Georg Mohr: THE MAROCZY PAWN STRUCTURE: The withdrawal of the knight from the center

The strategy of the withdrawal of Whites knight from the center is as rule very unpleasant for Black. White can move the knight to three different squares: to c2, from where the knight will return into play in different ways (over a3 to b5, over e3 to d5) to b3, from where is supporting the move c4-c5, to e2 (an often withdrawal in Moscow Variation of the Sicilian). Why is this withdrawal unpleasant for Black? Especially because White has more space and Black wants to exchange pieces to gain space. Due to that Black is generally exchanging early (Nd4) against the Maroczy pawn structure. But everything has its advantages and disadvantages. It is true that Blacks bishop can move to (Bd7-c6): from where it will be able to put pressure on the center and also to present a threat to the e4-pawn. But on the other hand Black is releasing tension in the center because of the exchange (Nc6 is pressuring on d4) and White, which often has problems with the development, because of the unprotected knight, can choose between playing on the kingside and in the center. Let us see a typical psychological battle in our variation! 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 g6 5.c4 The first critical moment. Black is afraid that White will move the knight as soon as possible (Nc2). What to do? The taking 5Nd4 6.Qd4 is too early because of the weakness on the long diagonal 6Nf6 7.e5!). So Black arrives to the first crossroads. Many chess players choose the move 5Nf6, which forces White into 6.Nc3 that leaves Black with a significant

tempo: 6Nd4 7.Qd4 d6. An ideal move order? Yes and no! Black has succeeded strategically but White can develop his bishops. He will develop his dark-squared bishop to an active g5 square, because he does not need to protect the knight on d4. After Qd2 he will put his light-squared bishop to d3 and he will start to prepare the play on the kingside. The move 5Bg7 has its advantages. It is allowing the withdrawal of the knight 6.Nc2 which for a long time believed to be less dangerous due to Black not developing the knight on the kingside. The practice showed that Black has a good counter play against the plan with the withdrawal of the knight to c2 with the move f7-f5. He can develop the knight to h6 and as soon as possible play f7-f5 (with the already developed knight he would need to lose yet another move to withdraw, usually to d7) or he can play f7-f5 and only then develop the knight. White players later on found good chances for the development of the initiative. Most of the players prefer to defend the knight 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nc3. Black finds himself on a new crossroads. He can exchange a pair of knight with the help of a typical maneuver 7Ng4! 8.Qg4 Nd4 and White does not have a better move than 9.Qd1, meanwhile Black can move to an active square 9Ne6. He can decide for a classical continuation 7d6 8.Be2 0-0 9.0-0 Bd7 with the idea 10Nd4 and 11Bc6. White play the unpleasant 10.Nc2 (or 10.Nb3 with the idea c4-c5), which destroys Blacks plans and due to that the experts improved the move order for Black. After d4 Black takes already in the 9. move: 9Nd4 10.Bd4 and only after that 10Bd7. White needs to move the knight to the c2 square earlier and that brought to new researches of the positions after the immediate withdrawal 6.Nc2! Firstly let us have a look how White can effectively defend himself against the early f7-f5.

FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

Voitsekehovsky S. : Aronian L. Minsk 1998 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Nc2 Nh6 7.Bd2! This move is allowed by last development of the knight: 7Bb2? 8.Bh6 Ba1 9.Na1! Due to that Black often chooses 6d6, where White fights against 7f5 with a simple development 7.Bd3! Very interesting is a recommendation of P. H. Nielsen 6Qb6, after which White cannot come up with a good defence of the b2-pawn. After logical move 7.Nc3 Black takes 7Bc3!? 8.bc3 Nf6 and tries to play without his pair of bishops against the weak Whites pawns. In practice White players have more success. They can develop a strong initiative with the darksquared bishop, for example: 9.Bd3 d6 10.Ne3 00 11.00 Ne5 12.Nd5 Nd5 13.cd5 Qa5 14.Be2 Qc3 15.Rb1 Qc7 16.f4 Nd7 17.Bb2 f6 18.Qd2 Nc5 19.Qe3 e5 20.de6 Be6 21.f5 gf5 22.ef5 Ba2 23.Ra1 Bd5 24.Qd4 Qc6 25.Ra3 Nd7 26.Rd1 Rae8 27.Bh5 Re5 28.Qd2 Rf5 29.Rg3 Kh8 30.Qh6 Rg8 31.Bg6 Rg7 32.Bf5 Qb6 33.Bd4 1:0, Eljanov : Zubarev, Harkov 2001. 7f5 8.ef5 Nf5 9.Bc3! Qb6 10.Qd2 Bh6 11.Qd5 Bg7 12.Bg7 Ng7 13.b3

