Kuznecov Silman 1986
Kuznecov-Silman, Oregon Open 1986. Black to play.
Kuznecov-Silman, Oregon Open 1986. Black to play.
Black is better due to his superior Bishop (good Bishop versus bad Bishop) and the fact that his Knight can make use of the weakened c5 and d4 squares while its counterpart has nowhere to go at all. What about space? At the moment the territory is basically even. However, Black's superior minor pieces will eventually allow him to annex space on the kingside. His plan is this:
1) Place his minor pieces on their best possible squares.
2) Trade Queens since she has little to do with the interaction of the minors.
3) Tie White down to the defense of the a4 and c4 pawns.
4) Advance pawns on the kingside and grab as much territory there as possible. One of the aims of this is to restrict the White army. The other is to create a possible target on that side as well.
All this takes time, but Black should not be in any hurry since White can only watch as Black improves his position. The feeling of helplessness this gives to the defender leads to depression and eventually to errors. 25...Ne6 Eyeing d4 and f4. 26.Ne2 Defending these squares but also blocking in the Bishop. 26...Qe7 27.Ncl Kg7 28.Nb3 c5 Ending any White hopes of a c4-c5 advance and nailing down the d4 square for the Black Knight. 29-Ncl Bc6 30.Qdl Qd7 The Queens come off so White's minor pieces must take over their Queen's defensive chores. 31.Qxd7 Bxd7 32.b3 Nd4The White Knight is stuck guarding the sad little pawn on b3. 33.Kgl f5! Creating new imbalances. Now White must either view e4 as a point to be defended or he can trade and give Black the possibility of a passed e-pawn via a later ...e5-e4. 34.Bd3 Bc6 35.exf5 With one piece stuck guarding b3 and the other defending e4 White was understandably unhappy. However, a holding pattern by Kf2-e3 was probably better. 35...gxf5 36.Kf2 Kf6 37.Ke3 Kg5 38.Bbl h5 39.Bd3 h4 Threatening to destroy the base of the f3 pawn with ...h4-h3. White is now severely restricted on the kingside and in the center. 40.h3 Stopping the threat but Placing another pawn on a light square. 40...Be8! 4l.Be2 Bg6 Showing patience while you build up your position and look for a method of penetration is neccessary when dealing with a spatial edge. So far Black has shown lots of patience, now it's time to find a way to break into the White position. Black's intention is to play ...f4, ...Bbl, and ...e4. 42.Bdl f4+ 43.Kf2 Bbl! There are only a few pieces left on the board but White is still being pushed back to the first rank! 44.Ne2 e4! Threatening to create a passed pawn by ...e4-e3 and more importantly creating a way for Black to enter into White's camp via ...Kf5-e5-d4. 45.fxe4 Naturally 45.Nxd4 e3+ followed by 46...cxd4 with two connected passed pawns is completely hopeless for White. 45—Nxe2 46.Bxe2 Bxe4 It's all over now. Black threatens to win material by ...Bc2xb3, and if White stops this by 47.Bdl then White's King would also be stuck guarding the g2 pawn. Black would win by marching his King to c3 via ...Kf5-e5-d4-c3. This was all made possible by Black's restriction of the White forces and the placing of White's pawns on vulnerable light squares. 47.Bg4 Bc2 48.Kf3? Ending things right away, but nothing could be done to save the game. 48...Bdl+ 49.Ke4 Bxg4 50.hxg4 Kxg4, 0-1.
Our final example shows how a little extra space can sometimes work wonders.
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