keypusher: This game and Pillsbury vs Schlechter, 1895 were the next chapter after Pillsbury's famous victory over Tarrasch at Hastings (Pillsbury vs Tarrasch, 1895). Note that Schlechter was willing to play ...c4 because of his belief in the strength of black's pawn advance to counterbalance White's strength in the center and kingside. Vukovic has an interesting comment in <The Art of Attack in Chess><Indirect defence [that is, defense by counterattack in a different part of the board] by means of advancing a pawn majority on the queenside was at one time held in high esteem and was more often practised than nowadays; the real reason for this is that we have acquired a better understanding of the centre and the technique of centralization, thanks to the hypermodern school. It is clear that the player who has a majority on the wing, when the material is equally balanced, will usually not have the greater influence or pressure in the centre, nor will he have the necessary conditions for a central action. A majority on the wing is created at the expense of the centre and means giving up lateral pressure on the centre, and that is the sort of strategy which the masters of today are reluctant to adopt. The struggle for the centre is a characteristic feature of all present-day openings, and the centralization of the pieces is an important theme of modern positional play; as a result, a majority on the wing appears nowadays more as a by-product of a particular strategy than its primary aim (for example, in the Exchange Variation of the Gruenfeld Defence).>
Here are Tarrasch's comments on the game from the tournament book.
After 10....Bb7 <In this position I like the White game, because almost all of the white pieces are better posted than the Black ones.>
After 11. Bb1 <Safer here and also more correct is 11. dxc5 in order not to allow Black the pawn majority on the Queen's wing.> In other words, Tarrasch doesn't agree with Vukovic's strategic assessment, despite his own loss to Pillsbury.
After 12....Nxc3 <In the same way Schlechter also defended the Queen's Gambit against Pillsbury at Hastings; Pillsbury here took back with the Rook which involved a loss of tempo.>
After 14....g6 <On 14....f5 there follows 15. g4 with a still stronger attack.>
After 15. g4 <White now prepares an attack on the castled position, which appears irresistible. But Black defends himself very carefully, and then, for his part, attacks on the Queen's side.>
After 22. Qb2 <To anticipate the move ...Bf5.>
After 27....Rf7 <! Black gives up the attack at the right time and seeks to break the spearhead of the enemy's attack through exchange. With 27....bxc3 28. Qxc3 Qb4 29. Qc1 Qb2 30. Qd1 White's attack becomes very strong; an eventual rook sacrifice is threatened on h7 followed by Bxg6.>
After 30....Nd7 <! Not 30....Bxb1 31. Qxb1 Nd7 on account of 32. Qxg6+.>
After 36....Rd8 <The other rook may not defend because of f7+.>
The fact that Schlechter pushes his queenside pawns doesn't mean he neglects his king; the game is a good example of his defensive skill. I suspect a modern GM would prefer f2-f3 and e3-e4 over Tarrasch's advance of his g- and h-pawns.
Kibitzing
