World famous trainer Vladimirov visits Mumbai

by Sagar Shah - 08/05/2016

The chess scene in the city of Mumbai has been booming lately. Mainly because of the training camps being conducted by experienced and well-known coaches. This scene received a further boost when the famous trainer Evgeny Vladimirov made his way to the Dhirubhai Ambani School for a coaching camp in the first week of May. He was joined by the strong GM Abhijit Kunte. We have pictures, a beautiful game and also two Vladimirov gems for you to solve.

Evgeny Vladimirov is a world renowned trainer and was a second of Garry Kasparov in his matches against Anatoly Karpov. It is natural that the visit of such a strong grandmaster to Mumbai and conducting a coaching camp would boost the morale of chess players in the city.

The coaching camp was held from the 1st to the 7th of May in Dhirubhai Ambani International School in Bandra, Mumbai. Nearly 55 students attended the camp which was bifurcated into beginner, intermediate and advanced batch. This camp was possible because of Salil Ghate, who convinced the school authorities of the idea to invite a strong grandmaster like Evgeny Vladimirov to teach the students.

Dhirubhai Ambani International is one of the best schools in Mumbai and is situated in the posh locales of the Bandra-Kurla complex

The fourth grade classrooms where the chess camp took place

Evgeny Vladimirov has a word with his former student Abhijit Kunte, as they prepare for the session of the advanced batch

Meanwhile two talented kids of Mumbai, Raahil Mullick (left) and Dev Shah (right), indulge in a blitz battle. The duo have quite some followers watching the game!

Dev, who is rescuing his knight from a6, is the current World Under-8 silver medalist

The talented Siddhanth Lohia enjoying a friendly game of chess...

...while his little sister Suhaani Lohia is taking down some notes!

GM Abhijit Kunte, former British Open Champion as well as National A winner, had some pearls of wisdom for the kids

Learning from the guru with rapt attention

Abhijit showed the kids one of the most famous games for the 20th century - Nigel Short vs Jan Timman

Before showing the game, Abhijit asked the class where do they normally keep their king. Some kids replied g1, some c1 and the brave ones e1! Everyone was in agreement that the king is a defensive piece. And then the grandmaster showed the following game:

[Event "Tilburg"]
[Site "Tilburg"]
[Date "1991.??.??"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Short, Nigel D"]
[Black "Timman, Jan H"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2660"]
[BlackElo "2630"]
[Annotator "Rogers,I"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "1991.10.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1992.02.01"]

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bc4 Nb6 6. Bb3 Bg7 7. Qe2 Nc6 8. O-O
O-O 9. h3 $1 {By preventing ...Bg4 White ensures that Black will be unable to
lay siege to the e5 pawn, keeping Black's bishop on g7 permanently out of play.
} a5 10. a4 dxe5 11. dxe5 Nd4 12. Nxd4 Qxd4 13. Re1 e6 14. Nd2 $1 Nd5 15. Nf3
Qc5 16. Qe4 Qb4 {Black is trying to prevent the transfer of White's queen to
h4 but Short is prepared to ruin his pawn structure and give up the bishop
pair just to gain h4 for his queen.} 17. Bc4 $1 Nb6 18. b3 $1 Nxc4 19. bxc4 Re8
20. Rd1 Qc5 21. Qh4 b6 22. Be3 Qc6 $6 {Now White is free to pursue his
kingside attack without hindrance.} (22... Qf8 {was necessary.}) 23. Bh6 Bh8
24. Rd8 $1 Bb7 25. Rad1 Bg7 26. R8d7 $1 ({Against other moves} 26. Qe7 {
(now answered by} Bxh6 {) would have been very strong.}) 26... Rf8 ({After}
26... Bxh6 27. Qxh6 {White threatens 28.Rxf7!.}) (26... Qe4 27. Rxf7 $3 {
Timman saw this move too late (Anand).}) 27. Bxg7 Kxg7 28. R1d4 Rae8 29. Qf6+
Kg8 30. h4 h5 *

Nigel Short vs Jan Timman

It's White to play. What should he do?

Most of the readers might have seen this game and would know the brilliant end. But none of the kids (except one) knew this game. And hence it was a great learning experience for them.

This is how the game ended:

[Event "Tilburg"]
[Site "Tilburg"]
[Date "1991.??.??"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Short, Nigel D"]
[Black "Timman, Jan H"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B04"]
[WhiteElo "2660"]
[BlackElo "2630"]
[Annotator "Rogers,I"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4rrk1/1bpR1p2/1pq1pQp1/p3P2p/P1PR3P/5N2/2P2PP1/6K1 w - - 0 31"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "1991.10.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "14"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "17"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1992.02.01"]

31. Kh2 $1 Rc8 32. Kg3 $1 Rce8 33. Kf4 $1 Bc8 34. Kg5 $3 (34. Kg5 $3 Bxd7 35.
Kh6 $1 {Black cannot avoid mate on g7.}) 1-0

The final position surely deserves a diagram

This is one game that cannot be easily forgotten! All the kids had to think over the "king is a defensive piece" statement that they made at the start of the game.

