Hivechess Lecture - A Slight Edge is all that is needed in positional chess

Hi everyone,

Welcome to a new Hivechess lecture where we will be talking about something new we all could learn from to improve our chess. In today lecture is a game from the German Bundesliga between Grandmaster Duda against Grandmaster Aleksandar. It is a game that required positional play from both players because of the type of opening played. Positional chess is one of the hardest to play in my opinion because it requires a level of understanding of what is going on in the given position. If you miss a critical move, it becomes bad for you and if you play a simple move that looks like you are placing your piece on a better square, it can be a bad move in disguise.

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 e6 4. c4 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qxc4 c5 7. Ne5 Qc8

The game's opening is English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Catalan Defense Accepted, where play was on the queenside flank of the board. In the opening, you will notice that white brought his queen out early inorder to get his pawn back and that worked because of how he played his next set of moves. I was surprised by the next move Qd3 because I did not understand why he would move his queen multiple times, from a4 to c4 and now to d3. What is more shocking is that is the engine recommended move. When I checked it out on the computer, that is what was the best continuation. This is simple, because after the exchange of black's light-squared bishop, the queen will be left to hold on to the semi open file while development of the remaining pieces continue.

As explained, the queen is doing just that. Positions like this are considered positional because of how most moves are centered on control of squares.

8 Qd3 Nc6 9 Nxd7 Nxd7 10 Nc3 Be7 11 b3 O-O 12 Bb2 Rd8 13 Rd1 Nf6 14 Qb1 Qd7 15 O-O Rac8 16 d3 b6 17 Rd2 h5 18 e3 h4 19 Qd1 hxg3 20 hxg3 Nb4 21 Qe2 b5 22 Rfd1 a6 23 g4 Nfd5

The game was going on fine until Nfd5 on move 23. This move was considered to give advantage to white and it just because of one thing, it allows white's knight to move to the center square e4. Then white will go ahead with the counterattack on the black king. Honestly I did not see anything work with that move because it seems like a simple developing move that centralizes the knight so how can it that be bad? Not until I saw the threat white carried out with this simple oversight of placing the knight on d5. What was better was bringing the other knight to d5 instead, that is the knight on b4.

This simple inaccuracy cost black the game. All it takes is just a minor edge.

Here is the link to the game

https://lichess.org/broadcast/german-bundesliga-202526/round-10/rbWGGERo/mCljeNXt

And here is the PGN game:

[Event "Schachbundesliga Saison 2025/2026"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/broadcast/german-bundesliga-202526/round-10/rbWGGERo/mCljeNXt"]
[Date "2026.03.22"]
[Round "10.9"]
[White "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"]
[Black "Indjic, Aleksandar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2622"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[WhiteTeam "SC Viernheim"]
[BlackTeam "SV Deggendorf"]
[ECO "A13"]
[Opening "English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Catalan Defense Accepted"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 e6 4. c4 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qxc4 c5 7. Ne5 Qc8
8. Qd3 Nc6 9. Nxd7 Nxd7 10. Nc3 Be7 11. b3 O-O 12. Bb2 Rd8 13. Rd1 Nf6
14. Qb1 Qd7 15. O-O Rac8 16. d3 b6 17. Rd2 h5 18. e3 h4 19. Qd1 hxg3
20. hxg3 Nb4 21. Qe2 b5 22. Rfd1 a6 23. g4 Nfd5 24. Ne4 Nxa2 25. g5 Nab4
26. Qg4 Qc7 27. Bf3 Bd6 28. g6 Bh2+ 29. Kg2 f5 30. Qh3 fxe4
31. dxe4 c4 32. bxc4 bxc4 33. exd5 1-0

_{I am @samostically, a chess player and writer. I love to share the experience I have gained from different battles over the 64 squares and the knowledgeable insights from books I have read. But most importantly, I am a Midnight Owl and I founded the community Midnight Letters.}

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