Chess: Ulf Andersson, positional master
Andersson rarely makes a direct attack: he wins by subtle improvements in position
Ronan Bennett and Daniel King guardian.co.uk,
Monday 18 July 2011 23.00 BST
Andersson-Gruenfeld, Luzern 1982. White to play.
DK I’ve been wanting to tackle positional play in this column for some time, but couldn’t think of a good way into a topic that is just too vast – until inspiration came with the arrival of Grandmaster Chess Strategy, by Jurgen Kaufeld and Guido Kern (New In Chess, £19.95). The title is bland, but the strapline reveals the content: “What amateurs can learn from Ulf Andersson’s positional masterpieces”.
Andersson is, for me, an enigmatic player: he rarely makes a direct attack on his opponent’s king, preferring to exchange pieces and gently improve his position – and against strong players this frequently leads to draws. His style never changes, whether facing world champions or comparative duffers, and that has perhaps contributed to his slide down the rankings over the last few years. Nevertheless, when he does win, usually by exploiting the slightest disharmony in his opponent’s army, the games are often sublime.
To get a feel for Andersson’s style, I’d recommend playing through a stack of his games from a database, for example at playchess.com or chessgames.com. You’ll see that he generally makes steady progress – his wins are often long – but we can still identify definite moments when he gains the advantage, and I’ve selected some of these positions to look at over the coming weeks.
More here.
He was nearly unbeatable at his peak.