Georg Mohr:

METHODS OF DEFENCE

METHODS AND
PRICIPLES OF DEFENCE

Many great chess players and trainers were

systematically studying the defence. Very
famous works about the defence are from
Alexander Panchenko, who passed away
too early. He wrote many articles and
books about the defence. In the last years
famous trainers Adrian Mihalchishin in
Mark Dvoretsky are writing about this
theme. In my country in Slovenia an
international master Tadej Sakelsek is
working on this theme.
I will try to present some of their findings.
In chess we know many ways of good
defence. Of course our defence depends of
the position. Generally we are following
these principles:

Every sport consists of an attack and

defence and chess is no exception. From
the psychological point of view it is easier
to attack than to defend. This is logical,
because every mistake in our defence can
be fatal. This is why a lot of chess players
do not like the defence. Something similar
is happening also with young chess
players. Their biggest problem is that they
do not know how to defend. Usually they
choose a passive defence instead of an
active one. In many cases they do not
recognize the threats or they recognize
them when it is too late.

HOW TO DEFEND?
We can defend ourselves in many ways.
Usually our defense depends of the
position, which we are facing. The
problem of young chess players is that they
are choosing a passive defence. This means
that they just want to defend a certain
threat of the opponent and they forget
about their active possibilities. Women
chess players, even very good ones, are
facing the same problem. Then on the
other hand we have top-level chess players.
Chess history knows many players, who
became famous, due to their defensive
play. Among them we can recognize even
some world champions: Capablanca,
Petrosjan, Karpov, Kramnik and many
others. Their games show us how to defend
properly! But we must never forget the
basic rule: if possible, we have to defend
ourselves actively!!

FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

1. Transposition into the endgame;

2. Exchange of the opponents
active pieces;
3. Sacrifice;
4. Counter play;
5. Preventions of opponents plan
and improvement of the pieces

1. TRANSPOSITION INTO
THE ENDGAME
The transposition into the endgame is the
most common method of defence. The
principle is simple. The player, who is
defending, must exchange some of the
opponents active pieces. In many cases
this is not possible and the player then
needs to sacrifice some material in order to
transpose into the endgame. The final
result of the game then depends of the
evaluation of the position. It is very
important for us to know as many
theoretically drawing positions as possible,
because this kind of positions can rescue
us!

Xie Jun : Taimanov M.

Kopenhagen 1997

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If White will manage to make her pair of
bishops active (in order to do that, she
needs to exchange some pawns!), then
Black will find himself in big troubles! The
legendary player decided for an active
defence!
14b5!
14...Td8?! is a passive move, which would
probably be the one that most of the young
and female players would choose. In this
case White would finish her development
and make her bishops active: 15.Le3!
(15.Lf3 b5 16.cd5 ed5) 15...b5 16.cd5 ed5
17.Ld3.
15.cd5
15.cb5 ab5 16.Lb5 Dc2 (16...Sc3 17.Ld3
Ta4 18.De3 La6 with an unclear play)
17.a4 La6. Whites passed pawn cannot
move forward and that is why Black is not
in danger. The position is probably slightly
better for Black.
15ed5 16.Ld3
After 16.Dd5 the best is 16Lf5! (it is
possible also16...Lb7 17.Db3 Tfd8 18.c4
bc4 19.Lc4 (19.Dc4 Db6+) 19...Tac8
20.Le2 and Black has a sufficient
compensation for the sacrificed pawn)
17.Db3 Tac8 18.Le3 (18.Ld3 Sc5 19.Da3
Sd3 20.cd3 Tfd8) 18...Dc2.
16Lb7 17.Lb2
White finished her development and now
she is threatening with an attack on the
king. Black must react quickly. One of the
principles of defence is an exchange of the
FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

