Aagaard and the amazing Ahmedabad!

by Sagar Shah - 05/04/2017

After two successful training days in Mumbai, Jacob Aagaard moved to Ahmedabad on 28th and 29th of March 2017. In this article we not only give you a complete glimpse of what happened at the training sessions, but also have an entire video recording of the evening lecture that dealt with Strategic concepts. Also the first game of the badminton match between Sagar and Jacob wsa played here. Check out the article to see whom emerged as the winner!

After Jacob Aagaard's two day session at Mumbai, the action now shifted to Ahmedabad Gujarat.

Jacob Aagaard with Amruta Mokal and Sagar Shah outside the Russian Centre for Science and Culture after a successful two-day camp in Mumbai.

Mumbai to Ahmedabad is a one hour ten minute flight!

Jacob is a complete chess fanatic! Playing chess on the flight!

Once we sat in the flight, Jacob took out his analysis board and asked me to make a move. I played 1.Na3 for fun and he replied with 1...c5 and said let's go with the Zviagintsev Variation. I pushed my pawn to e4 and the game had begun! That's one of the best things about Aagaard. Be it morning, noon or night he can always play blitz with anyone!

My strategy was to think a lot and lull him off to sleep!

And then came the discovered check!

The entire show was organized by Ankit Dalal and Brain Power Chess

We were hosted at the Pleasure club owned by Gujarat's top junior Fenil Shah

The moment we reached Jacob got down to what he does best - playing chess!

Fenil took the early lead with 2-0, but Jacob struck back and took the match 4-3. In case you enjoyed the above video, here's one more!

The morning as well as the evening lectures were held at the space specially dedicated to Gujarat State Chess Association

The entrance of the club has a picture of Narendra Modi with Vishy Anand!

Players in the camp included some of the top players of Gujarat: Fenil Shah, Manush Shah, Dhyani Dave, Hemal Thanki, Jay Kundaliya, Vishwa Vasnawala, Karan Trivedi, Naitik Mehta, Vrandesh Parekh, Adi Jain, Aanya Agrawal.

Jacob focussed on theme of tactics at the lecture

According to Aagaard, calculation in chess means seeing things which you would normally not see. And in order to do that you have to slow down. Here's a very nice example:

The knight on d4 is attacked what should White play?

It is obvious that you do not want to move the knight to c2. Hence, after a while the move 1.g4 should be thought of. After that the queens move to h3 and you pick up the e5 pawn with Qxe5. You will see that the f3 pawn is hanging now. Well, this is the time to slow down and try to look at all the possibilities. After you have done that, have look at the solution below:

[Event "Los Angeles Metropolitan op 1st"]
[Site "Los Angeles"]
[Date "2011.08.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Gareev, Timur"]
[Black "Van Wely, Loek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D29"]
[WhiteElo "2613"]
[BlackElo "2683"]
[Annotator "Jacob Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r4k1r/1b2bppp/p4n2/4p2q/3N4/1BP2P2/P3Q1PP/R1BR2K1 w - - 0 19"]
[PlyCount "11"]
[EventDate "2011.08.17"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 144 Extra"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2011.10.28"]

19. g4 $3 Qh3 (19... Qh4 20. Nf5 $18) 20. Qxe5 Bxf3 (20... Nxg4 21. Qf4 $1 Nf6
22. Re1 {gives White a completely winning attack, even if there is nothing
forced to start with. Black is entirely misplaced and the weakness of the
white kingside is an irrelevant illusion, as Black cannot bring any pieces
into the attack.} Qd7 23. Nf5 Bc5+ 24. Be3 Qc6 25. Qg5 Rg8 26. Nd4 Bxd4 27.
Bxd4 Rc8 28. Rad1) (20... Re8 21. Qg3 {is a safe pawn up, even if the
mysterious} (21. Rf1 $1 {is stronger according to the engine.})) 21. Nxf3 Qxf3
(21... Qxg4+ 22. Qg3) 22. Qxe7+ $3 {The point of the combination. Black
resigned.} Kxe7 23. Ba3+ Ke8 24. Ba4+ {and White ends a piece up.} 1-0

Here's another position where all that you have to do is look. If you look properly, more often than not you are able to find the right move.

What should White play?

[Event "Tata Steel-B 78th"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2016.01.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Van Foreest, Jorden"]
[Black "Abasov, Nijat Azad"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "2541"]
[BlackElo "2556"]
[Annotator "Jacob Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3k2r/pp1n4/2p1pb2/3p2p1/3P4/2P1qNP1/PP2B1KP/R2Q1R2 w kq - 0 19"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[EventDate "2016.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "13"]
[SourceTitle "Mega2016 Update 18"]
[Source "Chessbase"]
[SourceDate "2016.02.05"]

19. Nd2 $1 (19. Qd2 {was played in the game.} Qxd2 20. Nxd2 Ke7 $14 {0-1, 75.})
(19. Ne5 {is not so great because of} Nxe5 $1 20. Rxf6 Qe4+ $11) 19... g4 20.
Rf4 e5 21. Nf1 $18 0-1

A wonderful Gujarati dinner was organized by Ankit Dalal at his home!

