein on the King 's Indian
17 i.fl
The last comment is demonstrated
by the variation 1 7 f4 lbd3 1 8 e5
(after 1 8 i.xg7 'i'c5+ Black's queen
and knight combine to give a
' smothered' mate) 18 . . . 'i'b4 and the
b-pawn cannot be defended. White
therefore offers the exchange of
bishops, but this weakens the light
squares in the vicinity of his king.
17 ... i.xfl 18 I!xfl c5 19 i.xe5
After 19 dxc6?? the weakness on f3
13 c5 is immediately felt: 1 9 . . . 'ifxd4 ! 20
If 13 f4 i. g4 ( 1 3 . . . lbxc4? loses to 'i'xd4 lbf3+.
1 4 i.xg7 �xg7 15 'i'd4+) 1 4 'i'b3 19 ... 'i'xe5 20 'iib3 llab8 21 'iib5
A briefjourney into the past 13
typically King's Indian move), aiming cxb5 °iib6+ 26 il.f2 c5 27 lifel I!tb8
for the fine post at c5, Black could 28 °iid 2 il.b5
have fully justified his opening
strategy. The point is that 1 7 lL'ie6, for
example, can be answered by
1 7 . . . 'iie7 1 8 tt:Jxf8 lL'ic5 1 9 °iid l
'iixe4 2 0 f3 °iid4+ 2 1 �g2 tZ:'ie5, when
the white knight is lost, and Black's
two minor pieces are much superior to
White ' s rook and pawn.
17 il.g2 'iic7 18 liadl il.g4 19 t3
il.f5 20 il.b4
Now White centralises his pieces,
and with the attack on the weak d6
pawn he forces Black onto the
defensive.
16 Bronstein on the King 's Indian
Black has play against the b2 pawn, 41. .. I!b4 42 'it'b5 .i.e5 43 'iil> h l
but White is very strong on the central l:id4 44 l:.xd4 cxd4 45 .i.f4
files.
29 g5
Impatiently played. White could
have increased the positional pressure
with 29 h4 followed by 30 g5 and 3 1
lbd5 , or 29 lbe6 .i.h8 30 g5 followed
by 3 1 lbe3 and 32 lbd5 , in each case
occupying the weak d5 square.
29 ... lbxg5 30 lbxg6 hxg6 31 'it'xg5
.i.e8 32 f4 l:.a7 33 lbe3 ilti 34 f5
Black ' s position looks critical, but
his king' s defences, with the g7
bishop playing a major role, prove
surprisingly resilient. 45 ... d3!
This tactical resource saves the
game. Black's defences hold after 46
I!xe5 dxe5 4 7 .i.xe5+ l:lg7 48 °iif7
°iif8 , while after 46 .i.xe5+ dxe5 4 7
l:lxe5 l:le7 48 'it'xh4 d2 he even wins.
46 f6 d2 47 .i.xd2 'it'xf6 48 l:.cl
'it'f8 49 'it'xh4 l:lc7 50 l:lgl l:.g7
l:la8
• To wait at its post and support the advance of the a-pawn.
• To move to b8 to support the advance of the b-pawn.
• To move to d8 or e8 to be ready for action in the centre.
ltib8
• To move to d7 (or c6) to support the e5 pawn.
• To manoeuvre via b8-d7-c5 (or b8-a6-c5) to the c5 square, if there is no
longer a white pawn at d4.
i.c8
• To wait at its post, controlling the c8-h3 diagonal.
'it'd8
• To wait at its post until the pawn formation is determined.
• Then to move out on the d8-a5 diagonal, or onto the e-file.
'it>e8
• To castle (as soon as the king's bishop and king's knight clear the way),
helping the king's rook to move closer to the centre, and vacating the e8
square for possible manoeuvres of the queen, rook and knight.
The basic functions of the two armies 19
i.f8
• To move to g7, where together with the pawns it protects the king' s position
after castling.
lbg8
• To move to f6, making way for the king to castle.
lih8
• To move to f8 (when the king castles), from where it supports the advance
of the f-pawn.
• To move on to e8, to attack the e4 pawn.
l'3,a7
• To advance to a5 , controlling the b4 square and hindering b2-b4.
• To attack the b3 pawn by . . . a7-a5-a4.
• To move to a6, to support the advance of the b-pawn .
.0ib7
• To stand at its post, defending the c6 pawn.
• To move to b6, defending c5 .
• To advance to b5, attacking the c4 pawn .
.0ic7
• To stand at its post, defending the d6 pawn.
• To move to c6, controlling the b5 and d5 squares.
• To advance to c5, attacking the d4 pawn .
.0id7
• To move to d6, to assist . . . e7-e5 or . . . c7-c5 .
.0ie7
• To attack the d4 pawn by . . . e7-e5 .
.0if7
• To attack the e4 pawn by . . . f7-f5 .
20 Bronstein on the King 's Indian
!J,g7
• To move to g6, making way for the bishop to go to g7 .
!J,h7
• To wait at its post, defending the g6 pawn.
• To attack the g5 square by . . . h7-h6.
• To attack a pawn at g4 by . . . h7-h5, or a pawn at g3 by . . . h7-h5-h4.
l:lal
• To move to d l , defending the d4 pawn.
• To move to b l , supporting the advance of the b-pawn to b4.
lt:Jbl
• To move to c3 , defending the e4 pawn.
i.cl
• To move to e3, defending the d4 pawn.
• To move to g5, pinning the black knight on f6 .
'ii'd l
• To move to c2, d2 or e2, vacating its square for the rook.
@el
• To wait in the centre until the pawn chains are stabilised, and then to decide
which side to castle.
i.fl
• To wait at its post, develop at e2, or move into a shelter at g2.
lt:Jgl
• To defend the d4 pawn by moving to f3 (or e2).
l:lhl
• To move to fl in the event of kingside castling.
• To wait at its post and support the advance of the h-pawn.
The basic.functions of the two armies 21
l'.Sa2
• To move to a3 to assist b2-b4.
• To move to a4, attacking the b5 square.
l'.Sb2
• To move to b3 to support the c4 pawn.
• To move to b4 to attack the c5 square.
l'.Sc2
• To move to c4 to attack the d5 square.
l'.Sd2
• To move to d4 to attack the squares e5 and c5 .
• To advance to d5 to block the pawn at d6.
l'.Se2
• To move to e4 to attack the d5 square.
l'.St2
• To wait at its post, defending the castled position.
• To move to f3 to defend the e4 pawn.
• To move to f4 to attack the e5 square.
l'.Sg2
• To wait at its post, defending the castled position.
• To move to g3 to allow the development of the bishop at g2.
• To move to g4 to attack the squares f5 and h5.
l'.Sh2
• To wait at its post, defending the castled position.
• To move to h3 to defend the g4 square.
• To advance h2-h4-h5 to attack the g6 pawn.
3 Standard moves in the King's Indian
In this chapter we have first selected the thirty-six moves of the black pieces
that occur most often in the opening stage of the King' s Indian Defence. It is
useful to know the essential point of each of these moves. This is much easier
than trying to learn by heart thousands of complicated variations, and besides,
all these variations will inevitably include a selection of our ' 3 6 moves' , only
each time in a different order.
We then give the twenty-four most frequently occurring moves of the black
pawns, making a total of 60 moves. The point behind a particular move is
usually the same whatever the actual position on the board, although, of course,
exceptions occur. Therefore careful consideration must be given to the other
side ' s moves, and logical decisions taken. If in addition to this you try to
remember the 60 standard moves of the white pawns and pieces, you will have
information of in total the 1 20 most frequently-occurring moves in the King's
Indian Defence.
In the following sections we have given examples of many of these standard
moves, taken from the annotated games in Chapter 5 (Games 1 -50), or from the
additional games in Chapter 6 (Games A l -A64).
tLlg8-f6 tLl f6-h5 tiJf6-d7 tLl f6-h7 tLl f6-e8 tLl f6-g4
tLl b8-d7 tLl b8-c6 tLl b8-a6 tLl d7-f8 tLl d7-c5 tLl d7-e5
tLl a6-c5 tLla6-c7 i.f8-g7 i.f8-e7 i.g7-f8 i.c8-d7
i.c8-e6 i.c8-f5 i.c8-h3 i.c8-g4 I!f8-e8 Iif8-g8
Iif8-f7 I!a8-b8 lia8-d8 I!a8-e8 'i'd8-a5 'i'd8-b6
'i'd8-c7 'i'd8-e8 'ifd8-e7 0-0 'it>g8-h7 'it>g8-h8
36 standard moves of the black pieces 23
lbf6-h5
li::Jb8-d7
I tDr6-g4 I
This knight move attacks the squares
e3 , f2 and h2, and clears the way for
the f-pawn to advance.
(position after 7 d4-d5)
li::Jb 8-c6
ttJbs-a6 I
This prepares . . . l2Ja6-c5, or in some
cases . . . l2Ja6-c7.
l2Jd7-f8
or been exchanged, c5 is often a good drives away the knight by 2 1 b4, but
post for the knight, from where it this leaves his c4 pawn weakened
attacks e4, d3, b3 and a4. (Game 1 7).
26 Bronstein on the King 's Indian
ltJd7-e5
ilf8-e7
il.c8-d7
ilc8-f5
ilc8-h3
ilc8-g4
.l:if8-g8
�f8-ti
.l:la8-d8
I 'ifd8-b6 \
Another active post for the queen,
from where it puts pressure on the b
file and the a7-gl diagonal.
I 'ifds-a5 I
From here the queen attacks White 's
queenside, and also in some cases can
switch to the kingside along the 5th
rank.
(position after 15 a2xb3)
'ifd8-c7
'it'd8-e7
'it'd8-e8
0-0
'it>g8-h7 'it>g8-h8
From here the king lends added The king moves off the g-file and
support to the h6 square, moves off vacates the g8 square for possible
the g-file, and vacates g8 for possible manoeuvres of the black pieces.
manoeuvres of the black pieces.
a7-a6
a7-a5
b7-b6
a5-a4
b7-b5
c7-c5
(position after 5 e2-e4)
This move attacks the d4 pawn and
Not wishing to defend passively, allows the development of the black
Black sacrifices a pawn by 5 . . . b7-b5. queen, usually at a5 .
A fter 6 cxb5 and a subsequent pawn
exchange on a6 he gains active play
on the two open files against White ' s
a- and b-pawns (Grunes A l O and
A 1 7). This idea was a forerunner of
the Benko Gambit, in which the
sacrifice is made even earlier ( I d4
lbf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 b5).
c7-c6
c6xd5
d7-d6
d6xe5
e7-e6
e5xd4
e7-e5
e5-e4
f7-f5
13 f5xe4
... was an interesting
decision, allowing White to occupy e4
with his knight. Black' s plan was to
eliminate the white d-pawn and
finally advance . . . d6-d5 , gaining
control of the centre (Game 27).
f5-f4
f5xe4
g7-g6
h7-h6
The standard King' s Indian move,
preparing the development of the With this move Black either defends
bishop at g7 . the g5 square or attacks a white
bishop there.
g6xf5
h5-h4
ll'ib l -c3 ll'ib l -d2 ll'ig l -f3 ll'ig l -e2 ll'ig l -h3 ll'if3-d2
ll'ie2-g3 ll'if3 -e I ll'ic3-e4 ll'id2-b3 i.fl -e2 i.fl -g2
.i.fl -d3 i.g2-fl i.c l -d2 i.c l -e3 i.c l -f4 i.c l -g5
.i.c l -b2 i.c l -a3 i.e3xc5 l:ih l -gl I!fl -e l I!fl -d l
l:lal -b 1 I!al -c 1 .l:tal -d l I!a l - e l 'fid 1 -c2 'ii'd l -d2
'ii'd l -e2 0-0 0-0-0 'it>e I -fl 'it>g 1 -h I 'it>g l -h2
40 Bronstein on the King's Indian
lbbl-c3
I lDbt-d2
I lDgt-h3
lbgl-f3
lbgt-e2
lll f3 -d2
lll f3 -el
lll e2-g3
iLc1-e3
iLcl-f4
I iLct-d2
I iLct-gs
1i.cl-a3
1i.cl-b2
\ 1i.e3xc5
� fl el
-
l:thl-gl
(positwn after 12 ilc8-b7)
. . .
l:tfl-dl
llal-dl
l:tal-cl
l:tal-el
°ii'd l -d2
'ii'd l-c2
0-0
0-0-0
�gl-hl
�el-fl
I ..t>g1-b2
a2-a3
a2-a4
b2-b3
b2-b4
c4xd5
With his king not yet castled, White White captures a pawn on c5.
prefers to block the e-file with 10
c4xd5 cxd5 1 1 e5, rather than to open
it by 1 0 exd5 (Game 22).
d2-d4
d4-d5
d4xe5
e2-e3
e2-e4
e4-e5
e4xf5
e4xd5
f2-f3
g2-g3
f2-f4
g2-g4
h2-h3
g4xf5
Test 2 gives a number of more general positions, from the opening to the
middlegame. We must emphasise that these are not 'Black to play and win'
positions; in each case you are required to find one of the 60 standard black
moves explained in the previous chapter.
After Black has prepared a shelter for his king, his next important problem is to
contest the centre. Usually (but not always) the best way of doing this will be by
advancing his pawn to e5 . Here are eight opening positions where it is Black to
move, and he has to decide: is . . . e7-e5 possible?
1.1 1.2
1.3 1.5
1.4 1.6
1.7 1.8
2.1 2.2
How should Black react to the How does Black activate his game?
blocking of the centre?
60 Bronstein on the King's Indian
2.3 2.5
2.4 2.6
White is planning to play his knight White has just declined the ex
to b3 and then complete the change of bishops. How does Black
development of his kingside. But maintain his forces in their
doesn't this all look rather slow? attacking positions?
Test positions 61
2.7 2.9
Black's pieces are compactly White ' s last move has left him
arranged, rather like a compressed vulnerable on the long diagonal .
spring. Does the exotic position of How best does Black take advan
the white king suggest a way to tage of this?
uncoil it?