queens. When queens are off the board, the

possibility of an attack decreases. In our
position Taimanov needed to sacrifice his
pawn to be able to exchange the queens!
17Dc5!? 18.Le4 Dd4 19.Lh7 Kh7
20.Ld4
Black knowingly transposed into the
endgame with a pawn down, because
White has troubles wining with the
opposite-colored bishops.
20b4!
Fixes the weaknesses on the queenside!
21.Tfb1 a5 22.c3 Tfc8 23.a3?
Correctly would be 23.cb4.
23Kg6!
A great idea activation of the king. All
other moves are lost. 24.ab4?
A horrible mistake, which allows Blacks
activation! After 24.g4!, which keeps
Blacks king away from the center, White
would still be pursuing the victory.
24ab4 25.Ta8 Ta8 26.cb4 Kf5 27.g3
Ke4
The evaluation of the position changed
drastically, because Black is now the one
who is trying to win. It is true that White
has a huge material advantage, but Blacks
passed pawn is, with the help of the rook
and king, more dangerous than Whites
passed pawn. With the help of a great
technique, the experienced Mark Taimanov
managed to win the game!
28.Td1 Ta2 29.Kg1 La6 30.e6 fe6 31.Lg7
Kf3 32.Ld4 Tg2 33.Kh1 Tc2 34.Tb1 Lb5
35.Lg1 Kg4 36.Tb3 Td2 37.Le3 Ta2
38.Ld4 Td2 39.Le3 Te2 40.Kg1 Kh3
41.Lf2 d4 42.Ld4 Tg2 43.Kh1 Th2
44.Kg1 Tg2 45.Kh1 Lc6 46.Tc3 Ld5
47.Tc5 Tg3 48.Td5 ed5 49.b5 Tb3
50.Kg1 Kg4 51.Le5 Kf5 52.Kf2 Ke4 0:1.

Sakelsek T. : Ragger M.
Zug 2005

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Black found himself in a very difficult
position. The knight on b7 cannot move
and Black cannot defend it! The Austrian
grand master thought for a long time and
found an unexpected possibility:
33...Lc3! 34.Tb3 Sa5! 35.Tc3 Dc3 36.Da5
Da5 37.Sa5
The position, which should be winning in
every way we look at it. The d6 pawn will
fall and d5 pawn should be the one to
decide the game
37...Ld3! 38.Sac4 Tb8! 39.Ld6 Tb4
40.Se3 Tb2 41.Sdc4 Tf2!
Black calculated deeply and precisely.
42.Lc5 Lc4 43.Sc4 Tc2 44.d6 Tc4 45.d7
Tc5 46.d8D

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Black had succeeded the position on the
board is probably drawing. Anyway White
has troubles with finding a winning plan.
White persisted and even won the game (in
154. move). The conclusion, which follows
is that in every seemingly hopeless
position we can find an unexpected
possibility!
FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

2. THE EXCANGE OF THE

OPPONENTS ACTIVE
PIECES
This method of defence is very important!
Young players often have problems,
because they do not feel the danger.
Older and more experienced players
usually know where the danger is and that
is why they are able to respond properly to
the opponents threats. Usually one piece is
decisive in every attack. If we manage to
exchange this opponents active piece then
his attacking possibilities will decrease and
there will be no more danger. The
exchange of the active pieces and the
transposition to the endgame are linked but
there are some differences between them.
These differences will be presented by the
next two games.

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In this typical Sicilian position Whites
idea is simple. He wants to play f5, Dh4,
Lh6 and Sg5, with an unpleasant attack on
the Blacks king. It is not hard to realize
that the knight on f3 is a decisive piece of
the mating attack. The rule says: you must
exchange the most active piece
immediately! 11...Lg4! 12.Dh4 Lf3 13.Tf3
Dc8!
Black is preventively preparing Dg4,
because the endgame is better for him
14.Sc3 Dg4!
The prevention!
15.Df2
After 15.Dg4 Sg4 Black would be slightly
better.
15...Dd7 16.Se2 Tac8 17.c3 b5!
3

It is time for action on the queenside!

18.Dh4 b4 19.Ld2 a5 20.Th3 Dg4 21.De1
Dd7 22.Dh4 h5!
And Blacks position is clearly better!

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Yet another classical Sicilian position,
which is a characteristic of the Grand-Prix
attacks. Whites set-up shows that White
wants to attack the f7-square or that he
wants to put pressure on Black with the
help of the a2-g8 diagonal. The decisive
piece is the light-squared bishop, which
needs to be exchanged!
17...d5! 18.Lb3 ef5!
The computer does not agree with this
move immediately but after a while it
realizes that the move is correct! What is
happening? Didnt we say that the bishop
needs to be exchanged and not opened?
19.Ld5 Tb8 20.Df4?!
20.Lb3 is probably better, because Black
could not make the following move:
20...Le6!
Absolutely correct! The rule says that we
must exchange the opponents best piece.
It will soon become clear that White is the
one in troubles!
21.Lb3
21.c4!? Tc8 22.Tbe1 (22.ef5 Ld5 23.cd5
Dd5 24.f6 Lh8) 22...Ld5 23.cd5 fe4 24.de4
Dd7, with an advantage for Black.
21...Lb3 22.ab3 fe4 23.Se4 Tc8 24.Tf2 f5!
The attack is stopped, Black is better.

FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

3. THE SACRIFICE
We usually come across with sacrifice
when we are attacking. The sacrifice is
also an important method of defence. This
goes for all the sacrifices, from pawns to
queen! Young players have big troubles
with this method of defence. It is logical,
because they do not feel like playing with
less material. This fear is linked with
ignorance, because young players are not
familiar with dynamic elements (activity of
the pieces, dynamic pawn structure,
coordination of the pieces ).
Understanding that the dynamic elements
in the position are often more important
than a material advantage, comes with
experiences.
Maroczy G. : Rubinstein A.
Karlsbad 1907

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21...Td3!
A positional sacrifice of the exchange, with
which Black immediately stops every
Whites possible attack! 21...Td7!? was a
second possibility and a player would need
to calculate many variations after 22.f5.
22.Td3 Le4 23.Td2 Dc4
Black has only a pawn and a bishop in
exchange for the rook but he has no
weaknesses!
24.Tfd1 Ld5
Rubinstein is playing like they teach in
schools! He is closing the only open line
and the question in this case is if the rook
4

is really more valuable than a great bishop

on d5, which controls the whole position.
25.h3?!
25.Ld4 is a better move, because White
would keep the attacking possibilities
linked with f4-f5.
25...f5 26.Dg6 Df4!
A play, which is pursuing winning with
26Tc6 would not be good for Black!!
Great players sense every slight threat and
they try to avoid it: 27.Le5 Da2 28.Td3
Dc4 29.Tg3 Dc5 30.Kh2 De7 31.Tdd3,
with a tremendous attack for White!
27.Td5!
The only move that keeps White among
living. In fact White is the one who is
trying to win, due to his practically ideal
set-up of the pieces, despite the material
shortage!
27...De3 28.Kh1 ed5 29.Df5 Td8 30.Td5
Dc1 31.Kh2 Ld6 32.Le5 Lc7! 33.Td8
Ld8 34.Dd7 Dg5 35.Lg3 De7 36.De7 Le7
.
In this game Rubinstein used the method of
exchange and the transposition into the
drawing endgame!
Filip M. : Kortchnoi V.
Bukarest 1954

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A typical position for The Gruenfeld
Indian Defence! White managed to bring
practically all of his pieces in the attack. It
is threatening Sh5 and Sf6 with mate.
Black must defend his king.
17...cd4 18.cd4 Sc6 19.d5!?
Better would be 19.Lb5! a6 20.Lc6 Lc6
21.Sh5, with the threat Sf6 and if 21...f5
FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

22.ef6 Df7 23.Tfe1 Td5 24.Dc1 La4

25.Sf4 Ld1 26.Sd5 ed5 27.Dc6!.
19...ed5
After 19...Le5? 20.de6 fe6 21.Lg6 De7
22.Lf5 Dg5 23.Le6 Kh8 24.Lg5+-; after
19...Se5 follows 20.de6 Dc7! (20...fe6
21.Lg6+-) 21.Lb5 Td1 22.Td1 f6 23.Dg3,
with a clear advantage.
20.Lb5?!

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Black is seemingly totally lost
20...Le5!!
Viktor Kortchnoi showed how big of a
genius he is and he sacrificed his queen! A
sacrifice of the pawn, piece or even queen
is a typically possibility for the defending
side. That is why we must pay attention to
this kind of possibilities in the games!
20...d4 was not good, because of 21.e6! fe6
22.Sg6! hg6 23.Lc6 Lc6 24.Dg6 Lg7
25.Lg7 Dg7 26.De6 Kf8 27.Dc6+-.
21.Lc6 Lf4 22.Df6 Lh6 23.Ld7 Td7
The end of a forced variation. It is time for
us to see what did Black gain by
sacrificing his queen:
1. His king is safe, because it cannot be
attacked by Whites queen only.
2. Black has a very dangerous d-pawn
3. Blacks coordination is very good!
4. It is true that White has a material
advantage but now he is the one who must
defend!
24.Tfe1 Lf8!
Correct, because Black does not want to
exchange the rooks!
25.h4 Tad8 26.h5?
26.Td4! would be correct and it would
mean a fight for draw!
5

26...d4 27.hg6 hg6 28.Td3 La6 29.Ted1

Ld3 30.Td3 Tc8 31.Df3+
After 31.Td4! Lg7 32.Dg7 Kg7 33.Td7
White would have more possibilities to
save himself than in the game.
31...Lg7
Black prevented the possibility of the
sacrifice and of the transposition to the
rook endgame. Later on Black won the
game by using his great technique. 0:1.

sacrifice. White has an advantage but

nothing concrete.
21.b4 cb4 22.ab4 Lf8!
The exchange of the dark-squared bishops
is good for Black.
23.Lf8 Tf8 24.Tfc1 Td8 25.Lf1 Td4
Blacks compensation is his activity. The
game ended in draw. .

