Original subtitles

hi everyone this is Grandmaster Eugene Perelshteyn

and together with Chess lecture.com

I'd like to welcome you to today's game

now today I will go over around 2 games from Linares

where white played by Ivanchuk against Peter Leko

and we wanna see how Chucky

the so called or crazy Chucky

handles the Marshall attack

and Ivan Chuk is extremely

extremely original chess player

and Marshall attack is real

real

annoying to anyone who plays the Royal Lopez as white

so I think this battle is really fun to watch

so let's start

E4 E5

knight of three 96

there should be five so we're just following the main

royal opossum should be four

knight of six

castles

you should be 7

g 1

b 5

you should be 3 and castles

so here we are

black doesn't play d 6 but castles

and basically says

I'm ready to go into the Marshall attack

which is c 3 d five

and as a matter of fact

there was a great game by Black

Aronian against Anand from the same tournament

where Aronian won a game in a beautiful

attack and stuff

so of course Ivancho is aware of all the theory

and he doesn't want to go into discussion

the main lines he's a very original player

and he comes up with a brilliant or original idea

so first he plays D4

this is a well known attempt to try to

avoid the main lines of the Marshall

and now

black usually takes

so another move actually

to play d 6 and try to play along the mainstream lines

which is quite solid

but this basically transpose into

mainstream lines of Ryan Lopez except

the bishop goes to G4 okay

but the ideas are quite similar

alright so now this is the most

well known way to try to achieve a good game for black

night takes d 4

and here instead of the normal looking night takes d 4

e takes e 5 night e 8

which is all theory

and consider that more or less black is okay

I want you to plays the crazy looking move

Bishop takes f 7 wow

it's really

really hard to see this move during the game

and as a matter of fact

he's not the first one to play this

there have been people playing this move before

but look at the originality of this move

white gives up his powerful bishop on the f 7 square

where it's defended twice

with the rook and with the king

so this must have been as a total shock to black

especially if he hasn't seen this move before

but of course we all know that Leko

is a very well prepared in the opening

so he takes with the rook and of course not king takes

simply loses

night takes e 5 and queen takes d 4 so this is no good

and now simply night takes e five

so what is White's idea he gave up the bishop

he got the two pawns back

and now the knight on d 4

and the rook on f 7 under attack

so this is the whole point

is this sound well

it's hard to say we have to go deeper into the game

and hopefully after today's lecture

we're gonna have some kind of idea what's going on

but let me just tell you that in the later round

Ivanchuk played against Aronian

and he didn't go for this line

he actually played Knight takes Knight

E takes e 5 night e 8

Queen takes d 4

bishop b 7 and more or less about even position

where Ivan Chop managed to outplay Aronian

and only blundered in complete winning position

blunder a whole piece in time pressure

so this is something for

the so called experts to figure out

why Ivan Chuk didn't repeat this

maybe there is much better

play for black found in post mortem

but after d 4 Knight takes Bishop takes F7

nevertheless happened in the Ivanchuk versus Leko game

so Rook takes this is kind of obvious night takes

so let's see what Lego came up with during the game

so he simply plays rook to f

saying that hey

you gave up that bishop

and I'm gonna give you the night back

but as a result I'm gonna have such powerful piece play

because you only have the queen and the knight

and maybe the rook developed

while

black is pretty much almost done with his development

but let's see

what happens if black tries to save the knight

and instead gives up the rook

so basically he's gonna have two pieces for the rook

so one way to try to save the knight is to play c five

and now after night takes f 7

King takes

white can unleash powerful attack with e five

and it turns out that

black pieces are really poorly coordinated

if the knight goes to d 5 this simply loses to c three

and if the knight goes to e 8 or g 8

well look at the king

so probably e 8 is better so that after queen h 5

the king can go to g 8 but even in this position

let's say c 3 knight e six

well actually

night e six loses because of queen of three checks

so I mean it's not so easy to play

you gotta play maybe night C six

and even night C6 is not that great

because Queen d five check

and the king really feels uncomfortable

has to go on a faith

and now white can continue the crazy

attack with rook e 3 and rook f 3

