Unpublished Work © 2026. Alex Povazh. All rights reserved
* 1700 vs 1500, 41 moves, 15+10 rapid B41 Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation (… a6). 1. e4 e6 2. d4 c5 3. Nf3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Be2 g6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Bg7 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. Bc4 b5 10. Bb3 d6 11. Qd5 Qd7 12. Rd1 Bf8 13. a4 Nf6 14. Qd2 b4 15. Nd5 Nxe4 16. Qd3 f5 17. Ng5 Nxg5 18. Nf6+ Kd8 19. Nxd7 Bxd7 20. Bxg5+ Kc7 21. Bd5 h6 22. Bd2 a5 23. Bxc6 Bxc6 24. O-O Rh7 25. g4 e4 26. Qb3 d5 27. Bf4+ Kc8 28. c4 bxc3 29. Qxc3 Kb7 30. b3 g5 31. Bc1 fxg4 32. Qg3 Rd8 33. Qxg4 Bd7 34. Qh5 Bf5 35. Be3 Bb4 36. Qe2 Be6 37. Qb5+ Kc8 38. Rc1+ Rc7 39. Rxc7+ Kxc7 40. Qb6+ Kc8 41. Rc1+ 1-0
# Dunno and what the hell is inacceptable in the world of chess. It is precisely the denial of the need for post-game analysis that is hindering a player’s improvement and stagnates the development of a chess player
# We all miss stuff until we learn the pattern and save it in our head
# By following the already adopted plan, ignoring tactical opportunities that might appear on the board after an opponent’s move made
# Escalating things in the center with the opponent’s King still stuck in the center is good idea
# As a beginner player on your way to stardom, you have to remember all those things ready to make the white King’s life worse after castling long side. And be ready to forget them if things are on your side
# Unwillingness to suffer a small loss leads to a big positional problem
# Make use of two weaknesses!
# Think on what to do next on your opponent’s time
# Not enough time to think stops skills development. Longer time control games give more time for deeper analysis and calculation
# By fixating on a falsely perceived main goal, you become a victim of your tunnel vision and unable to see anything beyond it. Solution? (1) Talk to your pieces. (2) Big bang it (the position). The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature
# Weak squares are squares that cannot be protected thus can be used by the opponent’s pieces for occupation or intervention
# Trade pieces when you are up material to simplify things and transition into a winning endgame
# Why don’t we sometimes blindly follow the chess basics and do not castle our King ASAP? Just because we must always act according to the situation on the board
# King safety. You should keep your eyes on the opponent’s King from move one of a game. Craving for busting the Boss on the other end of the board is your evergreen, paramount goal
# The key factor to consider first in any position is the safety of your King and safety of your opponent’s King
# Time in blitz and rapid is more important than material. For the quality chess of yours and for really getting better in chess you better stick to longer time control games like 60+
ULTIMATE REMINDER
(1) As a beginner player you need to play more long time control games on LICHESS.ORG like 60+ or at least 30+20. Only that way you have enough time for thinking, calculations, avoiding blunders, pattern recognition, position assessments, decision-making, etc. Short-time control games are for you to just occasionally test your way of getting better in chess and your ability to play chess under time pressure and anxiety.
(2) Computer-analyze the game you have just played!
(3) Identify your mistakes and give them real names like it is done in Problem ID series in this book!
1700 vs 1500, 15+10 rapid
B41 Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation (… a6)
The numbers indicating the advantage were, of course, unknown to both players during the game they played.
With this long story we are up for the language, ideas, chess basics, board geometry, tunnel vision, time problem, etc.
1. e4 e6. Black is up for the French Defense?
2. d4. Center control. “I know stuff”.
2… c5. Immediately attacking my center control. The player on blacks knows the stuff as well. The Franco-Benoni Defense, or the Franco-Sicilian Defense welcomes whites to move their d-pawn even further 3. d4-d5. I wouldn’t go into a dark forest without knowing the way out. This Benoni-something setup is not for me: my opponent could be on a prep welcoming me into the opening he knows well.
