Lessons From Mariánské Lázně: King Safety (2)

THIS is effectively a repeat of the lesson from my round-two game, only in round nine my opponent was rated 1980, rather than 1692, and he did not have the excuse of making a positional mistake while winning material.

I have just played 16...e6-e5

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After 17.Nfd5 White would have a slight edge (Stockfish15) or at least be equal (Komodo13.02).

Instead the game saw 17.Bd5?? exf4 18.Bxf7+ Qxf7 19.Bxf4, when White has rook and pawn for bishop and knight.

This is not an equal material trade, even though it would appear so using the traditional evaluations of 1:3:3:5:9, and especially so here as Black gets the bishop-pair.

But what makes the sequence truly horrific for White is the resulting sorry plight of the white king, bereft of its fianchettoed bishop.

One piece of advice I have seen several times is to 'talk' to your pieces.

If White had, mentally, asked his king what it felt about the light-square bishop going off on adventure, he might have realised the danger the king would be in.

The game only lasted three more moves: 19...Bh3 20.Rd1 Nf3+ 21.Kh1 Qf5!? 22.Ne4?! Bf1! 0-1.

Remember grandmaster Nigel Davies' truism: king safety is the most important factor in chess.