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(1) Smirnov Igor - Demidiukov Evgenij (UKR) [B00]

Geller Memorial (3), 09.2008
1.e4 (The preparation for development. Principle of maximum
activity - move as forward as it possible.) 1...Nc6 2.Nf3 (Principle of
the least active piece. Principle of maximum activity.) 2...d6 3.d4
(The preparation for development. Principle of maximum activity.)
3...Nf6 4.Nc3 (Principle of the least active piece. Principle of the
material - keep the pawn e4) 4...Bg4 5.Be3 (Principle of the least
active piece. Principle of the material - protect the pawn d4) 5...e6
6.h3 (Principle of an attack - we should attack if we can. Force black
to go back - decrease an opponent's activity.) 6...Bh5 7.d5 (Principle
of an attack) 7...exd5 8.exd5 (Principle of an attack) 8...Ne5 9.g4
(Principle of an attack. Force black to go back.) 9...Nxf3+ 10.Qxf3
Bg6 11.0–0–0 (development. Principle of material - protect the
pawn c2.) 11...Be7 12.h4 (Principle of an attack - threatening h5)
12...h5 13.g5 (Principle of an attack) 13...Nd7 14.Bh3 (Principle of
the least active piece. White have finished the main tasks of an
opening.) 14...Ne5 15.Qe2 (According to the principle of maximum
activity, white should play Qf4 instead. But white is going to attack
pushing the F pawn. That is why white played Qe2.) 15...a6 16.Bd4
(Principle of an attack. Principle of maximum activity - we should use
the pieces first, not the pawns.) 16...f6 17.gxf6 (Open the position
for attack) 17...gxf6 18.Rhg1 (Principle of the least active piece.
Principle of an attack.) 1–0

(2) Capablanca Jose Raul (CUB) - Chajes Oscar (GER) [C66]

Habana (Cuba), 1913
1.e4 (The preparation for development) 1...e5 2.Nf3 (Principle of
the least active piece. Principle of an attack.) 2...Nc6 3.Bb5
(Development. Principle of an attack - threatening the e5 pawn.)
3...Nf6 4.0–0 (development. Principle of flexibility - white need to
make castling king-side anyway and than white will decide how to
develop better the queen-side pieces.) 4...d6 5.Bxc6+ (Loose the
bishop, but break the black's pawn structure.) 5...bxc6 6.d4
(Principle of an attack. The preparation for development.) 6...Be7
7.Nc3 (Principle of the least active piece. Principle of material - keep
the pawn e4) 7...exd4 8.Nxd4 (Principle of an attack) 8...Bd7
9.Qd3 (Develop the queen, but it is better to develop the knights and
bishops first) 9...c5 10.Nf3 (According to the principle of maximum
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 2

activity white should play Nf5 instead, but black can take Bf5 and
double the white's pawns then.) 10...0–0 11.e5 (An attacking move,
but white still doesn't finish the realization of the main opening tasks.
So it was better to develop the bishop first.) 11...dxe5 12.Nxe5 Be8
13.Be3 (According to the principle of maximum of activity it was
better to play Bg5, but in this position white is going to attack the
black's weak pawn c5, so Be3 is also good) 13...Bd6 14.Rad1
(Principle of the least active piece) 14...Qc8 15.Nc4 (Attack)
15...Be7 16.Rfe1 (Principle of the least active piece) 16...Bc6
17.Ne5 (Attack. Principle of maximum activity) 17...Bb7 18.Bg5
(Principle of maximum activity) 18...Bd6 19.Bxf6 (creating
weaknesses) 19...gxf6 20.Nc4 (Principle of attack. Principle of
maximum activity.) 20...Qg4 21.f3 (Attack and protect g2)
21...Qg7 22.Nxd6 (Winning the material) 22...cxd6 23.Re7
(Attack, Principle of maximum activity) 23...Bc6 24.Rc7 (Attack)
24...c4 25.Qf5 (Maximum activity and keep an f3 pawn) 25...Be8
26.Rxc4 (Winning the material) 26...Qh6 27.Nd5 (Attack)
27...Kh8 28.Qxf6+ (material) 28...Qxf6 29.Nxf6 Kg7 30.Rxd6
Rh8 31.a4 (in the endgame white should use his passed pawns)
31...a5 32.b3 h5 33.h4 Kf8 34.Re4 Kg7 35.Re5 (maximum
activity) 35...Rc8 36.Nxh5+ (material) 36...Kf8 37.Nf6 Rxh4
38.Rxe8+ Rxe8 39.Nxe8 Kxe8 1–0

(3) Capablanca Jose Raul (CUB) - Marshall Frank J (USA)