3. Nf3. Defending my d4-pawn and developing my king’s knight. The d4-pawn has already been defended by my queen, but I wouldn’t put my queen on d4 recapturing material after … c5xd4: that way black gets their knight developed … Nb8-c6 and attacking my d4-queen at the same time. Black would not overtake the game initiative but would get a nice game playing natural developing moves while my development is kinda derailed, off the book and requires quite a load of attention from me in order not to screw things. Putting my Queen on e3 to avoid the knight’s heat is good. (I still remember how Victor Korchnoi once delivered an old-school grumble “What kind of move is this Qe3?!” Viktor Korchnoi about Magnus’s Qe3 at the beginning of one of his games).
3… cxd4. Why didn’t I play 3. d5 and let the black to capture 3… c5xd4? I believe this is the moment when conventional wisdom Don’t move the same piece twice in the opening is right: I am not done with my development yet, my king is still in the center and I need to get the Boss out of the center ASAP.
It is complex to figure out what benefits do I have then after … c5xd4. Black captures my d-pawn, I capture his pawn with my f3-knight. If my then-d4-knight is kicked by … e6-e5, then I retreat my knight to c2 and control the d3-square as the reserved square for my dark-squared c1-bishop to jump to and (1) put a heat on the longest dark-colored diagonal (why not to have it as an option?); (2) to ask black’s dark-squared bishop a question if it, in its turn, jumps on c5 (… Bf8-c5). In case of trading bishops on e3, my knight seals the deal and sits behind my e4-pawn putting pressure on d5 and f5. Not bad.
4. Nxd4 a6. 4… e6-e5 wasn’t bad as well, but the player on blacks wouldn’t move his piece twice in the opening without a good reason and kicking my knight off the d4-square was, apparently, not good enough to him.
Dunno and what the hell is inacceptable in the world of chess. It is precisely the denial of the need for post-game analysis that is hindering a player’s improvement and stagnates the development of a chess player. The Kan variation of the Sicilian Defense is employed by black to welcome whites to extend or even overextend without setting a familiar to the Sicilian Defense pawn structure. This flexible strategy is supposed to help the black to transpose the opening into other Sicilian lines for the black’s comfort. Thus, the player with the black pieces was apparently familiar with the main idea of 4… a6.
5. Be2. Stockfish doesn’t like it, it likes bishop on d3, or 5. c2-c4, or 5. Nb1-c3. That way white pieces are positioned the most effective way according to the chess database. I moved my bishop f1-e2 just to clear the space for my castling 0-0. I couldn’t see any prospects for my light-squared bishop on c4, only problems after the loss of tempo due to my bishop retreating after black’s b7-b5 in case of the black’s queenside expansion. X-raying the light-colored diagonal touching the black king’s feet is nice but the given diagonal is now well-corked by black’s e6-pawn for the black’s comfort, anyway. I assume that putting my bishop on e2 reveals my passiveness and a lack of knowledge of this particular setup. I just loved my bishop on e2 because up there it was ready to back up my knight on f3 if it goes back to that square. You, as a beginner, need to remember this particular situation and always go for 5. Bd3 instead of 5. Be2 because from d3 the light-squared bishop keeps an eye on the black’s kingside, just in case. Nice. Especially if the black’s queen’s knight is not on c6 and cannot worsen my bishop’s life by attacking it … Nc6-b4.
5… g6. Getting ready to fianchetto their dark-squared bishop and ignoring things in the center. Computer gives +1.0 advantage to white, since white’s next move 6. c2-c4 strengthens their activity in the center and stops black from moving their b-pawn full two squares forward b7-b5 to fianchetto their light-squared bishop Bc8-b7 and have some queenside activity prospects. Well. In the world of top chess it is +1.0 advantage with some chances to develop unpleasant things for a player on blacks, but in my world it is still an equal game.
6. Be3. Developing my dark-squared bishop instead of castling 0-0. Computer doesn’t like this move (see the grey arrows in the corresponding diagram). My light-squared bishop controls g4, so, in the future, black’s g8-knight can’t kick my dark-squared e3-bishop from g4 and I love it. I thought that my opponent on blacks was planning to move his light-squared bishop c8-b7 to keep pressure on the longest light-colored diagonal. To no avail, I supposed. Things were going to happen on the kingside with my king’s rook free to go f1-f3-h3 (after my king castles 0-0) thanks to the pathetic black’s light-squared bishop proudly sitting on b7 and doing nothing. Nice.
