Positional Chess

Positional chess seems very easy at first sight. No in-depth calculations and no huge branches of variations. But just like tactics, you can become rusty if you do not train in them regularly.Whether you are a positional master or a complete amateur in this field, solving these puzzles will help you understand how the correct move is derived in a given position and this will help you to find the right moves in your tournament games.

This is how you you should work on the positions:

1. Go to any problem.
2. Think for five minutes.
3. On a piece of paper write down your answer and also the reason for the same. If you do not have a paper then you can write down your answer in the comments section. 
4. Compare your written answer to the explanation given by Sagar. If your answer as well as the reasoning is the same as given - Congratulations! But if it is not then you might have taken the first steps on the path to becoming a positional genius!

All the best!

1. Botvinnik-Konstantinopolsky

White to play.

Solution: If it were Black to move, he would have immediately pushed his pawn f5-f4 and activated his d7 bishop. As it is White's move, it makes sense to limit the scope of the d7 bishop by just playing 1.f4! which is positionally very strong.

2. Petrosian-Simagin

White to play

Solution: In a clean positional manner, Petrosian found the heart of the position. It was the control of the e4 square. He started with 1.exf5 gxf5 (Rxf5 cedes the e4 square anyway) 2.g4! A very important move. And after 2...fxg4 3. Ne4 White was already better and went on to win the game thanks to the strong knight on e4.

3. Petrosian-Bannik

White to play

Solution: White is clearly better here thanks to the passive bishop on e7 which is inhibited by its own pawns on e5, f6 and g5. A very natural continuation is 1.Bxb6 axb6 2.g4. This would secure the knight on e4 and would give White a small edge. But Petrosian goes for 1.Bc5!! Let's see what Petrosian has to say about this, "In deciding on this move, it was imperative to weigh all the "pros" and "cons" thoroughly. The move looks illogical as White is voluntarily exchangin his "good" bishop for his opponent's "bad" one, instead of swapping bishop for knight (18.Bxb6+) and securing his preponderance. However, if you probe into the position a little more deeper, it becomes obvious that after a possibe exchange of rooks on the d-file and the transfer of king to e6, Black would cover his vulnerable points and create an impregnable formation. The role played in this by the "bad" bishop would be of no small importance."

After 1.Bc5!! Rxd1 2.Rxd1 Bxc5 3.Nxc5 White was threatening infiltration on e6 and after 3...Re8 4.Ne4 Re6 5.g4! He was clearly better as the f6 pawn is very weak.

4. Donner - Keene, 1968

White to play

Solution: In such positions where White has a central majority against black's queenside majority it is very important to get your pawns rolling. In this position White can simply do that with the move 1.f3! The advance e3-e4 cannot be stopped and the bishop on b2 does an excellent job of defending d4. It was very important to get in the move f3 before Black could play c5 as now 1...c5 can be easily met with 2.e4! The game continued 1...Qg5 2.e4 Nd5 3.Qf1! Qd2 4.Qf2 Qxf2 5.Kxf2 when White had a clear advantage in the endgame thanks to the central e4 and d4 pawns and the misplaced knight on a5.

MORE POSITIONS WILL BE UPDATED REGULARLY