[C63]
Match (12), 1909
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3 (Principle of the least active
piece. Keeping up the pressure.) 4...Nf6 5.exf5 (Principle of material
- take) 5...e4 6.Nh4 (According to the principle of maximum activity
white should go Ng5 instead, but Nh4 helps to keep the material -
pawn f5) 6...d5 7.d3 (Preparation for development. Neutralize the
black's pawn on the white's territory.) 7...Be7 8.dxe4 (The forcing
move, force the black's bishop to go back after an exchange.)
8...dxe4 9.Qxd8+ Bxd8 10.Bg5 (Principle of the least active piece.
Principle of maximum activity.) 10...0–0 11.0–0–0 (development.
Castling queen-side is stronger than king-side, because it brings the
rook into the game.) 11...Ne5 12.h3 (Preparing g4 to keep an f5
pawn, but according to the principle of the least active piece it was
better to play Rhe1) 12...a6 13.Ba4 (Principle of maximum activity.)
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13...c5 14.Bf4 (Principle of an attack.) 14...Nfd7 15.Bxd7 (The

forcing move. White exchange the bishop, because black was
threatening to capture it after b5 and c4) 15...Nxd7 16.Bg3 (Protect
the knight) 16...Bxh4 17.Bxh4 Rxf5 18.Rhe1 (Principle of the least
active piece. Principle of flexibility - white can decide than which piece
should take on e4) 18...Nf8 19.Nxe4 (threatening Nd6) 19...Be6
20.Be7 (Attack) 20...Rd5 21.Nxc5 (material) 21...Rxd1+
22.Rxd1 Bf5 23.Bxf8 (bishop is stronger, so we should trade it. But
here white just wanted to simplify the position.) 23...Rxf8 24.Rd2
(In the endgame we should use our passed pawns and attack an
opponent's weak pawns. So this will be the white's plan. As usual
white should put his pieces on the most active positions also.)
24...Bc8 25.f3 h6 26.b3 Kh7 27.Kb2 (Principle of the least active
piece.) 27...Rf7 28.a4 Rc7 29.Ne4 Bf5 30.Nd6 (Principle of
maximum activity. Principle of an attack.) 30...Bg6 31.a5 (Fixing the
weakness on b7) 31...h5 32.c4 Re7 33.Kc3 (Principle of maximum
activity) 33...Kh6 34.h4 (limit an activity of the black's king)
34...Bh7 35.Rd5 (Principle of maximum activity) 35...Re3+
36.Kb4 (Maximum activity) 36...Re2 37.Nf7+ (The forcing move.
We should try to make the attacking forcing moves all the time, no
matter if an opponent is attacking you or not) 37...Kg6 38.Ng5 Bg8
39.Rd6+ (check) 39...Kf5 40.Rd8 (attack) 40...Bxc4 41.Kxc4
Rxg2 42.Rf8+ Ke5 43.f4+ Kd6 44.Rd8+ Kc6 45.Nf3 Rc2+
46.Kb4 Rf2 47.Ne5+ Kc7 48.Rd7+ Kc8 49.Rf7 (The side, which
has a material advantage, should not exchange the pawns.) 49...Rh2
50.Ng6 Re2 51.Rxg7 b6 52.axb6 a5+ 53.Kb5 a4 54.Ne5 axb3
55.b7+ 1–0

(4) Smirnov Igor (UKR) (2496) - Sharapov Evgeny (UKR)

(2436) [B12]
GM round robin, 12.2008
1.e4 (The preparation for development. Principle of maximum
activity - pawn goes as forward as it possible) 1...c6 2.d4 (The
preparation for development. Maximum activity - pawn goes as
forward as it possible) 2...d5 3.e5 (Principle of maximum activity -
goes forward. Principle of keeping up the pressure - don't take an
opponent's piece in the situation, when you can see the contact
between the pieces) 3...c5 4.dxc5 (Principle of material - take an
opponent's material if you can.) 4...Nc6 5.Nf3 (Principle of the least
“The Grandmaster’s secrets” by GM Igor Smirnov (http://chess-teacher.com). All rights reserved.
 4

