Break the Rules!

For suksess i sjakk lærer vi viktige regler, forstår forholdet mellom disse reglene og så .... rett og slett: Hvordan kan vi bryte reglene med suksess? Moderne toppsjakk handler mye om dette.

GM Neil McDonald setter her regelbrytingen noe i system. Vår egen Magnus Carlsen er en av bokas forgrunnsfigurer med mange av de spennende partieksemplene fra det siste tiåret som dominerer denne inspirerende boka.

INNHOLDSFORTEGNELSEN:

• 1 The Anarchist of the Chessboard 7
• 2 The Power of Ugly Pawn Moves 23
• 3 Breaking the Rhythm of the Struggle 40
• 4 The King as All Action Star 56
• 5 Wait with White, Provoke with Black! 69
• 6 Living on the Edge 92
• 7 Time is Not of the Essence 111
• 8 Are You a Rule-Breaker? Take the Test! 128
• 9 Solutions 135
• Index of Openings 158
• Index of Complete Games 159

FORORD:

I wish to define breaking the rules as follows: allowing our intuition, calculation or reasoning about a position to look beyond the rules and precepts we have imposed on ourselves. These rules and precepts have a vital purpose: they cut down the number of things we have to examine and so save us from drowning in a sea of possibilities. They might have been built up and refined over many years, and chess would remain a baffling world without them to guide us.

The rules of positional chess are essentially designed to prevent one of the following: a) Jeopardizing your king’s safety; b) Losing material; c) Ruining your pawn structure; d) Being outnumbered in the fight for central or other important squares; e) Putting or leaving the pieces on inactive or exposed squares. It stands to reason that, everything else being equal, precepts and laws that warn us of the dangers of the above five scenarios are of great value. The problem is they become like a second nature, and we can’t see excellent possibilities that lie beyond their reach.

If you haven’t made as much progress in chess as you feel your capabilities deserve, it is easy to imagine you need to learn more precisely what a good move or plan looks like. The problem might actually be the opposite – you have too strong impressions of what a good move or plan should look like, and have excluded, perhaps at an unconscious level, all regard for moves that don’t fit this ideal. Yet it could be that one of those ‘not quite right looking’, or ‘decidedly odd’ moves that you have filtered out is the key to the position.

The purpose of this book is to investigate ways of playing and ideas that often escape our rule-blinkered notice. It is hoped that seeing the originality of Carlsen and Ivanchuk and other great minds will give a boost to your own imagination. Then when a voice says in your head, ‘It’s obvious what I need to do here’, a second, more doubtful voice will at times interject: ‘I feel this might be a special moment in the game. May we look a little further?

I hope you enjoy reading this book and that it gives a boost to your creativity and results.

Neil McDonald, Gravesend, May 2012