Prophylaxis

From the very beginning of our course, we told about the correct thinking in chess. One
of the most important questions that the chess player has to always ask in his mind is:
“What does the opponent threat?” followed by “Is that a real threat?”
Here, the threat doesn’t only mean something like simple captures, simple tactical strikes
or so. The opponent can threat to make a favorable exchange, to improve his pawn
structure, to complete his development, to obtain a strong square and so on – these are
positional threats.
So, again, a strong player has to:
1. identify his opponent’s immediate threats (simple/tactical operations)
2. identify his opponent’s positional threats (what the opponent wants TO DO)
3. evaluate if these threats are real (evaluate if opponent’s threats and plans are
really good and if they make any harm to his position).

Prophylaxis is this thinking process and the operations that you take to prevent
opponent’s threats (and plans).

Usually, by prophylaxis you do not improve your own position, but obstruct the opponent
to improve his position. Therefore, another important aspect that must be taken into
consideration is the economy of time and forces. You should try to find the best
prophylactic measures and in the same time you should try to do this in a natural way,
without investing too much time or deviating from your own plans.

So, prophylaxis is not a continuous defense against opponent’s threats; in this case, the
opponent has the initiative, isn’t it? A good prophylactic play is when you succeed to
carry out your own plans and in the same time you put obstacles against opponent’s ones.
This is why the evaluation of opponent’s threats and plans plays an important role.

Position from the game Nimzowitsch – Leonhardt, XABCDEFGHY

1911.
The center is semi-closed and White started an 8-+-+-tr-mk(
attack on the kingside. The problem is that Black’s 7zp-zpr+lzpp'
queen and bishop succeeds to keep the white pieces 6-zp-+-zp-+&
in defense of the queenside.
White can solve this problem by playing c3-c4, 5+-zp-zp-+-%
closing the center and also preventing a possible 4q+-+P+PzP$
breakthrough c5-c4. The problem of this move (c3-
c4) is that it weakens the d4-square and the black 3+-zPPsN-tR-#
queen will get another threatening position, this time 2P+P+-zP-mK"
in the center.
Nimzowitsch evaluated the 2 positions (with pawn
1tR-wQ-+-+-!
on c3 and with pawn on c4) and got to the xabcdefghy
conclusion that, in the first case, Black’s obstruction White is to move
against white pieces is real, while, in the second

1
case is not. So, he played:
24.c4 Be6 25.Qb2 a5 26.Rag1 Qc6
The black queen is heading to d4 and White has nothing to do to prevent it, but…
27.R1g2! Qd6 28.Qc1 Qd4? 29.Nd5!
This was White’s idea: the black queen on d4 was not a real threat for White’s position
since she will be trapped and attacked by c2-c3.

Position from the game Thelen – Treybal, 1927. XABCDEFGHY

The essence of this position is the open c-file and
the advantage will go to the player who succeeds to 8-+-+-trk+(
occupy it (if possible!). White has a better bishop, 7+ptr-+-zpl'
not obstructed by his own pawns, but obstructed by 6-wq-+p+-zp&
the opponent pawns. In the other hand, White has
problems with the weakness of the d4-pawn which 5zp-+pzPp+-%
needs permanent protection. 4-+-zP-zP-+$
In conclusion, White has NO advantage, but he
played 1.h3!? with the tricky idea to show Black 3zP-+LwQ-+-#
that his intentions are to attack the kingside starting 2-zP-tR-+PzP"
with g2-g4.
Black immediately took preventive measures against
1+-+-+-tRK!
White’s threat and he played 1…Rcf7? forgetting xabcdefghy
about the important control over the c-file. White is to move
Black didn’t make a correct evaluation of White’s “threat” which was merely a
psychological test for Black. The threat was not real and Black should have simply
played 1…Rfc8 or anything else that keeps the c-file under control.
Now, the c-file was cleared so White went back to the logical plan playing 2.Rc1,
conquered the c-file and, then, won the game.

Conclusion: although we need to take into account opponent’s threats and plans, this
doesn’t mean we need to prevent them all!
While prophylactic thinking is always good, prophylactic measures are not.