2.10
2.8
2.11 2.13
B lack' s d-pawn is under fire. With his last move White made a
Should he passively defend it, or is discovered attack on the backward
there some other, more active d6 pawn. Does Black have to
option? defend it?
2.12 2.14
2. 15 2.17
2.16 2.18
Has White won the battle for the d4 Black's knight is attacked. How
square? should he respond to this threat?
5 The King's Indian in action
Presented here are fifty King' s Indian games played by David Bronstein, played
over a time-span of more than half a century. Many of these games, as well as
those in the following chapter of 64 additional games, are fairly old. However,
this is by no means a bad thing: such games demonstrate the basic ideas more
clearly, whereas present-day grandmasters are well familiar with the plans
available, and so their games turn out to be much more complex. Therefore for
beginners it is better to study old games, even if to modern experts they may
seem somewhat primitive.
To facilitate the assimilation of the material, we have divided up the games into
seven sections, depending on the central pawn formation and on the relative
placing of the kings:
A familiarity with the standard King' s Indian moves, and the ideas behind them,
which were explained in Chapter 3 , will make it easier for the reader to follow
these games. Basically every game (at least in the opening stage) is made up of
the standard moves, performed in various orders. The difficulty in playing the
King' s Indian, or indeed any other opening, is the fact that you have an
opponent with his own ideas, which you are trying to counter.
Restrained set-up by White
In this section we will examine several games where White adopts a restrained
set-up, i.e. without an early occupation of the centre with e2-e4. Black ' s
successes i n this type o f position led t o the adoption o f a similar King' s Indian
set-up by White, and an example of the so-called King' s Indian Attack is
provided by the last game in this chapter.
Game 1
White : Sergey Belavenets
B lack: David Bronstein
USSR Championship Semi-Final
Rostov-on-Don 1941
31 axb6
19... hS Black was not afraid of 3 1 g4 in
In three successive moves the black view of the variation 3 I . . .lbf3+ 32
h-pawn advances to h3 , creating Wixf3 Wixf3 33 lbxf3 bxc5 34 lbe5
weaknesses in the light squares in the ilxe5 35 dxe5 c4.
vicinity of the white king. The 31 ...axb6 32 lixa8 lixa8 33 lba6
advance of the h-pawn is also useful ile7 34 'it>n lies 3S Widl lixcl 36
in providing a convenient escape Wixcl
square for the black king, and at the
same time in such positions the h7
square can serve as a transit point for
the knight at f8.
20 as h4 2 1 ila3 h3 22 g3 lb8h7
23 lbd2 lbgS 24 bS Wie6 2S lba4 ilg4
26 Widl Wies
The black queen is aiming to
penetrate to the g2 square. White, in
tum, is hoping to win the battle on the
queenside. Perhaps he should not have
allowed the black h-pawn to advance
so far, but after h2-h3 there was
Restrained set-up by White 69
24 e4
White is attacking the pawn on d6 .
He now begins an offensive in the
centre, and Black replies on the
kingside.
What is typical for this type of
position? The moves . . . f5-f4 and . . . g5-
g4 are typical (it is unusual, however,
that the black pawn remains at e7).
Later, exploiting the fact that his king
has moved into the comer, Black
transfers his rook to a more active
position - g8, from where, as though
by X-ray, it begins probing the g2
Black succeeds in exchanging one square.
of the white bishops for his knight, 24 ...f4 25 .i.f2 g4 26 l2Je2 lig8
and this subsequently helps him to
carry out a fine attack. White decides
to exchange his e2 bishop and leave
his g3 bishop in place, to counter the
bishop at g7.
19 .i.xh5 .i.xh5 20 licl 'ifd7 2 1
l2Jc4 .i. fi 2 2 lifdl l2Jg6 2 3 f3 liad8
Grune 5
White : Vitaly Chekhover
Black: David Bronstein 14 . . . lbeg5
USSR Championship Semi-Final Exploiting White' s rather passive
Leningrad 194 7 play, Black has carried out the plan of
manoeuvring his queen' s knight to g5
Although this game begins life as an (lbb8-a6-c5-e6-g5).
English Opening, the position reached 15 lbxg5 lbxg5 1 6 d5 cxd5 17
after White' s 1 4th move is un cxd5 Ji.g4 18 lift lbf3+
mistakably a King's Indian.
43 . . . b5
Another precise move, fixing the
weakness of the white pawn at b4 and
the a8-h 1 diagonal . White is forced to
allow the black king forward, and he
proves to be completely helpless.
44 axb5 axb5 45 Ji.d3 e4 46 1i.c2
@e5 47 Ji.b3 'it'xd6 4S lt'lf4 'it'd2+ 49
@h3 'it'cl 50 Ji.di 1i.xf4 51 gxf4+
@d6 52 'ii'e2 'ikxf4 53 'ikh2 'ikxh2+
Looking at this position, you gain 54 @xh2 @e5 55 h5 @f6 56 @g3
the impression that White is alright. @g5 57 @f2 f4 5S @g2 Ji.es 59 1i.c2
But this is deceptive. Black is 1i.c6 60 Ji.di e3+
pressing on the light squares, he has
the open c-file, and most important,
his dark-square bishop, which has no
opponent, is capable of developing
great energy.
31 h4 h5 32 exf5 gxf5 33 'ikf3 @g6
34 @b2 Ji.b6 35 'ikd3 Ji.b5 36 'ikdl
@f6 37 a4 Ji.es 3S f4 'ikc4 39 fxe5+
dxe5 40 d6 Ji.d7 41 lt'lf4
The sealed move, after which Black
carries out a very strong manoeuvre -
check with the queen at a2 followed
by 42 . . . 'it'd2.
41 ... 'ika2+ 42 lt'lg2 'it'd2 43 'it'xh5 White resigns
Restrained set-up by White 75
8 . . . ila6
White has played the quiet London
Variation, a favourite of Capablanca.
Here the impression is that Black has
a good light-square bishop, which can
move between his pawns. However,
its white opposite number is also cap
able of carrying out similar functions,
and so B lack decides to exchange the
bishops - this was the correct decis
ion. It turns out that White' s dark
Now if 3 1 'iic4 B lack has a forced square bishop does not stand as well
win by 3 1 . . . l:txf3 32 exf3 'iixe 1 + 3 3 as its opponent - it runs up against the
l:txe 1 Iixe 1 + 34 'iffl l:txfl mate. d6 pawn, which is well defended. This
Therefore White resigned. factor ensures me a pleasant game.
9 ilxa6 lt:Jxa6 10 0-0 °iid 7 11 'iie2
Game 7 lt:Jc7
White: Igor Bondarevsky B lack is now preparing to exchange
Black: David Bronstein pawns on d4, and after the recapture
31st USSR Championship e3xd4 to play a knight to d5 followed
Leningrad 1963 by . . . b6-b5, obtaining a very good
game. And in the event of c3xd4 the
This game was awarded the prize for c-file would have been opened to his
the best game of the Championship. advantage. Therefore Bondarevsky
employs a new plan: he exchanges
1 d4 lDf6 2 lt:Jt3 g6 3 ilf4 ilg7 4 e3 pawns on c5 and begins an offensive
0-0 5 lt:Jbd2 b6 6 c3 c5 7 h3 d6 8 ile2 in the centre.
Restrained set-up by White 77
Game 9
White: David Bronstein
Black: Ignacy Nowak
Sandomierz 1976
When White takes on e5 with his d-pawn, Black will normally recapture
. . . d6xe5 . What does White achieve by this exchange? He no longer has the
possibility of cramping B lack by d4-d5 , but on the other hand he has the d-file,
on which he can concentrate his heavy pieces and aim to invade at d6 with a
knight, supported if possible by a pawn on c5. B lack must be careful. He should
endeavour to control the c5 square, so as not to allow c4-c5, and should then
oppose rooks on the d-file, or aim for an attack on the kingside.
9 .ll e3
White exchanges d4xe5 83
20 ...l:txgS
I thought that I was winning, e.g.
20 hxgS 21 lL'ixf5 gxf4 22 tZ:'ixg7 f3,
. . . Black resigns
but in this case Black ' s entire
queenside does not take part in the Game 1 1
play, and all is not so simple. White: Anthony Santasiere
21 fxg5 hxg5 22 l:tfl 'ife7 23 tt:Jrs Black: David Bronstein
'i'c5+ 24 �bl lL'if6 25 tt:Jxg7 tZ:'ieg4 USA v. USSR Radio Match 1945
Black lost because his d8 square
was undefended. One has to give the This game was played in the Radio
opponent his due - Kotov played Match arranged immediately after the
prettily. Even so, I like this game, end of the War. I was still a young,
because I was able to carry out the raw player. I had taken 3rd place in
advance of my central pawns. the 1 4th USSR Championship, and for
84 Bronstein on the King's Indian
1 lbf3 lbf6 2 b4 d6 3 d4 g6 4 c4
Here I was happy - the move b2-b4 A rather unusual square for Black's
had given me a target to attack, and I queen. He attacks the c4 pawn, and is
thought that if I were to make the not concerned about his b7 pawn.
correct King' s Indian moves, I should lS tt'le4 'it'e7 16 i.xeS lbxeS 17
mate the enemy king. bxcS dxcS 18 0-0 i.g4 19 lbed2 lbc6
4 ... i.g7 s i.b2 0-0 6 lbbd2 as 7 a3 20 l:.dl lbb4 21 lbbl 'ii'f6 22 lba3
eS l:.a8 23 tt'ld4
41 lbe4 c4 42 g4
42 g3 would have offered better
chances of saving the game.
27 ...Iia4 28 lbg3 ile5 29 f4 ilg7
42 . . . ilf4 43 �g2 b5 44 �f3 b4 45
30 lbd6 lib4 31 I!cl f5 32 e4 Sld4+
h4 c3 46 hxg5 c2 47 �xf4 cl ='ii'+ 48
�f5 'it'c8+ 49 �f4 b3 50 g6 b2
Gatne 1 2
White: Jaroslav Sajtar
Black: David Bronstein
Prague v. Moscow (round 4)
Prague 1946
1 d 4 lDf6 2 c 4 d 6 3 lbc3 e5
As has been explained elsewhere,
this move order has the aim of
avoiding variations such as the
Samisch, but Black does have to
reckon with the immediate exchange
of queens, as in the present game.
4 dxe5 dxe5 5 'ifxd8+ @xd8 6 lbf3
lbbd7
my clock was going, but that White 13 liJf5 lbc5 14 f3 <Ji;c7 15 liacl a5
had not made a move. For several 16 <Ji;g2 .i.e6 17 lbg7 .i.xg7 18 .i.xc5
minutes I looked in silence and could lbd7 19 .i.xe6 lixe6 20 .i.f2 .i.f8
not understand - all the pieces and
pawns were on their old squares. I
looked and looked . . . and it was awk
ward for me to ask. Then I suddenly
saw that the white rook was at g l . I
did not know this move, although the
variation was very familiar to me -
we had analysed it in detail in 1 952, at
a training session before the
Olympiad in Helsinki. Since the move
threatens g2-g4, I replied 7 . . . h5 ! and
the game soon ended in a draw.
The point of Black's sixth move is
that, if he plays the old 6 lt:Jfd7, then
... 21 ltJd5+ <Ji;d8 22 lbb6 lbxb6 23
White has the good reply 7 g4. But .i.xb6+ <Ji;e8 24 c5 .i.e7 25 licdl f6
Panno, despite his youth, already 26 e4 .i.d8 27 .i.xd8 lixd8 28 lixd8+
knew the latest achievements of chess <Ji;xd8 29 lidl+ <Ji;e8 30 h4 l:te7
theory. White has the advantage, but Black
7 g3 c6 8 .i.b3 .i.d6 9 .i.e3 h6 10 should play 30 . gxh4 3 1 g4 h5 !
. .
Let us suppose that Black has played . . . e7-e5. If White maintains the central
tension by keeping his pawn at d4, as soon as Black has safeguarded his king he
has the option of opening the centre himself by . . . e5xd4. He now has the c5
square for his knight (supported by . . . a7-a5) and by playing . . . lle8 he will
intensify the pressure on the e4 pawn. After this he can play . . . c7-c6 and find a
suitable post for his queen on the queenside. In the resulting tense position
B lack has reasonable manoeuvring possibilities, but success is normally
possible only in the event of passive play by White. Therefore he sometimes
chooses another option - he does not hurry with . . . e5xd4, but provokes White
into playing d4-d5 .
centre, to deploy his pieces comfort my first games King' s Indian games. I
ably and to take the initiative. remembered that Dr Lasker advised
9 exd4 10 lbxd4 lbc5 11 l:tel
.•. putting the king ' s knight on f8, so that
it should not get in the way. That was
how a new idea in this variation arose:
. . . lbf6-d7-f8 !
1 1 . .. a5 12 Ji.b2
Perhaps 12 a3 should have been
played, to answer 1 2 . . . a4 with 1 3 b4.
Now, however, after 1 2 . . . a4 White has 16 . . . lbfd7
a weakness at b3 . White would like to It is curious that, when I played
exploit the weakening of the b5 this, the participants and spectators
square by lbdb5 (I am always afraid thought that the knight was aiming for
of this manoeuvre in the King's e5 and then d3 . From this point Black
Indian), but on this and the next move required only three moves to prepare
it is not possible because of the decisive combination.
12 . . . lbfxe4, and then B lack will play 17 l:tbl lbf8 18 'it>h2
. . . c7-c6.
12 ... a4 13 l:tcl
If 1 3 b4 Black was planning the
sharp move 1 3 . . a3 .
.
18 hS
.•.