It was a very sumptuous meal

Two great trainers in one picture: Evgeny Vladmirov and Jacob Aagaard

The state of Gujarat has excellent backing from the Government. It is for this reason that they were able to invite Evgeny Vladimirov to train the students. It is very rare to see two trainers of such high quality in one city. In Ahmedabad Vladmirov and Aagaard were teaching in the same building! With such investment and interest, there is absolutely no reason why for the chess in the state to really flourish!

GM Tejas Bakre joins in! Did you know what is one thing, apart from being a grandmaster, that Tejas and Jacob have in common? They both learnt from the great trainer Mark Dvoretsky.

The group picture after the dinner!

Black has just moved his pawn to f5 from f7. How should White finish him off?

[Event "World Senior Team"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Arnason"]
[Black "Guillian"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "Jacob Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r4rk1/pp1R2p1/4p1q1/3n1pP1/6Q1/2PB4/PP3bP1/2K4R w - f6 0 19"]
[PlyCount "21"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2015.12.20"]

{Knight added to d5.} 19. gxf6 $3 Be3+ (19... Qxg4 $2 20. Bh7+ Kh8 21. Bg6+ Qh4
22. Rxh4+ Bxh4 23. fxg7+ Kg8 24. Bh7+ $3 Kxh7 25. gxf8=Q+ $18) 20. Kb1 Qxf6 21.
Qe4 g6 22. c4 Qf5 (22... Nf4 23. Qxe3 Nxd3 24. Rh8+ Qxh8 25. Qxe6+) (22... Rac8
$5 23. cxd5 (23. a3 $1) 23... Qf1+ 24. Rxf1 Rxf1+ 25. Bxf1 Rc1#) 23. Rhh7 Rfc8
24. Rhg7+ Kf8 25. a3 Qxe4 26. Bxe4 Rc7 27. Rgf7+ Kg8 28. Rxc7 Nxc7 29. Rxc7 $16
*

The evening talk was attended by a lot of people from different cities of Gujarat

The evening session of the Aagaard session which dealt with Strategic decision making. He showed his game against Simon Williams. 53 minutes of the show recorded by Ankit Dalal...

...followed by another 16 minutes

This boy travelled all the way from Ankleshwar to attend the lecture

This is a pretty easy one. White to play and win!

[Event "PRO League Atlantic 2017"]
[Site "chess.com INT"]
[Date "2017.01.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Lugo, Bl"]
[Black "Gulamali, K."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B47"]
[WhiteElo "2399"]
[BlackElo "2341"]
[Annotator "Aagaard"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rqbn1k1r/1p1p1ppp/3Np1n1/b1B5/4P2Q/2P5/PP3PPP/R3KB1R w KQ - 0 15"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "2017.01.11"]
[SourceDate "2015.12.20"]
[WhiteTeam "Miami Champions"]
[BlackTeam "Atlanta Kings"]

15. Nxc8+ $1 (15. Qg3 $2 {was played in the game.} Kg8 16. h4 h5 17. O-O-O Bc7
18. f4 b6 19. Bb4 Nc6 20. f5 Nge5 21. Ba3 Rxa3 22. bxa3 Bxd6 23. fxe6 dxe6)
15... d6 (15... Kg8 16. Ne7+ Nxe7 17. Qxe7 Nc6 18. Qd6 $16) 16. Qxd8+ $3 {
The important intermediate move.} Bxd8 17. Bxd6+ Qxd6 18. Nxd6 $16 0-1

Apart from chess we also indulged in physical sports! The much awaited badminton game at the Karnavati club!

It was a great fight, but Jacob emerged victorious at 11-9! (In my defense, the racquet was a little tilted! :) )

The smile of a winner!

400 metre race between Fenil Shah and Jacob Aagaard

The young legs were a little bit too much for Jacob, but he gave a tough fight!

Thus an exciting training session came to an end in Ahmedabad!

Beautiful certificates printed by the organizers

A huge thank to Gujarat State Chess Association secretary Bhavesh Patel (left) for being a part of this program, and....

...Ankit Dalal and his wife Bijal for being wonderful hosts!

On a parting note, we leave you with this tricky position! White to play and win.

[Event "Newcastle"]
[Site "Eilat ISR"]
[Date "2016.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Training game w James Moreby"]
[Black "Rook removed from a1 ;-)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2br1k1r/3p2pp/nq1P1p1n/p3N3/1p3Q2/1B6/PP3PPP/4R1K1 w - - 0 20"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[EventDate "2012.10.11"]
[SourceDate "2015.12.20"]

20. Qe4 $1 (20. Nc4 Qc6 21. Qe3 Nf5 $19) (20. Ng4 Qb5 21. Nxh6 Re8 $1 $17)
20... Qxd6 (20... g6 21. Nc4 $18) (20... fxe5 21. Qf3+ $18) 21. Qxh7 $3 Rxh7
22. Ng6# 1-0

Two days in Ahmedabad were fun. It was now time to move to the capital of India - Delhi!