Original subtitles

hi everyone this is Grandmaster Eugene Perelshteyn

and today

I would like to talk about a recent game played by 2

Super Grandmaster Aronian against Ivan Chuke

from a super tournament in China

this is very very strong tournament

we have the elite grandmasters participating

including Topalov Svidler

Chinese Grandmaster BU Sergei Mavsesian

so this is very very interesting tournament

and this game I chose is No. 1

I think

this was an exceptional positional game by Aronian

and he played I think just a flawless game

and No. 2 the opening that Aronian played

actually Iwanchuk chose the line is Marcio Ban

so I did a few lectures on how to play Marcio Ban

as black because this is part of my repertoire

that I give in a book

which I co authored with Jinjin Albert

Chess Openings explained for black

but this time we're gonna take a look

from the White's perspective

and take a look at what are some of the possible plans

that white can play

so let's start it actually

worth noting that Marcy Bind

could happen from various move orders

and one of the examples is this game

so it's not e 4 c 5

it's knight of 3 c 5

c 4 and this is another quite important

opening that I think you have to keep in mind

that if you're playing black

and if you play C5 against E4

it's always a good idea to try to

play very similar against other

lines for example Knight of 3 c 4

it's really good

idea to try to narrow down your repertoire

and perhaps choose more to buy it yourself

alright so Knight of 3 c 5 c 4

night C6 D4 C takes d night takes d four G6

alright

now Abroneyan plays E4

and I want you to plays knight of six

notice that this is

the more popular way to play the Marseille bind

as opposed to the other line

Bishop g 7

because this allows Bishop e 3

but I wouldn't say necessarily

that night of 6 is much better than Bishop G 7

I think it just leads to different type of play and uh

it's a matter of uh individual preference I should say

but after night of 6

this forces white to play night C3

and now Ivan Chuke played D6

so the reason behind this move is that

if uh white gets to play bishop e 3 right now

it runs into knight g four

and for example

if white plays bishop g 5 then after queen b 6

there is all sorts of problems

the knight on d 4 is hanging

if the knight moves and queen takes f 2

and also the pawn on b 2 is hanging

so this is real trouble for what

that's why after D6

you always almost always see one of these moves

Bishop e 2 or f 3

and Black's main idea is to of course take on d four

and force white to recapture with the queen

so after bishop e 2 Black wants to take on d 4

Queen takes bishop g 7 for example

bishop g 5 or bishop e three castles

and this way blacks black wins an important tempo

because if white castles after night G 4

white is gonna have to give up the dark square bishop

so the key tempo that black won is now after queen d 2

Black can successfully finish his development

Bishop e 6 queen a 5 followed by rook F to c 8

and this is actually the line

which we recommend in our book

and also I wanna point out that a more recent

way of playing with the move a 5 is actually

getting very popular on Grandmaster level

and for example after Castle

now black can even play a 4

so the idea is simply to try to fix the queen's

the queen side structure

and now you have a square for the queen on a 5

and then at the right moment

you might be threatened to play a 3

and really weaken the long diagonal

so Aronian is aware of all these different plans

and that's why he plays night to C2

this is a more

interesting way to play the Marseille bind

or against the yeah

to play the Marseille bind as white

and the main idea is that white preserves the night

because remember whenever you have more space

you don't want to trade pieces

and this is the principle behind the move night C 2

on the other hand it's a bit awkward

the night went to F 3 d 4

c 2 and yet white still remains

about even I should say development as black

so let's see what happens next

so Bishop G7

bishop e 2

and now black seizes the c 5 square immediately

he could have castled but 97 is actually more accurate

because if white castles for example

this allows an option to take on c 3 No. 1

and then play against the really weak

double isolated pawn c 4 and c 3

with the move knight c five

although white has some compensation for the weak pawns

due to the weak king side

for example bishop h 6 and so forth

and f 4 5

but nevertheless if you're a positional player

you don't wanna ruin your pawn structure

that early in the game

that would explain Aronian's next move

Bishop D2

and now

immediate night C5 runs into this problem with B4

that's why typically black plays a 5

and this is what I want you to plays

now castles

95

and here Aronian plays a move

which I think is quite interesting and really strong