so basically this is really

really bad and black has to defend

with all his might so Leko makes the right choice

or actually C5 is a possibility

but night E6 is another possibility and even here

after e 5 this is really bad

because when the night moves

queen have 3 check and the rook is lost

so basically this is very

very tough

so Leko makes the right choice and goes into this line

now queen takes knight

and how does black get the activity

well d 6 is bad because of night C 6

but the right move is to keep pressure with c five

and really

white has no better move than to go queen d 1

and now black is playing tempo move

with queen c seven

again C6

sorry again

d six is bad because of night C6

so Queen C7 is the right way to play

hitting the night

and now I went to plays the correct night G4

so the idea here is

he doesn't mind the knight's getting exchanged

because the d 5 square this is the whole point

because without the e pawn and the c pawn on c 5

d 5 square is really really weak

so night g 4 and now

this basically leads

by force to the following position

so night takes queen takes

d 5 a tempo move hitting the queen

queen h 5 hitting the pawn

and now what well

now we got ourselves a forced line

after d takes e queen check

so black is sacrificing the rook temporarily

king gets shade

queen takes a 8

and then leco traps check his queen with bishop b seven

so now white really has to give up the queen

because after queen a 7 rook a 8 is coming

so this was all I'm sure

part of Ivan Shuk's preparation

because both players

are actually following a game from 2007

where white was a very strong grandmaster

about 2580 player and he actually played queen 6 f 8

and eventually the game was a draw

and of course knowing the originality of Chucky

he came up with a brilliant improvement Queen a seven

and the whole point is to give up a queen

in a much better position

so now Rook a 8 is practically forced

and now bishop f 4 very strong move

so you see this is a tempo developing move

much better than what happened in the

original game

and now black has to expand the tempo with c 6

Queen takes a 8

Bishop takes a eight

and now Bishop e 3 stopping the pawn advance

so 21 moves

and I'm pretty sure that Ivan Chuk willingly

went for this position

now as far as black concerned

I'm not even sure if he was aware of this game

but he did play the main move

so he probably figured that this is good for black

so

this is the critical position of the whole variation

with bishop takes f 7

and let us try to evaluate this

because this is very unorthodox the queen for two rooks

yet black has the two the bishop pair

and white still yet to develop the knight

and the knight really has no outpost

and the rooks are kind of locked in

so let's let's uh

use our evaluation skills to try to say who is better

and figure out the plans for either side

so in terms of material what is better

the queen or two rooks

so most always the two rooks are slightly better

by about a pawn right

now on the other hand

we have the two bishops versus bishop at night

which are better in this particular position

because it's wide open

and the bishops would be able to

control the whole board

whereas the knight really has no outpost

and good squares

so this probably goes slightly into Black's favor

so the two rooks are slightly better than the queen

two bishops are slightly better than the knight and

bishop so the material is completely balanced

now king safety is about even

we don't really see how black can create immediate

danger

because the bishop on e 3 plays an important role

and the rooks are not active yet

so black king is quite safe on h eight

now let's look at the pawns

so white has a nice and even pawn structure

whereas black has an isolated pawn on e 4

so at least this could be a target

but it's really hard to attack it

because the queen and the bishop easily protect it

so my initial assessment is it's about even

but if you look deeper into this position

from a practical perspective

once somehow white either doubles up on the d file

or opens up a 4 in the future

once the rooks open up and get into Black's territory

this could be unpleasant so

I think black has to watch carefully

to keep the files closed and try to counter

any a 4 and any queen side play with attack on the king

so let's see what happened in the game

so Queen F six

like always putting pressure on the b 2 pawn

and transferring his queen on the king side

and now c three

Bishop d 6 so

he's getting ready to put Maiden threats with queen e 5

or queen h 4 trying to make white play g 3

waking up the light squares

night D2

and now I think Leko play the small

it's hard to really say mistake

I would say small inaccuracy with Queen D5

and you're gonna see shortly the reason why

again as I said earlier