which is not weaker than the opponents light-squared bishop. 13Nf5 14.Nc3 d6 15.Bd3 Nfd4 16.Nd4 Qd4 17.Qd4 Nd4 18.000 Nc6 19.Rhe1 Whites play is simple: he will put pressure on the central lines, on the backward pawns d6 and e7. 1900 20.f3 Bf5 21.Be4 Be4 22.Ne4 Rf5 23.Kb2 Re5 24.f4 Rh5 25.Rh1 Rf8 26.g3 a5 27.a3 Rhf5 28.Rd2 Nb8 29.Re1 b5!? Of course Black wanted to get some counter play but the outcome will be good for White. 30.Nc3 bc4 31.Re7 g5 32.fg5 Nc6 33.Rc7 Rf2 34.Ne4 Rd2 35.Nd2 Rf2 36.Rc6 Rd2 37.Kc3 Rh2 38.Kc4 Rg2 39.Rd6 Rg3 40.Rd5 a4 41.ba4 Kf7 42.Re5 Ra3 43.a5 Ra1 44.Kb5 Rb1 45.Kc6 1:0. The young Levon Aronian definitely learned a lot from the defeat and due to that he later on probably started to play this variation with white pieces. Aronian L. : Vorobiov E. Moscow 2004 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Nc2 Nf6 7.Nc3 00 8.Be2 d6 9.00 Nd7!? An interesting plan. Black wants to take Bc3 and set up the blockage on the dark squares. The plan is practically stolen from the English Opening: 1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.cd5 Nd5 5.Bg2 Nc7 6.Qb3!? (a provocation White is waiting for Nc6) 6Nc6 7.Bc6!? bc6 8.Qa4. White even gave up a tempo, because he believes in his pawn structure. There is no reason for Black not to act the same way Most of the players do not like the positions with the destroyed pawn structure and because of that they almost automatically respond with: 10.Bd2 Nc5 11.b4!? A very interesting pawn sacrifice. Especially because 11.f3 Qb6!? 12.Kh1

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White has a slight advantage. His pawns are more connected and without weaknesses. The exchanges in the center brought to life a light-squared bishop,

FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

Qb2!? 13.Rb1 Bc3 looks promising for Black. 11Ne6 Critical is the taking: 11...Bc3 12.Bc3 Ne4 13.Bb2 (a new comparison with the English Opening is interesting and again with the pieces of the opposite color: 1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.cd5 Nd5 5.Bg2 Nc7 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.0-0 e5 8.d3 Be7 9.Nd2 Bd7 10.Nc4 0-0 11.Bc6 Bc6 12.Ne5).

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A very popular position almost equal to the previous one. The only difference is that Black cannot play b7-b5 and he is forced to withdraw 12Be8. This position was played even by the World Champions! You can imagine how much easier is the position on the diagram where White can move his bishop to the most logical square b2 13.Be6 (Black players also tried with 13...e5 14.Qe1 Qg5 15.Rd1 Be6 16.Bd3 f5 17.f3 Nf6 18.f4 or 13...Qb6 14.a3 Be6 15.Ne3, in both cases with a strong initiative for White - Aalgard) 14.b5 Ne5 (because of the move being practically lost, the commentators later recommended 14...Na5 15.Qd4 Nf6 16.Ne3 Qc7 17.Rac1 Qc5 18.Qh4 Rac8 19.Rfd1 or 14...Nb8 15.Qd4 Nf6 16.g4 Qb6 17.g5 Qd4 18.Bd4 Ne4 (18...Nfd7 19.Bf3) 19.Bf3 d5 20.Bg2, again with the initiative for White) 15.Qd4 Nf6 16.f4 Ned7 (16...Neg4 17.h3 Nh6 18.g4) 17.g4 Qb6 18.f5 White won a piece and quickly won as in the game Svidler : Tivjakov, Halkidika 2002. 12.Rc1 Ned4