queen to c one

what is the idea of this move

well the main idea is of course to prepare Bishop H6

so if black castles or make some move

some developing move

bishop h 6 is definitely a possibility

another main idea is

it opens up the d 1 square for the rook

so when the rook goes to d 1

we put some pressure on the half open file

and this is kind of a move where black starts to think

do I want to trade the dark square bishop or not

because if you really think about it

trading dark square bishop should

should not be such a bad thing for black

because his light square

bishop is slightly better than white

because wife has c 4 e 4

and later on he might even play f 3

completely locking down his light square bishop

so I went to

could have played simply castles and allowed the trade

and I think this is one of the possible

ways to play this position

but he actually comes up with the move

which is very committal age 7 to age five

why is this such a critical move

because it really really weakens the g 5 square

and as we see later g 5 is a key square for white

not only once the bishop gets to g 5 will it lockdown

black pieces

but with the night coming to d 5 it will really

really put lots of pressure on the e 7 pawn

and there is really not much black and do about it

so it's a significant weakness

it's a long term weakness

and whenever you play move such at

you know h 7

h 5 always you know double check yourself

whether or not you really wanna commit to this move

so Ivanchuk plays h 5

and now Aronian simply plays rook to d one

Bishop d 7 and now this move is very

very hard to find over the board knight to e 1

very unorthodox like and typical Aronian decision

what is the idea behind this move

well number one is

he realizes the night on C2

doesn't really participate in the game

the position is a bit slow played

so the knight from e 1 can go to f 3 and to g 5

so that's a potential plan

on the other hand this is more like a waiting move

you might say

he's waiting for black to kind of commit to

one of the plans do I keep keep keep

do I keep the king in the center

or do I actually castle and allow bishop h 6

and of course with the night coming to F3

this is gonna participate in the attack

so knight e 1 is a very powerful move

knight d 4 so I want to seize the d 4 square

and very easy and simple bishop to f one

so with the moves such as queen c 1

knight e 1 and bishop f 1

it really seems that white

doesn't know how to play chess

but it's all part of a very

long term positional strategy

which is very very strong

so let's take a look what happens next

so now Ivanchuk realizes that

he can't really improve his position

so he finally castles

and Aronian also realizes that

there is no point to play Bishop h 6

because after e 5

Black doesn't care about his dark square bishop

black

cares about the control over the C5 and D4 outpost

and here actually black is doing quite well

so again after night d 4 Black wants to play e 5

secure the d 4 outpost

and even though e 5 weakens d 5 square

having the secured knight on d 4

is actually more important

so bishop g 5 is extremely strong move

and also

it kind of locks down the queen on d 8 for now

so I went to place Bishop c 6

and Aronian follows by another very energetic move

Knight to d five

so attacking the e 7 pawn and a bishop takes d 5

e takes d

it's clear that e 7 is a target

and black knights are not really doing much damage

white can simply regroup and attack e seven

without much counterplay from black

so now we're seeing the fruits of Aronian's very

an orthodox like play initially

but now it actually makes perfect sense

so let's see what happens next

so Rook e 8 I won't shoot correctly

doesn't take on d 5

so both sides are kind of playing well for now

and now again very quiet

move f 3

defending the e 4 pawn

and saying that

I can make a few improvements in my position

what about you and Ivanchuk

really has to think hard to create any counterplay

so part of the problem that black faces in Marseille

bind positions is that if white plays accurately

and uses Black's slight inaccuracies or mistakes

slowly black will feel like he is suffocating

and this is exactly what Aronian is doing

just as uh his countrymen Sergey Karjakin

former world champion he's playing very slowly

but building up his position

and taking away any counter play from black

so I want you correctly decides to play b five

at this moment there is no point in waiting

he has to create counter play

and the queen side is where his

pieces are looking at the most

and now Ironian plays bishop to e 3

hitting the knight knight c to e 6

now this might be already a mistake by Ivancho

cause we're gonna see later on

because his pieces never get back into the game

as they should have

perhaps e 5

was a possibility here

