Charles Storey’s “Positional Chess Skills” - Positional Plans

Opening: E63, E68: King's Indian: fianchetto - Panno variation, King's Indian: fianchetto - Calssical Variation 8.e4

Player(s): Andersson, Lanka, Gillieron

In the 10th installment of his series on Positional Skills, FM Charlie Storey tells us about a fascinating topic: Positional plans. The first positional plan Charlie tackles is "Superior Knight.". To play positional chess means to be extremely careful about how you place your pieces over the board. Having a knight better placed than that of your opponent can lead to a sizeable advantage. The game Charlie uses to show us the importance of having a better Knight is again from his positional hero Ulf Andersson. In this game, played against a strong opponent, Andersson forces Black to play Na5 very early, and then keeps playing, in a divine show of positional play, to take advantage of his better Knight. It's easy to see that the Knight that had to be placed on a5, through the entire game, can't improve its color-code. FM Storey notes how having a superior Knight since the opening, is a great advantage, that allows you to play an easy and risk-free game. The second positional plan Charlie illustrates is how to take advantage of a better-placed Rook. In a game with the same material, and with apparently equal chances, Andersson improves the color-coding of his rook, which allows him to win the game.

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Teacher's library (57) E63 E68 Andersson Lanka Gillieron game analysis