Even though I had seen this game many times, I always had one doubt in my mind:

When Nigel played his king to h2, Timman unaware of this brilliant idea played the planless Rc8. What if Black had gone Bc8? What would have White done? And the answer to it is quite magnificient.

31. Kh2 $1 {Black must remain passive since} Bc8 {allows} (31... Rc8 32. Kg3 $1
Rce8 33. Kf4 $1 Bc8 34. Kg5 $3 (34. Kg5 $3 Bxd7 35. Kh6 $1 {is the main game.})
) 32. g4 $1 {A brilliant stroke.} hxg4 (32... Bxd7 33. gxh5 $18) (32... Bb7 33.
Rd3 Qe4 34. R7d4 Qe2 35. Ng1 $1 Qf1 36. Rg3 $18) 33. Ng5 $1 Bxd7 34. h5 $1 {
with a winning attack.} 1-0

If your mind is inquisitive, there is always something to learn!

Vladimirov and Salil Ghate discussing on the arrangements to be made for the test on the final day

Did you know Vladimirov (right) helped Garry Kasparov in his preparation for the World Championship Match against Karpov? From left to right: Timoscenko, Nikitin, Kasparov and Vladimirov. (Photo from the personal archive of Nikitin)

Here are two positions from Vladmirov's games that thoroughly impressed me. I would like you to have a crack at it before seeing the answer:

Position 1

White to play. Take 15 minutes on the clock and work out all the details on how White can win this.

Position 2

This one is not easy. Black to play. Take 15 minutes on your clock and assess the consequences of the pawn grab on a2.

Solution 1

[Event "Goodricke op 12th"]
[Site "Kolkata"]
[Date "2001.02.13"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Vladimirov, Yevgeniy"]
[Black "Mikhalevski, Victor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A57"]
[WhiteElo "2612"]
[BlackElo "2500"]
[Annotator "Tyomkin,D"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3q1rk1/1b2bppp/pn4r1/2p1B3/2B5/P4N2/1P1Q1PPP/2KR3R w - - 0 19"]
[PlyCount "19"]
[EventDate "2001.02.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2001.05.17"]

19. Bxf7+ $3 Kxf7 $6 {Black accepts the sacrifice, but it leads to the killing
attack of white.} (19... Rxf7 20. Qxd8+ Bxd8 21. Rxd8+ Rf8 22. Rxf8+ Kxf8 23.
Nh4 $16 {Black can survive for a while in this ending.}) 20. Qf4+ Ke6 (20...
Kg8 21. Rxd8 Bxd8 22. Qe3 Re8 $1 (22... Rxg2 23. Bd6 $1 $18) 23. Re1 Rxg2 {
The material here is bishop+rook for queen of white, but black can create some
complications here.}) 21. Bf6 $3 {White had to see this move, while playing 19.
Bxf7.} gxf6 $2 {Out of all captures, black probably had chosen the worst one.}
(21... Rfxf6 22. Qe3+ Kf7 23. Rxd8 Rxf3 24. gxf3 Bxd8 25. Re1 {Material here
is:3light pieces for queen and pawn, and it gives white the advantage.}) (21...
Qxd1+ 22. Rxd1 Rfxf6 23. Qe3+ Kf7 24. Ne5+ Ke8 25. Nxg6 Rxg6 {The same as in
the previous line the material balance is 3light pieces for queen and pawn,
and white is better also here.}) 22. Rhe1+ $18 Kf7 23. Ne5+ (23. Rxd8 Bxd8 24.
Ne5+ {- as in the game.}) 23... Kg7 24. Nxg6 hxg6 25. Rxd8 Bxd8 26. Rd1 {
After this move black can not hold his position.} Bd5 27. Qd6 Bb3 28. Qxf8+ $1
(28. Qxf8+ Kxf8 29. Rxd8+ Ke7 30. Rb8 {White wins a piece, staying with
exchange and pawn up.}) 1-0

Solution 2

[Event "EU-Cup fin 05th"]
[Site "Moscow "]
[Date "1986.12.10"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Tseshkovsky, Vitaly"]
[Black "Vladimirov, Yevgeniy"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2490"]
[BlackElo "2490"]
[Annotator "RR"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r2r2k1/q4pp1/7p/3b4/pQ6/5N2/P4PPP/R2R2K1 b - - 0 25"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[EventDate "1986.01.12"]
[EventType "team-match"]
[EventRounds "2"]
[EventCountry "URS"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.30"]
[WhiteTeam "Moscow Trud"]
[BlackTeam "Moscow CSKA"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "URS"]
[BlackTeamCountry "URS"]

25... Bxa2 $3 26. Rxd8+ Rxd8 27. Rxa2 Rd1+ 28. Ne1 Qb7 $1 29. Qa5 (29. Qc3 Qb1
30. Re2 a3 $1 $19) 29... Qd5 30. Qc3 Qxa2 0-1

What a great opportunity for these young kids to play against such a legend

It's always nice to be in company of people who do their work with great dedication and perfection. From left to right: Sagar Shah (author of these lines), Amruta Mokal (superb photographer), Abhijit Kunte (a strong grandmaster), Salil Ghate (efficient organizer) and Evgeny Vladimirov (world class trainer).