16 ... l2Jg4 17 h3
In this game the reader can see that
the King' s Indian Defence is full of
tactical nuances. One must have the
Game 1 6 ability to see two to three moves
White: Frantisek Zita ahead. Here there was the unpleasant
Black: David Bronstein threat of . . . l2Jg4-e5-d3, and in some
Prague v. Moscow (round 6) cases . . . f7-f5 . Incidental ly, the im
Prague 1 946 mediate . . . tiJd3 was also threatened.
The d3 square is often a weakness, as
This was played just a few days after both White' s c- and e-pawns have
my game with Pachman. As regards moved from their original squares.
demonstrating the activity of the black
pieces in the King's Indian Defence, it
is hard to find a better example. The
secret of playing such positions is to
alternate attack and defence.
White resigns
1 8 . . . tbxf2 Game 1 7
B lack' s combination is based on White : William Winter
geometry. If now 1 9 @xf2 lb xb3 or ,
Black: David Bronstein
1 9 'it'xf2 tbd3, in each case with Great Britain v. USSR Radio Match
decisive threats. 1 946
19 :e3 lbxh3+ 20 @h2 tbf2 2 1
!!f3 tbcxe4 2 2 'it'f4 tbg4+ 2 3 @ht My opponent, a highly intelligent
man, was at that time my main
admirer in England. In the first round
of this double-round event on twelve
boards he had defeated me with the
black pieces (in fact this was the only
loss by the Soviet side), so naturally
there was considerable pressure on me
to even the score.
22 l2Ja4
With this unfortunate manoeuvre
(22 tiJb l would have been better),
White allows the opponent' s rook to
go to a3 , which is also a standard
manoeuvre for Black.
22 ilxb2 23 l2Jxb2 lia3 24 lial
•••
19 ... tiJd7
In the King's Indian Defence the d6
pawn is often left without any direct
defence. In this case White avoids the
capture 20 'ii'xd6, as Black does not
exchange queens, but plays 20 . . 'ii'b 6,
.
White resigns
The weakness of the entire varia
tion with the fianchetto of the fl
bishop is that, if White does not
achieve good play in the centre, his 12 i.f4
king, three pawns and bishop are in At that time this move seemed very
danger of being left out of the game. strong to me - lL'ib3 is threatened.
White's strategy is aimed at removing
the knight from c5 .
Game 1 8 12 ... lL'ih5 13 i.e3 tZ:'if6 14 'ii'c2 a5
White: David Bronstein 15 liadl 'it'c7 16 f4
Black: Arpad Vajda
Moscow v. Budapest Match 1949
10... ltJd7
Here there is a concrete aim -
Black is trying not to allow b2-b3 and
9 ltJxc6 .i.b2.
9 0-0 demanded calculation be 1 1 'iic2 °iif6 12 ltJe2 l:.e8 13 l:.bl
cause of the possible 9 . . . ltJxe4, but if 'iie7 14 .i.d2 ltJc5 15 l:.bel a5 16 b3
White wants a draw, the variation 1 0 .i.g4 17 liJf4 l:.eb8 18 .i.e3 'iie5 19 h3
ltJxc6 ltJxc3 1 1 ltJxd8 ltJxd 1 1 2 ltJxb7 .i.d7 20 l:.dl a4
.i.xb7 1 3 l:.xd l is quite suitable.
9 ... bxc6
It used to be thought that the
doubled c-pawns were passive and
that this variation favoured White, but
I believed (and this was mentioned by
Fine in one of his books) that all
attacks on the king must be begun
directly from the opening. In earlier
times this was not so - they comple
ted their development, prepared a
plan, and only then began an attack.
10 0-0
For example, in this position they Black squeezes himself up into a
would play as Black 1 O .l:tb8, . . . .i.e6,
. . ball, like a hedgehog, and waits. Here
. . . ltJd7 etc. But in such positions I there are no variations, that commen
often employed the manoeuvre . . . ltJf6- tators so like. This is one of those
d7, while my queen' s rook and queen' s positions of equilibrium which, as
bishop remained i n their places. Lasker once wrote, are the most
Black captures . . . e5xd4 101
of uninhibited play. Your every move White has attacked the d6 pawn,
was scrutinised not only by strict fans, but after Black' s reply he sees that the
but also by officials of every rank. pawn can be advantageously regained
Mistakes were not forgiven. On the by 1 6 l:.xd6 lbe5 , and 1 7 b3 would
result of one game could depend, to only makes things worse in view of
put it mildly, your entire well-being. the surprising stroke 1 7 . . . il.xh3, when
And here I had received an ultra taking the bishop allows a check at f3,
difficult order I had to win!
- fo r example: 1 8 il.xh3 lbt3+ 1 9 @fl
lbxe 1 20 'it>xe 1 axb3 2 1 axb3 lbxe4
1 d4 lbf6 2 c4 g6 3 g3 il.g7 4 il.g2 0-0 22 l:.d3 'it'a 1 + 23 lt:Jd 1 l:.a2 24 'it'c 1
5 lbc3 d6 6 lbf3 lbbd7 7 0-0 e5 8 e4 lbxf2 25 'it>xf2 l:.xe2+.
l:!e8 9 h3 exd4 10 lbxd4 lbc5 1 1 l:!el 16 lbe5 17 lbd4 a3 18 f4
•..
king, and the superiority of his knight attacked and mate at g 1 is threatened.
over the bad light-square bishop. Even so, the previous check was
35 l:txe6 l:tf8 36 l:te7 1i.d4 37 l:t3e6 useful for White. He has enticed the
'it'f5 king to e7, and now the black queen
cannot go to f2 in view of 45 'ii'e2+,
exchanging queens with an obvious
draw.
Game 2 1
White: David Bronstein
Black: Max Blau
Olympiad, Munich 1958
9 llbt
This move is to escape from the pin
on the long diagonal . I remembered
well my games with Pachman and
Zita, where White had problems on
the a l -h8 and a7-gl diagonals, and
White resigns, as after 66 c5+ @a7 safeguarded myself beforehand (cf.
67 'it'g2 g3 he runs out of moves. also 1 1 @h l ).
1 06 Bronstein on the King's Indian
11 <it>bl
A voiding the geometry of the
Pachman and Zita games. 20 lL!xc5
ll ... 4Jc5 12 f3 a5 13 b3 d5 I was able to carry out a combin
White has allowed his opponent to ation with a queen sacrifice, thanks to
play . . . d6-d5, but has obtained the the weakness of the dS square.
strong square b5 for his knight. 20 ....l:!.xd l 21 gbxdl fie7 22 il.a3
14 il.a3 il.f8 15 exd5 cxd5 16 il.e6
lL!cb5 dxc4 17 bxc4
23 lL!xe6
17 ...lle3 However, here I missed a simple
Instead of this premature activity, win - 23 .l:!.fe l .l:!.dS 24 .l:!.b l , when a
Black should have played l 7 . . . il.d7. possible finish is 24 . . . fies 25 lL!c7
He is punished for failing to develop fic6 26 ltJ7xe6 fxe6 27 f4 fies 2S
Black captures . . . e5xd4 1 07
9 . . . d5
Now White gains a space advan
tage. Perhaps Black should preface
this advance with 9 . l:.e8, in order to
. .
prevent e4-e5.
10 cxd5 cxd5 11 e5 lbe8 12 f4 f6
Black resigns 13 Slb5 fxe5 14 fxe5 'ikh4+ 15 g3
'ikh5
Game 22
White: David Bronstein
B lack: Yuri Sakharov
USSR Team Championship
Moscow 1960
allow this pawn advance. And 1 5 . . . 'it'h5, he thought that he had pre
although he thought for a long time, vented the white king from castling on
he was unable to find a defence. My either side. But it turns out that the
opponent was a good theoretician, and king feels perfectly happy at d2.
all these moves were made in roughly 20 'it>d2 'it'h3 21 .l:iael ile6 22
one minute. Sakharov knew my game ltJa4 ilf7 23 'it>cl l:tb8 24 ild2 liJf6
with Vasyukov from the 1 956 Mos 25 ltJc5 'it'g4
cow Championship (Game A30),
where I thought up the strange move
1 3 Slb5, although it always seemed to
me that White should be able to use
his lead in development. Therefore,
when my opponent checked on h4 and
then quickly played his queen to h5, I
was somewhat surprised, as I had
never looked at this continuation, but
I immediately realised that I had to
advance my e-pawn.
16 e6
Apparently Black had completely
failed to take this move into account, The conclusion of the game did not
and he replied only after long thought. present any difficulties.
16 ... ilxd4 17 e7 :rs 18 'it'xd4 26 Slf4 l:tb5 27 h3 'it'f3 28 .l:ihfl
ltJc6 19 ilxc6 bxc6 'it'g2 29 g4 llxc5+ 30 'it'xc5 ltJe4 31
'it'xc6 l:txf4 32 'it'c8+ 'it>g7 33 'it'f8+
'it>f6 34 l:txf4+ 'it>g5 35 llfxe4
8 ... a6
This move has an interesting
history. By that time I was tired of
always playing 8 . c6. I made a similar
. . 16 ... a4
move back in 1 947 against Flohr, The bold advance of the white f
although in a different variation with pawn had to be supported by an accu
the development of the white bishop rate calculation of the main variation
at f4. There I played . . . c7-c6, . . . a7-a6 l 7 . . . axb3 . This is what White did,
1 10 Bronstein on the King's Indian
passive and his king is insecure. And here Black should have taken
Incidentally, in the Moscow Cham with the pawn: 3 1 . . . dxe2 32 l:.b l il.c3
pionship, in a Dutch Defence against 33 l:!.e l il.xe l 34 'iixe l il.d7 .
Balashov, I once sacrificed my queen 31..Jhe2 32 'iixe2 dxe2 33 @f2
in very similar fashion. And many il.e6 34 l:!.xb7 il.f6 35 c5 il.c4 36 d7
years later Balashov praised me: 'what 'it>g7 37 llbl il.d3 38 l:!.cl il.d4+ 39
a fine game you won against me ! ' 'it>f3 il.b2 40 d8='ii il.xcl 41 °iid4+
Here Black ' s position was easily 'it>g8 42 °iid 8+ 'it>g7 43 'iia 5 il.g5 44
won, and in various ways, but due to 'it>t2 il.f6 45 c6 h5 46 h4 il.d4+ 47
shortage of time he messed it up. 'it>el il.f5 48 'iixf5 gxf5 49 c7
26 ... l:.a3 (thus 26 . . il.f5 was very
.
Black resigns
White closes the centre with d4-d5
With d4-d5 White cramps his opponent, but also restricts his own possibilities:
for example, his knight can no longer go to d5. With this pawn advance he fixes
the d6 pawn and after suitable preparation he is ready to attack it by c4-c5.
Black has a choice:
(a) Leaving his c7 pawn on its initial square, he can reply with an immediate
counterattack: . . . lbf6-h5 ( . . . lbf6-d7, . . . lbf6-e8) and . . . f7-f5-f4, or first play
. . . a7-a5, for the moment preventing b2-b4.
(b) He can play . . . c7-c6 and then exchange pawns with . . . c6xd5 at a moment
when it is unfavourable for White to recapture with his knight (e.g. because the
e4 pawn is lost), or with his e4 pawn (because of the possible attack . . . f7-f5 and
. . . e5-e4). After c4xd5 the threat of the c4-c5 attack has been eliminated. On the
other hand, Black now has other problems: the c-file has been opened and White
may double rooks with the aim of invading at c7.
(c) He can physically prevent the advance of the white c-pawn by playing
. . . c7-c5, before proceeding with his counterattack on the kingside.
The only way to gain some play. fr.di il.xdl 42 'ii'xdl 'it'xb2 43 'it'xh5
25 hxg3 fxg3 26 l:txf8+ l:txf8 27 'it't2+ 44 'it>dl 'it'd4+ 45 'it>e2 'it'e4+
lbxe5 'it'h4 28 lbf3 l:txf3 29 'it'xf3 46 'it>d2 'ii'd 4+
29 . . . hS Draw agreed
We were both in severe time
trouble, with about a minute each for
our last fifteen moves. At the time I Game 25
was very proud of this move. White: Cenek Kottnauer
30 'ii'e3 il.g4 31 es il.f5 32 l:tdl Black: David Bronstein
'ii'h 2+ 33 '.tin 'ii'h t + 34 'it'gt 'it'h4 35 Prague v. Moscow (round I 1)
'it'xc5 'ii'h l + 36 'ii'g l Moscow 1946
White closes the centre and aims 13 ltJc2 i.a6 14 ltJa3 liJf6 15 exf5
later to build up an attack against gxf5 16 f3 'it'e7 17 l:tael h5 18 ltJab5
Black's queenside. Kottnauer had of ltJh 7 19 i.h3
course seen my games with Pachman
and Zita, and therefore he did not
want to play e2-e4, which allows a
possible . . . e5xd4.
After the immediate closing of the
centre Black ' s only feasible reply is
. . . a7-a5 and . . . ltJc5 .
8 ... a5 9 e4 ltJc5 10 ltJel liJfd7
Black's plan is to advance . . . f7-f5 ,
and then possibly . .. f5-f4 with an
attack on the kingside. A nuance of
the given variation is that, as long as
the white queen is at d 1 , Black cannot
play . . . ltJh5, since after the thematic 19 . . . l:tae8
.. . f7-f5, e4xf5 he cannot reply l 9 . . . 'it'f7 is bad because of 20 f4
. . . g6xf5 . Therefore he has to retreat and if 20 . . . e4 2 1 i.xc5 bxc5 22 l:txe4 .
his knight to d7 or e8, play . . . f7-f5 and 20 'it'c2 i.c8 21 ltJa7
then return the knight to f6. Kottnauer thought that 2 1 a3
1 1 i.e3 f5 12 'ii'd 2 b6 followed by b2-b4 would have been
With the aim of answering i.xc5 better. However, Black would have
with ... b6xc5, but this is an unnecessary replied 2 1 . . . 'it'f7 22 b4 ltJb7.
move that conclusively weakens the 2 1...i.d7 22 ltJc6
li ght squares on the queenside, and If 22 ltJcb5 Black has the good
Kottnauer later exploits this factor. reply 22 . . . ltJa6.
