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David Bronstein vs Herman Pilnik
"So He Shall Open, And None Shall Shut" (game of the day Apr-30-2025)
Belgrade (1954), Belgrade YUG, rd 5, Oct-26
King's Indian Defense: Averbakh. Benoni Defense Advance Variation (E75)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Oct-29-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: I am surprised that I am the first person to kibitz on this game.

Bronstein's pawn sacrifice with 34.b4 is well worth the control of the only open file on the board 37.♕a2.

Oct-30-10  sneaky pete: <Calli> Are you listening?
Nov-01-10  Calli: <Sneaky> Been pretty busy G Neidich vs Marshall, 1920
Oct-27-15  zydeco: It feels like Bronstein played more of these types of games than anybody else - a completely closed position; trench warfare across the entire board - and then he finds a sacrifice somewhere to suddenly get tremendous activity for his pieces.
Oct-28-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: A quick play through this nice game and after 26 moves, here's the position:


click for larger view

The Pawn formation tells me that White is primed for a Kingside attack. White's DSB is on a nice diagonal, his LSB is on a closed but still nice diagonal and has e2 as a nice spot to reposition, the Queen can get to f3 or g3, the e2 Rook might go to g1 or h1, the a2 Rook can glide over to g2 or h2 if only that g2 Pawn was out of the way. Putting that all together, of course then, g4 is the lever in the position to get things rolling. Let's see how that turns out:

27. Be2, right on plan. 29. g4, right on cue. 30. Raa1 And I missed it completely. This is why I'm a patzer and Bronstein is Bronstein. White had to have seen b4 and an eventual Qa2 for that move to make sense. I am reminded of Nimzo's maxim "We engage one wing, or the obvious weakness in it, and thus draw the other enemy wing out of its reserve, when new weakness will be created on that reserve wing, and so the signal is given for systematic manoeuvring against two weaknesses." White's space advantage is demonstrated to great effect.

After 42 moves, here's the position:


click for larger view

Now the White Queen has intruded on the a file, the Rooks stand shoulder to shoulder on the a and b files, the DSB bears down on the weakened c Pawn, and the Queen side attack is on in earnest.

After 59 moves:


click for larger view

White has a 6 Pawn phalanx. Black is down a Pawn, and one is doubled. White's King has worked over to join the battle on the Queen side. White has a winning end game advantage. A beautiful positional masterpiece by Bronstein.

Apr-30-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: First surprise--33.h5, completely sealing the King side and looking White throttled his own attack. Second surprise--34.b4, and suddenly White owns the Queen side.

No surprise--...f7-f6 in a KID, with the Bishop still on g7, usually means nothing good for Black.

Apr-30-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  Teyss: Excellent pun fitting the game and Bronstein's first name:
"The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder;
So he shall open, and no one shall shut;
And he shall shut, and no one shall open.
I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place,
And he will become a glorious throne to his father's house."

The difference is Bronstein never became king although he came really close.

Remarkable game with a good review by <OhioChessFan>. There was a recent discussion about what a closed game is, now <that> one qualifies. The lesson is in that kind of game, if just one of your pieces is stuck, it's a recipe for failure: here Black's DSB stuck on g7 was unable to defend defend the Qside Pawns and the e7 Pawn was more than a dead weight blocked by the d5-f5 bind: it was preventing the coordination of Black's pieces.

Lesson#25: even in a closed game, keep your pieces mobile behind the trenches.

For memo Bronstein won the tournament with +8 -0 =11.

Apr-30-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  chrisowen: Joshua 6:1?
Apr-30-25  areknames: What <Teyss> said.
Apr-30-25
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: Beautiful game. I have no memory of analyzing it.

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