6… e5? +1.1First thing comes to one’s mind is black moves same piece twice it the opening. All right. Are there any reasons for this? Any benefits? Nope. Black is supposed to fianchetto their bishop Bf8-g7, then move their g8-knight out and clear space for castling 0-0. Now black’s dark-squared bishop is destined to be blind on g7 about forever. Then what was the reason for that 6… e5 flop? This is one of those gifts given by lower ranks.
7. Nf3. Where else? I get my knight off the heat and would keep my knight on the kingside: I plan things happening on the kingside. There is nothing to do for my king’s knight on the queenside (left side of the board).
7… Bg7 8. Nc3. Both players are playing their own games busy with their plans and development the way they see it. At that moment I did not remember Bobby Fischer’s words I have already played hundreds of such games and they were all take, take, checkmate concerning beating the Sicilian Dragon. I just like that Black’s light-squared c8-bishop is still blind and is not involved… there is no pressure on the light-colored c8-h3 diagonal, and nothing stops my kingside rook from coming to h3: Rf1-f3-h3.
8… Nc6 +4.8 !!! The board turned red with shame for me because I had not spotted the winning pattern. White to play. Find the best move for white. My tunnel vision and my focus on the f7 distracted my attention. But I am not at all ashamed of my blunder. Even Grandmasters miss stuff like that. We all miss stuff until we learn the pattern and save it in our head. I can’t see no pattern. Do you? Another mistake was following the already adopted plan, ignoring tactical opportunities that might appear on the board after an opponent’s move made. 9. Nd5!! d6 10. Bb6 Qd7 11. Nc7+ Kf8 12. Nxa8. The weakness of the dark squares on black’s queenside was screamed, but I didn’t hear it. To spot this pattern, just look at black’s queenside!
9. Bc4 ( +1.6) b5. Why the heck Bc4? Didn’t I just say that there was no prospect for my light-squared bishop on c4? Well. Things changed. The light-colored diagonal b2-g8 is now wide open and I love keeping an eye on the f7-square, the gates to the hell for the black’s king. This was that very moment when a player is busy with the plan in his/her head and plays by the hand instead of head, missing a unexpectedly emerging tactical opportunity to exploit the opponent’s positional weakness.
10. Bb3 d6 +2.5. Finally! Black has gotten concerned with their light-squared bishop’s problems and they open up prospects on the light-colored diagonal c8-h2. But it is little bit too late. Can you see why?
11. Qd5 Hi there. I have spotted the light-squared weakness in my opponent’s position, but I hadn’t spotted the dark-squared weakness just a couple moves before. LOL. Double attack on the hanging undefended c6-knight and the f7-problem (my queen is backed up by my light-squared bishop). I had no idea of my +2.6 advantage at the moment: black’s queen can defend both weaknesses on c6 and f7 by moving Qd8-d7.
11… Qd7 denying both threats. +2.9. The next move by white is very logical and easy to spot by a beginner player with a positional eye. Now if whites play Nf3-g5 to triple the heat on f7, then black can fight it back with … Ng8-h6 adding protection to f7. No. I’ll better put even more pressure on black’s d6-pawn with my a1-rook escalating things in the center with the opponent’s king still stuck in the center is good idea: 12. Rd1. You can see in the diagram that Stockfish loved the white’s king castling 0-0-0 (left side) instead of just putting the a-rook on d1. But all my nature was against castling in the traditionally dangerous direction 0-0-0: black’s pawns are ready to start rolling down on my king’s Castle in case of castling left side. A common phobia. Castling 0-0-0 was to me not just no, but hell no. As a beginner player on your way to stardom, you have to remember all those things ready to make the white king’s life worse after castling long side. And be ready to forget them if things are on your side.
12… Bf8 defending the d6-pawn. +2.8. The player on blacks was sure that the focal point was the d6-pawn and dropped his chance to castle after 12… Ng8-f6 and losing the d6-pawn. One of those cases when the unwillingness to suffer a small loss leads to a big positional problem. Am I going to make use of two weaknesses? Am I going to play 13. Ng5 now?
But I missed this surprise, the 2600+ computer has spotted. +2.1.
13… Nf6 14. Qd2. Making my e3-bishop going h6 possible, BTW. Black should get concerned about this.
14… b4 15. Nd5. +1.5. Why 15. Nd5? Why not 15. Ne2 or b1? Because in case of 15. Nf6xd5, white’s light-squared bishop gets installed on d5 and it is a cherry on the top of a cake putting a heat on two things at the same time: on the black’s a8-rook and the notoriously famous f7-square.