1 16 Bronstein on the King's Indian
22 'it'ti
•.• 30 lia7
Brilliantly played.
30 ltJg5 31 il.c8 ltJge6
•••
45 b5
A clever idea. White defends very
resourcefully and causes his opponent
White closes the centre with d4-d5 1 17
a position where White was still After the closing of the centre
hoping to draw. If instead 5 8 . . . e l °ii 59 Black appeared to be preparing play
.i.xe 1 l:txe 1 60 h3 and Black's extra on the b-file. But when White made
bishop is unlikely to help him to win. preparations to oppose this, Black
But now after 59 h3 there follows began large-scale manoeuvres on the
59 . . . l:!. g l + 60 �h2 l:txg3 and wins, other side of the board. Why did I
while if 59 .i.f2 .i.xf2 60 f8'ii l:tgl + avoid playing l l . . . b5 ? Because White
6 1 �xf2 e l °ii mate. would have replied 12 cxb5 axb5 1 3
White resigns l2Jb4, when Black i s left with a weak
b5 pawn and a paralysed queenside.
Game 26 12 b4 l:tf8 13 l2Je3 l2Je8 14 'iic2
White: Alexander Kotov tiJdf6 15 a4 a5
Black: David Bronstein An important move, otherwise
Candidates Tournament White himself would have advanced
Zurich 1953 his a-pawn, and then opened one of
the queenside files (b- or c-).
A game abounding in various 16 bxa5 l:ta8 17 .i.a3 tiJd7 18 .i.b3
strategic and tactical motifs, where h5
White persistently aims to break
through on the queenside, and Black
equally persistently strives for an
attack on the king.
34 tLlg4
The immediate 34 'it'xb7 would
have allowed the knight sacrifice
34 . . . tLl xg3 35 fxg3 i.xe3+ and
36 . . . 'iifl +, closing in on the white
king.
34 . . . i.xg4 35 i.xh6 l:.fc8 36
'it'xb7 l:.cb8 37 a6 g5
20...l:td8
The battle is proceeding as follows:
White attacks the d6 pawn (B lack' s
main weakness in the King's Indian ! ),
and B lack accurately defends it.
Hence this very unusual move.
21 l:tacl i.e6 22 'ilie2 'iliti 23 b3
15... c6 l2Jxe4 24 i.xe4 d5
1 22 Bronstein on the King's Indian
a6. Essentially for the entire game in the centre, but the white rooks are
White was playing with an extra able to outflank and eliminate them,
piece. Black could have prevented this because Black is playing a piece
by the standard move 1 0 . . as.
. down.
12 a3 f5 13 tiJb3 tiJf6 14 cS l2Jxe4 27 lifcl tiJb8 28 liJcS il.xcS 29
1 S l2Jxe4 fxe4 16 il.c4 'ife8 lixcS lif5 30 liel lief6 3 1 lixe4 lixf2
32 il.xh6 d3 33 lids lie2
did not care for 1 2 . . . a4 1 3 lib l axb3 bishop has left there, aiming for the
1 4 axb3 lbb4, but in this line he had a queenside.
much stronger move - 1 3 'it'b l ! 23 Ji.dl
Now the black knights begin to I had foreseen the possibility of the
take up dominant posts on the unexpected knight leap on move 24,
queenside. but if White had played 23 Ji.fl Ji.b6
12 ... a4 13 h4 Ji.d7 14 h5 h6 15 24 Ji.g2 it is probable that nothing
1i.e3 g5 16 lbb5 terrible for him would have occurred.
23 ... Ji.b6 24 1i.e2
White resigns
Game 3 1
White : Andrei Lilienthal
Black: David Bronstein
USSR Championship Semi-Final
Baku 1944
the event of 1 5 i.xc5 Black would But at the time I was more interested
have replied 1 5 . . . bxc5 and then 1 6 in playing my rook to b3 .
tZ:'ixa4 i.h6 with active play.
15 rs
...
ile7 30 ilg5 'it'd8 31 ilxe7 'it'xe7 32 41 'it'f6 ilf7 42 lif4 'it'e8 43 l:!f5 e3
liJd5 44 l:!e5 'it'a8 45 'ii'f3 'it'd8 46 'it'xe3
d4 47 'it'd2 'it'd6 48 'ii'f4 'ii'd 7 49 Iie2
d3 50 Iif2 'ii'd 5+ 51 'it>h2 'it'd7 52 h4
'it'e8 53 'it'd6 'it'e4 54 'it'b8+ 'it>g7 55
'it'r4 'it'd5 56 h5 'it'd7 57 'it'r6+ 'it>rs
58 g6
14 . . . ltJcd7
Here I had a choice : to exchange
When I played this move, without knights, and after 1 4 . . . ltJxb3 1 5 'it'xb3
thinking for a second Mikhail ltJd7 1 6 .lle3 to go onto the defensive,
Moiseevich replied 9 d5, but when or to avoid exchanges and maintain
after 9 . . . cxd5 I obtained a good the tension, in so doing trying to play
position, he never played 9 d5 again. on the kingside, while abandoning the
However, during this game he decided opposite wing to its fate. I chose the
to punish me. ' This young man has latter plan, and the course of the game
made a mistake, and now I will show demonstrated its viability.
him how one should play. ' lS a4 l:.c8 16 .ll h 3 l:.c7 17 .ll e3 hS
The following moves are typical of 18 .ll gS 'it'e8 19 f3 ltJh7 20 .ll e3 'it'e7
this variation : White supports his 21 .ll fl .llxfl 22 l:.xfl
centre, while Black develops his
queenside. White' s intentions include
exchanging as many pieces as
possible, since he has occupied more
space.
9 dS cxdS 10 cxdS ltJcS 11 'ii'c2 aS
12 liJd2 b6
This supports the knight and opens
the diagonal for the bishop to a6, but
such a development is not in the spirit
of the King's Indian. 1 2 . . . ltJh5
followed by . . . f7-f5 was more
thematic.
13 liJb3 .ll a 6 14 l:.dl
1 32 Bronstein on the King's Indian
Draw agreed
Game 33
White : David Bronstein
Black: Anatoly Lutikov
USSR Spartakiad 10 ... lll f6 11 h4 cxd5 12 cxd5 b6 13
Moscow 1959 j_g5 lllc5 14 tll d2 a5
defend the d6 pawn. White dreams of 32 ... lbe2 33 Iixe2 Iixe2 34 lbbd2
regrouping (lib6, lbc4 etc.), while h5 35 :ib3 lbf4 36 'it>gl :ig2+ 37
Black transfers his knight to f4. 'it>bl lbe2 38 libl h4 39 ii.xe5 Iif2
25 f3 lbb5 26 'ifxa2 Iixa2 27 Iidl
lbf4 28 il.c4
Instead of this risky move, White
would have done better to retreat his
bishop to fl .
28 ... lbcd3
A typical manoeuvre.
Game 35
White: Dietmar Kolbus
Black: David Bronstein
29 lib7 Iixc4 30 lbxc4 Hastings Open 199415
This decision to win the exchange
is bad. White should play 30 Iixd7. My first appearance in Hastings was
30 .. Jhg2+ 31 'it>hl ii.b3 32 l:!d2 back in 1 953/4, when Alexander
Tolush and I became the first Soviet
players after the War to compete in
the Premier Tournament.
10 ... b5 1 1 Iiel
White should have played 1 1 lbd2
b4 1 2 lbb3 , which ensures him a
slight advantage.
1 1 ... Ji.d7 20... lbe8 21 'i'c2 f5 22 f3 lbf6 23
B ut here Black ' returns the 1:tea l fxe4 24 fxe4 lia7 25 h3
compliment' . He could have equalised
immediately by l l . . .b4, e.g. 1 2 'i'a4
'i'xa4 1 3 lbxa4 Ji.d7 1 4 b3 Iic8 1 5
Ji.d2 Ji.xa4 1 6 bxa4 lba6, or 1 2 lba4
Ji.d7 1 3 b3 Ji.b5 .
1 2 a 3 b4 13 lba2 bxa3 14 lbc3
'i'b6 15 lixa3 lba6 16 Ji.fl lbc5
White resigns
13 g4
An important moment. White has
allowed . . . f5-f4, which is psychologic
ally unpleasant for him. He could
have played 1 3 ile 1 , but Ravinsky
made the reasonable move 1 3 g4.
True, it allows Black to carry out the
classic blow . . . h7-h5 .
13 ... lbhf6 14 ilel h5 15 g5
Why did White play this, rather
In the opening I played differently than leave this pawn where it is, or
from usual - after the closing of the else capture on h5?
centre I immediately replied 7 . . . c5. I If he leaves the pawn at g4, then he
was interested to see what would has to defend it by 1 5 h3 . Then after
happen in this case. 1 5 . . . hxg4 1 6 hxg4 Black is free to
8 lbge2 lbbd7 9 0-0· a6 play . . . lbh7, . . . 'ilg5, . . . lbdf6 and
This move is necessary, to prevent . . . ilxg4.
the possible leap by the white knight And after 1 5 gxh5 he replies
to b5. 1 5 . . . g5 16 h3 (forced, in view of the
10 a3 lbh5 threat of 16 . . . g4) 16 . . . 'i'e8, followed
The white knight at e2 for a long by . . . 'ifxh5, . . . lbh7, . . . lbdf6 and
time prevents . . . f5-f4 in the event of . . . ilxh3 .
the standard piece set-up : . . . lbe8 by 15 ... lbg4
White closes the centre with d4-d5 141
18 e4
.•.
Draw agreed
Game 39
White: Tigran Petrosian
Black: David Bronstein
USSR Team Championship
Moscow 19 74
1 1 g4 h5 12 g5 tZ:'ie8 13 h4 a5 14 b3
tZ:'ic5 15 l:idl
With this subtle move White nails 22 . . . libe8
down the backward d6 pawn, However, the question arises: 'I f
immobilises the knight at e8, and Black had included in good time his
practically forces Black to block the knights in the defence of the kingside,
position on the queenside by 1 6 . . . c5. would White' s plan of attack
After this White begins ' large-scale succeeded?' Let us carry out a little
manoeuvres' on the kingside. analysis. Instead of the insignificant
22 . . . libe8 Black should have immed
iately embarked on a defensive re
grouping: 22 . . . tZ:'ieS ! , with the possible
variation 23 lL'ie2 tt:Jac7 24 tZ:'ig3 lib7
25 tt:Jf2 lia7 26 ligl lib7 27 lL'ifh l
lia7 28 tZ:'ixh5 gxh5 29 tZ:'ig3 f5 30
gxf6 lL'ixf6 ! 3 1 lL'if5 tZ:'ice8 32 ilh6
�h8 and the attack is parried, as 33
°iig6 tZ:'ig8 34 °iixh5 ilxh6 35 lL'ixh6 is
not dangerous in view of 35 . . . 'iih7 36
lig6 tZ:'ig7 37 'iig5 lixf3 . Thus,
although it is a dangerous and difficult
defence, the King' s Indian never
15 ... lL'ia6 16 tt:Ja4 c5 17 lL'igl b6 18 theless holds !
ilh3 23 tZ:'ie2 lL'ib8 24 tZ:'ig3 l:le7
White closes the centre with d4-d5 1 45
38 'ifxti+
1 46 Bronstein on the King's Indian
Draw agreed
The central tension is maintained
Grune 40 1 d4 lL'if6 2 c4 d6
White: Mikhail Botvinnik At last! Twenty games of the match
Black: David Bronstein had gone by, and I had not once
World Championship (game 21) employed my favourite weapon - the
Moscow 1951 King's Indian Defence, as I feared
that Botvinnik would be well prepared
This game appealed to Max Euwe, for it.
and in a Dutch magazine he praised 3 tZ:'ic3 e5 4 lL'if3 tZ:'ibd7 5 g3 g6 6
me for the moves 9 . . . tZ:'ih5 , I O 'ii'e 7,
. . • .i.g2 .i.g7 7 0-0 0-0 8 e4 c6
l l . . .�h8 and 12 . . . a6. I think that it
was I who first employed this new
plan of play on the queenside, back in
1 947 in a game with Flohr (Game
A 7). Now everyone plays this way.
This game is unique for the fact
that Black succeeded in carrying out
the attack . . . b7-b5-b4, for perhaps the
only time ever. Neither before this
grune, nor since, have I seen anyone
playing this way. Black succeeded
with his attack on the b2 pawn, thanks
to the possibility of controlling the
light squares on the queenside.
It seems to me that my opponent All these moves had already
made one mistake - he thought for a occurred in the grune between the
long time after . . . tZ:'ih5 , evidently srune players from the 1 4th USSR
recalling our grune in 1 945, in which I Championship, Moscow 1 945 (cf.
had obtained good play. Grune 32). There Botvinnik played 9
In this game there was also an d5 but did not gain any advantage. On
interesting psychological context. this occasion the World Champion
When you simply look at a position chooses a different method of
and evaluate it, you can play in development.
several different ways, but if the fate 9 h3 lL'ih5
of the historical development of chess An interesting idea. Here Black
can depend on your every move, you usually plays 9 . . . exd4 I O tZ:'ixd4 tt:Jc5
feel a terrible oppression, which followed by l l . ..a5 .
greatly hinders your play. 1 0 .i.e3
1 48 Bronstein on the King 's Indian
1 0 'ii'e 7
••• Preparing . . . b7-b5, which if played
After the development of the immediately would have been met by
bishop at e3 , the queen is very 14 . . . b5 1 5 cxb5 axb5 1 6 d5.
comfortably placed at e7 . 15 'ii'd 2 b5 16 cxb5 axb5 1 7 l:tadl
l l liJh2 lLib6
White prevents . . . f7-f5, but at h2
the knight is very passively placed. 1 1
l:(e 1 looks more natural, in order to
continue developing with 1 2 'ii'd 2 and
1 3 llad I . It is very dangerous for
B lack to play . . . f7-f5 .
