The analysts for the World Team in the Kasparov vs. The World are all rising young chess superstars. These are the next generation of names that will rise to the top of the chess-playing world. If you're unsure what move to play against World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, our analysts can point you in the right direction with their thoughtful responses.

Instead of advancing his pawn, Garry has chosen to re-position his queen. Why?

If he had pushed the pawn straight away, his king would have been exposed to a hail of checks by The World's queen. By bringing his queen to this more central square, Garry Kasparov shields his own king from attack, and so prepares to give his pawn a smooth run down to the queening square.

This is a serious threat. If the pawn gets to the 8th rank and promotes to another new queen, the game will be over. The only way for Black to defend against the threat is to bring his queen into a position where it can hassle White's king.

As I see it, there are three possible ways of achieving this: re-centralising the queen immediately with 54...Qd3, or 54...Qd5; or, more radically, sacrifice the b-pawn with 54...b4.

In this last case, if White leaves the pawn, then the b-pawn steams down the board providing sufficient counterplay for Black. Alternatively, if the pawn is taken with 55 Qxb4, then White's queen will have been deflected from its excellent central position, and Black's queen steps in with a check: 55...Qf3+. To escape from the checks, the king would have to hide in front of the g-pawn, so hindering its progress towards the 8th rank.

Good luck with your choice: we are still stepping through a minefield.

Qd3 to Kasparov's Qf4

I suggest 54...Qd3, First, by doing this we defend both pawns, and second, Qd3 will allow Qc3+ as well as protecting the square b4 for our advancing pawn.

Qd3 to Kasparov's Qf4

In this position, my recommendation for The World is 54...Qd3. I think this is a very important move since Black has to advance and promote his "b" pawn to a Queen at the same that White does. The idea of 54...Qd3 consists of re-positioning the queen on c3, so the "b" pawn can move quickly ahead.

Qd5 to Kasparov's Qf4

I think this is The World's best chance to make problems for the Kasparov. The game might continue with 55.g6... b4 and then, for example, 56.Qxb4... Qe5+ leads to a draw. The World Champion has other possibilites for move 56:

56.Qf1+... Kb2 57.Qf2+... Ka3 58.Qg3+... b3 59.g7... Qg8, OR 56.g7... b3 57.Qf1+... Ka2 58.Qg1... Qe5+! (not 58...Qg8 59.Qa7, winning for White).

It is difficult to predict whether or not this game will be a draw.

b4 to Kasparov’s Qf4

I recommend the World plays the move 54…b4 (Pawn on b5 to b4)

SUMMARY With 54.Qf4, the World Champion has activated and CENTRALIZED his Queen (with the maneuver Qh7-h2-f4). He has also managed to get his King out from under the feet of his passed g-pawn, and he is now ready to advance his g-pawn towards g8. For its part, the World has firmly placed its King in the "safe a1-CORNER" region of the board, distancing the King from the White g-pawn - as we understand is correct from Queen endgame theory. However, it is vital that Black activates his position immediately and generates COUNTERPLAY to combat White's simple but dangerous plan of advancing the g-pawn.

I am recommending the DYNAMIC PAWN SACRIFICE 54…b4. This presents White with the dilemma of either taking our b-pawn and allowing the Black position to come to LIFE after 55.Qxb4 Qf3+ (planning an advance of our PASSED d-PAWN), or ignoring our b-pawn with 55.g6, when Black's pawn is just as FAST with 55…b3. This pawn sacrifice (54…b4) would represent the second time we have sacrificed a b-pawn in this game, in order to clear the way for a PASSED d-PAWN! The move 54…b4 has been endorsed by the grizzled, battle-hardened veteran analysts in the trenches of the World Team Strategy Bulletin Board, and has also been analyzed by Grandmaster Chess School, and I believe it is correct.

After much work and worry, I believe the World is now in a position to bring about a WIN of our objective - to ACHIEVE a draw with the Black pieces against the most BRILLIANT CHESS MIND the world has ever known - a task that most analysts predicted would be impossible. The World Team has fought brilliantly and valiantly, with its backs against the wall for over three months as the World Champion has launched fire and fury against its best collective efforts. There is no holding back now, we must push 54…b4, sacrificing our b-pawn. If he captures our gallant foot soldier on b4, we will WIN the critical f3-SQUARE for our Queen, so that we can play to dominate the White King - driving it in front of his g-pawn. His g-pawn will be blocked by his own King, and meanwhile our PASSED d-pawn marches forward unimpeded.

Sometimes I post on the World Team Strategy Bulletin Board under the anonymous identity "Solnushka" - in this way my fellow analysts do not know who I am!

Don't forget to visit the World Team Strategy Bulletin Board! /bbs/kasparov-team/index.asp

Check out Grandmaster Chess School! /

ANALYSIS Before we start, it is very important to understand this analysis in light of Black's goal.

Black is playing for a DRAW. Why? Because, although Black has a material advantage, White's g-pawn (on White's fifth rank) is SUPERIOR to Black's b-pawn (on Black's fourth rank) and Black's d-pawn (on Black's third rank). In other words, White has full COMPENSATION for his pawn deficit. TIME is an important element in chess. In this position, Black's problem is his LACK of time - Black does not have the time to prepare the advance of either of his passed pawns to counter White's threatening advance of his g-pawn, and Black's Queen is passively placed.

