Kings Indian Exchange

BY: BOBBY ANG

(As published in ChessPiece, BusinessWorld, on February 22, 2010)

Many years ago this author invested a lot of time studying the Marshall Attack in the Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5) and managed to compile quite a good score with it. Some samples:

Resma, N -- Ang, Roberto Pe [C89]
ACCA MarEx, 1994
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Gilbang, R (1910) -- Ang, Roberto (1900) [C89]
ACCA NovEx, 1995
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(RUSTICBULL'S NOTES: My guess is that Mr. Bobby Ang's opponent in this game was no other than Atty. Rodolfo Gilbang who is now the Chief of the Administrative Adjudication and Investigation Division of the Department of Trade and Industry. I had the chance to play against Atty. Gilbang once, not in chess though but in a table tennis match. I can't forget this lawyer. He quit our match when our score was tied at 20-20, haha. In chess, I stand no chance to win against him. )





Then word got around and nobody wanted to give me a chance to play the Marshall anymore -- they would Exchange Variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6) me and go straight into the end game where I would usually lose out of boredom. Sheesh... so many killjoys in the world!

In fact, I think the only game I ever won from the Black side of the Exchange Variation came about because of a crude blunder:

Romanski, Jan -- Ang, Roberto [C68]
C1.1996.0.00030 IECG, 1996
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This game is from a preliminary section of the IECG correspondence world cup. Jan Romanski was the second seed of my section, but this game completely destroyed the tournament for him.





And now a similar case -- how many of you have played the King’s Indian Defencse as Black hoping for a slambang game with attacks on opposite wings only to be met with the Exchange Variation and ... boredom. Well, the least you can do is to teach White a lesson and beat the heck out of him.

You see, there is a very big difference in the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez against that of the King’s Indian. In the Ruy Lopez after, for example, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0 Black is burdened with doubled pawns and the prospect of a problematic endgame since in many cases if all the pieces are exchanged the resulting pawn ending is easily lost for Black.

But that is not true in the King’s Indian -- here Black gets full equality and his pieces are just itching to get into action.

GM Joseph Gallagher in "Play the King’s Indian" says: "I have written many scathing words on this variation in the past. I won’t repeat them all here but just say that most of the players who play this variation are playing ’scared chess’ and are just looking to draw the game. Make them work for this draw."

"I used to face the Exchange Variation all the time but ever since I started to slag it off in public people have stopped playing it against me. The endgame is, of course, just equal but make sure you play it on till the very end as the sort of person who plays this variation is liable to crack at some point. They are, with some exceptions of course, psychologically, weak."

Strong words, but true.

In the recently concluded Gibtelecom Masters the German GM Falko Bindrich tried to hold against Kamsky with this very variation, but found out that Kamsky is the wrong opponent to use it against -- he is the exact type of player who takes pleasure in playing endings, and in particular grinding away without taking any risks in a slightly superior position.

Bindrich, Falko (2512) -- Kamsky, Gata (2693) [E92]
8th Gibtelecom Masters Caleta ENG (10), 04.02.2010
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Gibtelecom Masters
Caleta, England
Jan 26-Feb 4, 2010

Final Top Standings

1-9. GM Michael Adams ENG 2694, GM Francisco Vallejo Pons ESP 2705, GM Jan Gustafsson GER 2627, GM Chanda Sandipan IND 2622, GM Gata Kamsky USA 2693, GM Etienne Bacrot FRA 2713, GM Sergei Movsesian SVK 2708, GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal IND 2584, IM Alex Lenderman USA 2560, 7.5/10

10-20. WGM Natalia Zhukova UKR 2462, GM Laurent Fressinet FRA 2670, GM Humpy Koneru IND 2614, GM Stelios Halkias GRE 2566, GM Michael Hoffmann GER 2508, GM Vadim Malakhatko BEL 2549, GM Ivan Cheparinov BUL 2660, GM Andrei Istratescu ROM 2607, GM Jon Speelman ENG 2525, IM Drasko Boskovic SRB 2454, GM Namig Guliyev AZE 2516, 7.0/10

Total of 224 participants

The top four players on tie-break played off in a knockout. Michael Adams beat Jan Gustafsson 2-1 and Francisco Vallejo Pons beat Chanda Sandipan 1.5-0.5. Adams beat Vallejo 1.5-0.5 in the final of the playoff to take the title.