1 1 'it?hS 1 2 :tel a 6
...
31 h4
In search of counterplay, Botvinnik
tries to weaken the opponent's king
side.
23 Ji.g2 31. .. liJb6
A poor move, since on g2 the 3 l . . .lifb8 was even stronger.
bishop is passively placed. Botvinnik 32 ltJa2 .i.xa2 33 'it'xa2 liJbc4 34
has j ust exchanged his active bishop h5 f!.tb8 35 hxg6 hxg6 36 'it'bl
for the passive one at g7, and now he 36 I!b l is bad because of 36 . . . 'ii'b7 ,
does not want to exchange his ' bad' when Black threatens 37 ... ltJb3
fl bishop for the dangerous bishop at followed by 3 8 . . . lia8 .
c4. He would have done better to play 36 ... �g7 37 dxe5 fxe5 38 'it'cl
his rook to d I or c2. ltJxb2 39 'it'c3 ltJa4 40 'it'cl f!.c4
23 ... f6 24 lic2 Ji.b3 25 lice2 ltJc4 Both players were in time severe
2 6 'it'd3 ltJa5 27 lid2 trouble, and this explains their
There is nothing that White can do. inaccuracies. With 40 . . . c5 Black could
If 27 liJd2 there could have followed have won much more easily.
27 . . . 1i.c4 28 ltJxc4 bxc4 29 'it'd ! liJb3 At this point the game was
with advantage to Black. adjourned.
1 50 Bronstein on the King's Indian
In this section we have grouped together a few games that are quite diverse in
nature, but are characterised by the following pawn formation: Black plays
. . . c7-c5 and White replies d4-d5 .
Game 4 1
White: David Bronstein
B lack: Oscar Panno
Interzonal Tournament
Gothenburg 1955
dxe5 29 lL'ixe5 ilxe5 30 llxe5 tZ:'id4 From move 35 onwards there was a
White has allowed first the bishop, time scramble.
and now the knight to reach d4, but he Of course, by now I would have
is aiming at the e7 pawn. been happy with a draw, but Panno
1 54 Bronstein on the King 's Indian
9 . . . i.. xf3
I was loathe to give up my light
square b ishop, but at that time I was
very much under the influence of the
well-known game Nimzowitsch
Marshall, New York 1 927, and I
thought that it was essential to
Black resigns eliminate as soon as possible the f3
knight, which on no account should
be allowed to go to c4.
Benoni set-ups 1 55
12 . . . 'iib8
During the game this seemed to me
to be a natural move, but then I read 19 ...l:lc5 20 l:la4 l:lxa5 2 1 l:lxc4 b5
somewhere that it was a very impor 22 l:lb4 'iib6 23 il.f3 'ifc5 24 l:lb3
tant innovation. It turned out that in As the game went, Black acquired
previous games Black had played some play, but with the strong move
. . . 'ifc7 or . . . 'ife7, but after e4-e5 he 24 'iib 3 White had the opportunity to
had ended up in a bad position. threaten the e4-e5 breakthrough. I
At that time Bernardo Wexler was would have had to play 24 . . . tZ:'ih5 with
the Champion of Argentina; he was a tense position.
40 years old, a strong and experienced 24 ...'ifc4
player. White chose the correct plan - This move, with several threats
that of exploiting the strength of his ( . . . lL'ixd5, . . . tt:Jc5 and others), proved
central pawns. I did not care for the to be decisive.
prospect of him playing e4-e5 , and as 25 iLe2
a reserve possibility I planned to play After this natural reply I was able
my knight to h5, in order to relieve to fulfil my promise to the USSR
the tension at the cost of spoiled Ambassador in Argentina, Nikolai
pawns. Borisovich Alekseev - to sacrifice my
13 iLe2 0-0 14 il.g3 l:le8 15 'ifc2 queen! Fifteen years later, when we
'ifc7 16 f4 c4 17 �bl l:lac8 18 a5 accidentally met in Moscow, the first
'ifd8 19 l:lfel thing he asked me was : ' Look here,
This was the most interesting David, just how did that miracle
moment. The crafty retreat to d8 happen?' , and it was only then that he
provokes White into playing 1 9 l:la4, greeted me. He was very fond of
winning the c4 pawn, but then Black chess.
1 56 Bronstein on the King's Indian
6 . . . i.b7
The move 6 i.d3 is my invention.
The point is that, if now B lack
routinely plays to undermine the
white centre by 6 . . . c5, then after 7 e5
he loses material. The first time this
occurred was in a game of mine with
Lutikov (A36), with the difference
that Black castled on move 5 and only
after 6 i.e3 played 6 . . . b6. That was
White resigns back in 1 959. More than I 0 years later
Leonid Shamkovich was trying to test
Game 43 my memory, about which I have no
White: Leonid Shamkovich complaints even now !
Black: David Bronstein 7 lbge2 c5 8 d5 lbbd7 9 0-0 lbe5
39th USSR Championship 10 i.bl a6
Leningrad 1971 At first sight it seems that Black
was wrong not to castle - now he
This game is unique, for the fact that would have been able to take the c4
in a King' s Indian Defence Black pawn.
Benoni set-ups 1 57
From this point White is White 's last hope was this desper
completely obliged to ' swim with the ate attempt to defend the h3 pawn
tide' - he can only wait. with both of his knights, which serve
30 .ll d3 .ll h 4 31 lig2 .ll c 8 32 ll'le2 as a kind of armour-plating on the h
l:ih5 33 ll'lgl lidh8 34 'ii'e2 .ll g5 35 file. Black managed to solve this
'ii'c2 .ll h 6 36 lift .ll g7 37 lie2 lbh4 problem with the help of the elegant
38 lief2 f5 manoeuvre . . . .llg5-h4-g3 , after which
the h2 pawn could not be defended.
45 ... ligh8 46 lbe4 .ll h 4 47 lidl
li5h6 48 'ii'e2 .ll f5 49 lid2 'it>b6 50
'ii'd 3 'it'd7 51 lide2
13 a5
A second element is that White was
in too much of a hurry to make this
move. It allowed his opponent to
advance his b-pawn and open the file,
which is usually to Black's advantage.
13 ... 0-0 14 f4 b5 15 axb6 'it'xb6 16
l:!a2 'it'b4 17 Ji.g2
25 . . . tiJd3 26 1i.xd3 cxd3 27 e4
l2Jxf4 28 Ji.d2 l2Je2 29 'ii'g2 l2Jxc3 30
bxc3
As regards the play in the middlegame, the relative placing of the kings is an
even more important factor than the pawn formation. This section covers games
where White castles on the queenside, and Black on the kingside, a situation
which often leads to a fierce battle with mutual attacks on the kings.
16 ... f5
Black is not afraid of opening the
It is this move that characterises the g-file for the opponent. It is more
variation named after Makogonov. important to try and activate his
6 ... c6 7 il.d3 e5 8 d5 cxd5 9 cxd5 pieces.
tiJh5 17 gxf5 gxf5 18 exf5 tLlf6 19 h5
White castles queenside 1 65
Makogonov thought this was not White' s threats while maintaining his
the best move, because Black was own, and would easily realise his
able to play his light-square bishop to advantage.
h7 and gain counterplay.
19 . . . h6 20 ligl 'it>b8 21 lL'ifl ilxf5
22 °it'd2 lL'ig8 23 tZ:'ig3 Slh7 24 Sld3
tZ:'ic4 25 ilxc4 bxc4
Black resigns
White castles queenside 1 67
14 ... b5
All B lack' s actions are standard
King's Indian moves ! The advance of 19 tZ:'id3+ 20 i.xd3 i.xc3 2 1
. .•
the queenside pawns has the aim of tZ:'ixc3 cxd3 2 2 l:txd3 tZ:'ie5
opening lines, setting White difficult Would 22 . . . tZ:'ic5 have been better?
problems. After 23 l:te3 lL'ia4 24 tZ:'iab l it is a pity
15 cxb5 axb5 16 tZ:'icxb5 c4 17 that 24 . . . tZ:'ixb2 25 \t>xb2 'ifxa2+ does
'ifxd6 'ifa5 not work because of 26 \t>c 1 , but on
1 7 . . . c 3 18 tt:Jxc3 'ifa5 would have the other hand 24 . . . i.xa2 leaves
been better, as now White could have White hard-pushed to find a defence.
played 1 8 i.d2, e.g. 1 8 . . . c3 1 9 i.xc3 23 1:te3 l:td8 24 'ife7 l:td7 25 'iff6
l:tfc8 20 \t>b 1 and it is not clear how 'ifc5 26 lL'ic2 tZ:'id3+ 27 l:txd3 l:txd3 28
Black continues the attack. a3
This was the one doubtful moment Instead of this, 28 �d 1 would have
when Black might have lost the game. given White some drawing chances.
This is how the analysts reason - they 28 ... 'ift2 29 �el 1:td2
1 68 Bronstein on the King's Indian
White resigns
Game 48
White : Arthur Bisguier
B lack: David Bronstein The move played by me is slightly
Budapest 1961 risky; the white knight could also
have gone to d2 or g5 .
This game does not follow a strict 5 tZ:'igl
King's Indian move order, but the In the first case Black can sacrifice
position reached after a dozen moves a pawn - 5 tZ:'id2 e3 with unclear
is very much in keeping with our consequences. If instead 5 tZ:'ig5 ilf5,
theme. then White has the interesting move 6
g4 when he has the more attractive
1 d4 lL'if6 2 c4 d6 3 tZ:'ic3 e5 4 tZ:'if3 e4 position, with more space in the
With his fourth move White centre.
granted his opponent the possibility of 5 ... h6 6 ilf4 g5 7 .ild2 ilg7 8 e3
advancing his central pawn with ilf5 9 tZ:'ige2 ilg6 10 'iib3
tempo, which is what I did. However, In this unusual position I very
the well-known Yugoslav player much wanted to give up my b7 pawn,
Andrija Fuderer - he later gave up and it was with difficulty that I
chess and became a professor of restrained myself from doing so.
Chemistry in Antwerp - usually 10 ... b6 1 1 lL'ig3 0-0 12 ile2
played the very interesting move White is ready to castle, so now is
4 . . . tt:Jfd7. He would then continue the moment to strike at the centre.
White castles queenside 1 69
White resigns
Game 49
White: David Bronstein
Black: Viktor Kupreichik 13 i.c2 a5 14 a3 cxd5 15 cxd5
USSR Championship Semi-Final l:.c8 16 a4 °iid 8 17 'iie2 lt:Je8 18 h4 f5
Minsk 1983 19 gxf5 gxf5 20 exf5 i.xf5 21 i.xf5
l:.xf5
A difficult game for both sides. It is
sufficient to say that White castled
only on the 24th move - before that
he simply did not have time. I
employed, if it can be so expressed,
the ' improved Makogonov Variation' .
All these games feature either in the chapter on standard moves or in the tests,
or are mentioned in the commentaries in the previous chapter. They are
arranged in chronological order and numbered A l -A64.
A 1 B.Goldenov-D.Bronstein A2 A.Koblents-D.Bronstein
Ukrainian Championship USSR Championship Semi-Final
Dnepropetrovsk 1 939 Baku 1 944
This early attempt with the Old Indian 1 d4 lllf6 2 c4 d6 3 lll f3 lllbd7 4 lll c3
Defence, against a regular competitor in eS S g3 g6 6 i.g2 i.g7 7 0-0 0-0 8 e4 c6
Ukrainian Championships, was played 9 h3 lll e 8 1 0 i.e3 'iie7 1 1 'iid2 fS 1 2 dS
when the author was just l S years old. lllb 6 1 3 b3
1 d4 lllf6 2 c4 d6 3 lll c 3 eS 4 lll f3
ll'lbd7 S g3 i.e7 6 i.g2 c6 7 0-0 0-0 8
e4 Vf#c7 9 b3 :d8 1 0 i.a3 lllf8 1 1 h3 a6
1 2 'iic2 lllg 6 1 3 :ad l i.e6 1 4 :d2 bS
l S dxeS dxeS 1 6 i.xe7 'iixe7 1 7 cxbS
:i.xd2 1 8 'iixd2 :d8 1 9 'iie3 cxbS 20
lllg S i.c8
44 �g3 .l::l.d 6 45 'it>g4 �f6 46 f5 .l::l.a5 47 47 il.xa4 tt:'ixa3 48 gxf4 gxf4 49 il.b4
'iii> f4 .l::l.a4 48 �e4 l:l'.da6 49 .l::l.g2 l:l'.xa2 50 tt:'ib 1 50 �c2 il.a2 5 1 c6 tt:'id2 52 c7
l:l'.g6+ �e7 5 1 l:l'.g7+ �f6 52 .l::l.g 6+ 'it>e7 ile6 53 il.xd2 il.xd6 54 il.b3 il.xc7 5 5
53 l:l'.xa6 .l::l.xa6 54 �e5 .l::l.h 6 55 ile6 a5 il.xe6+ 'it>g7 56 �g2 �f6 57 il.d7 it.es
56 c5 a4 57 c6 112-112 58 �f3 �g5 59 it.e l ild6 60 h4+ �h6
6 1 �g4 �g6 62 h5+ �h6 63 ilh4 ile5
A3 A.Kotov-D.Bronstein 64 ilg5+ �g7 65 �f5 �c7 66 h6+ �h7
I 4th USSR Championship 67 it.es il.d8 68 �g6+ 1 -0
Moscow 1 945
A4 Yu.Solntsev-D. Bronstein
l d4 ti:Jf6 2 c4 d6 3 tt:'ic3 e5 4 ti:Jf3 Moscow Championship I 946
ti:Jbd7 5 g3 g6 6 il.g2 il.g7 7 0-0 0-0 8
e4 c6 9 h3 exd4 1 0 tt:'ixd4 tt:'ib6 1 1 b3 d5 1 d4 ti:Jf6 2 tt:Jf3 g6 3 c4 il.g7 4 tt:'ic3 d6
1 2 cxd5 cxd5 1 3 exd5 tt:'ibxd5 14 tt:'ixd5 5 e4 tt:'ibd7 6 h3 e5 7 �e3 exd4 8 tt:'ixd4
tt:'ixd5 1 5 il.b2 'ii'a5 1 6 'ii' f3 .l::l.d 8 1 7 0-0 9 tt:'ide2 l:!.eS 1 0 'ii'c2 tt:'ic5 1 1 f3
.i:r.fd 1 h 5 1 8 a3 'ii'b6 1 9 l:l'.d2 h4 2 0 J::!. ad 1 'ii'e7 1 2 0-0-0 c6 1 3 il.f4 .l::l.d 8 1 4 g4
tt:'if6 2 1 �h2 l:!.e8 22 .l::l.e2 .l::l.xe2 23 ile6 1 5 tt:'ig3 d5 1 6 g5
'ii'xe2 il.d7 24 'ii'f3 .l::l.e S 25 'ii'xb7 'ii'd6
26 'ii'f3 'ii'e 5 27 l:!.d2 hxg3+ 28 fxg3
'ii'g 5 29 ilc 1
1 6 . . . d4 1 7 tt:'ia4
Or 1 7 gxf6 'ii'xf6 1 8 tt:'ice2 d3, with a
decisive breakthrough.
