GM Zviad Izoria

Zviad Izoria (born 6 January 1984 in Georgia) is a chess grandmaster. Zoria's chess career began during his teenage years and resulted in him winning several youth titles, including the 2000 World Under-16 Championship and consecutive European Junior Championships in 2001 and 2002. He gained his grandmaster title in 2002. His greatest success to date is his victory in the HB Global Chess Challenge (2005), scoring 7.5/9 and in May 2010 he won the Texas State Championship with 6/7. On the FIDE world ranking list of January 2006, Izoria was rated a career-high 2652, placing him joint 52nd.

In the above puzzle of Smith–Morra Gambit patterns, it is Black to play. In the real game, Izoria played Bg4, a very practical prophylactic move. But limited Houdini suggested that Kf8 is a more powerful prophylaxis, estimated -0.8.

The following is the game in PGN format.

[Event "107th Annual US Open"]

[Site "Chicago USA"]

[Date "2006.08.06"]

[Round "2"]

[White "Mayers, D"]

[Black "Izoria, Z"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteElo "2001"]

[BlackElo "2660"]

[ECO "B22"]

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Qxd4 e6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Qe4 f5 8.exf6 Nxf6 9.Qh4 d5 10.Bd3 Bd6 11.Bg6+ Ke7 12.Bc2 h6 13.Bg6 e5 14.O-O Bg4 15.Nbd2 e4 16.Re1 Kd7 17.Nd4 Ne7 18.Nxe4 dxe4 19.Bxe4 g5 20.Bxg5 hxg5 21.Qxg5 Bxh2+ 22.Kf1 Qb6 23.Bc6+ bxc6 24.Rxe7+ Kxe7 25.Qg7+ Kd6 26.Qxf6+ Kc7 27.Qg7+ Bd7 28.Ne6+ Kb7 29.Qxd7+ Kb8 30.Nd4 Qa6+ 31.Ke1 Bc7 32.b4 Rh1+ 33.Kd2 Rxa1 34.Nxc6+ Kb7 35.Na5+ Qxa5 36.bxa5 Rd8 0-1

Additional information :

In the game of chess, prophylaxis (guarding or preventing beforehand) or a prophylactic move is a move that stops the opponent from taking action in a certain area for fear of some type of reprisal. Prophylactic moves are aimed at not just improving one's position, but preventing the opponent from improving their own. Perhaps the most common prophylactic idea is the advance of the rook pawn to avert the possibility of back rank mate. In a more strategic sense, prophylaxis leads to a very positional game, often frustrating for players with a strong tactical orientation. Players who play in the prophylactic style prevent the initiation of tactical play by threatening unpleasant consequences. One of the largest advantages of this approach is that it keeps risk to a minimum while causing an overaggressive opponent to lose patience and make a mistake. The disadvantage is that it frequently fails against an opponent who is content with a draw. It should be understood, however, that any move which prevents an opponent from threatening something can be called prophylactic, even if this word would not be used to describe the player's style. For example, Mikhail Tal and Garry Kasparov frequently played the move h3 in the Ruy Lopez, a prophylactic move intended to prevent Black from playing ...Bg4 and creating an irritating pin on the knight at f3, yet neither player would ever be described as playing in the prophylactic style. All grandmasters make use of prophylaxis in one way or another.