XABCDEFGHY
Remember the position from the Test 01 from the
beginning of the course? 8-+r+-trk+(
The white bishop is behind the pawns which are 7+p+-+-zp-'
almost blocked on dark-squares. White would be in 6p+n+p+-zp&
serious trouble if Black succeeds to play Ne7-d5,
blocking forever the central d4-pawn. 5+-zP-+p+-%
4-zP-zPp+-+$
This is a real positional threat and therefore White
has to do everything possible to prevent it. The only 3zP-+-tR-+-#
way is to start attacking the black pawns targeting 2-vL-+-zPPzP"
the e6-pawn by 1.f3!
1tR-+-+-mK-!
Besides this problem no2, many other problems of xabcdefghy

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the Test 01 were about prophylactic thinking:
Problem 4: White starts an attack against the Black weak structure on the kingside, this
way not giving Black the necessary time to regroup his forces (“active prophylaxis”:
pressure, obstruction);
Problem 5: Defending against an immediate tactical strike (Nxd4);
Problem 6: Defensive measure against Black’s pressure: the exchange of the queens;
Problems 11-14: were merely problems of finding a defense in a tensioned position,
anyway prophylactic thinking played an important role.

Prophylaxis – Preparatory moves

The best way to explain this is directly by an XABCDEFGHY

example. In this position from the game Karpov –
Huebner, 1972, White intends to improve the 8r+-tr-+k+(
position of his minor pieces by Nb3-d4 and Be2-f3. 7+lwq-+pzpp'
But the direct 1.Nd4 would meet 1…Qc5 which is 6pzp-zppsnn+&
not so pleasant for White.
Therefore, White prepares the knight move with 5+-+-+-+-%
1.a3! 4-+P+PzP-+$
Now, after 2.Nd4 Black doesn’t like 2…Qc5
because of 3.b4. 3+NsN-wQ-zP-#
2PzP-+L+-zP"
This kind of preparatory moves, a result of
prophylactic thinking, are important finesses that
1+-tRR+-mK-!
eventually make the difference. xabcdefghy
White is to move

Let’s see what happens when preparatory moves are XABCDEFGHY

forgotten.
In the game Karpov – Cobo, 1972, White has just 8r+-+-trk+(
played 12.Be3 with the threat a4-a5 and control over 7+pwqlvlpzpp'
the b6-square. 6p+nzppsn-+&
Black did not take into account White’s possibility
and played directly 12…Nb4 5+-+-+-+-%
It was necessary 12…b6 and only after this Nc6-a5 4P+-+PzP-+$
or Nc6-b4.
Now, White gets a clear advantage by: 3+NsN-vL-+-#
13.a5! Bc6 14.Bb6 Qb8 15.Qd2! 2-zPP+L+PzP"
White defends indirectly the e4-pawn and threatens
to capture Black’s b4-knight by 16.Nd1 and 17.c3
1tR-+Q+R+K!
xabcdefghy
Black is to move

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Prophylaxis – Preventive Defense

The master of defensive prophylaxis was Tigran Petrosian who liked to always keep
things under control, extensively defending his position.

Preventive defense means strengthening the own position, somehow passively, in

advance of an opponent attack. This strategy looks contradictory with what we have just
recommended about the economy of time and forces and that only real threats should be
repulsed.
However, the nuance is very important. Let’s say that once the opponent started the
attack, the position becomes complicated and you need to invest a serious time to defend.
In exchange, you could make some only few moves and the attack is discouraged from
the start. Of course, in this case, you should choose the second option: the preventive
defense.

In this position from the game Saemisch – XABCDEFGHY

Gruenfeld, 1929, Black has good prospects because
of his “good” bishop against White’s “bad” bishop. 8r+l+-tr-mk(
In an endgame, this advantage would be very 7zp-zp-wq-snp'
important. White’s only chance is to continue the 6-+-+-zp-sN&
attack on the kingside where his pieces have a better
dynamic. 5+-zpPzp-zp-%
So, Black should necessarily ask the question: “how 4-+P+P+P+$
can White continue the attack?”.
There is not enough space for White at this moment 3zP-zPL+R+R#
to organize anything, but more space can be created 2-+-+-wQ-zP"
by advancing the h-pawn: Rh3-g3, followed by h2-
h4. Suddenly, White will get more room for his
1+-+-+-mK-!
major pieces on the h-file and the f6-pawn will xabcdefghy
become problematic. Black is to move
So, White’s attacking plan is real, therefore Black
should take defensive measures before it begins.