15… Nxd4? +3.7 Black goes for a pawn!
16. Qd3 putting a heat on the black’s knight. 16… f5 +4.0. Black’s 16… f5 is no good b/c it is pawn-defending the jumpy e4-knight and providing it the outpost but exposing the Boss, the king on e8. (1) Can you see the f6-problem of blacks? White’s Nd5-f6 forking the king and the queen. (2) See the white’s light-squared b3-bishop x-raying the light-colored diagonal? See the light-squared weaknesses around the Boss? Violating chess basics like that oftentimes creates big problems. You should be very good on calculating moves and visual skills to figure there are no problems with a move like that 16… f5. Typically this is a sign of the opponent’s lack of consideration. As well as the opponent’s desire to plunge you into your thoughts so that you spend time looking for a way to make use of this kind of the king weakness exposed.
17. Ng5 +3.9. Playing computer’s first-line move and making my opponent nervous. I want blacks capture my g5-knight with their e4-knight thus to let my d5-knight to safely go to f6 forking the king and the queen.
You need to see things on the diagrams. You need to follow the moves! Time is of no concern for you right now; you need to master your Visualization Skills! Too many arrows on the diagrams? You must overcome your laziness and force yourself to look at the details in the diagrams. After a while, when your brain gets stronger, it will not be this difficult for you to follow all the ideas on the diagrams visualized by arrows. The arrows on the diagrams speak louder than my words and seeing the arrows you get the essence of what is happening on the diagram with least words.
17… Nxg5 18. Nf6+. That’s exactly what happened. Perhaps black missed that decoy trick because of considering Nd5-b6 with the queen & rook fork. If so, the minor threat made major job. I want to believe that my light-squared b3-bishop played a substantial part in this event.
18… Kd8 19. Nxd7 Bxd7 +7.3
20. Bxg5+ Kc7 +6.5. What do you play on whites right now? Yepp. Trading pieces will enlarge whites’ material advantage. Following that pattern I missed Bg5-f6 killing black’s h8-rook.
Playing chess requires a paramedic quality to spot a vast array of things happening on the board. It takes a lot of energy spending from a chess player. And the chess player must maintain his/her paramedic’s attention throughout the entire game. Welcome to the club!
21… h6 22. Bd2? White’s king is ok to castle 0-0 despite the black’s pawns ready to roll down forward into the white’s Castle: white’s queen would decide the game anyway. Why did I play this dubious move? I wanted to create the appearance of trouble brewing on the left side of the board, distracting my opponent from his desire to roll his pawns down on my king on the opposite side. Just in case.
22… a5 defends the b4-pawn, but creates a weakness close to black’s king on b5. Weak squares are squares that cannot be protected thus can be used by the opponent’s pieces for occupation or intervention.
23. Bxc6 Bxc6. Trade pieces when you are up material to simplify things and transition into a winning endgame.
24. 0-0. Having castled my king as long as on the 24th move, I set my personal record. Why don’t we sometimes blindly follow the chess basics and do not castle our king ASAP? Just because we must always act according to the situation on the board. By their 10… d6, blacks crippled safety of their king (the f7-weakness), so I saw the pattern and followed it (my king was in safety). King safety. You should keep your eyes on the opponent’s king from move one of a game. Craving for busting the Boss on the other end of the board is your evergreen, paramount goal. “Constant Craving” by K.D. LANG explains a lot… There things got escalating, I kept things escalating… A number of moves later, having a great material advantage on my side I castled my king. Now I was thinking of blowing center files to bring my rooks into the action through the breaches in black’s pawn chains.
The evaluation of the position constantly fluctuates up and down, which is a common occurrence in games played by weak players. Computers do not make mistakes people do, so in computer versus computer games such jumps are rare.
24… Rh7. Moving the rook out of its hole into the action.
25. g4. No problem moving the pawn in front of my king. By doing this I sent the message to my opponent… 25… e4. Black wouldn’t resign. I need to find a way to sneak my queen into black’s defense through one of the light-colored diagonals.
26. Qb3. For getting inside: 27. Qb3-e6 and threatening 28. Qe6xg6 and making the opponent really nervous. 26… d5. Black stops it from happening. Black’s pawns in the center look beautiful but it is not enough to fight off white’s huge material advantage.
