Kenilworth Kibitzer

On December 3rd, future International Master Yaacov Norowitz is going to give us a lecture on playing on colored square complexes.  Simply put, in a given position the combination of pawn structure and pieces on the board may give one side powerful control over connected squares of the same color.  That side can then try to convert their control of these squares into a positional bind, a mating attack or even a carefully constructed defense in an otherwise hopeless situation.  This can be seen very easily in positions where a fianchettoed bishop (say on g7) is eliminated, leaving the adjacent squares f6 and h6 without pawn or piece cover and open to invasion by enemy pieces.  Sound simple?  Perhaps, but this is a legitimately difficult concept to execute, and mastery of it is the mark of a high class player.   With any luck, Yaacov can shed some light for us.  In the meantime, we'll take a look at Karpov-Shirov (Biel, 1992) which is annotated very nicely by Kasparov amongst others.  In this game Karpov creates a well calculated light-square domination theme almost out of the ether.   We'll pick up the game on move 17 of a Meran Semi-Slav, where Black seems close to playing ...c5, unleashing his light-squared bishop and ensuring at least equality.