Leko P. : Carlsen M.
Nanjing 2009

It is always good to answer on the attack

with a counter play. The opponent usually
attacks on one flank or in the center; rarely
he is able to attack on the whole board. If
something like this happens it is not good
for the one who is defending.
If the opponent is attacking on the
kingside, all of his pieces (or most of them)
are pointed to this part of the board. It is
logical that in this case opponents other
side of the board is weaker (the queenside
or the center)! If opponents attack is not
well prepared (especially if he is not
controlling the center) we can push him
into defence with the help of counter play.
A counter play is one possibility of an
active defence!

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Leko achieved an advantage in the opening
with a precise play. Carlsen needed to
decide: weather to defend passively or
actively with the sacrifice of the exchange.
He decided for an active defence! Despite
his young age!
18...Ld5!
Po18...Db5? 19.b3 Db3 (19...Sb6 20.Tab1)
20.Tfb1 Da4 21.Tb7 Dc6 22.Tab1.
19.d7 Le6 20.dc8D Tc8

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Black finished his development and
activated his pieces with the help of the
FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

4. A COUNTER PLAY

Geller E. : Euwe M.
Zrich 1953

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White played aggressively in the opening.
He sacrificed a pawn and achieved an
initiative on the kingside. He is threatening
simply Dh5 and Th4, with an attack on h7square, which seems that cannot be
6

defended. There is no h7-h6 defence;

because White can sacrifice a piece on h6
and Blacks king would find himself out in
the open! There is only a counter play left!
16...b5!!
Black is not paying attention to the
weakness on h7, his priority is a counter
play in the center. The d4-pawn is
becoming a weakness, of which Black will
try to take advantage.
17.Th4 Db6 18.e5!
A great defensive move with obvious
attacking motives.!
18...Se5 19.fe6 Sd3 20.Dd3
20.ed7 Tc1 21.Tc1 Sc1+.
20...De6!
Black is letting the exchange of the h7pawn, because it seems that Blacks king
will be safe on f7. It is hard to attack the
g7-square.
21.Dh7 Kf7 22.Lh6
Whites only hope is the attack on g7.
Black will succeed in defending the square.
22...Th8 ?!!
The move deserves two exclamation marks
and a question mark. Why a question
mark? Because Black would lose all of his
advantage in case of Whites correct play.
And two exclamation marks because of the
phenomenal idea, which is hidden behind
the move. With the taking on h8, the
position of Whites queen will be passive
and Blacks rook will penetrate to the
second range, where it will in coordination
with the bishop and the queen cause
troubles for White.
23.Dh8 Tc2 24.Tc1?
Euwe confused Geller with an unexpected
rook sacrifice and he immediately made a
mistake! After 24.d5!! (The destruction of
the coordination.) Black would somehow
save himself.
24...Tg2 25.Kf1 Db3!
The decisive move, after which White is
immediately lost!
26.Ke1 Df3
An exceptional game of the fifth world
champion Max Euwe! It is useful to
remember the following: when the
FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

opponent is attacking on the flank, the

counter play is usually hidden in the
center. 0:1.
Taimanov M. : Larsen B.
Vinkovci 1970

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On the diagram is the position with an
undefended isolated pawn. Black needs to
decide how to proceed. Weather to defend
passively (14Td8) or actively. A
legendary Bent Larsen chose an active
plan!
14...g5!?
A very aggressive plan on the flank, which
will allow Black to gain control over the
center. Kramnik played similar against
Carlsen many years later (Moskva 2009)
and he achieved a clear advantage! The
move has also a bad side a permanent
weakening of kings position!!
15.Lg3 g4 16.Sd4?!
After 16.Se5 White would be slightly
better (Larsen), even though it seems Black
has good counter play after 16... d4!
16...Sd4 17.ed4 Lg5
In only three moves Black took over the
initiative!
18.00?!
White decided for a panic sacrifice of the
exchange! His intention is clear to take
advantage of the weakness-Blacks king!
After 18.Td1 Te8 19.Kf1 Le6 or 18.Tc2!?
Te8 19.Te2 Te2 20.Ke2 Da6 21.Db5 De6
22.Kd1 Dg6 and Whites king stays in the
center.
18...Lc1 19.Tc1
White had a compensation for the rook, but
Black easily won the game later on. 0:1.
7

