Conditioned Reflexes

I trust my fellow grandmasters will forgive me for applying to the noble art of chess a term developed by physiologists in experiments with animals, but in essence the term ‘conditioned reflex’ does explain very well many of a player’s actions during the game. Just as a dog can be trained to salivate at the sound of a bell, so many of a chess player’s defensive reactions have been induced to appear by many years of habit-forming experiences. Recall, for example, how subconsciously you are on the look-out for a snap back-row mate, or how, without any real thought, you can assess the correctness or otherwise of the Greek gift sacrifice or a threat of smothered mate. Such automatic responses are generally helpful as they speed up one’s thought processes and assist in making a correct assessment of strategic plans. However, at times this automatic response pattern can be harmful, as we shall see from the following examples in which it was the cause of mistakes. Such cases are admittedly rare, but anyone who wishes to study his own reactions and to know the finer points of winning chess must be familiar with such things. Which of us in playing the Ruy Lopez has not thousands of times played his bishop from a4 to b3 when it was attacked by a pawn? Which of us in the Sicilian has not played his bishop back from c4 to b3 when Black has attacked it by …b5? It is almost as if your hand wanted to play the move straight away without the mind even thinking about it. In most cases the move is correct and forced, but there are exceptions. Take the following position from Grekov – Ilyin-Zhenevsky, Moscow Championship 1920.

Black wrote: ‘I played the move 1…b5 without thinking. The move is in accordance with the spirit of this opening, a Philidor Defence, and here it has the extra point that White has castled queenside. My opponent’s reply seemed equally clear to me. He would answer 2 d3. You attack a piece, he has to move it away. Nothing of the sort! He continued 2 dxe5! dxe5 (no choice, as if 2…bxc4 then 3 exf6 xf6 4 xc4 with a winning position) 3 xe5 ! bxc4 4 xc6 e8 5 e5!. This last move is the key to the whole line. The attacked knight has no flight square, so White wins back the piece and is left with a won ending.’

‘An attacked piece has to move away.’ How many games have been lost because a player blindly followed this reflex that had been developed in his subconscious!

A similar reflex to the one above is ‘Make everything safe!’ This is a guiding principle that lies behind many strategic and tactical plans of a grandmaster, and you may