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.

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Boleslavsky, Isaak–Lisitsin, Georgy1–0B76URS-ch23Leningrad1956

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.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 g6 6.e3 g7 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. 0-0 8.d2 c6 9.0-0-0 xd4 10.xd4 a5 11.b1 Threatens 12.Nd5 e5 12.e3 e6 13.a3 LiveBook: 3 Games fd8 Prepares for an eventual d5, which would free his game. 14.b5 This powerful move interferes with Black´s plan. . White is slightly better. a4

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...xd2 15.xd2 d5 15.c4! 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.xd6 a6 Better is 15.c7!+- And now Bb5 would win. c6 16.xa8 15...xc4= 16.c3 b3 17.xc4 xc4 One black piece has been disposed of. Now to get rid of the other. 18.g5 White pins the Knight to keep it from running away. e6 19.xf6 xf6 20.d5 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? h4! 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.e2 f8 22.f1! A subtle preperatory move. ac8 23.g3 The Pawns begin their advance to break up Black´s King-side. g5 24.h4 White has strong initiative. h6 25.g4 Now White intends 26.g5. aiming for g5. g5 25...g7± keeps fighting. 26.hxg5+- xg5 27.h5 g6 28.g5! The threat is 29.Nf6+ followed by 30.Rxh7+ h6?

28...h8 is more resistant. 29.f6 c7 29.xh6! xg5

29...xh6 30.e7+ 30.h5! Precision: White = 54%, Black = 22%. 1–0

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