29 . . . tt:'ie4 (29 . . . tt:'ig4+ 3 0 hxg4 il.xg4 17 . . . tt:'ixa4 1 8 'ii'xa4 tt:'id7 19 'ii'a5 b6
followed by 3 1 . . . 'ii'h 6+ would have 20 'ii'a4 tt:'ie5 2 1 �d3 b5 22 cxb5 cxb5
been stronger) 30 .l::l.d l 'ii'd 5 3 1 tt:'ic2 23 il.xb5 'ii'c 5+ 24 �b 1 .l::l.abS
'ii'c 6 32 ltJb4 'ii'c 8 3 3 'ii'd3 ilf5 34 'ii'c4 This is an ideal position for Black,
li'xc4 35 bxc4 a5 36 tt:'ic6 tt:'it2 37 .l::l. dS with all his pieces displaying great
.l::l.x dS 38 tt:'ixdS tt:'id3 39 il.e3 a4 40 c5 energy.
ilf8 4 1 tt:'ib7 il.e6 42 tt:'id6 f5 43 ilc6 g5 25 il.xe5 il.xe5 26 f4 .l::l.xb5 27 tt:'ie2
44 il.b5 f4 45 il.d4 tt:'ie l 46 il.c3 tt:'ic2 l::!.dbS 28 .l::l.d2 .l::l.a5 0- 1
1 76 Bronstein on the King 's Indian
A 7 S.Flohr-D.Bronstein
1 5th USSR Championship
Standard play by Black. The d6 pawn is Leningrad 1947
invulnerable. It can be taken, of course,
but in return Black develops an irresist l d 4 ti:Jf6 2 c 4 d 6 3 ti:J f3 tt:'ibd7 4 .tf4 g6
ible attack. After . . . a4-a3 he acquired a 5 tt:'ic3 .1'.. g7 6 h3 0-0 7 e3 c6 8 .i.e2
new target - the a2 pawn.
1 6 b4 tt:'icd7 17 tt:'ie3 tt:'ie5 1 8 l:!.b l
tt:'ixc4 1 9 tt:'ixc4 .i.xc4 20 l:!.fc l a3 2 1
'iVxd6 l:!.ed8 22 'iVc5 'iVxc5 2 3 bxc5 tt:'id7
24 l:!.b4 .i.e6 25 l:!.xb7 tt:'ixc5 26 l:!.bb l
tt:'id3 27 l:!.c2 l:!.ab8 28 l:!.xb8 l:!.xb8 29
�fl lDb4 30 l!d2 tt:'ixa2 3 1 tt:'ixa2 .i.xa l
32 .i.d3 l:!.d8 33 l:!.d l .1'..b2 0- 1
A6 K.Opocensky-D.Bronstein
Prague v. Moscow 1 946
1 5 ll'ia2 a5 1 6 Ihd 1 'ii'c8 1 7 ll'ic 1 l!d8 1 5 .i.d4 ll'idf6 1 6 l:!.c 1 .1'.. d7 1 7 'ii'b3 b6
1 8 ll'if3 ll'if8 19 .i.d3 'ii'h7 20 ll'ie2 .1'.. d7 1 8 'ii'a3 b5 1 9 ll'ie3 ll'ic7 20 'ii'a5 l:!.fc8
2 1 e4 .1'.. e8 22 'ii'c 1 ll'ibd7 23 .i.f4 c.t>h 7 2 1 l:!.fd 1 'ii'd 8 22 g3 ll'ife8 23 .1'..xg7
24 .1'.. c2 e5 25 dxe5 dxe5 26 .i.e3 ll'ie6 ll'ixg7 24 .i.fl a6 25 ll'ie2
27 l:!.d6 ll'idc5 28 l:!.fd l 'ii'e7 29 l:!.xd8
llxd8 30 l:!.xd8 'ii'x d8 Yi-Yi
A8 D.Bronstein-1.Boleslavsky
Training Tournament, Parnu 1947
A I 0 D.Bronstein-E.Lundin
lnterzonal Tournament
Salsj6baden 1 948
'
1 d4 ll'if6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 d6 4 ll'ic3 g6 5 e4
b5 (cf. also Game A 1 7).
A9 S.Flo h r-D.Bronstein
Training Tournament, Parnu 1947
6 cxb5 i.. g7 7 .i.e2 a6 8 tLlt3 0-0 9 bxa6 'iitg 8 3 5 l:ta6 h5 36 l:!.a5 h4 37 i.. xg6
i.. xa6 I O i.. xa6 tDxa6 1 1 0-0 tLld7 1 2 l:txh2+ 38 'iitxh2 i..x g3+ 39 'ii'x g3
i..g 5 l:!.b8 1 3 'ii'd2 l:!.e8 1 4 l:!.ab l 'ifa5 1 5 hxg3+ 40 'iitxg3 fxg6 0- 1
.l:l:fc 1 tLlc7 1 6 .i.h6 .i.f6 1 7 a3 l:tb3 1 8
'ifc2 .l:l:eb8 1 9 tLid2 l:!.3b7 20 tLlc4 'ii'a6 A l 2 L.Szabo-1. Boleslavsky
2 1 'ifa4 'ifxa4 22 tLixa4 t2Jb5 23 b4 t2Jd4 Candidates Tournament
24 'iif fl i.. g7 25 i.. e 3 l:!.a8 26 bxc5 l:!.xb 1 Budapest 1950
27 l:!.xb l dxc5 28 tLiab6 l:!.b8 29 a4
t2Jxb6 30 l:!.xb6 l:!.xb6 3 1 tbxb6 tbb3 32 1 c4 tLlf6 2 tLlc3 g6 3 tlJtJ i..g7 4 d4 0-0
'iite2 .i.c3 3 3 'iitd3 .i.a5 34 'iitc4 1 -0 5 e4 d6 6 i.. e2 e5 7 d5 t2Jh5 8 tlJg 1
A 1 1 A.Kotov-E.Geller
1 7th USSR Championship
Moscow 1 949
20 . . . �h7 2 1 tlld l i.. f6 22 'ii'f2 :gs 23 It is tempting to take the black pawn,
tlixe3 fxe3 24 'ii'x e3 i.g5 25 'ii'e2 �xd2 but after 43 :xd6 :xd6 44 'ii'xd6 c4 it
26 'ii'xd2 i.h3 27 g3 'ii'xf3 2S :c3 is hardly possible to parry both threats -
'ii'xe4 29 c5 :g7 30 'ii'c2 'ii'xc2 3 1 :xc2 . . . tllg4 and the pawn advance . . . c4-c3-
:f8 32 :f2 :gt7 3 3 :xt7+ :xt7 34 c2-c l ='ii' .
cxd6 cxd6 3 5 :e l :f3 36 i.c l :d3 37 43 i.e2 'ii'd7 44 'ii'b 3 'ii'c 6 45 :d5 c4
i.e3 a6 3 S �f2 :xd5 39 :c l �g6 40 46 'ii'c3 'ii'b6 47 �g2 :as 4S 'ii'd2 'ii'c6
llc7 llb5 4 1 :c4 i.e6 42 :h4 h5 43 a4 49 :xd6 'ii'xe4+ 50 f3 'iih 7 5 1 'ii' f4
:d5 44 h3 i.d7 45 a5 :d3 46 �e2 0- 1 'ii'e7 52 :d2 c3 5 3 :c2 'ii'c 5 54 'ii'e4
:cs 5 5 f4 tll g4 56 i.xg4 hxg4 57 'ii'e6
A 1 3 D.Bronstein-1.Boleslavsky :bs 5S 'ii'xg4 :b2 59 'ii'e2 'ii'c 6+ 60
Candidates Play-Off Match (1 1) �f2 'ii'b 6+ 6 1 �f3 'iih 7+ 62 �e3 'ii'b 3
Moscow 1 950 63 �d3 'iih 5+ 64 �e3 'ii'x e2+ 65 :xe2
c2 0- 1
1 d4 tllf6 2 c4 d6 3 tllc 3 e5 4 tllf3
tllb d7 5 g3 g6 6 i.g2 i.g7 7 0-0 0-0 s A 1 4 D.Bronstein-1.Boleslavsky
e4 :es 9 i.e3 tllg4 l 0 i.g5 f6 1 1 i.d2 Candidates Play-Off Match (1 3)
tllh6 1 2 :c l tll f8 1 3 b4 tllt7 1 4 i.e3 Moscow 1 950
�g4 1 5 h3 i.xf3 1 6 i.xf3 a5 1 7 a3
exd4 l S i.xd4 axb4 1 9 axb4 i.h6 20 1 d4 tllf6 2 c4 d6 3 tll c 3 e5 4 tll f3
tlld 5 tlle 5 2 1 i.e3 i.xe3 22 tllx e3 c6 23 tllbd7 5 g3 g6 6 i.g2 i.. g7 7 0-0 0-0 s
i.g2 :a3 24 'ii'd2 :d3 25 'ii'a2 'ii'aS 26 e4 :es 9 i.e3 tllg4 1 0 i.g5 f6 1 1 i.d2
'ii'e2 'ii'a3 27 tll g4 tllxg4 2S 'ii'xg4 tllh 6 1 2 h3 tllt7 1 3 i.e3 tll f8 14 'ii'd2
'ii'xb4 29 :b l :b3 30 :bd l �g7 3 1 h4 tll e6 1 5 d5 tllf8 1 6 :ae 1 c5 1 7 a3 i.d7
h5 32 'ii'e2 tlld7 33 :d4 tll e 5 34 'ii'd l l S b4 'ii'c S 19 bxc5 dxc5 20 �h2 tlld6
:ds 3 5 c 5 'ii'x c5 36 'ii'xb3 'ii'xd4 3 7 2 1 'ii'd 3, 'ii'c7 22 tll d2 f5 23 f4 h5 24
'ii'xb7+ :d7 3 S 'ii'c S 'ii'a7 3 9 i.h3 llt7 �h 1 tllh7 25 tllb 5 i.xb5 26 cxb5 c4 27
40 :d 1 :f8 4 1 'ii'e6 c5 42 i.. fl :ds 'ii'c2 c3 2S exf5 gxf5 29 tll f3 e4 30 tlld4
tllf8 3 1 a4 :acS 32 :c l 'ii't7 33 :fd l
i.f6 3 4 'ii'b3 �hS 3 5 i.fl :c7 3 6 i.e2
'ii'g6 37 :g l :ecS 3S 'ii'd l 'ii't7 39 'iib3
'ii'g7 40 tllc2 tllc4 4 1 i.xc4 llxc4 42 d6
After 42 d6 the game was adjourned
for one and a half hours. On the
resumption I found the only way, which
was to allow two black pawns to queen.
In a time scramble, with three queens on
the board (and two had already been
exchanged! ), the game ended in a draw.
I no longer remember for what reason
the good move 43 i.b6 did not appeal
to me.