active piece - so we need to develop knights before bishops. Principle

of material - we need to keep the material.) 5...e6 6.a3 (The PAWN
move, which could be a mistake, according to the principle of
maximum activity - we should use the PIECES first of all. The pawn
moves in the opening could be good only if they prepare the
development of the pieces.) 6...Bxc5 7.b4 (Principle of the attack -
you should attack if you can. Decrease the activity of the black's
bishop, because force it to go back.) 7...Bb6 8.Bb2 (Development of
a piece. According to the principle of the least active piece we should
develop the knights before bishops. But into this position the principle
of flexibility works - bishop needs to be developed on the b2 anyway
(it was an idea of the moves a3 and b4) and then we can decide which
square will be preferable for the knight: d2 or c3) 8...Nge7 9.Bd3
(Development of a piece. Once again the principle of flexibility works:
white needs to develop the bishop and make castling anyway, than
white will decide which square is preferable for the knight.) 9...Ng6
10.0–0 (development) 10...Nf4 11.c4 (Black made several moves
of a knight, which was a mistake. That means white should start an
attack. To start an attack we should open the position first.)
11...Nxd3 12.Qxd3 (principle of material) 12...dxc4 13.Qxc4 (the
principle of material - we should take the material if we can) 13...0–0
14.Nc3 (Principle of the least active piece. Principle of maximum
activity. After the move Nc3 white have finished the main tasks of an
opening: develop the pieces, make castle, connect the rooks.)
14...Nd4 15.Nxd4 (Forcing move - in the tactical situations we
should calculate the forcing moves first.) 15...Qxd4 16.Qe2
(Principle of material - white is protecting the e5 pawn. The move Qe2
is a move back, so it breaks the principle of maximum activity. But we
did it due to the concrete tactical reasons - it prepares the attack on
the black's queen then.) 16...Qh4 17.Rad1 (Principle of the least
active piece. Principle of maximum activity - the rooks usually most
active on the open lines. Also limit the black's activity - not allow black
to play Bd7. It is an ideal situation if your move increase your activity
and decrease an opponent's activity in the same time) 17...Rd8
18.Rxd8+ (The forcing move. Force black to go back with one of the
pieces.) 18...Bxd8 19.Rd1 (Principle of the least active piece.
Principle of maximum activity.) 19...h6 20.Ne4 (Principle of the least
active piece. Principle of maximum activity.) 20...b6 21.g3 (Principle
of the attack. Force black to go back.) 21...Qe7 22.Nf6+ (Principle
“The Grandmaster’s secrets” by GM Igor Smirnov (http://chess-teacher.com). All rights reserved.
 5

of the attack - white has a huge advantage in activity, that means

white should attack. To start an attack we need to make the moves on
the opponents territory. Also it is a forcing move. Also it helps to open
the position, what we need to do in order to start the direct attack.)
22...Kh8 23.Qe4 (Attacking move. Move forward.) 1–0

(5) Capablanca Jose Raul (CUB) - Marshall Frank J (USA)

[C62]
Match, 1909
1.e4 (The preparation for development) 1...e5 2.Nf3 (Principle of
the least active piece. Principle of an attack.) 2...Nc6 3.Bb5
(Development and principle of an attack - threatening the e5 pawn)
3...d6 4.0–0 (development) 4...a6 5.Bxc6+ (bishop is stronger
than knight, but Bc6 is a forcing move and it breaks the black's pawn
structure) 5...bxc6 6.d4 (Attack and preparation for development.)
6...exd4 7.Nxd4 (take the material. Principle of an attack.) 7...Bd7
8.Re1 (Development, but according to the principle of the least active
piece Nc3 should be better) 8...c5 9.Nf3 (According to the principle
of maximum activity the move Nf5 should be the best, but black can
easily push away the white's knight after it with the g6 move) 9...Be7
10.Nc3 (Principle of the least active piece) 10...c6 11.Bf4 (Principle
of the least active piece. Principle of an attack) 11...Be6 12.Qd3
(Principle of the least active piece. White have finished the main
opening tasks - even Capablanca follows the recommendations from
the course "The Grandmaster's secrets" :)) 12...Nf6 13.Rad1
(Principle of an attack, principle of the least active piece.) 13...d5
14.Ng5 (Principle of an attack. In the middlegame we should start an
attack by making the moves forward) 14...d4 15.Nxe6 (winning the
material, because bishop is stronger than knight) 15...fxe6 16.Na4
(Principle of maximum activity) 16...Qa5 17.b3 Rd8 18.Nb2
(Principle of the least active piece) 18...Nh5 19.Be5 (Principle of
maximum activity) 19...0–0 20.Nc4 (Attack) 20...Qb4 21.Qh3
(Attack) 21...g6 22.Qxe6+ (Winning the material. The forcing
move) 22...Rf7 23.g4 (Attack) 23...Bh4 24.gxh5 (Material)
24...Bxf2+ 25.Kh1 Qc3 26.Re3 (The forcing move - in the tactical
position we should make check, take something or attack something)
26...Qxc2 27.Red3 (defend the d1 rook) 27...Qe2 28.Nd6 (Attack)
28...Rxd6 29.Bxd6 Be1 30.Qe8+ (The forcing move) 30...Kg7
31.h6+ (Check) 1–0
“The Grandmaster’s secrets” by GM Igor Smirnov (http://chess-teacher.com). All rights reserved.
 6

“The Grandmaster’s secrets” by GM Igor Smirnov (http://chess-teacher.com). All rights reserved.