Status Updates From Dvoretsky's Analytical Manu...

Chapter 14: Karpov-Kavalek, Nice Olympiad 1974, and Karpov-Kasparov, World Championship Match Game 9, Moscow 1984-85, two wonderful endgames to analyse in depth.

Had a lot of fun working on Chapters 6-7 (pp.61-87: the "Miles position") with my best friend (recently minted GM) on ICC while Skyping. The difficulty of the exercises in this book indeed are even difficult for masters, but the p.39 passage is apt: "If schooling is hard, then battle will be easy!"

...This saves both time and energy; but sometimes, as a result, the player fails to delve deeply enough into the position, fails to see the tactical or strategic resources hidden deep therein, and thereby misses the strongest continuations. What is to be done? "Real life is, to most men, a long second-best, a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible." (Bertrand Russell) (p.62)

...before concentrating on the analysis of a problem variation, it is still necessary to make some kind of assessment of the starting position. For example, if it favors White, and the move 29...Ra3 leads either to equality or to double-edged complications, such as an outcome is what we want; on the other hand, if Black is better in the starting position, such an outcome would not be what we want. (p.45-46)

I must warn you that although I believe this problem is solvable in principle, so far not one of the grandmasters to whom it was offered has been able to solve it correctly - that is, to calculate accurately most of the necessary variations. (Simagin-Leonovich, Moscow 1936, White's 29th move) (p.38)

The "Shrub" is what Kotov called the situation in which one must calculate not a single long variation, but a number of comparatively short ones. Here, perhaps, the main problem is to identify all the variations worth examining. All the calculations we perform could prove fruitless, all our time wasted, if we neglect to study a strong candidate move at the very outset! (p.32)

For trained players, too, there are difficulties - above all, psychological ones. The deeper one goes into the variation, the stronger grow the doubts: should I extend this line? Did I calculate everything correctly? Did I overlook something important? You can increase your confidence in your calculating by moving down the line without haste, stopping at each step to check carefully whether or not there might be...

When warding off a dangerous onslaught, sometimes we find ourselves facing a difficult dilemma: should we attempt to cast doubt on our opponent's idea in the most principled variations (usually involving the win or retention of material), or should we avoid them, and select a "roundabout" path instead, one involving significant concessions?

Part 1: Immersion in the Position

A bottomless pit opens,
Full of stars
Stars uncountable,
A bottomless abyss.
- Mikhail Lomonosov

In this section we shall look at interesting positions (and if we examine an entire game, then we shall still confine ourselves to its crucial moment). And still - behind the scenes of one little episode, there may sometimes be concealed more fruitful, deep and beautiful..

I have some time in October to do some serious chess work, so through September I re-read a Kasparov book for pleasure and motivation. After finishing it a couple of days ago I was wondering what I should read next - yesterday, the world's most well-known chess trainer, Mark Dvoretsky, passed away, and I realised I'd never properly read through this particular book of his that's been sitting on my chess shelf.