Gligoric — Szabo

OlympiadHelsinki, 1952

• Svetozar Gligorić (1923–2012)Yugoslav grandmaster who ranked among the world's top handful of players through the 1950s and 60s and was a repeat Candidate for the title.
• László Szabó (1917–1998)Hungarian grandmaster, a Candidate for the world title three times and a repeat winner at Hastings.

This game illustrates well the power of mobile central pawns when the opponent has no pawn barrier in the center.

Boards can be stepped through with the mouse wheel, a swipe, or the arrow keys — not just the buttons below them. Interactive boards

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1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
6. 6.
7. 7.
8. 8.
9. 9.
10. 10.
11. 11.
12. 12.
13. 13.
14. 14.
15. 15.
16. 16.
17. 17.
18. 18.
19. White knowingly let Black's central pawns become mobile, getting connected passed pawns on the flank in return
20. 19.
21. White "provokes" the advance of Black's central pawns, but clearly underestimates their strength
22. 19.
23. 20.
24. 21.
25. 22.
26. 23.
27. 24.
28. It is important not to break up the pawn duo
29. 25.
30. 26.
31. 27.
32. This solidly blocks White's passed pawn while defending Black's own. That pawn needs defending so Black can later play ...e5-e4
33. 28.
34. 29.
35. Having lost his chances on the queenside, White now looks for them on the kingside
36. 29.
37. 30.
38. 31.
39. White does not like this endingIndeed, the weakness of White's queenside pawns was becoming serious
40. 31.
41. 32.
42. Black's pawns have become a formidable force. It's worth watching how Szabo advances them without letting one fall behind the other, and without letting his opponent's pieces wedge in between them. This is exactly the method to follow when pushing pawns forward. Seeing no way to counter the advance of Black's pawns, White tries to build an attack on the king. But when the opponent controls the center, attacks like this are usually easy to repel
43. 33.
44. 34.
45. 35.
46. 36.
47. 37.
48. An important defensive move, preventing the threat of 38. gxh6 and 39. ♕g6+
49. 38.
50. 39.
51. 40.
52. White resigned without waiting for Black's reply. Black can of course win in various ways, for example by pushing forward any pawn

In this game, Gligoric could not do anything to counter his opponent's formidable central pawns or slow their advance.