McCreadyandChess

I must say that, in spite of some rather superficial analysis in its middle, I’m really enjoying John Watson’s Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy, which has revolutionized my understanding of the modern game. Though not aimed at instruction, it might as well be since Watson addresses and questions the transition from rule-based chess -which largely characterized the classic era prior to hypermodernism- though to the rule-independent chess of today’s game with such insight that the reader inevitably learns a great deal about their own game too. I’m currently reading the second section of his Knight versus Bishop section, in which he tackles the subject of the minor peices. In the previous chapter, Watson importantly draws attention to the fact that theory on minor peices has seen relatively little development and still holds many of the assumptions from previous eras. One in particualar is the assessment of the minor peice pairs, bishops against knights. Watson points out that the advantage given to the bishop pair tends to be exaggerated and not backed up by statistical analysis at all. He shows how the player with the knight pair can and has throughout history opened up the game early to take advantage of the greater time required to find the optimum squares for the bishop pair. According to Watson, this challenges the prevailing assumption that the bishop pair automatically constitutes an advantage against the knight pair. He adds that though this may become true in the endgame, it doesn’t hold for the middlegame, which is replete with too many exceptions. This is very interesting stuff. We are so often told in some naff book that the player with the knight pair should avoid opening the game and keep everything closed. But the greater agility of the knights and the fact that finding the best squares for the bishops early in the game is difficult, gives the player with the knights a clear and often effective strategy. This is great news for those of us who like to play with the knights more than the bishops. For anyone interested, I’ve listed some of games from Secrets of Modern Chesss Strategy and their respective page numbers as well as inserted a hyperlink. In all games the bishop pair is koshed by the knight pair in the middlegame. I thoroughly receommend Flesch’s instructive game. His book on planning in chess isn’t bad either.

Anderssen v Paulsen 1873 Vienna (Watson pg.183)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1019378

Petrosian v Nielsen 1960 Copenhagen  (Watson pg.183)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106499

Adams v Conquest 1996/97 Hastings  (Watson pg.184)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1014876

Ogaard v Flesch 1974 Olso (Watson pg.189)

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1282692

MJM