Active or Passive Play
Submitted by
Chessbuff on Thu, 07/26/2007 at 9:08am.
Going over the games from Biel 2007, I came upon this position from Round 3 between Van Wely and Motylev. Van Wely was not in a favorable position with his bishop pinned and black's rook on the second rank. His prospects lay with his two connected rooks. Here's a case where black could have opted for a simple defensive move like 33...e5, protecting the D pawn but blocking his bishop that could be actively played instead. So, Motylev had to decide between defending passively or defending actively. Either way, he's got a good game going. See how Motylev crashed into Van Wely's position for the win...