1.g3 a6 Proof by Rasul_Dzh

Contents

1. Trivia
2. The motivation behind it
3. Perfect Defense and Key ideas
4. Intuitive Defense and Key Ideas
5. Some other Lines
6. Future

Trivia

Long time no blogs my fiends!

I am back and motivated stronger than ever before. Due to my University enrollment and life here I was unable to spend as much time in anti as I did studying in the recent Summer Months. However now, that
I have settled many of the problems, I am able to gradually come back at blog writing, thus I wanted to start it with some important/interesting topic.

Also, NO, Black doesn't win here. Photo just seemed as cool to me.

The motivation behind it all

Since my very rise to 2050 rating I was aware of the opening study resources available, such as Nitalac's solutions, Watkins's proof and Solution Finder website. All of those above were used by me in the future to learn to play against the 1.e3 (see also: my road to top 10); however, I have noticed something:

Why is there no in depth research about 1.g3 anywhere?
Is it really so hard to prove draw-ish nature of it or is there something else?

So, this was the start of the idea that I carried last 1.5 month: prove the 1.g3.

Ambitious - yep, it is. So I have started my work, right after I had come to the uni, exploiting this computers' computing powers; which was that one single spark that ignited me.
Currently it is the 2nd most profound proof that I have done, so enjoy!

The perfect defense and its Key Ideas

"The perfect defense" in this case is a longest defense by black which is ~M45 as far as my analysis goes. That being said it might be even faster, so I marked it in a quotation marks.

This line was pretty tough to break through too, as it has some peculiar ideas in it which we will unravel in this chapter. So, without much further ado:

The position we end up here is pretty similar in its strategy and position to that of 1. c3 in its 2.a3 variation. So, it is pretty obvious the we grab as much space as possible and try to benefit from the pin on the Queen&Knight, however don't immediately play e4 as you would like to do, as it is a terrible blunder giving black really pleasant position, instead try another crazy space grabbing move:

Surprisingly, all intuitively good moves for black lose after some correct play by white, so the only move for black to hold is 4. ... g6!

Tbh, I couldn't even begin to comprehend why is it so, albeit I have some idea:

1. black can't move any piece as white is too dominant space-wise
2. White's pawn structure is far superior than that of black
3. Too much space for white and weak kingside
4. The only "neutral" move which enables some sort of progress without any commitment

Going further we notice some aggressive play from white, using the maximum out of that pin and accumulating all of the development and space advantage, gambiting the opportunity for Black to give up their Queen and Bishop. However, if Black would to do so, they would solve one problem, creating another: white will have too much over the board control + the threats by White wouldn't be solved by this sacs.

Little secret: if black doesn't sac, they lose even faster, as white will turn one of those into the losing cannon

Notice that so far only 2 pieces was moved by white, yet the pressure they exerted on black are too strong and Black's position is starting to slowly collapse.

So, 11th move for white may seem obvious at first, but not for me. My playstyle is little different from that and my habit of having as many pieces as possible had created some problems here, so I just waited for the depth 65 SF's verdict on what to play...

On move 13, Black ends up in the position which would have been very playable, if only they would have had time to develop. Knowing that, White launches (or will launch) one threat after another, thereby developing even further and increasing the space advantage.

"According to Gary, if you make 10 threats in a row, your opponent will blunder eventually" Magnus Carlsen

This quote is here just for you to know, as it doesn't entirely fit in this topic, if only we don't interpret it as:

"According to Gary, if you make 10 threats in a row, your opponent will eventually end up in a worse position"

Nb6 is best by SF evaluation, but no player won't play Ne4 and end up choosing even worse route on next move there.

The position transposes into a high-level endgame where you need to be not as precise strtegy-wise, but as accurate Blunder-less-play-wise, as the Win is pretty easy to slip with here. Computer line is presented there with some arrows.

Here is the full chapter (I recommend going into study after finished reading for the full experience):

Intuitive Defense and Key Ideas

In this chapter I want to cover most intuitively "strong" and/or "correct" line of defense as Black and why it is worse than anticipated.

This is the sharpest counterplay variant in all of the analysis done by me and it is still losing...
And the move that wins it all is 5.a3!! wait, a3!?

Yes, it is indeed the move. White doesn't want to give so much precious tempos to Black to develop so we mustn't agree on the QR as much as I would have wanted to, but to not allow such an opportunity in its root.

After some brief counter-threats exchange white ends up forcing Black to take their Queen, thus winning free tempo to accumulate the perfectly calculated win (or at lest the position says so).

Blitz Question: find the only winning move sequence in the position:

About the position: completely calculatable position, which is a draw if you don't calculate properly enough. Nothing too special except the depth of the analysis needed.
This move sequence is savagery on top of another savagery, but you are not ready for the most disgusting moves yet.

BONGCLOUD IT IS!

To be fair, there is another possible win here, but what could be better than a King - walk for the Win?
This was the most straightforward win in the entirety of the proof as it only needed pure calculation, in which engines do specialize and far exceed us. No difficult strategies were used.

Full Chapter:

Some other Lines

They are all covered in the study itself by the next links:

https://lichess.org/study/MyQRayyn/BQmOHam1#0

and

https://lichess.org/study/ + MyQRayyn

Remove the "+" and Check them out for more info*

Future

I really intend on pursuing this topic further via uncovering some other lines, such as 1.g3 a5, which I promised to cover previously, but is turned out to be far more complicated than anticipated.

Some other possibilities after 1.g3 to be covered:
f6 - draw
g5 - win?
h6 - win
b6 Ng5 g6 - draw (interestingly all of the non-main-line stuff is losing)

Good day to everyone and see you later!

* Depth 45 SF11+ was used and if it didn't see the win in some line - It is covered in the study, untill SF would see the ~M20.