the key here is to open up the rook's

the rook you can say is like a boat

and the open line is a C

so the rooks really need to have open lines to function

well open files

and a 4 is just asking to be played at the right moment

so I would probably stop any A4

ideas completely with a simple looking move

Bishop c six and then white would have to play Rook d 1

maybe knight b 3 try to double up on the d file

but at least no a 4 opening up the second open file

queen e five

invites g 3 and now bishop c 6 is impossible

because of bishop f four

and now you could see that queen move somewhere

Bishop takes d 6 and I takes e 4

or if queen d five

good idea to play after Bishop takes e 3

well now night takes e 4 and if Bishop takes f 4

we put a tempo move or d one

back rank mates are in the air

Queen g 8 and g takes f

so this position

two rooks and the pawn up

plus the weak back rank gives white big edge

so as you see Queen E5 was a little bit of an accuracy

I think because now a 4 is virtually unstoppable

so that's why Leko plays H6

because of the weakness of the

of the A3 and a four

this is just asking for Bishop C six and now a takes B

a takes B and we have ourselves an open a file

so this is a big achievement for white

it's not winning or anything else

but at least now we have targets

so

I want you to explain really well this position so far

and now he plays night b 3

with the idea to put even more pressure on the c 5

point

Bishop F 8

a little bit reorganizing the pieces

and defending against Bishop F four

and rook E to d 1

so now both rooks are doing quite well

one is controlling the a file

the other one is controlling the d file

and where is Black's counterplay

it just seems that

he doesn't have enough time to put his bishop on f 3

and queen on h three

too many threats are in the air

so let's see what Leko played

so he plays actually cunning move

Bishop d 5 setting up a small

you can say trap

so if knight takes pawn bishop takes bishop takes

we have ourselves e 3 move

and now Bishop takes queen e 4 and now white

has to give up the rook for bishop

otherwise it's mate

rook takes oops

Rook takes queen takes

and this position is really hard to win if you're white

probably this is what black was hoping for

and still this is you know

probably you can torture black for 100 or so moves

and eventually black will make a mistake

but you know Rook and bishop up two pawns

it's really hard to create

to make progress because the weak light squares

and it's hard to create a passer

when the queen controls the b

3 and c 4 squares

so I think this is about even

from a practical point of view

and I want you correctly doesn't fall for this trap

for this bishop after bishop d 5 and I take c five

and he plays h 4 a very strong move

and himself offering the knight

this is wonderful look at this bishop takes rook d 8

and of course if white wins the f 8 bishop

the rooks and the bishop the opposite color bishops

would give white tremendous attacking chance

but I do think that Leko missed a good chance

to try to draw so he should have taken the knight

and after rook d 8

play either queen f 5 or king g eight

and now what happens is after rook to a 8 simply king G

and as you see that after rook takes queen takes

takes takes bishop takes king of 7

this is probably a drawn endgame

and how does white try to win this position

black just goes back and forth with his bishop

for example bishop c 4

and maybe even queen h 3

would I do to try to set up checkmate threats

and it's really hard for white to make progress

to give you an example

let's say you wanna put your bishop to d 6

bring it to d 6 or bishop f four

and now Bishop c 4 going for the mating net

Bishop d 6 don't worry about d 8

Bishop mate is what counts

Queen h 3

simply we wanna play queen f 1

check for but queen takes f 2 or bishop e 2

bishop f 3 so now rook takes king h seven

and all of a sudden

I think maybe both of the players have missed it

how does white defend against a simple looking

transfer the bishop to f 3

and really there is no answer as a matter of fact

this position is really hard to defend for white

so basically Leko missed his chance

in the game

and he played after H4

King g 8 so nice solid move

and now I want you to plays knight c one

and the knight is going to be transferred to e 2

and maybe f 4

and somehow LECO is afraid and plays G five

yeah this move

as you will see shortly really weakens the king

and I don't really like that move

on the other hand there is no active plan

and

the best strategy is gonna wait and hope for the best

and very hard to play psychologically against

you know strong player so like what

it really at least tries to be active for G5

and now H takes G H takes G

and this part of the game is played

almost flawlessly by Ivan Chuke

