Lesson 1: My Two Most Interesting Games
Attacking the King in the Center
King safety is the most important consideration in chess. The
following two instructive games illustrate how to attack the king when
it is exposed in the center. In these games, Smirin sacrificed
material in order achieve such attacking possibilities. To a large
extent, the play followed Smirin's intuition rather than exact and
lengthy calculation of variations.
Game 1
Smirin-Rychagov (Tashkent 1984)
1 e4 c5
2 Nf3 d6
3 d4 cd
4 Nd4 Nf6
5 Nc3 a6
6 Bg5 e6
7 Qd3 Nbd7
8 O-O-O b5
9 f4 Bb7
10 e5 de
11 fe Ne5
12 Qg3 Ned7
13 Ndb5 ab
14 Bb5 Bc8
15 Bf6 gf
16 Rd3 Qb6
17 Qf3 Ra5?
18 Bd7 Bd7
19 Qf6 Rg8
20 Rd7 Rf5
21 Nd5! Qa5
22 Rd1! Kd7
23 Ne7 Kc7
24 Nf5 Qf5
25 Qd8+ Kc6
26 Kb1 Qc5
27 a4 Rg4
28 Qc8+ Kb6
29 Qb8 Ka5
30 Qa8 Kb4
31 Rd3 Bg7
32 Rb3 Kc4
33 Qa6
1-0
Game 2
Aseev - Smirin (Klaipeda 1989)
1 d4 Nf6
2 c4 c5
3 Nf3 cd
4 Nd4 e5
5 Nb5 d5
6 cd Bc5
7 N5c3 O-O
8 h3?! Bf5
9 e3 Bg6
10 g4 e4
11 Bg2 Na6
12 g5 Nb4!
13 gf Nd3+
14 Kd2 Qf6
15 Rf1 Rfe8
16 a3 b5
17 Ra2 h5!!
18 Nb5 Qg5
19 Bh1 Nf2
20 Qe2 Nh1
21 Rh1 Qd5+
22 Kc2 Qa2
0-1