4. THE PREVENTION OF THE

OPPONENTS PLAN AND
IMPROVEMENT OF THE
PIECES
The last method of defence is the
prevention of opponents plan.
Improvement of the pieces is linked with
this plan. What is this method all about?
We try to prevent every opponents threat
before it can become real. We call this a
preventive play. It is very important to
improve the position of our pieces at the
same time. The greatest master of this kind
of play was the ninth world champion
Tigran Petrosjan.
The next two games are very instructive. In
the first game Petrosjan shows us how we
need to improve the position of our own
pieces and the correct exchange technique.
In the second game we will get to know the
prevention.
Diez del Corral J. : Petrosian T.
Palma de Mallorca 1969

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A typical position from The French
Defence, where White attacks on the
kingside and Black searches for his
possibilities on the queenside.
13...La6!
A correct move. Whites central pawns are
placed on the dark squares. That is why the
exchange of the light-squared bishops is
good for Black!
14.h4 Ld3 15.cd3 Sbc6 16.Le3 Dd7
17.Sf4 Sg6!
FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr

Petrosian was known for his simple and

efficient play. He knew exactly which
pieces to exchange and which ones to leave
on the board.
18.Sg6 hg6 19.Df4
19.Dg6 is bad because of 19...f4 20.Ld2
Sd4 and Blacks position is great.
19...De8 20.g3 Tc7
Blacks position is now perfectly safe.
Now follows an action on the queenside.
21.Kg2 Df7 22.Th1
White is trying with the opening of the h
line. A correct plan.
22...Kf8!
The start of the maneuver, with which
Black will move his king to the safer
queenside.
23.Dg5 Ke8 24.Tac1 Kd7 25.h5 gh5
26.Th5 Tg8 27.Th7 Kc8 28.Dh4 Dg6
29.Th8 Th8 30.Dh8 Kb7
Blacks king is safe on b7. White has not
enough material for the attack and he will
be left with a worse endgame. Petrosjan
later on won the game with no troubles.
0:1.
A great game of Petrosjan. Most likely you
will ask yourselves where White made a
mistake. There was no obvious mistake,
only Black extraordinarily understood the
position. He exchanged only the pieces,
which he needed to exchange and he
slowly took over the control. We can see
this kind of defence only with the greatest
chess masters!
Johner P. : Nimzowitsch A.
Dresden 1926

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8

Whites plan is simple. He wants to play

g2-g4-g5, take away space and attack the
king. One of the defence methods is the
prevention of the opponents active plans.
12...Dd7!!
An excellent move and an even more
excellent plan tied with it.
13.h3?
This move is bad, because White
permanently weakens his g3-square.
However White wanted to play g2-g4.
13...Se7 14.De1
14.Ld2 h5! (Larsen) 15.Lh5 Sh5 16.Dh5
Da4! or 14.g4!? h5 15.f5 hg4 16.hg4 g6!
And Black is better.
14...h5!
Again-blockage.
15.Ld2 Df5!
Black wanted the knight more on this
square but he needed to take care of the
defence of the h-pawn first.
16.Kh2 Dh7!
Black brought his queen from d8 to h7! A
famous maneuver of the great master!
17.a4 Sf5
With the idea Sg4, with mating attack.
18.g3
Whites last chance was hidden in 18.a5!
(Larsen).
18...a5!
It is much easier to defend the weakness on
b6 than on a4. With the move a5 Black
took away Whites chances of counter
play on the queenside!
19.Tg1 Sh6 20.Lf1 Ld7 21.Lc1 Tac8
Black was threatening with taking on d4
and c4 and that is why White needed to
close the center.
22.d5 Kh8 23.Sd2
The escape of the kings would not help:
23.Kg2 Tg8 24.Kf2 g5+.
23...Tg8
Black took the initiative, prepared a strong
attack and destroyed his opponent.
0:1.

avoided the danger by preventing the

realization of Whites active plan.

In this game Nimzowitsch demonstrated a

most efficient method of defence. He
FIDE Surveys Georg Mohr