Rivers Flow Into the Ocean

kamalakanta

Updated: Dec 18, 2023, 10:13 PM | 35

Where do I start? So many thoughts to share on one simple theme....pushing the e-pawn! But of course, there is more to it than that.

This article ties Keres and Euwe, Bronstein and Gukesh in one theme.....

The funny thing is that I have been thinking about writing this particular blog for the last few days, and then Gukesh uses this theme today, in the Chennai Grand Masters Tournament!

Too much coincidence, indeed.......

I enjoy my favorite chess books quite a lot. Oftentimes I will just open the book at a random page, and then keep looking at different diagrams, until one catches my eye.....take a look, for example, at the following position:

It is a wild position! Simagin had just played ....a4, which would have given him some counterplay if White had to retreat his bishop somewhere. Yet Bronstein replied with e6!, showing once again why they called him "Cunning Devik". He always had a trick up his sleeve at the critical moment. Yet he was always aided in this endeavor by his extensive chess culture.

In his book "200 Open Games" (c) Dover Publications, 1973, Bronstein shows this game on page 114, and comments "It should be added finally that this combination is nothing more than a technique; the pawn run e5-e6-e7 was first met in the game Euwe-Keres in the 1938 AVRO tournament."

The stem game, Euwe-Keres, AVRO 1938, shows the tactical richness of the pawn advance.....even if it is just enough to keep the balance!

So, we go from 1938 to 1947....to 2023! Today, Gukesh won a game with this theme! it is his first win in this tournament....See the position!

And here is the video where Gukesh and Sagar Shah analyze this wonderful game:

Here is the same game, with Sagar Shah's commentary....

The rivers flow into the Ocean of Knowledge.....chess culture helps us steer our game in the right direction.

Peace.

Rivers Flow Into the Ocean

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