27. Bf4+ Kc8.
28. c4. To break files (vertical column of squares) and penetrate black’s defenses.
Thanks to a queen’s operational capacities (i.e. the maximum amount of output: a rook and a bishop in one single package, but a very special “rook-something” capable of moving both linearly and diagonally and a very special bishop capable of switching colors) a queen can penetrate into the opponent’s position and create various types of threats such as: • A direct checkmating threat to the opponent’s king (queen works together with a minor piece). • Winning material by direct attack or by combining threats to the king and the opponent’s pieces (double attack). • Forcing the opponent to divert his harmoniously positioned pieces nicely working for holding the position—to defend against threats to the king, which kills defensive harmony of the position (no more fortress there).
You need to count material both sides have on the board and review the position. White is queen vs (light-squared) bishop with nice black’s pawn chain installed from center up to the right side of the board. Black has 6 pawns against 5 white’s pawns and black’s pawn chain looks very impressive (d5-e4-f5-g6-h6). The first thing that came to my mind was the threatening possibility of the black’s d5-pawn reaching the d3-square thus getting really close to the queening position. Black’s bishops can defend the anchor pawns (right now positioned on the light-colored squares d5 and g6-pawns) from behind making pawns really strong. Getting closer to the queening square a pawn becomes much more valuable and needs to be taken care of by an opponent. A well-known exaggeration for the sake of attracting attention is that a pawn reaching the second to last rank becomes as valuable for its position as a rook (five pawns).
Now. White is positive about blowing up open the g-file (the vertical column of squares) despite the fact that it would weaken their king’s situation (black’s rook comes to the g-file, check to white’s king… black’s pawns move further and clear the light-squared diagonal c6-h1 (then whites are going to lose their queen for shielding their king from the deadly fire… or get checkmated).
Time in blitz and rapid is more important than material. For the quality chess of yours and for really getting better in chess you better stick to longer time control games like 60+.
I rejected ideas of forcing the win by sacrificing material. Just maneuver my pieces and wait for the right moment.
In the early 2010s, one of the 2300+ European chess players began to demonstrate extraordinary growth crushing 2600+ grandmasters. When he loudly declared checkmate in six moves (#6)… it became clear to everyone in the room that the guy was wired… In the 1994 movie “Fresh,” Michael declares “checkmate in six moves,” over the board but he wasn’t wired: in the early 1990s, there weren’t any tools for cheating yet. It was just a blooper.
# Dunno and what the hell is inacceptable in the world of chess. It is precisely the denial of the need for post-game analysis that is hindering a player’s improvement and stagnates the development of a chess player.
# We all miss stuff until we learn the pattern and save it in our head.
# By following the already adopted plan, ignoring tactical opportunities that might appear on the board after an opponent’s move made.
# Escalating things in the center with the opponent’s king still stuck in the center is good idea.
# As a beginner player on your way to stardom, you have to remember all those things ready to make the white king’s life worse after castling long side. And be ready to forget them if things are on your side.
# Unwillingness to suffer a small loss leads to a big positional problem.
# Make use of two weaknesses!
# Think on what to do next on your opponent’s time.
# Not enough time to think stops skills development. Longer time control games give more time for deeper analysis and calculation.
# By fixating on a falsely perceived main goal, you become a victim of your tunnel vision and unable to see anything beyond it. Solution? (1) Talk to your pieces. (2) Big bang it (the position. The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature
# Weak squares are squares that cannot be protected thus can be used by the opponent’s pieces for occupation or intervention.
# Trade pieces when you are up material to simplify things and transition into a winning endgame.
# Why don’t we sometimes blindly follow the chess basics and do not castle our king ASAP? Just because we must always act according to the situation on the board.
# King safety. You should keep your eyes on the opponent’s king from move one of a game. Craving for busting the Boss on the other end of the board is your evergreen, paramount goal.
# The key factor to consider first in any position is the safety of your king and safety of your opponent’s king.
# Time in blitz and rapid is more important than material. For the quality chess of yours and for really getting better in chess you better stick to longer time control games like 60+.
You still cannot solve one of the problems discussed in this book and have been identified (ID’d) in these articles? Ask your question on the internet. There you will find real stories and solutions.