All chess players encounter situations where it is necessary to effectively respond to their opponents’ moves and ideas. Preventing them or preparing against them is known as prophylaxis (from Ancient Greek: πρό (pró = before) + φύλαξις  (phúlaxis = a watching, guarding).

There are two types of prophylaxis in chess, which might be translated into two questions: 

1) What is the opponent’s immediate threat/idea?

2) What is the threat/idea if I play a certain move? 

While it is rare for players to overlook an immediate threat in high-level games, the second type of prophylaxis mentioned above is frequently overlooked even at the highest level of chess. This leads us to the Game of the Week…

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Game of the Week XII- Predke vs. Vachier-Lagrave

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Please note that Game of the Week will cover games played from Saturday to Saturday of each week, and any games played on Sunday will go to the next week. See you next Sunday! 

Contributors:

GM Ulvi Bajarani

Edited by Della Almind