January 27 2006 - Aviv Friedman

Among the myriad of lessons a chess instructor tries to teach his students, lays the important principle that deals with the relative value of the pieces. As opposed to the universal numeric values (Q=9, R=5 etc), the pieces’ actual ‘worth’ changes, depending on their placement and the requirements of the position. Of course every school child knows how to sacrifice their Queen for a nice checkmate, and the non-beginners can easily spot the Greek Bishop sacrifice. In general though, it is hard work overcoming the fixation with the numerical values. If a Pawn is attacking a Knight, the hand is already on it, thinking where to move it to, if a Bishop aims at a Rook, the blinders go on, and all that’s considered is what free square can this Rook move to. After all, in real life what sucker would agree to a deal where you hand someone a 10 Dollar bill (or 10 Euros) and receive 10 cents in return, without a purchase.

At the master level, GM level, and of course the very top this dogma is non existent. Primitively speaking, it is almost as if you can hear the players say:”you are attacking my Bishop with a pawn, let me see if I can attack something of yours instead of just moving it”. There is never any hesitation in investing material for play, quite the opposite in fact. Top players welcome a chance to give a Pawn or two, or an exchange, sometimes even a piece or more for the initiative. To even try and name players through history who mastered this, one would need to write a pretty long list, but I guess it won’t be unfair to mention the recently retired world number 1 player, Garry Kasparov as a leader in this field. His successor as the top ranked player, FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov has been a fantastic source of examples of when a 5-point-Rook can and should be given for a 3-point minor piece, be it a Knight or a Bishop.

These are sometimes purely positional, in the spirit of the late world champion Petrosian, sometimes tactical a la Kasparov. Some of them are active while others are passive, but the common denominators are their creativity, efficiency, and of course their beauty. They are not only eye pleasers for the fans, but also invaluable tools in helping to unchain improving chess students from the rigid and dogmatic principles they pick up when they first learn the game.

Here is a partial selection of samples from Topalov’s games, going back from 1995 to the present and in between:

Ivanchuk – Topalov Belgrade 1995:

18... Rxd5 19. exd5 b5 20. h5 g5 21. fxg5 Bxg5+ 22. Kb1 f5 23. Rd3 f4 24. Bxc4 Qxc4 0-1

Bacrot – Topalov Sarajevo 2000:

12... b6 13. Bxa8 Rxa8 14. f3 Ne8 15. Bf4 Bxc4 16. Rb2 Kc6 17. Rd2 Nd6 18. Bxd6 exd6 19. Kf2 d5 20. e4 dxe4 21. fxe4 Re8 22. Re1 Be6 23. Kf3 Kb5 24. Kf4 Kc4 25. Re3 a5 26. Kg5 b5 27. Kh6 b4 28. cxb4 axb4 29. Kxh7 Ra8 30. Kg7 Kb5 31. h4 c4 32. g4 c3 33. Rg2 Rxa2 0-1

Topalov – Bareev Dortmund 2002:

23. Rxd4 Qxd4 24. Rxe5 Kh7 25. Qd1 Qf2 26. Bf3 Rxe5 27. Bxe5 f4 28. Bc3 Rd8 29. b3 Kh8 30. Be1 Qc5 31. Kb2 Bf5 32. c4 b5 33. Bb4 Qf2+ 34. Qe2 Qxe2+ 35. Bxe2 bxc4 36. bxc4 Bg4 37. Bd3 f3 38. Kc3 Be6 39. Ne3 Bh3 40. Nd1 1-0

Kasim – Topalov San Luis 2005:

35. Rd2 Reg3 36. Bxg3 hxg3+ 37. Kh1 Rf5 38. Rd1 Rf2 39. Rb8 f5 40. Rd8 Bxg2+ 41. Kg1 Bd5 42. R8xd5 cxd5 43. Rc1 Rxb2 44. c6 Rb8 45. Kg2 f4 46. Kf3 Kg5 47. h4+ 1/2-1/2

Topalov – Anand San Luis 2005:

21... Nd3 22. Ba3 Nxe1 23. Rxe1 Re8 24. Rxe8+ Qxe8 25. Bd5 h5 26. Kg2 Be7 27. Bb2 Bf6 28. Bc1 Qe7 29. Be3 Rc7 30. h4 Be5 31. Qd3 Bd6 32. Bg5 Qe8 33. Qf3 b5 34. Be3 Qe5 35. Qd1 Qe8 36. Qxh5 Rxc6 37. Bxa7 Ra6 38. Bd4 Bf8 39. Be5 b4 40. Qf5 g6 41. Qf4 Qe7 42. Bd4 Ra5 43. Qf3 Bg7 44. Bb6 Rb5 45. Be3 Bc3 46. Bg5 Qa7 47. Qd3 Rb6 48. Be3 Qa6 49. Bxf7+ Kxf7 50. Qd7+ Kf8 51. Qd8+ Kf7 52. Qc7+ Kg8 53. Qxb6 Qxa2 54. Qxg6+ Kh8 55. Qc6 Qf7 56. g4 Bg7 57. h5 b3 58. Qe4 b2 59. h6 Bf6 60. Bd4 Kg8 61. Bxf6 Qxf6 62. Kg3 Qb6 63. Qc4+ Kh7 64. g5 Qg6 65. Qc7+ Kg8 66. Qb8+ Kf7 67. Qb7+ Kf8 68. Qb8+ Kf7 69. Qb3+ Kf8 70. Qf3+ Ke7 71. Qe3+ Kd7 72. Qd4+ Ke6 73. Qxb2 Qxg5+ 74. Kf3 Qh5+ 75. Ke4 Qf5+ 76. Ke3 Qg5+ 77. f4 Qg3+ 78. Ke4 Qe1+ 79. Kf3 Qf1+ 80. Kg3 Qg1+ 81. Qg2 Qb1 82. Qc6+ Kf7 83. Qd7+ Kf6 84. Qg7+ Ke6 85. Qe5+ Kf7 86. Qh5+ Kf6 87. Qg5+ Kf7 88. Qh5+ Kf6 89. Qh4+ Kf7 90. h7 Qe1+ 91. Kg4 Qd1+ 92. Kg5 Qd8+ 93. Kh5 Qd5+ 94. Qg5 Qh1+ 95. Qh4 Qd5+ 96. Kg4 Qd1+ 97. Kg3 Qe1+ 1/2-1/2

And of course a few from this event, look for them in the games section:

Van Wely - Topalov from round 4, Topalov – Mamedyarov from round 5 and the two-in-one-game in Topalov – Aronian from round 10. Enjoy!