and I really like the way he finishes off Leko later on

so first he plays rook a 5

queen c 7

setting up a small trap because takes bishop c four

now rook a 6

you see that the king is really weak

and rook g 6 is unpleasant

so queen f 7 defending against the check

and now rook b 6 Ivanchuk is relentless

he wants to win the b 5 point

Bishop e 7 however

setting up another trap with after rook takes b 5

bishop c 4 and queen f 3 so what to do

and after bishop e 7

he says wait a second wait a second

why can't I take the pawn

and this whole line is actually quite nice for white

and you're gonna see shortly why

Ivan Chuk calculates this precisely so Rook takes

Bishop e 6 with idea to play queen f 3 and bishop h 3

and immediate

bishop c 4 doesn't work because of the tempo check

and then when king moves

white will have a chance to pin the bishop

and this is not pleasant

so this is bishop e 6 is played

and now rook b a check nevertheless

king g 7 so

I think both players might have been on time pressure

move forward is coming up

Rook b 7

so I want you to explain

precise moves to stop the attack

king h 6 Leko is escaping from the pin with idea

bishop h 3 and queen f 3 and now finally

I think Ivanchuk makes the first mistake of the game

you can say rook e 1

so the nerves are not so stable

when both players are in time pressure

and it's really hard to make precise moves

and you're gonna see shortly why

Night E2 is a much stronger move

and now it's Lego's turn to not

use this opportunity to get at least a draw

so after Rookie one

he had this wonderful idea Bishop h 3

for example f four

maybe that's what he was afraid of

so if pawn takes bishop f 2

now the bishop on e 7 is completely lost

and there is no mate

so maybe that's what both players missed

and now a really fantastic move queen h 5

with a simple idea Queen f three

and now Rook takes e 7

Queen f 3

pawn takes king g 6

and really there is almost no defense against me

you can try to play rook e 2

Queen takes here bishop g 4

and this position is almost lost

I just don't see how white can defend against bishop

f three

so this wonderful resource is missed

and now Aleko is virtually lost

after the next move

he plays Queen f six

allowing the final deadly pin group b 6

but I wanna go back and actually

point out that knight e 2 is a much stronger move

which leads to almost winning position for white

for example

let's say you play Bishop H3

and now using the pin rook d 8 xclam

both rooks are really playing well

this is the perfect example how the rooks are well

better than much better than the queen

so all of different threats are in the air

so king g 6 stopping against rook h 8 check

rook h 8 anyways bishop g four

and now simply Bishop takes e five

so Bishop takes e two

Bishop takes e seven and so on really bad position

but let's just see what happened in the game

so rookie 1

now this is Lego's only chance to have at least a draw

Bishop h 3 he plays queen f 6 and after rook b 6

he's completely paralyzed

so queen f 5 he has to break the pin

knight b 3 hidden the pawn

king h five

well now you can even take the pawn

but Ivan Shuk doesn't wanna deal with that

he simply plays 92

improving the knight because you know black

he's completely paralyzed

he's gonna move rook a 1

rook a 6 or rook a a 8 even and the king is in trouble

so Bishop d 7

Rook a 1

and hardly there is hardly any defensive idea for black

I can see it just all the pieces are so badly placed

Bishop d 8 try something at least rook b 8

and there is no stopping from the rooks

getting into the sort of the guts of black's position

and now bishop f 6 and the simple move rook a 6

getting the second rook in there

again the king on h 5 is doing nothing to help

and all of the pieces are really badly placed

the pins are all over the place

Rook a f 8 is a threat and uh

so he plays bishop g 7 to at least defend against that

but now rook a 5 from

he's getting hit from the other side

and the c 5 pawn is lost

bishop f 8 b 4 and of course it's now really

really hard to play and like a simple resign

the c 5 pawn falls the two rooks

and the two extra pawns

should be more than enough to convert

so in this game we saw a very interesting idea

Bishop takes F7 and a very sound way actually to play

the resulting position is almost by force

leads to two rooks versus queen

complicated middle game position where I would

I would probably say chances are even

but practically it's easier to play with the rooks

and like I defended well for a while

and even missed the chance

by a slip from Ivancho in time pressure

but a very clean game other than that

and beautiful demonstration by Ivancho

the advantage of 2 rooks

and thank you

and thank you Chucky for playing such a great game

and I hope to see you all next time bye bye