The opening of the a-file seems more logical, where Black is prevailing: 12...a5 13.a3 ab4 14.ab4 and only then 14Ned4 15.Nd4 Nd4 16.Be3. Black can continue actively 16e5, practice showed that the most active continuation for White is 17.Nb5 Nb5 18.cb5 Be6 19.b6 f5 20.Bc4 Bc4 21.Rc4 f4 22.Qd5 Kh8 23.Bd2 Qb6 24.Rfc1 with a good compensation. (Aalgard) 13.Nd4 Nd4 14.Be3 In the position where the a-file is not opened yet, the maneuver seems even better. The bishop pair is not important because White can exchange the darksquared bishops any time he wants. 14Ne2 15.Qe2 b6 16.Rfd1 Bb7 17.Bd4 Bd4 17f6 is possible, weaker seems to be 17...Rc8 18.Bg7 Kg7 19.e5. 18.Rd4 Qc7 19.h4! Again a typical plan with the attack on the king. Look at the kingside where Black has no pieces! He is facing the unpleasant choice: whether to let the h-pawn progress or weaken himself even more with the move h7-h5. 19Rac8 20.h5 a6 21.Nd5 Bd5

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A typical position: considering the rules that we were following the best move for White would be the taking 22.Rd5!? But even the taking with the e-pawn, which was Aronians choice, is not bad in the current position. White is combining the positional play with the attack on the king

FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

and opening the fourth rank for his rook for the possible transposition to the h-file. At the same time the e7-pawn is weak. 22.ed5 Rfe8 23.Re4 Qd7 24.Re1 b5 25.cb5 ab5 26.h6! Kf8 27.Qb2 f6

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28.Re7! The transposition to a winning endgame. 28Qe7 29.Re7 Ke7 30.Qe2 Kf7 31.Qb5 Rc1 32.Kh2 1:0. Black can fight against the withdrawal of the knight to c2 with the plan a7-a6 and b7-b5, like love to play the Scandinavians (in the past Bent Larsen and Ulf Andersson, nowadays P. H. Nielsen). Short N. : Felgaer R. Argentina 2001

2.f3 A typical move an additional defence of the e4-pawn. White wants to free from this assignment his knight on c3, which is also actively preventing the move b7-b5. 2Rc8 3.Qd2 Possibly the strongest move is 3.Rac1 Ne5 4.Na3 Qa5 (preparing b7-b5) 5.Qb3! with an unpleasant threat Bb6. 3Re8 4.Rac1 Qa5 5.Rfd1 The plan 5.Na3 Be6 6.Nab1 is interesting but too slow, it did not bring success to White in the game Gulko : P. H. Nielsen, Esbjerg 2000. 5Ne5 Or 5Red8

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6.b4! a typical trick, linked with the placement of the queen and the undefended e7-pawn: 6Nb4? 7.Nd5 Nc6 8.Qa5 Na5 9.Ne7 and 10.Nc8. Remains 6Qh5 7.Nd5 and White is better.

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1a6 The weaker plan is 1Qa5? 2.f4 Rac8 3.Rb1! a6 4.b4 Qd8 5.Qd3 and White was much better in the game Short : Andersson, Wijk aan Zee 1990.

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6.b4 Much better than 6.Na3 h5 7.Kf1 Ba4!?

FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

8.Re1 Bc6 with an excellent counter play for Black, Anand : Larsen, Roquebrune 1992 0:1. The game would be practically decided after 6.c5! and Black would be facing big troubles. 6Qd8 7.Na3 a5 8.b5 Be6 9.Na4 Nfd7 10.b6! and White had a huge advantage. For some years was very popular a plan with the withdrawal of the knight on b3 and with the preparation of the move c4c5. We have in mind the next position:

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Black can choose between two plans: 1a5 with the play against the unusual placement of the knight or 1b6 with placement of some kind of wall, which is preventing Whites planned move. The first plan is concrete and the second one is connected with a complicated strategic play. Kortschnoj V. : Anand V. Wijk aan Zee 1990 1a5!? The old rule says that the progression with a rook pawn, with the unpleasant threat a5 (a4), is always good against the placement of the knight to b6 (b3) . 2.Nd2 It threatened 2a4 in 3a3 with the destruction of the queenside and because of that White gave up another tempo. The knight on d2 is defending the e4-pawn and