Once you know what you have TO DO, the idea comes more easily: White needs to
remove the rook from the h-file and, as a consequence, the h6-knight becomes
undefended.
The correct solution was: 29...Ne8! 30.Rhg3 Kg7 attacking the knight! 31.Nf5+ Bxf5
32.gxf5 h5 and Black has a safe position and can hope to a better endgame.

Instead of using the prophylactic thinking, Black played:

29…Bd7 and White’s plan cannot be stopped anymore: 30.Rhg3 Be8 31.h4! gxh4
32.Rg2 h3 33.Rxh3 Bg6 34.Rf3 Rab8 35.Qh4 and White has clear superiority; in fact,
Black has nothing to do against 36.Rgf2 and 37.g5

4
This position from the game Nimzowitsch – XABCDEFGHY
Bernstein, 1923, is characterized by long pawn
chains in the center. This characteristic is more 8rsnl+-trk+(
important than the opposite castles. In fact, the 2 7+pwq-vlpzpp'
players will attack on the same sides with their own 6p+p+-sn-+&
kings because of the local space advantage: Black
on the kingside and White on the queenside. 5+-zPp+-+-%
So, Black’s plan is to play f7-f5-f4 opening the f-file 4-zP-zPp+-sN$
for the rook and creating a weakness on e3. After
the necessary move, Nf6-e8, the rest of Black’s 3zP-sN-zP-+-#
moves will come easily and White will be soon in 2-vLQ+-zPPzP"
trouble. On the other hand, White’s attack on the
queenside needs more time to become dangerous.
1+-mKR+L+R!
Therefore, Nimzowitsch, the first player who xabcdefghy
formulated the theory of prophylaxis, first of all White is to move
took care to put obstacles in front of Black’s plan:
13.g3 Ne8 14.Ng2 f5 15.h4!
With this setup of white pawns, Black’s pawn advance on the kingside is much more
difficult, if not even impossible. If Black wants to continue his plan, he will need to play
h7-h6, g7-g5 which would lead to a complete opening of the kingside.
15…Bd8 16.a4 Once Black’s plan was hindered, White carries out his own plan.
16…b6? When a player sees his logical plan stopped by the opponent, he usually starts to
make other plans which …are not logical. By his last move, Black only worsens his
position on the queenside where White attacks.
17.b5! Nf6 18.Nf4 axb5 19.axb5
and White’s attack on the queenside is very strong. He will only need to play Be2, Kd2
and bring the rooks on the open files.

Prophylaxis – Elimination of weaknesses in the own position

In position from the right, White has a small but XABCDEFGHY

long-lasting advantage because of his space
advantage and better bishop. 8-+-+-+-tr(
It is very important to determine the correct plan of 7snp+lmkpzpp'
play for White. Because of the pawn structure 6p+r+p+-+&
(typical of French Defense), White will try to attack
on the kingside by the typical f4-f5. 5+-tRpzP-+-%
4-zP-zP-zP-+$
1...Rhc8? a weak move that doesn’t do anything
against White’s active plan. 3zP-+LmK-+-#
2.g4! g6 3.f5 gxf5 4.gxf5 Rg8? 2-+-+N+PzP"
Another weak move that doesn’t prevent White’s
threat of playing f5-f6.
1+-tR-+-+-!
Better was: 4...exf5 5.Nf4 Be6 6.Rg1 even if White xabcdefghy
keeps an advantage. Black is to move

5
Now, after:
5.f6+ Kf8 6.Rg1 Rxg1 7.Nxg1 Black remained with the very weak h-pawn which cannot
be defended for too much time, giving White’s large space advantage on that side.

We saw a very clear example where non prophylactic measures against a positional plan
led to a quick loss.
Black should have played 1…g6! followed by h7-h5 which still could not stop White’s
plan of playing on the kingside (for example: h2-h3, g2-g4 and f4-f5), but would have
eliminated the black kingside pawns, the potential weaknesses.

Remember: especially at the border between middlegame and endgame, pay particular
attention to your weaknesses and potential weaknesses and try to eliminate them.