1 80 Bronstein on the King 's Indian
A 1 6 I.Stoltz-T.Petrosian
42 . . . a5 43 i.. a7 'ikh7 44 tll e 3 .l::l.b4 45 Bucharest 1 953
'ii'd 5 .l::l.xa4 46 .l::l.c2 .l::l.b4 47 lllxf5 a4 48
l!d I a3 49 i.. d4 i.. xd4 50 .l::l.xd4 a2 5 1 I d4 lllf6 2 c4 d6 3 lllc 3 g6 4 e4 i..g7 5
'ii'e 5+ c.t>g8 5 2 l:!.xb4 a l 'ii'+ 5 3 c.t>h2 f3 e5 6 tllge2 0-0 7 i.. e3 tllbd7 8 'ii'd2
'ii'd l 54 .l::l.g2 c2 55 tll e 7+ 'ii'xe7 56 dxe7 c6 9 0-0-0 a6 I 0 i..h6 b5 1 1 i.. xg7
c I 'ii' 57 exf8'ii'+ l:!.xf8 58 'ii'g 5+ 1h- 1h 'it>xg7 1 2 g4 'ii'a5 1 3 tll g3 exd4 1 4
'ii'xd4 b4 1 5 tllb I
A 1 5 E. Terpugov-D.Bronstein
1 9th USSR Championship
Moscow 1 951
�g6 3 5 l:!.xh3 tbd6 36 l':te3 �f6 3 7 l:!.f3 l:!.xc4 tbd5 41 tbf3 l:!.xg2+ 42 �h 1 l:!.t2
'it>e5 3 8 l:!.e3+ �f6 39 l:!.f3 �f5 40 l:!.h3 0- 1
�e5 4 1 �c2 tbf5 42 �d3 l:!.g4 43 l:!.f3
l:!.d4+ 44 �e2 l:!.d8 45 l:!.h3 tbd4+ 46 A18 D.Bronstein-M.Naj dorf
�e3 tbf5+ 47 �e2 �f4 48 l:!.f3+ �g4 Candidates Tournament
49 :d3 tbd4+ 50 �f2 J::!.f8 + 5 1 �e 1 Zurich 1 953
l:!.e8+ 52 �f2 �f4 53 �fl I:f.e3 54 I:txe3
'it>xe3 5 5 �e 1 �d3 0- 1 1 d4 tbf6 2 c4 g6 3 tbc3 i.g7 4 e4 d6 5
i.. g 5 c5 6 d5 tba6 7 i.d3 tbc7 8 tbge2
A 1 7 M. Taim anov-D. Bronstein a6 9 a4 l:!.b8 10 0-0 0-0 1 1 'fic2 i.d7 1 2
Candidates Tournament h 3 b 5 1 3 f4 tbfe8 1 4 axb5 axb5 1 5 l:!.a7
Zurich 1 953 bxc4 1 6 i.xc4 l':ta8 1 7 l:!.xa8 tbxa8 1 8
'iVb3 f6 1 9 i..h4 'iVb6 2 0 'fia3 tbec7 2 1
1 d4 tbf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 g6 4 tbc3 d6 5 e4 b3 lbb5 22 lbxb5 i.xb5 23 f5 i.. h6 24
b5 (see also game A I O, where the fxg6 hxg6
author had White in this position) 6
cxb5 i.. g7 7 tbf3 0-0 8 i.e2 a6 9 bxa6
i.xa6 1 0 0-0 'fic7 1 1 l:!.e l lbbd7 1 2
i.xa6 J::!.xa6 1 3 'fie2 l':tfa8 1 4 h 3 lbb6 1 5
i.g5 tbe8 1 6 i.d2 tba4 1 7 tbxa4 l:!.xa4
1 8 i.c3 i.xc3 1 9 bxc3 'iVa5 20 'iVd3
A2 l M.N aj dorf-D.Bronstein
Match Argentina v. USSR
Buenos A ires 1954
A20 P.Keres-D.Bronstein
Candidates Tournament
Zurich 1 953
1 5 lllx g5 hxg5 1 6 lll g3 c5 1 7 dxc5 dxc5 c.t>t2 l:tb l 52 lllx c5 c.t>d4 53 lllb7 .l::l.xb3
1 8 llle2 lll f4 1 9 lllc3 iic6 20 tll d 5 i.. d 8 54 tlld6 f6 55 lll e 8 .l::l.b 2+ 56 c.t>g3 c.t>e5
2 1 i.. e2 lll e6 22 i.. g4 tll d4 23 iid2 57 lllc 7 .l::l.c2 5 8 llld 5 l:txc4 59 'it>h2 l:!.c l
i..x g4 24 hxg4 'ti'h6 25 b4 b6 26 bxc5 60 llle3 c.t>d4 6 1 llld 5 f5 62 gxf5 gxf5
bxc5 27 l:tab l .l::l. e6 28 f3 'ti'h4 63 llle7 fxe4 64 lllf5+ c.t>e5 65 fxe4 l:tc3
66 lllg3 l:!.d3 67 tllh 1 g4 68 tll g3 c.t>f4
69 lllh 5+ c.t>xe4 70 lllg 3+ c.t>e5 7 1 llle2
l:!.e3 72 lllg3 c.t>f4 73 lllh 5+ c.t>g5 74
lllg3 l:!.e l 75 lllh l c.t>f4 76 lllg3 l:!.e5 77
lll fl .l::l.h 5+ 78 c.t>g l g3 79 llld2 l:!.d5 80
lll fl l:td l 8 1 c.t>h 1 .l::l.xfl # 0- 1
A22 A.Dake-D.Bronstein
Match USA v. USSR
New York 1 954
'ii'e 3+ 36 c.t>h l d3 3 7 exd3 cxd3 3 8 'ii'c 3 46 l:ta8 Ita6 47 l':tal l:ta3 48 It l xa3 bxa3
il.ds 0- 1 49 I:txa3 'ii'b6 SO 'i!Va2 l':tb7 S l c.t>f3 l:tb8
S2 it.d i 'ii'b4 S3 il.d2 'ilkb l S4 'ffxb l
A23 D.Bronstein-H.Pilnik l':txb 1 SS c.t>e2 c.t>fl S6 il.e3 l:tb8 S7
Belgrade 1 954 �xcS J::!.c 8 S 8 l:taS c.t>e8 S9 c.t>d3 e6 60
il.x:f8 exfS 6 1 gxfS c.t>x:f8 62 cS il.e8 63
1 d4 lllf6 2 c4 g6 3 lll c 3 il.g7 4 e4 d6 S c.t>c4 l:tb8 64 il.a4 il.xhS 6S c6 g4 66 c7
il.e2 0-0 6 it.gs cS 7 dS a6 8 a4 lllbd7 9 Itc8 67 d6 g3 68 .tbs il.e8 69 Ita3 1 -0
lbf3 llle 8 I O 0-0 llle S 1 1 llld2 f6 1 2
ile3 l:tb8 1 3 f4 lll f7 1 4 'ii'c2 b6 1 5 l:tfb 1 A24 L.Szabo-D. Bronstein
aS 1 6 lllf3 lllc7 1 7 Ite 1 lll a6 1 8 'i!Vd2 Hungary v. USSR
lllb4 1 9 lll a2 lllxa2 20 l:txa2 il.d7 2 1 b3 Budapest 1955
'ffc7 22 il.d3 l:tbe8 23 fS lll eS 24 lllxeS
dxeS 2S h4 c.t>fl 26 'i!Vf2 Ita8 27 il.e2 1 d4 lllf6 2 c4 g6 3 lllc3 il.g7 4 e4 d6 S
J::!.g 8 28 c.t>h l c.t>:f8 29 g4 'i!Vd6 30 l:'Laa l f3 eS 6 dS lllh S 7 il.e3 0-0 8 'i!Vd2 fS 9
it.es 3 1 l:tg I h6 32 il.d3 gS 33 hS c.t>fl exfS gxfS 1 0 0-0-0 a6 1 1 it.gs 'i!Ve8 1 2
lllh 3 lll d7 1 3 g4 fxg4 1 4 fxg4 lll f4
A27 D.Bronstein-T.Petrosian
Candidates Tournament
Amsterdam 1956
A29 D.Bronstein-0.Panno
Candidates Tournament
Amsterdam 1956
I 7 . . . .i.xc3 I 8 bxc3 liJf6 I 9 a4 'iith 8 20
liJf2 .l::l.g 8 2 1 'iith 1 'ii'e 8 22 .l::l.g I 'i!Vg6 23 l c4 liJf6 2 liJc3 g6 3 d4 .1'.. g7 4 e4 d6 5
'i!Vd2 .i.d7 24 g3 J::!.ae8 25 a5 l:!.e7 26 f3 e5 6 liJge2 c6 7 .1'.. e3 0-0 8 'i!Vd2 'i!Va5
.l::l.ab l .1'.. c 8 27 llg2 .l::l.eg7 28 .l::l.bg l liJce8 9 0-0-0 b5 l 0 cxb5 cxb5 1 1 dxe5 dxe5
29 h3 h5 Yz- Yz
A28 D. Bronstein-H.Pilnik
Candidates Tournament
Amsterdam 1 956
40 .l::l.xb4 I:tc2+ 4 1 'it>f3 .l::l.xa2 42 It.xf4 1 3 �b5 fxe5 1 4 fxe5 .1'.. x e5 1 5 tll f3
�e6 43 .l::l.h4 .1'..g 7 1 6 0-0 tll c7 1 7 .i.c5 :f5 1 8 .i.d3
�f6 19 .1'.. c4 tt:lc6 20 tt:lxd5 tt:lxd5 2 1
tt:lg5 .tf5 22 g4 .i.d3 2 3 .i.xd3 tt:lb6 24
'iie3 :xn + 25 :xn i.. d4 26 .i.xd4
'iixd4 27 'iixd4 tll xd4 28 .i.e4 :b8 29
�g2 tllc6 30 :c 1 :d8 3 1 .1'.. x c6 :d2+
32 �g3 bxc6 33 :xc6 :xb2 34 :c7 h6
35 tt:le6 :xa2 36 :g7+ �h8 37 :xg6
'it>h7 38 :g7+ �h8 39 :b7 tll d 5 40 h4
:a3+ 4 1 'iii> f2 tt:lf6 42 :b8+ �h7 43
l::tb 7+ �h8 Yz-Yz
A3 l V.Korchn oi-D.Bronstein
24th USSR Championship
Moscow 1 957
43 . . . I:ta7 44 :h6+ �f5 45 h4 .l::l.a3 + 46
�f2 'it>f4 47 :xh7 :a2+ 48 �fl .l::l.a l + 1 d 4 tllf6 2 tt:l f3 g 6 3 g 3 .1'..g 7 4 �g2 0-0
49 �e2 :a2+ 50 �d3 l::txg2 5 1 .l::l.t7 + 5 c4 d6 6 0-0 �d7 7 tllc 3 'iic 8 8 e4
Yz-Yz .1'..g4 9 i.. e 3 tllc 6 1 0 'iid2 .i.xf3 1 1
.i.xf3 h5 1 2 tlld 5 tt:lh 7 1 3 .1'..g2 e6 1 4
A30 D.Bronstein-E. Vasyukov tt:lc3 e 5 1 5 d 5 tlle 7 1 6 c 5 h4 1 7 cxd6
Moscow Championship 1 956 cxd6 1 8 :fc 1 hxg3 1 9 hxg3 'iid7 20
:c2 f5 2 1 .i.h3 tll f6 22 f3 �t7 23 :ac 1
1 d4 tllf6 2 c4 g6 3 tll c 3 i.. g7 4 e4 d6 5 :h8 24 .1'..g2 a6 25 tll d l :ac8
f3 e5 6 tt:lge2 c6 7 .1'.. e 3 0-0 8 'iid2 exd4
9 tt:lxd4 d5 1 0 cxd5 cxd5 1 1 e5 tt:le8 1 2
f4 f6
36 . . . c6 37 .l::l.d4 c5 0- 1
A34 M.Udovcic-D.Bronstein
1 2 . . . a5 1 3 ltJc3 c6 1 4 0-0 tLlb6 1 5 b3 Gotha 1 957
l:!.d8 1 6 .te l �c5 1 7 tLle4 �d4 1 8 l:!.c l
.i.f5 1 9 e3 .1'..b2 20 l:!.b 1 .1'.. a3 2 1 .1'.. c3 f6 1 d4 lLlf6 2 c4 d6 3 ltJc3 g6 4 e4 .1'.. g7 5
22 .l::l.bd l l:!.xd 1 23 l:!.xd 1 ltJd7 24 f4 .1'..g4 f3 e5 6 tLlge2 tLlbd7 7 .i.e3 a6 8 'ti'd2 0-0
25 l:!.e 1 .1'..b4 26 l!c 1 .i.xc3 27 l!xc3 9 lllc 1 exd4 1 0 .i.xd4 c6 1 1 tLlb3 a5 1 2
.i.f5 28 c5 .i.xe4 29 .i.xe4 exf4 30 gxf4 .i.e3 a4 1 3 ltJd4 a3 1 4 b3 d 5 1 5 exd5
�e6 3 1 �:f2 g5 32 a3 f5 33 .tf3 ltJf6 34 cxd5 1 6 .1'.. e2 dxc4 1 7 bxc4 ltJe5 1 8 0-0
l!d3 r:JJ e7 3 5 l:!.d2 l:!.d8 36 �e2 g4 37 ltJc6 19 l:!.fd 1 lle8 20 �:f2 ltJxd4 2 1
i.. g2 .l::l.xd2+ 38 �xd2 �e6 39 �d3 h5 .i.xd4 .1'.. e6 22 tLlb5 'ti'e7 23 .tfl l:!.ec8
40 r:JJd4 h4 4 1 h3 0- 1 24 l!ac 1
64 additional games 1 89
9 h4 c5 1 0 d5 l:!.e8 1 1 g4 lll a6 12 g5
i.. g7 1 3 lllg 3 lllc 7 1 4 i.. e 3 lll:f8 1 5 'ifc2
!Ib8 1 6 a3 b6 1 7 b4 f5 1 8 gxf6 i..xf6 1 9
'iih2 h 5 2 0 b 5 lllh 7 2 1 l:!.a2 <Jth8 22 l:!.f2
'iie7 23 i.. d3 �d7 24 <Jtd2 l:!.g8 25
lll ge2 l:!.be8 26 l:!.hfl 'iffl 27 <Jtc2 i.. c 8
28 lllc l l:!.e:f8 29 i.. e2 i.. d7 30 i.. d2 'iie7
3 1 tlld3 i.. e 8
The naive move 7 . . . i..h 6 put Black
in a difficult position, and all his efforts
to repair the damage have been in vain.
With logical play White has prepared,
and now carries out, a decisive storming
of the citadel at e5 .
24 . . . lllh 5 25 i..xg7 lllx g7 26 Ilc3 lllf5
27 'fie 1 'iic 5+ 28 <Jth 1 l:!.a5 29 l:!.b3 'iif2
30 l:!.d2 'iih4 3 1 <Jtg l h5 32 'iic 3 b6 33
lllxa3 l:!.ca8 34 g3 'iie7 3 5 l:!.d3 h4 36 g4
'fies+ 37 <Jth 1 tll d6 3 8 'iid4 lll xc4 39
'ii'x c5 bxc5 40 lllb 5 lll e 5 0- 1
A36 D.Bronstein-A.Lutikov
26th USSR Championship
Tbilisi 1 959
A3 7 D.Bronstein-1.Boleslavsky
28th USSR Championship
Moscow 1 961
A40 D.Bronstein-V.Korchnoi
Budapest 1961
A39 A.Slomson-K.Neat
British Under- 18 Championship
Aberystwyth 1 961
A43 M.Haygarth-K.Neat
National Club Championship 1962
A4S D.Bronstein-L.Evans
lnterzonal Tournament
Amsterdam 1 964
A47 V.Mikenas-D.Bronstein
33rd USSR Championship
Tallinn 1965
1 d4 ll'if6 2 c4 d6 3 ll'ic3 c6 4 e4 e5 5 d5
!ile7 6 ile2 0-0 7 ll'if3 ll'ia6 8 0-0 !il.d7 9
lbe 1 'ilc8 1 0 ll'id3 !il.d8
The manoeuvre ... 'ii'c 8 and . . . !il.d8
looks rather awkward, but Black has
time for this, as White has played pass
ively. The finish is well known.