his partner on c3 is already prepared for action (on b5 or d5). 2Nd7 The second logical possibility is 2Ne8 with the play against the d4 square, for example: 3.Rc1 (3.Nf3 Nf6!) 3Nd4 4.Nb3 Ne2 5.Qe2 a4! 6.Nd4 Nc7, like in the game Cvetkovic : Martinovic, Yugoslavia 1991. 3.Rc1 Nd7 After the principled 3.c5 dc5 4.Bc5 Be6 5.Nc4 Nd7 6.Be3 Rc8 the position is at least equal for Black. 4.Nb3!? Korchnoi in his provocative style! The knight that recently spent two moves for the maneuver Nd4-b3-d2 will in the following two moves return over the same squares: Nd2-b3-d4! What an absurd action! 3b6 4.Nd4 Anand probably did not understand Whites play, though it was not so unreasonable. What did achieve Black while the Whites knight was dancing around? He moved the a7-pawn and b7pawn to a5 and b6, which has its pros and cons. The pawns did set up a blockage on the dark squares but they made many light squares weak (b5, c6). The bishop did move to c8 and left an important d7 square to the knight, which has a task on c5. After the return of the knight to d4 Black has no choice but to exchange a pair of knights. Because of the weak light squares it would be unforgivable for one of the knights to move to b5 and for the other one to threat with moving to d5. And the fact is that the knight on c6 is not playing a significant role in the position. 4Nd4 5.Bd4

FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

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5Bh6! A very instructive moment. Black won a tempo and for him is even more important to keep the dark-squared bishops. If not so Whites attack would become very dangerous. For example: 5Bb7 6.Bg7 Kg7 7.Qd4 Kg8 8.f4 Nc5 9.f5. Black would not have enough pieces on the kingside and Whites pieces would be able to attack freely. (Nd5, Rc3-h3). 6.f4 After 6.Rc2 e5! 7.Be3 Be3 8.fe3 Nc5 9.Bf3 Bb7 Blacks position would be at least equal. 6Bb7 7.Be3 Nc5 8.b3!? White already had problems. After 8.Bf3 e5! does not work 9.Qd2 ef4 10.Bf4 Bf4 11.Qf4 Nd3. For this reason Korchnoi decided for complications. 8Ne4 9.Ne4 Be4 10.Qd4 Bc6 11.f5!? Korchnoi understandably did not like the endgame after 11.Qb6 Qb6 12.Bb6 Rfb8 13.Be3 a4, when only Black would be playing with his a5-pawn and b4-pawn. The pawn sacrifice is quite unpleasant. In the case of Black taking on the challenge: 11Be3 12.Qe3 Kg7 (it threatened13.Qh6), White would after 13.Rf4 achieve an unpleasant initiative, which is certainly not in Anands style. 11Bg7 12.Qb6 Qd7 Why not 12Qb6 13.Bb6 Rfb8 14.Be3 a4, with the transposition to the already known position with an undoubted advantage for Black?

13.fg6 hg6 14.Bg5 a4 15.Qe3 ab3 16.ab3 Ra2 17.Rf2 Qe6 18.Bf3 draw. Despite the good experiences with the move 1a7-a5, many players like the setting up of the wall. Polugaevsky L. : Ljubojevic L. Monaco 1992

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1b6 Quite illogical move is 1Na5 2.Nd2! with the threat b2-b4. 2.f3 White tried many moves. After 2.a4 a5! Black would win yet another dark square on the queenside (b4) and Blacks knights on c5 and b4 would be very unpleasant for White, but the most consistent is the set up with f2-f4, Be2-f3 and the play in the center. However White does not have a direct and clear plan in the center and due to that the position is easier for Black, which is simply following the dark-squared strategy, preparing the dark squares for his knights and directing them towards the dark squares (especially to c5). Polugaevsky chose a slow plan, connected with the conquering of the space and with putting pressure on Black. 2Ne8 With the idea 2Bc3. 3.Qd2 Rc8 4.Rac1 Ne5 5.Nd5 e6! Whites knight does not have a good square to withdraw (because of the undefended c4-pawn) and Ljubojevic took

FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

advantage of the favorable moment. It would be very difficult for White to attack the d6-pawn. 6.Nf4 Qe7 7.Rfd1 f5 8.ef5 Rf5 Even better would be 8gf5 9.Nd4 Ng6 10.Nh5

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10Bd4! 11.Bd4 (11.Qd4 e5 12.Qd2 f4) 11f4! 12.Bf2 (it threatened 12Qh4) 12Bc6 with an excellent play for Black. The maneuver, which needs to be remembered! 9.Nd4 Rf8 With a very complicated play and draw in 52 moves.

FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr