Hey chess players,
Welcome to another Hivechess lecture, and this time I will be sharing my knowledge about the game with you all, as I always do, but the game focus will be on a game from the ongoing FIDE Chess Cup 2025.
Heads up, today is another round of the Friday Hivechess Tournament hosted by @stayoutoftherz. Do not forget to turn in and play some good chess. The link is below for more details on how to participate in the tournament.
Reminder: Round 7 of the Hivechess Tournament S21, Friday 20h GMT!
Also, this coming Saturday, we will be having the 19th round Saturday Hivechess Tournament as well, and here is the link to the reminder post for the tournament:
HiveChess: Saturday Showdown (R19) & Friday Event Tomorrow!
Back to the Lecture
In today's lecture, we will be looking at a flexible setup. Flexible setups are the kind of openings where it is easy to remember the lines, ideas, and theory behind them. I believe in the ideology of keeping things simple because it can get really complicated when you get carried away with too many theories or complications.
Playing complicated openings can be hard, especially when you are not a grandmaster who has spent several hours on the game. You need to understand how to keep it simple enough for you to remember, and as you get better at the game, you can try adding complexity.
The game I will be using to explain flexible setup is the game between Praggnanandhaa and Kuybokarov in the FIDE World Cup 2025.
The opening employed in the above position is a Modern Defence. Take a look at it, and you will see that white is well placed compared to black. Centralized pawns and an active knight. That is not all, the two pawns in the center have created space for both white bishops to come out freely. But you can not say the same for black. All that is developed is the bishop on black bishop on g7. A good thing from both players is that both GMs are using simple, flexible plans to play. First, white develops his two center pawns, next black develops the bishop to the longest diagonal on the chessboard, called fianchetto.
Things got better for black when he chose to castle. Still keeping it simple, castling after developing his pieces, but for some weird reason, white still kept moving around with the queen, thereby giving up tempo.
Now the pieces are fully mobilized with an attacking chance. This is the thing: when you keep your plans simple, it helps neutralize your plans; you do not have to worry so much about a lot. Keep it as flexible as possible, that is, keeping your options open to several counter moves by simply developing your pieces, and next, you go on to attack with the attack pieces.
This is when it was all over for white. Queen to f6 loses the game. Can you find the best move?
Leave your answer in the comments.
Here is the game link:
Game link
Here is the PGN game
[Event "Hivechess S21 Round 6 Arena"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/Zz8H85Xd"]
[Date "2025.10.31"]
[White "odic3o"]
[Black "ZGM_Samostically"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1746"]
[BlackElo "2146"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
[ECO "C21"]
[Opening "Center Game: Halasz-McDonnell Gambit"]
1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. f4 d5 4. e5 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Bd3 Nge7 7. O-O Ng6 8. a3 a5
9. Kh1 Bc5 10. h3 h5 11. Re1 Kf8 12. Bxg6 fxg6 13. Qd3 Bf5 14. Qb5 Bb6 15. Ng5 Qd7
16. e6 Qd6 17. Nf7 Ke7 18. Nxd6 Kxd6 19. c4 dxc4 20. Qxc4 Ke7 21. Bd2 Rad8 22. a4
Rhe8 23. Na3 Rd6 24. Nb5 Rxe6 25. Rxe6+ Bxe6 26. Re1 Kf6 27. Qd3 Bf5 28. Qg3 Rxe1+
29. Bxe1 d3 30. Qh4+ Kf7 31. g4 Be4+ 32. Kh2 hxg4 33. hxg4 Ne7 34. Bc3 c6 35. Nd6+
Ke6 36. Nxe4 1-0
I am @samostically, a chess player and writer. I love to share the experience I have gained from different battles over the 64 squares and the knowledgeable insights from books I have read. But most importantly, I am a Midnight Owl and I founded the community Midnight Letters.
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Posted Using INLEO
As I try to understand this Chess game, it's complicated in my eyes. This game to me is kinda hard to be, except if someone is expert in playing it will say it's simple.