Jacob Aagaard and the Magic of Mumbai!

Before we begin with the Indian tour of Jacob Aagaard, let me pose you with the following position. Take five minutes on your clock and find the best move for Black.

Solution:

On the surface this position looks really easy. White has the d4 pawn which is weak and isolated and the b2 pawn seems like a target. The black queenside majority also looks pretty threatening. But what should Black play? One of the techniques that Jacob Aagaard speaks about in his book Positional Play is the “Three Questions Method”. The three questions are:

1. What are the weaknesses in the position?
2. Which is the worst placed piece?
3. What is my opponent’s idea?

The answer to these three questions gives us more information about the position and helps us delve deeper into the issues that both sides are facing. So let’s try to answer them:

Weaknesses:

White has a weak pawn on d4 and b2. On the other hand Black’s weaknesses could be a6 and f7. It must be said that White’s weaknesses are much easier to attack than Black's.

Worst placed piece:

Black's worst placed piece is surely the knight on d7. If it moved to a better square, Black's position would become more cohesive. In general it should be enough to see what your worst placed piece is. However, if you also see your opponent's poorly positioned pieces, you can get an idea about what he is planning to achieve in a given position. However, for White you don't really have any worst placed piece as such. Perhaps the knight on f3 because it is coming in the way of the bishop on g2, but nothing that is terribly wrong.

Opponent's idea: 

If it was White's move he would definitely go in for some activity with Qb7. Also Ne5 could be on the cards.

Now you have a better idea about the position and can start thinking about the concrete moves. Of course, all of you would realize that it is important to move the d7 knight. But where? What do you think about Nf6? Well, this is a move that Jacob calls as an aesthetic move - a move that looks good, but has no function. The knight looks like it stands well on f6, but is just in the way.

So, the next move that can come to your mind is Nb6!? with the idea of Na4 and pressure on the b2 pawn. This is a completely viable idea and the second best move in the position. So what's the best move?

These are the positions which we call as simple but not easy. Don't be too hard on yourself if you didn't find it. Many strong players miss such simple moves quite often. This was one of the positions that was discussed at Jacob Aagaard's camp in Mumbai and I instantly fell in love with the simplicity of Black's idea. I hope you learnt a bit from this example. 

Jacob Aagaard is one of the best chess authors and trainers in the world. He is the founder of Quality Chess publishers and his company is one of the best when it comes to chess literature, because they not only have very instructive books, but they churn them out with alarming consistency. When Jacob told me in early January that he was planning a tour of India and Asia, I got really excited. It would be a great experience to spend time with the person whose books have enriched your understanding of the game! And after three months of planning, the day had finally arrived.

Jacob doesn’t speak something without any thought. I have been with him for four days and I have observed this again and again that he is very careful about what he says. Being a renowned author and trainer, he knows that his words have the power to change the lives and the way of thinking of the viewers. And I really respect such individuals, and so must you. By listening to him carefully, you can gain a lot of ideas related to chess improvement and how to become psychologically stronger. You can watch the entire show here:

The lecture was mainly based on developing the skill of decision making in chess. Various important things like how to calculate, the difference between calculation and intuition, the art of slowing down and much more was discussed. Some of the things were simple and very logical, but as Jacob often likes to say, they are simple but not easy! For example, have a look at the following position:

The three point question is a very useful tool when you want to delve deeper into the position. When you think about the weaknesses, worst placed piece and opponent’s idea you get to know something about the position which superficially you cannot.

White’s plan is pretty simple in such positions. He would like to play a3-b4 and get his queenside pawns rolling. At the same time he would like to involve his f1 rook which is currently the most inactive piece. Many players, including strong ones would have played something like Re1. While this is not a bad move, it shows thorough disrespect towards Black’s ideas. Black plays …Bb2!, transfers his bishop to a3 and starts threatening queenside play with …a4!

Just to give you an idea of how hard Jacob works for these sessions - after the first day he analyzed the games of the top players at the camp and posed them as questions to the students on the second day! The game that we would like to look at is Oliver Barbosa against Sharad Tilak. Before you check the game, try your hand at these three positions.

Vikramaditya Kulkarni - Deep Sengupta

Using the three question method, we realize that something is wrong with the Black position because of his b3 bishop. It is misplaced. Hence, even though the rook is attacked on a7, it is the right time to go for 18.c4!

And there were two boards with the same positions kept between the two teams. So when the discussions were done, a move was made on both boards! Of course there was a clock on both the boards! So towards the end it became a mad rush to avoid losing on time!

All the pictures taken were printed out and given to the participants autographed by Jacob, which would be a lifetime memory!

The open session was held on 26th March evening in the auditorium of the RCSC. Jacob spoke about the importance of a good mindset for a chess player. There is the growth mindset and the fixed mindset. We have recorded his entire speech so that you can learn and benefit from it. 

Thats the only way you can hug Praful Zaveri! Jacob was very grateful to Praful and the Indian Chess School and so are we! This was a great organizational feat by one of the best organizers in Mumbai and it surely benefited the players tremendously.

Jacob Aagaard is on a book tour of India and Asia and his main aim is spread knowledge about the best ways one can work on chess. Know about his entire schedule from the entire page dedicated to this trip.

http://aagaard.chessbase.in/