Some teachable moments from some notable chess coaches

Morphy’s first chess teacher was his uncle — a weak player — and Capablanca picked up the game from his father — who was likely even worse, but modern players from Bobby Fischer on were far more likely to rely on a competent and inspiring coach to set them on the path to greatness.

They don’t always get the credit they deserve, but two new books shine a welcome light on two of the best coaches of the modern era, chock full of statements of gratitude from the great players who learned from their example and their ideas.

“Chess Coach: The Profound and Lasting Influence of Mark Dvoretsky” (NewInChess, 324 pp., $29.95) is essentially a mass love letter to the great Russian teacher and theoretician whose influence on the game cannot be overestimated. Numerous students — including such future stars as GMs Artur Yusupov, Alexey Dreev and David Navara — rave about his teaching methods, while a string of world champions — Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen among them — speak of the profound effect Dvoretsky’s books and theoretical explorations had on their own play.

Although he was a fine player as a youth and one of the game’s most influential writers, it was “training that gives me great happiness,” Dvoretsky would recall late in life. “I feel wonderful when I see my students improve and succeed, which helps them make their life better.”

One would think today’s first game would be a fine subject for a Dvoretsky lesson, as the teacher schools one of the game’s greatest champions — Soviet world title holder Vassily Smyslov —  in just 28 moves. “I think there are very few people who managed to outplay Smyslov in such fashion,” Yusupov said of this 1974 Ruy Lopez Exchange game.

White willingly gives up bishop for knight to bust up the Black’s queenside, giving him an undeniable endgame advantage if he can nurse it through a protracted middlegame. The first teachable moment comes on 11. Bg3 Rd8 12. Qe3!? (a previous Smyslov game went 12. Qa4!? Nxg3 13. hxg3 Qb4 14. Rad1 Qxa4 15. Rxd8+ Kxd8 16. Nxa4 g6 17. f4 b5 18. Nc3 Bg7 19. Kg2 Ke7 20. e5 Rd8 21. Rd1 Rxd1 22. Nxd1 Ke6, and Black easily held the draw; the — tiny but crucial — difference in this game is that White in Dvoretsky’s line will obtain doubled e-pawns instead of doubled f-pawns, subtly transforming the nature of the ensuing position) Nxg3 13. hxg3 Qc5 14. Rad1 Qxe3 15. Rxd8+ Kxd8 16. Rd1+, and now the ex-champ makes a critical miscalculation.

Thus: 16…Kc8? (“The main events are going to take place in the center and on the kingside, and that is where the [Black] king should stay,” Dvoretsky observes in his own annotations of the game. “After all, in the endgame, he should take an active part in the battle.”) 17. fxe3 g6? (a second — and fatal — error as now the White pawn majority mobilizes in earnest; limiting the damage was 17…Bc5 18. Kf2 Rd8 19. e5 Rxd1 20-. Nxd1 h5 21. f4, though White retains the advantage.

By 20. exf6 Bxf6 21. e4, White has achieved a dream position: His kingside pawn majority has been repaired, the Black king is irretrievably cut off from the action, and Black’s mangled queenside majority is worthless. The rest is a matter of (world-class) technique against one of the game’s great endgame exponents.

Thus: 22. Kg2 Bxc3? (pretty much waving the white flag, as the more the position is stripped down to its essence, the more White’s advantage reveals itself) 23. bxc3 b5 24. e5 a5 25. Kh3 b4 (on 25…c5, Dvoretsky notes White counters with 26. c4!) 26. Kh4 Re8 27. Kg5 (the activity of the White king compared to the irrelevance of the Black king is particularly stark) Re6 28. Kh6, and even though material is equal and Black’s king is perfectly safe, Smyslov resigned. There’s no defense to the king infiltration via g7 and f7, winning the Black g-pawn and the game.

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“I would not be where — or who — I am without Miron Sher.”