and something that you have to consider when you play

moves the e 5

that this is a pawn sacrifice

Bishop takes pawn takes

Bishop takes pawn takes and I think it's a quiet

positional pawn sacrifice

in terms of black has a very strong bishop on g 7

protector of the pawn on d 4

which is a very strong passer

pawn on d 5 is really weak

and we have a double pawns on b 2 and b five

so

it doesn't really feel quite like white is a pawn up

but on the other hand it doesn't feel that

like black has a lot of compensation

so but I think black has sufficient compensation

for a pawn he's gonna play queen b 6 rook c 8

and white really has to be careful

potentially bishop king h 7 bishop h 6 bishop e 3

and maybe switching the the mode to an attack mode

the queen can go to H4 as well

so this is something that

I want you could have thought during the game

and one of the reasons

probably why he declined is Aronian

of course doesn't have to take on D4

so instead he could play bishop sorry

knight to c 2

and this trade really locks down the g 7 bishop

I want you struggling with the g 6 weakness

b 5 is hanging and this is definitely favouring white

so instead of knight to c two

the best move is likely simply knight to e 6

and this is a game to play

black has some chances

should you get a decent game here

so but after the move night to night

C to E6 play very careful

attention

how quickly Aronian takes over the initiative here

so Queen to D two

B take C

Bishop take C 4 Rook B eight

and now very quiet move king to h 1

again notice that there is no rush

white is simply building up his position

he's making a prophylactic move

just in case something gets opened up on the g 1

a 7 diagonal

knight b five

so notice how hard it is for Knights to get

activated

because there is only one knight that can be on the d

4 square

and Ironian keeps building up his position

Rook a to c 1

knight to c five

Ronin makes a very very strong move

b 2 b 4

I think after this move

I have a crucial position already getting critical

and it's really hard to recommend the best plan

in defense

perhaps you should have tried with a four

but again

in all of the lines 93 and so forth

but let's take a look what happens after B4

so pawn takes knight takes

and now it turns out that bishop a 8

doesn't quite work

why not

well if it's a payed

let's take a look at all the possibilities for white

and maybe we can find the right move

so one of the moves is

Bishop takes b 5

Black has to take with the rook right

and now pay very careful attention

now the rook is no longer defending the queen

so that allows basically for a very simple

rook take c 5 or bishop take c five

and now black is in trouble so it's actually

simply losing and that's why Queen b 6 has to be played

and Aronian simply plays Knight to d 3

notice how he is still building up his position

and there is a deadly pin

now knight to a 3 hitting the bishop

and again bishop to B 3 opening the pin even more

now the rook the knight

and the bishop are taking the knight on c five

and position is really tough

Bishop a 8

and now finally

Aronian reaps the benefit of his position

Knight takes pawn takes pawn takes

sorry bishop takes

and white is simply up a pawn

there is no compensation whatsoever

even more

white still has much better pieces

just the bishops are great

Bishop on a 8 is kind of dead

knight on a 3 is not playing

on a super grandmaster level

this is almost resignable

and actually Ivanchuk played with extreme accuracy

he didn't let go of his advantage

he plays energetically queen f 4 hidden f seven

e 6 and now rook to d 7 hitting f 7 once again

there is really no defense

I went to

tries to sack the exchange with rook to f eight

and of course after Bishop takes f 8

Rook takes f 8

White is still winning

but Aronian actually finishes the game in beautiful

fashion let's see if you can find his next move

and the next move is rook takes f 7

Rook takes temporary rook sacrifice

and now after bishop takes e six

well actually

queen takes b 8 first

because we want to pick up the rook for free

with check and after king h 7

bishop takes e 6 I will shoot finally resign

anywhere the rook moves

now we have made a net queen g 8

bishop e 3 and everything is just hanging

there is no point to play on

so

I might even say that this is a possesional miniature

not only masterpiece by Aronian

because he beat one of the greats

Ivan Chu this is not some kind of

you know low rated player who

who doesn't quite

know the positional nuances of the game

he is one of the best and the way Aronian played

he played a little bit unorthodox in the beginning

but that really shows greatness

he built up his position and slowly Ivanchuk suffocated

and his only active plan was B5

but even that didn't help much

so I hope you enjoyed this lecture

and I'll see you all next time bye bye