Isaak Boleslavsky X Georgy Lisitsin - Leningrad 1956

A good grip on the center almost always guarantees the succes of the King-side attack. Boleslavsky´s plan was to anchor his Knight on d5 square so firmly that it can never be driven away. Once his Knight reaches the magic square d5, combinations appear out of the air as a reward, allowing the King-side attack.

[Event "URS-ch23"] [Site "Leningrad"] [Date "1956.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Boleslavsky, Isaak"] [Black "Lisitsin, Georgy"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B76"] [Annotator ""] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "1956.01.10"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "17"] [EventCountry "URS"] {[%evp 24,59,69,69,69,52,173,11,11,11,12,12,19,11,11,7,15,-7,-12,-27,10,-4,15, 15,82,82,82,82,191,191,191,191,182,183,594,594,657,566]} {Knight´s Outpost at d5 A good grip on the center almost always guarantees the succes of the King-side attack. Boleslavsky´s plan was to anchor his Knight on d5 square so firmly that it can never be driven away. Once his Knight reaches the magic square d5, combinations appear out of the air as a reward, allowing the King-side attack.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 {This move does many things: (a) it stregthens the center; (b) it prevents an attack on e3 Bishop (and its exchange) by 7... Ng4; (c) it prepares for a later Pawn storm by g4 and h4.} O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Qa5 11. Kb1 {Threatens 12.Nd5} e5 12. Be3 Be6 13. a3 {LiveBook: 3 Games} Rfd8 {Prepares for an eventual d5, which would free his game.} 14. Nb5 { This powerful move interferes with Black´s plan. . White is slightly better.} Qa4 {[#] At this point Boleslavsky had two objectis in mind: (1) prevent Black from freeing himself by ...d5; (2) Establish his Knight firmly at the outpost station d5, but to bring this about it is necessary to rid the board of the two black pieces that guard the square d5: the e6 Bishop and the f6 Knight.} ( 14... Qxd2 $14 15. Rxd2 d5) 15. c4 $1 {A brilliant sacrifice that must be accepted. Refusing the Pawn means that Black could never free himself by ... d5. It would also enable White to play 16.Nc3 (attacking the Queen) and thus gain time for 17.Nd5, establishing a strongly-supported outpost.} ({Stronger than} 15. Nxd6 a6 $17) ({Better is} 15. Nc7 $1 $18 {And now Bb5 would win.} Qc6 16. Nxa8) 15... Bxc4 $11 16. Nc3 Qb3 17. Bxc4 Qxc4 {One black piece has been disposed of. Now to get rid of the other.} 18. Bg5 {White pins the Knight to keep it from running away.} Qe6 19. Bxf6 Qxf6 20. Nd5 {Now we shall see whether Boleslavsky´s imaginative strategy is justified. The Knight now dominates the board and cannot be driven off, but was that worth a Pawn?} Qh4 $1 {Black tries to prevent the advance of the adverse King-side Pawns. He intends to meet 21.g3 with 21... Qh6, while the reply to 21.h3 would be 21... Bh6, followed by 22... Bf4.} 21. Qe2 Bf8 22. Qf1 $1 {A subtle preperatory move. } Rac8 23. g3 {[%cal Bg2g3,Bg3g4][%mdl 32] The Pawns begin their advance to break up Black´s King-side.} Qg5 24. h4 $36 {[%mdl 2048] White has strong initiative.} Qh6 25. g4 {Now White intends 26.g5. aiming for g5.} g5 (25... Qg7 $16 {keeps fighting.}) 26. hxg5 $18 Qxg5 27. Rh5 Qg6 28. g5 $1 {The threat is 29.Nf6+ followed by 30.Rxh7+} h6 $2 {[#]} (28... Kh8 {is more resistant.} 29. Nf6 Rc7) 29. Rxh6 $1 {[%mdl 512]} Qxg5 {[#]} (29... Bxh6 30. Ne7+) 30. Rh5 $1 { [%mdl 512] Precision: White = 54%, Black = 22%.} 1-0