That generous sentiment comes from GM Robert Hess, just one of the rising American stars who trained with Sher. The Ukrainian-born grandmaster, after a successful over-the-board career, emigrated to New York in 1997 and left an indelible mark on American chess before his untimely passing in 2020. Notably he nurtured the careers of rising stars such as Hess and Fabiano Caruana, who went on to become the highest rated American player since Fischer and who nearly defeated world champ Magnus Carlsen in their 2018 world title match.

Sher’s “Dream Moves: Eye-Opening Chess Lessons for Improvers” (NewInChess, 304 pp., $27.95) encapsulates some of the master’s key insights, along with more than 300 diagrams Sher gave his own students over the years as training exercises.

Sher gave another kind of lesson in a nice win over Czech WIM Gabriela Hitzgerova from a 1997 event. In a well-known King’s Indian Bayonet Attack line, Black puts her strategy on auto-pilot and gets punished by White’s alert response.

The Bayonet line (9. b4) is a favorite of the silicon engines and has done much to send this once-ubiquitous defense into a period of relative decline. The teachable moment here comes on 14. dxe6 c6 (a well-known position where White is obligated to generate counterplay to compensate for his weak and likely lost e-pawn, though things turn out quite differently in the game) 15. Bb2 fxe4 16. Nxe4 Nf5? — Sher notes that the idea of …Nf5-d4 is standard for Black in most KID lines, but doesn’t work here. “Absolutely necessary,” he writes, was 16…Nxe4 17. Rxe4 d5 18. cxd5 cxd5 19. Rxe5!? Bxe5 20. Bxe5, with White’s positional edge offsetting the lost exchange.

Things go sideways quickly for Black after 17. b5! Rc8 18. Ba3! (now it’s Black’s d-pawn, not White’s e-pawn, which is the board’s most glaring weakness) Nxe4 18. Bxe4 Nd4? (tougher was 19…Re8, though White retains the edge on 20. e7! Qxe7 21. bxc6 bxc6 22. Bxc6! Red8 23. Bd5+ Kh7 24. Rb1) 19. Bxg6 Rf6 (Qf6 21. e7 Qxe7 [Qxf2+ 22. Kh1 Rfe8 23. Rf1 Qh4 24. Bxe8 Rxe8 25. Bxd6] 22. Qxd4, while White is also much better on 20…Nxe6 21. Bxd6 Rf6 22. Be4) 21. Bf7+ Kh8 22. bxc6 Rxc6 (see diagram) 23. Qxd4!!, a killer shot that makes the White’s ugly duckling e-pawn into a game-winning swan.

It’s over after 23…exd4 24. e7 Qxe7 25. Rxe7, and Black, a full piece down with no compensation, resigned. The game overall is a net illustration of one of Sher’s favorite themes, the so-called 20% rule: “If your pawn has advanced to the fifth or sixth rank,” he taught, “moving it forward is quite often your best option.”

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Dvoretsky-Smyslov, USSR First League Championship, Odessa, October 1974

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Qe7 6. d4 exd4 7. Qxd4 Bg4 8. Bf4 Bxf3 9. gxf3 Nf6 10. Nc3 Nh5 11. Bg3 Rd8 12. Qe3 Nxg3 13. hxg3 Qc5 14. Rad1 Qxe3 15. Rxd8+ Kxd8 16. Rd1+ Kc8 17. fxe3 g6 18. e5 Bg7 19. f4 f6 20. exf6 Bxf6 21. e4 h5 22. Kg2 Bxc3 23. bxc3 b5 24. e5 a5 25. Kh3 b4 26. Kh4 Re8 27. Kg5 Re6 28. Kh6 Black resigns.

Sher-Hitzgerova, Baden-Baden, Germany, 1997

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 d6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 Nh5 10. Re1 f5 11. Ng5 Nf6 12. Bf3 h6 13. Ne6 Bxe6 14. dxe6 c6 15. Bb2 fxe4 16. Nxe4 Nf5 17. b5 Rc8 18. Ba3 Nxe4 19. Bxe4 Nd4 20. Bxg6 Rf6 21. Bf7+ Kh8 22. bxc6 Rxc6 23. Qxd4 exd4 24. e7 Qxe7 25. Rxe7 Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.