Prophylaxis – Strengthening the key-squares/pawns

Sometimes, a square or a pawn is very important for the evaluation of the position, for
example: the squares of blockades in front of free pawns, the advanced pawns which
confer space advantage, weak central squares, pawns that restrict the mobility of
opponent pieces and so on. Therefore, the control of such kind of squares/pawns is very
important as the entire position may “hang” on them.

More than that, some theoreticians recommend the overprotection of such important
pawns and squares in the idea that the pieces which “see” them gains in importance.
Although there are cases when this is true, there are many situations when superfluous
pieces targeting a same square at least doesn’t help. Every position has its own
characteristics and finesses, therefore, rules cannot be given. Only concrete evaluation
can tell you when overprotection is good or not.

In this example from the game Nimzowitsch - XABCDEFGHY

Alekhine, 1925, the white d4-pawn restricts the
mobility of Black’s Bb6 and Nc6 and confers White 8r+q+-trk+(
space advantage in the center. For that reason, this 7+pzp-snpzpp'
pawn is very important and White has to strengthen 6-vlnzp-+-+&
its defense, especially that Black exerts serious
pressure over it. 5zp-+-+-+-%
14…Qf5 15.Rad1 Rae8 16.Rd2!? 4-+PzP-+-+$
White starts to overprotect the d4-pawn by
preparing to double the rooks on the d-file. Also 3zPPsNQ+-zP-#
good for the same reason was directly 16.Nb5! 2-vL-+NzPKzP"
16…Qg5 17.Rfd1 Ba7 18.Nf4 Nf5 19.Nb5! Bb8
20.Nd5
1tR-+-+R+-!
It is clear that White dominates the center so his xabcdefghy
strategy of overprotection triumphed. Black is to move

6
Prophylaxis – Freeing pawn moves

The prophylaxis against opponent’s freeing pawn moves was exposed for the first time
by Nimzowitsch in his book “My System”.

In this example from Vukic - Davcevski, 1979, XABCDEFGHY

Black’s plan is to push e6-e5 which is technically
realizable after Bxf3. 8r+-+-trk+(
Since for White the time for active actions has not 7zpp+nwq-zpp'
came yet, the prophylactic measures are the best: 6-+p+psn-+&
14.Re1!
The rook looks passive behind the e-pawn, but 5+-+p+p+l%
prevents Black’s idea: 14…Bxf3 15.exf3 and the 4-+PzP-+-+$
rook is now on an open file.
Moreover, this is also a preparatory move as sooner 3+P+N+NzP-#
or later White will play Nf3-e5, f2-f3, followed by 2P+-+PzPLzP"
e2-e4.
1tR-wQ-+RmK-!
xabcdefghy
White is to move

Here we will see a very famous example of XABCDEFGHY

prophylactic thinking from the game Dolmatov -
Beliavsky, 1989, after a Ruy Lopez opening. 8-+-trrvlk+(
7+lwqn+p+p'
The next White’s move is extremely “mysterious” 6p+pzp-snp+&
(like Nimzowitsch named such rook moves behind
the pawns): 5+p+-zp-+-%
18.Rab1! 4P+-zPP+-+$
The idea is very complex and altogether this move
does not drastically improve White’s position. 3vLPzPL+N+P#
In this structure, Black’s “freeing” move is d6-d5. 2-+QsN-zPP+"
But let’s evaluate the consequences of this move:
after 18…d5 White can trade the dark-square
1tR-+-tR-mK-!
bishops and then play b3-b4 blocking black pawns xabcdefghy
on light-squares and consequently turning the black White is to move
light-square bishop into a very bad / passive piece.
So, if Black wants to play d6-d5, he should prepare it first. Following the prophylactic
reasoning, Black should play first 18…b5xa4 and after 19.b3xa4 d5, White has not the
b3-b4 move anymore.
So, Dolmatov looked deeply into Black’s position and anticipated his prophylactic /
preparatory move b5xa4 by putting the rook on the b-file which would become open…

7
In the game, Black continued directly by: 18…d5? and after 19.Bxf8 Kxf8 20.b4 dxe4
21.Bxe4 exd4 22.cxd4, White obtained a clear advantage due to the problematic Black’s
Bb7 behind the weak and immobile queenside pawns.