1 5 . . . ll'ih7 16 !il.e3 f5 17 ll'ib3 'ilc7 1 8 1 1 f4 cxd5 1 2 cxd5 ll'ic5 1 3 fxe5
'ile 1 fxe4 1 9 ll'ixe4 ilf5 20 ll'ibd2 ll'ifl ll'ifxe4 1 4 ll'ixe4 ll'ixe4 1 5 !il.e3 !il.b6 1 6
2 1 l:tb3 ll'if6 22 ll'ixf6+ !il.xf6 23 ll'ie4 !il.xb6 axb6 1 7 .l::l. f4 ll'ic5 1 8 exd6 ltJxd3
!ile5 24 a5 !il.xe4 25 fxe4 'ile7 26 'ild2 1 9 'ii'xd3 'ilc5+ 20 <iil> h 1 'ilxd6 2 1 l:th4
:i.ac8 27 !il.f3 ilf6 28 'ild l l:tc7 29 g3 h6 22 a3 .l::l. fe 8 23 !il.f3 'ile5 24 .l::l.b4
ll'ie5
24 . . . l:txa3 0- 1
64 additional games 1 95
Krems 1 967
A52 D.Bronstein-M.Dvoretsky
USSR Zonal Tournament
Vilnius 1975
A5 l D. Bronstein-B.Rytov
Tallinn 1973
A53 B.Cafferty-K.Neat
British Championship
Morecambe 1 9 75
'iib4+ 32 'iit d l .i.e3 3 3 tllfl .i.xfl 34 b6 1 8 .l::l. c 1 .i.e6 1 9 i.xe6 .l::l.xe6 20 'iit e2
'i!Vd5 .i.xg2 0- 1 tlld7 2 1 tllb3 f5 22 .l::l.c 7 tll f6 23 exf5
gxf5 24 l:!.hc l tlld 5 25 l:td7 tlixe3 26
A55 N.Littlewood-K.Neat 'iitxe3 h5 27 l:tcc7 .i.h6+ 28 'iitf2 a6 29
British Championship Qualifier 1979 .l::l.e7 .l::l.xe7 30 l:.xe7 i.g7 3 1 J::!.c7
'ikb3 'ilc7 3 1 g5 tll h 5 32 tt:ld3 tllg 3+ 33 20 .l::l.xf6 .l::l.xf6 2 1 tll ef4 i.. c6 22 tt:lh5
'iitd2 'iVh7 34 tll t2 .l::l.d4+ 3 5 tt:ld3 .l::l.t7 23 tt:ldf6+ 'ilxf6 24 tllxf6+ .l::l.xf6 25
l::!.fl :xn + 26 i.. xfl i.. xe4 27 'iVh4 i.. f5
2S 'iie 7 tt:lt7 29 a3 c4 30 'ikb7 :as 3 1
'iixb5 d5 32 a4 i.. e4 3 3 a5 tt:ld6 34 'ikb6
:a1 35 a6 tt:lcS 36 'iie 6+ 1-0
A60 M.Henriksen-D.Bronstein
Gausdal I 994
24 . . . d3 25 iJ.. d l tt:la6 26 a3 c5 27 b5
tllc7 28 a4 iJ.. e6 29 'i!Ve3 l:td4 30 iJ..b 3
i::!.fd8 3 1 .l::l. fd l 'i!VIB 32 tll d2 iJ.. d 5 3 3
.i.xd5 tt:lxd5 34 'i!Vg5 tll f4 3 5 l::!. c4 l!8d5
36 'i!Vf6 'i!Ve8 37 .l::l.xd4 'i!Ve3 + 38 'iif h l
l:txd4 3 9 tt:le4 d2 40 'iih4 tllh 5 4 1 h3 c4
0- 1
A64 K.Neat-J.Walton
Durham Co. Team Tournament 1998
After 7 dxeS dxeS 8 'i'xd8 l:.xd8 White is not able to win a pawn (9 ltJxeS is
met by 9 . . . ltJxe4, uncovering the King's Indian bishop, when Black regains the
pawn with the better position) and he can answer 9 i.gS (threatening 1 0 liJdS)
with 9 . l:.e8 (Game AS6).
. .
1.2 Here the immediate 6 e5? is bad: after 7 dxeS dxeS 8 'ikxd8 l:.xd8 9
...
liJdS White wins material, as the knight at f6 is attacked, and ltJxc7 also
threatened (Game A38). Black should either prepare . . . e7-eS by playing
6 . . . ltJbd7, or else switch instead to 6 . . . cs .
1.3 The immediate 9 . . . eS can be met by 1 0 i.xg7 �xg7 1 1 dS, when the
knight has to retreat and Black is badly cramped. Therefore he plays 9 . . . i.xh6
1 0 'ii'xh6 and only now 10 . . . e7-e5, when after 1 1 dS he has the possibility of
1 l . . . liJd4 (Game ASS).
1.4 White looks to have too many pieces covering eS, but 7 . . . e5 is
nevertheless possible, as 8 dxeS is answered by 8 . . . liJfd7 (a typical manoeuvre
when there is a white bishop at b2), uncovering a pin by the King's Indian
bishop and enabling Black to regain his pawn. Game 1 1 continued 9 e3 ltJc6 1 0
'it'b3 axb4 1 1 axb4 l:.xa l + 1 2 i.xal ltJcxeS with a good game for Black.
pawn after 9 dxeS ltJg4 (if 9 . . . ltJe8 White can simply play 1 0 'i'd2, when
because of the pin on the d-file Black cannot regain his pawn: 1 0 . . dxeS 1 1
.
1.6 8 . . . e5 is quite opportune. After 9 c3 Black unpinned his queen with the
typical (in this line) move 9 . . . 'it'e8, when he was already threatening 1 0 . . . e4
(Game 8).
1.7 S . . . 0-0 is the usual move, but 5 . . . e5 is quite playable (Games 28, 39
and 47). As in similar positions, Black need not fear the exchange of queens
after 6 dxeS dxeS 7 'ifxd8+ �xd8.
Solutions to the test positions 203
1.8 In fact Black has not yet prepared his king's shelter, but 3 . . . e5 is
perfectly possible. This move order, which is seldom seen nowadays, was
widely used some fifty years ago in the earlier days of the King' s Indian
Defence, as it enables Black to avoid some variations which were then
considered dangerous for him, and which can arise after the move order 1 d4
ltJf6 2 c4 g6 3 ltJc3 Jlg7 4 e4 d6, such as the Samisch Variation (S f3) and the
Four Pawns Attack (S f4). Black is not afraid of the ending after 4 dxeS dxeS S
'iixd8+ �xd8, as his king will find a secure shelter at c7 or e7, and meanwhile
his strong pawn at eS gives him control of the central dark squares (Games 1 3
and A32).
2.1 There is now an outpost for Black' s knight at cS , and he plays 9 . . . a7-
a5, in order to safeguard it (Game 24).
2.2 Black needs to make the traditional King's Indian advance of his f
pawn, but I O . . . ltJhS is unsatisfactory, as he will be unable to recapture on fS
with his g-pawn. He therefore plays 10 . . . ltJf6-d7 and follows up with 1 1 . . . fS
next move (Game 2S).
2.3 It is time for B lack to switch his sights to the kingside with 25 . . . ltJf6-
h5 , aiming for the outpost at f4 . White cannot capture the knight there with his
dark-square bishop, as after . . . eSxf4 the hitherto inactive bishop at g7 would
become murderously strong (Game 34).
2.5 Now is the time to make use of the queen' s bishop, and its entry into
the fray by 28 . . . ilc8-h3 decides matters within a few moves (Game A60).
2.7 With 22 . . . lbf6xg4 23 lbxg4 f5 Black releases the pent-up energy of his
pieces, and the white king quickly succumbs (Game 36).
2.8 Passive play by Black in the King's Indian is usually fatal in the long
run. Here he activates his game with 16 . . . t7-f5, not fearing the opening of the g
file (Game 46).
2.9 Taking advantage of White 's last move ( I O l:td I was possible, and if
1 0 . . . lbxc4 1 I lbcb5), Black plays 10 . . . c7-c5, gaining an advantage in the
centre after the forcing sequence I I lbdb5 a6 I 2 lba3 .i.f5 1 3 'ifd2 d5 (Game
A22).
2.10 Taking advantage of White' s faulty move order, Black seizes the
initiative with 8 . . . lbf6-g4, so that if 9 fxg4 exd4, when he regains his piece and
the white pawns are broken (Game A54).
2. 1 1 Black is not concerned about the attack on his d6 pawn. With 19 . . . lbf6-
d7 he prepares to attack White's queenside by . . . lbc5 (Game I 7). He will
answer 20 'ifxd6 with 20 . . . 'ifb6, when the white b-pawn falls, and the c-pawn is
left without support.
2.13 Black ignores the threat to his d-pawn and plays 15... 'iid 8-a5 (Game
20). The point is that after I 6 llxd6 lbe5 1 7 b3 he has I 7 . . . .i.xh3 , when I 8
.i.xh3 allows I 8 . . . lbf3+, with the possible sequel I 9 'it>fl lbxe l 20 'it>xe l axb3
2 I axb3 lbxe4 22 l:td3 'ilia! + 23 lbd l l:la2 24 'ifc I lbxf2 25 'it>xf2 llxe2+ and
Black wins.
2.15 With the white king still uncastled, Black hurries to prepare a break in
the centre with 12 . . . c7-c6 followed by . . . d6-d5 . He does fear 1 3 .i.xh6, which
can be met by the typical tactical stroke 1 3 . . . lbxe4 and I 4 . . . 'ifh4+ (Game
A6 I ).
Solutions to the test positions 205
2.16 After 12 . . . c7-c5 1 3 dxc6 bxc6 14 lDxd4 exd4 1 5 llxd4 White conquers
the d4 square, but only at a price - his pieces are uncoordinated, and Black
exploits this by 1 5 . . . l:.xb2, with highly favourable complications (Game A55).
2.17 With White ' s dark-square bishop committed to the kingside, this would
have been a good moment for the typical sacrifice 8 . . . b7-b5 9 cxb5 a6 I O bxa6
'i'a5 , with fine play for the pawn. Black's actual continuation 8 . . . 'i'a5 9 'ifd2 e6
proved less successful (Game A5 8).
2.18 White would desperately like to keep the kingside blocked (e.g. after
1 5 . . . lDh7 1 6 h4), but Black forestalls him by 15 . . . lDf6-g4 1 6 fxg4 hxg4 (and if
1 7 ..llh 4 ..ll h 6), when all his pieces pour into the action behind his mobile pawns
(Game 37).
Postscript
On the occasion of David Bronstein ' s 75th birthday in February 1 999, Garry
Kasparov published a tribute on his web site in which he described him as 'the
most enigmatic figure in the chess world' , and mentioned that in the 1 970s and
even the 1 980s he used to follow with interest Bronstein ' s games, in each of
which some new and surprising idea could be found. This striving for
originality, as opposed to mere competitive results, has been David' s
distinguishing feature throughout his career, yet despite this h e has an enviable
record of success, for details of which the reader is referred to The Sorcerer 's
Apprentice by David Bronstein and Tom Fi.irstenberg (Cadogan 1 995).
Bibliography
Apart from numerous Russian periodicals, particular use has been made of the
following publications:
Abrahams 1 3 8 Hartston 1 59
Alekhine 1 1 Haygarth 1 92
Aloni 1 66 Henriksen 200
Antoshin 1 93 Hoad 1 90
Balashov Kapengut 1 24
Baturinsky 1 76 Keres 1 82
Batuyev 7 1 Kluger 1 92
Belavenets 65 Koblents 1 74
Bisguier 1 68 Kolarov 75
B lau 1 05 Kolbus 1 36
Boleslavsky 1 4, 1 77, 1 78, 1 79(2), Korchnoi 1 87, 1 9 1
1 90 Kotov 82, 1 1 8, 1 75 , 1 78
Bondarevsky 76 Kots 1 92
Botvinnik 1 30, 1 47 Kottnauer 1 1 4
Krogius 1 89
Cafferty 1 97 Kupreichik 1 70
Chekhover 73
Cherepkov 1 6 1 Larsen 1 94
Larusson 1 97
Dake 1 83 Lilienthal 1 28
Deep Thought II 1 99 Lisitsyn 1 1 2
Dvoretsky 1 96 Littlewood, N. 1 98
Lundin 1 77
Englisch 6 Lutikov 1 3 3 , 1 89
Evans 1 93
Makogonov 1 64
Fine 1 4 Marovic 1 95
Flohr 1 76, 1 77 Mikenas 1 94
Fuderer 1 85 Moiseyev 78
Opocensky 1 76 Stuart 1 99
Szabo 1 78 , 1 84, 1 95
Pachman 9 1 , 200
Panno 87, 1 52, 1 86 Taimanov 1 8 1
Pein 1 72 Tarasov 1 8 8
Petrosian 1 43 , 1 80, 1 85 Tarrasch 6
Petursson 1 98 Terpugov 1 80
Pilnik 1 84 , 1 86 Thorsson 1 26
Platonov 1 95 Tolush 67, 1 3 5
ISBN 1-85744-265-2
www•.wymu.uk.eotn