In science, we understand that matter can be converted to energy - for example, the basis of the Atomic Bomb. By analogy, in chess, matter can also be converted to energy (or initiative or time). In the current board situation, Black must energize his position by converting MATTER (a pawn) into ENERGY (tempo or time).

Do you remember on Move 47, how we sacrificed our front doubled b-pawn to clear the way for the advance of our front doubled d-pawn? A similar situation appears before us - once again, we must seriously consider sacrificing our b-pawn, for the betterment of our d-pawn. Think of our b-pawn as a bomb, waiting to explode and energize Black's position.

B is for Bomb!

Let us look at my recommendation 54…b4 (an idea I had on the way home from Armenia, which has been stress-tested and fine-tuned on the World Team Strategy Bulletin Board) in a little more detail. After 54…b4, we are clearly offering to sacrifice our b-pawn - after all, it is not defended when it reaches the b4-square.

Our opponent has two basic choices:

Should he:

a) Take our pawn, and allow his Queen to be diverted from its nice CENTRALIZED post on f4, thereby allowing Black's Queen to leap into the action? Or;

b) Should he ignore our b-pawn, at the risk of watching it advance further towards promotion?

WHITE takes the pawn (the bomb explodes)

A) 55.Qxb4 Qf3+ 56.Kg7 (56.Ke7 Qe3+ 57.Kf6 Qf3+, is equal) 56...d5, and here is Black's point - our bomb has bought us the time we need to advance our d-pawn. For example:

A1) 57.Qb7 Qc3+ 58.Kf7 Qf3+ 59.Kg7 Qc3+ 60.Kh7 Qh3+, equal.

A2) 57.Qd4+ Kb1 58.g6 Qe4, and now:

A21) 59.Qxe4+ dxe4, leading to a draw.

A22) 59.Qb6+ Ka1 60.Kf7 d4 61.g7 Qf5+ 62.Qf6 Qd7+, and Black is OK.

A23) 59.Qf2 d4 60.Kf6 d3 61.g7 Qc6+ 62.Kf7 Qd5+ 63.Kf8 d2, when Black's pawn is just as good as White's pawn, so the game will be a draw.

A3) 57.g6 d4! (With the d-pawn in motion!) and now:

A31) 58.Qxd4+ is a Theoretical Draw.

A32) 58.Kh8 Qh5+! 59.Kg7 Qe5+, with a draw.

A33) 58.Qa4+ Kb1 59.Qxd4 is a Theoretical Draw.

A4) 57.Qa5+ Kb1 58.Qb6+ (if 58.Qb4+ Kc2 59.g6 d4 60.Qxd4, is a Theoretical Draw) 58...Kc2! (forced but good) and Black is OK.

WHITE declines the pawn (but the bomb is still ticking)

Now we look at the situation where White declines the pawn sacrifice, and tries to further the ambitions of his g-pawn:

B) 55.g6 b3 56.Qa4+ (If 56.g7 b2! 57.g8=Q b1=Q, we obtain a rare endgame with four Queens on the board. This particular four Queen ending seems quite trivial as after 58.Qa8+ - White's only sensible check - Black plays 58...Qa2, with an equal position) 56...Kb2 57.g7 (57.Qe4 Qc2! is equal) 57...Qf3+ 58.Ke7 (if 58.Kg5 Qd5+ 59.Kf6 Qf3+, repeats the position with a draw) 58...Qe3+, and now:

B1) White would lose after 59.Kd7?? Qg1! 60.Kxd6 Qxg7. This particular Q + P versus Q ending would be losing for Kasparov (in other words it won't happen).

B2) 59.Kxd6?! is inaccurate, as after 59...Qg3+ 60.Kc5 Qxg7, it is White who must defend a Theoretical Draw.

B3) 59.Kf7 Qf2+, and White (with his Queen out of play, and his King as the sole guardian of his g-pawn) cannot escape the Black Queen's checks - so the position is equal.

A note on Theoretical Draws: With respect to this endgame, we see a few instances where White is left with a Queen and one pawn against Black's Queen. Very often, Black sacrifices his pawns in a SPECIFIC and CALCULATED manner to bring about such a position that with CORRECT play by Black CANNOT be won White. The drawing mechanism consists of placing Black's King on various "safe squares" in the a1-corner of the board, and subjecting the White King to an incessant barrage of Queen checks, or in certain circumstances immobilizing White's last pawn by pinning it against the White King. All Q + P vs. Q positions have been exhaustively retro-analyzed by computer, and a definitive endgame tablebase has been compiled for such positions and can be applied to ANY such instance as may occur in this game. Such positions can be played with PERFECT PRECISION.

Special thanks to "Alekhine via Ouija."

In conclusion, I believe 54…b4 is both strategically (we gain time to activate our Queen, and we threaten to promote our b-pawn) and tactically (we have demonstrated the viability of the sacrifice if it is either accepted OR declined) justified.