“Active Prophylaxis”: Obstruction / Pressure

When you are in advantage and your opponent only can hope to defend his position,
prophylactic is still important. Even if now it is not about defending against opponent’s
threats, it is logical to play obstructing his plans of re-establishing the equilibrium of the
position.
We call this “active prophylaxis” and it refers to actions that keep the initiative on your
side, obstruct opponent’s pieces, or increase the pressure. In fact, it is logic that the fight
for the initiative must include the limitation of opponent’s possibilities.

Let’s see an example from Mikhail Tal’s practice, a XABCDEFGHY

game against Gligoric in 1959.
8r+-wqk+-tr(
In his book “Life and Games”, Tal commentated 7+lzp-+p+-'
that his next move “was necessary – otherwise 6-zp-zppsn-zp&
Black would prepare for queenside castling, and
then I could not find an active plan for White”. 5zp-+-+-+-%
16.d5! 4P+PzP-+psN$
So, White fights against the normal Black’s
development (“active prophylaxis”). 3+-zPLzP-zP-#
2-+Q+-zPP+"
The acceptance of the pawn sacrifice would leave
the black king unsafe for the rest of the game while
1+R+-mK-+R!
white pieces would become extremely dangerous: xabcdefghy
16...exd5 17.cxd5 Bxd5 or 17...Nxd5 18.0–0 White is to move
16…Qe7 17.0–0 Nd7
Black loses the exchange in case of 17...0–0–0: 18.dxe6 fxe6 19.Ng6
18.dxe6 Qxe6 19.Bf5
In just some few moves, the situation on the board was drastically changed in favor of
Tal who was in his element in this kind of positions.
Let’s see some few more moves:
19…Qxc4 20.Rfd1 Nf6 [20...0–0–0 21.Rd4 Qc5 22.Rb5 Qa3 23.Bxg4] 21.Rd4 Qc6
22.Be6 Rg8 [22...fxe6 23.Qg6+ Kd7 24.Qg7+] 23.Bc4 Kf8 [23...0–0–0 24.Bxf7] 24.Bb5
Qc5 25.Rc4 Qe5 26.Rxc7 Be4 27.Bd3 d5 28.Rc6 Rb8 29.c4 and White has a clear
advantage.

Final Word

The prophylaxis, or better said the prophylactic thinking, is the highest form of positional
mastery. While ordinary players are merely busy to see only their threats and plans, the

8
strong players invest time to “see” in opponent’s mind and limit their actions. Beside all
evident advantages, another one is created: the psychological pressure. When a chess
player (let’s say your opponent) constantly sees his ideas repulsed, he will soon
disappear, starting to take dubious decisions.

We hope that by this lesson your desire to think in both directions increased in some
extent. Continuous training in this direction can help you a lot, but fortunately this is not
difficult and can be done by everyone:

1. Always use the correct thinking in chess that we recommended from the very
beginning of our course: always think what your opponent wants to do, evaluate if
his intentions are “real” (only in this case you need to prevent them) and how you
can do that with minimum effort.
2. After you finish a game (over the board; face 2 face with your opponent) take
benefit of his opportunity, be a gentleman and offer him to analyze together the
game while it’s still “hot”. You will be extremely surprised how many of his ideas
you didn’t consider during the game. You may write down some of them and re-
study the game when you are back home. Try to understand why you didn’t see
all his intentions during the game.
3. Every time you lose a game, be sure this was because you didn’t use the
prophylactic thinking at least in one key-moment of the game! Don’t blame the
“weather”, but try to identify the mistakes from your game.
4. Take Karpov’s “My Best Games” annotated by himself and study them paying
particular attention to his prophylactic moves/thinking – try to discover the
Karpov’s prophylactic thinking behind every of his move. If any of his games
seems to you easy, it means you need to restudy the game again and discover the
mastery behind that “simplicity”.
5. When you will analyze trying to solve the over 100 problems from the advanced
section of our course, don’t forget to think carefully to “what opponent wants”;
many of these problems are about prophylaxis.

Reflect upon this:

Rarely a game is won by you, but in a greater extent is lost by your opponent (by no
means doesn’t this imply you weren’t superior; you were!). If you are in doubt, take a
look at the top level games which very often end in a draw.
To continue this reasoning: you will get better results limiting opponent’s play than only
focusing at your own ideas. Once again: not only defensive prophylaxis, but also as much
as possible: active prophylaxis.